Moral suasion: An alternative tax policy strategy? Evidence from a controlled field experiment in Switzerland

With data gained from a controlled field experiment in Switzerland this paper analyses the effects of moral suasion on the timely paying and the timely filling out of the tax form 2001. Comparisons of different tax filing years and multiple regression estimations have been done using these two factors as dependent variables to check if there is a significant difference between the control group and the treatment group. In February 2002 the treatment group received a letter signed by the communes fiscal commissioner containing normative appeals. Results indicate that moral suasion has hardly any effect on taxpayers compliance behaviour. The strongest effect can be observed for the variable tax payments.Received: February 2003, Accepted: June 2004 JEL Classification: H260, H710BennoTorgler: Special thanks are due to the tax administration of Trimbach, especially to Adolf Müller and Gary Bitterli, who offered me the opportunity to collect the data and assisted the project. Furthermore I acknowledge the financial support of the WWZ-Forum and Swiss National Science Foundation and comments and suggestions from Doris Aebi, René L. Frey, the editor Kai A. Konrad and two anonymous referees.     

浅析供应链牛鞭效应成因及对策

供应链的引入,带来了一些需要急切解决的管理问题,如“牛鞭效应”。本文分别从技术应用层面和经济学层面对牛鞭效应的成因做出分析,并在此基础上有针对性地提出相应缓解对策,通过信息共享,有效地弱化牛鞭效应。最后指出由于供应链的固有特性和参与方的经济性,牛鞭效应难以根本消除。     

Why I am a Psychology Major: An Empirical Analysis of Student Motivations

The underlying “architecture of the decision to pursue a degree in psychology was quantified using the Method of Sorting technique to identifying the critical issues necessary to make this choice. Multidimentsional scaling procedures were employed to construct a three-dimensional map representing the relationships between reasons for selecting psychology as a major. Freshman and senior psychology majors (N = 165) from a regional university and a large research-based institution rated the relative importance of items in their decision-making process. Hierarchical clustering procedures revealed seven different groups of students. Although significant differences associated with class standing were not found, institutional affiliation did influence cluster composition. Reflecting local emphases, students at the regional institution had a greater interest in Counseling Psychology, whereas those at the research-based school focused on Clinical Psychology. This semantic map and the associated item clusters arising from psychology student data provides an empirical basis for, amongst other things, course selection, faculty-initiated program design or revision, strategic niche marketing, and student retention.     

Stock market volatility,the news,and monetary policy

The dynamic relationship linking the volatility of equity prices with “the news” and the expected path for monetary policy is investigated. Previous results that link the impact of the news about real activity to changes in current and future interest rates are employed in developing a positive link between changes in volatility and the news. Empirically, our results uncover a positive and statistically significant response of the CBOE volatility index, VIX, to unanticipated changes in employment, but not to inflation. Hence, agents' expectations for the policy response to news have an important influence on the expected volatility of stock prices. (JEL E44, E52)     

The Challenge Facing SMEs in the Eu’s New Member States

The paper considers the main threats and opportunities for SMEs in new member states, arising out of EU membership, including the implications for SMEs at the micro level. Whilst accession-related changes have important potential implications for firms of all sizes, the distinctive size-related characteristics of SMEs affect their ability to identify, cope with and respond to new sources of threat and opportunity. These potential impacts face new member countries at a relatively early stage in the development of market-based systems, which still contain many deficiencies (particularly in institutional terms) and a SME sector with many characteristics that reflect its fledgling status.     

Memory recall errors in retrospective surveys: A reverse record check study

This paper reports on a study to compare self-reports during an interview with staff who attended a University health centre in Turkey, with the records of visits to the same health centre over the previous 12 months. Design of the study reflects the effects of importance of the event, duration since the event, frequency of the occurrence of the event, measurement scale of the event, and bounded and unbounded recalling. In order to assess the extent of recall error, responses to retrospective questions on health centre visits are compared with administrative records. Statistical models are proposed for short and long term human memory recall error effects on responses.     

The causal relation between government revenue and spending: Evidence from Egypt and Jordan

In investigating the causal relation between government revenue and spending, our empirical results support the tax-and-spend hypothesis for Egypt and the fiscal synchronization hypothesis for Jordan. Breaking away from these historical trends is essential for both countries to eliminate the budget deficit and therefore ensure the availability of domestic saving for private investment. To cope with unemployment and poverty, continuing privatization is recommended for both countries to improve productivity and efficiency in the domestic economy. Privatization should lead to higher domestic saving and investment and at the same time eliminate the budget deficit by enhancing revenue and curbing spending. (JEL H62, H63)     

Nash-equilibria in a heterogeneous oligopoly with fuzzy information

We consider a model of an oligopolistic market with heterogeneous firms and products where neither the cost nor the demand functions are common knowledge. Instead, each firm only has some vague ideas about the price strategies adopted by its competitors which is modelled by a fuzzy set. In analogy to the notion of an "equilibrium of actions and beliefs" we define and characterize a generalized Nash-equilibrium and show its existence under general conditions. Furthermore, the impact of the fuzzy information on the equilibrium outcome is analyzed by means of a comparative static analysis within a particular model framework.Received: 28 May 2002, Accepted: 25 December 2002, JEL Classification: D43, D80, L13We wish to thank Bernhard F. Arnold, the editor Murat Sertel , and two anonymous referees for helpful comments. Of course, we are responsible for all remaining errors.     

物流技术发展对我国仓储物业的影响

我国传统仓储物业建筑形式单一，技术落后，管理社会化、科学化程度低。然而现代物流技术正在飞速崛起，对于物资的快速流通以及规模化经营和科学的管理都有很高的要求。我国的仓储物业在这样的形势下要适应现代物流的发展，改善建筑形式，实现科学高效的管理。     

人力资本与经济增长关系研究——教育投资对经济增长的贡献自上市公司的经验证据

知识经济时代经济增长所依靠的已不仅是货币资本,更重要的是人力资本,货币资本的获得和财富的积累都是由人力资本推动的。人力资本是现代经济增长与发展的源泉和动力,增加人力资本投资,提高人力资源质量,已成为促进经济发展的重要手段。从我国经济增长的影响因素看,人力资本作为生产要素对经济增长具有决定作用,人力资本投资对我国经济增长具有战略意义。本文对经济增长理论及人力资本理论进行了介绍,并运用实证分析方法探讨了教育投资对经济增长的贡献。