TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - The Economics of Taxing Net Wealth: A Survey of the Issues T2 - Public Finance and Management N2 - This paper surveys possible motivations for having a net wealth tax. After giving a short overview over the state of wealth taxation in OECD countries, we discuss both popular arguments for such a tax, as well as economic arguments. It is argued that classical normative principles of taxation known from public economics cannot give a sound justification for a net wealth tax. The efficiency-related effects are also discussed and shown to be theoretically ambiguous, while empirical evidence hints at a negative effect on GDP growth. Finally, it is argued that despite of widespread and persistent lobbying for a revitalization of the net wealth tax, this is unlikely to happen due to political economy constraints. KW - net wealth tax KW - wealth KW - inequality KW - redistribution Y1 - 2012 SN - 1523-9721 VL - 12 IS - 4 SP - 368 EP - 400 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - The Evolution of a Fiscal Constitution When Individuals are Theoretically Uncertain T2 - European Journal of Law and Economics N2 - In contrast to the contractarian approach to constitutional economics, we follow Voigt (1999) in assuming that constitutional rules are closely connected to informal institutions and that their evolution is a matter of interest group activity and implicit re-interpretation. We add to this the assumption of theoretical uncertainty of individuals regarding the working properties of constitutional rules. Collective learning processes are considered as the third driving force of constitutional evolution, and at the same time as the source of path-dependencies which allow suboptimal constitutions to persist. Finally, it is argued that direct legislation offers more protection than a written fiscal constitution. KW - positive constitutional economics KW - collective learning KW - path-dependent rule-evolution Y1 - 2004 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026389926709 SN - 0929-1261 VL - 17 IS - 1 SP - 97 EP - 115 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan A1 - Feld, Lars P. A1 - Schaltegger, Christoph A. T1 - The Impact of Referendums on the Centralization of Public Goods Provision: A Political Economy Approach T2 - Economics of Governance N2 - The paper compares decision-making on the centralisation of public goods provision in the presence of regional externalities under representative and direct democratic institutions. A model with two regions, two public goods and regional spillovers is developed in which uncertainty over the true preferences of candidates makes strategic delegation impossible. Instead, it is shown that the existence of rent extraction by delegates alone suffices to make cooperative centralisation more likely through representative democracy. In the non-cooperative case, the more extensive possibilities for institutional design under representative democracy increase the likelihood of centralisation. Direct democracy may thus be interpreted as a federalism-preserving institution. KW - Centralisation KW - Direct democracy KW - Representative democracy KW - Public good provision Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10101-009-0063-1 SN - 1435-8131 VL - 11 IS - 1 SP - 3 EP - 26 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Verhaltensökonomische Theorie der Politik und die Robustheit politischer Institutionen T2 - List-Forum für Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik Y1 - 2017 SN - 2364-3943 SN - 0937-0862 VL - 43 IS - 3 SP - 197 EP - 219 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Döring, Thomas A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - What do we know about geographical knowledge spillovers and regional growth?: A survey of the literature T2 - Regional Studies N2 - Döring T. and Schnellenbach J. (2006) What do we know about geographical knowledge spillovers and regional growth?: a survey of the literature, Regional Studies 40, 375–395. Modern (endogenous) growth theory tells us that knowledge is crucial for the sustained growth of high-income economies. Against this background, the paper provides a survey of theoretical and empirical findings highlighting the question of how geographically limited knowledge diffusion can help to explain clusters of regions with persistently different levels of growth. It discusses this topic in two steps. First, the theoretical concept of knowledge spillovers is outlined by discussing the different types of knowledge, the spatial dimension of knowledge spillovers, and the geographical mechanisms and structural conditions of knowledge diffusion. Second, it analyses the empirical evidence concerning the theoretical propositions. KW - Knowledge spillovers KW - Regional growth KW - Research and development KW - Innovation KW - Diffusion of innovations Y1 - 2006 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/00343400600632739 SN - 0034-3404 VL - 40 IS - 3 SP - 375 EP - 395 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Wohlwollendes Anschubsen? Liberaler Paternalismus und seine Nebenwirkungen T2 - Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik N2 - In diesem Papier wird das Konzept des liberalen Paternalismus diskutiert, dessen Vertreter überzeugt sind, die Qualität der Entscheidungen von Individuen durch ein effizientes Design der Randbedingungen dieser Entscheidungen verbessern zu können. Nach einem Überblick über die verhaltensökonomischen Grundlagen des liberalen Paternalismus werden insbesondere seine normativen Grundlagen und politisch-ökonomischen Implikationen diskutiert. Es zeigt sich, dass paternalistische Ansätze selbst Entscheidungen häufig verzerren werden und dass eine Verbesserung der Qualität individueller Entscheidungen höchst zweifelhaft ist. KW - Paternalismus KW - inkonsistente Präferenzen KW - expressives Verhalten Y1 - 2011 SN - 1465-6493 VL - 12 IS - 4 SP - 445 EP - 459 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schnellenbach, Jan T1 - Zwischen homo oeconomicus und homo sapiens: ein Nobelpreis für Realismus in den Verhaltensannahmen T2 - ORDO - Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Y1 - 2018 SN - 2366-0481 SN - 0048-2129 VL - 68 SP - 325 EP - 330 ER -