Income Tax Reform under CTRP: A Taxing Problem

This issue evaluates the two proposed version of the Income Tax Bill in terms of revenue generation, economic efficiency and equity. It also attempts to combine the better features of these two versions in an alternative proposal.Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, income tax reform, Income Tax Bill, individual income tax, capital gains tax, corporate income tax, passive income

What blows in with the wind?

The shift toward renewable forms of energy for electricity generation in the electricity generation industry has clear implications for the spatial distribution of generating plant. Traditional forms of generation are typically located close to the load or population centers, while wind and solar-powered generation must be located where the energy source is found. In the case of wind, this has meant significant new investment in wind plant in primarily rural areas that have been in secular economic decline. This paper investigates the localized economic impacts of the rapid increase in wind power capacity at the county level in Texas. Unlike Input-Output impact analysis that relies primarily on levels of inputs to estimate gross impacts, we use traditional econometric methods to estimate net localized impacts in terms of employment, personal income, and property tax base. While we find evidence that both direct and indirect employment impacts are modest, significant increases in per capita income accompany wind power development. County and school property tax rolls also realize important benefits from the local siting of utility scale wind power

Income Generation and Intra-Household Decision Making: A Gender Analysis for Nigeria

Even without a comprehensive household survey with detailed consumption and income data, it is still often feasible to conduct useful empirical work on gender and intra-household allocations. This paper documents the extent to which income generation affects decision making within households in Nigeria, using the 2003 CWIQ surveys implemented in eight Nigerian states. While these surveys do not have income and consumption data, they do provide information on labor force participation and whether household members generate income for the household, as well as data on who makes the decisions within the household for a wide range of expenditure categories. This type of data can be used to assess, using simple statistical and econometric methods, the impact of income generation by women on their decision power within the household.Gender; Labor Income; Intra-household allocations; Decision Power

The Income Gap Between Natives and Second Generation Immigrants in Sweden: Is Skill the Explanation?

This is the first study to use an achievement test score to analyze whether the income gap between second-generation immigrants and natives is caused by a skill gap rather than ethnic discrimination. Since, in principle, every male Swedish citizen takes the test when turning 18, we are able to bring more evidence to bear on the matter by estimating the income gap for a very large sample of individuals who are of the same age and have the same years of schooling at the test date. Once the result of the Swedish Military Enlistment Test is controlled for, the income gap almost disappears for second generation immigrants with both parents born in Southern Europe or outside Europe. However, when using a regular set of control variables the income gap becomes overestimated. This difference in results is most likely explained by the fact that schooling is a bad measure of productive skills for these groups of second-generation immigrants. It indicates that they compensate for their lower probability of being employed by investing in (in relation to their skill level) more schooling than otherwise similar natives.Productive skills, discrimination, incomes, wages

THE IMPACT OF MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES ON RURAL INCOMES IN CHINA

New Economics of Labor Migration (NELM) theory posits a complex relationship between migrants and household income generation. This paper uses NELM and original survey data to examine the impacts of migration on income sources in Northeast China. Migration is found to increase farm incomes but decrease self-employed incomes.migration, remittances, China, self-employment, income sources, Consumer/Household Economics, Labor and Human Capital,

Compensating restrictive fisheries management measures: distribution of improved cocks to Kainji Lake communities 1997-2001

The Nigeria-German Kainji Lake Fisheries Promotion Project (KLFPP) promoted the distribution of genetically improved cocks to the Kainji Lake (Nigeria) fishing communities aiming to compensate for possible short-term income losses due to the implementation of fisheries management measures restricting the use of the Lake's resources and to provide alternative sources for income generation, especially for the women. Out of 5,075 cocks produced, 4,171 cocks were distributed at subsidized prices mainly to women in 116 fishing villages of Kainji Lake. During an impact survey carried out in 12 villages, 6-24 months after distribution, only 25% of the cocks distributed were seen. However, potential income for each beneficiary from the hybrid offspring was estimated at minimum 1,000 Naira per yea

Growth and Distribution in the Market Economies of East Asia

This is a review and comparison of seven books dealing with income distribution and economic development focusing on the countries of East Asia. The books reviewed are: Irma Adelman and Sherman Robinson, Income Distribution Policy in Developing Countries. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. Edward K. Y. Chen, Hyper-Growth in Asian Economies: A Comparative Study of Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1979. John C. H. Fei, Gustav Ranis, and Shirley W. Y. Kuo, Growth with Equity: The Taiwan Case. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. Walter Galenson, ed., Economic Growth and Structural Change in Taiwan. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1979. Ronald Hsia and Laurence Chau, Industrialisation, Employment and Income Distribution. London: Croom Helm, 1978. Felix Paukert, Jiri Skolka, and Jef Maton, Income Distribution, Structure of Economy and Employment. London: Croom Helm, 1981. Bhanoji Rao and M. K. Ramakrishnan, Income Inequality in Singapore, 1966-1975. Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1980. [Excerpt] Who benefits how much from economic development? This question is at the forefront of current thinking among social scientists. In contrast to the last generation of development studies, which was oriented primarily toward macro questions such as economic growth and capital formation, the current generation of studies adopts a more micro character. This redirection began in the late 1960s with attention to the problem of unemployment. The decade of the 1970s witnessed an outpouring of studies on distributional problems. In this essay, I will review several books written by economists analyzing income distribution in one part of the world, East Asia. But before doing so, it is imperative to review various approaches that have been used to measure change in income distribution in the course of economic development: different measures may lead to fundamentally different judgments about the success or failure of economic growth; they may even raise the question whether, in a given context, development took place at all

How Substitutable is Natural Capital?

One of the recurring themes in the sustainability literature has been the legitimacy of using an economic framework to account for natural resources. This paper examines the potential for substituting between different inputs in the generation of income, where the inputs include natural resources such as land and energy resources. A nested CES production function is used to allow flexibility in the estimated elasticities of substitution. Also, with this specification, natural resources and other inputs are combined in different levels of the function, thus allowing for different levels of substitutability. Institutional and economic indicators are also incorporated in the production function estimated. Results show that the elasticities derived from functions involving land resources were generally around one or greater. Furthermore, changes in trade openness and private sector investment have a statistically significant and direct relationship with income generation. No statistically significant relationship between income and any of the institutional indicators was found.Wealth accounting, Natural resources, Nested CES production function

Income distribution and income sources in Uruguay

This paper is concerned with changes in the distribution of income sources in Uruguay after the late eighties. An apparent stability in the distribution of total incomes is hiding deep transformations affecting the generation of that income. The distribution across all income earners at the end of the eighties exhibited two well-distinguished poles, each associated with one of the main income sources: pension benefits and wages. This bimodality diminished during the nineties due to the reduction in polarization by income sources. In the same period we find that in the case of labor earnings there was a net transfer of population mass from the middle of the distribution to both extremes, which results in an increasing polarization within this income source. This phenomenon resembles the Anglo-Saxon experience of the shrinking middle class.income sources, inequality, labor market, pension benefits, polarization

Utilising Microsimulation to Estimate New Marginal Returns to Education: Ireland 1987-2005

In this paper we utilise microsimulation techniques in the form of an income generation model and a tax/benefit model to estimate both the fiscal and net private return to education at a marginal level. This is carried out empirically using Irish data across the period 1987-2005 and is the first study to utilise these techniques in such a manner. The results indicate that a more generous tax/benefit system, combined with a greater state burden of the cost of education over this period may have helped increase the individual’s return to education, while reducing the state return from investing in education. The methodology employed allows us to specifically analyse the impact of various components of the tax/benefit system upon these returns across time and show the role of income tax changes upon the return to education for the individual and the state.returns to education, microsimulation, income generation model