On-line computer system for use with low- energy nuclear physics experiments is reported

Computer program handles data from low-energy nuclear physics experiments which utilize the ND-160 pulse-height analyzer and the PHYLIS computing system. The program allows experimenters to choose from about 50 different basic data-handling functions and to prescribe the order in which these functions will be performed

Fiscal Policy in a Growth Framework

fiscal policy, public expenditure, taxation, economic growth

Publicly Financed Education in an Endogenous Growth Model

This paper constructs an endogenous growth model, applicable largely to developing countries, based on human capital accumulation in which education is publicly provided and financed, and schooling is compulsory. Public investment in human and physical capital are financed from taxes on wage and capital income, and consumption. The equilibrium growth properties of the model are examined and the steady-state effects of education and fiscal policy are derived. The specification of the human capital production function and the strength of labour supply effects are shown to be important for the magnitude of steady-state outcomes. Simulations illustrate the model's properties.Education; Taxation; Endogenous Growth; Labour Supply; General Equilibrium

Income Tax Revenue Elasticities with Endogenous Labour Supply

It is important for the design of tax policy to be able to measure reliably the income elasticity of tax revenue. This gives the extent to which tax revenues change as a result of a change in earnings. Analytical expressions for income tax revenue elasticities treat earnings as exogenous, so that they do not accommodate the endogenous response of labour supply to the income tax system. This paper shows how these expression can be adapted to allow for endogenous labour supply. It identifies how far, and in what circumstances, labour supply effects are quantitatively important for revenue responsiveness estimates, both for individual taxpayers and in aggregate. It is shown that even a relatively simple tax-benefit structure can produce labour supply responses which considerably alter tax revenue elasticity calculations. It is shown that , even with modest leisure preferences, tax-wage elasticities are significantly higher that tax-income elasticities.Income Taxation; Revenue; Elasticity; Labour Supply

The Elasticity of Taxable Income and the Tax Revenue Elasticity

This paper examines the joint role of the elasticity of taxable income (the effect on taxable income of a tax rise) and the revenue elasticity (the effect on revenue of a change in taxable income) in influencing the revenue effects of tax rate changes. Traditionally, the revenue elasticity has been the central concept in examining fiscal drag, or obtaining local measures of tax progressivity. But it has an additional role in the context of the revenue effects of tax changes when incomes respond to rate changes. The elasticity of tax revenue with respect to a rate change is examined at both the individual and aggregate level. If there were no incentive effects, an equal proportional change in all marginal tax rates would produce the same proportional increase in total revenue — the elasticity is unity. This rapidly falls, at a linear rate, as the elasticity of taxable income increases. Illustrations are provided using the New Zealand income tax structures before and after the 2010 Budget, which reduced all rates while leaving income thresholds unchanged and, in particular, reduced the top marginal rate substantially.

Corporation Tax Revenue Growth in the UK:A Microsimulation Analysis

This paper examines the built-in flexibility properties — as measured by the elasticity of revenue with respect to profits — of the UK corporation tax system. Emphasis is placed on determining some of the major influences on the extent to which total corporation tax revenue changes when profits change over the economic cycle. A microsimulation model, CorpSim, is constructed and used to obtain numerical results. In the model, corporations use group relief, capital allowances and losses in a tax-minimising manner. The growth of aggregate corporation tax revenue in practice in the UK appears to be highly volatile in relation to the growth of profits. High volatility in revenue elasticities is found to be especially associated with economic downturns. In mild economic downturns, corporation tax revenue elasticities may rise (because tax growth falls less than profit growth), but in more severe downturns, large but temporary decreases in revenue elasticities (and even negative elasticities) can be expected.

Fiscal Policy, Growth and Convergence in Europe

Recent evidence on the impact of fiscal policy, taxes, public expenditures and budget deficits on long-run growth in OECD countries has adopted the Barro (1990) framework to distinguish between ‘productive’ and ‘unproductive’ expenditures, and ‘distortionary’ and ‘non-distortionary’ taxes. Using estimated long-run growth effects from these fiscal variables, this paper simulates the effects on growth rates of observed fiscal policy changes in the EU. With two exceptions, the individual country growth effects of actual changes in taxes, expenditures and deficits appear plausible at around -0.2 to +0.2 of a percentage point per annum. Few common policy scenarios are apparent in the data however, with key sources of differences between countries being the extent to which distortionary taxes or deficits were used to fund public spending increases and whether additional spending was focussed on ‘productive’ activities. Our results confirm that the change in the overall share of taxes or spending in GDP, or the annual budget deficit, is not a good guide to whether the growth effects of fiscal policy are likely to be positive or negative. The paper also considers whether our growth regression model, which imposes parameter homogeneity across countries, is justified. The evidence suggests this is the case, with a high degree of uniformity across countries. Finally the paper considers whether there is any evidence of ‘fiscal convergence’ across the EU. That is, are growth-affecting fiscal variables becoming more similar over time across the EU? Though data are limited, the answer to this question appears generally to be negative, with little evidence of unconditional convergence. Countries’ tax or expenditure/GDP ratios do, however, generally revert towards their steady-state paths.

Fiscal Policy, Growth and Convergence in Europe

Recent evidence on the impact of fiscal policy – taxes, public expenditures and budget deficits – on long-run growth in OECD countries has adopted the Barro (1990) framework to distinguish between ‘productive’ and ‘unproductive’ expenditures, and ‘distortionary’ and ‘non-distortionary’ taxes. Using estimated long-run growth effects from these fiscal variables, this paper simulates the effects on growth rates of observed fiscal policy changes in the EU. With two exceptions, the individual country growth effects of actual changes in taxes, expenditures and deficits appear plausible at around –0.3 to +0.3 of a percentage point per annum. Few common policy scenarios are apparent in the data however, with key sources of differences between countries being the extent to which distortionary taxes or deficits were used to fund public spending increases and whether additional spending was focussed on ‘productive’ activities. One implication of our results is that the change in the overall share of taxes or spending in GDP or the annual budget surplus/deficit is not a good guide to whether the growth effects of fiscal policy are likely to be positive or negative. The paper also considers whether our growth regression model, which imposes parameter homogeneity across countries, is justified. The evidence suggests this is the case, with a high degree of uniformity across countries. Finally the paper considers whether there is any evidence of ‘fiscal convergence’ across the EU. That is, are growth-affecting fiscal variables becoming more similar over time across the EU? Though data are limited, the answer to this question appears to be negative, with little evidence of unconditional convergence. Countries’ tax or expenditure/GDP ratios do, however, generally revert towards their steady-state paths.Fiscal policy; growth; convergence; taxation; public expenditure

An extended 'Feder'' model of dualistic growth

Feder's (1982) model of dualistic growth is derived in levels, suitable for time-series analysis and (i) extended to contexts where aggregate input data are unavailable (ii) sectoral externalities and productivity differentials are generalised in a two- and three-sector (agriculture-manufacturing-services) context.

Modelling Behavioural Responses to Profit Taxation: The Case of the UK Corporation Tax

This paper examines behavioural responses by companies to changes in profit taxation in their home country. It argues that as well as distinguishing real from shifting responses for profits, it is important to separate the responses of gross profits from those for deductions (such as claims for past or current losses) where these are endogenously related to gross profits declared at home. This occurs in the UK and many other corporate tax regimes. This endogenous response can be expected to differ over the business cycle and, using a microsimulation model of the UK corporate tax regime, it is shown that this can be important for empirical estimates of firms’ overall behavioural responses especially, but not exclusively, during cyclical downturns. It is shown also that endogenous responses of deductions to real or shifting responses for gross profits can be expected to be asymmetrical between periods of above- and below-trend growth.