This paper investigates whether fiscal competition affects the structure of public spending, where theory predicts a shift from residential public goods to industrial public goods. We propose an empirical model that specifically accounts for the strategic nature and endogeneity of fiscal...

This paper investigates whether fiscal competition affects the structure of public spending, where theory predicts a shift from residential public goods to industrial public goods. We propose an empirical model that specifically accounts for the strategic nature and endogeneity of fiscal...

In this paper we take a "market-based" approach to examine whether increased school expenditures are valued by potential residents and whether the current level of public school provision is inefficient. We do so by employing an instrumental variables strategy to estimate the effect of state...

States differ substantially in higher education policies. Little is known about the effects of state policies on the performance of public colleges and universities, largely because no clear measures of college quality exist. In this paper, I estimate the average quality of public colleges of...

We identify investor moral hazard in the German fiscal federation. Our identification strategy is based on a variable, which was used by the German Federal Constitutional Court as an indicator to determine eligibility of two German states (Länder) to a bail-out, the interest payments-to-revenue...

Politicians seeking reelection need voters to know what they have done for them. Thus, incentives may arise to spend more money where media coverage is higher. We present a simple model to explain the allocation of public spending across jurisdictions contingent on media activity. An incumbent...

This paper aims to understand how corruption responds to financial incentives and, in particular, it is an attempt to identify the causal impact of a wage loss on the prevalence of corruption in the education sector. Specifically, we exploit the unexpected wage cut in May 2010 that affected all...

In the past two decades, controversial evidence has been produced supporting the case for local protectionism in China. This paper overviews the most important contributions and presents a new approach which applies spatial econometrics on prefectural-level data. The main advantage of this...

This paper aims to understand how corruption responds to financial incentives and, in particular, it is an attempt to identify the causal impact of a wage loss on the prevalence of corruption in the education sector. Specifically, we exploit the unexpected wage cut in May 2010 that affected all...

In this paper, we examine the causal relationship between aid inflows and economic growth for Ghana during the period from 1970 - 2013, taking into account structural breaks. To better reflect causality, corruption and trade are included as control variables. To test for causality in the face of...