THE GINI CONCENTRATION INDEX: A REVIEW OF THE INFERENCE LITERATURE

More than a century ago, Corrado Gini proposed his well-known concentration index for measuring the degree of inequality in the distribution of income and wealth. His index is still extremely relevant and widely used in several fields of research and application. In this paper, we focus on the inferential properties of the Gini index, and discuss the main directions of analysis proposed in the literature. The aim of the paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the main developments on the inferential aspects of the Gini concentration ratio. We feel that this work can provide a valuable contribution to those scholars who are approaching the large amount of literature on the inferential properties of the Gini index.     

Production complementarities and flexibility in a model of entrepreneurship

The focus of this paper is the flexibility in working hours as a motive for entrepreneurship. The model exhibits inflexibilities for workers and entrepreneurs, which arise due to complementarities in production. In addition, it allows for volatile value of leisure to make flexibility in hours desirable. Differences in occupation-specific flexibility, disciplined with the observed patterns in hours (level, persistence, dispersion) and income (persistence, dispersion), can explain relatively low income levels of entrepreneurs in the US and the occupation-specific distributions of working hours and income. Policy relevance of the model features is discussed using experiments of workweek restrictions and income taxation.     

Regulatory performance of audit tournaments and compliance observability

This paper examines the effectiveness of traditional regulatory schemes and newly emerging social information schemes for achieving compliance. Our experiment focuses on two stochastic audit schemes for enforcing regulatory compliance. In the Random Audit mechanism firms are randomly chosen for inspection. In the Tournament Audit mechanism the probability of inspection increases with the degree of estimated underreporting. To study the effects of social information, the experiment varies the observability of identity, output, and compliance decisions. Optimal output is theoretically independent of the auditing scheme, but equilibrium reporting is higher under the Tournament mechanism than Random auditing. Experimental findings are broadly consistent with the theoretical predictions for reporting, but deviate modestly for output. In particular, we find that average output is lower and reporting is higher in the Tournament treatment compared to the Random Audit treatment. At the individual level, a majority of participants misreported in most periods. Social observability does not affect output or reporting significantly in either of the audit treatments.     

The impact of agricultural policy on farm income concentration: the case of regional implementation of the CAP direct payments in Italy

One of the objectives of agricultural policy worldwide concerns the support of farm income. Common Agricultural Policy direct payments (DPs) are the main instruments to support farm income in the European Union. This article addresses their role in the concentration of farm income. This is done by calculating the Gini coefficient and its disaggregation in a large sample of Italian farms in the period between 2006 and 2007. Although this approach has been used to develop ex‐post analysis in previous studies, this article is innovative given that it is used here in an ex ante analysis aimed at evaluating the likely impact of a recent reform proposal. This latter requests changing the current model to a regional model of DPs application to make payment rates (i.e., payment per hectare) homogeneous among farms in the same region. The analysis shows that DPs and farm incomes are both very concentrated but that DPs allow for an income concentration reduction in Italian farms. The shift to a regional implementation reduces DPs concentration and, to a limited extent, farm income concentration. Of the considered regionalization scenarios, those that redistribute DPs among regions are the most effective in reducing concentration. The extension of the Gini considered approach to an ex ante setting seems effective because it provides insights that could feed the policy debate regarding the forthcoming reform.     

我国城乡收入差距的地区类型分析

改革开放以来,我国各地区的城乡收入差距均表现为扩大趋势,但由于各地区城乡发展条件的差异,各地区的城乡收入差距及其变化也表现为不同的类型。本文通过将反映各地区收入水平、工业化和城市化水平的变量进行聚类分析,将我国各地区的城乡收入差距划分为城乡高度协调型、城乡中度协调型、城乡低度协调型、城乡低度扭曲型、城乡中度扭曲型和城乡高度扭曲型共六种类型。各地区在1985-2006年期间,城乡收入差距的类型也并不是全部保持不变的,表现为有的地区城乡扭曲程度加剧,有的地区缓解,有的地区时而扭曲加剧、时而扭曲缓解,从而衍生为十种变化类型。这为我国中央和地方政府不是采取＂一刀切＂的政策措施,而是依据不同的城乡收入差距地区类型,有所侧重的治理城乡收入差距提供了参考依据。     

我国进行国际税收竞争的最优战略与策略分析

本文依据国际税收竞争对我国的积极意义以及我国是发展中大国的战略定位,认为我国应该采取"积极、适度竞争,理性、必要协调"的战略;在竞争策略的选择上,通过对我国主要资本来源国对待本国资本海外投资的规定以及竞争对手国吸引外资相关做法的研究,提出我国应选择"低税率、宽税基、少优惠"的竞争方式和手段,并应注重形成有比较竞争力的税收制度,而不应进行频繁的政策调整.     

An alternative interpretation of the discontinuity in earnings distributions

We show that the asymmetric effects of income taxes and special items for profit and loss firms contribute to a discontinuity at zero in the distribution of earnings. Income taxes draw profit observations towards zero while negative special items pull loss observations away from zero. These earnings components are thus expected to contribute to a discontinuity even in the absence of discretion. We show our results are not an artifact of deflation and that other common components of earnings do not have similar effects on the earnings distribution around zero.

农业税改对东营农村经济影响分析

自实施农业税制改革以来,山东省东营市认真贯彻国家各项农业税制改革政策,于2005年全部免除农业税,大力加强财政支农和金融支农力度,有力地促进了社会主义新农村建设。本文从东营市入手深入调查研究了我国农业税制改革对该市农村经济所带来的积极影响与负面作用,并进一步分析了金融、财政在支持“三农”过程中所存在的问题,最后提出了对策、建议。     

行政复议前置、税法确定性与税收治理现代化

行政复议前置的制度功能之一是保障税法确定性,这是税收治理现代化的内在要求。在税务法院全面设立以前,在专业机构完成税收争议的初次处理能够保障税法的统一解释与适用,提升税法的确定性。行政复议前置不仅可以将事实认定功能留给行政机关,让法院(无论是否设立税务法庭)能专事法律问题,而且在税制改革的背景下,能发挥过滤争议数量和争议焦点的作用,提高税收救济制度的效率。这种立场,并不损害纳税人的权利,相反保护了抽象和整体意义上的纳税人权利。     

优化营商环境的财税政策研究——以江苏省为例

近年来,江苏财政部门积极支持营商环境建设,贯彻落实减税降费政策,采取设立风险补偿资金池、引导社会资本投资、设立支持企业发展的奖补资金等举措,在优化营商环境方面取得一定成效,但在政策执行过程中还存在一些不足,如部分行业税负可能上升、无定价权的企业在税制改革中获益相对较少、减税降费"降成本"效应下降等,针对实际工作中存在的问题,还需要进一步增强"降成本"政策的协调性,采取完善增值税抵扣机制等措施。