"This paper examines equilibrium tax rates and provision levels of public goods in an international tax competition setting with imperfect labour markets. While earlier research mainly reexamined the result of underprovision of public consumption goods in the decentralised equilibrium, this...

According to a widespread view, Germany's unemployment crisis is caused by rigid labour markets, low profitability and increasing international competition. We argue that this view does not provide a convincing explanation for the dramatic rise in Germany's unemployment rate since 1989, first...

The difference between the potential net wage income and the social welfare payments is measured for different types of private households in Germany. In 2001, the difference is small for households consisting of at least three persons. For three types of households the difference is calculated...

This paper presents the first MIMIC (multiple indicator multiple causes) model estimate of the size and development of the shadow economy and of do-it-yourself (DIY) activities in Germany from 1970 to 2005. By 2005, they reached a level of about 17% and 4.94%. While the shadow economy has...