An instrumental variables approach to estimating tax revenue elasticities: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper exploits the significant response of real GDP growth of Sub-Saharan African countries to exogenous international commodity price and rainfall shocks to construct instrumental variables estimates of the tax revenue elasticity IV estimates yield that a 1% increase in GDP increases tax revenues by up to 2.5%.     

Optimal monitoring of credit-based emissions trading under asymmetric information

Project-based emissions trading schemes, like the Clean Development Mechanism, are particularly prone to problems of asymmetric information between project parties and the regulator. In this paper, we extend the general framework on incomplete enforcement of policy instruments to reflect the particularities of credit-based mechanisms. The main focus of the analysis is to determine the regulator??s optimal spot-check frequency given plausible assumptions of incomplete enforcement under asymmetric information on reduction costs and heterogeneous verifiability of projects. We find that, depending on the actual abatement cost and penalty schemes, optimal monitoring for credit-based systems is often discontinuous and significantly differs from the one to be applied for cap-and-trade schemes or environmental taxes. We conclude that, in a real-world context, project admission should ultimately be based on the criterion of verifiability.     

Simplifying numerical analyses of Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equations

We introduce a simple method for computing value functions. The method is demonstrated by solving for transitional dynamics in the Uzawa and Lucas endogenous growth model. We use the value function approach to solve both the social planner??s optimization problem in the centralized economy and the representative agent??s optimization problem in the decentralized economy. The complexity of the Hamilton?CJacobi?CBellman equations is significantly reduced to an initial value problem for one ordinary differential equation. This approach allows us to find the optimal controls for the non-concave Hamiltonian in the centralized case and to identify the symmetric equilibrium in the decentralized case.     

Schumpeter’s Theory of Economic Development: 100 years of development

This article sheds light on the impact of Schumpeter’s Theory of Economic Development over the last 100?years, and identifies insights from that work that are less well-known, but that have the potential for informing current developments in evolutionary economics. We identify these insights by tracing the development of Schumpeter’s ideas in Theory of Economic Development, which he revised heavily between the first and second German and the English editions. We not only report material lost in the process and developments in Schumpeter’s thinking that can be read off of the revisions, but also indicate how the newfound material can inform and inspire evolutionary economics today.     

Transaktionskosten und die Gestaltung ökonomischer Austauschbeziehungen

Ob Transaktionen innerhalb eines Unternehmens ausgeführt oder über M?rkte abgewickelt werden, h?ngt von der Komplexit?t der Transaktion und von deren Kosten in alternativen Organisationsformen ab. Oliver E. Williamson leistet in seinen Arbeiten zur Transaktionskosten?konomie einen entscheidenden Beitrag zu der Frage, ob M?rkte oder (unternehmensinterne) Hierarchien geeignete Instrumente der „economic governance“ sind.     

Family background and income during the rise of the welfare state: Brother correlations in income for Swedish men born 1932–1968

We investigate if the association between family background and income in Sweden has changed for men born between 1932 and 1968. Our main finding is that the share of the variance in long-run income that is attributable to family background, the so-called brother correlation in income, has fallen by some 17% from 0.49 for the cohorts of brothers born in the early 1930s to below 0.32 for the cohorts born around 1950. From then on, the correlations have inched back up to around 0.37. We report suggestive evidence that the decline is driven by changes in education.     

Kulturelle Intelligenz, Distanz und Anpassung von Führungskräften im Ausland.

The cultural adjustment of expatriates is argued to have a central impact on the success of foreign assignments. In consequence, drivers of cultural adjustment are of practical as well as theoretical significance. This paper examines the role of cultural intelligence (CQ) for the cultural adjustment of expatriates. The subsequent study uses data from managers on foreign assignments in Singapore. Furthermore, the study analyzes the moderating effect of cultural distance on the relationship between CQ and cultural adjustment. Findings are that different CQ-dimensions influence the dimensions of cultural adjustment to different degrees. In addition, an unexpected moderating effect of cultural distance on the relationship between the metacognitive CQ-dimension and general adjustment is identified. The results provide implications for the field of international HRM. The study particularly supports the underlying assumption of the paper that CQ should be considered in staffing decisions for foreign assignments. From a theoretical perspective, the study provides empirical support for three of the four constructs of the CQ-dimensions.     

Wettbewerbsverfälschungen durch die klimapolitische Gesetzgebung der EU?

Die CO₂-Richtlinie der EU zum Handel mit Treibhausgasemissionszertifi katen wurde Ende letzten Jahres ge?ndert. Sie enth?lt Ausnahmebestimmungen für Industriezweige mit hohem Energieverbrauch und mit intensiven Handelsbeziehungen mit Drittstaaten. Markus C. Kerber hat nicht nur ordnungspolitische Bedenken, sondern sieht auch staatsrechtliche Bruchstellen.