Economic aspects of constitutional change: the case of Belgium
Oxford Review of Economic Policy
2014
30
2
Summer
257-276
constitution ; economic impact ; regional development ; subsidiarity
Economic development
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/gru016
English
Bibliogr.
"Is Belgium threatened by secession? In this article we highlight why Belgium is unlikely to experience the secession of Flanders and investigate Belgium's journey to federalism. We first call upon tools provided by economic theory. Then we turn to facts, first having a look at Belgium's history and second presenting the six reforms of the state which occurred between 1970 and 2013, progressively increasing the autonomy of Belgian regions and communities and making Belgian federalism an evolutionary, maybe endless, repeated game whose players have different strategies: an offensive one for the north and a conservative one for the south. Then we examine the contemporary dangers and discuss the outcome of Belgian game from the point of view of fiscal federalism and subsidiarity."
Digital
The ETUI is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the ETUI.