Germany needs a taxation system that satisfies the needs of its citizens while accommodating the corporate sector. The taxation system should give rise to as few unintended behavioural reactions as possible. It should also be fair, clear and feasible. It is particularly important that the taxation system does not distort corporate investment decisions, for capital is highly mobile internationally and even small negative yield differentials can cause outflows.
TV Lectures
Can Germany Still be Saved? - Theses on the Future of the Republic, Information page
Refereed scientific monographs
Can Germany be Saved? The Malaise of the World’s First Welfare State, MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass., 2007, 356 pages. (Revised and updated translation of Ist Deutschland noch zu retten?); Chapter 6: “Taxes and Transfers: The Endless Loop”. To Amazon.
Capital Income Taxation and Resource Allocation, North Holland: Amsterdam etc. 1987, 411 pages. (Translation of Kapitaleinkommensbesteuerung, Mohr: Tübingen 1985).
Articles in refereed journals
"Green Tax Reform and Competitiveness“ (together with E. Koskela and R. Schöb), German Economic Review 2, 2001, pp. 19-30; (Download, 1.5 MB).
"Pollution, Factor Taxation and Unemployment" (together with E. Koskela and R. Schöb), International Tax and Public Finance 5, 1998, pp. 379-396; (Download, 163 KB); CESifo Working Paper No. 151, 1998; (Download, 139 KB).
"Taxation and the Cost of Capital: The 'Old' View, the 'New' View, and Another View", in: D. Bradford, ed., Tax Policy and the Economy 5, 1991, National Bureau of Economic Research, pp. 25-54; (Download, 950 KB); NBER Working Paper No. 3501, December 1991; (Download, 373 KB); Woodrow Wilson School Discussion Paper No. 59, Princeton, 1990.
"Tax Harmonization and Tax Competition in Europe", European Economic Review 34, 1990, Papers & Proceedings, pp. 489-504; (Download, 969 KB); NBER Working Paper No. 3248, January 1991; (Download, 191 KB).
"Gradual Reforms of Capital Income Taxation" (together with P. Howitt), American Economic Review 79, 1989, pp. 106-124; (Download, 449 KB).
"U.S. Tax Reform 1981 and 1986: Impact on International Capital Markets and Capital Flows“, National Tax Journal 41, 1988, pp. 327-340 (background paper for World Development Report, World Bank, 1988); (Download, 3.52 MB).
"The 1986 U.S. Tax Reform and the World Capital Market", European Economic Review 32, Papers & Proceedings, 1988, pp. 325-333; (Download, 594 KB).
"Sufficient Conditions for a Vanishing Clarke Tax - A Note", Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie 46, 1986, pp. 65-72; (Download, 1.59 MB).
"Surprise Price Shifts, Tax Changes and the Supply Behaviour of Resource Extracting Firms", (together with N.V. Long), Australian Economic Papers 24, 1985, pp. 278-289; (Download, 494 KB).
"Why Taxes Matter. A Comment on Reagan's Tax Reforms and the US-Trade Deficit", Economic Policy 1, 1985, pp. 239-250; (Download, 254 KB).
"Taxation, Growth, and Resource Extraction: A General Equilibrium Approach", European Economic Review 19, 1982, pp. 357-386; (Download, 1.97 MB).
"Capital Income Taxation, Depreciation Allowances and Economic Growth: A Perfect-Foresight General Equilibrium Model", Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie 41, 1981, pp. 295-305; (Download, 534 KB).
Academic papers in conference volumes
"Green Tax Reform, Structural Unemployment, and Welfare" (together with E. Koskela and R. Schöb), in: H. Chernick, ed., Proceedings of the 91st Annual Conference on Taxation, National Tax Association: Washington D.C. 1999, pp. 52-56 (Download, 1.5 MB); CESifo Working Paper No. 176, 1998; NBER Working Paper No. 6922, February 1999.
"Taxation and the Birth of Foreign Subsidiaries", in: H. Herberg and N.V. Long, eds., Trade, Welfare, and Economic Policies, Essays in Honour of Murray C. Kemp, University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor 1993, pp. 325-352 (Download, 1.3 MB); NBER Working Paper No. 3519, November 1990.
"The Case for European Tax Harmonization", in: G. Winckler, ed., Tax Harmonization and Financial Liberalization in Europe. Proceedings of Conferences held by the Confederation of European Economic Associations in 1989, Basingstoke 1992, pp. 3-7 (Download, 0.6 MB).
"Why Taxes Matter. A Comment on Reagan’s Tax Reforms and the U.S. Trade Deficit", in: E.S. Phelps, ed., Recent Developments in Macroeconomics, Vol. II, Elgar: Aldershot 1991, pp. 497-507 (Download, 4.8 MB).
"Can Direct and Indirect Taxes Be Added for International Comparisons of Competitiveness?“, in: H. Siebert, ed., Reforming Capital Income Taxation, J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck): Tübingen 1990, pp. 47-65 (Download, 1.0 MB); NBER Working Paper No. 3263, March 1991.
"U.S. Tax Reform 1981 and 1986: Impact on International Capital Markets and Capital Flows", in: K. Vogel, ed., Influence of Tax Differentials on International Competitivness, Kluwer Academic Publishers: Deventer 1990, pp. 25-58 (Download, 1.26 MB).
"The Policy of Tax-cut-cum-base-broadening: Implications for International Capital Movements", in: M. Neumann and Karl Roskamp, eds., Public Finance and Performance of Enterprises, 34th Annual Congress and Semicentennial of the International Institute of Public Finance, Paris, 24th - 28th August 1987, Paris 1987, Wayne State University Press: Detroit 1989, pp. 153-176 (Download, 1.4 MB); NBER Working Paper No. 1448, September 1990.
"Optimal Taxation and Economic Depreciation: A General Equilibrium Model with Capital and an Exhaustible Resource" (together with N. V. Long), in: M. C. Kemp and N. V. Long, eds., Essays in the Economics of Exhaustible Resources, North Holland: Amsterdam and New York 1984, pp. 227-246;(Download, 2.7 MB).
"Optimal Resource Taxation", in: D. W. Pearce, H. Siebert and I. Walter, eds., Risk and the Political Economy of Resource Development, MacMillan: London 1984, pp. 197-204 (Download, 2.1 MB).
Academic comments
"International Coordination of Tax Policies", comment to A. Lans Bovenberg, in: H. Blommestein, The Reality of International Economic Policy Coordination, North Holland: Amsterdam, New York etc. 1991, pp. 147-149 (Download PDF, 252 KB).
"Key Issues in the Reform of Personal Income Taxes, comment on Richard Goode", in: S. Cnossen and R.M. Bird, eds., The Personal Income Tax. Phoenix from the Ashes?, North Holland: Amsterdam, New York etc. 1990, pp. 81-83 (Download PDF, 280 KB).
Policy Contributions in Journals and Academic Volumes
"The Ifo Institute’s Model for Reducing VAT Fraud: Payment First, Refund Later", (with Andrea Gebauer and Rüdiger Parsche), CESifo Forum 5 (2), 2004, pp. 30 - 34; (Download, 111 KB).
Ifo Viewpoints
Ifo Viewpoint No. 69: The Envy Tax, Nov 8, 2005.
Ifo Viewpoint No. 66: Some Facts on VAT, Jul 21, 2005.
Ifo Viewpoint No. 46: Borrowing or Taxes?, Jun 19, 2003.
Ifo Viewpoint No. 40: More Big Government – The Ten Point Programme of the New Ruling Coalition, Oct 24, 2002.
Ifo Viewpoint No. 34: Too much of a Good Thing, Oct 15, 2002.
ifo Viewpoint No. 5: Tax Reform, Nov 3, 1999.