“Absurdes Ergebnis“ oder wissenschaftlich fundiert? Die Wahl der Konsolidierungsländer
In summer 2009, the federal state of Germany has implemented a debt brake in its constitution. This new concept also includes consolidation payments to five states. These Länder suffer from fiscal constraints caused by debts higher than average. However, until now, the selection criteria for these five Länder are not really obvious. This article contributes to the recent debate by answering the question whether this choice was first of all politically motivated or primarily based on fiscal indicators. The findings show that the selection of the ‘consolidation Länder’ was a mixture of both. Additionally, the results indicate that a main focus on the debt level is not rationale. Fiscal constraints also depend on the economic strength of a federal state, because indebtedness is often caused by weak economic power. Therefore, the consolidation payments will indeed help to decrease the existing structural debts of the Länder, but they are no guarantee that the states will meet the restrictions of the debt brake after the end of these payments in the year 2019.
