Common rules (not rates) should be the answer to tax competition in the EU

Tax avoidance is a key problem for European countries, with the EU taking several steps to try and limit the ability of businesses to shift their profits to low-tax jurisdictions. Peter Dietsch writes on the nature of the problem and what can be done to tackle it. He argues that whatever form of regulation is implemented, only a multilateral solution can address the problem. He suggests that the creation of an International Tax Organisation (ITO) with powers similar to those of the WTO would be an effective means to promote reform

Growing the Pie or Slicing it Differently - on the Need to Disentangle Two Aspects of Trade Agreements

Recent trade negotiations such as TTIP include investor protection clauses. Against the background of an analysis of the case for trade, the paper asks whether such clauses can be justified from a normative perspective. More specifically, what is the impact of investor protection on the domestic distribution of the gains from trade between labour and capital, and how should we assess this impact from the perspective of justice? In order to answer this question, the paper develops a series of ideal-type scenarios that reflect the consequences of investor protection on employment on the one hand, and on the distributive conflict between labour and capital on the other. While no claim is made which of these scenarios corresponds to TTIP or other trade agreements, they provide a useful normative framework to analyse such agreements

Between market and merit: How unequal should incomes be?

The distribution of the benefits from co-operation represents one of the central problems of distributive justice. At the core of my thesis stands an argument based on the division of labour in our society that calls for an equal division of these benefits. This line of reasoning avoids the shortcomings of the two traditional approaches pursued by those who are critical of income inequalities, namely egalitarians and their more sophisticated cousins, liberal egalitarians. Straightforward egalitarianism, I suggest, turns out to be a default position once other considerations, like choice or merit, are taken into account. My disagreement with the liberal egalitarian centres on the question whether the scope of justice should encompass natural and social contingencies like talent or family background. I argue that the impact of these endowment factors on income distribution, though undeniable, is small compared to the influence of the market system in distributing income. This position also puts me at odds with libertarians, who accept the normative authority of the market distribution. Enter the argument from division of labour. The specialisation it entails leads to a surge in individual productivity and a substantial surplus compared to the counterfactual situation of autarky. On the plausible assumption that the interdependence between the parties to the division of labour is mutual, there is a case for dividing the surplus equally. This argument, so my claim goes, severely limits the scope of the central libertarian tenet of self-ownership. In practice, surplus is produced and distributed at various levels of co-operation; my focus lies on the economy as a whole, the firms that operate in it, and the insights from imperfect competition about the connection between these two levels. I close with some considerations about the transformation of unjust distributive structures

Hybrid magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with tunable field-directed self-assembly

We describe the synthesis of hybrid magnetic ellipsoidal nanoparticles that consist of a mixture of two different iron oxide phases, hematite (α-Fe2O3) and maghemite (γ- Fe2O3), and characterize their magnetic field-driven self-assembly. We demonstrate that the relative amount of the two phases can be adjusted in a continuous way by varying the reaction time during the synthesis, leading to strongly varying magnetic properties of the particles. Not only does the saturation magnetization increase dramatically as the composition of the spindles changes from hematite to maghemite, but also the direction of the induced magnetic moment changes from being parallel to the short axis of the spindle to being perpendicular to it. The magnetic dipolar interaction between the particles can be further tuned by adding a screening silica shell. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) experiments reveal that at high magnetic field, magnetic dipole–dipole interaction forces the silica coated particles to self- assemble into a distorted hexagonal crystal structure at high maghemite content. However, in the case of uncoated maghemite particles, the crystal structure is not very prominent. We interpret this as a consequence of the strong dipolar interaction between uncoated spindles that then become arrested during field-induced self- assembly into a structure riddled with defects

Soft Nanotechnology – from Colloid Physics to Nanostructured Functional Materials

We demonstrate how we can tune the size, shape, surface functionality and properties of nanoparticles and use them as ideal model systems for fundamental investigations as well as for materials applications. In particular we describe ways to create functionalized core-shell particles with various degree of anisotropy and interesting magnetic properties. We show how we can use these particles in order to study the equilibrium and non-equilibrium phase behavior of colloidal suspensions with different interaction potentials and summarize our current understanding of the phenomenon of dynamical arrest, i.e. gel and glass formation. While different nanoparticles are vital for fundamental studies of various aspects of soft condensed matter, they also offer fascinating possibilities in materials science. We will demonstrate this with the example of nanocomposites made through an in situ polymerization reaction