GRANTS AND TAX RELIEFS AS INVESTMENT INCENTIVES*

This paper presents and applies a methodology designed to measure the extent of the investment incentives provided to U.K. farmers by the present tax system and the capital grants currently available. We identify and examine two aspects of these incentives, viz. enhanced profitability and increased financial feasibility, and investigate their sensitivity to changes in the rate of inflation and the marginal tax rate.     

THE APPRAISAL OF MACHINERY INVESTMENT

The present value model is applied to investment decisions in new machinery with particular emphasis on the incorporation of taxation and inflation effects. In order to produce a more practically applicable version of the model an equivalent annuity form is derived in which post-tax net present value is converted into a corresponding annual cost in real terms. The effects of inflation, tax and interest rates on this annual cost are explored. Possible modifications to the investment criterion, in the context of finance constraints at purchase or subsequent replacement, are discussed.     

FARM FINANCE AND FARM INDEBTEDNESS IN THE EEC

Many farmers in the EEC are currently having to finance an increasing indebtedness when prospective farm profitability is falling, interest rates are likely to remain high and inflation rates are steadying, and taxation is becoming heavier. It is also a time when bankers traditionally specialised in the financing of farming are considering whether to diversify their lending. Thus they are considering more critically the balance between profitability and security in their farm lending.     

TAXATION,COST OF CAPITAL AND INVESTMENT IN AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE*

The concept and measurement of the cost of capital is developed to include particularly the role of taxation in investment behaviour. The relative importance of factors influencing investment in plant and machinery is examined for five sectors which make up the broadacre industry of Australia. It is shown that residual funds are important in determining plant and machinery investment, but not through the normally hypothesised channels. It is not the increased liquidity from increased income which raises investment, but the fall in the cost of capital, which is associated with the marginal rate of tax.     

AGRICULTURAL FINANCE AND INFLATION: AN EXAMINATION OF ALTERNATIVE METHODS WITH REFERENCE TO BRITISH EXPERIENCE

Increased inflation has the effect of increasing nominal interest rates which in turn cause problems in servicing debts in the form of conventional loans. Price-level-adjusted mortgages (PLAMs) have been recommended as a means of avoiding debt servicing difficulties associated with inflation. Bank overdrafts can act as effective substitutes for PLAMs and have some tax advantages. Leasing also provides an alternative way of avoiding cash flow problems associated with conventional term loans. Experience in the 1970s demonstrated that the provision of external finance to agriculture was maintained during a period of inflation although the balance of borrowing shifted from term loans to overdrafts.     

Determinants of Income Growth in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Labor Markets

This article analyzes determinants of growth across labor markets in the United States, using a production function approach based on four inputs: labor, manufacturing investment, human capital investment, and public capital investment. We find little role for public capital investment in growth, but that manufacturing investment spurred growth in nonmetropolitan areas, in contrast to metropolitan areas. We also find that human capital investment mattered more for metropolitan areas than for nonmetropolitan areas. Further, the presence of more colleges and universities, more household amenities, and lower tax rates are all found to have encouraged human capital accumulation in U.S. labor markets.     

The changing United Kingdom residential real estate market

Summary

The residential property market is dependent upon the overall well‐being of the economy, with movements of the residential property prices following a cyclical movement over time. The macro‐economic factors that influence prices are studied for the United Kingdom and compared with results from other countries. In the United Kingdom's case interest rates, building costs, the number of new housing starts, disposable income, investment in other assets, inflation and expectations play important roles in the determination of residential price movements.

In addition, the numbers of new housing developments that are started are determined by interest rates, disposable income, building costs and expectations of property price rises. The building costs are also determined by wage rates, interest rates and the rate of inflation.     

Credit market access and profitability in Tunisian agriculture

This work develops an econometric model that links credit access with agricultural profitability and investment. Using data collected from rural Tunisia, this work provides direct estimates of credit access and its effects. Econometric estimates are run for agricultural investment and profitability as a function of credit access. The investigation of credit access and its effect suggests that the presence of credit market constraints does impinge significantly on farm profitability, but not on investments.     

A COMPARISON OF DEPRECIATION METHODS UNDER CURRENT COST ACCOUNTING

In New Zealand the Richardson Report has recommended to government the adoption of a form of inflation accounting known as Current Cost Accounting (CCA). This paper reports research carried out to determine which of the traditional historical cost depreciation methods used in farm accounting might be most appropriate when adapted to a current cost basis. The current cost depreciation methods are compared on the basis of their ability to predict accurately actual replacement values for a survey sample of farm tractors and headers. The resultant measures of depreciation are compared with those currently allowable under New Zealand taxation laws, and the proposition that investment allowances on purchases of new machinery offset the inadequacies of historical cost depreciation is discussed.     

The Effects of a Federal Flat Tax on Agriculture

This study examines the impact of a federal flat tax on agriculture by determining the tax liability under the current and flat tax systems using actual farm records. The study considers the linkages between agriculture and the rest of the economy by examining the impact of a flat tax on interest rates and capital investment and how those changes would affect agriculture. Results indicate that roughly 63% of agricultural producers would benefit from a flat tax in terms of lowering taxes paid. Under the flat tax, larger farms and more profitable farms would be relatively better off.     

International Tax Co-operation and Capital Mobility

The international mobility of capital and the geographical dispersion of firms have clear advantages for the growth and modernization of developing countries. They also create fundamental challenges for national tax authorities. Modern principles of capital taxation for the open developing economy indicate the need to find the correct balance between the encouragement of private investment and the finance of social infrastructure, both of which are necessary for sustainable growth. This balance can be sub-optimal where countries compete for inward investment by granting tax incentives or exercise conflicting principles in determining the tax base. The current practice of international taxation indicates that fiscal authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean could attain a more equitable share of capital tax revenue without depressing investment and growth. This might be achieved through more effective regional tax rules, double taxation treaties, information sharing and treatment of offshore financial centres along the lines already promoted for OECD members. These findings have wider implications for developing countries as a whole.     

The Effect of Carbon Taxes on Agricultural Trade

This study evaluates the implications of an existing carbon tax on international trade in the agricultural sector. Applying uniformly to all fossil fuels combusted within its borders, the province of British Columbia unilaterally introduced a carbon tax on July 1, 2008. In 2012, the province granted an exemption from the tax to certain agricultural sectors. Using commodity‐specific trade flows and exploiting cross‐provincial and intertemporal variation, we find little evidence that the carbon tax is associated with any meaningful effects on agricultural trade despite the sector being singled out as “at risk” by the provincial government. Our findings suggest that there is not compelling evidence to support exempting the agricultural sector from the tax. Discussion of potential policy remedies to address the tax's potential effects on firm profitability and international competitiveness is also included.     

矿业税制与持续发展

文章对我国矿业投资环境的基本情况，以及其中的税收政策现状进行了分析，进而论述了矿业税制改革的方向，强调矿业活动的特点，借鉴国际通用做法，研究可行的优惠措施，减轻税负，以促进可持续发展     

世界主要地区矿业税费研究

文章对北美、拉丁美洲、非洲、大洋洲和印度次大陆五个世界上重要的矿业资源与矿业开发区开展了矿业税费研究,对矿业税费结构、税费率、税费抵扣与补贴、矿业有效税率,以及税费与矿业可持续发展的关系进行了分析。研究结果显示,北美和拉丁美洲为全球的低矿业税费区,大洋洲与非洲为较高税费区,印度次大陆为高税费区。研究结果表明,矿业税费的设计应以平衡利润在政府与企业间的优化分配为目标,既要保持政府的合理收入,又要满足企业经济活力的需要,以达到为国家经济可持续发展提供矿产资源和矿物原材料保障的目的。     

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF AGRICULTURAL TRACTOR INVESTMENT MODELS

An implicit rental price approach is used to analyse the determinants of farm tractor investment at the aggregate level. Three models, based on different assumed factor substitutabilities, are compared. Variations in the rental price of tractors appear to have less effect on demand than variations in factors affecting the profitability of the cropping enterprise as a whole. The implications for forecasting and for policy instruments, such as the investment allowance, are discussed.     

Does Capital Market Structure Affect Farm Investment? A Comparison using French and British Farm–Level Panel Data

This article considers whether differences in the structure of agriculture credit markets in France and the United Kingdom alters the investment sensitivity to financial variables particularly cash flow. Using two panel datasets of French and British farms, three approaches are used to test the sensitivity of investment to internal finance, an inventory investment model, a fundamental q –model, and Euler equations for machinery investment. The results suggest that the contrasting capital markets structures do induce differences in overall investment sensitivity to cash flow and its pattern across both farms with varying levels of collateral and between inventory and machinery investment.     

ON-FARM FACTORS INFLUENCING INVESTMENT IN CROP SOWING MACHINERY*

Farmers in grain industries make important decisions about investment in crop sowing machinery. This paper shows how some on-farm factors affect profit-maximising levels of investment in crop sowing machinery. The paper examines the effect on optimal investment of discontinuities in sowing opportunities, varietal portfolios and soil portfolios.     

我国林业行业资本结构优化研究

以我国林业行业的上市企业为对象,运用多元回归分析法,实证研究了林业企业的盈利能力、抵押能力、非债务税盾、有形资产、现金流量、股权结构、税收、资产流动性、企业规模、行业特征和企业成长性等11个因素与资本结构之间的关系,发现了有形资产、企业规模和资产流动性是影响林业行业资本结构的主要因素,同时,通过对林业行业资本结构的进一步优化研究,得到了林业行业资本结构的优化值。     

Climate change impacts on investment in crop sowing machinery*

A model of investment in crop sowing machinery is applied to wheat production under current and projected climatic conditions at several locations in south‐western Australia. The model includes yield responses to time of sowing at each location given current and projected climatic conditions. These yield relationships are based on wheat growth simulation modelling that in turn draws on data from a down‐scaled global circulation model. Wheat price distributions and cost of production data at each location, in combination with the time of sowing yield relationships are used to determine a farmer's optimal investment in crop sowing work rate under each climate regime. The key finding is that the impacts of climate change on profit distributions are often marked, yet mostly modest changes in investment in work rate form part of the profit‐maximising response to climate change. The investment response at high versus low rainfall locations mostly involves increases and decreases in work rates, respectively. However, changes to investment in work rate within a broadly similar rainfall region are not always uniform. The impacts of climate change on investments in work rate at a particular location are shown to require knowledge of several factors, especially how climate change alters the pattern of yield response to the time of sowing at that location.     

THE ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF RISING FOOD PRICES: FRIEDMAN AND THE PRICE OF STEAKS

The rationale for anti-inflationary policies (at least in the UK) arises from a theory that higher rates of inflation lead to a greater variability in the dispersion of prices and market distortions. This is because economic agents do not fully anticipate what future rates of inflation will be. Little or no empirical work has been directed to the agricultual sector for this model. The economic implications of the prices of some varieties of beef steaks are considered by testing the model for UK data over the period 1968 to 1984. The effects of real earnings and the Common Agricultural Policy are also considered.