This paper introduces new data on the term in office of central bank governors in 137 countries for 1970-2004. Our panel models show that the probability that a central bank governor is replaced in a particular year is positively related to the share of the term in office elapsed, political and...

Labor courts play an important role in determining the effective level of labor market regulation in Germany, but their application of law may not be even-handed. Based on a theoretical model of the legal process and a new panel data set, we identify a nomination bias in labor court activity —...

This paper analyzes empirically differences in the size of central bank boards (or monetary policy committees) across countries. We discuss the possible determinants of a board's size. The empirical relevance of these factors is examined using a new dataset that covers the de jure membership...

Grüner (2010) argues that the introduction of the European Monetary Union (EMU) led to lower wage growth and lower unemployment in participating countries. According to Grüner, monetary centralization increases the amplitude of national business cycles, which leads to higher unemployment risk....

We provide empirical evidence on the influence of income taxes on the choice of residence of taxpayers at the local government level. The fact that Swiss communities can independently set tax multipliers, thereby shifting the progressive tax scheme that is fixed at the cantonal (state) level,...