The ability of federal states to manage the COVID-19 pandemic has created much debate.
Federations differ considerably in the way they have been tackling the crisis, however. To …

English summary: Lars P. Feld evaluates the economic arguments for or against tax
competition in a federal polity and summarizes the empirical evidence concerned with the …

While European integration and the four freedoms related to the movement of goods,
services, labor, and capital strengthened economic competition, competition among …

This paper investigates the determinants of public‐sector efficiency, in particular the role of
fiscal decentralization and fiscal rules. For 23 European countries over the period from 1995 …

Decentralization and devolution—also referred to as 'rolling back the boundaries of the state'—
are important policy trends in natural resource management. Drawing a parallel with the …

Neoclassical public economists stress economic distortions induced by differential taxation
and therefore favour harmonization; political economists focus on political distortions and …

This paper analyses whether the different powers and resources at the disposal of local and
regional governments across E urope deliver greater satisfaction with political institutions …

Various political institutions designed to control the government have been analyzed in the
academic literature. However, an important institution has been neglected so far …

Rational voters' assessments of candidates and policy proposals are unbiased, but affected
by random errors." Clean" information decreases these errors, while" dirty" information …

In this chapter we analyze the competition between various interests to control the state,
including the power to change its basic laws. We apply a comparative view to evaluate …