The article concerns issues of fiscal federalism in the broadest sense. It analyzes both the political causes and the economic consequences of interregional and international grants. Examples from Germany and from the European Union are considered.

In an important decision, the German Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) rejected a claim of the state Berlin on federal support. Berlin had argued that it were effectively bankrupt. The article considers the ruling from an economic perspective.

The paper analyzes the possible efficiency base of intergovernmental grants between rich and poor regions in a federal state.

The article analyses the incentive effects of the German system of intergovernmental grants.

From the literature on decentralization, it appears that the fiscal vertical imbalance is somehow inherent to multi-level governments. Using a stylized model we show that this leads to a reduction in the extent of redistributive fiscal policies if the maximal tolerable size of government has...

Jurisdictions that engage in inter-regional tax competition usually try to attenuate competitive pressures by substituting salient tax instruments with hidden ones. On this effect, we investigate the efficiency consequences of inter-regional tax competition and fiscal equalization in a federal...

Most countries pay substantial intergovernmental transfers to poor regions with the aim of achieving regional convergence. Consequently, transfers should have a positive effect on economic growth. However, it is equally possible that transfers perpetuate under-development. This paper studies...

In assessing the desirability for tax decentralization reforms, a dilemma between efficiency and redistribution emerges. By limiting the ability of the central government to redistribute resources towards regions in financial needs, decentralization curbs incentives for excessive subnational...

Eine Annäherung der Lebensverhältnisse im Bundesgebiet ist ein wichtiges Ziel. Ein wesentliches Instrument hierfür ist der Länderfinanzausgleich, der zum einen die Umverteilung von Steuermitteln zwischen den Ländern, zum anderen Zuweisungen vom Bund an die Länder regelt. Obwohl im Zuge...

We analyze the strategic interaction of regional and federal governments using a model that includes fiscal externalities in the form of inter-regional capital tax competition and technical externalities in the form of inter-regional spillovers. The federal government aims to correct for these...