Abstract In Germany there exists a political consensus that the economic and fiscal burden of the German reunification should be shared by all three jurisdictional levels of the federal system. According to existing law the burden sharing between the state and local authorities has to be...

Summary Most German states changed their local constitutions during the 1990s in order to become more citizen-friendly. To reach that goal, many local constitutions now allow for the direct election of mayors, initiatives and referenda, and vote-aggregation as well as vote-splitting....

This study contains further evidence on the economic effects of direct democratic institutions. A first study found that countries with national initiatives have higher government expenditure and are characterized by more rent-seeking activity, that the effects of direct democratic institutions...

In Germany there is a political consensus that the economic and fiscal burden of the German reunification should be shared by all three jurisdictional levels of the federal system. According to existing law, the burden-sharing between the state and local authorities has to be confined to the...

Different regional economic theories come to different conclusions with regard to the impact of (state) policies on the economic prosperity of regions. This article provides empirical evidence, that determinants like geography, urbanization, industrial mix and social capital explain 71 percent...

This is the first study that assesses the economic effects of direct democratic institutions on a cross country basis. Most of the results of the former intra-country studies could be confirmed. On the basis of some 30 countries, a higher degree of direct democracy leads to lower total...

Empirical research on the determinants of corruption has made substantial progress over the last decade. To date, the consequences of different structures of the legal enforcement institutions have only played a marginal role. This contribution deals both with the determinants of corruption...

Blume L. (2006) Local economic policies as determinants of the local business climate: empirical results from a cross-section analysis among East German municipalities, Regional Studies 40, 321-333. For the period after 1995, there is empirical evidence that differences in East German local...

Most German states changed their local constitutions during the 1990s in order to become more citizen-friendly. To reach that goal, many local constitutions now allow for the direct election of mayors, initiatives and referenda, and vote-aggregation as well as vote-splitting. Simultaneously, the...