EU transfers and the next financial framework

The main aim of the paper is to display and analyse both the revenue and the expenditure side of the future budget which came to light in the Commission proposal concerning the EU new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) of 2014-2020. Efforts were also made to clarify the interests lying behind claims and different behaviour of the member states vis-a-vis the common European budget. All available EU documents on MFF were exploited, especially those published concerning the Commission proposal at the end of June 2011. As a very interesting observation, it was revealed that the Commission proposal rather favours the old and/or developed member states than the new and/or underdeveloped ones. Considering the amount of efforts needed to surmount the crisis and to stabilise public finances, considering in addition the weakening propensity of net contributors to the budget (especially that of Germany) to place EU-cooperation before their own national interests, it is to be feared that the next MFF will not be the one to accelerate the catching-up process of the less developed regions of Europe.EU-budget, Multiannual financial framework (MFF), Common agricultural policy (CAP), Cohesion policy, net position, own resources, British rebate

Tax Policy in the European Union: A Review of Issues and Options

As economic integration within the European Union (EU) progresses, the interactions between the tax systems of the Member States are of growing importance. Member State tax policies can have spillover effects on other Member States and differing abilities to provide net fiscal benefits to residents may impair the efficient allocation of productive factors across the EU. These considerations have important implications for the design and coordination of tax systems in the EU. Following a survey of tax developments and a review of the criteria that should govern the tax relationships between the Member States, this paper analyzes the issues and options that Member States face when levying and coordinating their taxes on consumption, labor and capital.

Taxation and constitutionalism in China

The current problems of China's taxation system reveal a major flaw in its Constitution and reflect a false understanding about taxation maxims. This article points out, through analysing three major problems with respect to its income taxes, that one of the main reasons that many businesses and common citizens throughout the country are reluctant to pay taxes is that they enjoy few rights as taxpayers. According to modern constitutional theory and tax law theory, taxpayers' rights not only concern people's private property rights but relate, also, to their civil and political rights. Few Chinese constitutional scholars pay sufficient attention to the fact that limiting government is a pre-requisite to foster growth in constitutionalism. This article discusses the linkage between taxpayers' rights and constitutionalism and suggests some reforms aimed at fostering the growth of limited government in China.published_or_final_versio

East Germany in from the Cold: The Economic Aftermath of Currency Union

macroeconomics, East Germany, currency union

The rise of populism within the Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa: a theoretical case study of anti-establishment, economic inequalities and cultural backlash

Populism is on the rise in many developed and developing countries and uprooting established party systems. In South Africa, research has shown that the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) can be seen as our turn towards populism, but what fuels the rise of the party? This dissertation argues that an anti-establishment stance entices citizens to vote for the EFF and economic inequalities and a cultural backlash makes our society fertile ground for a populist party. In this theoretical case study, international populism theory from especially Inglehart and Norris is applied to the local context to show why the aforementioned factors can explain the rise of populism

Farmers, farm workers and work-related stress

This research explores the ways in which stress affects farming communities, how this has changed in recent years, and the degree to which work-related aspects of stress may be assuaged by support interventions. A qualitative case study research approach was employed to address these issues, involving 60 interviews in five locations across England and Wales.In examining farming stress, a distinction is made between its intrinsic, extrinsic and workrelated dimensions. Whileinterviewees tended to associate day-to-day worries and acute stress with farming’s intrinsic demands (such as disease and adverse weather conditions), external causes of tension (such as competition and regulation), together with worries about finances and family, were associated with more sustained anxieties. By contrast, work-related aspects of farming stress, such as workload issues and farming practices, involved a combination of physical and mental health effects.Notably, work-related and extrinsic dimensions of stress have increased in recent years in relation to organisational and policy shifts, price fluctuations, mounting paperwork demands, workload intensification, and changes in agricultural regulation. These have prompted an escalation in the aspects of their work that farming communities feel powerless to control, and represent a major area for policy intervention. Principal farmers displayed the most visible manifestations of stress, linked at once to the intrinsic, extrinsic and workrelated dimensions of their work. By contrast, family farm workers and labourers often lacked autonomy over the way they worked, and work-related aspects of stress concerning workload and organisation made up a greater part of their experience. Increased paperwork demands emerged as a major cause of stress among interviewees, particularly forfarmers and their wives, who struggled to balance these with traditional farming priorities. Differences between farmswere also influential in explaining stress. Livestock farming embodied intrinsic pressures relating to stock crises and the unpredictability of animals, but more recently has come under intense economic pressure, prompting a rationalisation of working practices. Arable farmers found the organisation of activities, such as harvesting and planting, in a context of reduced and increasingly contractual workforces particularly challenging. Mixed farmers faced the dual stresses of balancing work activities with conflicting timetables, and the paperwork demands of a complex portfolio of farming. Smaller farms were struggled with intensified workloads, while larger enterprises had to comply with the demands of more inspection regimes.Support agencies need to overcome the stigma attached to asking for help among farming communities and offer a rangeof responsive and proactive services. Locally based support was more likely to be used and trusted, although concernsabout client confidentiality might deter those most in need from seeking help. Where existing local networks wereestablished, there was a strong argument for providers to plug into these and work towards publicising their efforts to ensure that support is provided most effectively. Critically, support must be multidimensional, reflecting the wide range of stressors and their impacts among farming communities

Professor/practitioner case development program - 1998 case studies

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_guides/1344/thumbnail.jp

A critical analysis of the fiscal incentives offered to a particular South African Special Economic Zones

Includes bibliographical referencesSpecial Economic Zones ("SEZs") have proved an effective tool to encourage and incentivise foreign direct investment in developing countries over the past 50 years. South Africa has been a relatively late adopter of an SEZ regime and only formally incorporated SEZs via the Industrial Development Zone ("IDZ") programme in late 2000. The ID programme has been largely unsuccessful with limited and slow investment. This has resulted in an overhaul of the programme resulting in the launch of the SEZ programme in2012 which included the promulgation of the Special Economic Zones Act and a suite of new tax incentives which were announced in the 2013 Taxation Laws Amendment Act. This study was performed in order to analyse the fiscal incentives available to South African SEZs against the backdrop of successes and failures experienced by other developing nations with more mature SEZ regimes. By firstly reviewing the history of SEZs internationally, context was provided which indicated the need for a successful SEZ programme in South Africa. As globalisation has developed in the modern era, so too has competition for foreign direct investment amongst developing nations. It is thus of paramount importance for South Africa, as late adopters, to ensure that their SEZ programme is designed appropriately. A detailed analysis of each tax incentive was performed which illustrated where opportunities can be found by foreign investors and additionally highlighted some disincentives in the South African regime. A review of the main incentives offered by the more developed and successful developing nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) identified certain opportunities where South Africa could learn from the successes and failures of these countries. Further, some specific case studies were analysed in order to glean risks to the sustainability of South Africa's SEZ programme. From these reviews and comparisons it was found that whilst it may not be possible to predict whether or not South Africa's SEZ programme will be successful, there are some areas where it is suggested that the current fiscal incentives can be enhanced to encourage quicker investment by foreign companies and the creation of investment which has a sustainable benefit to the local economy

Britain's new industrial space? A case study of high technology Hertfordshire'

The suggestion is now widespread that fundamental changes within the advanced Western economies are part of the transition to a new era of capitalist development. The geographical repercussions of this change, the form of the new geography of production, has become the subject of much conjecture. The question has become one of explaining how the present period of economic restructuring is being translated into a period of spatial restructuring. A key element of such theories of change has been the "high technologies", defined both as a process of change and as the basis of new industries encapsulating new forms of production. Indeed, for the proponents of the New Industrial Spaces theory, the rise of "high technology" industry is the harbinger of structural change and its spatial development indicative of the new geography of production we may expect throughout North America and Western Europe (Scott and Storper, 1986; Scott, 1988a; 1988b). This thesis outlines a theoretical and empirical investigation of the New Industrial Spaces theory, an investigation framed by the principal claim of the theory to explain the processes structuring the emergent geography of production. Firstly, a critique of this claim argues that whilst the explanation provided (based on transaction costs) is plausible, it rests upon a particular and deficient conceptualisation of the firm. Secondly, allowing for such reservations, it is argued that the explanation of the New Industrial Spaces' theorists has yet to be shown as empirically valid. Thus, in the search for this evidence, an empirical investigation of Britain's own prominent candidate for the title New Industrial Space, namely "high technology Hertfordshire", is undertaken. Whilst this empirical investigation provides evidence for the New Industrial Spaces theory, it also highlights the theory's failure to explain fully the growth of "high technology Hertfordshire". In contrast, the thesis develops an alternative conceptualisation of contemporary agglomerations of production