Recently a wide and empirically-backed consensus has emerged arguing that direct democratic control over government's spending decisions through initiatives and referenda constrains government size. But what happens if budgetary matters are excluded from the voters' right of the initiative? I...

The paper empirically analyzes whether electoral rules make legislators differently responsive to changes in fiscal incentives. Key to the analysis are two unique reforms in the German state of Lower Saxony which changed (i) the municipal charter by replacing the council-manager system...

Die Einführung erläutert verständlich und unter Einbeziehung zahlreicher Praxisbeispiele, - welche Aufgaben die kommunale Ebene aus Sicht des Ökonomen erfüllen soll, - welche Einnahmen (insbesondere Steuern) hierfür geeignet sind, - wie ein Finanzausgleich unter den Kommunen aussehen kann...

This paper analyzes the occurrence of political budget cycles in 604 West German cities between 1975 and 2007. Due to the idiosyncratic timing of state and local elections, the budgetary changes before elections at two tiers of the federalist government can be separately estimated and can also...