This paper provides a simple model to explain effect of political alignment between different tiers of government on policy choices and election outcomes. We derive precise predictions that, as long as voters attribute most of the credit for providing public goods to the local government: (i)...

This paper studies the efficiency of decentralized leadership in federations where selfish regional governments provide regional and federal public goods and the benevolent central government implements interregional earmarked and income transfers. Without residential mobility, unlimited...

Nigeria has been a federation before 1963. This was expected to foster speedy growth and development, but military interferences seem to have bedevil this dream. However, an uninterrupted democracy for about 20 years should have produced a significant result, but not much has changed. Many have...

The recent European economic crisis has dramatically exposed the failures of the various institutional mechanisms in place to maintain economic stability in Europe, and has unveiled the difficulty in achieving international coordination on fiscal and financial stability policies. Drawing on the...

Warum macht die Harmonisierung der Unternehmens- und Kapitalertragsbesteuerung in der Europäischen Union kaum Fortschritte, obwohl sie im Binnenmarkt heftigem Steuerwettbewerb ausgesetzt ist, und warum ist die Umsatzbesteuerung weitgehend harmonisiert worden, obwohl sie gegen Steuerwettbewerb...