Although fiscal policy is not at the actual centre of the New Economy controversy, I think it is a very important player in the macroeconomic setting. In the United States, fiscal policy in the past decade has been characterised by a marked course of consolidation.
For example, the initially quite high government budget deficits of almost 6% of GDP in 1992 were reduced completely and transformed into a slight surplus (1999: 1.0% of GDP). In Germany, reunification confronted fiscal policy with its most difficult task since the period of reconstruction following World War II.