Tax competition in federations revisited

We extend Keen and Kotsogiannis (2002, 2004) by considering all-purpose public goods that are beneficial to both producers and consumers. Horizontal externality (resp. vertical externality) exerted by tax competition will not necessarily lead to inefficient outcomes.     

Single-crossing conditions in comparisons of tax progressivity

Statements to the effect that one tax is more progressive than another are frequently made, but seldom explained. Starting from a criterion of Lorenz domination, this paper shows how an intuitively appealing single-crossing condition on appropriately normalized tax schedules may be used in progressivity comparisons. This condition is closely related to, and illuminates, the necessary and sufficient condition derived by Jakobsson (1976) for the distributional implications of alternative taxes to be inferred from their schedules alone.     

Decomposable measures of income tax progressivity

A class of decomposable income tax progressivity indices is defined by using a family of generalized entropy measures. For demonstration, changes in income tax progressivity in the United States are studied over time.     

The English rule with payments upfront

This paper extends the economic model of litigation under the English rule for allocation of costs by considering payments upfront. Implications are derived for current legal reforms in Portugal.     

The Yugoslav deficit on balance of payments

The article sets out to analyse what measures would have been necessary to remove the persistant post-war Yugoslav deficit on balance of payments, and the problems and constraints, both economic and more broadly socio-political, that any given policy measure, or set of measures, might have run into. On the basis of this some conclusions are drawn on the nature of Yugoslav economic development since the war, and the relevance of Yugoslav experience to developmental problems in general. The article includes detailed statistics on the Yugoslav balance of payments.     

Bayesian estimation of social welfare and tax progressivity measures

This paper examines Bayesian methods of examining posterior distributions of inequality, concentration, tax progressivity and social welfare measures. Use is made of an explicit income distribution assumption and two alternative assumptions regarding the distribution of pre-tax mean incomes within each income group. The methods are applied to a simulated distribution of individual incomes and tax payments. It is possible to identify a minimum acceptable number of income classes to be used. The results suggest support for the use of group means in practical applications, particularly where large sample sizes are available. First version received: August 2000/Final version received: July 2001 RID="*" ID="*"  This research was supported by a Melbourne University Faculty of Economics and Commerce Research Grant. We should like to thank Bill Griffiths and two referees for comments on an earlier draft.     

美国税收制度累进性质的减退对贫富差距扩大的影响

本文在揭露和分析当前美国社会收入分配不平等和贫富差距日益扩大的冷酷现实基础上,探讨了美国联邦税收制度累进性质的减退对收入差距和贫富差距扩大的影响.文章通过对美国税收制度和政策的分析与国际比较,特别是从平等与效率的交替及其历史演变的角度,探讨了美国社会收入分配不平等和贫富差距的历史、现状及其变动趋势.这对我们全面系统地了解发达资本主义国家的政治、经济现实,更深刻地理解美国的政治、经济和外交政策基础大有禆益.这种研究时防止我国贫富差距进一步扩大,构建和谐社会具有借鉴作用.     

Severance payments in equilibrium unemployment

Under the insider wage model of Mortensen and Pissarides [Mortensen, D.T., Pissarides, C.A., 1994. Job creation and job destruction in the theory of unemployment. Review of Economic Studies 61, 397–415], this paper shows that (1) severance pay negatively affects market tightness (vacancy to unemployment ratio) and (2) the amount of severance pay is limited thereby insuring the employer a rational bargaining outcome.     

Case study of agri-environmental payments: The United Kingdom

The Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) program, when launched in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1986, was the first agri-environmental program in the European Union (EU). This program grew to a total of 43 designated ESA schemes in the UK as a whole, 22 of which were in England. A variety of agri-environmental payments programs were created to supplement and complement the ESA schemes in years to follow. The most prominent of these in England was the Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS), established in 1991. The CSS was available to farmers outside the ESAs, and like the ESA program, was intended to protect valued landscapes and habitats and to improve public enjoyment of the countryside. By 2003, over 10% of England's agricultural land was enrolled in either ESA or CSS agreements. These voluntary agreements were long-term contracts (usually for 10 years) between the government and farmers to provide environmental services. Several major evaluations of the ESA program and the CSS were conducted over the years, and the results of many of those evaluations and the lessons derived are synthesized and summarized in this article. Both the ESA program and the CSS proved to be generally effective in enrolling many farmers in the entry-level contract tiers, thereby halting or slowing degradation of rural landscape and other environmental features. However, the schemes did not generally offer sufficient economic incentives to attract high levels of enrollment in the intensive farming areas. Also, the schemes were limited in their success in enrolling farmers in higher payment tiers, tiers that required more substantial changes in farming practices. The high crop and livestock-related payments received by farmers under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) contributed to the disincentives to participate, especially in higher tiers. Following the latest (2003) reforms of the EU's CAP, England's ESA program and CSS are being replaced by a new, consolidated package of schemes that draws on lessons learned over the past 15-20 years with these two flagship programs.     

Determinants of card payments

Although the development of the card payment system allows for lowering the costs of money circulation and thereby leads to significant economic gains, relatively small amount of research has been dedicated to the analysis of the determinants of this development. Therefore, the aim of the article is to seek cross-country determinants of retail card payments focusing on trust in the system. The article concentrates on two econometric models. One is constructed with the use of representative population survey data for Poland, the other is based on panel data from the EU countries in the years 2000–2012.     

Risk externalities in a payments oligopoly

I discuss the role to be played by central banks in payment systems by way of an oligopoly model of a payments market where firms exert negative risk externalities upon each other. A central bank participating actively in this market is modelled as benign in two ways: exerting less externalities than other banks and maximizing welfare rather than profit. Because other banks react strategically to the central bank’s presence due to its low externalities, there is a risk that it backfires, with these other banks’ taking more risky positions than if the central bank were not there. The proper role of the central bank may actually be to stay out.     

The optimal degree of cooperation in the repeated Prisoners' Dilemma with side payments

In the infinitely repeated Prisoners' Dilemma with side payments, we characterize the Pareto frontier of the set of subgame perfect equilibrium payoffs for all possible combinations of discount factors. Play paths implementing Pareto dominant equilibrium payoffs are uniquely determined in all but the first period. Full cooperation does not necessarily implement these payoffs even when it maximizes total stage game payoffs. Rather, when the difference in players' discount factors is sufficiently large, Pareto dominant equilibrium payoffs are implemented by partial cooperation supported by repeated payments from the impatient to the patient player. When both players are sufficiently patient, such payoffs, while implemented via full cooperation, are supported by repeated payments from the impatient to the patient player. We characterize conditions under which public randomization has no impact on the Pareto dominant equilibrium payoffs and conditions under which such payoffs are robust to renegotiation.     

The incentive effect of fiscal equalization transfers on tax policy

A theoretical analysis considers the impact of a typical system of redistributive “fiscal equalization” transfers on the tax effort of local jurisdictions. More specifically, it shows that the marginal contribution rate, i.e. the rate at which an increase in the tax base reduces those transfers, might be positively associated with the local tax rate while the volume of grants received is likely to be inversely related to the tax rate. These predictions are tested in an empirical analysis of the tax policy of German municipalities. In order to identify the incentive effect the analysis exploits discontinuities in the rules of the fiscal equalization system as well as policy changes. The empirical results support the existence of an incentive effect, suggesting that the high marginal contribution rates induce the municipalities to set significantly higher business tax rates compared with a situation without fiscal equalization.     

Decentralized payments for environmental services: The cases of Pimampiro and PROFAFOR in Ecuador

Few payment for environmental services (PES) schemes in developing countries operate outside of the central state's umbrella, and are at the same time old enough to allow for a meaningful evaluation. Ecuador has two such decentralised, consolidated experiences: the five-year old Pimampiro municipal watershed-protection scheme and the twelve-year old PROFAFOR carbon-sequestration programme. We describe and compare the two cases, using a common PES definition and methodology, drawing on both primary interview-based information and secondary data. We find that both schemes have been relatively effective in reaching their environmental objectives, in terms of having probably high additionality levels and low leakage effects. A strong focus on the targeted environmental service and a strong degree of conditionality seem to be two key factors explaining these achievements. Although neither scheme has targeted poverty alleviation or other side objectives, both are likely to have improved PES recipients' welfare, mostly through higher incomes. We highlight several observations with more generalised relevance and lessons for the design of PES schemes.     

Wage-shifting effects of severance payments savings accounts in Colombia

In 1990, Colombia replaced its traditional system of severance payments with a new system of severance payments savings accounts (SPSAs). Although severance payments are often justified on the grounds that they provide insurance against earnings loss, they also increase costs for employers and distort employment decisions. The extent of these distortions depends largely on how much of the costs of severance pay can be shifted from employers to workers. One reason why the effects of severance pay may not be completely shifted is that workers may fear the firm will “take the money and run” by declaring bankruptcy. A system of SPSAs eliminates this moral hazard problem, so it should facilitate the shifting of severance payments' costs to workers in the form of lower wages. Empirical results using the Colombian National Household Surveys (NHS) indicate that the introduction of SPSAs lowered wages by between 60% and 80% of total severance payment contributions. These results are consistent with increased shifting after SPSAs were introduced.