The 'starving the beast' hypothesis claims that tax cuts lead to lower public spending, rather than higher debt levels and higher taxes in the future. This paper uses the institutional setting of German fiscal federalism to its advantage in order to explore how fiscal policy reacts to exogenous...

We empirically analyze the effect of UN and US economic sanctions on life expectancy and its gender gap in target countries. Our sample covers 98 less developed and newly industrialized countries over the period 1977–2012. We employ a matching approach to account for the endogeneity of...

Seit der Ankündigung des Mietendeckels haben sich die Mietpreise von Wohnungen, die vom Mietendeckel betroffen sind, und jenen, die nicht unter die Regulierung fallen, auseinanderentwickeln. Während die Mieten von regulierten Wohnungen seit Juli 2019 langsamer steigen als in anderen deutschen...

We investigate the degree of (a)symmetry of macroeconomic fluctuations within the euro area (EA). Our findings indicate, first, a high degree of co-movement of cyclical GDP across EA member states. However, the amplitudes of national business cycles appear to vary notably, meaning that booms and...

In recent studies the IMF and the OECD claim that inequality has a negative impact on economic growth and conclude that redistribution policies have no adverse growth effects. We argue that this claim is misleading. We show that, for developed countries, the correlation between inequality and...

This paper contributes to the current debate how a faster implementation of structural reforms fostering the process of economic convergence in Europe can be achieved. We discuss the rationale and potential adverse effects of providing financial incentives for structural reforms. After a...

This paper studies the impact of economic deprivation on radical voting. Using a unique dataset covering different indicators of economic deprivation as well as federal election outcomes at the county-level in Germany for the period from 1998 to 2017, we examine whether economic deprivation...

This paper examines the effects of real estate transfer taxes (RETT) on house prices using a rich micro dataset on German properties covering the period from 2005 to 2018. We exploit a 2006 constitutional reform that allowed states to set their own RETT rates, leading to frequent increases in...

Die bayerische Wirtschaft wurde von den Auswirkungen der Corona-Pandemie hart getroffen. Die negativen Auswirkungen ziehen sich durch alle Sektoren und Unternehmensgrößen. Besonders pessimistisch blicken dabei Kleinunternehmen in die Zukunft. Im Vergleich zu Dienstleistern, Handel und...