This paper analyze the historical origin of Fiscal illusion, and introduce to the contribution of Public Choice and in particular James Buchanan which systematized all these concept in a coherent framework. Even the critiques and application of this Theory are mentioned.

Economic policy depends not only on national elections but also on coalition bargaining strategies. In coalition government, minority parties bargain on policy and form a majority coalition, and select a Prime Minister from their mids. In Holland the latter is done conventionally with Plurality,...

The paper communicates the essence of the findings of a study influencing participation in May Day demonstrations in Copenhagen 1980-2013. Political factors seem irrelevant for predicting the level of turn-out at May Day demonstrations. The most important factors are the weather conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to consider some of the challenges lying ahead of policy makers in the context of regional development. Regional economic development encompasses the economics and other resources that a region can mobilize for its own sustainable development and competitiveness. It...

The welfare economic method for analyzing the case for government intervention is often criticised for ignoring the political determination of policies. The standard method of accounting for this critique studies the case for intervention under the constraint that the level of the instrument in...

Whether or not privatization facilitates rural development depends upon what rural development means. In practice, rural development often is the result of a struggle between rent defenders and rent seekers. A positivist concept of rural development is proposed, and the institutions of public...

The paper presents a multi-agent model simulating a two-level public decision game in which politicians, voters and interest groups interact. The objective is to model the political market for influence at the domestic level and at the international level, and to assess how new consultation...

The aim of this paper is to assess preferences with respect to fiscal federalism in EU member-states. In particular, we address the question of whether each EU country would - if the decision were taken by 'majority voting' - or should – if the decision were takenby a social planner – favour...

The political feasibility study presented in this working paper has been undertaken in the course of the PHARE-project "Evaluation of consequences of an accession of the Slovak Republic into the EU on the competitiveness of the Slovak food processing industry". The main objective of the...

The present paper explores why farmers are taxed in poor countries and subsidized in rich countries. Using the economic theory of contests to come to an understanding of the incentives for agricultural protectionism, we first sketch a framework for an excludable and rivalrous rent. We then apply...