When the centre-left government came into power in Germany in 1998, a core promise of the new Chancellor, Schroeder, was to reduce the lack of jobs and to increase welfare. Facing persistently increasing unemployment rates from then on, the government finally launched “Hartz IV” in 2004; the...

Effective from 2008, Germany´s top marginal income tax rate rises from 42 to 45 per cent. However, sole proprietorships and partnerships can opt for a preferential tax rate of 28.25 per cent for retained profits are taxed again upon distribution (§ 34a EStG-E). If they do so, profits are taxed...

This paper makes a fresh attempt at characterizing optimal commoditytaxes. Under the usual assumptions, an extremely simple expressionof second-best commodity taxes is derived, showing tax rates as functions ofobservable variables only, rather than as functions of unobservable variablessuch as...

The rational prodigality argument, which often serves to justify social security,is considered in a second-best tax framework with endogenous labor supply. Rationalprodigality renders the familiar policies time inconsistent. We analyze time consistentpolicies and show that a wage tax suffices to...

Summary Effective from 2005, benefits for long-term unemployed have been reduced in Germany to the level of social assistance. This measure reflects the view that “all who are able to work, should work” - a view which makes sense only if the government can distinguish the disabled from the...

According to a widely held belief, ?all who are able to work, should work?. We consider this statement within a framework of non-linear taxation. The crucial difference between our model and the standard model is that the government can distinguish between productive persons and the disabled. A...

According to a widely held belief, all who are able to work, should workʺ. We consider this statement within a framework of non-linear taxation. The crucial difference between our model and the standard model is that the government can distinguish between productive persons and the disabled. A...

Effective from 2005, benefits for long-term unemployed have been reduced in Germany to the level of social assistance. This measure reflects the view that "all who are able to work, should work" - a view which makes sense only if the government can distinguish the disabled from the productive....