From the literature on decentralization, it appears that the …scal vertical imbalance is somehow inherent to multi-level governments. Using a stylized model we show that this leads to a reduction in the extent of redistributive …scal policies if the maximal tolerable size of government has been reached. To test for this empirically we use some high quality data, from the LIS dataset, on individ...

While much has been written about inter-jurisdictional competition for tax revenues, especially concerning the choice between harmonization and competition, the literature has largely ignored intrajurisdiction issues. The few articles examining this issue focus on how lower level governmental entities react to the tax decisions of a national government. However, in some instances, multiple co-e...

The stability of federal systems is a thorny issue. Several scholars have attempted to come to grips with this problem and have proposed mechanisms or institutions which may contribute to the stabilization of federal systems. In many instances, however, the underlying mechanisms and microfoundations are poorly specified. In this paper I build upon existing models dealing with decentralization a...

Many countries shift substantial public resources across jurisdictions to mitigate spatial economic disparities. We use a general equilibrium model with multiple asymmetric regions, labor mobility, and costly trade carve out the aggregate implications of fiscal transfers. Calibrating for Germany, we find that transfers indeed deliver smaller disparities regions. This comes at cost lower nationa...

Under most U.S. environmental regulations, the federal government shares responsibility with the states by authorizing them to implement and enforce federal policies. Authorization provides states with considerable discretion over the effects of regulation and is perhaps the most significant decentralization in U.S. environmental policy. However, few studies address its role. To fill this gap, ...

This paper empirically assesses the incidence and efficiency of Round I of the federal urban Empowerment Zone (EZ ) program using confidential microdata from the Decennial Census and the Longitudinal Business Database. Using rejected and future applicants to the EZ program as controls, we find that EZ designation substantially increased employment in zone neighborhoods and generated wage increa...

Following Keen and Marchand (1997), the paper analyses the effect of fiscal competition on the composition of public spending in a model where capital and skilled workers are mobile while low skilled workers are immobile. Taxes are levied on capital and labour. Each group of workers benefits from a different kind of public good. Mobility of skilled workers provides an incentive for jurisdiction...

To what extent do bond market reactions to an unexpected deficit shock depend on state-specific politics? To answer this question, we calculate German state bond spreads over government benchmark paper using information from Datastream for the period 2006-2010. We test for a variety of institutional and political factors. We find evidence that investors base risk perceptions on state specific e...

We study how more negative historical exposure to the actions of nation-states—like war, occupation, and repression—affects formation regional identity. The quasi-exogenous division French regions Alsace Lorraine allows us implement a geographical regression discontinuity design at municipal level. Using measures stated revealed preferences, we find that experiences with nation-states are assoc...

A unique hepatitis C virus (HCV) strain JFH-1 has been shown to replicate efficiently in cell culture with production of infectious HCV. We previously developed a DNA expression system containing HCV cDNA flanked by two self-cleaving ribozymes to generate HCV particles in cell culture. In this study, we produced HCV particles of various genotypes, including 1a (H77), 1b (CG1b), and 2a (J6 and J...