This paper considers the arguments for fundamental pension reform in Germany and the United States. The two countries have recently made or are considering reforms that would reduce the generosity of the traditional, pay-as-you-go pension system. Some or all of the lost benefits would be...

Tragende Elemente der Grundsteuer Diese Untersuchung ist keine Nachbearbeitung der steuerpolitischen Grundsteuerdebatte, sondern möchte einen Beitrag zur steuerwissenschaftlichen Diskussion leisten. Gerechtigkeit, Grundsteuer sowie Leistungs- und Äquivalenzprinzip: ein Haus mit drei Etagen,...

U.S. survey respondents' views on distributive justice are shown to differ in two specific, related ways from what is conventionally assumed in modern optimal tax research. A large share of respondents, and in some cases a large majority, resist the full equalization of inequality due to brute...

U.S. survey respondents' views on distributive justice are shown to differ in two specific, related ways from what is conventionally assumed in modern optimal tax research. A large share of respondents, and in some cases a large majority, resist the full equalization of inequality due to brute...

This paper explores how the persistently popular "classical" logic of benefit-based taxation, in which an individual's benefit from public goods is tied to his or her income-earning ability, can be incorporated into modern optimal tax theory. If Lindahl's methods are applied to that view of...

This paper explores how the persistently popular "classical" logic of benefit-based taxation, in which an individual's benefit from public goods is tied to his or her income-earning ability, can be incorporated into modern optimal tax theory. If Lindahl's methods are applied to that view of...

Die kommunale Straßensanierung wird in der Regel von den Anliegern finanziert. Widersprüche dagegen haben Verwaltungsgerichte mit der Begründung, die Hauseigentümer hätten durch die Sanierung besondere Vorteile, abgewiesen. Aus finanzwissenschaftlicher Sicht muss die Erhebung von Beiträgen...

Contents: Preface -- Part I: Public debt and individual rationality -- 1. De Viti de Marco vs. Ricardo on public debt: self-extinction or default? / Giuseppe Eusepi and Richard E. Wagner -- 2. Governing the market for sovereign bailouts / Karsten Mause -- 3. Political obligations: is debt...

The paper examines the influence of the analysis of economic exchange in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, V, on subsequent economic theorizing. The approach is textual and selective. It traces the use of the relevant passage of NE V on Scholastic economic thought, the early mercantilists,...

We introduce two natural types of asymmetric single-peaked preferences, which we name biased- above and biased-below, depending on whether the asymmetry (or preference-bias) favors alternatives above or below the peak. We define a rich family of utility functions, the generalized distance-metric...

This paper explores how the persistently popular "classical" logic of bene.t based taxation, in which an individual's bene.t from public goods is tied to his or her income-earning ability, can be incorporated into modern optimal tax theory. If Lindahl's methods are applied to that view of...

In a two-period model with agent heterogeneity we analyze a pension reform toward a stronger link between contributions and benefits (as recently observed in several countries) in a pension system with a Bismarckian and a Beveridgian component. We show that such a policy change reduces the...

Wie schon oft in der Vergangenheit, so geht es auch in der aktuellen sozial-, finanz- und wirtschaftspolitischen Diskussion in Deutschland darum, welche Aufgaben und Ausgaben, die durch die Sozialversicherung abgewickelt bzw. ihr zugewiesen werden, aus Beiträgen finanziert werden sollen, die...

This work reviews benefit-based principles to measuring responsibility for carbon emissions at the sectoral level using environmental input–output analysis. Several new emissions multipliers are proposed to measure sectoral carbon efficiency. These principles are used in an empirical analysis...

Nationale Steuern werden durch zunehmende grenzüberschreitende Transaktionen vor neue Herausforderungen gestellt, wovon insbesondere die internationale Unternehmensbesteuerung betroffen ist. Neue Rahmenbedingungen beeinflussen die zwischenstaatliche Allokation der Besteuerungsrechte. Die...

It is conjectured that if the government has a distributional objective and formulates tax policy with a view to equitable treatment of households, then adopting the scale that is implicit in transfer policy should identify only reranking that has no equity foundation. This motivates the...

Die Effizienz eines Alterssicherungssystems ist in der Wirtschaftspolitik sowohl aus mikroökonomischer als auch aus gesamtwirtschaftlicher Sicht von hoher Bedeutung. Die demographische Entwicklung führt in einem Umlageverfahren zu Fehlanreizen. Darüber hinaus wird dieser Effekt durch...

What is the power of traditional and competitive theories of fiscal federalism in explaining tax assignment at a local level? This article deals with this issue, arguing that both theories fail to properly explain the practice of tax assignment across countries. The author shows that the...

As one possible solution to the well-known financing crisis of unfunded social security systems, an increase in the retirement age is a popular option. To induce workers to retire later, it has been proposed to strengthen the link between retirement age and benefit level. The present paper is...

In modern discussions of reciprocity the concept is distinguished from that of self-interested exchange. In the problem of value in exchange, however, as set up in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics the concept of reciprocity (antipeponthos) as equivalent exchange was central in commercial...

As one possible solution to the well-known financing crisis of unfunded social security systems, an increase in the retirement age is a popular option. To induce workers to retire later, it has been proposed to strengthen the link between retirement age and benefit level. The present paper is...

This paper considers the arguments for fundamental pension reform in Germany and the United States. The two countries have recently made or are considering reforms that would reduce the generosity of the traditional, pay-as-you-go pension system. Some or all of the lost benefits would be...

The aim of this paper is to check whether intergovernmental transfers for water projects accepted in 1986 can be rationalized by a simple efficiency criterion. The empirical findings support this conjecture only partially.

As one possible solution to the well-known financing crisis of unfunded social security systems, an increase in the retirement age is a popular option. To induce workers to retire later, it has been proposed to strengthen the link between retirement age and benefit level. The present paper is...

A basic tenet in elementary microeconomics is tax incidence equivalence. This tenet holds that the burden of a unit tax on buyers and sellers is independent of who actually pays the tax. By contrast, policymakers and the public often mistake statutory incidence for economic incidence. Recent...

Most systems of health care financing in EU member states currently include elements of income redistribution. The paper analyzes the effects of shifting this kind of redistribution to the tax system and argues that this reform could create two types of efficiency gains. On the expenditure side,...