How does intergovernmental fiscal environment affect general fund balances of major American cities?

This study explores the extent to which intergovernmental fiscal factors affect fiscal reserves in municipal general funds. Statistical results from panel data of 87 major cities in the US for the period from 1995 to 2010 show that cities facing more restrictive limitations on local property taxation tend to maintain higher levels of unreserved general fund balances. Additional analyses also show that fiscally constrained cities accumulate surpluses in their general funds. This is consistent with the proactive approach in which municipal governments make fiscal decisions with the awareness of expected state constraints on their revenue-raising capacity. We call for consideration of relevant intergovernmental constraints in the determination of appropriate level of fund balances for municipal governments.     

Introduction: The OECD and Policy Transfer: Comparative Case Studies

Abstract

The six articles in this issue examine the role of the OECD in policy transfer. Two articles (Kudrle on international tax agreements, and Legrand and Vas on Australia’s vocational and educational training policy) conclude that the OECD has been influential, albeit in a grinding and lengthy way. Two others (Clifton on the OECD’s “enhanced engagement” policy with five G-20 countries, and Eccleston and Woodward on tax transparency) find the OECD’s influence either patchier or even dysfunctional. Carroll’s article provides a novel analysis of policy transfer through accession processes, while Alasuutari explores transfer in terms of a comparative analysis of policy rationalizations that refer to the OECD as a “standard.” A common theme of all six articles is the way in which policy transfer is driven by exogenous pressures and crises, and how international governmental organizations like the OECD exploit these pressures to protect and expand their global relevance.     

关于完善我国个人所得税的探讨

目前,我国现行个人所得税制度在税制模式、税制要素和税收征管三方面仍存在一些问题。可以采用优化税制模式、合理设计税制要素和提高个人所得税征管水平的方式加以解决。     

Capturing vote-seeking incentives and the cultivation of a personal and party vote

Electoral rules establish incentives that encourage candidates to strike a particular balance between cultivating their own personal reputations and cultivating shared party reputations. Higher levels of intraparty competition stress the need for an individual reputation and minimize the usefulness of a shared, party reputation. We develop a new indicator of intraparty competition that addresses shortcomings pointed out in previously used indicators. We also identify new, particularly intuitive indicators of ”personal” and ”party” vote seeking. Using within-system and across-system variation in parliamentary elections in Japan, we find that candidate manifestos contain more frequent uses of first-person pronouns and candidate names and fewer references to political parties when intraparty competition is stiffest.     

Long‐Run Labor Market Effects of the Job Corps Program: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Experiment

Job Corps is the nation's largest and most comprehensive career technical training and education program for at‐risk youth ages 16 to 24. Using the sample from a large‐scale experiment of the program from the mid‐1990s, this article uses tax data through 2015 (20 years later) to examine long‐term labor market impacts. The study finds some long‐term beneficial effects for the older students, with employment gains of 4 percentage points, 40 percent reductions in disability benefit receipt, and 10 percent increases in tax filing rates in 2015. For these students, program benefits exceeded program costs from the social perspective. This study is the first to establish that a national program for disconnected youth can produce long‐term labor market gains, and can be a positive investment made for society. The results suggest that intensive, comprehensive services that focus on developing both cognitive and noncognitive skills are important for improving labor market prospects for this population.     

Factors fostering academics to start up new ventures: an assessment of Italian founders’ incentives

Why do university researchers decide to start-up a new venture? How can we distinguish between the different factors influencing such an important decision? To what extent are specific policies activated within universities relevant in the process of new venture creation? In this paper we try to answer these very significant questions, through an empirical analysis performed on a sample of 88 Italian academics involved in the creation of 47 spin-offs between 1999 and 2005. Our findings show that the availability of technologies with a potential for commercial exploitation, the possibility to access university infrastructures and the personal benefits are the most important incentives for academics. More generally, academics’ involvement in creating new ventures is not driven by an entrepreneurial attitude, but rather by the expectation of generating results which will enhance their academic position. Additional investments and efforts made by some universities to create more mechanisms to support spin-offs are not perceived as additional incentives. These results hold after controlling for academic founders’ institutional affiliation, status, and the companies’ growth over their first two years of existence. Implications for public policy and organizational processes are discussed.     

韦纳归因理论在警察工作中的应用

韦纳的归因理论认为,归因方式不同,个体的行为反应和情感反应也不同。就警察来说,不同的归因方式会影响到警察的情感、成就期望和动机、团队归属感和认同感,进而影响到警察队伍的集体效能感。韦纳的归因理论可以广泛应用于警察选拔、培训和工作激励,帮助警察形成积极的归因方式,提高警察的自信心和工作积极性,进而提高整个警察队伍的集体效能感。     

税收优惠政策实施绩效的模糊综合评价

如何对经济政策实施绩效加以公正、客观的定量化评估,不仅是关系经济政策延续运用和调整的规范性课题,同时也是对经济政策实行科学化管理的实证性课题。通过借鉴综合评价企业技术创新绩效定量分析的一般方法,利用模糊综合评价技术,可以总结对区域型税收优惠政策实施绩效进行综合评估的一般思路和方法。     

税收的宪法学解读

本文从宪法学层面解读税收,认为税收是权利的保护费,是使用公共产品支付的对价,税收是私有财产权和国有财政权之契合点。     

税收刑法立法民主化

为了提高税收刑法的自觉遵行度,降低其执法成本,必然要求税收刑事立法反映人民的意志,保护人民的利益,体现人民的民主权利。在税收刑法立法过程中,应当加强税收刑法立法决策,制定民主机制建设,确保税收刑法立法形式的法典化和内容的公正化。