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J. Bröthaler, M. Getzner:
"Fiscal Autonomy and Total Government Expenditure: an Austrian Case-study";
Talk: 69th International Atlantic Economic Conference, Session on Public Finance Issues, Prag; 2010-03-24 - 2010-03-27.

The ongoing debate on the efficiency of a federal system versus a centralized one has lead to a diverse and unclear empirical picture of the effects of fiscal decentralization on public sector growth. For analyzing these effects it is crucial to consider the sub-national decision power on taxing and spending. In the current paper, we test for the effects of fiscal autonomy on total government expenditure using time series from 1955 to 2007 for Austria. Determinants of government expenditure are economic growth, fiscal illusion of policy makers, and the unemployment rate. We additionally account for different degrees of sub-national fiscal autonomy. Our econometric results suggest that the often-hypothesized dampening effects of fiscal autonomy cannot be corroborated for the Austrian system.

Es wird der Zusammenhang zwischen fiskalischer Autonomie der sub-nationalen Gebietskörperschaften und den Ausgaben des Staates ökonometrisch anhand von Zeitreihendaten 1955-2008 für Österreich untersucht.

Fiscal autonomy, decentralization, federalism, growth of public sector, public expenditure