Combining input-output analysis and micro-simulation to assess the effects of carbon taxation on Spanish households

This paper explores the effects of a tax levied on Spanish energy-related CO2 emissions. After justifying the relevance of carbon taxation in the Spanish context, we consider the introduction of a product (fossil-fuel) tax with a rate obtained through the ‘actual damage cost’ method. Our empirical analysis proceeds in two stages. First, we employ an input-output demand model to calculate the price changes after the introduction of carbon taxation. In a second stage, simulation with Spanish household micro-data for 1994 yields the environmental and economic effects of a Spanish carbon tax. We find a limited short-run reaction to the carbon tax, which hampers its environmental success. The carbon tax burden is, however, significant, with a proportional distribution across households.     

高管个人特征与公司税负

以我国上市公司1992～2009年的高管变更及高管个人特征数据为样本,实证分析公司高管个人特征与公司税负之间的关系。研究结果表明,公司高管的变更会显著影响公司税负的大小,且该影响发挥作用的时间具有一定的滞后性。公司高管的任期长短、专业背景等个人特征是影响公司税负的重要因素。     

Illegal immigration and the shadow economy

We build a model in which both illegal immigration and the size of the informal sector are endogenously determined. In this framework, we show that indirect policy measures such as tax reduction and detection of informal activities can be used as substitutes for border enforcement, in order to counteract illegal immigration. We also find that a welfare-maximizing government will set the tax rate to a lower value, if it includes illegal immigration in its objective function, instead of focusing on the well-being of native workers only.     

IAS/IFRS in Belgium: Quantitative analysis of the impact on the tax burden of companies

The adoption of International Accounting Standards and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IAS/IFRS) in the European Union is part of the European Commission's global tax harmonisation policy whose aim is to establish a common (consolidated) corporate tax base. The paper shows that the impact of an IAS/IFRS-based tax accounting on the effective tax burden of Belgian companies is large and not uniform across sectors. Some sectors, like construction and automotive vehicles, experience much larger increases in effective tax burdens than others. Globally the impact is relatively important. The analysis is conducted using the European Tax Analyzer (ETA), a multi-period forward looking program. In a European context, an IAS/IFRS-based tax accounting will increase the effective corporate tax burdens in all selected countries. However, it will most probably maintain the current tax competitive positions of EU countries. The expected broadening of the tax base could constitute an opportunity to reduce the corporate income tax rate without changing the overall effective burden.     

The ageing of Europe: Demographic scenarios of Europe's futures

This paper explores the demographic futures of Europe by presenting two scenarios. The ‘silver century’ scenario is based on the continuation of current demographic trends and policies. In this scenario, Europe's population will continue to age and immigration will be limited. As a result younger people will increasingly tend to concentrate in urban areas while the retirees, who are able, will settle in suburban and rural spaces. In the ‘open borders’ scenario, the EU and most of the member states will introduce an open and actively promoted immigration policy. Most immigrants will concentrate in large metropolitan areas. At the same time there will also be some countries and regions with very limited immigration from abroad. At the local scale immigration will contribute to social and spatial segregation. Hence, without the regulation or at least management of types and destinations of immigration, demographic imbalances will not be addressed at the regional level. Furthermore while the freedom of movement may have some macro-economic benefits and address population imbalances in some (mainly metropolitan) areas, pre-existent trends undermining both socio-economic cohesion and sustainable patterns of development are unlikely to be resolved.     

人口老龄化进程中养老保障的消费增进效应——基于CHARLS数据的研究

利用2013年中国健康与养老追踪调查(CHARLS)数据中的8355个家庭数据,在控制家庭人口特征和家庭经济能力的情况下,分别从家庭消费水平和家庭消费结构两方面考察人口老龄化进程中养老保障对家庭消费的影响。结果显示:养老负担会使家庭人均消费支出明显下降,但是医疗保健方面的消费支出占比会显著提高;参加养老保障会显著提高家庭的人均消费支出,尤其是无养老负担家庭会减少对未来养老的预防性储蓄而增加当期消费,养老保障的消费增进效应明显,但是有养老保障家庭的各项消费支出占比则没有显著的提高或下降。这充分说明养老负担是家庭消费水平难以提高的重要因素,而养老保障是刺激人口老龄化进程中消费增长的有力手段。     

社会保险缴费负担对企业人力资本结构的影响研究

理解社会保险缴费负担如何影响企业人力资本结构,对社保缴费制度改革和供给侧结构性改革尤为重要.本文以中国沪深A股2007-2020年2847家制造业上市公司为研究样本,采用固定效应模型实证检验了社会保险缴费负担对企业人力资本结构的影响.研究发现,社会保险缴费负担能够提高高低技能劳动力的相对雇佣比,具有显著的人力资本结构升级效应.机制分析表明,社会保险缴费负担主要通过固定资产投资规模和员工人均薪酬两个渠道对企业人力资本结构产生影响.进一步地分析表明,社会保险缴费负担的人力资本结构升级效应在非国有、劳动密集型、小规模及高融资约束企业中存在较强的异质性.因此,当前我国社会保险缴费率下调的大背景下,政府应该审慎权衡社会保险缴费负担与企业人力资本结构的内在联系,警惕社保缴费负担降低过多反而会阻碍企业人力资本结构的提升.     

Cross-country differences in the contribution of future migration to old-age financing

As life expectancy increases and fertility declines, population aging puts pressure on the financing of welfare states in Europe and other developed countries. Given that immigrant workers are younger than the domestic population, a continuous flow of immigrants reduces the old-age dependency ratio and improves financing. Existing general equilibrium estimates of the public finance contribution of migration, performed with different models, are not comparable across countries and sometimes differ even in sign. We use the same overlapping-generations model with a detailed representation of institutions and labor market activity to provide comparable estimates of the impact of immigration on public finance in four European countries. We find that future projected immigration flows are equivalent to 14.3 % points labor income taxes in Austria, 7.3 points in Germany, 6.2 points in the UK and 1.7 points in Poland in 2060. These differences are due to the projected volume of immigration and institutional setups, among other factors. For comparable volumes of immigration, future flows have largest impact in Germany and smallest in the UK.     

Performance-based Incentives and the Behavior of Accounting Academics: Responding to Changes

Abstract

When laws change the rules of the game, it is important to observe the effects on the players' behavior. Some effects can be anticipated while others are difficult to enunciate before the law comes into force. In this paper we have analyzed articles authored by Spanish accounting academics between 1996 and 2005 to assess the impact of a change in the Spanish university regulation. Results indicate a switch from publishing professional papers to academic ones and also to change research methodologies in order to meet the new requirements. This was to be expected due to the explicit mention of the law in favor of academic journals. However, we have also detected a significant decrease in the publication of professional papers. These side-effects could have a negative impact on the transmission of knowledge from university to society putting the relationship between accounting research and professional practice in jeopardy.     

Disentangling the Effects of Household Financial Constraints and Risk Profile on Mortgage Rates

In this paper we disentangle the impact of household financial constraints on mortgage rate from a number of dimensions of credit risk. This analysis relies on a dataset that contains information on the economic and financial decisions of Spanish households in four different years: 2002, 2005, 2008, and 2011. Our results suggest that banks’ profitable customers are able to bargain for lower mortgage rates. However, contrary to other studies, the risk profile does not have a significant effect on mortgage rates. Credit institutions tend to charge higher rates during the crisis to all customers, irrespective of their risk profiles.