— This essay contributes to second generation fiscal federalism (SGFF), which traces the implications of incentives created by political and fiscal institutions. The approach explores how various forms of fiscal federalism work in the presence of political officials who, rather than being benevolent social planners, face various forms of political incentives. The paper focuses on three sets of ...

Abstract Although the debate on roots of political trust is ongoing, many scholars agree relevance such factors as political/ideological distance between citizens and incumbents, responsiveness perceptions performance. Less clear to what extent evaluations are generalized or specific for three main arenas in European multilevel governance system (EU, national, local). With new data from Netherl...

In Luhmann's scheme of social systems, "society" in not, as in colloquial talk, the nation. As Luhmann defines social systems in only one dimension, communication, and as communications can easily connect to other communications across geographical borderlines, it is no wonder that the spatially defined nation is not occupying an important position in his theory. "Society" is the world society,...

We study the recruitment of individuals in the political sector. We propose an equilibrium model of political recruitment by two political parties competing in an election. We show that political parties may deliberately choose to recruit only mediocre politicians, in spite of the fact that they could select better individuals. Furthermore, we show that this phenomenon is more likely to occur i...