Religious participation is much more widespread in the United States than in Europe, while Europeans tend to view sects more suspiciously than Americans. We propose an explanation for these patterns without assuming differences in preferences or market fundamentals. Religious markets may have...

We analyse tax competition with corporate income taxes in a common market where tax revenues are allocated according to an apportionment formula. Generally, tax competition is sharper (i.e., equilibrium tax rates are lower) the more tax-elastic is the apportionment formula. This depends on the...

We propose a dynamic general equilibrium model with human capital accumulation to evaluate the economic consequences of compulsory services (such as military draft or social services). Our analysis identifies a so far ignored dynamic cost arising from distortions in time allocation over the...

According to many observers the world is currently becoming more risky in many ways. In this paper we analyse how the welfare state, i.e. social insurance which works through redistributive taxation, should deal with this trend. We distinguish between risks that can be insured by the welfare...

One of the main reasons to include pay-as-you-go (PAYG) schemes in multi-pillared pension systems is that they may entail beneficial risk-sharing and diversification features. However, depending on the "pension formula" these features vary significantly for different types of PAYG schemes. We...

We augment a standard tax model by concerns about tax equity: people get upset when labour is taxed more heavily than capital. Even the slightest concern for tax equity invalidates the common recommendation for small open economies that capital should remain tax-exempt. This holds for exogenous...

This paper shows that unemployment and (some) personality traits are related. Individuals with low scores in the Big Five dimensions conscientiousness and agreeableness have a higher probability of being unemployed, longer unemployment durations, and experience more status changes between...

Trotz Bildungsexpansion und verschiedener bildungspolitischer Bemühungen bestehen beim Übergang ins Studium und in der Studienfachwahl bis heute erhebliche herkunftsspezifische Unterschiede. Inwieweit bildungspolitische Reformen die sozialen Ungleichheiten im Hochschulbereich verändern und...