Hans Pitlik - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Hans Pitlik

Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schu... more Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar. Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. This version: July, 2015 Abstract The need to balance austerity with growth policies has put government efficiency high on the economic policy agenda in Europe. Administrative reforms which boost the efficiency of the administration can alleviate the trade-off between consolidation and public service provision. Against such backdrop, this study explores the determinants of efficiency enhancing public administration reforms for a pa...

In Anbetracht der kontroversen theoretischen Argumente fur und wider eine Steuerautonomie der ost... more In Anbetracht der kontroversen theoretischen Argumente fur und wider eine Steuerautonomie der osterreichischen Bundeslander sind die empirischen Erfahrungen anderer foderativer Staaten interessant. In Europa zeichnet sich der Foderalismus der Schweiz durch hohe Autonomie der Kantone in der Besteuerung der personlichen Einkommen, Vermogen und Unternehmensgewinne und in der Bereitstellung offentlicher Leistungen aus. Ein intensiver Steuerwettbewerb zwischen den Kantonen wird durch das neugeordnete Finanzausgleichssystem (NFA) gedampft. Trotz Kritik im Detail sind die Erfahrungen der Schweiz mit der Steuerautonomie der Kantone positiv. Das System des Steuerfoderalismus wird als wesentlicher Faktor fur den wirtschaftlichen Erfolg und die hohe Effizienz des Staatssektors gesehen. Allerdings werden durch die Fiskalkonkurrenz mobile und wohlhabende Steuerpflichtige und Unternehmen bevorzugt. Auch besteht eine Tendenz zur Segregation: Reiche und armere Steuerpflichtige konzentrieren sich in...

Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence.

The WWWforEurope research project proposes a comprehensive strategy to set Europe on a dynamic pa... more The WWWforEurope research project proposes a comprehensive strategy to set Europe on a dynamic path to a socio-ecological transition. This part reports on the results of different models and presents research findings in the five areas which were inputs for part one "Synthesis". It is based on more than 160 new research papers, produced by 34 research groups cooperating in the project, but also on existing literature.

While trust in the business sector is crucial for well-functioning markets, there is surprisingly... more While trust in the business sector is crucial for well-functioning markets, there is surprisingly little empirical work on its sources. Available research recognises social trust as a major force explaining confidence in political institutions. Regulation is frequently advocated to foster trust in companies as it is supposed to reduce scope for opportunistic behaviour. Based on individual level data from World Values Survey, European Values Studies and economic regulation data from the Economic Freedom of the World project the paper empirically investigates joint effects of social trust, intensity and quality of regulation on public trust in major companies. Our findings suggest that it is not the intensity of economic regulation per se which matters for trust in companies but that the impartiality with which rules are enforced is decisive, even when we control for social trust. Trust in business can be facilitated by an implicit guarantee of governments to fair and impartial treatm...

Social Indicators Research, 2020

Debates about the appropriate role of markets and governments are often shaped by sharply contras... more Debates about the appropriate role of markets and governments are often shaped by sharply contrasting opinions. Based on individual data from the World Values Survey and the European Values Study for up to 190,000 respondents in a sample of 68 democratic countries, we find that social trust is associated with tempered attitudes regarding government intervention and redistribution. Results corroborate ideas from socio-psychological research that trusting people have personality attributes which work towards a moderation on politically divisive topics. Complementary to the existing literature on political polarisation, this opens the possibility that trusting societies may be superior at implementing controversial policy reforms because social trust reduces the probability of extreme attitude formation.

Journal of Institutional Economics, 2017

A popular explanation for economic development is that ‘individualistic values’ provide a mind-se... more A popular explanation for economic development is that ‘individualistic values’ provide a mind-set that is favorable to the creation of growth-promoting institutions. The present paper investigates the relationship between individualistic values and personal attitudes toward government intervention. We consider two key components of an individualistic culture to be particularly relevant for attitude formation: self-direction (‘social’ individualism) and self-determination (‘economic’ individualism). Results indicate that both are negatively associated with interventionist attitudes. Effects of self-direction are much weaker though, than self-determination. Moreover, the effects of self-direction are mitigated through higher trust in the state and lower confidence in companies, while that is not the case for self-determination values. We conclude that especially economic individualism supports attitudes conducive to the formation of formal market-friendly institutions.

International Journal of Wellbeing, 2016

Recent research has shown that the degree to which people feel they are in control of their lives... more Recent research has shown that the degree to which people feel they are in control of their lives is an important correlate of individual happiness, where those who feel more in control are found to be systematically happier. In turn, the economic sources of perceived life control are only insignificantly established in the literature. The present paper employs individual data from the World Value Survey and European Values Study, covering the period from 1981 to 2013, to establish the macro-determinants of individual life control. We find that living in a country with high overall economic freedom is a major determinant of feeling in control of one's own life. The effect is similar for individuals in high-and low-income countries, while the impact of democracy is negligible in both cases. Interacting relative income with economic freedom, we find that, contrary to conventional wisdom, it is by far the lower income groups that derive the biggest gain of perceived life control from living in a country with comparatively high economic freedom. In low-income countries, the effects of economic freedom on life control perceptions do not appear to be conditional on personal income levels.

European Journal of Political Economy, 2015

It is frequently claimed that high levels of generalised trust are conducive for economic reforms... more It is frequently claimed that high levels of generalised trust are conducive for economic reforms. In contrast, the "traditional view" on institutional and political constraints on the executive (IPCE) postulates that high IPCE tend to paralyse the decision-making process, thus blocking required policy changes. By stressing credibility issues of economic reforms and transaction cost for special interest groups, a more positive view however sees IPCE as potentially conducive to reforms. This paper empirically explores the significance of these claims for the case of economic deregulation. In particular, it elaborates on the hypotheses that IPCE do not impact on economic reforms in an environment of high generalised trust and that the positive impact of trust increases with the extent of IPCE. The results provide evidence in favour of the traditional view on IPCE. However, it is also shown that IPCE are an obstacle for economic policy liberalisation only in relatively low trusting environments. In contrast, a robust positive correlation of generalised trust with the extent of economic deregulation is isolated, and trust unfolds a particular strength with increasing levels of IPCE.

Competitiveness, Social Inclusion and Sustainability in a Diverse European Union, 2016

Empirica, 2015

Which impact does government size have on life satisfaction, and how do effects of bigger governm... more Which impact does government size have on life satisfaction, and how do effects of bigger government differ between income groups in society? Previous studies typically employed country averages and thus neglect possibly heterogeneous happiness effects between income groups. The paper addresses empirically the effects of government spending on subjective well-being of individuals belonging to different income groups. Our analysis is based on individual data from 25 European countries participating in the European Social Survey. In contrast to most previous studies we take account of the endogeneity between relative income position and reported life satisfaction by an instrumental variable approach. Our results suggest, first, that most government spending categories, including social protection, are on average negatively related to individual well-being. Secondly, estimated marginal effects of health, education and social protection spending at different income levels show that spending increases always have a stronger negative effect on high income groups' well-being than on low income groups' life satisfaction. For all government spending categories, marginal happiness effects of higher public spending are clearly negative for income groups at the top.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015

The need to balance austerity with growth policies has put government efficiency high on the econ... more The need to balance austerity with growth policies has put government efficiency high on the economic policy agenda in Europe. Administrative reforms which boost the efficiency of the administration can alleviate the trade-off between consolidation and public service provision. Against such backdrop, this study explores the determinants of efficiency enhancing public administration reforms for a panel of EU countries using a novel reform indicator. The findings support the political-economic reasoning: An economic and fiscal crisis is a potent catalyst for reforms, but a powerful bureaucracy effectively constrains the opportunities of a crisis to promote this particular type of reform. Furthermore, there is evidence for horizontal learning from other EU countries, and for vertical learning associated with a particular type of EU transfers.

Applied Economics Letters, 2013

WIFO Monatsberichte …, 2011

Led by a dynamic export growth real GDP in Austria grew by 2 percent in 2010. Between 2011 until ... more Led by a dynamic export growth real GDP in Austria grew by 2 percent in 2010. Between 2011 until 2015 the Austrian economy is expected to grow by 2.2 percent. The annual growth rate of trend output will average at 1.7 percent in the forecast period, ¼ percentage point ...

Austrian Economic Quarterly, 2010

The global financial and economic crisis will have an adverse effect on Austria's growth in ... more The global financial and economic crisis will have an adverse effect on Austria's growth in the medium-term. Between 2010 and 2014, gross domestic product will expand by an average of 1.8 percent per year. The recession has lasting effects on the labour market and public ...

Kyklos, 2011

Several empirical studies derive that personal positions with respect to policy measures are domi... more Several empirical studies derive that personal positions with respect to policy measures are dominated by ideology instead of narrow self-interest. In the present field study we carried out a telephone survey with 1.003 respondents all over Austria. Instead of measuring selfishness indirectly by using more or less 'objective indicators' for self-interest, we requested respondents to assess directly whether they expect to be affected by policy measures. Our results indicate that such a subjectively measured narrow self-interest explains attitudes towards economic policies at least as good as ideological conviction. In some cases ideology appears to determine whether people feel affected by a proposed policy measure.

Kyklos, 2008

While economic policy liberalization is often a key to higher overall growth, reforms are often n... more While economic policy liberalization is often a key to higher overall growth, reforms are often not implemented due to a fierce opposition from politically powerful prospective losers from reforms. In this respect, it is often claimed that economic crises can help overcome resistance to policy liberalization. Furthermore, political authorities not constrained by democratic checks and balances are often supposed to be more decisive and are thus expected to carry out market-friendly policy change in times of crises more easily. Rules of democratic participation and checks and balances may however also be good for policy reform, as they can serve as an institutional mechanism for peaceful conflict resolution (Rodrik 1999). The paper investigates empirically the interaction between economic growth performance and political institutions in producing free-market reform. We explore whether political regime types shape systematically government policy responses to good or bad growth performance, employing panel econometric techniques and using recently updated data for economic reform and political institutions. Contrary to conventional wisdom we find that a bad growth performance is conducive to reforms in democracies, but not in autocracies. Democracies not only carry out more liberal economic policies in general, but they are also more responsive to economic growth crises. Democratic rule seems to be favorable for policy liberalization, but a very good growth performance weakens liberalization incentives considerably.

European Journal of Political Economy, 2004

This paper investigates empirically for the first time the impact of experts' agreement on voter ... more This paper investigates empirically for the first time the impact of experts' agreement on voter turnout. Data were obtained when voters, advised by four independent experts, had to decide on the next move against a chess world champion. Analyzing total voter turnout as well as individual voters' behavior in a panel data subsample, and employing OLS median and ARMAX regression techniques, we find that the degree of expert agreement matters for voter turnout. Higher voting costs are also shown to have a statistically significant negative impact on participation.