No one would argue that the economy in the United States has been faltering in recent years; due in part to global factors, and even with stimulus plans offered by the Federal Government, there is increased burden on states to find forms of revenue. More and more, states must compete not only...

Die Staatsverschuldung vieler industrialisierter Länder hat seit Anfang der siebziger Jahre drastisch zugenommen. Zwar waren die meisten Länderhaushalte in der Zeit vom Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs bis in die frühen siebziger Jahre durch eine deutliche Abnahme der Staatsverschuldung...

This dissertation contributes to the theoretical understanding of the determinants and consequences of productive government activity for the economic performance of a country’s economy. Chapter 2 gives a comprehensive survey of the recent theoretical literature on the link between productive...

We consider misconceptions about the functioning of the economy as one possible explanation for the emergence of crises in democracies. Furthermore, we study a political process which may lead to successful reform. First of all, we show that voters can make inefficient decisions concerning...

We model EU countries? bank ratings using financial variables and allowing for intercept and slope heterogeneity. We find that country-specific factors (in the form of heterogeneous intercepts) are a crucial determinant of ratings. Whilst ?new? EU countries typically have lower ratings than...