In den nächsten Monaten wird sich entscheiden, ob sich US-Präsident Donald Trump die Steuerpläne der Republikaner im Kongress zu Eigen macht. Diese Entscheidung ist für die internationale Unternehmensbesteuerung von historischer Tragweite, die Folgen für Handelsströme, Wechselkurse,...

Following numerous reforms of fiscal governance in the eurozone since 2011, the year 2016 saw another important innovation: the founding of the European Fiscal Board (EFB) with the selection and appointment of its five members. The EFB was one of the elements envisaged by the Five Presidents'...

Nach der festgestellten Verfassungswidrigkeit einzelner Regelungen hat der Gesetzgeber 2016 weitreichende Änderungen des deutschen Erbschaftsteuer- und Schenkungsteuergesetzes bei der Vererbung von Betriebsvermögen beschlossen. Einer entlastend wirkenden Absenkung des Kapitalisierungsfaktors...

Over the past five years, the euro area's fiscal rules have been reformed and extended. It is not clear, however, whether these changes have been effective at boosting fiscal prudence, and whether they go far enough. This policy paper summarises recent research findings from a...

Zum wiederholten Mal hat das Bundesverfassungsgericht das Erbschaftsteuergesetz für verfassungs-widrig erklärt. In seinem Urteil vom 17.12.20141 entschied das Gericht, dass die derzeit geltenden Regelungen zur Verschonung betrieblichen Vermögens zu weitreichend sind. Der Gesetzgeber wurde...

Long-term beneficial welfare state reforms not only face opposition from powerful insiders and beneficiaries of the system in place. While potential losers from a policy change are often relatively easy to spot, ewll-designed reforms generate mostly diffuse gains, and the potential winners are...

Fears of job losses and of increasing inequality loom large in current debates on how globalization is affecting our economies. By fundamentally changing the organization of production and work, globalization creates complex and changing patterns of winners and losers. Globalization thus creates...

The experiences of the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe highlight the failures of the current model of having the EU and its members states share responsibility for asylum policies. Based on standard criteria of fiscal federalism, this paper analyses the shortcomings of the status quo. We show...

This study aims to give guidance for a better-performing EU through an improved allocation of competences between the European Union and its member states. The study analyses eight specific policies from a wide range of fields with respect to their preferable assignment. The analysis applies a...