Fiscal versus Financial [closed]
I've never quite got the hang of this one. Money is the object, but what's the difference between for example 'fiscal policy' and 'financial policy', or are they indeed merely synonyms?
The domains are different (though overlapping to some extent), as these two definitions show (bolding mine):
Fiscal Policy
In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government revenue collection (mainly taxes) and expenditure (spending) to influence the economy.[1] According to Keynesian economics, when the government changes the levels of taxation and government spending, it influences aggregate demand and the level of economic activity. Fiscal policy can be used to stabilize the economy over the course of the business cycle.
[Wikipedia]
Financial Policy
Financial Policy definition : Criteria describing a corporation's choices regarding its debt/equity mix, currencies of denomination, maturity structure, method of financing investment projects, and hedging decisions with a goal of maximizing the value of the firm to some set of stockholders.
[ADVFN]
There is some overlap in meaning between the terms: financial, meaning (obviously) 'involving financial matters', is a subset of fiscal, which has the additional meaning of 'relating to government revenue and taxes'.
(Links to definitions at Oxforddictionaries.com)
Financial policy is related to money and only money. Lending/interest rates are the bellwether of financial policy - it is just pure math. Fiscal policy is more about how (much) a Government wants to spend and earn - this is not pure math as financial policy and is quite discretionary.
Edit Fiscal policy is top-level directive/decision and includes financial policy.