The ability to cooperate in collective action problems — such as those relating to the useof common property resources or the provision of local public goods — is a key determinant ofeconomic performance. In this paper we discuss two aspects of collective action problemsin developing...

This article investigates economic performance when enforceable propertyrights are missing and basic needs matter for consumption. It suggests anew view of the so-called voracity eect according to which windfall gains inproductivity induce behavior that leads to lower economic growth. Takinginto...

We extend the simple model of voluntary public good provision toallow for two or more public goods, and explore the new possibilitiesthat arise in this setting. We show that, when there are many publicgoods, voluntary contrib...

Etablierte Demokratien westlichen Typs, wie etwa die DemokratieformDeutschlands, zeichnen sich durch handlungsrechtliche Systemstrukturen aus, diegraduell unterschiedlich große Verteilungsspielräume für politischeEntscheidungsträger enthalten. Dieser Sachverhalt steht in engemZusammenhang...

Gemeinnützigkeit steht umgangssprachlich für freiwilliges gemeinwohlorientiertes undnicht auf materiellen Gewinn ausgerichtetes bürgerschaftliches Engagement. Die Bedeutungeines solchen Engagements wurde von der Enquete-Kommission „Zukunft desBürgerschaftlichen Engagements“ im Auftrag...

In order to understand inefficient institutions, one needs to understand what mightcause the breakdown of a political version of the Coase Theorem. This paper considersan environment populated by ex-ante identical agents and develops a model of powerand distribution where institutions (the...

We analytically and quantitatively examine a prominent justification forcapital income taxation: goods preferred by those with high ability ought tobe taxed. We study an environment where commodity taxes are allowed to benonlinear functions of income and consumption and find that, when ability...

Public choice analysts have often argued that the level of government spending willreflect voter-taxpayer’s demand for public goods, while the fiscal illusion literature hasargued that certain features of the tax structure affect voter’s perceptions of their taxburden causing them to...