COMPOSITE AREA LINKED SYSTEM FOR PROPERTY TAX REFORM IN INDIA*

In India, property tax is presently levied on the basis of the rent-based rateable valuation system. Various official Commissions and Committees and professional experts have, over the last four decades, commented upon the inadequacies of this system, which, among other things, are the absence of an open market in land and rental transactions, the non-availablility of professionally trained valuers and the subjective nature of assessments in a corruption-prone administrative environment. As to the direction of future reforms, there have been two schools of thought - one, advocating for amendment of current rent control laws; and the other, favoring a new system of local taxation, delinked both from the capital value and rental value systems which are difficult to administer in India. This paper highlights the findings of a policy-oriented research study commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development for the design and evaluation of such a system.     

EVIDENCE ON THE IMPACT OF TARIFF REDUCTIONS ON EMPLOYMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

This paper analyses the evidence on the impact of tariff reductions on employment in developing countries. We carry out a systematic review of the existing empirical literature, and include both, ex post econometric evidence and ex ante Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) simulation studies. The synthesis of results suggests that the effects of tariff reductions on employment are country and trade policy specific. When looking across higher quality econometric studies that control for the endogeneity of tariffs, only a couple of studies have statistically significant results, and these suggest that employment is likely to decrease slightly in the short run following trade liberalization. This is consistent with the notion that there are winners and losers from trade policy reform. These results are in contrast with the CGE findings, which by design incorporate projections of the medium‐run economy‐wide knock‐on effects suggested by economic theory. The synthesis of CGE studies suggests non‐negative effects of trade liberalization on aggregate employment and moderate inter‐sectoral labour reallocation effects.     

Lessons for Economic Reform Based on Pennsylvania's Experiences with the Two-Tiered Property Tax

A bstract .   Although economic theory indicates that the imposition of a two-tiered property tax system facilitates urban revitalization, localities in most states have not been authorized to institute a two-tiered property tax. The authority to implement such a tax is partially determined by a state constitution's uniformity and equal protection clauses and tax rate ceilings. An analysis of these provisions reveals 23 states may establish a two-tiered tax, but implementation in 20 of the states must await the passage of state-enabling legislation. Because of the dearth of experience in enacting legislation and the absence of literature that provides guidance for securing its passage, the politics of enacting Pennsylvania's 1998 statute are assessed. The case study clearly indicates that enabling legislation enjoys bipartisan support as well as the backing of urban and rural representatives. However, the legislation's fate is primarily determined by the composition of local electorates and the political power of farm lobbies.     

On the Degree of Property Tax Assessment Inequity in Complex Tax Jurisdictions

A bstract . The extent of interest in the degree of inequity in property assessment is indicative of the importance of identifying determinants of assessment inequity. Previous attempts to identify such determinants were certainly incomplete. An additional variable is offered for the list that would be expected to explain statistically the degree of inequity in the distribution of property tax liabilities , in general, and to examine specifically the relationship between assessment, inequity and the degree of complexity for assessing Jurisdictions. The latter are often complex in the sense that individual properties, although subject to a set of two or more nominal tax rates on assessed values, are not subject to the same set of nominal tax rates. It is argued—to the extent that individual property tax liabilities are capitalized in sale prices for individual properties —that the greater the number of specific property tax rates on assessed value , the greater is the expected frequency of change in such specific property tax rates and, therefore, the higher the expected value of the measure of the degree of inequity.     

Property Tax Equalization Rates: Implications of Their Use in Tax Inequality Cases in the City of New York

A bstract . The New State Board of Equalization and Assessment annually determines for each taxing jurisdiction within the state, an estimate of the ratio of its assessed values to market values. The methods used in constructing such ratios are reviewed as well as the ways in which the ratios are used. Special emphasis is given to the use of the ratio by taxpayers in tax inequality or certiorari cases. Using data on New York City , it is estimated that maximum use of the ratio in such cases could lead to as much as a 22 percent reduction in the City's property tax base. As well, estimates are made of the redistributive effects across different property types in the city under the assumption that tax rates are increased to just offset the revenue effects of the tax base erosion. The most obvious effect is the increased burden on residential housing owner-occupiers.     

我国开征物业税相关问题的思考

首先讨论了物业税开征中热点的土地出让金的去留问题;再而对房地产保有、开发交易环节的税种设置以及大量收费问题提出了一些想法;最后从房地产市场供给、需求两方面深入讨论了物业税开征对房价的影响.     

HOUSING POLICY IN DEVELOPING ECONOMIES: Evaluating the Macroeconomic Impacts*

This paper presents a view of the role of the housing sector in developing countries which emphasizes the potentially high macroeconomic costs of inappropriate housing policies. Traditional public finance perspectives on the role of the housing sector in the economy focus on efficiency and equity implications of the rather modest levels of government spending in the sector. This paper points out that this traditional approach is misleading in that it is less government's spending in the sector than its role in defining regulatory frameworks, pricing policies, and policies affecting the financial sector that comprise the major instruments for influencing the performance of the housing sector and, in turn, the way its performance affects the macroeconomy. The paper also presents a simplified framework for analyzing how housing policies influence the housing sector and the macroeconomy. Simple applications of the framework suggest that the macroeconomic implications of housing policy choices can be of major importance. This is emphasized by two case studies, of policies in Argentina and Poland, where recent housing policies appear to have had major impacts on levels of investment, price and wage levels, and savings rates.     

Plant closings: Lessons from the maine experience

This paper discusses the economics behind plant closings, suggests a possible role for public policy to ameliorate the effects of closings in some situations, and reviews Maine's experience with mandatory advance notice of closings and severance payments. The possibility of a less flexible labor market in Maine is noted, as are areas for future research. Finally, the economic and political history of Maine's experience with plant closing legislation is discussed in terms of its implications for similar legislation at the federal level.     

Deregulating the electricity industry in Nigeria: Lessons from the British reform

The Federal Republic of Nigeria has set out the modalities for launching a competition policy regime in its electricity industry in 2006. By analysing the factors that may inhibit a smooth transition to contestable regimes in generation (commodity and capacity) and in supply (metering, billing and customer services), this paper lays the foundation for the policy advisors to begin to re-think whether unbundling and deregulation is the best way for Nigeria to improve power supply. The paper concludes that, consistent with some of the other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, implementing a hastily convened competition policy will be a huge transaction cost, and one that will yield the country very little (if any) economic benefit.     

Agency in Health Care: Lessons for Economists from Sociologists

A bstract . What economists can learn from sociologists with regard to the economic theory of agency in health care is considered. Whilst the concept of agency has become widely accepted in health economics , its application to the doctor-patient relationship remains somewhat limited. Research is needed on the nature of the patient's and doctor's utility functions before an efficient outcome in health care can be achieved. Economists have much to learn from sociologists concerning the nature of patient's and doctor's utility functions. Only when economists take account of this literature will moves towards an efficient outcome in health care be achieved.     

Lessons from Down-Under: conciliation and arbitration in Australia*

At a time of increased interest in arbitration, this article provides a review of the Australian system of compulsory arbitration. It outlines the structure and processes of the Australian federal system, the current tensions within it, and some lessons for the UK.     

Lessons from the Snowy Slope: Vision and Politics in American Social Insurance

The enactment of social insurance, a fundamental departure from means‐tested welfare programs, was born out of the crisis of the Great Depression. Policy options to strengthen Social Security are mathematically simple, but ideologically contentious. Arguments against the program, remarkably consistent since its inception, have been gaining traction in the current political climate. As the debate proceeds, it is useful to examine the history of opposition and review the case for universal social insurance.     

Relearning from the old masters: Lessons of the American System of Manufacturing

Nineteenth and early twentieth century America witnessed the development of a spectacularly successful manufacturing infrastructure that propelled the United States into the forefront of the world's economic powers. The “American System of Manufacturing, ” a term once used exclusively by historians to describe the progress of the firearms and other light metalworking industries in early nineteenth century New England, has been recast in this paper to describe the advances in management practice, work force attitudes, and process technology that characterized American industry from 1800 through the 1930s.The managers responsible for building the American System of Manufacturing addressed themselves to the extraordinary opportunities made possible in their day by an unprecedented season of technological ferment. Their insights and managerial responses, which are the focus of this paper, led to the establishment of product quality and reliability, and excellence in technology-driven manufacturing, as the cornerstones of American industry.The comfortable maturity into which American industry drifted during the 1950s and 1960s disrupted the evolutionary progress of the American System. Confident that the age-old “problem of production” was firmly in check, American managers redirected their efforts away from the shop floor and towards marketing and finance. The ensuing absence of innovation in product and process innovation, and in the management of the work force, created a competitive vacuum that has been exploited by aggressive foreign producers. The heightened challenge to America's basic industries posed by these foreign competitors has induced lengthy debate among academics, industry officials, and practicing managers, concerning the steps that need to be taken to redress America's declining industrial capacity. Our contribution to this re-examination has two objectives. First, we will attempt both to categorize the types of management issues and production problems that since 1800 have confronted American managers, and to identify the practical responses these issues elicited. Second, we will combine the insight garnered from our historical examination with our knowledge of contemporary management issues to detail the lessons of the American System and to identify areas in the realm of production and operations management where change is most needed.Our inquiry has revealed that changes in the character of American industry occurred as workers and managers instituted new approaches to better manage technology. The succession began with the concept of manufacturing as a sequential flow process. Later, this basic notion was expanded as managers used advances in both process and product technology to provide for the competitive continuity of their firms. The rapid pace of technological diffusion in nineteenth century America not only fostered the growth of external, technology-based suppliers, but also complicated the task of production management by requiring firms to coordinate their internal resources with the actions of suppliers. This change necessitated, of course, that managers keep abreast of a bewildering array of changes in production and process technology.The management developments that emerged in response to the appearance of technology-oriented suppliers were the most advanced expressions of American manufacturing at the end of the nineteenth century. These advances are of interest to us for yet another reason, however, because the existence of a skilled manufacturing infrastructure helped prepare the ground for the first generation of automobile manufacturing. Although the first car producers were by and large assemblers who put together in rented shops components supplied by others, their efforts rested on a, by then, well-developed and widely diffused competence in manufacturing. Only because a host of other non-automotive shops and companies had mastered the full range of skills, technical and organizational, pioneered during the nineteenth century, could the first generation of work on automobiles proceed.Driven by the scale economies associated with capital-intensive, high-volume operations, relationships between auto producers and suppliers shifted in focus and emphasis as the car industry matured. In particular, the growing requirements of specialization and coordination in the auto industry demanded an increasingly bureaucratic form of organization and, by extension, the development of managerial skills appropriate to that form. The mastery of a genuine “flow” system of production at high-volume levels defined the organizational competence on which would rest the great manufacturing achievements of twentieth century American industry.With the development of a dominant product design and the production base responsible for building it, American industry had by the outbreak of World War II achieved unquestioned dominance in the work of manufacturing. Or had it? Industry certainly thought so for the post-war decades were to see a redirection of effort away from production management. The search for greener managerial pastures left untapped, however, the potential to be reached by diligent and relentless concentration on the work of production, and obscured gains attainable from better training and utilization of the work force. The task now facing American producers in a hotly contested global struggle for industrial ascendancy is to begin to understand and to extend the lessons that emerge from their now dormant industrial heritage.