On July 7 and 8, 2025, the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance held an international conference on “Local Public Finance and Fiscal Federalism Around the World” at the Harnack House in Berlin.
The conference was organized by Dr. Georg Thunecke and Prof. David R. Agrawal. Over two days, scholars at all stages of their careers discussed their current research on fiscal federalism on four continents at the intersection of political, regional, health, and behavioral economics.
The focus was on topics such as political decision-making processes, tax competition, fiscal austerity, tax avoidance, inter-municipal cooperation, populism, and tax morale, as well as the role of reference points in local politics.
A highlight was the keynote speech by Prof. David R. Agrawal (University of California, Irvine) on “Local Policy in a Federal System and Welfare Economics.” Elke Baumann (Federal Ministry of Finance) also spoke about current challenges facing federalism in Germany.
The conference offered a diverse insight into international research on municipal finance policy. The future of research on municipal finance policy is promising – and was taken a step further in Berlin.
July 2025