Capital tax competition: bane or boon

This paper reviews potential advantages and disadvantages of capital tax competition. Tax competition may introduce, mitigate, or exacerbate inefficiencies in both the private sector and the public sector. In different models, tax competition may either limit or increase public expenditures and taxes on mobile factors, with differing welfare consequences. We also discuss the implications of tax competition for redistributive policies and for policies dealing with risk, and we identify some of the possible empirical implications of tax competition.     

A Test of the Rational Expectations-Permanent Income Hypothesis for Singapore Revisited

This paper repeats Thornton's (1993) test of the rational expectations-permanent income hypothesis (REPIH) for Singapore using an alternative data set based upon real disposable income and real consumer expenditure. In contrast to Thornton, but in line with most other studies, we find anticipated income to be significant and interpret this as evidence against the REPIH.     

A Revised Lesson for Accounting Measurement from Transaction Cost Economics

This paper disputes the view, put forward in an earlier issue of Australian Accounting Review, that transaction cost economics (TCE) shows that market values of assets are not appropriate in balance sheets and that the usefulness of balance sheets is therefore diminished. This view ignores the role of production costs, complexity and contracting costs in asset-ownership decisions, which reflect various incentives, including a trade-off between production costs and transaction governance costs. In fact, TCE theory lends some support to the provision of market values.     

A comment on patterns of store choice and customer gain/loss analysis

We explore patterns of store choice and shopping behavior in the domain of women’s specialty clothing stores. Based on previous research, four exploratory research propositions are examined to note patterns in customer loyalty to their “favorite” stores and the incidence of shopping at competing stores. We conduct a vulnerability analysis to note which stores have customer segments most vulnerable to marketing efforts of competitors. Our findings suggest customers in the women’s specialty clothing market do not exhibit 100 percent loyalty to the favored retailer, and the share of trips to the favored retailer is generally constant among stores. The primary implications to retail managers are that they should be most concerned withincreasing the customer franchise base (those naming the retailer’s store as “favorite”) rather than focusing on increasing thefrequency of shopping trips among those customers that comprise the current franchise base.     

Numbers and words revisited: Being “shamelessly eclectic”

Despite the growing acknowledgement that complex social phenomena can be usefully understood through multiple methods of inquiry, there are few sound examples of mixed-methods research. This paper offers concrete examples from recent policy research in the United States about how qualitative and quantitative methods can be combined to better address complex research questions. Using a conceptual framework developed in 1985 and recently elaborated, we describe how, in both the design and analysis phases of research, combing methods can enhance the research purposes ofcorroborating, elaborating, developing, andinitiating understandings of social phenomena.A previous version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, 1991.     

Comprehensive Performance Assessment—Springboard or Dead-Weight?

Since its election in 1997, the Labour Government in the UK has emphasised the need to improve the quality of public services. In the case of local government, this emphasis has led to the introduction of Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA). This article considers the merits of actual and intended CPA strategy within the wider context of public service performance measurement. The author concludes that the methodology leading to the December 2002 results and the intended way forward raise legitimate questions as to whether CPA can justifiably lay claim to being a comprehensive measure of performance.     

Collaboration in new technology-based product markets

In the context o f an apparently increasing contemporary interest in the phenomenon of collaboration, this paper reviews some of the major issues associated with such cooperative activity.Possible reasons for an increase in collaboration are suggested, as are the ofen neglected non-benifits of collaboration, before the variety of influences on the process of collaboration management are discussed. The authors adopt a critical stance towardsjnancial measures as indicators of 'success' and 'failure':arguing that such an approach is simplistic and neglects may of the more intangible benifits of engaging in collaboration. A model of the possible factors aJecting the process of collaboration is proposed and two case studies ofproduct development collaborations in new technolopbased sectors illustrate some of the issues discussed in the paper.     

Can compute, won't compute: women's participation in the culture of computing

This paper is designed to enlarge our understanding of how computing is perceived. It uses findings from a quantitative and qualitative study of Computer Science and Psychology students. The paper shows how students believe they have an equal chance in Computing Science and are failing to acknowledge inequality.