https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/18930 Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:10:48 GMT 2026-04-28T20:10:48Z https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/19775 Charity and redistributive taxation in a unionized economy Corneo, Giacomo European economies are characterized by unionized labor markets and a pronounced governmental redistribution of income. This paper studies a model where those two fea- tures are combined with the possibility for individuals to make charitable contributions to the poor. The model exhibits equilibrium unemployment that increases with the de- gree of altruism. It is shown that a more progressive income tax can both reduce the unemployment rate and improve the public budget. These results are driven by charity increasing wage pressure and the altruistic rich failing to internalize the e¤ect of their donations on the wage setting behavior of the unions. Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/19775 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/19604 Does financial integration make banks act more prudential? Berger, Helge; Hefeker, Carsten We develop a simple model that looks at the incentives of private banks to behave prudentially and undertake costly efforts to lower the probability of bankruptcy or having to be bailed out by a lender of last resort. Government regulators can force banks to increase efforts beyond the privately optimal level. We contrast the national case under autarky with the case of an integrated banking market with bank cross-holdings. Because banks will exert a greater overall effort to monitor their foreign activities, financial integration might lead to more rather than less prudential behavior. Neither needs financial integration lead to a regulatory race to the bottom. We use the framework to investigate the impact of regulatory coordination on bank efforts and discuss incentives for banks to organize their foreign holdings in the form or branches or subsidiaries. We show that the absence of a common lender of last resort can reduce the probability of a financial crisis. Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/19604 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/19958 Does money matter in the ECB strategy? Berger, Helge; Haan, Jakob de; Sturm, Jan-Egbert We examine the role of money in the policies of the ECB, using introductory statements of the ECB President at the monthly press conferences during 1999-2004. Over time, the relative amount of words devoted to the monetary analysis has decreased. Our analysis of indicators of the monetary policy stance suggests that developments in the monetary sector, while somewhat more important in the later half of the sample, only played a minor role most of the time. Our estimates of ECB interest rate decisions suggest that the ECB’s words (monetary-sector based policy intensions) are not an important determinant of its actions. Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/19958 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/19609 Does the G7/G8 promote trade? Nitsch, Volker The Group of Eight (G8) is an unofficial forum of the heads of state of the eight leading industrialized countries. In this paper, I examine the effect of the G8 (and its predecessor, the G7) on international trade. I use a gravity model of trade; the panel data set covers bilateral trade between 175 countries from 1948 through 1999. I find that membership in the G7/G8 is consistently associated with a strong positive effect on trade. Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/19609 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z