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Literaturverz. Bl. 20 - 24

Abstract
Recent literature on tax evasion emphasizes the importance of moral considerations to explain compliance behavior. As a consequence scholars aim to identify factors that shape this so-called tax morale. However, the causal link between tax morale and actual compliance behavior is not established yet. Exploiting exogenous variation in tax morale – given by the inherited part of tax morale of American-born from their ancestors country of origin – our Two-Stage Least Square Estimation provides first evidence on a causal effect of tax morale on the size of the underground production.

Whether a country is able effectively to address collective action problems is a critical test of its ability to fulfill the demands of its citizens to their satisfaction. We study one particularly important collective action problem: the environment. Using a large panel dataset covering 25 years for some countries, we find that, overall, citizens of European countries are more satisfied with the way democracy works in their country if (a) more environmental policies are in place and if (b) expenditures on the environment are higher, but environmental taxes are lower. The relation between environmental policy and life satisfaction is not as pronounced. The evidence for the effect of environmental quality on both satisfaction with democracy and life satisfaction is not very clear, although we find evidence that citizens value personal mobility (in terms of having a car) highly, but view the presence of trucks as unpleasant. We also document that parents, younger citizens, and those with high levels of educational attainment tend to care more about environmental issues than do non-parents, older citizens, and those with fewer years of schooling.

The East-West gap in the German population is believed to originate from migrants escaping the socialist regime in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). We use newly collected regional data and the combination of a regression discontinuity design in space with a difference-in-differences approach to document that the largest part of this gap is due to a massive internal migration wave 3 years prior to the establishment of the GDR. The timing and spatial pattern of this migration movement suggest that the dominant motive was escaping physical assault by the Soviet army and not avoiding the socialist regime. The gap in population has remained remarkably sharp in space and is growing.

The East-West gap in the German population is believed to originate from migrants escaping the socialist regime in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). We use newly collected regional data and the combination of a regression discontinuity design in space with a difference-in-differences approach to document that the largest part of this gap is due to a massive internal migration wave 3 years prior to the establishment of the GDR. The timing and spatial pattern of this migration movement suggest that the dominant motive was escaping physical assault by the Soviet army and not avoiding the socialist regime. The skill composition of these migrants shows a strong positive selection. The gap in population has remained remarkably sharp in space and is growing.

Die EU hat durch die Zinsenrichtlinie einerseits eindeutig von einer Politik, die auf einem Vertrauen gegenüber dem Bürger und einer gewissen Selbstbestimmung beruhte, zu einer Vorgehensweise gewechselt die durch Misstrauen und Kontrolle geprägt ist. Andererseits erscheinen die Regelungen der Zinsenrichtlinie, die auf die klassischen Verhaltensdeterminanten der Steuerhinterziehung abzielen, aber unzureichend. In Summe ist es daher möglich, dass die Zinsenrichtlinie ihr eigentliches Ziel der effektiven Besteuerung von Zinserträgen nicht erreicht. Da steuerbezogener Informationsaustausch eine strategische Variable der Mitgliedstaaten ist um die Attraktivität ihrer Finanzmärkte zu regulieren, ist es zumindest diskutabel, ob innerhalb der nationalen Umsetzungen der Richtlinie vorhandene Schlupflöcher nicht auf ein verschleiertes nichtkooperatives Verhalten der Mitgliedsstaaten zurückzuführen sind.