Mit der Entscheidung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts zum Länderfinanzausgleich steht auch die Berücksichtigung der Seehafenlasten der Küstenländer auf dem Prüfstand. Ökonomische Erwägungen sprechen dafür, die Belastungen dieser Länder durch Investitionen in die Hafeninfrastruktur künftig...

Subsidies granted by the German federal government decreased in the 1998–2004 period. Since 2005, subsidies have increased. The transfers to the compulsory health insurance system were raised by very large amounts. Moreover, the subsidies for re-integrating the unemployed were raised. The...

Analysis in terms of the two-sector open economy shows that in bringing the market economy to East Germany, West Germany seems to have disregarded important fundamentals. Premature formation of a currency union led to a substantial real appreciation of the East German currency. Premature...

Die Finanzhilfen der Bundesländer und ihrer Gemeinden sind beträchtlich. Für das Jahr 2001 wurde ein Betrag von insgesamt 70,6 Mrd. Euro ermittelt. Er entspricht mehr als der Hälfte des gesamten Lohnsteueraufkommens, das freilich um das Kindergeld reduziert ist, oder 3,4 Prozent des...

The objective of this paper is to identify selected forces of the decrease in the number of avoidable deaths from ischaemic heart diseases (IHD) inWest and East Germany from 1996 to 2004. Our main result reveals that the number of intracardiac catheter facilities,which are an important...

In contrast to West-Germany, illicit drugs were virtually absent in East-Germany until 1990. Yet, after the collapse of the former GDR, East-Germany was expected to encounter a sharp increase in the prevalence of substance abuse. By analyzing individual data, we find that East-Germany largely...