The order and modalities of cross-member state redistribution as well as the net financial position of the member states are one of the most widely discussed aspects of European integration. The paper addresses selected issues in the current debate on the EU budget for the period 2007 to 2013...

Public finances in Europe are relevant both with respect to their fiscal and their possible integration-promoting function. However, decisions on the expenditures and revenues of the European Community create a permanent potential of conflicts between the EU countries. Furthermore, with the...

The periodically returning debates and the disappointing bargaining on the financial perspectives for 2007-2013 have led to the proposal of a comprehensive review of the EU budget in 2008/2009. This provides an opportunity for initiating fundamental reforms of the revenue side of the EU budget....

The 'juste retour' attitude, namely each EU member state's priority for securing the best possible individual net financial position vis-à-vis the community budget over any other consideration concerning the community budget is stronger than ever. The differences across member states in terms...

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...

The ownership nationality of large US multinational companies plays an implicit but important role in the current debate over how such companies should be taxed. This paper identifies that role and investigates what is actually known about where these companies’ shareholders reside

This paper argues that if policymakers seek to enhance global liquidity, then the international community must provide a higher and better coordinated level of fiscal support than it has in the past. Loans to troubled sovereigns or financial institutions imply a credit risk that ultimately must...

The enlargement of the EU in 2004 and 2007 has led to a significant increase in population and territory, but also a huge increase in differences regarding economic structure and development levels. Despite the traditions of the EU in dealing with such differences, the scope of the latest...

National budget deficits can create externalities through their effects on international interest rates. This paper examines the scope for fiscal rules restricting government borrowing for the case where government revenues (on the margin) stem from capital income taxation. There is no need to...

The paper reviews and evaluates in a non-technical manner the economic and political arguments for and against the two fiscal convergence criteria written into the Treaty of Maastricht and its Protocols. In order to qualify for full membership in Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), net general...