Inflation targeting as a way of precommitment

This paper considers an institutional arrangement in which thegovernment assigns a publicly-announced inflation target toan instrument-independent central bank, but retains the discretionto revise the inflation target after wages have been set. Weargue that since this arrangement is transparent, it solvesCanzonen's private information problem, ensures perfect monitoringof the government, and makes reputauonal forces more effectiveCases are characterized in which, for this reason, inflationtargeting mitigates the inflationary bias of monetary policy.     

Public Debt,Human Capital Formation,and Dynamic Inefficiency

The present paper considers public debt in an economy where human capital formation sustains long-run per capita income growth. It shows that contrary to what has been obtained in other types of endogenous growth economies public debt may benefit current and future generations by removing dynamic inefficiency.     

A ‘Problem of Fairness’ in the Making: The Transformation of Public Services from the Perspective of Postal Workers

During the last two decades public administration and public services have undergone profound changes with far‐reaching impacts on employment relations and working conditions. The paper presents the perceptions and lived experiences of workers affected by liberalization and privatization of public services. In doing so it focuses on workers’ ideas of fairness and dignity at work using the concepts of distribution, recognition and the public ethos of the common good and linking them to fundamental principles of justice. It is argued that the perception of inequalities as fair, while it is shaped by custom, is also being socially constructed during far‐reaching changes. The analysis is based on a series of qualitative interviews conducted in Austria, Germany and Switzerland with postal‐service workers, a sector well suited for the analysis because of the far‐reaching changes in terms of market regulation, ownership of organizations, labour regulation, employment and working conditions.     

Fiscal Competition and Higher Education Spending in Germany

The present paper studies the determinants of higher education spending by the German federal states with a focus on the interplay between higher education spending of neighboring states. More specifically, the paper asks whether the German federal states free‐ride on one another's higher educational spending or whether they employ higher education spending to attract university graduates. We identify a positive relationship between the states' higher education spending and conclude that the states compete for graduates rather than free‐ride. We also consider the effect of the recent introduction of tuition fees in some, but not all German states. We do not find evidence that tuition fees led to crowding out of public higher education funds.     

Die Preiswirkungen der Währungsdepreziation

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Federal TAX Competition – How does the Institutional Structure of a Country change Tax Outcomes?

The interrelations of taxation and federal structure have been extensively analysed from various perspectives. The present paper looks at two competing countries of different institutional structures. It examines how the tax rates set at each level of both countries vary in a given setting, when a federal and a unitary country compete for mobile tax base, or both countries are organised as federations. The paper discusses whether or not tax rates set in every jurisdiction will be too high or too low in equilibrium. The externalities triggered by a tax regime change are analysed and the respective impact on revenues is considered. The results essentially hinge on the relative strategic interaction of tax rates, as well as the elasticity of the tax base with respect to the tax rate.     

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THE ROLE OF TRANSPORTATION IN U.S. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: 1840–1860*

We return to two questions concerning the 19th century U.S. transportation revolution. First, to what extent were transportation improvements responsible for the large changes in the regional distribution of population in the United States and, within regions, for the changes in industry structure? Second, how important were transportation improvements for welfare gains? We find that transport improvements were the key factor driving where people lived and what industry they worked in. We also find that transport improvements were important for welfare gains: Gains over 1840–1860 would have been only half as large if there had been no transportation improvements.