This article contributes to the debate on the systemic effects of technology policy by investigating knowledge spillovers of pre-competitive publicly funded Industrial Collective Research (ICR) in Germany. The ICR aims to compensate for obstacles faced by SME in carrying out research and...

This paper investigates whether a nation's contingent value of hosting a mega-event depends on past experience with implied public goods benefits for its residents. Applying data from an ex-ante and ex-post query based on contingent valuation methods, we use the FIFA World Cup 2006 as a natural...

Start-up subsidies are a frequently employed policy instrument, the use of which is justified by alleged market failure resulting from positive external effects and capital market imperfections. This article investigates whether the allocation of subsidies reflects a policy focus on addressing...

This paper presents some of the many issues involved in the granting of an amnesty to illegal immigrants. Complementing studies by Chau (2001, 2003), Karlson and Katz (2003) and Gang and Yun (2006), we consider government behavior with respect to allocations on limiting infiltration (border...

This paper investigates economic and subjective effects of public business assistance delivered to nascent entrepreneurs in Germany. Employing cluster analysis, we explore the actual scope and intensity of business assistance used. Then we analyze predictors of take-up and perceived usefulness...

Proprietary rule, whereby the state is owned by a ruler who maximizes tax revenues minus the costs of governing, is a useful ideal type that describes many of the states that have ever existed. The study of proprietary rule and its public finance, however, is comparatively scarce. I argue that...

Distributions of language rights in multilingual settings are analyzed from a normative viewpoint in this chapter. If the cost structure of providing rights is concave in the number of beneficiaries, then a critical-mass criterion for the determination of an optimal rights structure results. It...

Auf den verschiedenen Stufen des Länderfinanzausgleichs wird die Finanzkraft der Länder relativ deutlich angeglichen. Dennoch haben sich die Länder sehr unterschiedlich stark verschuldet. Ab 2020 wird die Schuldenbremse für die Länder wirksam. Wie die unterschiedliche Finanzkraft bisher...

This research work is aimed at determining the effectiveness of the Audit Committee (AC), analyzing its impact on the reliability of accounting information issued by spanish listed companies. With this aim, we study whether certain features such as its voluntary or otherwise compulsory...

This study investigates the relationship between financial development and the size of the informal economy. We build a model in which an exogenous variation in the size of the informal sector creates two effects on financial development. Specifically, informal sector harms financial development...