Taxpayers often view tax rules and filing processes as complicated. In this paper I study whether the perceived tax uncertainty among peers leads to a reduction of voluntary tax compliance. I find strong supportive evidence for this hypothesis using a survey experiment for a large representative...

This paper examines whether revenue decentralization and direct external financial supervision affect the incidence and strength of political budget cycles, using a panel of Israeli municipalities during the period 1999-2009. We find that high dependence on central government transfers - as...

This paper exploits detailed information on local political and socioeconomic networks and a reform of local fiscal equalization in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) to identify the role of learning in local tax rate interactions. Using this policy change in spatial lag IV regressions, we find that...

The Brexit referendum and the decision of British voters to leave the EU have sparked a comprehensive debate on the future of European integration. A key issue in this debate is the appropriate division of responsibilities between the EU and its Member States. The EU might still lack certain...

Während die Schuldenbremse für den Bund bereits in diesem Jahr zwingend anzuwenden ist, gilt das gesetzliche Gebot des Haushaltsausgleichs für die Bundesländer erst ab 2020. Im Gegensatz zur Nullverschuldungsregel auf Ebene der Länder, steht dem Bund jedoch ein gewisser Spielraum für den...

Seit Jahrzehnten fusionieren westliche Industrienationen kommunale Gebietskörperschaften in der Hoffnung auf Kosteneinsparungen, eine höhere Leistungsfähigkeit der Verwaltung sowie lokale Wachstumsimpulse. Verlässliche wissenschaftliche Evidenz zu Gebietsreformenist jedoch erst seit wenigen...

We analyze data from an author-conducted survey of members of the French and German parliaments on European Monetary Union reform preferences. We consider three potential drivers of preferences: nationality, ideology, and personal characteristics. For European Monetary Union policies like...

The "multicrisis" of European integration from the euro debt crisis through the migration dispute to Brexit has kicked-off a comprehensive reform debate. This debate covers the evolution of European Monetary Union (EMU) institutions, the division of competencies between the EU and Member States,...

Arbitrarily designed borders have been identified by a recent literature as an important reason why sub-Saharan Africa remains one of the poorest regions on the globe. Accordingly, border changes may be a way to promote growth on the African continent. In this paper, we study the effect of...