This paper presents an analysis of the procurement of transportation services for the disabled by the town of Ridderkerk. The method used consisted of a study of the town’s files and interviews with 11 persons involved. The tender specifications were peculiar in that they required bidders to...

Traditionally, three branches of government are distinguished in public finance: the allocation branch, the distribution branch and the stabilization branch. Although the first two branches apply to the EU budget, the third does not for two reasons. First, the EU is legally obliged to balance...

This paper addresses the run up to the recent European Union enlargement. It considers the accession of 10 Eastern European countries in view of the pre-existing economic conditions. The paper also raises the question how the new member states can tackle their deficit problems. In particular,...

For many years, foreign funded companies in China enjoyed a relatively low tax rate and a series of preferential policies which were aimed at encouraging foreign direct investment in China. By adopting a new law in 2007, however, the National People's Congress proclaimed the end of the dual...

This paper compares owner-occupied housing tax regimes in the Netherlands and the other countries in the EU-15. The Nether-lands appears to stand apart in two respects. First, in Luxembourg and the Netherlands owner-occupiers have to include an imputed rental income in their taxable income....

This paper looks both backward and forward. It starts by comparing the accession countries with the EU and by comparing the EU’s 2004 eastern enlargement with previous enlargements. It appears that the EU became poorer by every single enlargement. The EU’s GDP per capita decreased each time...

This paper investigates which different views have occurred on the main lines of the Dutch incomes policy. To this end the implications of the incomes policies pursued by different cabinets have been analyzed, mainly since 1973. It appears that distributive policies are heavily influenced by a...

After the upheavals in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Western world has given considerable aid to the fledgling democracies. In this paper we draw a summary from Baltic experience in the fields of educational programs, scientific and environmental programs, and...

The policy that has led from the ‘Dutch disease’ (in the 1980s) to the ‘Dutch miracle’ (in the 1990s) consists of three tracks: 1) wage moderation, 2) retrenching public expenditure and reducing the tax burden, 3) slimming the welfare system. The wage moderation track seems to have been...

Traditionally, governments used to deploy input-based budgeting systems and cash-based accounting systems. However, these systems do not provide the information that is necessary for a government to operate efficiently and effectively. Therefore, a growing number of countries have already...