Regional Economic Policy within the Framework of Cooperative Federalism

Abstract

In the brief history of West German federalism the field of regional economic policy underwent an important change. In the beginning it had been a state function, but became more and more influenced by the federal government. This development was confirmed by a change of the Basic Law in 1969 when regional economic policy became one of the three ‘joint tasks' (Gemeinschaftsaufgaben). Since then both the federation and the states have been included in the decisionmaking process. Meanwhile several problems of this specific form of federalism have been become evident. The most important items of criticism are a tendency towards centralization and uniformity, an increasing inflexibility in the face of new problems, and an almost inevitable tendency towards expanding the support areas.