Crowdfunding tax incentives in Europe: a comparative analysis

ABSTRACT

Some European countries offer tax incentive schemes to investors and companies in crowdfunding. On one hand, they could be seen as a tool to reduce the system’s dependence on banks and increase the availability of credit for start-ups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). On the other hand, there is the counterweight of disadvantages that investors may face by investing in crowdfunding (i.e. complex and incomplete laws, and weak protection). This paper is primarily intended as a primer on the use of tax incentives for crowdfunding in Europe. In this study, we first examine the implementation of tax incentive schemes in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, and Belgium. Then, we analyse and compare the characteristics of such schemes along three dimensions: the incentives structure; the business characteristics; and the type of investor. We find that tax incentive schemes for crowdfunding vary widely in their form and other features of their design. Moreover, the most used forms of tax incentives are those that provide for an up-front tax credit on the amount invested in early-stage ventures. These incentives have an immediate effect on the annual income tax of the investor. A central implication is that the more tax incentive schemes are properly designed and tailored for crowdfunders, the more investors, start-ups and other firms with low liquidity could use crowdfunding as a source of funding.     

Perception of the risks and benefits of Bt eggplant by Indian farmers

Several researchers—most notably Lennart Sjoberg and his colleagues—have proposed that the moral aspects of risk provide a better explanation of risk perception than the psychometric paradigm or Cultural Theory, neither of which accounts for moral concerns. This study is possibly the first to assess empirically the perception of the risks and benefits of a transgenic food crop—transgenic Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) eggplant—by farmers in a developing country such as India. It also aims to assess if the moral aspects of risk figure in Indian farmers' perception of Bt eggplant and if economic benefits outweigh perceived risks. To answer the research questions, a scenario was used to elicit perceptions of Bt eggplant among 100 eggplant farmers in the state of Maharashtra in India. The findings indicate that economic benefits, safety concerns, and accountability are most salient to Indian farmers' perception of the risks and benefits of Bt eggplant. Significantly, none of the farmers mentioned moral concerns as an issue. The findings also make clear that economic benefits outweigh perceived risks. This study concludes that economic benefits are more salient than moral concerns to Indian farmers' perception Bt eggplant. It also proposes that an alternative theoretical model incorporating economic benefits, safety concerns, and accountability as key variables should be developed and tested for end users in the developing world.     

On a multivariate Markov chain model for credit risk measurement

In this paper, we use credibility theory to estimate credit transition matrices in a multivariate Markov chain model for credit rating. A transition matrix is estimated by a linear combination of the prior estimate of the transition matrix and the empirical transition matrix. These estimates can be easily computed by solving a set of linear programming (LP) problems. The estimation procedure can be implemented easily on Excel spreadsheets without requiring much computational effort and time. The number of parameters is O(s² m² ), where s is the dimension of the categorical time series for credit ratings and m is the number of possible credit ratings for a security. Numerical evaluations of credit risk measures based on our model are presented.     

Asian Pacific Stock Market Volatility Modeling and Value at Risk Analysis

The potential for stock market growth in Asian Pacific countries has attracted foreign investors. However, higher growth rates come with higher risk. We apply value at risk (VaR) analysis to measure and analyze stock market index risks in Asian Pacific countries, exposing and detailing both the unique risks and system risks embedded in those markets. To implement the VaR measure, it is necessary to perform "volatility modeling" by mixture switch, exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA), or generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models. After estimating the volatility parameters, we can calibrate the VaR values of individual and system risks. Empirically, we find that, on average, Indonesia and Korea exhibit the highest VaRs and VaR sensitivity, and currently, Australia exhibits relatively low values. Taiwan is liable to be in high-state volatility. In addition, the Kupiec test indicates that the mixture switch VaR is superior to delta normal VaR; the quadratic probability score (QPS) shows that the EWMA is inclined to underestimate the VaR for a single series, and GARCH shows no difference from GARCH t and GARCH generalized error distribution (GED) for a multivariate VaR estimate with more assets.     

Getting management accounting off the ground: post-colonial neoliberalism in healthcare budgets

Taking Modell's [(2014) The societal relevance of management accounting: an introduction to the special issue. Accounting and Business Research, 44 (2), 83–103] ‘societal relevance of management accounting’ agenda forward, and based on a cost accounting initiative in a Sri Lankan hospital, this paper examines how management accounting is implicated in societal relevance. It reports on a post-colonial neoliberal state's use of cost-saving experiments and the resultant emancipation of the individuals involved. It conducts a bottom-up analysis, from micro events in the hospital to policymaking at the level of the Provincial Council. This analysis suggests that cost accounting acts as a mediating instrument: it begins to loosen the old Keynesian post-colonial bureaucratic budget confinements, creates a social space for individuals to consider cost-saving experiments, and addresses wider policy concerns about hospital resource management. The story is illuminated by Gilles Deleuze's and Zigmund Bauman's ideas on post-panoptic societies: old confinements are being problematised and new flexible, ‘liquid’ spaces created, in which individuals are emancipated in terms of their ability to influence resource management within and beyond the organisational constituency.     

Saving and investment rates in the BRICS countries

The first decade of the new millennium witnessed the arrival of five large, fast-growing emerging economies on the global stage. These countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, collectively known as the BRICS countries, have achieved robust growth and steadily outpaced the advanced economies in the last quarter of a century or so. In spite of their recent slowdown, on the basis of their demographics, vast natural resources, physical and human capital accumulation and overall progress, they are likely to remain the engines of global economic growth and development for some time in the future. In the light of the rising role of BRICS countries in the world economy, this paper aims to study the relationship between their domestic saving and investment rates in the vein of Feldstein–Horioka but on a country-by-country basis using time-series econometric techniques. The results suggest that the basic Feldstein–Horioka regression is misspecified for each BRICS country. The preferred autoregressive-distributed-lag specifications imply that capital is not perfectly mobile internationally in any of the BRICS countries, but it is more mobile in South Africa and Russia than in India, Brazil and China.     

Trade openness,income levels,and economic growth: The case of developing countries, 1970–2009

This paper attempts to investigate the extent to which trade openness has had an impact on the levels of income and rates of growth in a sample of 115 developing countries for the period 1970–2009. Additionally, to assess whether there is an income level threshold for a country to benefit from international trade, the sample is broken down into three mutually exclusive groups of countries: low-income, lower middle-income, and upper middle-income countries. The main novelty of the paper lies on the use, on the one hand, of a new and better trade openness measure and, on the other hand, of non-stationary heterogeneous panel cointegration techniques to cope with the problem of cross-sectional dependence. The results show a positive bi-directional relationship between trade openness and income level in the long run, thus suggesting that trade openness is both a cause and a consequence of the level of income. The results for the short run, that is, the link between openness growth and economic growth, go in the same direction.     

Public education in developing countries: Cost-effectiveness of education policies and endowments growth

The article analyses the general equilibrium effects of education as a user and producer of resources considering some features of the sector typical in developing countries, such as the presence of inefficiencies, in a model that nevertheless remains close to the Heckscher–Ohlin paradigm. Short- and long-term effects of education are considered and it is shown that the overall effects are linked to the efficiency with which endowments are produced. The analysis has implications for policymakers in developing countries with failing educational systems, as it suggests a relation between cost-effectiveness of policies and growth and not between enrolments and growth or between public expenditure in education and growth as it is usually tested in growth regressions.     

Open trade and skilled and unskilled labor productivity in developing countries: A panel data analysis

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of trade openness on the productivity of skilled and unskilled labor in a group of 36 developing countries using panel data and fixed effect approach. We have developed and utilized an empirical model that readily lends itself to testing the hypothesis posed. Our results support the hypothesis that trade openness has a positive and significant impact on labor productivity for both skilled and unskilled labor in the sample countries. We also observe that the beneficial effect of trade openness is relatively stronger for the skilled labor than the unskilled labor. We conclude that contrary to the claim made by Mayda and Rodrik (2001 Mayda, A. M. and Rodrik, D. 2001. “Why are some people (and countries) more protectionist than others? A cross country analysis”. Mimeo: Harvard University.  [Google Scholar]), skilled workers in developing countries may oppose protectionism. When adjusting for the purchasing power parity, the impact of trade openness on labor productivity, although positive and significant, is not as pronounced as it is for other definitions of openness.     

融资租赁的国际经验借鉴与发展对策研究

融资租赁作为一种特殊的租赁方式,对促进产业发展、解决融资难题具有重要意义,而我国融资租赁发展同发达匡l家相比,还有一定差距。笔者在对美国、日本等发达经济体融资租赁业务发展进程进行梳理和归纳的基础上,提炼其成功经验,分析我国在发展条件上与发达国家之间的差距,并针对我国融资租赁现状提出相应政策建议,从而指导我国融资租赁的进一步发展。