This book upturns many established ideas regarding the economic and social history of Quebec, the Canadian province that is home to the majority of its French population. It places the case of Quebec into the wider question of convergence in economic history and whether proactive governments delay or halt convergence. The period from 1945 to 1960, infamously labelled the Great Gloom (Grande Noirceur), was in fact a breaking point where the previous decades of relative decline were overturned - Geloso argues that this era should be considered the Great Convergence (Grand Rattrapage). In opposition, the Quiet Revolution that followed after 1960 did not accelerate these trends. In fact, there are signs of slowing down and relative decline that appear after the 1970s. The author posits that the Quiet Revolution sowed the seeds for a growth slowdown by crowding-out social capital and inciting rent-seeking behaviour on the part of interest groups.

Could information and communication technology (ICT) become the transformative tool for a new style of global development? Could ICT promote knowledge-based, innovation-driven, and smart, adaptive, participatory development? As countries seek a way out of the present period of economic contraction, they are trying to weave ICT into their development strategies, in the same way organizations have learned to use ICT to transform their business models and strategies. This integration offers a new path to development that is responsive to the challenges of our times.

In e-Transformation, Nagy Hanna identifies the key ingredients for the strategic integration of ICT into national development, with examples from around the world. He draws on his rich experience of over 35 years at the World Bank and other aid agencies to outline the strategic options involved in using ICT to maximize developmental impact transforming public service institutions, networking businesses for innovation and competitiveness, and empowering communities for social inclusion and poverty reduction. He identifies the key interdependencies in e-transformation and offers a holistic framework to tap network effects and synergies across all elements of the process, including leadership, cyber policies, institutions, human resources, technological competencies, information infrastructure, and ICT uses for government, business, and society.

Integrating analytical insights and practical applications across the fields of development, political economy, public administration, entrepreneurship, and technology management, the author candidly argues that e-transformation, like all bold ideas, faces implementation challenges. In particular, the aspiration-reality gap needs to be systematically addressed if ICT-enabled innovation and transformation is to become a development practice. E-transformation is first and foremost about thinking strategically and creatively about the options made possible by the information technology revolution in the context of globalization. To this end, the author provides tools and best practices designed to nurture innovation, select entry points, prioritize among competing demands, and sequence and scale up. He outlines the roles of all participants political, managerial, entrepreneurial, social and technical whose leadership is essential for successful innovation."

This pathbreaking study illustrates and enhances the potential of cost-benefit analysis as a tool for decision-making. Advancing the incorporation of equity preferences in policy analysis, the authors demonstrate the application of choice modeling to the estimation of distributional weights suitable for inclusion in a cost-benefit analytical framework. A platform for discussion of the challenges and opportunities of this approach is presented in the form of a detailed case study designed to estimate community preferences for different intergenerational distributions. While the case study is focused on natural resource management and environmental policy, the conceptual and methodological advances illustrated by the authors are relevant and applicable to a wider array of policy deliberations. This book will prove a challenging and thought-provoking read for academics, students and policy makers with an interest in environmental issues and/or public sector economics. Contents: Foreword 1. Distribution and Environmental Policy 2. Distributional Weighting and Cost-Benefit Analysis 3. Choice Modelling and Distributional Preferences 4. Case Study: Design of Intergenerational Distribution Choice Experiment 5. Case Study: Results of Intergenerational Distribution Choice Experiment 6. Choice Modelling and Distributional Preferences: Challenges and Opportunities Bibliography Index

For many decades consumer protection laws have focused on preventing "bad" choices. Though that approach has some value, this book explains we are much more often harmed, even killed, by the needless delay of new inventions that could save lives or vastly improve life quality. Thomas Tacker explains how we can revamp regulation to embrace inventions that save and improve lives while still holding companies accountable for actions that harm consumers. Case studies include price gouging, the FDA approval process, airport passenger screening, and occupational licensing, particularly as it relates to Uber. This book demonstrates that enacting appropriate liability laws and providing information to guide consumers, rather than strictly controlling their choices, will save thousands of lives annually, increase consumer freedom, and make life more enjoyable.

This book presents an analysis of Caribbean fiscal problems, with particular emphasis on the relationship between high levels of public expenditure and balance of payments problems. The study examines deficit financing, public expenditure growth, and IMF stabilization policies. Other issues raised relate to income distribution and problems of taxation and tax reform. The work focuses on Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago. The economies of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States are also considered.

This work will interest scholars in economics and economic policy-making, especially those in developing countries.

This is the third and final volume written in honour of Bernard Corry and Maurice Peston by an internationally renowned group of experts, and focuses on the application of economics to policy advice.The contributors to this volume consider practical policy issues including labour market policy and the problem of unemployment, methodology and econometric analysis, taxation policy, industrial regulation, practical applications of transaction cost theory in the European Union, policy issues such as foreign direct investment and pension reform affecting transition economies and training policies in developing countries.

This volume presents the most robust and useful methodology for the derivation of investment criteria for the evaluation and planning of public investment projects - public investment criteria. The methodological approach solves inherent defects of traditional methodology, namely an ad hoc application of the benefit-cost analysis in the static content. Although this approach originated in the water resources development project of the Harvard group, the authors' methodology has achieved a discrete and dynamic inter regional input-output programming model by which: (i) establishment of priorities among potential investment targets by taking account of economic benefits that are brought by implementation of a set of selected projects, and diffusing into the whole national economy, and (ii) rational allocation of limited public funds to the selected investment projects are consistently made, based on the opportunity cost criteria in the dynamic content. As these benefits make up a source for the stream of further created capital funds for public as well as private sectors over the planning time horizon, optimal re-investment of thus created capital funds are solved recursively in the endogenous model by approaching the turnpike path of the whole national economy. As an optimal solution, the allocated levels for trunk expressway network as well as for other transport facilities, which are balanced with the allocation for industrial capital formation, are obtained by period and by region. In the background of these processes, the imputed price and opportunity costs as a sort of contemporary "god" are always latent. Readers with basic mathematical knowledge will learn functional and practical meaning of the opportunity costs (and the imputed price) in the evaluation and planning of investment. Conquering this small obstacle will be a source of strong self-confidence for society, a worthwhile objective. Other applications of the methodology are also included in this book, which is helpful for practitioners frequently using the feasibility study method as well as experts who wish to understand the theoretical arguments related to public investment criteria. As one of the applications, there is a numerical solution of a composite transport system in which the amounts of roads, railways, and ports are derived quantitatively, not qualitatively. These are results of authentic public investment criteria that are built in the inter-regional input-output programing model.

While liberal democracies are the best systems of self-governance for societies, they rarely invoke great enthusiasm. On the one hand, democracies have been known to fail in achieving efficient or fair allocations. On the other hand, many citizens take the democratic system for granted as they have yet to experience an alternative. In this book the vision we propose is that the potential of democ racies has not yet been exhausted, and that optimal democracies are both the Utopia for societies and the aim that scientists should be committed to. We present a number of ideas for drawing up new rules to im prove the functioning of democracies. The book falls into two parts. The first part examines ways of combining incentive contracts with democratic elections. We suggest that a judicious combina tion of these two elements as a dual mechanism can alleviate a wide range of political failures, while at the same time adhering to the founding principles of democracies. The second part presents new rules for decision-making and agenda setting. Together with modern communication devices, these rules can sometimes transcend the limitations of liberal VI Preface democracies in achieving desirable outcomes. Examples of such rules include the flexible majority rule where the size of the ma jority required depends on the proposal, or the rule that only those belonging to the winning majority can be taxed."

This volume presents philosophical contributions examining questions of the grounding and justification of taxation and different types of taxes such as inheritance, wealth, consumption or income tax in relation to justice and the concept of a just society. The chapters cover the different levels at which the discussion on taxation and justice takes place: On the principal level, chapters investigate the justification and grounding of taxation as such and the role taxation plays and should play in the design of justice, be it for a just society or a just world order. On a more concrete level, chapters present discussions of these general reflections in more depth and examine different types of taxation, tax systems and their design and implementation. On an applied level, chapters discuss certain specific taxes, such as wealth and inheritance taxes, and examine whether or not a certain tax should be favored and for what reasons as well as why it is just to target certain kinds of assets or income. Finally, this volume contains chapters that discuss the central issue of international and global taxation and their relation to global justice.

Originally published in 1985. This book examines the scope of the industry and also focuses on issues relevant to it, divided into three sections: an overview of the American nuclear power industry, an examination of the nuclear power plant licensing process and issues that face the nuclear industry, and selected case studies that illustrate issues discussed in the previous section. The growth and future of the nuclear power plant industry is discussed and industry-wide trends and relevant data are presented providing background information on the scope, diversity, capacity, and control of nuclear power in the United States. Issues examined concern safety; environmental, geological, and natural phenomenon matters; and anti-trust. The in-depth case studies on the status of selected nuclear power plants include: Three Mile Island, Enrico Fermi, Seabrook, Indian Point, R. E. Inna, Diablo Canyon, and Browns Ferry.

Financing Federal Systems provides a comprehensive selection of Edward M. Gramlich's essays, which have made a major contribution to public finance and macroeconomics over three decades.The structure of fiscal federalism is a major issue in most countries around the world. Developed economies are continually confronting the question of fiscal federalism as they consider harmonizing tax and trading arrangements. Emerging market economies are addressing these issues as they organize systems to promote growth and development. The book begins with a new introduction by the author which provides a clear and concise overview of the current issues in fiscal federalism. The book comprises some 23 papers and features empirical, theoretical and diagnostic work together with comprehensive evaluations of the fiscal federal systems in the United States, Australia, Sweden and Canada. It includes work on state and local government behaviour, grant policies, macroeconomic policies, state tax limitations, federal tax policy, sub-national fiscal policy, infrastructure investment and public welfare policies. Financing Federal Systems will complement graduate and undergraduate courses in public finance and fiscal federalism. It will also appeal to policymakers and local government practitioners.

This book brings together insights and reflections following a set of interviews conducted with the main stakeholders involved in past, current, and future basic income experiments. It provides an analysis of some of the major elements and factors influencing experiments, as well of some of their most important outputs understood as results of their own experimental design, their sociological and political basis, and the epistemological status of their results. By pursuing a bottom-up strategy, where the interviews conducted take a pivotal role in the collection and analysis phase of the book, this book gathers key questions relating to policy experiments. Some questions reflected upon include the general idea of why one should engage and implement a basic income experiment, and the paradox consisting in the fact that most basic income experiments fall short of being closely considered "pure" basic income schemes. In facing the question and the paradox head-on, the book assesses questions of experimental design, the political and social context surrounding the policy, and the main results and what can they tell us about basic income.

This convenient reference tool is designed for real estate investors who wish to maximize their tax benefits through a better understanding of real estate law. Ferguson and Spede thoroughly analyze and explain real estate tax laws, as well as the problems and advantages of purchasing, owning, and selling real estate. Specifically explained and illustrated are such issues as calculating excess investment and interest, installment selling, alternative minimum tax, investment credits, recapture of tax credits, trading properties, leases with options to buy, and the establishment of new bases for trade. In addition, the authors emphasize many of the tax traps and pitfalls encountered by investors, including accelerated depreciation, amortization of expenses, and tax write-offs. Also considered are related topics such as personal property taxes, special tax problems, the rehabilitation of historic and older commercial properties, low income housing, rental cooperatives, condominium units, and home ownership taxation. Finally, there is a discussion of tax reform, including the changes brought about by the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, as well as the possible effects of the flat tax rate proposed by the Treasury Department in January of 1985. The volume is completely cross-referenced, and includes chapter summaries, case histories, and a glossary, as well as numerous tables and illustrations.

This timely reference analyzes the rationale, impact, and feasibility of taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) as a public health measure to contribute curbing obesity and diabetes rates, specifically in Canada. It presents the pros and cons of taxing soda, with the latest data on adverse health effects of its consumption, plus the various business and political issues surrounding the contentious proposition. Reviewed research is multidisciplinary, spanning health and medicine to ethics, economics, and law. Conclusions and caveats are clear and presented at a comfort level for the general reader. The result is a blueprint for analyzing the relevancy of taxes on sweetened soft drinks or other low-nutrition food products, plus a trove of valuable insights into aspects of government decision-making and consumer food behavior. Included in the coverage: * Reasons for specifically targeting SSBs * SSB taxation as a public health policy instrument * Effects of SSB taxation on energy intakes and population health * Potential undesirable effects relating to SSB taxation * Social and political acceptability of SSB taxation * Evaluability of SSB taxation Taxing Soda for Public Health will interest policymakers, public health professionals, advocacy groups, and researchers at the Canadian and international levels (e.g., in areas such as public health, nutrition, food and health policies, health economics, and evaluation), as well as students and all other parties interested in nutrition policies.

This book analyzes the dynamic macroeconomic effects of public capital in industrialized countries. The issue of whether public capital is productive has received a great deal of recent attention. Yet, existing empirical analyses have been limited to a small set of countries. This book presents a new database that provides internationally comparable capital stock estimates for 22 OECD countries for the 1960-2001 period. Building on this database, the book estimates the dynamic effects of public capital using a variety of econometric methods. The results suggest that public capital is productive in OECD countries on average. The theoretical analysis based on a dynamic general equilibrium model shows that the effects of public capital depend crucially on the way the government chooses to finance additional spending.

First published in 1987. The reform of the welfare state in the United Kingdom is high on the agenda of all political parties and the proposals for reform, both official and private, are numerous. In this book, Professor Beenstock and his colleagues took a comprehensive account of the social security of the 1980s, as well as the tax system, as it had evolved over the Beveridge era and how it affected our incentive to work. The book describes the theory of labour supply decisions in their relationship to the tax benefit system. It illustrates how tax and social security arrangements affected labour supply decisions as well as monitoring how these decisions had evolved over the post-war period. It also considers retirement decisions in the UK as well as the government's plans to reform the social security system.

First published in 1981. This book reports on a decade of research into the effects of taxation on the supply of labour. In addition to their work in making labour supply estimates, the study explores a number of the ways labour supply estimates can be used. When budget constraints are non-linear it is not possible to estimate the effects of (tax) or other policy changes from knowledge of labour supply elasticities alone, and it is necessary to re-estimate the original model used to derive the estimates. The implications of labour supply estimates for the study of inequality and optimal taxation are considered. Macro-economic models of the economy typically omit labour supply functions or include functions which are inconsistent with micro-economic work on labour supply. This book will appeal to academic economists, senior students and policy-makers in the field of public finance and labour economics, who will find much of interest from both the theoretical and policy standpoints.

This book, by Michael J. Brogan, examines government budgeting through the lens of public budget forecast errors. In examining this aspect of the budgetary process, Brogan helps readers understand levels of political and financial risk that policymakers are willing to accept in estimating the likelihood of accurate budget projections. This title is noteworthy in its innovative, accessible approach to examining the budget process through an analysis of forecast errors. Unlike most public budgeting books, which focus primarily on the technical aspects of budgeting or on the politics of the budget process, this book bridges the technical and political aspects of budgeting, thereby providing a more comprehensive analysis of contemporary issues and research in public budgetary matters. In light of the current financial crisis in the United States, this book is crucial for providing readers with a comprehensive review of the limits of budget projections and how political forces shape the forecasting process. Throughout the text, readers are presented with relevant state-specific mini cases. The mini cases highlight some of the difficulties in projecting future revenue and spending patterns, as well as the political conflict that can ensue. The empirical findings, mini cases, and arguments presented throughout this book are intended to empower readers, giving them the expertise needed to better understand how uncertainty in public budget forecasts affects the budget process. Ultimately, this knowledge can help citizens connect the financial management of a state with its governing patterns.

This major three-volume work contains key papers which reflect the innovation and imagination that has characterised the field of welfare economics during the last 50 years. The selections range from literary treatments to the most advanced mathematical presentation. However, all readers, regardless of their mathematical sophistication or methodological predilections, will find a large number of the papers interesting and worthwhile in giving an overview of the present state of welfare economics and providing guides to the literature specialities of particular interest.

For a long time, it has been the declared aim in many countries to fight tax evasion in all its different manifestations, from undeclared work by cleaners and gardeners in private households to tax evasion in the international capital markets. This study focuses on the phenomenon of undeclared work and the case of Germany, presenting the most comprehensive analysis of tax non-compliance for Germany to date, based on surveys conducted by the Rockwool Foundation. Theoretically, the analysis starts from the standard model of tax evasion as being influenced by the subjectively perceived extent of deterrence, the perceived marginal tax burden and social norms. Evidence is provided on the impact of deterrence and other factors on tax non-compliance, and several descriptive statistics are presented to better illustrate the natrure of undeclared work with regard to industry, region, education and other socio-economic characteristics.

The euro crisis made Europe's stateless currency falter. This book retraces and interprets the ways in which the crisis impacted the unique institutional set-up of Europe's Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). It argues that the crisis propelled the European continent towards the institutionalization of an unprecedented form of centralized authority: Europe's New Fiscal Union. Diving into the central functions of fiscal surveillance, financial assistance, lending of last resort and banking resolution, the book reveals how a covert and convoluted mutualisation process occurred in the shadow of the euro crisis management. Based on 62 interviews conducted by the author with senior policy-makers in Brussels, Frankfurt, Helsinki and Rome, the book claims that Europe's New Fiscal Union is largely unsettled and still unstable. It therefore engages with the challenges arising from the patchwork of newly adopted rules, instruments and bodies, suggesting crucial reform steps to make EMU sustainable.

An inherently interdisciplinary subject, tax avoidance has attracted growing interest of scholars in many fields. No longer limited to law and accounting, research increasingly has been conducted from other perspectives, such as anthropology, business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and economic psychology. This was -recently stimulated by politicians, mass media, and the public focussing on tax avoidance after the global financial and economic crisis put a squeeze on private and public finances. New challenges were posed by changing definitions and controversies in the interpretation of tax avoidance concept, as well as a host of new rules and policies that need to be fully understood. This collection provides a comprehensive guide to students and academics on the subjects of tax avoidance from an interdisciplinary perspective, exploring the areas of accounting, law, economics, psychology, and sociology. It covers global as well as regional issues, presents a discussion of the definition, legality, morality, and psychology of tax avoidance, and provides guidance on measurement of economic effect of tax avoidance activities. With a truly international selection of authors from the UK, North America, Africa, Asia, Australasia, Middle East, and continental Europe, with well-known experts and rising stars of the field, the contributors cover the entire terrain of this important topic. The Routledge Companion to Tax Avoidance Research is a ground-breaking attempt to bring together scholarly research in tax avoidance, offering rigorous academic analysis of an important and hotly debated issue in a structured and balanced way.

This book explores why, despite increased government spending on income-support, health and education, the costs of public goods are rising and their quality is declining. Charting the rise of big government, the author identifies a growing divergence between public-sector ideals and the realities of troubled political economies grappling with debt, deficits, ageing populations, improvident social insurance, declining education test scores and multiplying health costs. Limited Government analyzes in detail the social and political factors in major economies that drive up public spending, as well as the relationship between spending and outcomes. By developing an alternate model of public finances, and engaging in a critique of the managerial society, the author emphasizes the positive effects of self-management, social self-organization and technological automation, arguing that high-quality, low-cost goods are the result of nations that save, not states that tax. A sociological account of public finances, Limited Government outlines how governments can spend less and yet help ensure good broad equitable standards of health, education and income security.

This book focuses on the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT), second round effects and the inflation process in South Africa. The authors demonstrate that magnitudes of the second round effects of the exchange rate depreciation and oil price shocks depend on inflation regimes. The impact of positive oil price shocks on inflation is weakened by monetary policy credibility. Evidence shows the influence of oil price on unit labour costs and correlation between exchange rate changes and inflation has weakened. In addition, ERPT is reduced by low business and consumer confidence, high trade openness, low inflation and high exchange rate volatility which weaken real economic activity. Both monetary and fiscal policy credibility lowers the sizes of ERPT to inflation and inflation expectations. Fiscal policy via fuel levies, administered prices and public transport inflation channel impacts the responses of monetary policy to inflation shocks. The authors show that second round effects contribute very little to wage inflation following an exchange rate depreciation shock. Both lending rate and household consumption responds asymmetrical to repo rate changes. This book will appeal to policymakers, students, academics and analysts.