This paper tests sustainability of Brazilian public debt in the period 1991 to 2009, and analyzes implications of requiring that the Brazilian fiscal policy be primarily committed to the sustainability of the public debt. The retrospective analysis utilizes a set of unit root tests and avoids...

Aufgrund der seit langem geführten Debatte um das Für und Wider der Nutzung des Politikinstruments der Staatsverschuldung wissen wir recht viel darüber, was Experten (z. B. Finanzpolitiker/‌-‍wissenschaftler) von Haushaltskonsolidierung, Deficit-Spending oder Verschuldungsgrenzen halten....

Regional fiscal equalization in Germany aims to reduce fiscal disparities by allocating financial resources to less promising regions in order to support the supply of public goods. This paper aims to analyse secondary economic effects of regional fiscal equalization on several economic in- and...

The surge of government debt during the post-global financial crisis and the ongoing euro zone sovereign debt crisis has begun raising concerns whether government debt levels have hit the tipping points. This study offers to contribute in the following ways: First, we find out whether the...

This paper provides evidence that most German states (Laender) have unsustainable public finances by exploiting a newly compiled database covering the years 1950‐2011. Although the Laender are closely intertwined we are the first to apply “second generation” panel techniques that control...

This paper investigates whether the socioeconomic status of the head of government helps explain fiscal performance. Applying sociological research that attributes differences in people's ways of thinking and acting to their relative standing within society, we test whether the social status of...

The paper analyzes the impact of the two major German regional dev elopment and redistribution policies, the municipal fiscal equalization scheme and the economic funds GRW, on perceived regional living conditions, measured through inte rregional migration between German labor market regions....

This paper deals with the effects of publicly funded research on regional technological progress and economic growth. We adopt a system approach and investigate the effects on all regional input factors and output by means of a flexible spatial panel VAR (SpPVAR) model. This allows us to deal...