“...SUMMARY Despite the fact that large welfare states are vulnerable to free‐riding, the idea that universal welfare states lead to higher trust levels in the...”

“...SUMMARY This paper analyses how certain electoral settings affect the activity of special interest groups within US state politics. The main result of...”

“...SUMMARY Since the sixties, the discussion whether democracy is a precondition for or a result of economic growth has not yet been finished. In this paper a...”

“...I wish to thank Friedrich Schneider, University of Linz, and Anne van Aaken, Humboldt‐University Berlin, for their very helpful comments on this paper. Special...”

“...Almost every citizen pays taxes and receives transfers. This is known as 'fiscal churning.' Citizens might be better-off if taxes and transfers were...”

“...This paper is concerned with two aspects of the process of ideological change: endogenously manipulable political transaction costs and dependence on...”

“...Reopening the old convergence debate in the light of Eastern European events, this paper argues that the questions relating to the existence of an optimal...”