The relative variability of state income and sales taxes over the revenue cycle

The cyclical variability of state income and sales taxes is examined for each state by estimating the degree to which each tax follows the state's overall revenue cycle. Income taxes are found to be consistently more cyclically variable, and less predictable, than sales taxes. Factors explaining differences in cyclical variability across states are then identified in a regression model. States without income taxes have less cyclically variable revenues than states with both income and sales taxes, suggesting that cyclical variability in states without income taxes could not be reduced by broadening the tax base to include an income tax.     

Cournot oligopoly models with time delays

In this paper a system of competing firms is considered in which adjustments of output are subject to delays. Under the Cournot strategy, stability of the oligopoly problem is considered. If each firm calculates its optimal output based on a knowledge of its own production at that time, and of its competitor's outputs at a previous time, stability is not affected by the information delays. However, if all the information available to each firm is subject to a delay, then stability is affected, and the likelihood of stability increases with decreasing delays.     

EARNINGS INEQUALITY IN GREAT BRITAIN 1975–90: THE ROLE OF AGE

This paper is concerned with the growing earnings dispersion among British men. The study is based on unit record data drawn from the New Earnings Survey. It is found that increases in inequality within age groups account for most of the rise in earnings inequality overall. Occupation too is a significant explanation of growing inequality among workers, but the major part of increased inequality within age groups remains unexplained.     

UK GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE—IMPLICATIONS OF CHANGES IN AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT UNDER THE COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY

The change in government expenditure which accompanies change in agricultural land use and output is an important parameter in current policy decisions. This change is estimated in this paper using a simple accounting model which recognises the diversity of support schemes in operation and the interaction between them. Use of the model is illustrated by estimating the effects of changes in beef, sheepmeat and cereals output under alternative assumptions about market conditions, yield levels and land classes affected. The paper concludes by discussing other ways in which the model might be used.     

Traffic barriers and pedestrian crossing behaviour

This paper is concerned with the relationships between traffic conditions and pedestrian behaviour which determine the extent of barrier effects. These relationships are examined on a high-density mixed-use street in central Edinburgh. Such streets are generally important routes for both pedestrians and vehicles, where there is maximum potential for conflicts between them. Crossing strategies and pedestrian trip-making activity are shown to be modified in response to changes in traffic conditions, notably to changes in traffic volumes and parking activity. Barrier effects are seen to vary markedly with the age group of pedestrians. The findings are related to pedestrian safety on such streets and to issues involved in the design and implementation of traffic management schemes. It is concluded that barrier effects on pedestrians should be a standard consideration in scheme design and implementation.     

Cynthia Lee Henthorn. From Submarines to Suburbs: Selling a Better America, 1939-1959

Cynthia Henthorn has written a thoughtful, wide-ranging analysisof commercial propaganda and its meaning in mid-twentieth centuryAmerica. Demonstrating that wartime marketing strategies promoted"better living" after the war, she argues that commercial messagesabout technology and management were tied to human engineering,promising a socially hygienic future for all Americans. The author begins with a retelling of the 1959 "kitchen debate,"when U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon argued with Soviet PremierNikita Khrushchev about     

Broker-hosted investor conferences

We examine the determinants and consequences of broker-hosted investor conferences. We find the number of brokers hosting a firm at conferences is positively related to institutional ownership and intangible assets, consistent with greater client demand for management access among hard-to-value firms. Younger firms and those that issue equity in the future attend more conferences, suggesting firms view conference participation as a means to enhance investor recognition. Hosting brokers are rewarded with increased commission revenue. Commission share increases by 0.61% during the conference week, with larger increases following more informative conference disclosures. Firms also benefit from conference participation. In the subsequent year, conference firms are followed by an additional 0.34 analysts, undergo a 6% reduction in bid-ask spread, and experience a 0.03 increase in Tobin?s q.     

Dynamic labor demand in China: public and private objectives

This article studies dynamic labor demand by private and public manufacturing plants in China. The analysis uncovers the objectives of public and private enterprises and estimates labor adjustment costs by ownership. Public plants maximize the discounted present value of profits without a soft budget constraint. There is strong evidence of quadratic and linear firing costs at the plant level. The higher quadratic adjustment costs of the public plants may reflect their internalization of social costs of employment adjustment. Domestic private plants and collective plants have about the same discount factor, much lower than state‐controlled plants.     

An Investigation of Consumers' Responses to Comparative “Attack” Ads

The current study contributes to the ever-expanding literature pertaining to comparative advertising by focusing specifically on comparative “attack” ads. Using the persuasion resistance process as a theoretical foundation, our findings indicate that users committed to the comparative referent are much more likely to resist persuasive attempts than are less-committed users, and hold brand attitudes with greater confidence. However, commitment of the consumers to the comparative referent has little impact on their reactions to positively- versus negatively-framed comparative ads. This pattern of effects was observed in both immediate and delayed (two-week) ad exposure conditions.