Moving towards a fiscal union does not address the problems of divergence in Europe. Given cultural heterogeneity and diverse preferences, fiscal policy should remain under national sovereignty while important regulatory power is assigned to the Union. The paper argues that more credible fiscal rules combined with tighter surveillance reduce negative policy spillovers. A better capitalized banking sector imposes more market discipline with sovereign risk-premia. Institutional lending by the ESM (European Stabilization Mechanism) to distressed countries is subject to strict conditionality and will impose structural adjustment that was neglected ex ante. Further reform seems necessary to strengthen the financial capacity and institutional independence of the ESM and to impose tighter regulation and more ambitious recapitalization of European banks to contain cross-country contagion on financial markets. Such reform should prevent or at least much reduce the negative consequences of national decision making on other member countries and would in turn support the political goals of establishing peace and harmony in Europe.
In comparing the impact of corporate taxation and social insurance on foreign direct investment (FDI) and unemployment, the paper derives four main results: (i) the optimal size of the welfare state depends on the degree of risk-aversion, the unemployment rate and the excess burden of labor taxes. Unemployment partly reflects the country's exposure to globalization; (ii) corporate taxation and social insurance can have equivalent effects on unemployment and outbound FDI; (iii) while an increase in the corporate tax raises corporate tax revenue, it is likely to worsen total fiscal stance; (iv) a corporate tax should be used to contribute to welfare state financing only in exceptional cases.
Venture capital has become an important source of financing young entrepreneurial firms. Venture capital backed firms are often perceived as more innovative and as creating more value than others. Perhaps for this reason, policy makers are keen to create a good institutional framework to facilitate the development of an active venture capital industry. We explore the role of tax policy in determining the incentives of individuals to start up new firms and of venture capitalists to finance and advise them. In particular, we examine how business taxation together with start-up capital subsidies affect the volume and quality of venture capital backed entrepreneurship.
