Is government ideology important for fiscal policy? I study this question with data from all German States over the period 1975-2005. To identify the effect of ideology, I rely on a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. I find that left-wing state governments spend more than state governments...

Ein allgemein verständliches Werk über Staatsschulden von einem Wirtschaftswissenschaftler und einem Wirtschaftsjournalisten, das auf Staatsverschuldung, auf die Geschichte des Defizits in Deutschland im Allgemeinen und in der jüngsten Finanzkrise im Besonderen eingeht. 1/3 des Buches geht...

In many countries, fiscal policy became strongly expansionary in order to fight the recession. Structural budget deficits increased sharply and might remain high after the end of the recession. This would raise real interest rates and would impair economic growth. Some measures to reduce the...