German municipalities are expected to suffer from (often significant) population losses in the upcoming decades. We assess these local governments? vulnerability to the fiscal consequences of this demographic decline through two means (using a sample of 1021 municipalities in the state of...

Social and/or political involvement within the population is often argued to enhance public sector performance. The underlying idea is that engagement fosters political awareness and interest and increases the public?s monitoring ability. Still, although extensive voter involvement may put...

German municipalities are expected to suffer from intense demographic changes in the upcoming decades; not only in the form of population losses, but also through a changing demographic structure (i.e. less children and adolescents, more elderly, higher dependency ratio, and so on). We assess...

Social and/or political involvement within the population is often argued to enhance public sector performance. The underlying idea is that engagement fosters political awareness and interest and increases the public’s monitoring ability. Still, weak fiscal autonomy can undermine voters’...

Das aktuelle budgetpolitische Umfeld bietet eine starke Motivation, Maßnahmen zur Steuervereinfachung in Angriff zu nehmen: Durch gezielte Maßnahmen zur Steuervereinfachung kann in vielen Fällen das Ziel einer wohlfahrts- und wachstumsfördernden Entlastung von Steuerzahlern verfolgt werden...

There is a growing empirical literature studying whether fiscal rules reduce borrowing costs. Nevertheless, it remains an open question whether these rules are effective genuinely or just because they mirror fiscal preferences of politicians and voters. In our analysis of European bond spreads,...

There is a growing empirical literature studying whether fiscal rules reduce borrowing costs. Nevertheless, it remains an open question whether these rules are effective genuinely or just because they mirror fiscal preferences of politicians and voters. In our analysis of European bond spreads,...

Für das Zielsystem, an dem die EU ihr Handeln orientiert, spielen heute zwei Komplexe zumindest in wirtschaftspolitischer Hinsicht eine zentrale Rolle. Diese lassen sich mit den Begriffen "Lissabon" und "Maastricht" titulieren. Während "Lissabon" seit dem Jahr 2005 insbesondere für die Ziele...

Mit der Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise hat sich die finanzielle Situation der öffentlichen Haushalte stark eingetrübt. Dies gilt insbesondere für die kommunale Ebene. Angesichts dieser angespannten Lage vieler öffentlicher Haushalte wird die Diskussion über die effiziente Verwendung...

We investigate the political determinants of risk premiums which sub-national governments in Switzerland have to pay for their sovereign bond emissions. For this purpose we analyse financial market data from 288 tradable cantonal bonds in the period from 1981 to 2007. Our main focus is on two...