Motivated by recent disasters, this paper analyzes the risk sharing aspect in a federation. The regions can be hit by a shock leading to losses that occur with an exogenous probability and in a stochastically independent way. The regions can spend effort on self-insurance to reduce the size of...

Australia’s inter-governmental fiscal relations have gradually moved towards greater centralisation. State governments receive sizeable transfers from the federal government and own revenues only partially cover their expenses. Finding the right balance between federal control and state...

The tax on immovable property recently started to regain its former significance, but the tax yield still remains low, with slightly more than 1% of GDP and wide variation across countries. Against this background this paper surveys property tax policy in OECD countries and analyses the...

Als im Jahr 1973 das internationale Währungssystem von Bretton Woods zusammenbrach, stand die D-Mark als stabile Währung weltweit an der Spitze ihres Ansehens. Der Dollar unterlag einem permanenten unter Abwertungsdruck, weil die amerikanische Federal Reserve über Jahre das USHaushaltsdefizit...

Intergovernmental fiscal frameworks usually reflect fundamental societal choices and history and are not foremost geared towards achieving economic policy objectives. Yet, like most institutional arrangements, fiscal relations affect the behaviour of firms, households and governments and thereby...

This paper provides empirical analysis that measures the cyclical properties of intergovernmental transfers (or grants). Modelling a fiscal policy reaction function this paper tests whether the transfers systems in OECD countries are pro- or counter-cyclical, i.e. whether they offset cyclical...

Fiscal rules that constrain sub-central government (SCG) budgeting are very common across the OECD, but there are substantial cross-country differences in their implementation and impact. This paper presents the 2011 update of the fiscal rules database established in 2005. As in 2005, budget...

This paper provides an overview of fiscal consolidation efforts at the central and sub-central government level, both during the current and past consolidation episodes. After experiencing a deficit and debt hike during the crisis, sub-central debt is mostly stabilising. So far, sub-central...

Die Haushaltsnotlage Bremens ist bereits chronisch. Sie wurde immer wieder mit Sanierungsprogrammen bekämpft, allerdings gingen die Gestalter dieser Programme regelmäßig von einem übertrieben optimistischen Einnahmewachstum aus. Tatsächlich kam es dann aber in der Regel nicht zu einer...

Dem Länderfinanzausgleich ist die Zerlegung der Ertragsteuern vorgeschaltet, um so erhebungstechnisch bedingte Verzerrungen des örtlichen Steueraufkommens zu korrigieren. Dieses Ziel wird, wie Wolfgang Renzsch zeigt, nur unzureichend erreicht. Tatsächlich werden einige Länder bei der...