TAXATION,SOCIAL GOODS AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF FREEDOM

The quantity of an individual's freedom is thought to coincide with the width of her opportunity set, and this is defined by taking account of budgetary, institutional and legal constraints to choices. A simple cardinal measure of freedom is proposed on the ground of which some exercises in comparative statics are worked out. It is shown that individual choice freedom may be widened when a new good is publicly provided free or at a low price. Furthermore, it is argued that progressive taxation redistributes freedom in favour of the poor, all the more so when public revenues are used to finance the public provision of goods, in which case overall freedom may be augmented.     

Energy and capital inputs: cornerstones of productivity growth in Mexico: 1965–2004

Gross domestic product per remunerated labor (GDP/L), known as the Mexican average productivity, grew very rapidly from 1965 to 1979; it increased at an average annual rate of 3.7%. But from 1979 through 2004, productivity stagnated with an average annual growth rate of only 0.19%. The hypothesis is that from 1965 through 1979, productivity increased rapidly because of concomitant growth in the utilized capital and energy per worker and the improvements in technology. After 1979, the productivity growth came to a standstill because of a slowdown in investment and stagnation in the utilized capital and energy per worker due to the sharply rising energy prices. The tool chosen to test this hypothesis is an aggregate Cobb-Douglas production function characterized by technical change embodied in the gross investment in new machinery and equipment. The estimation of this model shows energy as a cornerstone of productivity growth independent of capital and new technology.     

Fiscal impact of privatization revisited: The role of tax revenues in transition economies

In contrast to earlier literature, this paper finds empirical evidence that privatization has deteriorated fiscal balances in transition economies. The investigation focuses on the role of tax revenues in explaining the fiscal impact of privatization, as it appears that tax revenue in many transition countries remained lackluster even after the adoption of several tax reforms in the last two decades, and no formal econometric assessment has been conducted of the extent to which privatization has affected tax revenues. Using panel data for 29 Eastern European and former Soviet Union countries, the analysis finds robust signs of a strong negative impact of privatization on different tax revenue sources. The paper also provides some empirical evidence favoring the early adoption of value-added taxes that appear to have contributed to government revenue recovery.     

Escuelas de negocios latinoamericanas Un análisis empírico

Drawing on recent available data of a sample of Latin American business schools, this paper aims at identifying the organizational determinants of the students’ success in their post-MBA professional work. These relationships are tested through multiple regressions using panel data with random effects. The main finding is that the level of scholarly knowledge production, operationalized as number of articles published in journals indexed in the Social Science Citation Index, is in a positive and statistically significant way associated with the alumni’s success. The quality of the faculty has also a positive and significant effect upon the dependent variable, although this result is not robust as per different model specifications.     

阿根廷失业的持续性:分地区的微观和宏观分析

本文旨在发展一个简单的方法来研究阿根廷各个地区失业的持续性。我们采用两个互补的视角 ,将宏观的 (加总 )回滞方法和微观的动态 (个人两阶段 )估计相结合。宏观分析的结果表明 ,大部分影响各地区和人口子集失业率的冲击都是显著持久的 (由于劳动参与和就业都有回滞性 (hysteresis) )。而另一方面 ,微观的分析则发现了明显的状态依赖 (state -dependence)效应 (存在于大部分地区的年轻人和妇女中 ) ,和一个仅在高失业率时才显著的时期依赖 (duration -dependence)效应。     

Assessing Global Computable General Equilibrium Model Validity Using Agricultural Price Volatility

Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models are commonly used for global agricultural market analysis. Concerns are sometimes raised, however, about the quality of their output since key parameters may not be econometrically estimated and little emphasis is generally given to model assessment. This article addresses the latter issue by developing an approach to validating CGE models based on the ability to reproduce observed price volatility in agricultural markets. We show how patterns in the deviations between model predictions and validation criteria can be used to identify the weak points of a model and guide development of improved specifications with firmer empirical foundations.     

Progressive Taxation and the Distribution of Freedom

Freedom of choice in consumption activity can be represented by opportunity sets that are bounded by both budget and time constraints. I argue that, in a society in which income is distributed more unequally than leisure time, a government aiming at leaving freedom distribution unaltered should apply progressive taxation. Since incomes bind freedom only partially when this is bound by time constraints, taxing the rich reduces her/his freedom proportionally less than the reduction in freedom caused by taxation of the poor. The degree of tax progressiveness will be higher if the government aims at redistributing freedom from the rich to the poor.     

Public awareness promoting new or emerging risks: Industrial accidents triggered by natural hazards (NaTech)

Dramatic natural events recently stroke several countries worldwide. The impact of the natural events on industrial sites often resulted in large releases of hazardous materials, causing severe technological accidents (Natural-Technological or NaTech events). Industrial operators were often found unprepared or off-guard for unannounced events but also when they had received early warnings. Due to these occurrences, public awareness has raised and the issue of NaTech is now considered as an emerging risk. Due to the climate change and increase in the frequency of some categories of natural disasters, the likelihood of NaTech scenarios is growing, thus NaTech may be also considered as a new risk in some areas of the world. In the present study, the process that ended in the awareness of the scientific community and of the general public toward NaTech has been analyzed. Available tools and knowledge gaps in the assessment of NaTech scenarios are evidenced. The analysis is mainly addressed to the potential impact of flood, lightning, and earthquake events on industrial installations where hazardous substances are present, aiming at the identification of strategies to improve the resilience of industrial facilities to technological accidents caused or intensified by natural hazards.