Taxation and the Veil of Ignorance – A Real Effort Experiment on the Laffer Curve

In this paper we address the role of theveil of ignorance on work incentives andtax rates in a two-person real effortexperiment. We find that effort levelsdecrease with a rise in tax rates. Taxrevenues peak at intermediate tax rates of50% to 65%, supporting the existence of aLaffer curve in taxation. Tax authoritiesdo not exploit their power to tax in full,which is compatible both with revenuemaximizing but also fair behavior. Behindthe veil of ignorance, subjects care morefor efficiency and restrict the power totax more than in case their position(taxpayer or tax authority) is fixed inadvance.     

A statistical study of the effect of the great depression on elections: The Weimar Republic, 1930–1933

The four Reichstag elections in Germany between 1930 and 1933 are the object of this study. A cross-section analysis of 13 regions and a time series analysis show no conclusive impact of unemployment on the vote share of the National Socialist Party. A pooled cross-section/time-series analysis simultaneously considering sociodemographic and economic factors shows, however, that the Nazi party significantly benefitted from higher unemployment. The farmers tended to support the NSDAP while the catholics tended to reject it. The same holds for the totalitarian parties as a whole, the principal one beside the Nazi being the German Communist Party. A Gedankenexperiment suggests that, if unemployment had not risen from 14% in July 1930 to 52% of employed workers in January 1933, the Nazi party would have received 24% instead of 44% of the vote in March 1933.     

Tax rates, tax administration and income tax evasion in Switzerland

This paper contains an empirical analysis of income tax noncompliance in Switzerland, based on the standard model of tax evasion. Noncompliance is found to be positively related to the marginal tax burden and negatively to the probability of audit, though the latter impact is only weak. There is no evidence of a significant deterrent effect of the penalty tax. The extended model reveals that noncompliance is positively related to inflation. Finally, noncompliance is significantly lower when citizens/taxpayers have direct control over government budgets, whereas the opposite holds when there is no such control.     

Globalization as a Challenge for Public Choice Theory

Public choice theory in many ways provides a fruitful economicinstrumentarium to be applied to the phenomena of internalizationand globalization. International political economics offers muchpotential for the analysis of real and relevant aspects ininternational relationships. This paper sketches out a few selectedaspects of the globalization question for which public choicetheory could offer a useful explanatory contribution. However, itis made clear as well, that the concept of globalization presentsa substantial challenge for public choice in that only a limitedpart of the institutional change that has accompanied globalizationhas been explained endogenously.     

Do people care about democracy? An experiment exploring the value of voting rights

Public Choice - In almost all democratic national elections an individual vote cannot change the election outcome. The fact that many individuals nevertheless participate voluntarily in such...