Budgets have to meet a number of principles in order to fulfil their functions properly. This paper focuses on two of these budget principles. First, it addresses the principle of unity and universalism. More in particular, it discusses the issue of earmarking receipts. It is concluded that most...

This paper looks at the position of Romania in the run-up to European Union membership. It starts by comparing the EU’s 2004 Eastern enlargement with previous enlargements. It ap-pears that the EU became poorer by every single enlargement. The EU’s GDP per capita decreased each time relative...

Globalization is not a new phenomenon, but already occurred centuries ago. The first half of the 20th century seems an interruption of the move towards free trade. After World War II, however, the move to free trade resumed and gave rise to a sustained period of high economic growth in most...

The policy that has led from the ‘Dutch disease’ (in the 1980s) to the ‘Dutch miracle’ (in the 1990s) consists of three tracks: 1) wage moderation, 2) retrenching public expenditure and reducing the tax burden, 3) slimming the welfare system. The wage moderation track seems to have been...

This paper compares owner-occupied housing tax regimes in the Netherlands and the other countries in the EU-15. The Nether-lands appears to stand apart in two respects. First, in Luxembourg and the Netherlands owner-occupiers have to include an imputed rental income in their taxable income....

This paper investigates which different views have occurred on the main lines of the Dutch incomes policy. To this end the implications of the incomes policies pursued by different cabinets have been analyzed, mainly since 1973. It appears that distributive policies are heavily influenced by a...

After the upheavals in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Western world has given considerable aid to the fledgling democracies. In this paper we draw a summary from Baltic experience in the fields of educational programs, scientific and environmental programs, and...

Traditionally, governments used to deploy input-based budgeting systems and cash-based accounting systems. However, these systems do not provide the information that is necessary for a government to operate efficiently and effectively. Therefore, a growing number of countries have already...

The policy that has led from the ‘Dutch disease’ (in the 1980s) to the ‘Dutch miracle’ (in the 1990s) consists of three tracks: 1) wage moderation, 2) retrenching public expenditure and reducing the tax burden, 3) slimming the welfare system. The wage moderation track seems to have been...

Europe’s borders are not defined and the European Commission rejects a static definition. This paper looks at the Eastern enlargement of the European Union. It applies a political economy of reform based on a World Bank analysis tracing the paths of winners and losers from the transition. Most...