Economic aspects of constitutional change: the case of Belgium

Gérard, Marcel
(2013) International Conference on Economic Aspects of Constitutional Change — Location: Edinburgh (United Kingdom) (18.September.2013)

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  • Gérard, MarcelUCLouvain
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Abstract
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.
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Gérard, M. (2013). Economic aspects of constitutional change: the case of Belgium. International Conference on Economic Aspects of Constitutional Change, Edinburgh (United Kingdom). https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/187614