In this article we use contingent-claim analysis to calculate theeffective tax rate (ETR) under corporate debt finance. In particular,we deal with both pure debt and two of the most well-known hybridsecurities, i.e., convertible, and reverse convertible bonds...

The rational prodigality argument, which often serves to justify social security,is considered in a second-best tax framework with endogenous labor supply. Rationalprodigality renders the familiar policies time inconsistent. We analyze time consistentpolicies and show that a wage tax suffices to...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of privatization in a mixed duopoly, wherea private firm competes in quantities with a welfare-maximizing public firm. We consider twoinefficiencies of the public sector: a possible cost inefficiency, and an allocative inefficiencydue to the...

Die von der Bundesregierung geplante Steuerreform soll die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit deutscher Unternehmen stärken und den Standort Deutschland für in- und ausländische Investoren attraktiver machen. Berechnungen des ZEW und der Universität Mannheim zeigen indessen: Die Steuerentlastung der...

With decreasing migration costs and fiscal decentralisation on the policy agenda in variousOECD countries, the impact of taxation on migration is of growing interest. Empirical studieson this topic have been limited due to a lack of comparable data in an international contextand a lack of...

This paper extends the standard human capital model with real options. Real options influenceinvestment behavior when risky investments in human capital are irreversible and individualscan affect the timing of the investment. Option values make individuals more reluctant toinvest in human...

This paper analyses how tax morale and countries´ institutional quality affect the shadoweconomy, controlling in a multivariate analysis for a variety of potential factors. The literaturestrongly emphasizes the quantitative importance of these factors to understand the level andchanges of...

This paper analyses how governance or institutional quality and tax morale affect the shadoweconomy, using an international country panel and also within country data...

This essay discusses the policy debate concerning optimal taxation and the distribution of income.It begins with a brief overview of trends in income inequality, the leading hypothesis to explain thesetrends, and the distribution of the tax burden. It then considers the framework that economists...

This paper analyzes the e¤ectiveness of the tax and transfer systemsin the European Union and the US to act as an automatic stabilizer in the currenteconomic crisis. We …nd that automatic stabilizers absorb 38 per cent of a propor-tional income shock in the EU, compared to 32 per cent in the...