In 2006, the reform of the German fiscal constitution realigned legislative powers between the federal and the state governments. Since 2007, the German state governments have been allowed to design real estate transfer tax rates. We investigate whether government ideology predicts the levels...

Members of parliament (MPs) often decide on their own salaries. Voters dislike self-serving politicians, and politicians are keen to gratify their voters. In line with the political business cycle theories, politicians thus may well delay deciding on increases in salaries until after elections....

In der Oktober-Umfrage des Ökonomenpanels wurden Professoren der Volkswirtschaftslehre zur Zukunft des deutschen Rentensystems befragt. Anlass hierzu war die Forderung von Finanzminister Olaf Scholz, das aktuelle Rentenniveau auch über das Jahr 2025 hinaus auf dem aktuellen Niveau zu...

We investigate whether left-wing governments decrease wage inequality among civil servants. The data is based on salaries of civil servants in the German states. Since a reform in 2006, German state governments are allowed to design salaries of civil servants. We employ encompassing data for pay...

The political business cycle theories describe that election-motivated politicians manipulate economic policy-making. Election cycles occur in many fiscal variables, for example tax rates. I examine whether electoral motives influence communal fees in Germany. Fees have to be paid for the use of...

The dissertation consists of six self-contained chapters that are related to selected incentives in fiscal federalism by using the example of the federal system in Germany. The dissertation elaborates on political as well as fiscal incentives. Chapters 2 and 3 examine election cycles, based on...