In this paper, we take up the question why a group of sovereign countries is willing to form a federation even if residents of the high-income region suspect potential immigrants to be net beneficiaries of the tax and transfer system. We argue that income uncertainty alone cannot satisfactorily...

The distinct characteristic in James Buchanan’s thinking about federalism in contrast to the traditional theory of fiscal federalism is his view about fiscal competition. In this paper, it is demonstrated that this thinking went through three stages. From the 1950s to the beginning of the...

According to the fiscal federalism literature sub-central budget constraints become softer when local governments are more dependent on revenues over which they have no discretion. As a consequence of higher "transfer dependency", sub-central governments can expect to be bailed out by the...

This paper uses a simultaneous equations model to analyse increases in intergovernmental fiscal transfers and associated vote changes in Portuguese legislative elections. Results suggest that election year increases in transfers by the central government to municipalities secure added votes, and...

Nigeria has been a federation before 1963. This was expected to foster speedy growth and development, but military interferences seem to have bedevil this dream. However, an uninterrupted democracy for about 20 years should have produced a significant result, but not much has changed. Many have...

Das Papier diskutiert die Ausgestaltung des EU Finanzsystems aus polit-ökonomischer Perspektive. Die jetzige Form der Umverteilung lässt sich aus ökonomischer Sicht nicht nachvollziehen; vielmehr kann dies als ein System von politischen Seitenzahlungen verstanden werden. Es wird argumentiert,...

Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, ob eine Fusion der Länder Hamburg und Schleswig-Holstein zu einem Bundesland ökonomisch von Vorteil ist. Es wird gezeigt, dass generell die Größe von Ländern nicht positiv mit dem Pro-Kopf-Einkommen oder dem wirtschaftlichen Wachstum korreliert....

In the context of EMU fiscal equalization schemes have been proposed as a means to stabilize regions against asymmetric shocks. A theoretical analysis shows that besides reducing the cross-sectional income variance the redistributive element of fiscal equalization causes incentive effects for...

The paper addresses the welfare implications of conditional grants if government failure leads to inefficiencies in the production of regional public goods and services. Conditional grants may improve welfare by setting incentives for regions to improve efficiency. At the same time, resources...

In this paper we use a simple bureaucracy model of fiscal illusion to analyze the impact of intergovernmental grants on the cost efficiency of local jurisdictions. We find that a higher degree of redistribution within a system of fiscal equalization or an increase in the amount of grants...