Introduction to Special Issue on Energy Finance

Decisions in Economics and Finance -     

Land Taxes in Agriculture

A bstract Farmland , which occupies two thirds of America's privately owned territory, provides more than food and fiber. Agricultural uses of land preserve open space, filter and store water, supfwrt wildlife, conserve rural resources, enlarge life style opportunities for an urban society. One instrument for preserving agricultural land from urban developmental pressures is the preferential assessment for real property tax, essentially a two rate tax favoring farming as a land use. Preferential assessment, administered typically at small, nonrollback differentials, has not deterred intensive land use changes. Indeed, it may have had the opposite effect. Changes in the tax on land and buildings are recommended as improvements in the preferential assessment of agricultural land.     

India’s Green Revolution: Economic Gains and Political Costs

Research and development (R&;D) promotion policies are critical for economic development in the sense that they contribute to technical progress. Although it is true that policy space is restricted under the World Trade Organization (WTO) system, there are still some R&;D promotion policy measures made available to developing countries. It is thus necessary for developing countries to utilize such available measures. In addition to explaining the R&;D promotion measures available under the current WTO regulations, I provide suggestions for modifying the Uruguay Round Subsidies Code with respect to the R&;D promotion policies of developing countries from the viewpoint of “distributional fairness” in international trade relations.     

The U.S.A.'s Land Data Legacy from the 19th Century: A Message from the Henry George-Francis A. Walker Controversy over Farm Land Distribution

A bstract . Today's perception of land problems stems in part from agriculturally-oriented data developed in the late 19th Century and continued in present day series. Henry George criticized the agricultural statistics of his time but he was as much a captive of the data as his antagonist, Francis A. Walker. The historical identity of farm with farm operator in agricultural statistics is a basis for current concerns about the structure of agriculture. Landownership issues now transcend agriculture. The distribution of wealth, control of use, incidence of taxes and subsidies require land data not tied to a particular firm, industry or program.     

THE CHANGING LIFE CYCLE PATTERN IN FEMALE EMPLOYMENT: A COMPARISON OF GERMANY AND THE UK

Employment rates of women have been rising but women are often part‐time employed and employment interruptions over the life‐cycle are linked to family formation. This paper analyzes empirically full‐time and part‐time employment of different skill groups of women in the UK and West Germany. Patterns of part‐time and full‐time employment are different across skill groups and countries. Full‐time employment declines and part‐time employment increases with age. Time trends do not change in a monotonous way across skill groups and they differ by country. The strong increase in part‐time rates in both countries over time can mainly be attributed to composition effects.