The increasing casualisation of labour forces trade unions globally to deal with a growing number of unprotected and unrepresented workers in what is dubbed by the unions, even if critically, as the informal economy. This paper assesses the impact and further potential of a direct and indirect...

The dissertation aims at broadening our understanding of tax evasion and government spending in developing countries. It comprises three essays. The first essay deals with estimation of tax evasion in a cross-section of developing countries by estimating their underground economies using the...

This thesis analyses the use of Presumptive Income Tax (PIT) in developing countries with large informal economies dominated by small business. It asks the question:?Are the current PIT designs used to tax small business in large informal economies appropriate?? To answer the question, this...

In this dissertation I assess the impact of developing country trade liberalization on their wage inequality by focusing on two possible channels, namely job formality and inter-industry wage premium. Informal workers are a large share of the workforce, more than 30% in Brazil and Colombia, and...

Advances in human development are closely linked to increasing access to water and sanitation services in developing countries. The present study investigates the role of governance for mastering this challenge. The motivation for choosing this subject is the insight that the focus on...

This dissertation is a collection of four research papers written during my doctoral studies at the University of Konstanz between October 2004 and November 2008. These papers are empirical studies dealing with different aspects in the field of university economics. The focus of the first two...

Die Arbeit untersucht die Anwendbarkeit des HarrisTodaro Modells für Land-Stadt-Migrations-Prozesse inEntwicklungsländern. Dabei geht es nicht nur um das Basismodel,sondern auch um die Modell-Erweiterungen, die internationalenHandel, einen städtischen informellen Sektor und die Aspekte...

Mit der Gründung der WTO am 1.1.1995 trat das TRIPS-Übereinkommen in Kraft. Es verpflichtet alle WTO Mitglieder zur Umsetzung von Rechten zum Schutze des geistigen Eigentums, welche dem Niveau industrialisierter Staaten nahezu entsprechen. Die Stärkung internationaler Immaterialgüterrechte...

In der Steuerreformdiskussion sind sich Ökonomen durchaus über die theoretischen Vorzüge der konsomorientierten Besteuerung gegenüber dem Konzept der Einkommensbesteuerung einig. Aus der qualitativen Analyse in der vorliegenden Arbeit stellen sich die zwischen 1994-2000 in Kroatien...