DOES INDIAN CASINO GAMBLING REDUCE STATE REVENUES? EVIDENCE FROM ARIZONA

Critics of Indian gaming contend that reservation casinos have a negative impact on state economies. This paper tests the hypothesis that the introduction of Indian casinos caused a structural change in the formation of Arizona state revenues. Data are from Maricopa County, the largest county in Arizona. Findings suggest that Indian casinos may divert funds from taxable to non-taxable sectors. The growth in tax revenue from non-gaming sectors of the economy has masked these displacement effects. However, given the trend toward increasing the proportion of state funds from sales taxes, a diminution in the rate of economic growth could have serious implications for future state budgets.     

Profit Sharing and Public Policy: Insights for the United States

Nations differ in their approach to profit sharing, with policies ranging from nonintervention to mandatory sharing. Mounting evidence that profit sharing has a positive impact on employment and productivity has spurred some American legislators and economists to propose additional tax incentives. While this option has been effective in increasing the number of plans, a more prudent response would be the creation of a national tripartite body to accelerate and enhance the quality of profit-sharing research.     

Interest Rate Term Structure Estimation with Exponential Splines: A Note

Vasicek and Fong 11 developed exponential spline functions as models of the interest rate term structure and claim such models are superior to polynomial spline models. It is found empirically that i) exponential spline term structure estimates are no more stable than estimates from a polynomial spline model, ii) data transformations implicit in the exponential spline model frequently condition the data so that it is difficult to obtain approximations in which one can place confidence, and iii) the asymptotic properties of the exponential spline model frequently are unrealistic. Estimation with exponential splines is no more convenient than estimation with polynomial splines and gives substantially identical estimates of the interest rate term structure as well.