The article concerns issues of fiscal federalism in the broadest sense. It analyzes both the political causes and the economic consequences of interregional and international grants. Examples from Germany and from the European Union are considered.

The article reports research results on funded and unfunded pension schemes in an easily accessible form.

The article discusses possible implications of European Monetary Union (EMU) on member states' budget policies. It predicts that the non-bail-out clause will not work.

The use of drugs in high-performance sports (doping) is a common pool resource (CPR) dilemma: regardless of the number of other athletes who dope, the athlete with strong tastes for victory will find doping optimal; yet if all athletes dope, they all bear negative health consequences, although...

The article points out that monetary stability does not hinge upon formal central bank independence. The reason is that the legislator can easily restrict that independence by changing the law. Because the EU council as the true legislator does not face effective supervision by the citizens it...

Nordwestdeutschland hat sich seit Ende der 80er Jahre günstiger entwickelt als das übrige westdeutsche Bundesgebiet. Damit hat sich ein langanhaltender räumlicher Entwicklungstrend umgekehrt. Die Ursachen hierfür liegen teils in der spezifischen Wirtschaftsstruktur Nordwestdeutschlands...

Der Artikel befürwortet eine Reform des deutschen Finanzausgleichs.

Der Artikel diskutiert den Vorschlag, die Gewerbesteuer durch eine kommunale Unternehmensteuer zu ersetzen.

The German Constitutional Court has obliged parliament to enact an income tax law which lets the subsistence level tax-exempt. This can be done, in principle, by using a basic allowance or a zero-rated bracket. The paper discusses these alternatives.

In the paper a growth model is developed which admits endogenous growth. Endogenous growth is due to simultaneous efficient accumulation of physical as well as human capital. In contrast to similar growth models, we assume that output can be transformed into either physical or human capital...