利维坦之形塑:财政、国家能力与治理

财政是国家发展的重要因素,是国家保护公民、提供正义和行政管理的前提。税收是国家获取财政的主要方式,不仅维系着国家与纳税人之间的关系,还与代表制、问责制与国家能力息息相关。揆诸史实,欧洲国家的历史发展验证了财政筹集与制度变革的重要联系,对财政的需求催生了制度的变革,并产生了代议制度。税收是国家能力和国家财权的先决条件,唯有抓住国家治理的税收脉络,在税收、能力、代议制与问责制之间形成了良性的制度循环,方能实现国家治理体系和治理能力的现代化。     

How human resource practices can help plateaued managers succeed

As organizations downsize to increase their competitiveness, flatter hierarchies result in fewer promotional opportunities and more plateaued employees. The definition of career success needs to move away from “up is good,” yet plateauing is still shameful for many employees due to traditional assumptions about the causes and effects of plateauing. A study of 373 middle managers suggests how “successful plateauing” (effective job performance, satisfaction with the job and life in general) can be fostered. The article provides specific examples of how best practices and new approaches in several human resource areas can help plateaued employees succeed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The Three Hurdles of Tax Planning: How Business Context,Aims of Tax Planning,and Tax Manager Power Affect Tax Expense

The question of why some companies pay fewer taxes than others is a widely investigated topic of interest. One of the well‐known explanations is a phenomenon called tax avoidance. We develop a grounded theory model of influences on corporate tax planning through a series of 19 in‐depth German tax expert interviews. Our research identifies three independent hurdles in the tax planning process, which can help to explain different levels of tax expense across companies. Those three hurdles sequentially address which tax planning methods are available (defined by business characteristics), desirable (given via aims of tax planning), and implementable (determined by tax manager power). A large part of previous research has estimated the influence of firm characteristics, which we incorporate in the broader term business characteristics, on tax expense, while the other influences that we identify have largely been left “out of the equation.” In the light of the current public debates on tax avoidance, we reveal two important findings: First, we find that companies vary widely in the aggressiveness of their aims of tax planning, which contrasts sharply with the picture often drawn by undifferentiated media reports. Second, tax managers can assume very different levels of power in their organization. The implementation of desirable tax planning methods varies depending on this level of tax manager power. In conclusion, our three‐hurdle grounded theory provides generalizable insights into important influences on corporate tax planning which help to explain the observed variation in tax expenses across firms.     

Eight months later — Has the Eurozone been stabilised or will EMU fall apart?

Eight months ago, as the risk of sovereign default in Greece fi rst emerged, the Intereconomics Forum invited a number of contributors to examine the options available to EU policymakers. As the threats to European Monetary Union resurface now, six of the same authors return in this issue’s Forum to reassess the situation, in particular with regard to the EU’s recent policy responses to the ongoing crisis. Whereas both optimists and pessimists could support their views with strong arguments eight months ago, the EU’s current predicament has shifted the prevailing sentiment strongly toward the pessimistic view. From the Irish bailout to the precarious status of Portugal, not to mention the potentially disastrous situation looming in Spain, our contributors are uncertain whether EU policymakers are up to the challenge of defending the euro. As evidence of this, several point to the EU Council’s October decision to establish a permanent crisis resolution mechanism to ensure an orderly state insolvency procedure, which did little to calm markets. Nonetheless, most of these economists still see ways for the EU to escape the crisis without being forced to abandon the common currency.     

TACKLING THE ENDOGENEITY OF FERTILITY IN THE STUDY OF WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: ALTERNATIVE ESTIMATION STRATEGIES USING DATA FROM URBAN BRAZIL

Abstract

Opinions differ about whether family structure, especially fertility, should be considered endogenous in models of behavior in developing countries. Faced with a dearth of good instruments, mainstream researchers often urge working in reduced form and, therefore, losing variables of policy interest or limiting the type of questions they ask to those where good instruments are available. Rather than treating endogeneity as a yes or no characteristic, we suggest instead that researchers consider the likely magnitude of endogeneity bias before moving to reduced form. Facing a situation where endogeneity bias is often presented as a concern but where we expect little endogeneity bias, we tackle endogeneity using multiple econometric techniques not available to the average researcher. We find support for our hypothesis that little bias arises due to the assumption of exogeneity of recent fertility in a model of women's employment.     

The Marketisation of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Australia: A Structured Response

The marketisation of early childhood education and care (ECEC) offers opportunities to test assumptions about the benefits of a market framework. In Australia, where marketisation included reshaping, extending, and increasing government subsidies, one major listed company (ABC Learning Limited) emerged to dominate child care. Child care prices increased rapidly to become an election issue, and government subsidies increased. ABC acknowledged its economic dependence on government policy and subsidies. Until its collapse in 2008, ABC was the world's largest listed child care operator, and operating internationally. ABC's structured business model separated child care properties (propco) from child care operations (opco). ABC was the opco and leased the child care properties from propcos. As ABC grew and replicated its structured model to other forms of property including intangible assets, the rising child care prices and government subsidies supported a growing array of other enterprises all seeking profitable operations. This paper explains the structured opco‐propco model, identifies its interaction with accounting and lessons to be learned from marketisation.     

Using dimensions of moral intensity to predict ethical decision-making in accounting

The paper addresses the persistent problem of graphical communication in financial reporting. The lack of appropriate curriculum development for students' professional guidelines may arguably perpetuate poor practice. The multifaceted perceptual issues, strategic use and design issues involved in this visual medium for financial reporting are discussed. There are decision-making processes involved in using graphical displays. The paper presents a comprehensive set of guidelines along with practical insights for the effective use of graphical displays. It may serve as a critical (self)learning tool.     

Collaboration at work: An integrative multilevel conceptualization

The term collaboration has been used throughout a variety of research disciplines to describe multiple types of interaction; yet, a unified, comprehensive definition of the construct remains elusive. This lack of clarity regarding the distinctions and commonalities between collaboration and other interaction concepts has resulted in conceptual confusion that affects practice and research in human resource management. Practitioners see collaboration as more of a buzzword than as an effective human resource strategy. Previous theory development efforts have not yet taken a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach. This has resulted in failure to integrate key themes across disciplines into an overall view of collaboration, which is a commonplace practice in business and military sectors alike. This paper describes a multidisciplinary conceptualization of collaboration and discusses the implications of this integrative theory to human resource management and strategy development as well as future research efforts.