Thiess Büttner

Public Sector Centralization and Productivity Growth: Reviewing the German Experience

The paper examines the role of the vertical structure of the public sector for economic growth in Germany in a long?term perspective. A theoretical model shows that, due to spillover effects of public service provision across lower level governments, federal government activities could have substantially contributed to productivity growth. A review of the German experience starting in the last quarter of the 19th century shows that the overall development is consistent with a stimulating role of the federal government in general and in specific areas like, for instance, transport and communication. However, a further empirical analysis of the period after World War II raises doubts about the efficiency of the vertical structure of the public sector with regard to productivity growth, since the results indicate that a smaller budget share of the state level would have benefited growth.

Agglomeration, Population Size, and the Cost of Providing Public Services: An Empirical Analysis for German States

This paper is concerned with the question as to what extent population size and density affect the cost of providing public services at the subnational level. Empirical estimates of cost functions are obtained from an analysis of the expenditures of German states disaggregated into about 40 functions of government. The empirical results indicate that generally there is no significant relationship between population density and the cost of public goods. At the same time, cost are almost proportionately related to population size indicating that goods and services provided by the German states display only a limited degree of publicness.

Lokale Determinanten der Kriminalität und Tätermobilität: Eine empirische Studie mit Gemeindedaten

Einfache Regressionen der Haufigkeitszahlen verschiedener Kriminalitatsarten auf lokale Charakteristika bestatigen einen kriminalitatsfordernden Effekt der erwarteten Erlose aus illegalem Handeln und einen kriminalitatsreduzierenden Einfluss legaler Einkommenserzielungsmoglichkeiten. Uberdies zeigt sich, dass hohere Einkommensungleichheit mehr Delinquenz nach sich zieht. Allerdings ist die Kriminalitat in den untersuchten baden-wurttembergischen Gemeinden nicht nur auf die Gegebenheiten in den Tatortgemeinden sondern auch auf Bedingungen in den Nachbargemeinden zuruckzufuhren. Einblicke in die Beschaffenheit dieser raumlichen Effekte eroffnet die isolierte Betrachtung ortsfremder Tater. Die Ergebnisse lassen darauf schliesen, dass Tatermobilitat mit interkommunaler Ungleichheit und der verstarkten Segregation der Bevolkerung anwachst.