Our very simple model serves to illustrate that it is useful to think of corruption as implicit privatisation cum auction, i.e. of the state relegating decision-making authority to a private person, who then auctions the rents off.

This paper surveys the nexus between tax competition and the fiscal constitution. We distinguish various approaches to competition between jurisdictions and provide a critique of evolutionary approaches to 'systems competition'. In the main part of the paper, a simple model of horizontal tax...

We take issue with the argument expounded, among others, by Layard (2006, Economic Journal) that status-seeking preferences justify heavier taxation of income because this serves to internalise the negative externality that the pursuit of status imposes on others. In a model where status depends...