This introductory textbook on social choice theory makes the social choice theoretic framework and its main results, that have a direct bearing on the discourses on electoral rules and policy evaluation, accessible to a larger audience. The text is essentially self-contained. No previous knowledge of mathematical logic or relational algebra is assumed. Whatever technical prerequisites are needed, are developed in the text itself. Although the text is at an introductory level, there has been no compromise on rigor. Unlike most introductory books, the relevant proofs are not omitted; rather, they have been explained in detail. The text has a large number of examples so that the concepts and results become clear to the reader. There is a large number of exercises with full solutions provided at the end of the text, so that the reader can check her/his understanding of the material.

This book examines US-Swiss relations in the context of Swiss banking secrecy and Holocaust related claims from World War II until the end of the 1990s. During World War II, Switzerland had been purchasing Reichsbank's gold and safeguarded the assets of the victims of Nazi Germany. This deeply impacted US-Swiss relations in the 1990s, and fueled a major conflict over dormant accounts and heirless assets of Holocaust victims. The US pressured Switzerland for Holocaust restitution using economic sanctions and a negative PR campaign. This culminated in a billion-dollar settlement, a reevaluation of wartime history by the Swiss, and a blow to Switzerland's international image. This book analyzes US policy towards Switzerland as a case of projection of US economic, as opposed to military power.

'A brilliant critical and fresh look at the public choice school of thought.' - Paul Streeten This book challenges theories of public goods, public enterprise and public choice on three fronts. Government action reflects wider interests and commitments than just the material self-interest assumed as primary by the three theories. Government contributes to the productivity and quality of the modern mixed economy in ways not captured by theories stressing the inherent superiority of private markets. Lastly, old and new ideas within established traditions of political thought justify government action beyond the libertarian argument for limited government.

"Charles Konigsberg has done a great service for American taxpayers-- giving all of us a clear, direct and meaningful guide to the $3 trillion of our money that goes to the government to fund programs that shape our daily lives (for better or worse.) For one used to wading through gobbledygook or impenetrable jargon, the plainspoken, straightforward actual English in this book is especially refreshing. Every American concerned about federal taxing and spending--Democrat, Republican or other, budget analyst or average citizen--should have this book." Norman Ornstein, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute "This is an extremely useful book--both for those seeking a comprehensible introduction to the complexities of the federal budget and to practitioners needing a quick refresher course." Alice M. Rivlin, former Director, Office of Management and Budget, and Congressional Budget Office "Charles Konigsberg, who advised my good friend Pat Moynihan on fiscal policy, explains in clear and concise language why the United States is on a dangerous fiscal path, with entitlement programs, particularly the health care entitlements, growing at an unsustainable rate due to rapidly rising health care costs." Bob Kerrey, former Senator from Nebraska and current President of the New School ____________________________________________________________ America's Priorities explains in clear, concise, nonpartisan language how the U.S. government raises and spends $3 trillion per year. The book provides plain English explanations of the budget process, major Federal spending programs, Federal taxes, and the reasons for the major swing from deficits in the 1980s to surpluses in the late 1990s and back to rapidly increasing debt in the current decade. A broad spectrum of readers will find the book useful: journalists, political and financial commentators, the government and financial sectors, the academic community, and voters looking for a nonpartisan explanation of how our elected officials are prioritizing public resources. Charles S. Konigsberg has over two decades of bipartisan experience in the White House and U.S. Senate, having served as General Counsel at the Senate Finance Committee, Minority Chief Counsel at the Senate Rules Committee, Staff Attorney at the Senate Budget Committee, and 4 years as an Assistant Director at the Office of Management and Budget.

Valuing Intellectual Capital provides readers with prescriptive strategies and practical insights for estimating the value of intellectual property (IP) and the people who create that IP within multinational companies. This book addresses the crucial topic of taxation from a rigorous and quantitative perspective, backed by experience and original research that illustrates how large corporations need to measure the worth of their intangible assets. Each method in the text is applied through the lens of a model corporation, in order for readers to understand and quantify the operation of a real-world multinational enterprise and pinpoint how companies easily misvalue their intellectual capital when transferring IP rights to offshore tax havens. The effect contributes to the issues that can lead to budgetary crises, such as the so-called "fiscal cliff" that was partially averted by passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act on New Year's day 2013. This book also features a chapter containing recommendations for a fair and balanced corporate tax structure free of misvaluation and questionable mechanisms. CFOs, corporate auditors, corporate financial analysts, corporate financial planners, economists, and journalists working with issues of taxation will benefit from the concepts and background presented in the book. The material clearly indicates how a trustworthy valuation of intellectual capital allows a realistic assessment of a company's income, earnings, and obligations. Because of the intense interest in the topic of corporate tax avoidance the material is organized to be accessible to a broad audience.

This book explores the various economic and institutional factors that explain why huge investments are made in unworthy transportation mega-projects in the US and other countries. It is based on research, the general literature, economic analyses, and results from a specifically collected database showing that a significant proportion of implemented mega-projects have been found to be inferior ex-ante or incapable of delivering the returns they promised ex-post. Transportation infrastructure and other public investments of a similar scope ("mega-projects") reflect public sector priorities and objectives, non-pecuniary as well as financial constraints, and a range of decision-making processes. This book describes how decisions made in the public sector with respect to transportation infrastructure investments are affected by the large populations and territories they serve, the estimation of the substantial opportunity costs they entail, the formal procedures instituted for quantitatively appraising projected outcomes and monetary returns, and the political environment in which these decisions are made.

Sovereign states commonly use tax incentives in order to attract investment and capital from abroad. Although it has been recognized for many years that the forms and features of these incentives can often have harmful effects, there has not until now been a clear, in-depth, full-scale study of what these effects are, how they come about, and how they can be minimized or avoided. Within this volume, Carlo Pinto crystallises the extensive European and American literature in the field, locating his legal analysis in an EU law context that offers a framework within which tax lawyers in both government and business can find common ground. This volume builds an authoritative synthesis and proposal in its detailed discussions of all aspects of the theory and practice of tax competition, including the following: evidence of interjurisdictional tax competition in the US experience and what the EU can learn from it; methodologies to study tax competition; economic evidence of tax competition in Europe; Member States' "benchmark" tax systems; internal market distortion provisions of the EU Treaty (Articles 96 and 97) and relevant EMU provisions. It also examines the: applicability of state aid provisions (EC Treaty Article 87) to direct tax measures; the EU "Code of Conduct" Group; OECD countermeasures against harmful tax competition; and CFC legislation. In the course of his presentation the author analyses various tax regimes and court cases from most EU Member States, outlining the issues and clarifications each brings to the central questions. His final proposal demonstrates that the beneficial effects of tax competition - decrease in direct tax burden, improved efficiency in public administration, enhancement of employment and development - need not be fraught with the risk of fiscal degradation. This is a significant development in the success of the projected harmonisation of taxation in the European Union.

This non-technical volume analyses topical problems of public finance in a changing world characterized by growing mobility of production factors, liberalized economic policy regimes, and the formation of new nations. It discusses alternative views of government and the way we measure its activities; the modern welfare state and its impact on entrepreneurship and employment; issues of fiscal coordination and income redistribution in a world with many jurisdictions; and the problems of raising government revenue and of allocating property rights in transition economies.

Handbook of Economic Stagnation takes a broad view, including contributions from orthodox and heterodox economists who examine situations in countries and worldwide regions, including Japan and the Euro area. To be sure, stagnation is periodically relieved by short economic bursts usually brought on by unsustainable asset price bubbles. Once the bubbles burst, stagnation returns. This book's fresh, comprehensive approach to the topic makes it the premier source for anyone affected by these cycles.

Challenges to the Welfare State examines and assesses cultural, economic and political problems facing welfare states in Europe and North America and provides policy suggestions to alleviate these problems. An important group of authors identifies the relative merits of welfare state systems in the United States and Europe. They consider the transition of the welfare state in former Communist countries to more market oriented systems and the status of the European welfare state in the context of deepening European integration. More specifically, these experts address the question of whether further integration in Europe will result in an environment where all citizens are guaranteed only certain basic social rights and are encouraged to take private financial responsibility for health care, pension provision and insurance. The nature of social insurance institutions, the problems of ageing populations and the backlash against increasing taxation are also considered. The authors conclude that the reduction of existing government debt in the context of the move towards European Monetary Union will require either considerable increases in taxation or a significant reduction in entitlements. This book will be required reading for scholars and students of economics, social and public politics, politics and public administration.

This unique book gives a measure of the direct financial costs and benefits to a city of constructing a sports stadium without injecting biases and values into the situation. The literature on the indirect economic impact of these projects is reviewed and discussed. Private and public stadium projects are compared with respect to construction costs, use, and amenities. The work has an introduction that deals with the justification of subsidies, a comparison of ownership plans of the facilities, and a review of the literature. Following this are 15 chapters dealing with individual stadium projects. A summary and analysis of financial and non-financial data are followed by a conclusion.

The microeconomic foundation of the theory of money has long represented a puzzle to economic theory. Why is there Money? derives the foundations of monetary theory from advanced price theory in a mathematically precise family of trading post models. It has long been recognized that the fundamental theoretical analysis of a market economy is embodied in the Arrow-Debreu-Walras mathematical general equilibrium model, with one great deficiency: the analysis cannot accommodate money and financial institutions. In this groundbreaking book, Ross M. Starr addresses this problem directly, by expanding the Arrow-Debreu model to include a multiplicity of trading opportunities, with the resultant endogenous derivation of money as the carrier of value among them. This fundamental breakthrough is achieved while maintaining the Walrasian general equilibrium price-theoretic structure, augmented primarily by the introduction of separate bid and ask prices reflecting transaction costs. The result is foundations of monetary theory consistent with and derived from modern price theory. This fascinating book will provide a stimulating and thought-provoking read for academics and postgraduate students focusing on economics, macroeconomics, macroeconomic policy and finance, money and banking. Central bankers will also find much to interest them within this book. Contents: Introduction: Why is There No Money? 1. Why is There Money? 2. An Economy Without Money 3. The Trading Post Model 4. An Elementary Linear Example: Liquidity Creates Money 5. Absence of Double Coincidence of Wants is Essential to Monetization in a Linear Economy 6. Uniqueness of Money: Scale Economy and Network Externality 7. Monetization of General Equilibrium 8. Government-Issued Fiat Money 9. Efficient Structure of Exchange 10. Microfoundations of Jevons's Double Coincidence Condition 11. Commodity Money Equilibrium in a Convex Trading Post Economy 12. Efficiency of Commodity Money Equilibrium 13. Alternative Models 14. Conclusion and a Research Agenda Bibliography Index

This book covers the Tax Treaties which The People's Republic of China has signed with various nations of the European Region. This book is a collection of the treaties, supplementary materials, and selected implementing circulars. It is edited and ordered according to geographical/economic criteria and accompanied with integrated with tables, domestic tax systems reports, and accompanying circulars and treaty model texts. This book has never been compiled for Chinese tax treaties before, providing a new resource for firms and researchers to access the materials with ease. This book has the potential to be a part of a volume on China double tax treaties, and the book will encompass the entirety of China's Global Tax treaties. The intended readership of this book will be primarily professionals who are working in both the international accounting and legal industries. These readers frequently reference the treaties through the course of their normal business for the purpose of forming optimum tax structures and corporate structuring. However, it is also foreseeable that this book will be of interest to academic researchers in multiple fields from geo-politics, accounting, legal to economics.

This Palgrave Pivot offers comprehensive evidence about what people actually think of "nudge" policies designed to steer decision makers' choices in positive directions. The data reveal that people in diverse nations generally favor nudges by strong majorities, with a preference for educative efforts - such as calorie labels - that equip individuals to make the best decisions for their own lives. On the other hand, there are significant arguments for noneducational nudges - such as automatic enrollment in savings plans - as they allow people to devote their scarce time and attention to their most pressing concerns. The decision to use either educative or noneducative nudges raises fundamental questions about human freedom in both theory and practice. Sunstein's findings and analysis offer lessons for those involved in law and policy who are choosing which method to support as the most effective way to encourage lifestyle changes.

"Advances in Taxation" publishes articles dealing with all aspects of taxation. Articles can address tax policy issues at the federal, state, local, or international level. The series primarily publishes empirical studies that address compliance, computer usage, education, legal, planning, or policy issues. These studies generally involve interdisciplinary research that incorporates theories from accounting, economics, finance, psychology, and/or sociology. Although empirical studies are primarily published, analytical and historical manuscripts are also welcome.

The Public Sector R&D Enterprise combines a primer on how government R&D programs actually work with a sophisticated methodology for prospectively putting a dollar figure on the value of R&D investments before they are made.

Critics of qualitative educational evaluation frequently assume this approach is a monolithic entity rather than a multitude of varied approaches. This collection dispels this myth by comparing, contrasting, and clarifying various qualitative approaches. It represents a wealth of practical alternatives designed to add to the evaluator's arsenal. The editor has combined classic papers with newer writings to present a comprehensive coverage of varied approaches in the field--including ethnography, naturalistic inquiry, generic pragmatic (sociological) qualitative inquiry, connoisseurship and criticism, and a few completely new qualitative approaches--which are presented in this work by their founders or major proponents.

In this book, leading experts take a long-term view of the trends and policies of most relevance in achieving the structural readjustment required by the current crisis, which for too long has been viewed merely as an economic recession. A wide variety of issues are addressed, including the implications of the massive movement of wealth from advanced countries to emerging ones and the increasing income inequality evident within many countries. Prospects for growth toward the mid-century and beyond are discussed, with consideration of lessons from the past and the impact of various constraints, including corruption. The policies and reforms required to restore economic dynamism within the EU and more generally, to foster the "Good Economy" are discussed, recognizing the need for measures to promote innovation, entrepreneurship, well-being and high levels of environmental performance. The book comprises a selection of contributions presented at the XXV Villa Mondragone International Economic Seminar. For the past quarter of a century, this seminar has brought together leading experts to engage in debates on pressing economic questions. This book, based on the most recent gathering, will be of interest to all who are concerned about the challenges to growth, well-being and social inclusion that will have to be confronted in the coming decades.

This book critically addresses the model of social inclusion that prevailed in Brazil under the rule of the Workers Party from the early 2000s until 2015. It examines how the emergence of a mass consumer society proved insufficient, not only to overcome underdevelopment, but also to consolidate the comprehensive social protection system inherited from Brazil's 1988 Constitution. By juxtaposing different theoretical frameworks, this book scrutinizes how the current finance-dominated capitalism has reshaped the role of social policy, away from rights-based decommodified benefits and towards further commodification. This constitutes the Brazilian paradox: how a center-left government has promoted and boosted financialization through a market incorporation strategy using credit as a lever for expanding financial inclusion. In so doing, it has pushed the subjection of social policy further into the logic of financial markets.

This book provides systematic comparative research of antifraud laws and context at EU countries using a Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model to predict illegal activities in ERDF and CF. It also details a map of corruption risk with the goal of reducing corruption and fraud in the management of European Regional Development Funds and Cohesion Funds through the incorporation of adequate measures and strategies derived from the resulting of EUMODFRAUD EU Project. The authors analyse the specific situations, observe the risks and finally, propose an innovative method that allows predicting fraudulent acts, which will be of interest to both academics, researchers, and policy makers in financial services, public finance, and financial crime.

Economic development and social welfare depend on the existence of effective and efficient infrastructure systems, particularly in health, energy, transportation and water, many of which are developed and managed through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). However, empirical evidence suggests some pitfalls in the use of these PPP arrangements. This book addresses these issues, focusing on mostly three key questions: How to improve the robustness of the decision-making process leading to the option of PPP? How to improve contract management as the longest phase of the process? How can contracts be improved to accommodate uncertainty and avoid harmful renegotiations? The authors explore the concept of flexible contracts, the uncertainty modeling for improving the robustness of the decision-making process, and develop an overall framework for effective contract management, along with a comprehensive analysis of current renegotiation patterns. The ultimate goal is to improve the contractual performance, as well as the overall infrastructure management and social welfare.

The first edition of Richard Wolf's volume was written during the infancy of the field of evaluation. Fifteen years later, educational evaluation is now an established field which has gone through considerable changes. Enduring the test of time, the value of Wolf's ideas remains constant. This third edition is an extension and refinement of his ideas. He continues to avoid the entanglement of unwarranted ideological positions. Instead he identifies basic questions addressed in a study and the classes of information needed to answer those questions. New material, including a new chapter, act as additional layers on the same structure. Throughout, Wolf advocates an eclectic approach--using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. He has structured this volume as a text for graduate students and a handbook for professionals.

Richard Wolf's book presents a comprehensive view of educational evaluation. It covers the history of evaluation, planning and conduct of evaluation studies, analysis and interpretation of results, report preparation, and decision making. A new chapter surveys the contemporary scene in educational evaluation: the development of evaluation; the convergence and divergence in views; qualitative versus quantitative approaches; and the role of teachers in evaluation. Each chapter concludes with updated, comprehensive references and additional readings. Wolf's text "Evaluation in Education" is a classic in the field. The eclecticism of its approach is its serviceability.

Drawing heavily on contributing cultural and ethnic factors, this book analyzes Miami's fiscal insolvency since 1996 and describes what led to the financial crisis, the explanations for the crisis, and the reasons for a slow recovery. Comparing Miami's insolvency with the earlier fiscal crises in Philadelphia, New York City, and Orange County, CA, the authors show the role of Miami's poor economic climate, the increasing ethnic influence, the emphasis on fiscal conservatism and a pay-as-you-go philosophy, the lack of standard and professional budgetary practices, and the corruption of several city officials. In conclusion, the authors consider Miami's outlook for the future.

To fully understand Miami's original crisis and the extremely slow financial recovery, the authors believe it is necessary to explore how the dominant culture contributed to the city's financial problems. The authors show that structural features of the local government are less important than broader cultural and ethnic attitudes and practices.

This book presents to the reader the economic, fiscal and financial crises in world history that have had a great impact on the entire world and the fiscal measures taken by governments to combat each crisis since the 1600s in chronological order. Such events are often described as Black Swans, a concept introduced by economist and risk analyst Nassim Nicholas Taleb in the book Fooled By Randomness in 2001, in reference to events that were thought to be impossible but had a huge impact when they did happen. The first part of the book discusses the crisis models in order to allow the reader to better understand the financial, fiscal and economic crises that are detailed in the following chapters. Each chapter starts with an overview of the crisis in question followed by an analysis of the impact on the affected countries. They go on to highlight the causes of the crisis in question, the fiscal and financial measures employed to recover from it and ends on a description of the post-crisis period. Given the profusion of black swan events that the 21st century has already witnessed, this book would be a valuable read for academics and students of economics as well as practitioners and policy makers.

This book analyzes public debt from a political, historical, and global perspective. It demonstrates that public debt has been a defining feature in the construction of modern states, a main driver in the history of capitalism, and a potent geopolitical force. From revolutionary crisis to empire and the rise and fall of a post-war world order, the problem of debt has never been the sole purview of closed economic circles. This book offers a key to understanding the centrality of public debt today by revealing that political problems of public debt have and will continue to need a political response. Today's tendency to consider public debt as a source of fragility or economic inefficiency misses the fact that, since the eighteenth century, public debts and capital markets have on many occasions been used by states to enforce their sovereignty and build their institutions, especially in times of war. It is nonetheless striking to observe that certain solutions that were used in the past to smooth out public debt crises (inflation, default, cancellation, or capital controls) were left out of the political framing of the recent crisis, therefore revealing how the balance of power between bondholders, taxpayers, pensioners, and wage-earners has evolved over the past 40 years. Today, as the Covid-19 pandemic opens up a dramatic new crisis, reconnecting the history of capitalism and that of democracy seems one of the most urgent intellectual and political tasks of our time. This global political history of public debt is a contribution to this debate and will be of interest to financial, economic, and political historians and researchers. Chapters 13 and 19 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.