Using German district data we estimate the structural parameters of a new economic geography model as developed by Helpman (1998) and Hanson (1998, 2001a). The advantage of the Helpman-Hanson model is that it incorporates the fact that agglomeration of economic activity increases the prices of...

Abstract We provide an explanation for why centralisation of political decision making results in overspending in some policy domains, whereas too low spending persists in others. We study a model in which delegates from jurisdictions bargain over local public goods provision. If all of the...

Abstract In this paper we examine Richard Florida’s Creative Capital theory in comparison with Human Capital theory, using a cross section of Dutch cities as our sample. Employment growth in Dutch cities can be predicted both from local education levels and from the presence of a large...

The optimal value of the firm under the new Dutch income tax reform act in 2002, is reconsidered in this discussion paper. Tax shield of debt-financing and the aggregate tax payments of its joint investors are simultaneously considered. A more-period model is presented for making integrated...

In various macro-studies, home-ownership is found to hamper job mobility and to increase unemployment. This paper addresses similar issues, but uses a microeconometric framework where both individual job mobility, as well as the probability of being homeowner are modeled simultaneously. Using a...

In the field of organization studies, two types of theories of the firm exist: “why†and “how†theories. “Why†theories use the instrument of comparative analysis to explain why firms exist despite various institutional alternatives. “How†theories, in...

Abstract Within a monetary union, regional inflation differentials lead to a competition between the real interest rate and wealth channels on the one hand and the real exchange rate channel on the other hand in the transmission of regional shocks. This may have implications for the length and...

Abstract We analyse empirically price-setting in the Dutch mortgage market, using information on about 124,000 Dutch households and 54 mortgage lenders over the years 1996-2001. For a narrowly defined set of mortgages (which have a fixed lending rate for ten years), the range of the lending rate...