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作者:Friedman, E; Johnson, S; Kaufmann, D; Zoido-Lobaton, P
作者单位:Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Rutgers University System; Rutgers University New Brunswick; The World Bank
摘要:Across 69 countries, higher tax rates are associated with less unofficial activity as a percent of GDP but corruption is associated with more unofficial activity. Entrepreneurs go underground not to avoid official taxes but to reduce the burden of bureaucracy and corruption. Dodging the 'grabbing hand' in this way reduces tax revenues as a percent of both official and total GDP. As a result, corrupt governments become small governments and only relatively uncorrupt governments can sustain high...
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作者:Bütler, M
作者单位:Tilburg University
摘要:This paper investigates the political feasibility of different hypothetical reform options of an unsustainable pay-as-you-go public pension system. in calibrating the model to the Swiss economy, we find that low internal rates of return and high distortions can reduce political support for an increase in earmarked taxes, up to a point where a reduction in the size ai the social security program receives a majority of votes. Our simulations show that the consideration of non-social security tax...
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作者:Yelowitz, AS
作者单位:University of California System; University of California Los Angeles
摘要:This study provides evidence on health insurance decisions of senior citizens. Nearly all senior citizens have health insurance coverage through Medicare, but poor seniors may also qualify for Medicaid that fills many gaps in Medicare coverage. Since 1987, the Medicaid program has expanded eligibility. Using the SIPP, I find that Medicaid eligibility increased from 8.7% in 1987 to 12.4% in 1995. For every 100 elderly who became eligible, approximately 50 took up Medicaid, but more than 30 drop...
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作者:Treisman, D
作者单位:University of California System; University of California Los Angeles
摘要:Why is corruption - the misuse of public office for private gain - perceived to be more widespread in some countries than others? Different theories associate this with particular historical and cultural traditions, levels of economic development, political institutions, and government policies, This article analyzes several indexes of 'perceived corruption' compiled from business risk surveys for the 1980s and 1990s. Six arguments find support. Countries with Protestant traditions, histories ...
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作者:Bearse, P; Glomm, G; Janeba, E
作者单位:Michigan State University; University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Greensboro; Indiana University System; Indiana University Bloomington
摘要:We present a model in which the crucial distinction between rich and poor countries is that governments in rich countries have access to a more productive tax collection technology than governments in poor countries. Since the tax collection technology in poor countries is poor, the quality of the public service is low. Therefore many households at the top of the income distribution opt out of the public service. The median voter takes this into consideration and allocates a larger share of th...
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作者:Swaroop, V; Jha, S; Rajkumar, AS
作者单位:The World Bank
摘要:This paper models fiscal effects of foreign aid in a federal system of governance. Our main innovation is to incorporate the inter-governmental fiscal link in examining economic fungibility of foreign aid. The model is applied to the expenditure decisions of the central government of India. The two main findings are: (i) Foreign aid merely substitutes for spending that the government would have undertaken anyway; funds freed by aid are spent on non-development activities, and (ii) In passing e...
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作者:Zhuravskaya, EV
摘要:Based on a unique data set on Russian city budgets, this paper shows that revenue sharing between regional and local,governments provides local governments with no incentive to increase tax base or provide public goods. Any change in local government's own revenues is almost entirely offset by changes in shared revenues. This leads to governmental over-regulation of private businesses. It is shown that fiscal incentives are a determinant of the formation of private business and the efficiency ...
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作者:Hall, J; Preston, I
作者单位:University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; University of London; University College London
摘要:Perceptions of private benefits from hypothecated tax increases may be mon or less correlated with income both because individuals with different incomes have different interests in expanding public services and because they anticipate bearing different shares of the implied tax burden. We report on analysis of cross-sectional data from the United Kingdom in which respondents have been randomly allocated to different but precisely specified tax instruments in a way which should allow separatio...