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Aus der Einleitung: Angesichts der erkannten Defizite des deutschen Steuer- und Transfersystems rücken Forderungen nach einer grundlegenden Umgestaltung in jüngster Vergangenheit verstärkt in das Zentrum der öffentlichen Diskussion. So werden einerseits infolge der zahlreichen verfassungsgerichtlichen Änderungsvorgaben neben der bereits in Angriff genommenen einkommensteuerlichen Freistellung des Existenzminimums auch vielfältige Anpassungen in Vermögen-, Erbschaft- und Grundsteuern notwendig. Gleichzeitig erscheinen Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der Anreizstruktur erforderlich, die wiederum erhebliche Rückwirkungen auf die zukünftige Struktur des Einkommensteuertarifs (insbesondere dessen Grenzsteuersatzverlauf) haben dürften. Andererseits forciert die Vielzahl der festzustellenden Umweltprobleme die Forderung nach einer instrumentalen Neuorientierung mit verstärkter Betonung des Einsatzes von Lenkungsabgaben. Zur Verwendung der aus umweltorientierten Abgaben resultierenden Einnahmen wird vorgeschlagen, diese in gleicher Höhe in Form kompensierender Senkungen der Einkommensteuer an die Steuerpflichtigen weiterzugeben, so daß eine Erhöhung der volkswirtschaftlichen Steuerquote ausgeschlossen wird. Diese Umstrukturierung des Steuersystems weg von direkten und hin zu indirekten Steuern ließe sich zugleich verbinden mit einer allgemeinen Sicherung eines Grundeinkommens in der Form, daß die existierende Sozialhilfe durch eine "Negative Einkommensteuer" ersetzt würde. Diese Fundamentalreform des Steuerund Transfersystems könnte nicht nur zu einer wesentlichen Verbesserung ökonomischer Anreizwirkungen beitragen, sondern zugleich über die ausgelösten Lenkungswirkungen zu einer modernen, ökologieorientierten Wirtschaftsstruktur führen. Als Kompensationsmaßnahmen sind auch nachhaltige Verringerungen der Lohnnebenkosten denkbar, die die Standortbedingungen für die Unternehmen in Deutschland deutlich verbessern könnten.
Inhalt: Dynamische Interpretation der Leistungsfähigkeit Integrierte Einkommens- und Gewinnbesteuerung Zins- und Sparbereinigung Individuelle Fairness und Familiengerechtigkeit Einfachheit für Administration und Bürger Auswirkungen auf Steueraufkommen und Einkommensverteilung Generationengerechtigkeit Begleitende Maßnahmen Systemdynamik und Wirtschaftswachstum
Inhalt: Der Gesetzentwurf "Einfachsteuer" -Kapitaleinkommen -Ausgaben für berufliche Bildung -Unternehmensbesteuerung -Rentenbesteuerung -Familienbesteuerung -Einfachsteuertarif -Vereinfachung Auswirkungen auf der Haushaltsebene -Rentenbesteuerung -Sozialversicherungsbeiträge -Werbungskosten -Gesamtwirkungen Veranlagungssimulation auf der Unternehmensebene -Zur Methode der Veranlagungssimulation -Schutzzinsabzug und Zuschlagssatz -Steuerbelastung und Rechtsform
Aus der Einleitung: Die derzeitige Situation in der Elektrizitätswirtschaft ist gekennzeichnet durch eine große Zahl anstehender Netzübernahmen infolge auslaufender Konzessionsverträge oder Arrondierungsmaßnahmen und einer Reihe dabei anhängiger Rechtsstreite, in denen insbesondere der "angemessene" Übernahmepreis strittig ist. Die in der Vergangenheit getätigten Netzübernahmen liefern zu der Frage nach dem "angemessenen" bzw. "rechtlich richtigen" Übernahmepreis keine Antwort, da die letztendlich gezahlten Preise i.d.R. das Ergebnis eines Verhandlungsprozesses waren und die damit verbundenen rechtlichen Streitfragen weiterhin offen sind. Die vorliegende Untersuchung greift die Frage nach dem "angemessenen" Übernahmepreis auf und versucht, eine aus ökonomischen Argumenten abgeleitete sowie mit den rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen zu vereinbarende Antwort zu liefern.
The paper describes the exchange program in between the University of Wisconsin/ Milwaukee and the University of Potsdam in the field of economics. It discusses in detail the development of the program, including the problems and challenges. Additionally a brief description of the curriculum is presented. Then the future possibilities of the Transatlantic Degree Program (TDP) are discussed and the influences and problems of the Bologna process analysed.
BALDERJAHN, I.; KRUEGER, C.: Produkte und Prozesse mit dem Ziel Nachhaltigkeit Teilprojekt: "Marketing, Kommunikation, Informationsmanagement" ; MÜLLER, K. et al: Ansätze für eine dauerhaft umweltgerechte landwirtschaftliche Produktion: Modellgebiet Nordost-Deutschland (GRANO) ; PETERSEN, H.-G.; MÜLLER, K.: GRANO - Projektbereich 1: Dezentrale Bewertungs- und Koordinationsmechanismen - Teilprojekt 2: Honorierung ökologischer Leistungen ; SCHULTZ, P.; SOYEZ, K.: Der ökologische Friedhof - Ein Ort des Lebens ; THRÄN, D.: Nachhaltiges Stoffstrommanagement ländlich strukturschwacher Regionen
Like in all countries in transition, the tax as well as the transfer system have been under serious reform pressures. The socialistic systems were not able to fulfill the necessary functions in providing a certain degree of redistribution and social security, which are inevitable for social oriented market economies. Increasing income and wage differentiation is one of the most important prerequisites for a market oriented ability to pay tax system. But in the transformation period, numerous quasi-legal or even illegal property transactions have taken place, thus leading to wealth concentrations on the one hand while as consequence of the bankruptcy of socialism, enormous poverty problems have arisen on the other. For the political acceptance of the transformation process it is of utmost importance that an efficient and fair tax system is implemented and social security is organised by the state on a level which secures at least the physical minimum of subsistence or – if economically possible – even a social-cultural minimum. Whether the state should go further in providing compulsory social insurance systems has been a hotly debated topic for decades even in the welfare and social states of the Western type. Whereas the basic security systems have to be financed by general tax revenue, for a compulsory social insurance system – due to the insurance character – special earmarked social security contribution are held necessary. Both public goods and services as well as at least basic security have to be financed by total tax revenue. For the acceptance and fairness of the whole system the total redistributive effect of both sides of the budget – the tax system as well as the expenditure system – are decisive. In this paper we will concentrate on the revenue side, e.g. on the taxes as well as on the social security contributions. Adam Smith had already formulated some very simple tax norms which have been transformed in modern tax theory. The equivalence as well as the ability-topay principle are basic yardsticks for every tax system in a democratic oriented market system, not to forget tax fairness. In the historical development process equity-oriented measures have often produced an enormous complexity of the single taxes as well as of the whole tax system. Therefore, reconsidering the Smithian principles of simplicity and of minimum compliance costs for the tax payer would even press many Western European tax systems to undergo serious reform processes which often are delayed because of intense interest group influence. Hence, a modern tax system is a simple one which consists only of a few single taxes which are easy to administer. Such a system consists of two main taxes, the income and the value added tax. Consequently in all countries of transition both taxes have been implemented, while the implementation was fostered by the fact that both also constitute the typical components of the EU member states systems. Therefore such a harmonising tax reform is the most important prerequisite to become a membership candidate. Bulgaria also tried to follow this general pattern in reforming the income tax system starting in 1992 and replacing the old socialistic turnover tax and excise duty system by the value added tax (VAT) in 1994. Especially with regard to the income tax system the demand for simplicity has not been met yet. Complex rules to define the tax base as well as a steeply progressive tax schedule have led to behavioral adaptations which are even strengthened by the effects of a high social contribution burden which is predominantly laid on the employers. In the following some concise descriptions of the tax and social contribution system are given; the paper closes with a summary, in which the impacts of the system are evaluated and some political recommendations for further reforms are presented.
The polit-economic situation in germany : chances for changes in resource and energy economics
(2002)
Contents: Regional Management, Land Use and Energy Production -Biophysical View -First Hypothesis -International and Interregional Cooperation -Second Hypothesis -Partnership with Nature Sustainability and the Agricultural Sector -Traditional Farming -Mono-cultural Bio-industry -Liquid Manure Problems -Clean Drinking Water -Integrated Agro-industrial System -Ecological Farming -Ecotones and Bio-manipulation Regional Economic and Agricultural Policy -New Roles for the Agricultural Sector
This volume contains the articles and papers which predominately have been published in international journals or edited volumes in the period from 1979 to 2009. The single articles reflect the main research areas of the editor and his co-authors who were engaged at the Kiel Institute of World Economics, the Johannes-Kepler-University Linz/Austria, the Justus- Liebig-University Giessen, the University of Potsdam, and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin).
This volume contains the articles and papers which predominately have been published in international journals or edited volumes in the period from 1979 to 2009. The single articles reflect the main research areas of the editor and his co-authors who were engaged at the Kiel Institute of World Economics, the Johannes-Kepler-University Linz/Austria, the Justus- Liebig-University Giessen, the University of Potsdam, and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin).
This volume contains the articles and papers which predominately have been published in international journals or edited volumes in the period from 1979 to 2009. The single articles reflect the main research areas of the editor and his co-authors who were engaged at the Kiel Institute of World Economics, the Johannes-Kepler-University Linz/Austria, the Justus- Liebig-University Giessen, the University of Potsdam, and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin).
This volume contains the articles and papers which predominately have been published in international journals or edited volumes in the period from 1979 to 2009. The single articles reflect the main research areas of the editor and his co-authors who were engaged at the Kiel Institute of World Economics, the Johannes-Kepler-University Linz/Austria, the Justus- Liebig-University Giessen, the University of Potsdam, and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin).
This volume contains the articles and papers which predominately have been published in international journals or edited volumes in the period from 1979 to 2009. The single articles reflect the main research areas of the editor and his co-authors who were engaged at the Kiel Institute of World Economics, the Johannes-Kepler-University Linz/Austria, the Justus- Liebig-University Giessen, the University of Potsdam, and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin).
This volume contains the articles and papers which predominately have been published in international journals or edited volumes in the period from 1979 to 2009. The single articles reflect the main research areas of the editor and his co-authors who were engaged at the Kiel Institute of World Economics, the Johannes-Kepler-University Linz/Austria, the Justus- Liebig-University Giessen, the University of Potsdam, and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin).
Contents: Actors, Markets and Interest Groups in Health Services Private and Social Health Insurance in a Simple Model Misallocation and Malpractice in Social Health Care and Insurances -The UK Health Care System -The German Social Health Insurance System -Current Discussions: Intertemporal Perspective and Fundamental Change Interplay of Public and Private Health Insurance: Lessons for Countries in Transition Summary: The Necessary Steps to a Fundamental Reform
Studiengebühren
(2006)
Inhalt: Grundsystematik und Kostenkomponenten der Hochschulbildung -Grundstruktur der Hochschulbildung -Kostenkomponenten eines Hochschulstudiums Status Quo der Finanzierung der Hochschulbildung in Deutschland Das Pro und Kontra der Gebührenlösung Alternative Finanzierungsmodelle -Voll- oder Teilkostenfinanzierung -Staatliche und private Finanzierungsanteile -Pauschale oder differenzierte Kostenanlastung -Vor- oder nachgelagerte Studienfinanzierung: private Kreditfinanzierungsprogramme, staatliche Kreditfinanzierungsprogramme, nachgelagerte Finanzierungssysteme im Ausland Sind Änderungen in der Finanzierung notwendig und gerechtfertigt?
Steuern in Fragilen Staaten
(2010)
Fragile states are characterized by institutions which do not have the political will or ability to reduce poverty in the interests of their citizen, to establish basic social security, to promote a successful development process, and to guarantee security and human rights. The regional disintegration processes after the period of imperialism and the fall of the iron curtain have created many new states, which still are politically unstable and unable for a sustainable development. In the literature such states are describes as "weak", "failing or failed", "collapsed", "conflict or post-conflict" - dependant on the extent of the particular state failure. Several indicators try to describe such states and partly allow for projections of the future development. Then the role of taxation is discussed in detail before recommendations for the development cooperation are presented. Obviously taxation plays a key role for the democratization process in fragile states.
Inhalt:Die Vorlage enthält zwei Werke: Hans-Georg Petersen: Schriftliche Stellungnahme zum Entwurf eines Steuerreformgesetzes (StRG) 1999 der Fraktionen der CDU/CSU und F.D.P. (Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 13/7480) -Anmerkungen zur Senkung des Einkommensteuertarifs -Anmerkungen zur Verbreiterung der Bemessungsgrundlage und Vereinfachung -Anmerkungen zu den Einzelregelungen des StRG (beschränkt auf wichtige Teilregelungen) Hans-Georg Petersen & Christhart Bork: Gemeinsame Stellungnahme zu dem Steuerreformvorschlag der SPD, dem Antrag von Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (BtDr. 13/7895) und dem Beschluß der Bundestagsgruppe der PDS sowie zum Gesetzentwurf der CDU/CSU und F.D.P. zur Fortsetzung der wirtschaftlichen Förderung in den neuen Ländern (BtDr. 13/7792)
Privatisation and ownership : the impact on firms in transition survey evidence from Bulgaria
(1999)
Previous papers in this Special Series, have described in detail the theoretical background and development patterns, along with some empirical results, for the privatisation processes in Bulgaria and Poland. A range of issues have been raised which demand closer empirical investigation. For this purpose, the research group has developed questionnaire studies for Bulgaria and Poland. In Bulgaria, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) carried out the case studies between February and April 1998. The problems of the questionnaire set-up were identified in apre-test study, but unlike the Polish case, they led to only minor differentiation. Since financial limitations prevented a larger sample size, a sample size of 61 mid-sized and large Bulgarian enterprises was selected. Failure to respond was not a serious problem, unlike with the Polish questionnaire; this is because the NSI has maintained good links to the enterprise sector and management were prepared to give detailed answers, even on questions of their firms' financial status. However, as the Polish experience suggests, it has become obvious that the privatisation process is also associated with management's increasing reluctance to answer comparatively 'intimate' questions. Thus, future questionnaire studies must take a much higher rate of refusals into consideration. The pre-selection procedure in Bulgaria was determined by the project target, which sought to analyse the effects of the privatisation process on firm' s behaviour during the transition process, and hence only firms which had already existed before the changes were included. For small and medium-size enterprises (SME's), most of which were founded after the changes, partly due to the legal processes of spontaneous privatisation, some empirical, as weIl as analytical, studies were carried out. Thus, the research group limited the scope of investigation to enterprises with more than 250 employees. The underlying hypothesis is that employment problems are concentrated in larger firms, in particular amongst those still (partly) state owned. Because of the former ownership structures and relatively slower capacity for management change, the assumption is that state-owned enterprises (SOE's) which have only been recently privatised might still have traditional links to government even after privatisation. On the one hand, the SME's are obviously more prone to, and linked with, market processes. As a result, they don't have the financial potential and incentives to follow job-hoarding strategies. On the other hand, there are almost no SME's which are still stateowned. Hence, the prevailing opinion in the literature is that 'larger industrial firms were apt to be least efficient, most often producing inadequate and non-competitive products, with a high degree ofunder-utilisation oflabour and most inflexible to change' (lones & Nikolov 1997, p. 252). Thus, as mentioned above, though there may be some limitations with regard to firm representation, our sample characterises a number of enterprises that offer fertile ground for the analysis of firms' adjustment to the newly established market realities in a transition economy. Our study is unique in the sense that existing empirical studies on privatisation and enterprise restructuring generally cover the time period just before and after the initial stages of transition, e.g. 1988/89 to 1992. In those studies, samples of firms in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria recognise that behavioural adaptations at the enterprise level had taken place just before the actual privatisation process materialised. Therefore, almost all of the firms under examination were still state-owned. The firms were usually divided according to their performance as 'good', 'average' and 'bad' enterprises. The main findings of those early studies have shown that the macroeconomic adaptations (i.e., macro-level changes which induced micro-level adjustment by the firms), as well as emerging market structures, have created enormous pressures which in turn have influenced firms' economic behaviour, reallocation of resources and consequent restructuring. This evidence supports the hypothesis that the SOE's started restructuring and adjusting their behaviour and performance, in response to the harsh realities of more open markets, before privatisation actually started. In this paper, we seek to present some results on these developments in Bulgaria, at the later stages of transition and privatisation (1992-1996). The aim of our questionnaire study is therefore to show the effects of the privatisation process and ownership on the behavioural adaptations of firms which had once been state-owned or continue to be owned by the state. The period under investigation is 1992 to 1996. For 1990 and 1991, the number of missing values is reactively high and, where relevant, we partly exclude these observations from our analysis. The paper contains seven sections. Section 11 outlines the macroeconomic environment in which our sample firms operate, provides some specifics of the Bulgarian privatisation process, and discusses data quality. Section 111 concentrates on the analysis of privatisation, the specific forms of ownership that resulted from it, and firm size. In Section IV, we describe the trends of the main economic variables within firms (such as employment, wages, labour productivity, etc), and a number of proxies of firm viability, while Section V presents some regression results to corroborate the discussion of the previous section. Section VI gives an overview of survey results of the impact of enterprise determined wage policy, trade union activity and membership, government control, and social benefits on enterprise restructuring. Section VII is a summary of our findings.
The paper is based on an individual life-cycle model, which describes the purely economic components of human capital. The present value of human capital is determined by all future income flows, which at the same time constitute the individual as well as the total tax base of a nation. Therefore, the income of the productive population determines the total tax revenue, which is spent for public goods (including education) and transfers (for poverty reduction). The efficient design of the education system (by private and public education investments) determines the quality of the human capital stock as well as the future gross income flows. The costs of public goods and the transfer expenditures have to be financed from the total tax revenue, which also affects the individual tax burden via the specific tax bases and tax rates. Especially the redistribution of income is connected with serious disincentives, influencing the preferences for work and leisure as well as for consumption and saving. An efficient tax and transfer system being accompanied by an education system financed in public private partnership, which treats equally labor and capital income, sets positive incentives for the formation of human, financial, and real capital. An important prerequisite for a sustainable growth process is the efficient design of the social security system, being based on the family as well as a collective risk equalization scheme. If that system is diminishing absolute poverty in an appropriate time period by transfers and vocational education measures for the grown-up as well as high quality primary, secondary and tertiary education programs for the children, the transfer expenditure would decrease and the tax bases (income and consumption) increase, lowering the burden on the productive population. For the first time, this micro model presented in this paper pools all the relevant variables for development within a simple life-cycle model, which can also be used for a powerful analysis of the current failures in existing tax and transfer schemes and fruitful empirical investigations. Hence, an efficient tax and transfer scheme strongly contributes to an improved national position in the global competition.
Industrial policy measures can be a reasonable supplement to economic and social policy actions during the period of transformation of centrally planned economies. This paper shows the interplay between industrial and social policy. Special attention is given to the timing and sequencing of the transformation process. This approach is closely modeled on the example of New Zealand.
The paper describes the content of the project “Tax-/Transfer-Reform and Fiscal Responsibility: Pathways to a Sustainable Fiscal Policy in Georgia”, which is supported for the period Fall 2005 to Spring 2008 by the VolkswagenStiftung. Within the project a knowledgetransfer is organized, concentrating on state theory, tax and transfer reform, revenue sharing as well as fiscal equalization. A short overview on the current situation in Georgia is presented. Then the main project components – tax reform, tax revenue estimation and microsimulation – are briefly discussed.
Mit dem vorliegenden Diskussionsbeitrag Nr. 29 wird das für das Finanzministerium Brandenburg erstellte Gutachten „Modernisierung der bundesstaatlichen Ordnung: Mischfinanzierungen und Gemeinschaftsaufgaben“ einer breiteren Öffentlichkeit zur Verfügung gestellt. Aufgrund des Umfangs der erstellten Reformszenarien und ihrer Auswirkungen ist der Diskussionsbeitrag in zwei Teile aufgeteilt worden. Der eher textorientierte Diskussionsbeitrag 29 a ist zum Verständnis des vorliegenden tabellenorientierten Diskussionsbeitrages 29 b, hilfreich.
Inhalt: Gutachten im Auftrag des Ministeriums der Finanzen des Landes Brandenburg (beinhaltet den Text des Gutachtens - Teil a) Mischfinanzierungstatbestände -Allgemeine Probleme der Mischfinanzierung -Gemeinschaftsaufgaben -Finanzhilfen nach Art. 104a Abs. 4 GG -Geldleistungsgesetze nach Art. 104a Abs. 3 GG Lösungsmöglichkeiten -Verteilungsschlüssel und Mischfinanzierung -Umsetzungsmöglichkeiten -Neuverteilung der Mittelzuweisungen am Beispiel der Gemeinschaftsaufgabe "Verbesserung der regionalen Wirtschaftsstruktur" -Kompensationsmodelle für Mischfinanzierungstatbestände
Der vorgestellte Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über die gegenwärtige Hochschulfinanzierung in Deutschland; kürzlich haben einige Bundesländer Studiengebühren eingeführt, die zu einer teilweisen Finanzierung der Studienkosten beitragen sollen. Im II. Kapitel werden außerdem kurz die finanziellen Strukturen der tertiären Ausbildung in den OECD-Ländern beschrieben. Dabei geht es vor allem um die Kostenaufteilung zwischen öffentlichem und privatem Sektor. Im III. Kapitel werden dann die Verteilungswirkungen des gegenwärtigen Finanzierungssystems kritisch hinterfragt. Dabei wird auch auf den Lebenseinkommensvorteil einer Hochschulausbildung im Detail eingegangen, bevor dann mögliche Auswirkungen einer Gebührenfinanzierung diskutiert werden. Es wird deutlich hervor gehoben, dass die Einführung von Studiengebühren in eine umfassende hochschul- und bildungspolitische Strategie eingebettet sein muss, damit eine negative Selektionswirkung auf die Jugendlichen aus Haushalten mit prekären Einkommen vermieden wird.
Inhalt: Effizienz und Leistungsfähigkeit in lebenszeitlicher Perspektive -Zum Zusammenhang von Einkommen, Konsum, Ersparnis und Vermögen -Bemessungsgrundlagen der direkten Besteuerung -Lawinenwirkungen der traditionellen synthetischen Einkommensteuer -Kumulationswirkungen einer Mehrfachbelastung des Kapitaleinkommens Die Einfachsteuer als konsumorientierte Einkommensteuer Auswirkungen auf der Haushaltsebene Auswirkungen auf der Unternehmensebene
Contents: Targets, Means and Benefits of Social Protection Standard Risks and Possible Institutional Settings for Social Protection -Market Structure for Pension and Health Insurance -Systems of Social Protection and Security -Replacement Ratios and Income Taxation Social Protection in Selected European Countries: Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, United Kingdom -Pension System -Health System -Unemployment Insurance -Accident Insurance -Basic Security System -Taxation of Wages and Profits The Overall Burden of Taxes and Social Protection Expenses Necessary Reforms, Lessons for Russia and a Basic Approach for a Blueprint -Basic Features of the Reform Process -Reforms within the Branches of Social Protection -Integrated Tax and Transfer Reform -Empirical Evaluation of Tax and Transfer Reforms
The paper tries to shed some light on the problems of centralization and decentralization within an economic union and the federal member states. Integration and decentralization are not opposite policy strategies but both meaningful if the single public goods and services supplies are analyzed in more detail. Both strategies doubtlessly have advantages, which can be realized if the manifold possibilities are combined in an efficient approach of good governance. Best practice approaches in inter- or supra-national integration, fiscal federalism and taxation do exist and have to be successfully implemented. Obviously such a modern fiscal policy has to be accompanied by an appropriate monetary policy, which in an economic union has to be carried out by an independent central bank as one of the necessary countervailing powers in a democratic setting. A modern fiscal policy strategy efficiently controls budget deficits, which naturally have to be limited to finance reliable public investments. Such strategy has to be safeguarded through modern methods of budgeting and fiscal planning. Modern public management with a clear code of conduct for the government officials ensures corruption free administration.
In the history of economic thoughts the problem of a "just" tax rate structure has played an important role. The paper reconsiders the discussions of the last two centuries and sheds additional light on the concrete tax schedules using the more recent methods of tax theory. Even if the substitution effects which play an important role in the theory of optimal taxation are neglected, the slope in the diminishing marginal utility of income causes tax rate structures reaching from accelerated progression to delayed regression. Interestingly the principle of equal relative sacrifice combined with a Bernoulli utility function yields a delayed progression, which is connected with a negative income tax.
Im Zusammenhang mit der Diskussion um die Globalisierung werden massive Vorwürfe gegen das ökonomische Gedankengebäude, aber auch die damit verbundenen menschlichen Verhaltensweisen ins Feld geführt. In einem verhaltenswissenschaftlich orientierten Ansatz wird daher zunächst aus individueller, dann aus internationaler Ebene herausgearbeitet, worin die grundlegenden friedensstiftenden Elemente eines ökonomischen Betrachtungsansatzes liegen. Dabei wird insbesondere die Rolle der Ungleichheit betont, die – neben einem reichen Güterangebot, der leistungsorientieren Entlohnung von Arbeit und Kapital sowie der individualistischen Eigentumsordnung – als konstitutives Element des marktwirtschaftlichen Anreizmechanismus den Erfolg demokratischer Gesellschaftssystem in besonderem Maße bestimmt. Die Ausführungen zu den Argumenten pro und contra Globalisierung stehen vor dem Hintergrund der Tatsache, dass die hervorgerufenen Entwicklungsprozesse unweigerlich Gewinner und Verlierer kreieren, was bei letzteren verständlich Ängste auslöst. Dabei wird die Verantwortlichkeit gerade für das Zurückfallen in einem insgesamt durchaus dynamischen Entwicklungsprozeß auf das Markt- und zum Teil auch Staatsversagen geschoben. Übersehen wird jedoch, dass hinter diesen vermeintlichen Versagenstatbeständen sich vielmehr ein moralisches Versagen verbirgt, welches eher auf Seiten der Marktteilnehmer, aber auch von Politik, Bürokratie und vor allem der Interessenvertreter zu suchen ist. Darüber hinaus wird auch die Existenz eines effizienten Sozialstaats nicht durch die Globalisierung gefährdet. Sie bildet vielmehr den Anlaß für die notwendigen Reformen, welche die Bekämpfung von Armut im nationalen wie internationalen Kontext sichern wird. Denn ohne Globalisierung drohen nicht nur ein überzogener Steuer- und Sozialstaat, sondern auch Tendenzen in Richtung auf den Leviathan und einen totalitären Machtmißbrauch, wie dieser heute noch in vielen Entwicklungs- und Transformationsländern auf der Tagesordnung ist.
Inhalt: Volkswirtschaftliche Gesamtrechnung Lohn- und Einkommensteuerstatistik Einkommens- und Transferschichtung des Deutschen Instituts für Wirtschaftsforschung Sozio-ökonomisches Panel (SOEP) Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe (EVS) Mikrodatensatz des Instituts für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften (ALLBUS) International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
Aus der Einleitung: Die Debatte um den Standort Deutschland gehört sicherlich zu den alltäglichen Problemkreisen, die den Medien reichlich Diskussionsstoff liefern. Die internationale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des vereinigten Deutschlands in einer offeneren Welt mit intensivierten Faktormobilitäten wird wesentlich durch die Steuer- und Sozialsysteme determiniert, die verstärktem äußeren Konkurrenzdruck ausgesetzt sind. Die Wanderung von Kapital und Arbeitskräften führt zu Anpassungszwängen vor allem in den Ländern, deren Steuer- und Sozialsysteme diesen neuen Verhältnissen noch nicht angepaßt worden sind. Der Fall des Eisernen Vorhangs hat den globalen Kapitalbedarf wesentlich erhöht, und zugleich eröffnen Wachstumserfolge in Südostasien neue, vor allem infolge moderater Lohnkosten attraktive Anlagemöglichkeiten. So stehen insbesondere die wenig qualifizierten Arbeitskräfte in Deutschland im unmittelbaren Wettbewerb mit den Arbeitskräften in den Niedriglohnländern; weil die institutionellen Regelungen in Deutschland notwendige Anpassungsprozesse verhindern, werden - unter anderem auch durch die Abwanderung von Kapital - verstärkt Arbeitskräfte freigesetzt, die zunehmend geringere Chancen haben, in absehbarer Zeit wieder in den Arbeitsmarkt integriert werden zu können.
The paper sheds some light on the education returns in Germany in the post war period. After describing higher education in Germany the current stand of higher education financing within the single states is presented. In six states tuition fees will be introduced in 2007/08 and discussions are going on in even some more. In the second part of the paper an empirical analysis is done using longitudinal data from the German social pension system. The analysis over the whole lifecycle renders results which proof that the higher education advantages are quite remarkable and might be a justification for more intensified financing by tuition fees. But all this has to be embedded into an encompassing strategy of tax and social policy, especially to prevent a strengthened process of social selection, which would be counterproductive for an increased and highly qualified human capital in Germany.
Part of the intorduction: The task of writing a reliable and convincing paper on this topic is a very uneasy one because it is threefold: one has to know at least a bit about the agricultural sector, biology (or more precisely ecology), and about the sometimes beneficial but often distorting consequences of human activities. And all that has to be judged from the perspective of an economist who is aware of the steadily increasing uncertainties which are closely connected with post-modem sciences. Especially with regard to global, but also regional environmental issues, neither the conventional applied sciences nor the traditional professional consultancy deliver promising results. Today scientists have to tackle problems which are created by political necessities overwhelmingly caused by short-term human behavior, due in part to a serious lack of information on the longterm behavioral consequences. In these issues, typically, information stacks are high, scientific facts uncertain, individual as well as collective values disputed, and political decisions very urgent. "In general, the post-normal situation is one where the traditional opposition of 'hard'facts and 'soft' values is inverted. Here we find decisions that are 'hard' in every sense, for which the scientific inputs are irremediably 'soft'" (FUNTOWICZ/RAVETZ, 1991, p. 138).
Inhalt: Finanz- und belastungspolitische Konsequenzen -Die Methode -Die Ergebnisse -Die Reformnotwendigkeit Zur gegenwärtigen Lage der Rentnerhaushalte -Das Vier-Säulen-System der Alterssicherung -Die Einkommenssituation der Rentnerhaushalte -Die praktizierte Rentenbesteuerung Einfachheit, Transparenz und Akzeptanz Grundsicherung, Alterssicherung und Rentenbesteuerung -Grundsicherung und Alterssicherung -Gesetzliche und freiwillige Alterssicherung -Korrespondenzprinzip und Rentenbesteuerung
Manuskript zweier Vorträge gehalten anläßlich der Tagung "Wirtschaft im Wandel - Sozialstaat im Umbruch" am Zentrum für Arbeit und Soziales (ZENTRAS) der Universität Trier 24. Februar 1997, Schloß Quint und vor der Enquete-Kommission "Demographischer Wandel" des Deutschen Bundestages 26. Februar 1997, Bonn Inhalt: Reformsequenzen und -komponenten -Öffentlicher Sektor -Steuersystem -Arbeitsmarkt -Soziale Sicherung -Bildungswesen Grundlegende Ideen, Durchsetzbarkeit und Akzeptanz Weitere Reformperspektiven Neuseeland - ein Beispiel für Deutschland?
Inhalt: Veränderungen der Bemessungsgrundlage -Besteuerung der Alterseinkommen -Sozialversicherungsbeiträge, Vorsorgeaufwendungen und Sonderausgaben -Die Behandlung der Einkünfte aus nichtselbständiger Arbeit -Behandlung der Einkünfte aus Vermietung und Verpachtung -Behandlung der Gewinneinkunftsarten und der Einkünfte aus Kapitalvermögen -Kindergeld und Kinderfreibeträge Gesamtwirkungen Der Karlsruher Reformentwurf -Die Elemente des Karlsruher Entwurfs -Karlsruher Entwurf im empirischen Vergleich Tarifanalyse unter Einschluß des Grundfreibetrags