Fiscal decentralization and the size of the government : an extension with evidence from cross-country data

Prior analyses of the relationship between fiscal decentralization and the size of government treat fiscal decentralization as the decentralization of either taxing or spending powers. But decisions about taxation and spending are inseparable. The author corrects this deficiency and analyzes the effect of simultaneous decentralization of taxing and spending powers -"fiscal decentralization"- on the overall size of the public sector using cross-country data. The economic results of his study show that: (a) The simultaneous decentralization of the national government's taxing and spending powers tend to reduce the size of the public sector. (b) The Revenue-sharing arrangements in which decisions about taxation are made by the national government tend to eliminate the constraining effect of the decentralized spending power. What do these findings suggest? Countries, such as economies in transition, that want to reduce the size of the public sector should decentralize both taxing and spending decisions.Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,National Governance,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research

An econometric method for estimating the tax elasticity and the impact on revenues of discretionary tax measures : applied to Malawi and Mauritius

This paper develops an econometric technique that deals with shortcomings of existing methods for estimating the tax elasticity and the impact on revenues of discretionary tax measures. This model highlights the roles that discretionary tax measures and economic growth play in effecting the shift from the taxation of international trade to the taxation of domestic transactions. The objective of this study is twofold: first, to develop an econometric method of estimating built-in tax elasticity, and, hence, isolating the revenue impact of discretionary tax measures from that of economic growth; and second, to apply this model to selected sub-Saharan Africa countries in order to highlight the contribution of discretionary actions taken by fiscal authorities to trends of tax effort and individual tax shares during the past two decades. The structural adjustment programs of developing countries use fiscal deficit reduction as one of the policy tools for achieving real economic growth with price stability and balance of payments viability. In dealing with this deficit within such a framework, projects need to be made of the additional revenues which can be mobilized within the existing tax system as gross domestic product (GDP) grows. These projections indicate the need to activate additional means of revenue generation, particularly politically difficult discretionary tax measures.Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Taxation&Subsidies,Tax Policy and Administration

Domestication and Crop Physiology: Roots of Green-Revolution Wheat

Background and aimsMost plant scientists, in contrast to animal scientists, study only half the organism, namely above-ground stems, leaves, flowers and fruits, and neglect below-ground roots. Yet all acknowledge roots are important for anchorage, water and nutrient uptake, and presumably components of yield. This paper investigates the relationship between domestication, and the root systems of landraces, and the parents of early, mid- and late green-revolution bread wheat cultivars. It compares the root system of bread wheat and 'Veery'-type wheat containing the 1RS translocation from rye.MethodsWheat germplasm was grown in large pots in sand culture in replicated experiments. This allowed roots to be washed free to study root characters.Key resultsThe three bread wheat parents of early green-revolution wheats have root biomass less than two-thirds the mean of some landrace wheats. Crossing early green-revolution wheat to an F(2) of 'Norin 10' and 'Brevor', further reduced root biomass in mid-generation semi-dwarf and dwarf wheats. Later-generation semi-dwarf wheats show genetic variation for root biomass, but some exhibit further reduction in root size. This is so for some California and UK wheats. The wheat-rye translocation in 'Kavkaz' for the short arm of chromosome 1 (1RS) increased root biomass and branching in cultivars that contained it.ConclusionsRoot size of modern cultivars is small compared with that of landraces. Their root system may be too small for optimum uptake of water and nutrients and maximum grain yield. Optimum root size for grain yield has not been investigated in wheat or most crop plants. Use of 1RS and similar alien translocations may increase root biomass and grain yield significantly in irrigated and rain-fed conditions. Root characters may be integrated into components of yield analysis in wheat. Plant breeders may need to select directly for root characters

Dosage effect of the short arm of chromosome 1 of rye on root morphology and anatomy in bread wheat

The spontaneous translocation of the short arm of chromosome 1 of rye (1RS) in bread wheat is associated with higher root biomass and grain yield. Recent studies have confirmed the presence of QTL for different root morphological traits on the 1RS arm in bread wheat. This study was conducted to address two questions in wheat root genetics. First, does the presence of the 1RS arm in bread wheat affect its root anatomy? Second, how does root morphology and anatomy of bread wheat respond to different dosages of 1RS? Near-isogenic plants with a different number (0 to 4 dosages) of 1RS translocations were studied for root morphology and anatomy. The F1 hybrid, with single doses of the 1RS and 1AS arms, showed heterosis for root and shoot biomass. In other genotypes, with 0, 2, or 4 doses of 1RS, root biomass was incremental with the increase in the dosage of 1RS in bread wheat. This study also provided evidence of the presence of gene(s) influencing root xylem vessel number, size, and distribution in bread wheat. It was found that root vasculature follows a specific developmental pattern along the length of the tap root and 1RS dosage tends to affect the transitions differentially in different positions. This study indicated that the inherent differences in root morphology and anatomy of different 1RS lines may be advantageous compared to normal bread wheat to survive under stress conditions

Leaf photosynthesis and associations with grain yield, biomass and nitrogen-use efficiency in landraces, synthetic-derived lines and cultivars in wheat

Future genetic progress in wheat grain yield will depend on increasing above-ground biomass and this must be achieved without commensurate increases in N fertilizer inputs to minimise environmental impacts. Our objective was to quantify variation in grain yield, above-ground biomass and N-use efficiency (NUE) and associated traits in a panel of diverse hexaploid wheat germplasm comprising: (i) landraces from the AE Watkins collection, (ii) synthetic-derived hexaploid lines in a cv. Paragon spring wheat background and (iii) UK modern cultivars including cv. Paragon under low N and high N conditions. A field experiment was carried out in two seasons examining 15 genotypes (five landraces, five synthetic-derived (SD) hexaploid lines and five UK modern cultivars) under low N and high N conditions at Nottingham University farm, UK. Machine-harvested grain yield, above-ground biomass and NUE were measured. Physiological traits were assessed including flag-leaf light-saturated photosynthetic rate (Amax) and relative chlorophyll content (SPAD) under HN conditions; and flag-leaf senescence duration and rate and Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) under LN and HN conditions. Under HN conditions, the modern cultivars overall produced higher grain yield than the SD lines (+9.7%) and the landraces (+60.4%); and the modern cultivars and SD lines also produced higher biomass than the landraces (30.3% and 28.4%, respectively). Under LN conditions, reduction in grain yield and biomass compared to HN conditions was least for the landraces (−1% and −8.6%, respectively), intermediate for the SD lines (−7.4 and −10.2%, respectively) and highest for the modern cultivars (−9.3 and −24.6%, respectively). As a result, the SD lines had higher biomass (+17%) than the modern cultivars under LN conditions. Under HN conditions the synthetic derivatives (23.8 μmol m−2 s−1) and modern cultivars (241.1 μmol m−2 s−1) had higher pre-anthesis Amax than the landraces (19.7 μmol m−2 s−1) (P < 0.001). Pre-anthesis Amax was strongly positively linearly associated with above-ground biomass (R2 = 0.63, P < 0.001) and grain yield (R2 = 0.75, P < 0.001) amongst the 15 genotypes. Flag-leaf Amax was also positively linearly associated with flag-leaf relative chlorophyll content at anthesis (R2 = 0.74; P < 0.001). Comparing the SD lines to the recurrent parent Paragon, under HN conditions one line (SD 22) had higher pre-anthesis flag-leaf Amax than Paragon (P < 0.05). Under LN conditions one line (SD 24, +27%) had higher yield than Paragon (P < 0.05) and two lines (SD 24 and SD 38, +32% and +31%, respectively) had more biomass than Paragon (P < 0.05). Our results indicated that introgressing traits from synthetic-derived wheat and landraces into UK modern wheat germplasm offers scope to raise above-ground biomass and grain yield in moderate-to-low N availability environments

Dissection of QTL effects for root traits using a chromosome arm-specific mapping population in bread wheat

A high-resolution chromosome arm-specific mapping population was used in an attempt to locate/detect gene(s)/QTL for different root traits on the short arm of rye chromosome 1 (1RS) in bread wheat. This population consisted of induced homoeologous recombinants of 1RS with 1BS, each originating from a different crossover event and distinct from all other recombinants in the proportions of rye and wheat chromatin present. It provides a simple and powerful approach to detect even small QTL effects using fewer progeny. A promising empirical Bayes method was applied to estimate additive and epistatic effects for all possible marker pairs simultaneously in a single model. This method has an advantage for QTL analysis in minimizing the error variance and detecting interaction effects between loci with no main effect. A total of 15 QTL effects, 6 additive and 9 epistatic, were detected for different traits of root length and root weight in 1RS wheat. Epistatic interactions were further partitioned into inter-genomic (wheat and rye alleles) and intra-genomic (rye–rye or wheat–wheat alleles) interactions affecting various root traits. Four common regions were identified involving all the QTL for root traits. Two regions carried QTL for almost all the root traits and were responsible for all the epistatic interactions. Evidence for inter-genomic interactions is provided. Comparison of mean values supported the QTL detection

Social ecological influences on treatment decision-making in men diagnosed with low risk, localised prostate cancer

Objective: Individuals diagnosed with low risk, localised prostate cancer (PCa) face a difficult decision between active surveillance (AS) and definitive treatment. We aimed to explore perceived influences on treatment decision-making from the patient and partner\u27s perspectives. Methods: Patients (and partners) who met AS criteria and had chosen their treatment were recruited. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted via telephone to explore experiences of diagnosis, impact on patient lifestyle, experiences with physicians, treatment preferences/choice, treatment information understanding and needs, and overall decision-making process. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Results: Twenty-four male patients (18 chose AS) and 12 female partners participated. Five themes relating to social-ecological influences on treatment choice were identified: (1) partner support and direct influence on patient treatment choice, (2) patient and partner vicarious experiences may influence treatment decisions, (3) the influence of the patient\u27s life circumstances, (4) disclosing to wider social networks: friends, family, and co-workers, and (5) the importance of a good relationship and experience with physicians. Additionally, two themes were identified relating to information patients and partners received about the treatment options during their decision-making process. Conclusions: A range of individual and social influences on treatment decision-making were reported. Physicians providing treatment recommendations should consider and discuss the patient and partner\u27s existing beliefs and treatment preferences and encourage shared decision-making. Further research on treatment decision-making of partnered and non-partnered PCa patients is required. We recommend research considers social ecological factors across the personal, interpersonal, community, and policy levels

Androgen deprivation for prostate cancer

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92046/1/26624_ftp.pd