Regional disparities within the European Union have always been perceived as an impediment to monetary integration. This is why discussions on a joint currency, from their very beginning, were linked to compensatory payments in the form of regional policy payments. Structural assistance to poor...

We study the fiscal policy reactions of municipalities in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia to an unanticipated spending shock. The implementation of a horizontal transfer system led to additional contributions for selected municipalities. Using the quasi-random assignment, we examine...

The level of trust inherent in a society is important for a wide range of microeconomic and macroeconomic outcomes. This paper investigates how individuals' attitudes toward social and institutional trust are shaped by the political regime in which they live. The German reunification is a unique...

What are the long-term effects of Communism on economically relevant notions such as social trust? To answer this question, we use the reunification of Germany as a natural experiment and study the post-reunification trajectory of convergence with regard to individuals' trust and risk, as well...

Background: The National Cohort (Nationale Kohorte = NaKo ) will be one of the largest cohort studies in Europe to include intensive physical examinations and extensive information about the socio-demographic background and behavior of the subjects. However, regional selectivity of the study and...

We state efficiency conditions for the provision of congestable local public goods that diminish individual-specific proprietary risks. The optimum level of such a public service is determined by equating the sum of the reductions of the expected property losses due to a better service level...

Das Ruhrgebiet ist eine regionalpolitische Dauerbaustelle. Die Transformation der einstigenBergbau- und Industrieregion hin zu Hochschulbau und Dienstleistungen konnte nichtverhindern, dass die Arbeitslosenzahlen deutlich über dem Landes- und Bundesdurchschnittliegen. Um die Regionalentwicklung...

m November 1999 forderte das Bundesverfassungsgericht in seinem Urteil neue klare Regeln für den Länderfinanzausgleich. Seither dauert das Ringen um einen tragfähigen Kompromiss an. Die Geberländer beklagen eine zu starke Abschöpfung der Steuerkraft der finanzstarken Länder und drängen...

Eines der in Deutschland zur Zeit heftig diskutierten Probleme ist die Neuordnung des Länderfinanzausgleichs in der Folge des Verfassungsgerichtsurteils vom 11. November 1999. Zu den zentralen Punkten gehört dabei die Überprüfung der Bevorzugung der drei Stadtstaaten Hamburg, Bremen und...

Auch Prof. Dr. Fritz Söllner, Technische Universität Ilmenau, findet in seinem Beitrag keine Rechtfertigung für die bisherige Praxis der Einwohnerwertung.