The impact of demographic change on tax revenue

This paper stimulates the impact of demographic change on direct tax revenue for the Netherlands using extensive survey data and population projections. Projected demographic development in the Netherlands fits in well with the OECD mainstream. The analysis thus has a more general relevance. The simulations indicate a 27 percent rise in tax revenue until 2010 because of population growth and a relatively older labor force. After 2030, revenue falls as a consequence of a declining population and a rapidly rising share of the elderly. The authors also simulated a variant in which labor-force participation rates are set on the substantially higher OECD average. In this case, the increase in tax revenue almost doubles as compared to the base variant.     

The effects of casino gambling on state tax revenue

A theoretical model of state tax structure implies that revenue enhancement due to the introduction of casino gambling is less likely in states where incomes taxes do not exist and where casino tax rates are lower than the corresponding tax rates on sales taxable and excise taxable goods. Further, it is clear that casino gambling is likely to adversely impact lottery tax revenues earmarked for education. Due to the cross-price effects of gambling, tax revenues will likely decline in states that introduce nontaxable casino gambling on Indian reservations. In the longer term, as casino gambling proliferates increasing competition among states, there will be negative revenue consequences due to fewer tourism and employment dollars.     

Misallocation and price distortions: A revenue decomposition of medical service providers in China

The provision of healthcare services and the distribution of medial resources across the China health system hierarchy is characterized by an inverted pyramid with alarming congestions in the so-called AAA tertiary hospitals. This study tries to investigate this baseline misallocation issue prior to the introduction of the new healthcare reforms in 2009. Building upon established framework, we developed an alternative measure for dispersion of factor price distortions. Using a large national microdata, the results obtained are consistent with previous studies in that for a less developed geographical market, often characterized by poorer factor mobility and weaker market competition, dispersion of the factor price distortions is high, reflecting high degree of misallocation. We also developed a decomposition of revenue dispersion to make inferences about the major channels through which the inverted pyramid arises. The analysis reveals the extent to which, the disproportionately large share of revenues generated by high-tier tertiary hospitals in China, can be attributed to their high productivity and the public trusts in them as providers of quality care.     

Proposed changes to the value added tax: implications for tax revenue and price distortions

This paper examines changes to the value added tax (VAT) system proposed recently by the Indonesian Ministry of Finance-in particular that the exemptions for certain sectors be ended. Using the input-output relationships in the economy as a basis, it analyses the implications of these changes for tax revenue and for price distortions. It also considers other feasible changes to the VAT exemptions that could be advantageous. The paper concludes that the estimated revenue impacts of the proposed changes are small relative to the apparent scope for revenue increases from improved administration of the system as it stands.     

Staple food price instability and structural change: Indonesian experience

This paper argues that structural change, shifting labor from agriculture to manufacturing is critically dependent on staple food price stability. Historical experience shows that East Asia achieved such stability and thus experienced rapid growth in manufacturing and rapid structural change. Parts of Southeast Asia have also experienced food price stability and structural change. A case study of Indonesia’s experience supports these ideas.     

居民消费价格指数变动趋势预测

一年来,居民消费价格指数(CPI)呈线性增长态势,形成通胀压力。经过建立数学模型测定,以及定性分析对定量分析结果的修正,可以预见,CPI增幅将会突破4%,且今后一段时期内,CPI仍会处在增幅3%以上的高位波动,通胀压力仍然存在,但CPI的上升空间有限。     

Chinese exchange rate and price effects on G3 import prices

This paper explores the degree of price and exchange rate interdependence between China and the G3 (US, Japan and the Euro-zone) by undertaking a VAR based shock analysis. A GARCH framework is also employed to derive the conditional variances to uncover the extent of volatility transmission. We address two key issues. First as there have been concerns about low value-added cheap Chinese goods flooding G3 markets, we attempt to measure the impact of Chinese prices on G3 import prices. Second, we focus on the transmission of exchange rate shocks – a subject which we approach by examining shocks in China's bilateral exchange rate with each of these major trading partners (the US, Japan and the Euro Area). Our results indicate that reduced import prices from China are the channel through which aggregate domestic prices in the G3 remain depressed, while the impact of the RMB exchange rate with G3 currencies appears less powerful. This finding implies that the Chinese authorities’ RMB exchange rate policy is relatively unimportant and, in particular, that a revaluation of the RMB would not do much to reduce the US trade deficit. In terms of volatility spillover, the relatively flexible RMB exchange rate against the Euro results in RMB-EUR volatility having a stronger influence than the more tightly controlled RMB-USD rate on the volatility of Chinese export prices.     

Product price differences across countries: determinants and effects

A substantial part of international differences in prices of individual products, both goods and services, can be explained by differences in per capita income, wage compression, or low wage dispersion among low-wage workers, and exchange rate fluctuations. Higher per capita income is associated with higher prices and higher wage dispersion with lower prices. The effects of higher income and wage dispersion are moderated for the more tradable products. The effects of wage dispersion, on the other hand, are magnified for the more labor-intensive products, particularly low-skill services. The differences in prices across countries are reflected in differences in the composition of consumption. Countries in which prices of labor-intensive services are very high, such as the Nordic countries, consume much less of them. For some services, the shares of GDP consumed in high-price countries are less than 20% of the shares in low-price countries. Since these are services of very low tradability, the low consumption levels of these services imply low employment in them.     

Armington弹性的估计与美国进口中国商品的关税政策响应分析

反映国内商品与进口商品之间替代程度的Armington弹性,是一种重要的行为参数,常常被政策制定者用来进行定量分析甚至定性分析。本文在制造业整体水平上,对美国进口中国商品与美国生产的商品之间的Armington替代弹性进行了估计,通过对美国在进口中国商品中所获得福利变动的计算估计,我们认为,Armington替代弹性的大小对美国使用关税贸易政策的工具有重要影响。     

价格竞争与非价格竞争的理性思考

本文通过对价格竞争与非价格竞争的比较,衡量价格竞争与非价格竞争的利弊,分析企业价格竞争策略选择,揭示价格竞争的引发因素及社会经济效应,并提出了价格竞争的替代方案。     

Changing Tax Elasticities Over Time: The Case of Tanzania

Abstract: In most studies, tax elasticity, which measures responsiveness of tax revenue to income growth, is assumed constant over time by the use of a double-log tax function. In practice, tax elasticities may change over time with changing tax structures and economic conditions. Neglecting tax elasticity changes can lead to inappropriate tax forecasts or policy recommendations. In this study, use of a flexible form tax function admits the possibility of fluctuating intertemporal tax elasticities. The model is applied to tax revenue data for Tanzania, a developing country in southeastern Africa, and intertemporal tax elasticities are estimated for the overall tax system and for major Tanzanian taxes. The unrestricted flexible form model is compared with alternative restricted models, and chi-squared tests are used to reject the restrictions in all cases. The general finding of the study is that tax elasticities in Tanzania have been varying over time, a warning to researchers who have been relying on constant elasticity models for estimating tax elasticities. Résumé: Dans la plupart des études, on prend pour hypothése qu'en utilisant une fonction double logarithmique pour les impôts, l'élasticité de l'im pôt qui mesure l'ajustement des recettes fiscales par rapport à la croissance des revenus, demeure constante. Dans la pratique, il se peut que I'élasticité de l'impôt évolue dans le temps avec les variations des structures de la fiscalité et des conditions économiques. Si on néglige l'éolution de l'élasticité de l'impôt, cette omission peut se traduire par des prévisions fiscales ou des recommandations de politique générale inadapées à la situation. Dans cette étude, le recours à une fonction flexible d'estimation de la fiscalité revient à admettre la possibilité de fluctuations, dans le temps, de l'élasticité de l'impôt. Ce modéle (fonction double logarithmique) est appliqué aux données concernant les recettes fiscales de la Tanzanie, un pays en développement du sud-est de l'Afrique, pour lequel des estimations des fluctuations dans le temps, de l'élasticité de l'impôt font l'objet d'estimations pour l'ensemble du systéme fiscal ainsi que pour les principaux impôts. Le modèle flexible sans contrainte est comparé au modèle avec contrainte. On a eu recours aux tests du khi-deux pour rejeter les hypothèses de contraintes dans tous les cas. Dans cette étude on en est arrivéà la conclusion que les élasticités de l'impôt en Tanzanie ont varié avec le temps. Cette conclusion est un avertissement aux chercheurs qui tablent sur des modèles d'élasticité constante pour faire des estimations de l'élasticité de l'impôt.     

Treasury revenue and foreign trade taxation

Zusammenfassung Staatseinnahmen und die Besteuerung des Au\enhandels. — In diesem Aufsatz wird eine vergleichende L?nderstudie durchgeführt, um die fiskalische Bedeutung von Au\enhandelssteuern und deren Beziehung zum Pro-Kopf-Einkommen und zu der Au\enhandelsabh?ngigkeit des Landes zu zeigen. Der Test basiert auf Durchschnittsangaben der Jahre 1972–1978 für 93 L?nder und wird sowohl für die Exporte und Importe zusammen als auch für die Exporte und Importe getrennt durchgeführt. Es zeigt sich, da\ die Einfuhrbesteuerung eine erheblich gr?\ere fiskalische Bedeutung hat als die Ausfuhrbesteuerung. Das gilt sowohl für die Entwicklungsl?nder als auch für die Industriel?nder als Gruppe, obwohl die Exportsteuer für die einzelnen Entwicklungsl?nder ein sehr unterschiedliches Gewicht haben kann. Die fiskalische Bedeutung der Au\enhandelsbesteuerung nimmt ab, wenn das Pro-Kopf-Einkommen ansteigt, jedenfalls dann, wenn eine bestimmte Einkommensschwelle überschritten wird. Diese Hypothese konnte auch aufrechterhalten werden, als im Vergleich zu anderen Studien neuere Daten und eine andere Gruppe von L?ndern benutzt wurden. Die Ergebnisse best?tigen nicht die Behauptung, da\ die Au\enhandelssteuern st?rker als andere Steuern ansteigen, wenn der Au\enhandel an Bedeutung zunimmt.

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Résumé Les recettes publiques et la taxation du commerce extérieur. — Cet article analyse pour beaucoup de pays l’importance fiscale des taxes sur le commerce et sa relation au revenu per capita et à la dépendance d’un pays du commerce extérieur. Le test, basé sur les données moyennes des années 1972–1978 et des 93 pays, est fait pour les exportations et importations ensemble aussi bien que pour les exportations et importations séparément. Le résultat est que la taxation des importations a une considérablement plus importante fonction fiscale que la taxation des exportations. Ce résultat est valable pour les pays développants aussi bien que pour les pays développés, considérés comme groupe, bien que l’importance de la taxation des exportations puisse considérablement varier parmi des PVD individuels. L’importance fiscale des taxes sur le commerce extérieur se reduit si le revenu per capita accro?t, du moins après le revenu excède un certain seuil. Cette hypothèse est aussi approuvée en utilisant des données et des échantillons de pays beaucoup plus récentes que celles des autres études. Les résultats ne confirment pas l’assertion que les taxes sur le commerce extérieur dépassent des autres sortes de taxe si le commerce extérieur accroêt en importance.

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Resumen Ingresos del tresoro y tributación al comercio exterior. — Este es un análisis comparativo a traves de países de la importancia de los impuestos al comercio exterior y su relatión con los ingresos per cápita y la dependencia del país del comercio. El test, basado en promedios para los a?os 1972–1978 y cubriendo 93 países, se conduce tanto para el comercio global de importatión y exportatión como para las exportaciones e importaciones separadamente. El resultado es que la tributación a las importaciones tiene una función fiscal considerablemente más importante que la tributación a las exportaciones. Esto es válido tanto para los países en desarrollo como para los países desarrollados considerados como grupo, a pesar de que la importancia de la tributación a las exportaciones puede variar considerablemente entre países en desarrollo particulares. La importancia fiscal de los impuestos al comercio declina en la medida que el ingreso per cápita aumenta, al menos desde el momento en que éste último sobrepasa un cierto umbral. Esta hipótesis ha sido continuada, utilizando datos y muestras de países mucho más recientes que en otros estudios. Los resultados de este test no confirman la exigencia que los impuestos al comercio exterior aumentan por sobre otros tipos de impuestos en la medida que el comercio exterior crese en importancia.

     

Sensitivity of Yield and Input Demand Elasticities for Wetland Rice in Java

This study uses pooled time series data for wetland rice in Java to analyse the sensitivity of yield and input demand elasticities to differences in the specification of farmers' expectations, in alternative data sources and in the functional forms used in the estimation. The results show that yield and fertiliser input elasticities are less fragile than those of labour demand, which are quite sensitive to data and model specifications.     

Elasticities of derived demand under different objectives of the firm

Conclusions We have reconciled and generalized earlier comparisons of input demand elasticities under different objective functions of the firm. In general little can be said of the relative magnitudes of the elasticities under different objectives, since different goals usually imply different levels of production and input demand. With some simplifying assumptions about the technology we can conclude that a profit-constrained, utility-maximizing firm tends to have higher input demand elasticities than a profit-maximizing firm facing the same cost and demand functions. This tendency is reinforced by a high profit requirement, decreasing returns to scale and slowly falling demand elasticity for the output. The results may help to explain differences in the stability of employment between industries,. Scherer [1980, pp. 365–67] reports that some studies have found an inverse relation between market concentration and stability of employment, which is contrary to the expected result. One may argue that in concentrated industries the firms are likely to have organizational slack or to face an inelastic product demand curve. Hence demand for factors of production should be less elastic than in more competitive industries. We have shown, however, that deviations from profit maximization may lead to higher input demand elasticities. Since non-profit-maximizing goals are likely to be more common in concentrated industries, the observed instability of employment may be partly due to the high elasticity of derived demand. Although the type of alternative goals studied in this paper may not be realistic in practice, the analysis shows nevertheless that goals of the firm may be one factor in explaining differences in the stability of employment.