Analysis of the Constitutional Treaty of the European Union shows that there is a serious discrepancy between the voting power gradient of Member States computed by the Shapley-Shubik and Banzhaf indices. Given the lack of compelling arguments to choose between these indices on purely axiomatic...

This paper studies the factors driving changes in judicial independence (JI) as incorporated in constitutions. Two indicators of constitutionally safeguarded JI are constructed. Variations in these indicators are identified based on changes in the constitutions of as many as 100 countries that...

We examine the political economy underpinnings of import protection in general equilibrium. Starting from a dual theoretical representation of production, trade, and consumption, we map a general representation of the real economy to underlying political processes aka the political support...

In the study, the relevance of several optimum-currency-area (OCA) criteria is formally worked out in a welfare approach. The optimum monetary-policy rules of the supranational central bank are derived within the Barro-Gordon framework, and consideration is given to how the welfare of the member...

This paper discusses institutional reforms that might strengthen the role of the European Parliament in the policymaking process of the European Union. Using simple game theory, the paper analyzes the working properties of the different implementation procedures that are known as 'comitology'....

Aufbauend auf der Hypothese, dass Arbeitsmärkte durch unvollständige Information charakterisiert sind, werden in diesem Arbeitspapier neuere Entwicklungen innerhalb eines Zweiges informationsökonomischer Ansätze vorgestellt: der Suchtheorie. Dabei werden ausführlich insbesondere jene...

The ECB reform is designed to meet the challenges of an enlarged monetary union in the ECB Council. The reform is assessed by analysing alternatives for the classification of governors into groups of the rotation scheme like the synchronisation of the economic development of the member states....

Gemessen an ihrer Bevölkerungszahl sind die kleinen Staaten gegenwärtig im Ministerrat der EU bei Abstimmungen übervertreten. Welche Auswirkungen ergeben sich hieraus für die Machtverteilung im Ministerrat? Wie ändern sich die Verhältnisse durch die Erweiterung der Europäische Union?