Economic policy is generally directed to achieve particular objectives which include targets for inflation, desirable unemployment levels, economic growth pace, standard of living of citizens among others. An economic policy is a course of action that is intended to influence or control the...

Luisa Dörr prepared this study while she was working at the ifo Center for Public Finance and Political Economy. The study was completed in February 2022 and accepted as doctoral thesis by the Department of Economics at the University of Munich. It consists of three distinct empirical essays...

This paper explores the link between trust in government, policy-making, and compliance. It focuses on a specific channel whereby citizens who are convinced that a policy is worthwhile are more motivated to comply with it. This in turn reduces the government's cost of implementing a policy and...

All OECD countries have put in place policies that support SMEs and entrepreneurs. These policies differ considerably along a number of dimensions, including the policy framework in which they are embedded. This paper maps and compares policy approaches and governance mechanisms across OECD...

This paper provides an analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on SMEs and entrepreneurs, and the SME and entrepreneurship policy measures implemented during the course of a year since the start of the pandemic. The paper formulates 15 lessons learned for policy going forward, to assist...

This paper takes stock of one year of policy responses to the 2022/2023 energy crisis triggered by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine from the perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this paper, "SME policy responses" are defined as all government policies, whether...

One of the most crucial lessons to be taken from the literature on electoral business cycles is that the short- run electorally-induced fluctuations prejudice the long-run welfare. Since the very first studies on the matter, some authors offered suggestions as to what should be done against this...