This paper analyses whether large governments in Europe reflect efficient responses to a changing social and economic environment (‘welfare economic view’) as opposed to wasteful spending (‘public choice view’). To this end, the effect of government size on subjective well-being is...

An examination of how increased turnover among legislators in the fifty U.S. states affects fiscal policy and economic growth finds that it makes legislators short-sighted. Turnover increases the size of government by increasing the shares of both total spending and taxes in income. In...

The present study examines empirically the relationship between Happiness and public spending. We use a panel data from 2006 to 2015 for about 132 countries. We first estimated a Pooled, fixed effect and finally a GMM model to deal with the endogeneity problem. Our main findings suggest, first,...

Political polarization combined with political turnover have been shown to amplify economic fluctuations (Azzimonti and Talbert, 2014). This paper analyzes a fiscal policy institution capable of reducing the volatility caused by these political frictions. We introduce the distinction between...

Defining the welfare state is not a simpleminded task. Actually, there are numerous definitions which try to reflect at least some of the basic characteristics of the welfare state or its objectives and its functions. For some, there is primarily an institutional parameter, for others there are...

Technology is changing our world at an astonishing pace. One of the features of technological development is its great contribution to enhance e-governance. E-governance is introduced as a mean to reduce costs, improve services for citizens and increase effectiveness and efficiency of the public...

People expect the state to create jobs and provide them with a social security net. Whatever its defects, whatever the virtues of the private sector, no structure other than the state can today provide citizens with the basic public goods. Under the present right-wing government of Nea...

The financial collapse of 2007, the accompanying refugee crisis, the health crisis, and the coronavirus pandemic have all played their part in the current gloomy political climate. The left lacks a clear message or strategy to improve the lives of ordinary people. The emphasis on austerity and...

The financial crisis of 2007 clearly demonstrated the declining economic and political hegemony of the European social model. Austerity measures, rationalization, and cuts in all areas of society and the state were encouraged by the EU directorates. These measures have weakened social cohesion...

Es existiert wohl keinerlei «Präzedenzfall», der in irgendeiner Weise vergleichbar wäre mit der vollkommenen Verwandlung des derzeitigen griechischen Ministerpräsidenten Alexis Tsipras und dessen Anpassung an die Anforderungen der griechischen Realität. Wahrhaft, all zu rasch übersetzte...