With the completion of the internal market in the EU pressures may arise to diminish social insurance budgets. In a two-country model with an (imperfectly) integrated consumer goods market it is shown that competitive member states use the social insurance tax rate as an instrument to tax...

With the completion of the internal market many possibilities for the EU member states to protect their markets against imports are restricted or even eliminated. This gives, however, member states the incentive to use other policy instruments. This paper analyzes the effect of liberalizing...