We investigate the effect of general-purpose transfers on different expenditure categories and tax rates in the municipalities of Saxony (eastern Germany) and North Rhine-Westphalia (western Germany). Findings from the panel data analysis suggest the existence of the "flypaper effect" -...

Recently Germany experienced yet another federal reform shortly after a previous modification to the German federal system. This paper explains agenda setting, negotiations and ratification of this recent federal reform. With regards to the case of the most recent federal reform in Germany the...

We investigate how lump-sum equalization transfers affect expenditures and taxes in the municipalities of the largest German state North Rhine-Westphalia. In general, those general-purpose transfers cannot be treated as exogenous variables. Thus, for the identification of causal effects, two...

Under New Public Management (NPM) we have seen an expansion of public accountability despite the fact that it is an ambiguous, complex, elusive, fragmented and heterogeneous concept. Public management has not only resulted in bureaucratic accountability being augmented by managerial...

A widespread view in the "political budget cycles" literature is that incumbent politicians seek to influence voters' perceptions of their competence and/or preferences by using the composition of the fiscal budget as a signalling tool. However, little is known about whether voters actually...

We investigate the impact of immigration on public budgets using administrative data from German districts (Kreise). While previous literature suggests that the fiscal benefits of migration depend on government spending responses to immigration, the local-level effects in Germany remain...

This dissertation consists of six self-contained chapters that are related to the behavior of firms and politicians in a broader sense. After an introduction to the topic, the first part of the dissertation elaborates on how institutional and political framework conditions influence the behavior...

Bayern und Hessen haben im März 2013 eine Klage vor dem Bundesverfassungsgericht gegen das Gesetz über den Länderfinanzausgleich eingereicht. Reformvorhaben müssen aber auch politische Mehrheiten im Bundestag und Bundesrat erreichen. Allein aus politökonomischer Perspektive erscheint eine...

Die Stadtstaatenregelung im Länderfinanzausgleich sieht vor, dass durch die Einwohnerveredelung finanzielle Mittel zu den Stadtstaaten umgeleitet werden. Nicht diese besondere Berücksichtigung, sondern das gegenwärtige Verfahren ist dabei umstritten. Der Wissenschaftliche Beirat beim...

Das Finanzausgleichssystem verteilt von finanzstärkeren hin zu finanzschwächeren Ländern um. Dabei knüpft das aktuelle System an nominale Größen an. Da die Länder sich aber in ihrer Kaufkraft unterscheiden, stehen Ländern mit einem niedrigeren Preisniveau real mehr Mittel für die...