Agency,Firm Growth,and Managerial Turnover

We study managerial incentive provision under moral hazard when growth opportunities arrive stochastically and pursuing them requires a change in management. A trade‐off arises between the benefit of always having the “right” manager and the cost of incentive provision. The prospect of growth‐induced turnover limits the firm's ability to rely on deferred pay, resulting in more front‐loaded compensation. The optimal contract may insulate managers from the risk of growth‐induced dismissal after periods of good performance. The evidence for the United States broadly supports the model's predictions: Firms with better growth prospects experience higher CEO turnover and use more front‐loaded compensation.     

Growth, Income Inequality, and Fiscal Policy: What Are the Relevant Trade-offs?

We develop an endogenous growth model with elastic labor supply, in which agents differ in their initial endowments of physical capital. In this context, the growth rate and the distribution of income are jointly determined. We then examine the distributional impact of different ways of financing an investment subsidy. Policies aimed at increasing the growth rate result in a more unequal distribution of pre-tax income, consistent with the positive correlation between income inequality and growth observed in the recent empirical literature. However, there is no conflict between efficiency and equity if inequality is measured in terms of the distribution of welfare.     

第四届布拉格双年展

"尽管艺术总监们将展览描述为‘超低预算的双年展',第四届布拉格双年展依然成功地将贫穷转化成了财富。展览的筹备、组织,甚至开幕无一不面临着严峻的形势,然而,这样的条件却成就了策展项目以及艺术家的某些作品内在的力量和坚实的品质。无论是前来参观的观众们,还是细心观摩作品的人士,大家都十分明白这点(金融海啸)!至于我的发现:比如艺术家Barbora Zurkova e Radim Zurek的双折摄影,Michele Tocca生动的小幅画作,波兰艺术家Basia Banda标新立异的作品,还有墨西哥艺术家Guillermo Santamarina向一面石膏板扔LP黑胶唱片的行为表演,以及叶永青随意潦草的笔触下精致的图像。"DomenicO Quaranta艺术批评家、策展人第四届布拉格双年展"超清"(Hyper-Lucid)单元策展人     

Taxation and Income Distribution Dynamics in a Neoclassical Growth Model

We examine how changes in tax policies affect the dynamics of the distributions of wealth and income in a Ramsey model in which agents differ in their initial capital endowments. The endogeneity of the labor supply plays a crucial role, as tax changes that affect hours of work will affect the distribution of wealth and income, reinforcing or offsetting the direct redistributive impact of taxes. We consider different ways of financing government expenditure and find that policies that reduce the labor supply are associated with lower output but also with a more equal distribution of after‐tax income. We illustrate these effects by examining the impact of recent tax changes observed in the United States and in European economies.     

Modernization of Tax Administrations and Optimal Fiscal Policies

Since Sandmo (1981) , many articles have analyzed optimal fiscal policies in economies with tax evasion. All share a feature: they assume that the cost of enforcing the tax law is exogenous. However, governments often invest resources to reduce these enforcement costs. In a very simple model, we incorporate such investments in the analysis of an optimal fiscal policy. We characterize their optimal level and we show numerically how they interact with the other dimensions of the optimal fiscal policy. Finally, we highlight the differences between our results and those obtained in a model without investment in the tax administration.     

A REPORT ON METHODS OF TEACHING FOOD STUDIES IN A DEGREE COURSE IN HOME ECONOMICS

The teaching objectives for the food studies component of a degree course in Home Economics are discussed and methods of implementation are described. One practical unit of the third year course is outlined and preliminary student reactions to the course are described.