The article discusses the close collaboration between governments and the financial industry. The author argues that governments and banks have formed an alliance against the real sector. He considers recent banking regulations as basically useless, if not dangerous, and proposes to split up...

Trotz der vielfältigen Änderungen der Einkommen- und Körperschaftsteuer in den letzten Jahren wird die Kritik am bestehenden Steuersystem immer lauter. Welche der zahlreichen Vorschläge zur Reform der Einkommensteuer sind realisierbar? Wie sind die Erfolgsaussichten einer...

Monetary policy is superneutral in an overlapping generations model. Previous authors have argued that superneutrality does not hold in such a setting. However, the standard results rely on the counter-factual premise of helicopter money and are overturned if money creation through open market...

Japan has been in a benign liquidity trap since 1990. In a benign liquidity trap, interest rates approach zero, prices decline, and monetary policy is ineffective but output and employment perform decently. Such a pattern contradicts traditional macro theories. This paper introduces a monetary...

Niedrige oder sogar negative Realzinsen bestimmen seit Beginn der Krise die Kapitalmärkte in der Eurozone. Davon profitieren vor allem die Staatshaushalte in Ländern mit hoher öffentlicher Neuverschuldung. Sparer haben demgegenüber Schwierigkeiten, ihr Kapital rentierlich anzulegen. Die...

The book analyzes the German welfare state. It starts from a theoretical perspective and then develops changes in social security, public health care, and unemployment insurance.

The article concerns issues of fiscal federalism in the broadest sense. It analyzes both the political causes and the economic consequences of interregional and international grants. Examples from Germany and from the European Union are considered.

Persistently high unemployment rates have stimulated debates whether or not the tax transfer system may be partly responsible for this problem. In particular, it has been pointed out that low earnings are subject to very high marginal tax rates. Among possible reform options are the negative...

In an important decision, the German Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) rejected a claim of the state Berlin on federal support. Berlin had argued that it were effectively bankrupt. The article considers the ruling from an economic perspective.

The book offers a compehensive account of traditional and more recent developments in macroeconomic theory. It is written primarily for students at the intermediate level.