Where markets are insufficiently competitive, governments can intervene by auctioninglicenses to operate or by forcing divestitures. The Dutch government has doneexactly that, organizing auctions to redistribute tenancy rights for highway gasolinestations and forcing the divestiture of outlets...

There is a growing interest, notably in development economics, in extending project evaluation methods to the evaluation of multiple interventions (“programs”). In program evaluations one is interested in the aggregate impact of a program rather than the effect on individual beneficiaries....

Randomized experiments provide policy relevant treatment effects if there areno spillovers between participants and nonparticipants. We show that thisassumption is violated for a Danish activation program for unemployed workers.Using a difference-in-difference model we show that the...

There is a growing interest in extending project evaluation methods to the evaluation of programs: complex interventions involving multiple activities. In general a program evaluation cannot be based on separate evaluations of its components since interactions between the activities are likely...

We estimate the deterrence effects of U.S. merger policy instruments with respect tothe composition and frequency of future merger notifications. Data from the Annual Reports bythe U.S. DOJ and FTC allow industry based measures over the 1986-1999 period of theconditional probabilities for...

Until the early 1990s, the discussions on fiscal policy primarily centered on the functions of economic stabilization, income redistribution and resource allocation. Long-term growth was not usually viewed as an end itself, and fiscal policy was often not sufficiently tailored to the different...

The Trade Policy Reviews conducted in the Western Hemisphere over 1989-2009 contain a wealth of information that puts in clear evidence the considerable improvements achieved in most American countries during the first two decades of operation of the Trade Policy Review Mechanism. Those Reviews...

The future of structural reforms in Latin America is under discussion. The purpose of this document is to synthesize the facts and opinions that underlie this debate. The first section shows that although the reform process has not ground to a halt, it has been incomplete and uneven, both across...

Die Kommunen haben schon seit langem strukturelle Finanzierungsprobleme. Wie wirkt sich das auf die kommunale Verschuldung aus? Der Autor setzt in seinem Beitrag auf vier Ebenen an: den Konsequenzen aus der Doppikeinführung, der Umsetzung eines kommunalen Debt Managements, den Veränderungen im...

In der Eurokrise werden Schuldnerstaaten in ein strenges Austeritätsprogramm gedrängt. Die Autoren des Beitrags zeigen, dass die Defi zite des Staates nicht unabhängig von den Finanzierungssalden der übrigen Sektoren der Volkswirtschaft sinnvoll analysiert werden können. Das systematisch...