Abstract Rainer Kambeck explains that municipality budgets in Germany finished the fiscal year 2013 in total with a surplus of 1.7 bn Euro. In addition, the current year their overall budget will conclude with a surplus. However, there are huge differences in the situation of local budgets....

Purpose This paper aims to analyze how political brinkmanship impacted Treasury yields during the debt ceiling debate in 2015. The results show that the resignation of the House Speaker John A. Boehner caused a significant decrease in Treasury bill yields of one- and three-month maturities. The...

Purpose With a newly developed measure of economic freedom across US local government jurisdictions, this paper aims to estimate the relationship between economic freedom and bond ratings. Design/methodology/approach The author uses a battery of cross-sectional econometric models to identify the...

The impact of structural adjustment program on the economic situation in many African countries can not be overemphasised. Over two decades of implementing neo-liberal economic policies by the Bretton Woods institution, it is of great importance to document the lessons learnt. This paper elicits...

Abstract An expression for the welfare cost of a marginal increase in the public debt is derived using a simple AK endogenous growth model. This measure of the marginal cost of public funds (MCF) can be interpreted as the marginal benefit-cost ratio that a debt-financed public project needs in...

Abstract The worldwide growth slowdown after 1975 was a major negative fiscal shock; lower growth lowers the present value of tax revenues and primary surpluses and thus makes a given level of debt more burdensome. Most countries failed to adjust to the negative fiscal consequences of the growth...

Summary In this paper a neoclassical growth model is used to analyze public debt in a growing economy with two levels of government. The main focus is on the existence and the stability of long run equilibria in a growing federal state. It is shown that the equilibrium in a federation with two...

Zusammenfassung Im Beitrag wird gezeigt, dass die Kreditfinanzierung öffentlicher Investitionen mittel- und langfristig den Nachteil hoher, am Marktzins orientierter Opportunitätskosten aufweist. Im Rahmen der Steuerfinanzierung konvergieren die Opportunitätskosten öffentlicher Investitionen...

Summary We analyse German public finances against a theoretical background using a unique database, retrieved from multiple sources covering the period between 1850 and 2010.Multiple currency crises and force majeure offer anecdotal evidence contradicting the historical perception of Germany...

Abstract This paper elaborates upon the following three theses: First, given bank sector concentration, the other aspect of this sector that matters for the overall economy is that of price vs . quantity competition by itself. Second, the macroeconomic performance of price competition is...