Acknowledgements

First and foremost I am indebted to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Uwe Hassler for finding interest in my research topics and for giving me considerable freedom to write my doctoral thesis. I am also very grateful to Prof. Dr. Dieter Nautz, who kindly consented to be my second supervisor. Furthermore, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Franz, President of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), for continuously supporting this dissertation and for providing excellent working and research conditions. My thanks also go to all my colleagues from the ZEW Research Department Corporate Taxation and Public Fi-nance and to the colleagues from the Research Department International Finance and Financial Management for the pleasant and constructive working environment and beneficial discussions. The many helpful comments from Dr. Friedrich Heine-mann, Dr. Michael Schröder, Katrin Ullrich, Steffen Osterloh, Andreas Schrimpf and from several anonymous referees and from participants in international con-ferences are highly appreciated. I am also very grateful to the student assistants, notably to Qianying Chen and Heidi Hellerich, who provided able help in collectin