Collusive tax evasion and social norms

Although collusive tax evasion by buyers and sellers of commodities and also by employers and employees is widespread all over the world, it has rarely been analyzed in the tax evasion literature. To fill this gap and to compare collusive tax evasion with independent tax evasion, this paper develops a simple noncooperative game-theoretic model and confirms the model’s predictions in a laboratory experiment. Because collusive tax evasion involves social interaction, this paper focuses on the effect of social norms and theoretically and empirically demonstrates that the tax compliance norm has a stronger negative effect on the magnitude of collusive tax evasion than on independent tax evasion. The reason for this result is that in a collusive tax evasion game with multiple equilibria social norms affect the range of equilibria and act as an equilibrium selection device, whereas social norms need to be strongly internalized to change the behavior of taxpayers who evade taxes unobservedly.     

The effectiveness of teams in organizations: a meta-analysis

The proposed meta-analysis of 61 independent samples aims to identify whether, and if so under what conditions, team working in organizations is related to organizational effectiveness. Team working had a significant though small positive relationship with both performance outcomes and staff attitudes. Our contingency analyses further showed that team working had a stronger relationship with performance outcomes if accompanied by complementary HR measures and in non-health-care settings. Finally, we found that team working is more strongly related to attitudinal outcomes in Sociotechnical Systems and health-care settings.     

Wettbewerbsmessung im Bankensektor: alternative Maße — divergierende Ergebnisse

Precise assessment of the competitive conditions is the necessary foundation of numerous stability, productivity and profitability analyses of the banking industry. From a theoretical point of view, a wide range of alternative approaches are available. Nonetheless, the operationalisation of these measures has proved difficult due to regional market conditions, individual business models and generally high data requirements. Considerable divergences and contradictory results are revealed by a comparison of more than 50 studies from four decades. In reference to the resilience and comparability of regulatory inferences, the question remains as to which measure should be favoured in the future.     

Has there been any structural convergence in the transmission of European monetary policies?

This paper makes three contributions. First we present a technique by which the monetary transmission mechanism of Germany, France, the UK and the Eurozone can be decomposed into its component cycles, compared across economies and across time. As a result, we found that the individual data generating processes have varied over time. Second we show that Germany has now converged on the rest of Europe and not vice versa, although Germany had dominated monetary policy making in Europe for many years. Third, we show that the UK as an outsider has behaved like a peripheral EMU country, even when EMU was not in place. In other words, the transmission mechanisms of Germany and the UK were fundamentally different. Hence, when that German monetary policy dominated Europe in a way that was not in line with the rest of Europe, never mind the UK, it is no surprise that the UK eventually left the ERM (1992). The current financial crisis may enforce the trend of convergence of the transmission mechanism. But there have been signs of a divergence between core and periphery, to some extent involving the UK, so this general convergence, as opposed to tighter convergence in the core, may not last.

Entwicklungen am Wohnimmobilienmarkt der USA seit der Subprime-Krise

Ten years after the subprime crisis, current house prices in the United States are slightly above the peak from the preceding boom. Also due to slower dynamics of new mortgage lending, the risk build-up seems to be rather contained so far. Structural changes arise with the market increasingly split along the different steps of mortgage lending. Non-banks are gaining higher market shares for origination and servicing of mortgages. Government-supported securitizations have a dominant market position. Potential weaknesses and risk channels of the new market structure can be identified, but a serious stress test has not happened yet.     

Corporate taxation and the quality of research and development

This paper examines the impact of tax incentives on corporate research and development (R&D) activity. R&D tax incentives are commonly provided as special tax allowances or tax credits. In recent years, several countries also reduced their income tax rates on R&D output with the purpose to foster R&D activity. Previous papers have shown that all three tax instruments are effective in raising the quantity of R&D related activity. We in turn assess the impact of corporate tax incentives on the quality of R&D projects, i.e., their innovativeness and earnings potential. Using rich data on corporate patent applications to the European patent office, we find that a low tax rate on patent income raises the average profitability and innovation level of the projects undertaken in a country. The effect is statistically significant and economically relevant and prevails in a number of sensitivity checks. Generous R&D tax credits and tax allowances are in contrast found to exert a negative impact on project quality.     

Stakeholder theory: A deliberative perspective

Organizations routinely make choices when addressing conflicting stakes of their stakeholders. As stakeholder theory continues to mature, scholars continue to seek ways to make it more usable (and relevant), yet proponents continue to debate its legitimacy. Various scholarly attempts to ground stakeholder theory (empirically, instrumentally, or normatively) have not narrowed down this debate. We draw from the work of Juergen Habermas to theoretically advance stakeholder theory, and to provide practical examples to illustrate our approach. Specifically, we apply Habermas’ language-pragmatic approach (which places strong emphasis on dialogue, participation, and procedural justice) to extend stakeholder theory by advancing seven sets of normative axioms (10 axioms in total). We conclude that a deliberative approach, with its focus on the conditions of legitimation and deliberative democracy, has the potential to become a cornerstone of stakeholder theory. The need for global stakeholder discourse and its internalization in corporate structures and institutions is exemplified by a multitude of CSR and stakeholder initiatives that have mushroomed in response to global risk scenarios such as climate change, nuclear warfare, or terrorism. Further research may help to build a functioning global governance system in order to provide guidance for management in the 21st century.     

Austria and the Single European Market

The economic consequences—global and on a sectoral level—of the full participation of Austria in the process of economic integration in Europe are assessed with the help of the INFORUM system of interlinked input–output models and the Austrian model in this family, i.e. AUSTRIA IV. The results of two scenarios up to the year 2000 are compared. One scenario is based on the assumption of the full participation of Austria in the process of European integration. The alternative scenario is based on the hypothesis that Austria has to remain in an outsider position. The analysis shows quite relevant positive consequences of full participation by Austria in the process of European integration. Because of compensating forces, the effects on a sectoral level are much more pronounced than those on the global level. The structural implications on output, employment, etc. are quite remarkable.