Should a subset of member states of a federation be allowed to form a sub-union on some policy issue? When centralization is not politically feasible, allowing an enhanced cooperation agreement among a subset of countries permits the latter to gain benefits which would otherwise be lost....

We study lobbying behavior by firms in a two-region economy, with either centralized or decentralized provision of profit-enhancing local public goods. Firms compete either in the market, lobbying for public good provision once entered in a market, or for the market, lobbying to gain ccess to...

Der europäische Integrationsprozess wird gleich von mehreren Krisen erschüttert - der Euro-Schuldenkrise, der Flüchtlingsfrage und dem Brexit-Konflikt - , was eine umfassende Reform-Debatte ausgelöst hat. Bei dieser Debatte geht es sowohl um die Entwicklung der Institutionen der...

For almost two decades, starting from the early ‘90s, Italy experienced the strongest wave of decentralization reforms in its post II World War history. The causes were both economic and political. Yet, in recent years, again economic and political causes seem to call for opposite reforms....