In diesem Beitrag werden die ökonomischen Argumente, die für und gegen Wettbewerbsföderalismus sprechen, zusammengefasst und mit der empirischen Evidenz aus stark wettbewerblich organisierten Föderalstaaten konfrontiert. Es zeigt sich, dass fiskalischer Wettbewerb zu einer effizienteren...

One of the most pertinent reform discussions in Germany is found in the debate on the local business tax. During the last year, two basic reform proposals, a ‚revitalisation‘ of the current local business tax and its replacement by a surcharge on personal and corporate income taxes,...

L’Etat fédéral suisse est l’un des pays dont le pouvoir fiscal est le plus décentralisé. Cette décentralisation se vérifie particulièrement dans le cadre des impôts sur le revenu et la fortune des personnes physiques d’une part et, celui des impôts sur le bénéfice net et le...

For the European Commission the case of Ryanair is a precedence decision about the application of state aid policy on agreements between regional airports and airlines. In a long-term contract with the regional airport of Charleroi (near Brussels), the Irish lowcost airline Ryanair received...

Tax competition is much discussed in the political arena these days. Although it is not a new phenomenon, the political pressure has increased to restrict tax competition by intensifying tax coordination and accomplishing tax harmonization. This particularly holds for the EU which has...

The distribution of competencies between the different levels of a federal system may have remarkable effects on economic growth, because mainly the regions of a country contribute to national economic development. Thus, a government’s economic policy is reasonably shaped along regional lines....

In this paper, German federalism is analysed with respect to its implications for public spending and revenue. Since the Second World War, taxing and spending competencies in Germany have become more and more centralised. This is demonstrated with respect to (1) changes of the power to tax, (2)...

Why are we not hermaphrodites? This paper argues that while hermaphroditism is an e±cient means by which genes may propagate themselves, inherent tendencies towards polygyny undermine its stabil- ity. Understanding the forces that have established a segregation of sex functions between male and...