This paper delivers new insights into the development of income inequality and regional stratification in Germany after unification using a new method for detecting social stratification by a decomposition of the GINI index which yields the obligatory betweenand withingroup components as well as an “overlapping” index for the different sup-populations. We apply this method together with a jackk...

We ask whether attitudes toward government play a causal role in the evasion of U.S. personal income taxes. We first use individual-level survey data to demonstrate a link between sharing the party of the president and trust in the administration generally and opinions on taxation and spending policy, more specifically. Next, we move to the county level, and measure tax behavior as elections, d...

Acknowledgements I would first and foremost like to thank my thesis advisor, Daniel Fetter. This thesis would not be possible without him. I am very grateful for all the support, expertise, and patience he has offered me from the beginning. With his guidance I gained a deeper understanding of not only my topic but economics in general. I would also like to thank Kristin Butcher for her unending...

This paper examines the determinants of China’s Olympic success by drawing on provincial-level data. We find that it is government spending on sports, rather than per capita income, that has the greatest impact on this success. Our findings suggest that government involvement is still the most fundamental feature of sports organization in China. JEL Classification: D2, H4, H7, O1, P5

This article assesses the influence of income inequality on the public’s policy mood. Recent work has produced divergent perspectives on the relationship between inequality, public opinion, and government redistribution. One group of scholars suggests that unequal representation of different income groups reproduces inequality as politicians respond to the preferences of the rich. Another group...

Attainment of 70 years life expectancy by 2020 is one of the millennium development goals in Nigeria. This study examined the socio-economic determinants of life expectancy in Nigeria using data from 1980-2011. Judging from the endogeneity feature of the variables, A VAR and VECM frameworks were employed. Socio-economic features were proxy by secondary school enrolment, government expenditure o...

The recent oil and gas production boom in the contiguous United States generated tens of billions in additional royalty income for owners of oil and gas rights. We use the royalty income shock to study the local multiplier effect of unanticipated income and find that each royalty dollar received by county residents created an additional $0.50 in local income, mostly through greater wage income....

We ask whether attitudes toward government play a causal role in the evasion of U.S. personal income taxes. We first use individual-level survey data to demonstrate a link between sharing the party of the president and trust in the administration generally and opinions on taxation and spending policy, more specifically. Next, we move to the county level, and measure tax behavior as elections, d...

This paper studies optimal Ramsey taxation when risk sharing in private insurance markets is imperfect due to limited enforcement. In a limited commitment economy, there are externalities associated with capital and labor because individuals do not take into account that their labor and saving decisions affect aggregate labor and capital supply and wages, and thus the value of autarky. Therefor...

During the last three decades the stock of government debt has increased in most developed countries. During the same period we also observe a significant liberalization of international financial markets. In this paper we propose a multi-country political economy model with incomplete markets and endogenous government borrowing and show that governments choose higher levels of public debt when...