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...

Eine Steuerreform in Deutschland wird sowohl von Seiten der Wissenschaft als auch von Parteien vorgeschlagen. Mithilfe einer Fortschreibung der Ergebnisse der Lohnsteuerstatistik 1998 werden die finanziellen Auswirkungen der Einführung alternativer Steuertarife (u.a. der von F. Merz, H. O....

Tax reform is a permanent topic of the economic policy debate in Germany. The paper presents a radical reform proposal (as well as a survey of other proposals) and describes some steps towards the realization of the proposal. The tax system proposed mainly consists of a value added tax, a flat...

The paper investigates the recent trends in privatization by local government organizations in Germany. It comes to the conclusion that the privatization policy has been two-directional: on the one hand, municipalities have reduced their economic activities, mainly by different forms of...

The success of economic reforms in China is often attributed to favourable starting conditions. Yet structural characteristics and the effects of fiscal decentralisation differ significantly between the prosperous coast and the laggard interior. We argue that the process of income convergence...