Tolerance of tax evasion

We present a formal model in which individuals want the government to tolerate tax evasion because, in a context of limited state capacity, evasion provides insurance. Also, preferred tolerance of tax evasion increases with income, because government programs are redistributive, and decreases with perceived state capacity, because taxation is less distortionary in more capable states. We test the model using a question in the World Values Survey (WVS) about how justifiable cheating on taxes is. We find that tax evasion justifiability views present an inverted-U shape in perceived risk and increase with individuals’ income.

     

To formalize or not to formalize: Entrepreneurship and pro-market institutions

In this paper, we examine the effects of pro-market institutions on both formal and informal entrepreneurship. While formal entrepreneurship has long been studied in economic literature, informal entrepreneurship has been less frequently discussed. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is not only to examine the impact of pro-market institutions, but also to foster a better understanding of, and introduce a method to measure, informal entrepreneurship. For the purpose of this paper, pro-market institutions are broken into their two main components: economic liberalization and governance levels. The arguments posit that economic liberalization positively impacts both formal and informal entrepreneurship while governance levels have a positive impact on formal entrepreneurship but a negative effect on informal entrepreneurship. Furthermore, governance levels reduce informal entrepreneurship to a greater extent than they increase formal entrepreneurship, resulting in a net reduction in entrepreneurial activity. The analyses of a panel covering 51 countries from 2002–2009 provide robust support for these arguments.     

Assessing the Performance of ‘Inflation Targeting Lite’ Countries

This paper deals with what is referred to in the literature as the ‘Inflation Targeting Lite’ (ITL) countries. These are a category of emerging countries, whose main characteristics are that they are least developed and small economies that pursue IT. They use inflation targeting to define their monetary policy framework, but for a number of reasons they are not in a position to put top priority to IT in relation to other objectives. This paper deals with a set of ITL countries for which consistent data could be gathered, and for which a date for setting inflation targeting could be discerned. The object of the paper is to study the impact of IT on actual inflation and inflation expectations. We utilise intervention analysis to time series on inflation for a number of ITL countries, which have actually implemented IT. In doing so our main concern is to assess whether, due to the IT intervention, there has been a significant change in the trend corresponding to these series and the extent to which inflation rates have actually been ‘locked‐in’ at low levels after the implementation of IT. Two major results emerge. The first is that ITL countries have been successful in ‘locking‐in’ inflation rates. The second is that non‐IT countries have also been successful in terms of the ‘lock‐in’ effect. Our overall conclusion, then, is that other factors in addition to IT underpin the apparent success of the control of inflation.     

Modeling to Relate Variables in the Context of Franchises in Brazil

The central objective of the research is to propose a model for the comparative study of the degree of relationship between the variables considered as most relevant in the context of franchises in Brazil. In terms of methodology, the research undertook a qualitative survey of the variables, which in a second phase provided a quantitative framework in order to fulfill the proposed objective, through concepts based on multicriteria methods, performance measurement systems, and linear correlation. Resulting from the practical implementation proposed for the General Food category, it was found that only two constants, denoted “Average Initial Investment” and “Financial Obligations,” are directly related to the base variable defined by “Gross Revenues.”     

Reciprocity and Cooperation in Repeated Coordination Games: The Principled-Player Approach

Two long-lived players play a repeated coordination game. I show the restrictions on players' beliefs which imply that cooperation is optimal play. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Number: D83.     

China： Global Crisis Avoided,Robust Economic Growth Sustained （II）

III. Gtobal crisis： impact and poticy response