Marketed tax avoidance: an economic analysis∗

Recent years have witnessed the growth of mass-marketed tax avoidance schemes aimed at the middle (not top) of the income distribution, with significant implications for tax revenue. We examine the consequences for the structure of income tax, and for tax authority anti-avoidance efforts, of tax avoidance of this type. In a model that allows for both demand- and supply-side considerations, we find that: there is an endogenous threshold income below which taxpayers do not avoid, and above which they avoid maximally; the per-dollar price of tax avoidance is decreasing in income under progressive taxation; endogenous adjustments in the price of avoidance make supply less responsive to anti-avoidance activity than thought previously; and avoidance may drive a non-monotone relationship between tax rates and tax revenue. These findings suggest that new approaches to anti-avoidance, beyond legal enforcement, might be needed.     

An economic agent in my brain? A critical analysis of multiple-self models in neuroeconomics

Neuroeconomic multiple-self models describe individuals’ choices as the equilibrium of the interaction amongst neural sites modelled as economic agents. This approach aims at explaining some inter-temporal inconsistency problems and the rejection of unfair offers in ultimatum games. However, the experiments on these models do not provide replicable results. The standard view interprets this problem as due to inadequate econometric techniques. Conversely, this paper shows that the non-replicability problem arises from a conundrum of multiple-self models’ (MSMs) theory. It illustrates how the assumption of neuroeconomic agents is deduced from the revealed preferences theory applied to the neuro-level. Therefore, the paper shows how experiments on MSMs cannot test the assumption of neuroeconomic agents but only the empirical hypotheses that derive from it. This entails that the assumption of neuroeconomic agents is a tautology, which might generate hypotheses that do not robustly identify the neural correlates of behaviour.     

An analysis of ＂eco-centric management＂ in China and methods to improve it

The essay focuses on the question ＂what does the evideace on environmental regulation and its implementation tell us about the extent of eco-centric management in China and how to improve it＂. The first part will introduce ecocentrism, eco.centric management, and one major way to achieve eco-centric management in reality. Second. the environmental regulations of United Nation （UN） and China will be analyzed and compared to find out whether they are eco-centric. Moreover, the implementation of environmental regulation in China will be analyzed because regulatitm cannnt exist without proper implementation. Three suggestions were given to improve eco-centric management in China： natural science research and public administration, environmental education, international cooperation.     

The interdependence between economic analysis and methodology in the work of Joseph A. Schumpeter ∗

Abstract

This paper offers an overview of Schumpeter's entire economic work from a methodological perspective. Only from this ‘birds-eye’ view do all the well-known parts of his work become part of a mosaic which – from a distance – forms a picture of logical succession: It tells the story of an intensive search for an appropriate analytical understanding of the phenomenon of economic change. As a result, this paper argues that, from a methodological perspective, Schumpeter's work appears to be anything but a monolithic unit.     

The symbiosis of scientific and technological innovation efficiency and economic efficiency in China — an analysis based on data envelopment analysis and logistic model

In this study, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to estimate the scientific and technological innovation efficiency and economic efficiency of China’s provinces and cities from 2000 to 2016. Based on these two efficiency measures, a logistic model is used to calculate their symbiosis. The results show that, while the high scientific and technological innovation efficiency are concentrated in the eastern coastal areas, the high economic efficiency spread from the eastern coastal zones to the inland regions. Further, these efficiencies have gradually shifted from independent development to symbiotic development between 2000 and 2007. From 2008 to 2011, the symbiotic point largely spread, emphasising the difference between regions. After 2012, the symbiotic point gathered around 0 again, indicating that external influences greatly influenced the symbiotic patterns in all regions. Finally, we introduce relevant policy recommendations based on the symbiotic condition.     

The socioeconomic view of redevelopment ∗

In recent years the USA economy has exhibited signs of becoming a member of a category of economy best termed underdeveloping. In this article an explicitly socioeconomic framework is adopted which suggests ways in which such economies can redevelop. This model stresses the need to prepare the infrastructure and capital goods sectors before mass consumption of goods and services is undertaken. The model indicates that any specific societal system must attend to a specific set of needs. In the context at hand, this leads to the hypothesis that if a fair level of economic growth is to be sustained, there are seven needs which must be answered adequately and in some rough co-ordination with each other. If one or more are neglected, development will be strained, and the nature of the strain can be ‘derived’ from the neglected needs. If several elements are weak or have deterorated, economic development may cease if not be reversed.     

The political economy of nature ∗

Suggestions are made for the development of a specific theory of mining by addressing the role of landed property, cartelization and monopolization. Each of these is seen as having a historically contigent relationship to the others and to the growth of mining capital. The spatial expansion of mining is examined as potentially leading to restructuring of, and conflict over, property relations, and cartelization of markets as tending to precede monopolization of production. The argument is illustrated by reference to the UK coal industry, the South African diamond industry and the US oil industry.     

The wages‐and‐profits fund: Classical remnants in Marshall's early theory of distribution

Abstract

This paper traces the development of Marshall's theory of wages from the late 1860s to the publication of the first edition of the Principles of Economics (1890). Section one attempts to unravel Marshall's recollections of early intellectual influences, many of which were often distorted or wrong. Specifically, J. S. Mill's, Fleeming Jenkin's and J. H. von Thünen's influence on Marshall's early theory of distribution is explored in this context. In section two, analyses of Marshall's theory of wages in Economics of Industry (1879) and in other published writings is presented. This section draws attention to the similarity between Marshall's treatment of wages and the classical wage fund doctrine. In the final section, we re‐examine Marshall's defence of his theory of value and distribution in the Economics of Industry in the face of criticism of it by American economists S. M. MacVane and J. L. Laughlin in the Quarterly Journal of Economics.     

The Italian theories of progressive taxation∗

In this paper I evaluate the logical consistency of Patinkin's claim that involuntary unemployment can result from slow speed of adjustment. I argue that Patinkin's argument is flawed because of an unjustified breach of continuity in the trade technology assumption between the microeconomic and the macroeconomic parts of Money, Interest, and Prices. Finally, I claim that the issue of flexibility versus rigidity should be linked to the trade technology assumption. As soon as a centralized trade technology is assumed, flexibility automatically comes in.     

Strategic planning of complex economic systems ∗

A major drawback of conventional models of the behavior of economic systems (and derived tools for policy intervention) is that the desire for tractability leads generally to a high degree of abstraction from reality. This article suggests an alternative, and arguably complementary, approach which engages specifically with economic complexity. The technique used is one of interactive spatial modelling over long time periods where the principle economic agents base decisions on incomplete heuristic information. For illustrative purposes the model has been calibrated on the basis of Senegalese data for 1981–91 and broad generic equations presented. The article argues that such a methodological approach holds out considerable advantages for strategic planning of sustainable economic systems. In particular it permits the direct engagement of noneconomic disciplines and client stakeholders in the planning process.     

What remains of the growth controversy ∗

Nobel laureate R.M. Solow (1992) reflected that, ‘The Kaldor–Kalecki–Robinson–pasinetti line made life harder for itself by being part of a wholesale attack on mainstream economics. Anyway, it was not ever able to muster a body of serious applied work’. This article considers the accuracy of an assessment like Solow's of the sucess of the growth theorys that economists have proposed as alternatives to neoclassical growth theory. The article, which takes an historical perspective, focuses on Kaldor's growth theory.     

Medical management,costs, and consequences of Alzheimer’s disease in Germany: an analysis of health claims data

Abstract

Objective:

The main objective of this analysis was to assess the medical and economic differences between patients with and without diagnosed Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Analysis included co-morbidities, patterns of drug use, and clinical course, as well as the magnitude of these differences attributable to AD.     

Hick's recantation of the temporary equilibrium method ∗

This article deals with the neglecct of the economics profession towards Hick's change of mind, after Value and capital, concerning the appropriateness of the use of the notion of temporary equilibrium analysis. In what follows a reconstruction and critical evalaiton of Hicks's views on the legitimacy of the equilibrium method will be undertaken. It will be argued that Hicks's rejection of both the traditional (long-period) marginalist general equilibrium and the post-Walrasian alternative of temporary or intertemporal equilibrium raises wider issues that pose problems for contemporary treatments of such matters.     

On the nature of the capitalist state ∗

We assesss critically three existing economic perspectives, the neoclassical, the Austrian and the Marxist, on the question of the ‘nature of the capitalist state’. In particular we address the questions of the existence of the state, the state's ‘principal’, the principals' objectives and the growth and evolution of the state, and consider the answers provided by the three perspectives. We find all three perspectives limited, particularly in their treatment of history and dynamics. We suggest that the adoption of a dynamic perspective with historical considerations provides original and useful insights on the above questions and on the issues of ‘state autonomy’. We conclude that the capitalist state can be usefully regarded as an institutional device for the exploitation of the specialization and division of labour complementary to markets and firms, which driving force is the furthering of the interests of its principals (a controlling subject of the population), but subject to coonstraints, such as voting and exit.     

Jacques Le Bourva's theory of endogenous credit-money ∗

About 30 years ago, Jacques Le Bourva published two little-known articles that clearly set out the present post-Keynesian theory of endogenous money developed by Kaldor and Moore. The main features of these two articles are presented, in particular Le Bourva's belief that reverse causation, rather than the instability of the velocity function, is the key objection to the quantity theory of money and the mainstream theory of inflation. Other features include a graphical and an algebraic pedagogical representation of the theory of endogenous money, the use of the Banking school's efflux/reflux mechanism, the dismissal of the money multiplier, and the impossibility of an excess supply of money. Le Bourva's theory of inflation also resembles that adopted by many post-Keynesians, in which price increases due to excessive wage demands and attempts by firms to raise their profit margins to finance investment.     

The Limitations of Karl Marx' Social Economics ∗

Studies of the relationship between political democracy and economic inequality have produced diverse findings. This study attempts to mitigate some conceptual and methodological problems inherent in such studies by using multi-indicator concepts of inclusive democracy and economic inequality. Data from the five major historically and culturally homogeneous South Asian countries covering 1980–2003 suggest some bidirectional, positive relationship between inclusive democracy and economic inequality indicating that democracy and equality may not be fully compatible in this region. The paper offers contextual explanations and some mechanisms that may have led to these findings for the region, somewhat deviating from the conventional arguments.     

Alfred Schütz and George Shackle: Two Views of Choice

Within the Austrian school of economics, Ludwig Lachmann identified Alfred Schütz and George Shackle as master subjectivists. Subjectivists trace aggregate economic phenomena back to the subjective thoughts and expectations of individuals. Schütz was a member of the Mises Circle of Austrian economists. Shackle was a student of the Austrian economist F.A. Hayek, but a follower of Hayek's great rival, John Maynard Keynes. Austrians respect both figures as important subjectivists who offered valuable accounts of the role of uncertainty in human action. The paper serves two purposes. First, it is a useful primer on the distinct theories of Schuts and Shackle. Second, it draws attention to the problem of change and novelty in the work of Schütz and Shackle. Schütz underemphasized the role of novelty in society. Shackle, by contrast, exaggerated the role of novelty in choice. A middle ground position is defended.     

Mapping of scientific patenting: toward the development of ‘J-GLOBAL foresight’

The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) is in the process of building knowledge infrastructure by means of linking accumulated information assets to a variety of databases. It does not aim to develop knowledge data infrastructure based on proprietary format, but on an international standard format. JST is also in the process of creating ‘J-GLOBAL foresight’ [http://foresight.jst.go.jp (accessed June 2012)] in order to match up a variety of data such as results and indices of bibliometric analysis as well as of patent analysis derived from the knowledge infrastructure with applications like Google Maps and facilitate the visualisation of business information. This will contribute to help companies and institutions formulate business strategy based on the information obtained in the future. The former aims to be the bibliographic information version of the Data.gov, which discloses government data from the USA, while the latter seeks to be the Data-gov wiki version, which provides a demonstration by matching up governmental data with applications such as Google Maps.