Politicians are expected to influence policy outcomes in a way to gain electoral advantage. There is, however, a pending question whether efficiency in the provision of public goods and services is affected by strategic behavior. I examine how electoral cycles influence local government...

In der Juli-Umfrage des Ökonomenpanels von ifo und FAZ wurden Professoren für Volkswirtschaftslehre an deutschen Universitäten zu den geplanten Freihandelsabkommen TTIP und CETA befragt. Die Mehrheit der Teilnehmer befürwortet demnach die beiden Freihandelsabkommen und erwartet von diesen...

In der September-Umfrage des Ökonomenpanels von ifo und FAZ wurden Professoren für Volkswirtschaftslehre an deutschen Universitäten zu der bevorstehenden Präsidentschaftswahl in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika befragt. Die große Mehrheit der Teilnehmer würde dabei Hillary Clinton als...

We examine how trade openness influences income inequality within countries. The sample includes 139 countries over the period 1970-2014. We employ predicted openness as instrument to deal with the endogeneity of trade openness. The effect of trade openness on income inequality differs across...

We examine how political institutions influence health expenditure by using a panel of 151 developing and developed countries for the years 2000 to 2015 and four measures of democracy. Our pooled OLS analysis shows that democracies have 20-30% higher government health expenditure relative to GDP...

This paper re-examines the link between globalization and income inequality. We use data for 140 countries over the period 1970-2014 and employ an IV approach to deal with the endogeneity of globalization measures. We find that the link between globalization and income inequality differs across...

We examine how trade openness influences income inequality within countries. The sample includes 139 countries over the period 1970-2014. We employ predicted openness as instrument to deal with the endogeneity of trade openness. The effect of trade openness on income inequality differs across...