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AbstractThis special issue of Comparative Economic Studies, commemorating fifty years since the end of the Bretton Woods system, examines the adjustment of small open economies to floating exchange rates and new monetary policy frameworks. Based on a workshop held at the KOF Swiss Economic Institute in June 2023, six papers analyse dimensions such as the evolution of monetary policy regimes, the impact of economic crises and the use of unconventional monetary policies in Canada, Israel, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. The findings highlight the benefits and limitations of inflation targeting, the challenges of global financial integration and the strategic responses of central banks to maintain stability and independence, providing policymakers with valuable insights into the complex dynamics of monetary policy in the post-Bretton Woods era.

We portray determinants of social expenditure in OECD countries. Many theories have been proposed to describe why social expenditure has increased in industrialized countries. Determinants include globalization, political-institutional variables such as government ideology and electoral motives, demographic change and economic variables such as unemployment. Scholars have used social expenditure as the dependent variable in many empirical studies. We employ extreme bounds analysis to examine robust predictors of social expenditure. Our sample includes 31 OECD countries over the period 1980-2016. The results suggest that budget deficits, trade globalization and fractionalization of the party system were negatively associated with social expenditure. Aging, unemployment, social globalization, coalition governments and public debt were positively associated with social expenditure. Moreover, social expenditure increased under left-wing governments when de facto trade globalization was pronounced. Results based on Bayesian model averaging corroborate the relationships found between banking crisis, de facto trade globalization, social globalization, legislative fractionalization, coalition governments, public debt and budget deficits on the one hand and social expenditure on the other. We conclude that policymakers in individual countries use domestic measures to design social policies – globalization, aging, and business cycles notwithstanding.

Umfassendes Contact Tracing und Testen für COVID-19 sind entscheidende Komponenten der Test-Rückverfolgbarkeit-Isolation-Quarantäne-Strategie (TTIQ). Allerdings hinkt die Schweiz derzeit bei der Anzahl Tests hinter vielen anderen Ländern mit vergleichbarem Einkommen her und zahlreiche Kantone sind nicht mehr in der Lage ein genügendes Contact Tracing zu gewährleisten. Unzureichende öffentliche Finanzierung scheint hierfür hauptverantwortlich. Wir schlagen deshalb vor, dass sich der Bund deutlich stärker engagiert und gemeinsam mit den Kantonen unverzüglich die Mittel für eine substanzielle Ausweitung beider Aktivitäten bereitstellt. Im Sinne einer wirtschaftlichen Kosten-Nutzen-Betrachtung ist dies eine der wirksamsten und am wenigsten invasiven Massnahmen zur Eindämmung der Ausbreitung der Pandemie. Die Aufstockung der öffentlichen Mittel für TTIQ stellt daher eine speziell zielführende wirtschaftspolitische Reaktion auf die Krise dar.

We portray determinants of social expenditure in OECD countries. Many theories have been proposed to describe why social expenditure has increased in industrialized countries. Determinants include globalization, political-?institutional variables such as government ideology and electoral motives, demographic change and economic variables such as unemployment. Scholars have used social expenditure as the dependent variable in many empirical studies. We employ extreme bounds analysis to examine robust predictors of social expenditure. Our sample includes 31 OECD countries over the period 1980-?2016. The results suggest that budget deficits, trade globalization and fractionalization of the party system were negatively associated with social expenditure. Aging, unemployment, social globalization, coalition governments and public debt were positively associated with social expenditure. Moreover, social expenditure increased under left-?wing governments when de facto trade globalization was pronounced. Results based on Bayesian model averaging corroborate the relationships found between banking crisis, de facto trade globalization, social globalization, legislative fractionalization, coalition governments, public debt and budget deficits on the one hand and social expenditure on the other. We conclude that policymakers in individual countries use domestic measures to design social policies - globalization, aging, and business cycles notwithstanding.

In this paper we present and describe the revised version of the KOF Globalisation Index, a composite index measuring globalisation for every country in the world along the economic, social and political dimension. The original index was introduced by Dreher (2006) and updated in Dreher et al. (2008). This second revision of the index introduces the differentiation between de facto and de jure measures along the different dimensions of globalisation, the differentiation between trade and financial globalisation within the economic dimension of globalisation and time-varying weighting of the variables entering the index. Finally, the revised version incorporates several additional variables in the construction process. At the aggregate level, we show that a bidirectional relationship between de facto and de jure globalisation exists.

Am 10. Juni 2018 stimmen die Schweizer über die Volksinitiative 'Für krisensicheres Geld: Geldschöpfung allein durch die Nationalbank!' (Vollgeld-Initiative) ab. Die Initiative fordert, dass den Geschäftsbanken die Schaffung von elektronischem Geld untersagt wird. Neues Geld soll als Transfers an Bund/Kantone oder Bürgerinnen und Bürger in Umlauf gebracht werden. Aus Sicht der Autoren lassen sich die Schwächen des gegenwärtigen Systems durch andere Instrumente zuverlässiger beheben als durch die vorgeschlagene Reform. ; On 10 June 2018, Switzerland will hold a referendum on a people's initiative called 'Crisis proof money: Exclusive right to money creation for the Swiss National Bank!' (i.e. the Sovereign Money Initiative). According to the Initiative, banks should not have the right to create book money (deposits on sight). New money will be put into circulation via transfers to the federal government, cantons or citizens. The authors argue that the proposed reform is not a suitable measure to remedy shortcomings of the current system. Other, more traditional instruments are better suited.

We provide empirical evidence on the influence of income taxes on the choice of residence of taxpayers at the local government level. The fact that Swiss communities can independently set tax multipliers, thereby shifting the progressive tax scheme that is fixed at the cantonal (state) level, enables us to study the effect of differences in income taxation on individuals' choice of location within an economically and culturally homogeneous region. Using panel IV regressions covering the years 1991-2003 and 171 communities in the Swiss canton of Zurich and spatial error regressions for the 171 communities in 2003, we find substantial evidence of sorting according to income. [Copyright Elsevier B.V.]