In the centrally financed public education system of Australia, interstate differences in per student educational spending have been interpreted as measures of efficiency. An alternative explanation is that the variation reflects differences in citizen preference. An analysis of a survey of...

We characterise a model in which states engage in tax and policy competition with one another to attract mobile capital. The mix of policies chosen is shown to depend on the interaction between a desire to exploit capital for the benefit of domestic residents (labour) and a net marginal...

Section 90 of the Australian Constitution gave the power to impose excise duties exclusively to the commonwealth. Sometimes it is argued that the founders were motivated by a concern to ensure free interstate trade. The authors show that Section 90 may have reduced interstate trade distortions...

The owners of property taken for public use are often compensated for their loss. Compensation based on market value is known to create a moral hazard problem and induce inefficient investment. However, no compensation, while efficiency inducing, is not a feasible, or desirable alternative,...

Most existing models of fiscal competition between states within federations or regional unions share at least two common features. First, they focus on inter-jurisdictional competition in but one policy instrument, for example, taxes, public goods or environmental quality. The second is that...