The paper provides an equilibrium analysis of how countries compete for migrants. The type of competition (tax or transfer competition) depends on whether the competing countries have similar policy preferences. With symmetric preferences, countries compete in taxes for migrants. With asymmetric...

This paper shows that consumers may buy more of a taxed good if it is sold by a two-sided platform firm. Two-sided platform industries serve distinct customer groups that are connected through interdependent demand, and include major businesses such as the media industry (newspapers/magazines...

The success of European monetary integration -- called by the editors of this CESifo volume "one of the most far-reaching, real world experiments in monetary policy to date" -- is not assured. Policy makers have been forced to deal with challenges posed by formulating a uniform monetary policy...

Conventional wisdom has it that proportional representation leads to more coalition governments and so to greater government spending, especially in redistributive categories favoured by special-interest groups. In contrast, we show in a theoretical model that first-past-the-post systems of...

In this contribution we are exploring to which extent municipalities depend on transfers and financing through debt. Answering this question allows us to draw conclusions about the capacity of municipalities to adapt their fiscal policy in response to unexpected fiscal shocks to municipal...

The pressure on Switzerland to reform the tax treatment of those companies with a special cantonal tax status has increased substantially over the last years. One element in the current discussion regarding the reform of the corporate tax system is the introduction of a licence box, in which...

Using an agency model of firm behavior, the paper analyzes whether the cost of investment should be tax exempt. The findings suggest that, when managers engage in wasteful capital expenditures, welfare may decline if the cost of investment is tax deductible, as commonly advocated. The extent to...

The paper empirically analyzes whether electoral rules make legislators differently responsive to changes in fiscal incentives. Key to the analysis are two unique reforms in the German state of Lower Saxony which changed (i) the municipal charter by replacing the council-manager system...