Public Economics: Fiscal Policies & Behavior of Economic Agents eJournal最新文献

{"title":"Impact of Tax and Transfers on Income Inequality and Budget Deficit: A CGE Analysis for Pakistan","authors":"A. Bhatti, Z. Batool, Hasnain Naqvi","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2702750","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2702750","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyzes the impact of tax and transfers on income distribution. We use a simple Computable General Equilibrium model for Pakistan (CGEP) adapted from Lofgren et al. (2001). Our CGE model takes into account the market interactions, that is, the effects of pricing outcomes of one market in other markets; which in turn create ripples throughout the whole economy, even to the extent of affecting the price-quantity equilibrium in the original market. We use Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) 2008 as developed by Debowicz et al (2012). To explore the impact of tax and transfers on income inequality, two sets of simulation exercises are performed. Further, we examine the inequality effects using Theil T, Theil L, Theil S and Hoover’s Indexes. Our results show that a policy mix of sales tax, income tax and government expenditures helps in reducing income inequality; while, at the same time it lessens the economy’s financial dependency.","PeriodicalId":403078,"journal":{"name":"Public Economics: Fiscal Policies & Behavior of Economic Agents eJournal","volume":"76 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130825133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Msme Taxation in Transition Economies: Country Experience on the Costs and Benefits of Introducing Special Tax Regimes","authors":"M. Engelschalk, Jan Loeprick","doi":"10.1596/1813-9450-7449","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-7449","url":null,"abstract":"The paper analyzes the design of simplified small business tax regimes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the impact of such regimes on small business tax compliance. Although many approaches for tax simplification exist, a general trend in the region is to offer small businesses the option to be taxed based on their turnover instead of net income. The study finds that many of the regimes in place are overly simplistic and neither take into account fairness considerations nor do they facilitate business growth and migration into the standard tax regime. Although revenue generation is not a main objective of such regimes, low revenue performance and the risk of system abuse by larger businesses should be issues of concern. More attention should therefore be devoted to improving the design of simplified regimes and monitoring their application. This will require in particular a more profound analysis of the economic situation and the tax compliance challenges in the small business segment and increased efforts to improve the quality of bookkeeping.","PeriodicalId":403078,"journal":{"name":"Public Economics: Fiscal Policies & Behavior of Economic Agents eJournal","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128744567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fiscal Policy Adjustments in the Euro Area Stressed Countries: New Evidence from Non-Linear Models with State-Varying Thresholds","authors":"Roberto A. De Santis, Gabriella D. Legrenzi, C. Milas","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2675054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2675054","url":null,"abstract":"We introduce a non-linear model to study the adjustment of fiscal policy variables in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain over the last 50 years, based on endogenously estimated budget deficit-to-GDP thresholds, which vary with fiscal disequilibria, the economic cycle and financial market conditions. We find that the budget deficit-to-GDP thresholds were rather high for Greece and Portugal particularly after 1999 and that the fiscal adjustments in \"good\" times were very different from the adjustments that took place in \"bad\" times. We also found that only in Spain fiscal deficits were reduced in expansionary times. Finally, we provide evidence that, under financial market pressure, fiscal authorities relaxed the fiscal deficit-to-GDP threshold for the adjustment in Ireland and Spain and reduced such threshold for the adjustment in Portugal. JEL Classification: H63, H20, H60, C22","PeriodicalId":403078,"journal":{"name":"Public Economics: Fiscal Policies & Behavior of Economic Agents eJournal","volume":"155 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116736736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Criminalità E Scelte Degli Amministratori Locali in Tema Di Procedure Di Acquisto (Crime and Public Procurement, Evidence from Municipalities)","authors":"G. Albanese, Federico Antellini russo, Roberto Zampino","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2737401","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2737401","url":null,"abstract":"Italian Abstract: Il lavoro analizza il nesso esistente tra il ricorso da parte dei Comuni agli strumenti “centralizzati” per l’acquisto di beni e servizi e il contesto in cui tali amministrazioni operano. Pur tenendo conto di un’ampia serie di fattori che possono spingere verso un maggiore o minore ricorso a Consip, il lavoro si concentra sul legame tra tale scelta e la presenza di criminalita a livello locale. L’analisi empirica mostra come soltanto in corrispondenza di bassi livelli di criminalita un aumento dei fenomeni delittuosi accresce la frequenza con cui viene demandata a una terza parte la selezione del fornitore, in connessione alla possibilita di limitare gli accresciuti rischi di inefficienza (passive waste) che altrimenti si configurerebbero. Di contro, in corrispondenza di livelli elevati di criminalita, il nesso si inverte, segnalando una crescente propensione a mantenere una gestione autonoma degli acquisti, che potrebbe essere connessa alla possibilita di estrarre parte delle relative rendite (active waste).English Abstract: The paper analyzes the link between the centralized purchasing of goods and services by municipalities and the context in which these administrations operate. While taking into account a number of factors that can lead to a greater or lesser use of Consip, the work focuses on the link between that choice and the local crime rate. The empirical analysis shows that, in low-crime areas only, an increase in crime is positively correlated with the frequency with which municipalities entrust vendor selection to a third party in order to attempt to limit the risk of inefficiency (passive waste) that would otherwise arise. The relationship is the inverse in high-crime areas, suggesting a growing willingness by municipalities to maintain autonomous control over purchasing, which may be linked to the possibility of extracting some of the rents produced from this activity (active waste).","PeriodicalId":403078,"journal":{"name":"Public Economics: Fiscal Policies & Behavior of Economic Agents eJournal","volume":"8 5","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120864116","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Are There Austerity�?Related Policy Changes in Germany?","authors":"W. Eichhorst, Anke Hassel","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2663756","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2663756","url":null,"abstract":"This paper assesses the existence and the extent of austerity‐oriented policies in Germany in the aftermath of the 2008‐9 recession. In contrast to the intensive phase of labour market and welfare state reforms in the early 2000s aimed at 'welfare readjustment', we do not see austerity policies in Germany, rather a continuation of the path that was adopted earlier. This can be explained by the economic conditions which were, and still are, much more favourable than in many other EU Member States. Most recently, we can identify a partial reregulation of the labour market, most notably the introduction of a national minimum wage, a potential increase in the regulation of non‐standard contracts and a reintroduction of early retirement for labour market insiders. These policies can be classified as 'welfare protectionism'.","PeriodicalId":403078,"journal":{"name":"Public Economics: Fiscal Policies & Behavior of Economic Agents eJournal","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134133097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Municipal Bond Costs of Issuance","authors":"Marc D. Joffe","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2650226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2650226","url":null,"abstract":"My research team collected cost of issuance information from Official Statements representing over 800 bond issuances since 2012. We found that costs of issuance including underwriter discounts averaged 1.02% of bond principal. Further, we found substantial variation in the sample, with six California school district issuers incurring costs in excess of 8.5%. To determine the composition of issuance costs we sent public records requests to a subset of issuers, receiving 180 responses. The four largest contributors to total issuance costs were underwriter discounts, legal expenses, financial advisor fees and rating agency charges – in that order. We argue that some combination of increased price transparency and intervention from higher levels of government could substantially reduce issuance costs faced by local governments, especially smaller ones.","PeriodicalId":403078,"journal":{"name":"Public Economics: Fiscal Policies & Behavior of Economic Agents eJournal","volume":"31 5","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132773170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fiscal Challenges for Australia: The Next Decade and Beyond","authors":"J. Daley, Danielle Wood","doi":"10.1002/APP5.146","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/APP5.146","url":null,"abstract":"Australia is set for more than a decade of deficits between 2008 and 2019, but the reality may be even worse than projections, argues this report. Overview Grattan Institute’s 2013 report, Balancing budgets: tough choices we need, concluded that without structural reforms Australian Governments could face a decade of deficits. Subsequent events suggest this may have been optimistic. The Commonwealth Government has run deficits for six years, largely due to a rapid increase in net spending on older households. The costs of repaying these deficits will fall primarily on younger households. The next ten years are likely to be even more difficult. Falling terms of trade and lower nominal economic growth will drag on revenues at the same time the Commonwealth Government intends to fund substantial new policy initiatives. The Commonwealth Government is yet to respond to the scale of its budget challenges. In office, both major political parties have hoped that bracket creep and favourable economic conditions would deliver a surplus. Hope is the key word: over the last six years, outcomes have consistently been worse than these projections. The latest short- and medium-term projections rely on optimistic assumptions about organic revenue growth and spending restraint. If any of them fail to materialise, the burden on younger generations will increase. The biggest worry is that budget projections assume that growth will return to “trend”. The International Monetary Fund recently joined a growing group of economists who believe that long-run economic growth in developed countries was trending lower even before the financial crisis, and future expectations should be lower again. State budgets are also under pressure. Spending in health and education and other vital areas is growing faster than GDP. States’ revenues are threatened because the Commonwealth has alleviated some of its own budget pressures by substantially reducing promised transfers to state governments for hospitals and schools. Recent state government budgets provide no insight into how they will respond to the looming funding gap. Hoping for the best is not a budget management strategy: it simply shifts the costs and risk of budget repair onto future generations. More active policy measures to achieve budget repair are required. While containing spending will be important, both the politics of budget repair and the sheer size of the budget gap mean that governments will not be able to restore budgets to balance without also boosting revenues. In a series of papers over the next two months, the Grattan Institute will set out four priority reforms for repairing Commonwealth and state government revenues. Our proposed policies – reducing superannuation tax concessions, changing capital gains tax and negative gearing, broadening the GST, and introducing a broad-based property levy – would all materially increase government revenue with limited collateral damage to the economy and the most vulne","PeriodicalId":403078,"journal":{"name":"Public Economics: Fiscal Policies & Behavior of Economic Agents eJournal","volume":"87 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120616938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Florida's Fiscal Policy: Responsible Budgeting in a Growing State","authors":"R. Holcombe","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3384157","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3384157","url":null,"abstract":"Florida’s state government stands out for its responsible fiscal policy, for maintaining a balanced budget, and for keeping taxes, expenditures, and government employment relatively low. In an era of government growth, Florida’s taxes and expenditures per capita and state government employment per capita have all been falling for the past two decades. During the recession that began in 2008, Florida cut state spending significantly to keep the budget balanced rather than relying on tax increases, a strategy consistent with its fiscally conservative policies. In some areas, however, Florida’s government has a bigger footprint. Florida places relatively high regulatory burdens on its citizens and businesses, and the government is a major residential property insurer in the state. Some institutional factors that might influence Florida’s fiscal policies are its legislature term limits, its lack of a state personal income tax, and the ability to amend the state constitution through citizen initiatives.","PeriodicalId":403078,"journal":{"name":"Public Economics: Fiscal Policies & Behavior of Economic Agents eJournal","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124165850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How Federal Tax Expenditures that Support Housing Contribute to Economic Inequality","authors":"H. Rose","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2564158","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2564158","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this article is to examine how federal income tax laws benefit more affluent owner households but provide no benefits to economically-strapped renter households. This article proposes that the tax savings currently accruing to affluent owners be reduced and that the resulting increase in revenue to the federal government be appropriated to subsidize the rents of low income tenants who are eligible for government rental assistance.","PeriodicalId":403078,"journal":{"name":"Public Economics: Fiscal Policies & Behavior of Economic Agents eJournal","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123498773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Demand for 'The 1%':Tax Incidence and Implications for Optimal Income Tax Rates","authors":"Richard K. Green, M. Phillips","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2566548","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2566548","url":null,"abstract":"We develop a model for determining the optimal high income linear tax rate when there exist imperfectly substitutable types of labor. If one type is disproportionately prevalent among higher income taxpayers, then wages adjust in response to more progressive taxation and part of the statutory tax burden is shifted to lower income taxpayers. Our derivation is expressed in terms of readily interpretable elasticity and income distribution parameters which we use to estimate the optimal top tax rate under various plausible alternatives. We reject the notion from the previous literature that wage adjustments are costly enough (from a social welfare perspective) to warrant non-progressive taxation, much less subsidization of high income taxpayers. However, we also estimate that the optimal tax rate may be significantly smaller than when incidence effects are ignored, and may in fact be quite similar to current rates under U.S. policy.","PeriodicalId":403078,"journal":{"name":"Public Economics: Fiscal Policies & Behavior of Economic Agents eJournal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130829928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}