The economic psychology of value added tax compliance

VAT is a tax on consumer expenditure, collected on business transactions and assessed on the value added to goods and services. It applies, with some exceptions (for example, to young children’s clothes and shoes in the UK), to all goods and services that are bought and sold. VAT is a general tax (as it applies, in principle, to all commercial activities) and a consumption tax (as it is paid ultimately by the final consumer). It is not actually a tax on business, though some business owners do see it that way. In fact, whilst VAT is paid to the tax authorities by the seller of the goods or services, the tax is paid by the buyer to the seller as part of the tax and so, in essence, businesses are acting as unpaid tax collectors. VAT was first introduced in France in 1954, and subsequently has been extended, through a series of directives, to cover the whole of the European Union (EU). The system in the EU is now reasonably standardized, although different rates of VAT apply in different EU member states. The minimum standard rate in the EU is 15 percent, though lower rates are applied to certain services. Some goods and services are exempt from VAT throughout the EU (e.g., postal services, insurance, betting). In addition to spreading throughout Europe (member states are required to introduce VAT, so the increase in membership of the EU has inevitably increased the number of countries that use this system), VAT has also been introduced in a large number of other countries, notably China (Yeh, 1997), and India (after many delays) in 2005, so that now over 130 countries world-wide operate VAT. In the Caribbean, for example, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, and Antigua have all introduced VAT in the past two years. Other countries have introduced taxes that are classified as value added taxes, such as Australia, which now operates a General Sales Tax (GST). The introduction of VAT has been the major tax reform around the world in the past 25 years, and VAT is now of global significance and impact (Ebrill et al., 2001)

Save now, save later? Linkages between saving behaviour in adolescence and adulthood

The purpose of this paper is to review and critique the variety of definitions, concepts, and theories of psychological resilience. To this end, the narrative is divided into three main sections. The first considers how resilience has been defined in the psychology research literature. Despite the construct being operationalized in a variety of ways, most definitions are based around two core concepts: adversity and positive adaptation. A substantial body of evidence suggests that resilience is required in response to different adversities, ranging from ongoing daily hassles to major life events, and that positive adaptation must be conceptually appropriate to the adversity examined in terms of the domains assessed and the stringency of criteria used. The second section examines the conceptualization of resilience as either a trait or a process, and explores how it is distinct from a number of related terms. Resilience is conceptualized as the interactive influence of psychological characteristics within the context of the stress process. The final section reviews the theories of resilience and critically examines one theory in particular that is commonly cited in the resilience literature. Future theories in this area should take into account the multiple demands individuals encounter, the meta-cognitive and -emotive processes that affect the resilience-stress relationship, and the conceptual distinction between resilience and coping. The review concludes with implications for policy, practice, and research including the need to carefully manage individuals’ immediate environment, and to develop the protective and promotive factors that individuals can proactively use to build resilience

NAFTA-Land Security: The Mérida Initiative, Transnational Threats, and U.S. Security Projection in Mexico

This thesis explores recent U.S. bilateral aid to Mexico through the Mérida Initiative (MI), a $2.3 billion assistance commitment on the part of the United States (U.S.) officially justified as helping Mexico build its capacity to take on violent drug cartels and thereby improve security in both countries. There has been a good amount of engaging work on the MI. However this extant literature has not undertaken detailed policy analysis of the aid programme, leading to conclusions that it is a fresh approach to the Mexican counternarcotics (CN) challenge, or that CN is a ‘fig leaf’ for the U.S. to pursue other ‘real’ goals. This is a core gap in the literature this project seeks to fill. Through policy analysis, I make an empirically supported argument that Mérida is a component of a far more ambitious policy agenda to regionalise security with Mexico more generally. This involves stabilising Mexico itself, not least in response to serious drug-related violence. However the U.S. also aims to improve its own security by giving greater ‘depth’ to its borders, and seeks protect the political economy of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) from variegated security threats. In this way, recent U.S. policy in Mexico is both derivative of its wider grand strategic traditions in stabilising key political economies in line with its interests, and representative of some distinct developments stemming from the deeply integrated U.S.-Mexican economy as part of NAFTA. To assure U.S. interests accrued to it through the increasingly holistic North American economy, the U.S. has used the MI as the main vehicle in the construction of a nascent ‘NAFTA-land Security’ framework

Microscale wear behavior and crosslinking of PEG-like coatings for total hip replacements

The predominant cause of late-state failure of total hip replacements is wear-mediated osteolysis caused by wear particles that originate from the ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) acetabular cup surface. One strategy for reducing wear particle formation from UHMWPE is to modify the surface with a hydrophilic coating to increase lubrication from synovial fluid. This study focuses on the wear behavior of hydrophilic coatings similar to poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). The coatings were produced by plasma-polymerizing tetraglyme on UHMWPE in a chamber heated to 40°C or 50°C. Both temperatures yielded coatings with PEG-like chemistry and increased hydrophilicity relative to uncoated UHMWPE; however, the 40°C coatings were significantly more resistant to damage induced by atomic force microscopy nanoscratching. The 40°C coatings exhibited only one damage mode (delamination) and often showed no signs of damage after repeated scratching. In contrast, the 50°C coatings exhibited three damage modes (roughening, thinning, and delamination), and always showed visible signs of damage after no more than two scratches. The greater wear resistance of the 40°C coatings could not be explained by coating chemistry or hydrophilicity, but it corresponded to an approximately 26–32% greater degree of crosslinking relative to the 50°C surfaces, suggesting that crosslinking should be a significant design consideration for hydrophilic coatings used for total hip replacements and other wear-dependent applications