The paper presents a comprehensive data set of all bonds issued by the sixteenGerman states (Länder) since 1992. It thus provides a complete picture of acapital market comparable in size to funds raised in the German fixed incomemarket for corporations. The quantitative analysis reveals that...

The paper confronts different aspects of decentralization: fiscal decentralization, postconstitutionalregulatory decentralization, and constitutional decentralization – using a singledataset from Russian Federation of the Yeltsin period as a politically asymmetric country anda variety of...

We analyze the rise and decline of the steel and mining industries in the regionsof Saarland, Lorraine und Luxemburg over a long period, from the mid-19th century to 2003.Our main focus in on the period of structural decline in these industries after the secondworld war. Dierences in the...

Tax competition within the EU is fiercer than in the rest of the OECD with tax rates fallingrapidly. This paper analyzes tax responses of EU-15 countries to corporate tax changes in theEU-10 new member states as a function of their proximity to these new member states. Theaverage corporate tax...

We analyze the two goals behind the European Bologna Process of increasing student mobility: enabling graduates to develop multi-cultural skills and increasing the quality of universities. We isolate three effects: 1) a competition effect that raises quality; 2) a free rider effect that lowers...

This paper studies public-debt runs under alternative assumptions on the distribution oftaxes among tax bases, the distribution of debt among classes of taxpayers, and thedistributive preferences of the government. Asymmetries in the distribution of taxes--arising, for example, from income-tax...

In financial and economic policy circles concerned with public debt in developingcountries, a rising debt-GDP ratio is interpreted as a signal of overborrowing, warn-ing of debt defaults if strong fiscal corrections are not adopted in time. This papershows why this interpretation is incorrect by...

The ratios of public debt as a share of GDP of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico were 12 percentagepoints higher on average during the period 1996-2005 than in the period 1990-1995. CostaRica's debt ratio remained stable but at a high level near 50 percent. Is there reason to beconcerned for the...

We revisit the debt overhang question. We first use non-parametric techniques to isolate a panel of countries on the downward sloping section of a debt Laffer curve. In particular, overhang countries are ones where a threshold level of debt is reached in sample, beyond which (initial) debt ends...

This paper explores the relationship between the denomination ofpublic debt and the choice of exchange rate regime. Unlike indexeddomestic debt, foreign debt is subject to valuation e¤ects from realexchange rate shocks. In a standard set-up, where a peg functions onlyas a nominal anchor, more...