Household-specific growth rates of the tax base imply that the timing of tax collections determines the distribution of tax burdens and wealth across households. Changes in financial policy do not only shift taxes across generations, but also within cohorts. Institutional deficit constraints...

A balanced budget requirement directly affects the intra-generational wealth distribution and influences the level of government spending. Both effects give rise to distributive conflicts that can explain why some groups support balanced budget rules while other groups in the same generation...

I study the dynamic tax evasion program of a household with many sources of income. Contrary to the previous literature, I assume that the detection risk of tax evasion is uncorrelated across these sources. If detection triggers the repayment of currently and previously evaded taxes, the...

I examine the "fiscal theory of the price level" according to which "non-Ricardian" policy and predetermined nominal government debt fiscally determine prices. I argue that the non-Ricardian policy assumption and, by implication, fiscal price level determination are inconsistent with a rational...

In this note, I review some recent research on the sustainability of pay-as-you-go financed social security systems, and social security reform.

We analyze motivations for, and possible alternatives to, the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). With regard to the former, we identify domestic policy failures and various cross-country spillover effects; with regard to the latter, we contrast an "economic-theory" perspective on optimal...

This paper identifies and discusses important political and economic aspects of Turkish accession to the EU. Under the present rules, Turkey’s size would give it the greatest number of votes within twenty years and its low income and dependence on agriculture the largest net transfer from...

This paper studies the interaction between time inconsistency problems in labor market policy and monetary policy. When both policies are discretionary, there is a positive inflation bias, whereas the bias in labor market programs may be either positive or negative. A commitment of labor market...