Die vorliegende Studie wurde von Sandra Hamella, geb. Waller, während ihrer Tätigkeit als wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im ifo Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, München, begonnen und im Sommer 2005 an der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Regensburg als Dissertation...

From the classical gold standard up to the current ERM2 arrangement of the European Union, target zones have been a widely used exchange regime in contemporary history. This paper presents a benchmark model that rationalizes the choice of target zones over the rest of regimes: the fixed rate,...

Among non Exponential Discounting (ED) models, introduced to capture time inconsistent choices, Hyperbolic Discounting (HD) recently gained particular relevance. This paper points out that, for some particular payoff structures, HD can also represent consistent preferences

Why do so many African governments consistently impose high tax rates and make little investment in productive public goods, when alternative policies could yield greater tax revenues and higher national income? We posit and test an intertemporal political economy model in which the government...

This paper models the gold standard as a state contingent commitment technology that is only feasible during peace. Monetary policy during war, when the gold convertibility rule is suspended, can still be credible, if the policymaker's plan is to resume the gold standard in the future. The DSGE...

The paper develops a stylized overlapping generations economy with random production and a stock market. The impact of a Social Security system on production, asset markets, and consumer welfare is analyzed. It is shown that any reduction in the contribution rate fosters capital accumulation and...

Household-specific growth rates of the tax base imply that the timing of tax collections determines the distribution of tax burdens and wealth across households. Changes in financial policy do not only shift taxes across generations, but also within cohorts. Institutional deficit constraints...

Climate mitigation policy should be imposed over a long period, and spur development of new technologies in order to make stabilization of green house gas concentrations economically feasible. The government may announce current and future policy packages that stimulate current R&D in...