Die drückende Finanznot vieler Kommunen lässt Wissenschaft und Praxis nach einer grundsätzlichen Lösung der Schuldenproblematik suchen. Dabei rückt zunehmend das Insolvenzverfahren für Kommunen in den Fokus. Es wird als eher marktwirtschaftlichautonom wirkender Lösungsmechanismus den...

Die Einheitswerte für Immobilien, auf die sich die Grundsteuer bezieht, wurden vom Bundesfinanzhof als verzerrend angesehen. Eine Arbeitsgruppe der Finanzminister beschäftigt sich schon seit Anfang 2010 mit diesem Problem. Dabei haben sich drei Modelle herauskristallisiert, die den Boden- und...

With tightening public finances, land value capture (LVC) can be an attractive fiscal tool to finance ever-increasing demands for transport infrastructure. This paper begins by discussing the principles of LVC and individual LVC instruments in the context of infrastructure provision, with a...

Much of the current policy debate on adaptation to climate change has focussed on estimation of adaptation costs, ways to raise and to scale-up funding for adaptation, and the design of the international institutional architecture for adaptation financing. There is however little or no emphasis...

The paper reviews the role of Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) as drivers of employment and economic growth in rural regions across a number of OECD geographies. It argues that SME creation is especially important for rural economic development and identified lessons for national level...

This paper addresses the following questions about immovable property taxation in OECD and partner countries: What is valued? How is it valued? And who values? It draws on published information and data on property tax policy and administration in 172 countries. It focuses on value-based taxes...

This paper advances our knowledge of the spatial determinants of productivity by empirically demonstrating one such mechanism – clear differences along the urban-rural continuum in the sensitivity of SMEs’ investments to own cash flow. Whereas the literature has established uneven...

This paper reviews the literature and policy discussions about the role of the property tax for land use. Various externalities of the development of land, such as new infrastructure needs, the loss of open space or air pollution due to longer commutes as people locate far from city centres, are...

Program participation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the success of housing policies such as mortgage assistance for distressed homeowners. Low rates of take-up of available assistance among eligible homeowners have hampered the potential success of programs such as the U.S....

At the national level, business starts and housing prices both fell dramatically over the 2007–2009 period. Using a proprietary database of business starts this paper quantitatively models the interaction between house price and business starts from 2005 to 2009. We identify the impact by...