Die Frage nach der angemessenen Höhe der Staatsausgaben nimmt eine zentrale Stellung in der öffentlichen Diskussion ein. Die Beantwortung der Frage erfordert ein Grundverständnis darüber zu schaffen, welche Aufgaben der Staat übernehmen sollte als auch welche Wirkungen von staatlicher...

Towards the end of 2009, the world economy was recovering from its deepest recession since the end of World War II. Most countries around the world took resort to fiscal policy in order to foster this recovery. In this paper, we first discuss the pros and cons of discretionary fiscal policy from...

The increase in unemployment to relatively high levels for Switzerland in the 1990s gave rise to two fears: First, that economic growth no longer has any effect on employment (jobless growth), and second, that the equilibrium rate of unemployment, i.e. the rate of employment that prevails even...

For some time now, Swiss trade unions have been demanding a substantial increase of the wages in the lowest income segments, especially in the retail and catering service industries. At present, increases for the sales personell in the retail industry stand in the forefront of trade union...