Using a panel of international student test scores 1980–2000 (PISA and TIMSS), panel fixed effects estimates suggest that government spending decentralization is conducive to student performance. The effect does not appear to be mediated through levels of educational spending.

Student achievement has been identified as important contributor to economic growth. This paper investigates the relationship between redistributive government activities and investment in human capital measured by student performance in international comparative tests in Mathematics and Science...

Accounting for within-country spatial differences is a much neglected issue in many cross-country comparisons. This paper highlights this importance in this empirical analysis of the impact of a country’s degree of social and economic globalization on female employment in 33 OECD countries,...

This paper describes the socio-economic adjustment effects exerted by globalization (taking as starting points competitive pressure, sectoral shifts, and financial market contagion) and discusses their relevance for domestic policy-making. I argue that these economic pressures and the resulting...

The Eurocrisis challenges our definition of a common future in Europe. As first step, this article describes a vision of a future Europe without the Euro as state of political and economic marginalisation. I am contrasting this vision by demanding European values and civic duties that make the...

Globalization is a universal phenomenon that not only makes domestic economies restructure, but also may impact other areas of local societies. This paper studies the effect of globalization on human relations, in particular on the formation of social networks, both bonding and bridging: I...

Taxing small deposits used to be a taboo in European politics – but why? This contribution re-assesses the protection of small deposits from an angle that has not received much attention in the current debate: the politico-philosophical, ordo-liberal, and social-political perspectives, arguing...

Unionists and politicians frequently claim that globalization lowers employment protection of workers. This paper tests this hypothesis in a panel of 28 OECD countries from 1985 to 2003, differentiating between three dimensions of globalization and two labor market segments. While overall...

We argue that perceived fairness of the income generation process affects the association between income inequality and subjective well-being, and that there are systematic differences in this regard between countries that are characterized by a high or, respectively, low level of actual...