The tax reform movement that swept the U.S., Great Britain, and most other industrialized nations during the last decade has focused attention on international comparisons of the cost of capital. More recently, international comparability has become a critical issue of tax harmonization. This is a vital concern in the European Community, as well as between Canada and the United States. This volume provides international comparisons of the cost of different types of capital for nine major industrialized countriesAustralia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United Statesfor the period 1980-1990. In the early 1980s the introduction of tax incentives for saving and investment gradually shifted the tax base from income toward consumption. By 1990 most of these special tax provisions had been reduced or repealed in order to lower tax rates and equalize the tax treatment of different forms of capital income. Income was firmly reestablished as the most appropriate basis for taxation. Separate chapters for each of the nine countries, written by leading experts in public economics, provide detailed accounts of tax policy changes over the decade. Each chapter contains a quantitative description of these tax policies and summarizes this information in the form of effective tax rates. The book thus serves as an indispensable reference for comparing capital income taxation in industrialized countries during a period of rapid policy change.

This collection of fifteen essays presents the views of some of the world's most distinguished economists on what is emerging as the central topic of the twenty-first century: long-term economic growth.

This collection of fifteen essays presents the views of some of the world's most distinguished economists on what is emerging as the central topic of the twenty-first century: long-term economic growth.

Uncaging Animal Spirits collects all of Landau's major papers from the last thirty years, covering his scientific discoveries, his views on innovation and entrepreneurship, his reflections on his own field of chemical engineering, and his research on the global marketplace, and on the relation of technology, innovation, and the economy. Chemical engineering has been one of the major high-tech growth industries of the post-World War II period, and one of the few in which U.S. companies have retained an international advantage over their competitors. As an engineer and entrepreneur, Ralph Landau played a large role in this success story. Uncaging Animal Spirits collects all of Landau's major papers from the last thirty years, covering his scientific discoveries, his views on innovation and entrepreneurship, his reflections on his own field of chemical engineering, and his research on the global marketplace, and on the relation of technology, innovation, and the economy. The emphasis throughout is on Landau's view of the status of entrepreneurship in the United States, as tempered by his experience in an international business and his many attempts to get the federal government to think seriously about its role in creating a reasonable playing field for entrepreneurs. As Landau developed his business, he became increasingly concerned about the extent to which government officials misunderstood (or didn't care about) the needs of technology-based industries and the relationship between technology and economic growth. When he sold his company in the early 1980s, Landau took on the task of educating himself in economic theory and educating economists, policy makers, and the government about this crucial relationship. He has established centers at Stanford and Harvard to focus attention on issues of technology and the economy.