Trade taxes and international investment

Abstract .  This paper demonstrates that international investment disturbs the conventionally understood equivalence between import tariffs and export taxes. Fundamentally, remittances to foreigners introduce an additional pecuniary channel between countries so that two-good Lerner Symmetry generally will not hold. Moreover, because tariffs subsidize investors in the local import competing sector while export taxes can extract rent from foreign investors in the export sector, the pattern of international investment will influence government preferences over trade policy  instruments  as well as levels. Notably, trade tax symmetry is restored by introducing a third policy tool in the form of a direct a tax on international remittances.     

DO TARGETED VOUCHERS INSTILL HABITS? EVIDENCE FROM WOMEN,INFANTS, AND CHILDREN

We examine whether programs that provide vouchers to households continue to influence behavior after the household leaves the program. Using detailed scanner data, we test whether benefit vouchers received through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) change household purchasing decisions and whether these changes persist even after households are no longer eligible to participate in the program. In 2009, the package of goods available through WIC vouchers changed. Examining variation due to this package change, we show that the WIC vouchers change purchasing decisions during eligibility, but that effects fade after eligibility ends. (JEL I38, I18, J13)     

Breaking down social stereotypes: the case of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano in Spain

Over the last few years the Fundación Secretariado Gitano has organised several awareness campaigns aimed at improving the public image of the gypsy community, breaking down the stereotypes and providing a more credible concept of the Spanish gypsy community. These campaigns are intended to guarantee equal treatment and opportunities for this group. One of its first activities was a mass publicity campaign aimed at making the general public aware of how unfair it is to generalize. In this way the origins of the social image problem suffered by gypsies was tackled. The campaign titled ‘Get to know them before you judge them’ is the objective study of this case in which elements are analysed and decision-making steps are followed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring consumer conflict management in service encounters

Consumer researchers have yet to examine how consumers frame and deal with conflict. Understanding how consumers manage conflict is essential for service providers seeking to effectively recover instances of service failure, and avoid the costs associated with increasing instances of consumer anger. Using a modified grounded theory approach, we develop a model of consumer conflict management drawing on 39 informant accounts of service failures. The emergent model proposes that consumers’ conflict style is related to whether conflict is framed in task or personal terms. Task-framed conflicts resulted in more productive conflict styles than those framed in personal terms. Self vs. other orientation moderated the relationship between conflict frame and conflict style. These findings help us better understand the nature of consumer conflict and identify the importance of carefully targeting service recovery efforts to reduce instances of anger.     

Economic restructuring and emerging patterns of industrial relations

The Review of Black Political Economy -     

European technology policy

European countries do less research than Japan and the United States. But their lower level of research effort has more to do with the smaller markets facing European inventors than with lower research productivity. Europe has substantial research potential, in that increasing research effort in most European countries generates bigger income benefits there than increasing research effort in the United States and Japan by equivalent amounts. Research subsidies, enhanced patent protection, support for public research, higher educational achievement and increased integration are alternative routes towards exploiting this potential. These policies increase productivity not only in Europe, but also elsewhere. One problem with implementing such policies at the national level is the potential for free riding. A second possible problem with policies to promote research concerns their distributional consequences. While all countries within the European Union would benefit from increased research output, the countries that are already best at doing research, which tend to be the richer members, do best. The benefits of policies that facilitate the adoption of innovations are more evenly spread among richer and poorer countries.     

2016 Election’s Effect on Energy Sector Wealth and Political Strategies

Atlantic Economic Journal -