The project focuses on the international context of collective reform decisions in the public sector. The project has two key objectives: First it will deepen our theoretical understanding of the cross-border links in public sector reforms ranging from tax to welfare state policies. Second we confront the insights from economic models of international policy interactions such as the tax competition literature with the perceptions, reform positions and reform decisions of political decision makers. The long-run objective of this undertaking is to contribute to an empirically based modelling of cross-border policy interdependence within the public finance literature. The project is part of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 884 “Political Economy of Reforms”  http://reforms.uni-mannheim.de/