Corporate Tax Consolidation and Enhanced Cooperation in the European Union*

We assess the economic impact of introducing consolidation with formula apportionment in the European Union and consider alternative enhanced cooperation agreements. We find that the consolidation is likely to yield a small aggregate welfare gain in Europe. However, not all countries benefit. A coalition of winning countries reduces the welfare gain and may induce a process of adverse selection which destroys the possibility of cooperation. We find that a coalition of similar countries (in terms of the size of their multinational sector) is more feasible in achieving agreement and is actually preferred by those countries over a Europe‐wide reform.     

Bile leakage as a complication of liver biopsy in liver transplants

Four liver transplant recipients with intrahepatic bile duct leakage following liver biopsy are described. Two patients were clinically suspected of having a bile leak, one of whom had bile peritonitis. All four patients had elevated liver enzyme levels. In three patients, cholangiography showed contrast media leakage into the peritoneum through the needle biopsy tract; one leak was totally intraparenchymal. All patients had varying degrees of biliary obstruction. The differential diagnosis of bile leakage posttransplantation should include recent liver biopsy.     

Health Insurance, Moral Hazard, and Managed Care

If an illness is not contractible, then even partially insured consumers demand treatment for it when the benefit is less than the cost, a condition known as moral hazard. Traditional health insurance, which controls moral hazard with copayments (demand management), can result in either a deficient or an excessive provision of treatment relative to ideal insurance. In particular, treatment for a low-probability illness is deficient if illness per se has little effect on the consumer's marginal utility of income and if the consumer's price elasticity of expected demand for treatment is large relative to the risk-spreading distortion when these are evaluated at a copayment that brings forth the ideal provision of treatment. Managed care, which controls moral hazard with physician incentives, can either increase or decrease treatment delivery relative to traditional insurance, depending on whether demand management results in deficient or excessive treatment.     

Conditional heteroscedasticity of exchange rates: further results based on the fractionally integrated approach

A recent article (Tse, 1998 ) published in this journal analysed the conditional heteroscedasticity of the yen–dollar exchange rate based on the fractionally integrated asymmetric power ARCH model. In this paper, we present replication results using Tse's ( 1998 ) yen–dollar series. We also examine the robustness of Tse's ( 1998 ) findings across different currencies, sample periods and non‐nested GARCH‐type models. Unlike Tse ( 1998 ), we find some evidence of asymmetric conditional volatility for daily returns of currencies measured against the dollar or the yen. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Risk Sharing in Labor Markets

Empirical work in labor economics has focused on rent sharingas an explanation for the observed correlation between wagesand profitability. The alternative explanation of risk sharingbetween workers and employers has not been tested. Using a uniquepanel data set for four African countries, we find strong evidenceof risk sharing. Workers in effect offer insurance to employers:when firms are hit by temporary shocks, the effect on profitsis cushioned by risk sharing with workers. Rent sharing is asymptom of an inefficient labor market. Risk sharing, by contrast,can be seen as an efficient response to missing markets. Ourevidence suggests that risk sharing accounts for a substantialpart of the observed effect of shocks on wages.     

Corporate social responsibility disclosure and the cost of equity capital: The roles of stakeholder orientation and financial transparency

We examine the benefits associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in an international setting covering 31 countries. Using variables such as the legal status of labor protection, CSR disclosure requirements, and public awareness of and attitudes toward CSR issues, we divide countries into more and less stakeholder-oriented groups. We find a negative association between CSR disclosure and the cost of equity capital; this relationship is more pronounced in stakeholder-oriented countries. We also find evidence that financial and CSR disclosures act as substitutes for each other in reducing the cost of equity capital. This study furthers our understanding of CSR disclosure and its consequences.