This Paper delivers a precise recommendation for how presidential candidates should allocate their resources to maximize the probability of gaining a majority in the Electoral College. A two-candidate, probabilistic-voting model reveals that more resources should be devoted to states which are...

Die Effizienz der Hochschulen in den Flächenländern Ost und West liegt im Durchschnitt auf annähernd gleichem Niveau. Innerhalb der ostdeutschen Flächenländer sind auf Länderebene zwischen den Universitäten jedoch erhebliche Effizienzunterschiede festzustellen. Zu diesen Ergebnissen kommt...

We develop a model of human capital formation with endogenous labour supply and heterogeneous agents to explore the optimal level of education subsidies along with the optimal progressive schedule of the labour income tax and optimal capital income taxes. Subsidies on education ensure efficiency...

We present a simple model to analyse law enforcement problems in transition economies. Law enforcement implies coordination problems and multiplicity of equilibria due to a law abidance and a fiscal externality. We analyse two institutional mechanisms for solving the coordination problem. A...

Approaching demographic shifts are raising concerns about fiscal sustainability in most OECD countries. A widespread view based on the tax-smoothing idea is that a prior consolidation of public finances is required to cope with the predicted trend deterioration in the primary budget balance....

Leaders compensate supporters not just for performing their duties but also in order to preempt an overthrow by the same supporters. We show how succession rules affect the power of leaders relative to supporters as well as the resources expended on possible succession struggles. We compare two...

This paper discusses how electoral politics shapes the regional allocation of public investment expenditures per capita in Greece. Using regional public investment data for 10 political periods (1975-2009), combined with electoral data by constituency, a model is proposed which captures the...

Based on a reconstruction of a weighted index of political unification and a time series of incidences of warfare for the past two millennia, this paper develops a narrative to show that the establishment and consolidation towards a single unitary monopoly of political power in China was an...

Aktuelle Zahlen von EUROSTAT zeigen, dass die ostdeutschen Bundesländer in der kommenden EU-Strukturfondsförderperiode 2014 bis 2020 ihren Status als EU-Höchstfördergebiete verlieren werden. Der Direktionsbezirk Leipzig könnte sogar jegliche Förderberechtigung verlieren, da das...