Books in the CESifo Seminar Series series

Research from the United States, Europe, and South America demonstrates the usefulness of the tools of economic analysis for the study of crime.

Leading researchers from the United States and Europe report on new findings on the effect of education on equal opportunity, using economic and statistical techniques to assess the results of education policy reform in countries including the United States, Britain, Sweden, Germany, and Italy.

Leading experts in industrial organization and auction theory examine the recent European telecommunication license auction experience.

International economists and other scholars address the major issues that arise in writing a European constitution, including the evolution of federalism and the role of direct democracy.

Theoretical and empirical perspectives on how fiscal policies in Europe and the United States can avoid government bankruptcy.

Essays exploring the relationship between economic growth and inequality and the implications for policy makers.

The effect of tax policies and welfare state incentives on the performance of the labor market: theoretical and empirical analyses by leading European and American economists.

Economists offer rigorous quantitative analyses of how the institutional design and purpose of the WTO (and its progenitor, the GATT) affect economic development.

Theoretical and policy perspectives on the taxation of pension, viewed in an international context.

Issues in debates about foreign currency exposure-the denomination of liabilities or assets in foreign currency.

The economic and political aspects of energy subsidies, viewed both theoretically and empirically, with a focus on fossil fuel subsidies in developing nations.Government subsidies to energy are widespread and represent a heavy burden on public budgets in many countries. Both producers and consumers may be subsidized; the most common subsidies are for motor fuel consumption and electricity production and consumption. The subsidies to consumers often prove particularly harmful because they result in increased energy consumption, increased carbon emissions, and distortionary effects on consumer behavior. This book fills a void in the literature by providing a first, broad and diverse, analysis of several aspects of the economic and political economy aspects of government energy subsidies. The contributors take both theoretical and empirical approaches, with most of the focus on subsidies to fuel and electricity in non-OECD countries.The chapters cover such topics as energy pricing, reelection incentives for politicians that may encourage excessive subsidies; political corruption and "bribing equilibria,” the the "resource curse” in developing countries when the gains from natural resource windfalls are largely wasted, the "entitlement” of energy subsidies in autocracies, and distributional issues when subsidies targeted to the poor are removed in high-income countries. One chapter discusses nonharmful subsidies: the potential economic effects of subsidizing the manufacturing and deployment of renewable energy. ContributorsCarolyn Fischer, Mads Greaker, Mohammad Habibpour, Michelle Harding, Christina Kolerus, Christos Kotsogiannis, Jim Krane, Alber Touna Mama, Raffaele Miniaci, Marco Pani, Ian Parry, Carlo Perroni, Leonzio Rizzo, Knut Einar Rosendahl, Carlo Scarpa, Neda Seiban, Suphi Sen, Jon Strand, Paola Valbonesi, Herman Vollebergh

Theoretically and empirically informed studies on the role and efficiency of the public sector, public wage and employment policy, privatization, tax policy, and fiscal sustainability.