Gebhard Kirchgässner

The Effect of Direct Democracy on Income Redistribution: Evidence for Switzerland (2009)

Lars P. Feld, Gebhard Kirchgässner

There is an intensive dispute in political economics about the impact of institutions on income redistribution. While the main focus is on comparison between different forms of representative...

Sustainability of Swiss Fiscal Policy (2008)

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Silika Tereshchenko

We examine whether Swiss federal fiscal policy was sustainable over the period from 1900 to 2002. We perform unit root and cointegration tests for federal revenues and expenditures, taking into...

Homo Oeconomicus (2008)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

The economic model of behaviour is fundamental not only in economic theory, but also in modern approaches of other social sciences, above all in political science and law. This book provides a...

Introduction to Modern Time Series Analysis (2008)

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Jürgen Wolters

This book presents modern developments in time series econometrics that are applied to macroeconomic and financial time series. It attempts to bridge the gap between methods and realistic...

Institutions and Economic Growth (2008)

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Lars P. Feld

We take up the recent discussion about institutions, governance and geography. The main result of this debate is that institutions matter, be they the fundamental cause of growth or not. We first...

Parallelimporte patentgeschützter Güter: Eine Option für die Schweiz? (2008)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Volltext im Working Paper: http://www.scala.unisg.ch/org/scala/web.nsf/SysWebRessources/PP_Scala_0108_Kirchgaessner/$FILE/PP-Scala_0108.pdf

On the Effectiveness of Debt Brakes: The Swiss Experience (2008)

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Lars P. Feld

The Swiss fiscal system is characterised by an extensive fiscal federalism with high fiscal autonomy at all governmental levels, by direct popular rights which include fiscal referenda at the...

Heinz Hauser – Forscher mit internationaler Reputation (2008)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Volltext unter www.unisg.ch/hsgweb.nsf/wwwPubInhalteGer/HSGBlatt?opendocument

Is It Culture or Democracy? The Impact of Democracy and Culture on Happiness (2007)

Alfonso Sousa-Poza, Gebhard Kirchgässner, Dorn David

We look at the relation between democracy and perceived subjective well-being, taking also into account the impact of income and culture. After briefly reviewing the empirical results for...

The Effect of Direct Democracy on Income Redistribution: Evidence for Switzerland (2007)

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Lars P. Feld

There is an intensive dispute in political economics about the impact of institutions on income redistribution. While the main focus is on comparison between different forms of representative...

Geschichte und wirtschaftspolitische Konzeption der Kommission für Konjunkturfragen (2007)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

At the end of 2007, the Swiss 'Kommission für Konjunkturfragen' (Economic Advisory Board of the Swiss Government) founded in 1932 will be dissolved. Thus, there is no longer an independent committee...

Der Steuerwettlauf beruhigt sich bald (2007)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Volltext unter www.unisg.ch/hsgweb.nsf/wwwPubInhalteGer/HSGBlatt?opendocument

Are forecasters reluctant to revise their predictions? Some German evidence (2006)

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Ulrich K. Müller

People are reluctant to admit mistakes. This could also be true of economic forecasters. If revisions of past forecasts are costly, then it will become optimal for forecasters to only partially...

Probleme des Gesundheitswesens in der Schweiz (2006)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Hintergrundpapier zu den Teilen 1, 3 und 5 des Jahresberichts 2006 der Kommission für Konjunkturfragen (KfK); Staatssekretariat für Wirtschaft (Bern).

Probleme des Gesundheitswesens in der Schweiz (2006)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

In this paper, problems of the Swiss health system and possible solutions are discussed. First, the development of health expenditure and its structure during the last decades is shown, also in...

Was treibt die Stimmbürger an die Urne? Eine empirische Untersuchung der Abstimmungsbeteiligung (2005)

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Tobias Schulz

Zunächst werden die theoretischen Überlegungen kurz dargelegt, die zur Entscheidungs- bzw. zur Mobilisierungshypothese führen. Zudem wird die Theorie des ‘expressiven Wählens’ vorgestellt, und...

Option für die Armen: Eine ökonomische Perspektive (2005)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Poverty is – from an economic perspective − mainly a structural problem, which may be solved with economic growth. After presenting several concepts of poverty we first discuss problems...

On the Rationality of the General Public (2005)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Using Allensbach survey data about how people look forward to the coming year, we construct true ex-post forecasts and compare them with the forecasts produced by the German Council of Economic...

(Why) Are Economists Different? (2005)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

After presenting casual evidence of the difference between economists and the rest of the population, I review the survey and experimental evidence on this topic during the last 20 years. I then ask...

The Weak Rationality Principle in Economics (2005)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

The weak rationality principle is not an empirical statement but a heuristic rule of how to proceed in social sciences. It is a necessary ingredient of any ‘understanding’ social science in the...

Expected Closeness or Mobilisation: Why Do Voters Go to the Polls? Empirical Results for Switzerland, 1981 – 1999 (2005)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Using data of Swiss referenda from 1981 to 1999, this paper presents new empirical results which allow us to discriminate better between the decision and mobilisation hypotheses of electoral...

Wirtschaftliche Probleme einer alternden Bevölkerung (2005)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Zunächst wird die erwartete demographische Entwicklung bis zur Mitte dieses Jahrhunderts dargestellt, wie sie sich aus den Szenarien des Bundesamts für Statistik ergibt. Danach befassen wir uns mit...

Konsumorientierung der Einkommensteuer (2005)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Französische Fassung: Axer davantage l'impôt sur le revenue sur la con¬sommation, La Vie économique

Die Bedeutung der Körperschaftssteuer: Theoretische Überlegungen, die internationale Entwicklung und die Schweiz (2004)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Taking into account that international tax competition is going stronger, first arguments in favour of abolishing corporate income taxation or even any capital income taxation are presented. Second,...

Sustainable Fiscal Policy in a Federal System: Switzerland as an Example (2004)

Lars P. Feld, Gebhard Kirchgässner

How a sustainable fiscal policy can be performed in a federal system is not only a Swiss problem but is also discussed in other federal countries like Germany and Austria, and in the European Union....

Wertfreiheit und Objektivität in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften: Mythos oder Realität? (2004)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

After a short description of some positions which reject the principle of value freedom and after a short specification of what is meant with this principle, first the relation between the genesis of...

Zum Zusammenhang zwischen staatlicher Aktivität und wirtschaftlicher Entwicklung (2004)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

First, the problem of defining the government size and theoretical considerations about the relation between this size and economic growth are discussed. Then the international comparative empirical...

Ökonomische Theorie der Verfassung (2004)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

In this paper the approach of Constitutional Economics is presented and some of its applications are shown. First, the concept of the original position (constitutional convention) with its...

Expertenbefragung: Wohin steuert die Schweiz? (2004)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

http://emagazine.credit-suisse.com/article/index.cfm?fuseact ion=OpenArticle&aoid=76739&lang=DE

Decentralized Taxation and the Size of Government: Evidence from Swiss State and Local Governments (2003)

Gebhard Kirchgässner, LarsP. Feld, Christoph Schaltegger

According to the Leviathan-Model, fiscal federalism is seen as a binding constraint on a revenue-maximizing government. The competitive pressure of fiscal federalism is supposed to reduce public...

The Role of Direct Democracy in the European Union (2003)

Gebhard Kirchgässner, LarsP. Feld

In this paper, the introduction of direct-democratic decision-making in all EU decisions is considered when it is feasible without prohibitively increasing decision-making costs. We start with the...

Abstention because of Indifference and Alienation, and Its Consequences for Party Competition: A Simple Psychological Model (2003)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

The basic idea behind this paper is that voters have to be able to distinguish the positions of the parties. Following Weber’s Law this depends on the relative distance with respect to their own...

Probleme der Besteuerung in der E-Economy (2002)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

In this paper we discuss the main taxation related problems which arise from internet commerce. Additionally, a survey of the economic literature about this problem is provided. This literature...

Reformstau durch ein Zuwenig an Föderalismus (2002)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Abgedruckt in: R. HRBECK und A. EPPLER (eds.), Deutschland vor der Föderalismus-Reform: Eine Dokumentation, Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismusforschung, Occasional Papers Nr. 28, Tübingen...

On Heroes and Average Moral Human Beings (2001)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

After discussing various approaches about heroic behaviour in the literature, we first give a definition and classification of moral behaviour, in distinction to intrinsically motivated and...

On the Political Economy of Environmental Policy (2001)

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Friedrich Schneider

In the past there was hardly any use of economic instruments in environmental policy, mainly command and control measures were used. More recently, ecological taxes became more popular and voluntary...

Moralische Aspekte der Besteuerung (2001)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

What are the conditions under which a moral justification of taxation is possible? This question does not only interest philosophers and economists from a scientific point of view, but it can have...

Ökologische Steuerreform: Utopie oder realistische Alternative (1998)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Zugleich Beiheft 6 der Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften.

Comment on G.E. Mizon, "Modelling Relative Price Variability and Aggregate Inflation in the United Kingdom" (1991)

Gebhard Kirchgässner

abgedruckt in: Svend Hylleberg und Martin Paldam (eds.), New Approaches to Empirical Macroeconomics, Blackwell, Oxford 1991, S. 91-96.

Sustainability of Swiss Fiscal Policy

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Silika Prohl

We examine whether Swiss federal fiscal policy was sustainable over the period from 1900 to 2002. We perform unit root and cointegration tests for federal revenues and expenditures, taking into...

Expected Closeness or Mobilisation: Why Do Voters Go to the Polls? Empirical Results for Switzerland, 1981 – 1999

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Tobias Schulz

Using data of Swiss referenda from 1981 to 1999, this paper presents new empirical results which allow us to discriminate better between the decision and mobilisation hypotheses of electoral...

(Why) Are Economists Different?

Gebhard Kirchgässner

After presenting some casual evidence about the difference between economists and the rest of the population, first the survey and experimental evidence which has been presented on this topic during...

The Weak Rationality Principle in Economics

Gebhard Kirchgässner

The weak rationality principle is not an empirical statement but a heuristic rule of how to proceed in social sciences. It is a necessary ingredient of any ‘understanding’ social science in the...

Are forecasters reluctant to revise their predictions? Some German evidence

Ulrich K. Müller, Gebhard Kirchgässner

People are reluctant to admit mistakes. This could also be true of economic forecasters. If revisions of past forecasts are costly, then it will become optimal for forecasters to only partially...

Probabilistic Voting and Equilibrium: An Impossibility Result

Gebhard Kirchgässner

The introduction of voters' uncertainty alone is in no way sufficient to guarantee an equilibrium outcome of a voting process. What is needed in addition is the assumption that the voting...

Sustainable Fiscal Policy in a Federal System: Switzerland as an Example

Lars P. Feld, Gebhard Kirchgässner

How a sustainable fiscal policy can be performed in a federal system is not only a Swiss problem but is also discussed in other federal countries like Germany and Austria, and in the European Union....

The Role of Direct Democracy in the European Union

Lars P. Feld, Gebhard Kirchgässner

In this paper, the introduction of direct-democratic decision-making in all EU decisions is considered when it is feasible without prohibitively increasing decision-making costs. We start with the...

Fiscal Federalism and Economic Performance: Evidence from Swiss Cantons

Lars P. Feld, Gebhard Kirchgässner, Christoph A. Schaltegger

The advantages and disadvantages of fiscal federalism are widely discussed in economics and political science. While some authors argue that federalism favors individual initiatives and serves as a...

The Effect of Direct Democracy on Income Redistribution:Evidence for Switzerland

Lars P. Feld, Gebhard Kirchgässner

There is an intensive dispute in political economics about the impact of institutions on incomeredistribution. While the main focus is on comparison between different forms of...

The Effect of Direct Democracy on Income Redistribution: Evidence for Switzerland

Lars P. Feld, Gebhard Kirchgässner

There is an intensive dispute in political economics about the impact of institutions on income redistribution. While the main focus is on comparison between different forms of representative...

Sustainability of Swiss Fiscal Policy

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Silika Prohl

Was Swiss federal fiscal policy sustainable over the period from 1900 to 2002? We perform unit root and cointegration tests for federal revenues and expenditures, taking into account a structural...

Empirische Forschung in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften: Ein Überblick

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Marcel Savioz

Zunächst wird eine kurze Übersicht über die verschiedenen Wege empirischer Forschung gegeben, die heute begangen werden. Danach wird die historische Entwicklung der empirischen...

The political economy of direct legislation: direct democracy and local decision-making

Lars P Feld, Gebhard Kirchgässner

Local and regional governments account for an important share of total government spending and, given the decentralization trend in OECD nations, this is likely to increase. How should this spending...

Wirtschaftliche Auswirkungen der direkten Demokratie

Gebhard Kirchgässner

First the transmission of information in direct and representative democracies is investigated. Because there is more supply and demand of information, citizens are better informed in direct...

Direkte Demokratie, Steuermoral und Steuerhinterziehung: Erfahrungen aus der Schweiz

Gebhard Kirchgässner

First it is clarified what„trust”and„tax morale”actually mean and how they are measured. Especially in German-speaking countries, tax morale is often mixed with tax...

Sustainable Fiscal Policy in a Federal System Switzerland as an Example

Prof. Dr. Lars P. Feld, Prof. Dr. Gebhard Kirchgässner

How a sustainable fiscal policy can be performed in a federal system is not only a Swiss problem but is also discussed in other federal countries like Germany and Austria, and in the European Union....

Was treibt die Stimmbürger an die Urne? Eine empirische Untersuchung der Abstimmungsbeteiligung in der Schweiz, 1981 - 1999

Prof. Dr. Gebhard Kirchgässner, Dr. Tobias Schulz

First, theoretical considerations and selected empirical results of previous studies explaining participation in elections and referenda are presented. We consider the decision hypothesis, the...

The Weak Rationality Principle in Economics

Gebhard Kirchgässner

The weak rationality principle is not an empirical statement but a heuristic rule how to proceed in social sciences. It is a necessary ingredient of any understanding’ social science in the...

Option für die Armen: Eine ökonomische Perspektive

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Ökonomen sehen Armut in aller Regel als strukturelles Problem und versuchen, sie mit Wirtschaftswachstum zu überwinden. Nach einer Diskussion verschiedener Armutskonzepte wird daher zunächst auf...

Wertfreiheit und Objektivität in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften: Mythos oder Realität?

Gebhard Kirchgässner

After a short description of some positions which reject the principle of value freedom and after a short specification of what is meant with this principle, first the relation between the genesis of...

Zum Zusammenhang zwischen staatlicher Aktivität und wirtschaftlicher Entwicklung

Gebhard Kirchgässner

First, the problem of defining the government size and theoretical considerations about the relation between this size and economic growth are discussed. Then the international comparative empirical...

Ökonomische Theorie der Verfassung

Gebhard Kirchgässner

In this paper the approach of Constitutional Economics is presented and some of its applications are shown. First, the concept of the original position (constitutional convention) with its...

(Why) Are Economists Different?

Gebhard Kirchgässner

After presenting some casual evidence about the difference between economists and the rest of the population, first the survey and experimental evidence which has been presented on this topic during...

Die Rolle des Staates in privaten Governance Strukturen

Lars P. Feld, Gebhard Kirchgässner

First, a brief sketch of the economic tasks government has to perform are given, before three issues are discussed in more detail: public production, competition policy, and government interventions...

Abstention because of Indifference and Alienation, and Its Consequences for Party Competition: A Simple Psychological Model

Gebhard Kirchgässner

The basic idea behind this paper is that voters have to be able to distinguish the positions of the parties. Following Weber’s Law this depends on the relative distance with respect to their own...

Direct democracy: obstacle to reform?

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Direct democracy, Referendum, Initiative, Political and economic reform, C53,

Ecological Tax Reform and Involuntary Unemployment: Simulation Results for Switzerland

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Ulrich Müller, Marcel Savioz

Using an applied general equilibrium of the Swiss economy the economic consequences of an environmental tax reform are analysed. Such a reform is followed by a substantial reduction of C02 emissions...

Auswirkungen der direkten Demokratie auf die öffentlichen Finanzen: Empirische Ergebnisse für die Schweiz

Gebhard Kirchgässner

This paper gives a survey of the empirical results of the impact of direct popular rights on public finances which have been achieved in a project financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation....

Die Rolle des Staates in privaten Governance Strukturen

Lars P. Feld, Gebhard Kirchgässner

We first give a brief sketch of the economic tasks the government has to perform, before three issues are discussed in more detail: public production, competition policy, and government interventions...

Nationale und internationale Bestimmungsfaktoren der schweizerischen Mineralölpreise:

Gebhard Kirchgässner

This paper investigates how Swiss consumer prices for gasoline and light heating oil react to changes in corresponding Rotterdam prices and tax rates. Monthly data from January 1977 to June 1993 are...

Zur Anpassung der schweizerischen Mineralölpreise an die internationale Entwicklung. Empirische Tests einiger Hypothesen

Gebhard Kirchgässner

It is investigated how Swiss consumer- and wholesale prices for gasoline and heating oil react on changes of the corresponding Rotterdam prices, evaluated in Swiss Francs. Monthly data from January...

Financial and World Economic Crisis: What did Economists Contribute?

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Friedrich Schneider

In this paper we deal with two questions, (i) what are the origins of the current financial crisis, and (ii) what did economists contribute, or why did economists fail to provide a convincing answer...

Critical Analysis of Some Well-Intended Proposals to Fight Unemployment

Gebhard Kirchgässner

In this paper it is asked whether it is meaningful to state a ‘right to work’ as a basic human right to be written down in the constitution, for example, whether working time should generally be...

Financial and world economic crisis: What did economists contribute?

Friedrich Schneider, Gebhard Kirchgässner

Financial crisis, Crisis management, Failure of economics, Failure of economic researchers, Origin of the crisis, A11, B40, D72, D73, D8, G01, K2,

Die Krise der Wirtschaft: Auch eine Krise der Wirtschaftswissenschaften?

Gebhard Kirchgässner

Is the economic and financial crisis also a crisis of Economics? From different perspectives, today there is rather harsh criticism of Economics as a Social Science. In this paper, first, some of the...

Direkte Demokratie und Menschenrechte

Gebhard Kirchgässner

There is a basic tension between the principle of democracy and the rule of law. This becomes obvious whenever the Swiss citizens accept an initiative that is incompatible with the European...

Direkte Demokratie und Menschenrechte

Gebhard Kirchgässner

There is a basic tension between the principle of democracy and the rule of law. This becomes obvious whenever the Swiss citizens accept an initiative that is incompatible with the European...

60 Jahre Grundgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Einige Bemerkungen zu Demokratie und Föderalismus in Deutschland aus schweizerischer Perspektive

Gebhard Kirchgässner

In comparing Switzerland and Germany, this paper discusses basic but potentially conflicting constitutional principles and the problems which can arise from such conflicts and which have to be...

60 Jahre Grundgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Einige Bemerkungen zu Demokratie und Föderalismus in Deutschland aus schweizerischer Perspektive

Gebhard Kirchgässner

In comparing Switzerland and Germany, this paper discusses basic but potentially conflicting constitutional principles and the problems which can arise from such conflicts and which have to be...

The Role of Monetary Aggregates in the Policy Analysis of the Swiss National Bank

Gebhard Kirchgässner, Jürgen Wolters

Using Swiss data from 1983 to 2008, this paper investigates whether growth rates of the different measures of the quantity of money and or excess money can be used to forecast inflation. After a...