This paper studies budget processes, both theoretically and experimentally. We compare the outcomes of bottom-up and top-down budget processes. It is often presumed that a top-down budget process leads to a smaller overall budget than a bottom-up budget process. We show, using structurally...

We provide empirical estimates of the risksharing and redistributive properties of fiscal equalization among the states of the German federation. Fiscal equalization serves as a mechanism to insure state budgets against asymmetric revenue shocks, but provides almost no insurance against regional...

Using exchange rates futures instead of forwards completes the maturity spectrum of the correlation between the spot return and the premium. The correlation decreases with increasing maturity, presumably due to a latent risk premium. We hypothesize that the influence of the unobserved risk...

Mit dem Beginn der dritten Stufe der Europäischen Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion haben sich die Bedingungen für die Wirtschaftspolitik in den Teilnehmerstaaten grundlegend verändert. Die EWU schafft ein neues Umfeld für die Wirtschaftspolitik, indem sie Interdependenzen der nationalen...

1. Opening remarks -- 2. Fiscal policies and sustainability of public finances in the European Union -- 3. Fiscal policy challenges, sustainability of public finances and EU accession : the case of Turkey -- 4. Monetary policy in the Euro area : lessons from five years of the ECB and then...