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Zur politischen Ökonomie der föderalen Finanzbeziehungen in Deutschland

Author

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  • Pitlik Hans
  • Schmid Günther

    (Universität Hohenheim (520) Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre Lehrstuhl für Finanzwissenschaft D - 70593 Stuttgart)

Abstract

Over the past 50 years revenue sharing and intergovernmental grants between the central government and the states have become increasingly important in the Federal Republic of Germany. Although this system is shown to be highly inefficient no serious attempts to reform can be observed yet. This paper examines the institutional mechanisms underlying the centralization process in Germany. It is argued that the erosion of competitive elements of Germany’s fiscal constitution can be explained by a common interest of federal and state politicians to establish a fiscal cartel. Furthermore, the system of intergovernmental grants softens the states’ budget constraints, and democratic control of governments at both levels is weakened by non-transparent rules of the Laenderfinanzausgleich. Despite a latent instability of the fiscal cartel, due to distributional struggles for tax revenues between the Laender and the federal government, we conclude that a far-reaching reform of intergovernmental fiscal relations in Germany cannot be expected.

Suggested Citation

  • Pitlik Hans & Schmid Günther, 2000. "Zur politischen Ökonomie der föderalen Finanzbeziehungen in Deutschland," Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 49(1), pages 100-124, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:lus:zwipol:v:49:y:2000:i:1:p:100-124:n:6
    DOI: 10.1515/zfwp-2000-0106
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    Cited by:

    1. Hans Pitlik & Friedrich Schneider & Harald Strotmann, 2006. "Legislative Malapportionment and the Politicization of Germany's Intergovernmental Transfer System," Public Finance Review, , vol. 34(6), pages 637-662, November.
    2. Michael Klien & Hans Pitlik & Matthias Firgo & Ulrike Famira-Mühlberger, 2020. "Ein Modell für einen strukturierten vertikalen Finanzausgleich in Österreich," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 65854, Juni.
    3. Hans Pitlik, 2004. "Zur Politischen Rationalitaet der Finanzausgleichsreform in Deutschland," Diskussionspapiere aus dem Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Hohenheim 239/2004, Department of Economics, University of Hohenheim, Germany.
    4. Friedrich Schneider & Hans Pitlik & Harald Strotmann & Günther Schmid, 2001. "On the politicization of intergovernmental fiscal relations in Germany after unification," Economics working papers 2001-05, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.

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