Why is Capital so Immobile Internationally?: Possible Explanations and Implications for Capital Income Taxation

The evidence on international capital immobility is extensive, ranging from the correlations between domestic savings and investment pointed out by Feldstein-Horioka (1980), to real interest differentials across countries, to the lack of international portfolio diversification. To what degree does capital immobility modify past results forecasting that small open economies should not tax savings or investment? The answer depends on the cause of this immobility. We argue that asymmetric information between countries provides the most plausible explanation for the above observations. When we examine optimal tax policy in an open economy allowing for asymmetric information, rather than simply finding that savings and investment should not be taxed, we now forecast government subsidies to foreign acquisitions of domestic firms. Some omitted factors that would argue against subsidizing foreign acquisitions are explored briefly.

Optimal Environmental Taxation in the Presence of Other Taxes: General Equilibrium Analyses

This paper examines the optimal setting of environmental taxes in economies where other, distortionary taxes are present. We employ analytical and numerical models to explore the degree to which, in a second best economy, optimal environmental tax rates differ from the rates implied by the Pigovian principle (according to which the optimal tax rate equals the marginal environmental damages). Both models indicate, contrary to what several analysts have suggested, that the optimal tax rate on emissions of a given pollutant is generally less than the rate supported by the Pigovian principle. Moreover, the optimal rate is lower the larger are the distortions posed by ordinary taxes. Numerical results indicate that previous studies may have seriously overstated the size of the optimal carbon tax by disregarding pre-existing taxes.

Neutralising the adverse industry impacts of CO 2 abatement policies: What does it cost?

The most cost-effective policies for achieving CO2 abatement (e.g., carbon taxes) fail to get off the ground politically because of unacceptable distributional consequences. This paper explores CO2 abatement policies designed to address distributional concerns. Using an intertemporal numerical general equilibrium model of the U.S., we examine how efficiency costs change when these policies include features that neutralise adverse impacts on energy industries. We find that avoiding adverse impacts on profits and equity values in fossil fuel industries involves a relatively small efficiency cost. This stems from the fact that CO2 abatement policies have the potential to generate revenues that are very large relative to the potential loss of profit. By enabling firms to retain only a very small fraction of these potential revenues, the government can protect firms' profits and equity values. Thus, the government needs to grandfather only a small percentage of CO2 emissions permits or, similarly, must exempt only a small fraction of emissions from the base of a carbon tax. These policies involve a small sacrifice of potential government revenue. Such revenue has an efficiency value because it can finance cuts in pre-existing distortionary taxes. Because the revenue sacrifice is small, the efficiency cost is small as well. We also find that there is a very large difference between preserving firms' profits and preserving their tax payments. Offsetting producers' carbon tax payments on a dollar-for-dollar basis (through cuts in corporate tax rates, for example) substantially overcompensates firms, raising profits and equity values significantly relative to the unregulated situation. This reflects the fact that producers can shift onto consumers most of the burden from a carbon tax. The efficiency costs of such policies are far greater than the costs of policies that do not overcompensate firms

Costs of Environmentally Motivated Taxes in the Presence of Other Taxes:General Equilibrium Analyses

There has been keen interest in recent years in environmentally motivated or 'green' tax reforms. This paper employs analytical and numerical general equilibrium models to investigate the costs of such reforms, concentrating on the question of whether these costs can be eliminated when revenues from new environmental taxes are devoted to cuts in marginal income tax rates. A distinguishing feature of the analytical model is its attention to the role of pre-existing inefficiencies in the tax treatment of labor and capital and the associated role of tax-shifting. This model indicates how the prospects for a zero- or negative-cost environmental tax reform are enhanced to the extent that environmental tax reforms shift the tax burden toward the less efficient (undertaxed) factor. Results from the numerical model are interpreted in light of the analytical model's findings. These results indicate that the revenue- neutral substitution of Btu or gasoline taxes for typical income taxes usually entails positive gross costs to the economy. In the case of the gasoline tax, a significant tax shifting effect serves to lower the policy's gross costs. This accounts for the lower gross cost of the gasoline tax compared with the Btu tax. Under neither policy is tax-shifting substantial enough to eliminate the overall gross costs.

Promoting Investment under International Capital Mobility: An Intertemporal General Equilibrium Analysis

This paper uses a dynamic computable general equilibrium model to compare, in an economy open to international capital flows, the effects of two U.S. policies intended to promote domestic capital formation. The two policies -- the introduction of an investment tax credit (ITC) and a reduction in the statutory corporate income tax rate -- differ in their treatment of old (existing) and new capital. The model features adjustment dynamics, intertemporal optimization by U.S. and foreign households and firms endowed with model-consistent expectations, imperfect substitution between domestic and foreign assets in portfolios, an integrated treatment of the current and capital accounts of the balance of payments, and industry disaggregation in the United States. We find that the two policies (scaled to imply the same revenue cost) differ in their consequences for foreign and domestic welfare, the balance of payments accounts, international competitiveness, and U.S. industrial structure. The ITC produces larger domestic welfare gains because it is more effective in reducing intertemporal distortions, while the two policies have similar implications for intersectoral efficiency. From the point of view of domestic welfare, the relative attractiveness of the ITC is enhanced when international capital mobility is taken into account, a reflection of international transfers of wealth associated with foreign ownership of part of the U.S. capital stock. Whereas reducing the corporate tax rate improves the trade balance initially, introducing the ITC causes a deterioration of the trade balance in the short run. Reflecting a lower real exchange rate, export-oriented sectors perform better relative to non-tradable industries under a lower corporate tax rate than in the presence of the lTC, especially in the short run.

Making Sense of G Proteins: Genetic analysis of sensory G protein signaling in the nematode C. elegans

Among the key molecules involved in sensory perception are G proteins, which act in every cell to activate a cascade of signaling molecules in response to certain environmental cues. In this thesis, several studies on the role of G proteins in the sensory system of C. elegans are described. First, in Chapter 1, a brief overview of the biology of C. elegans and of G protein signaling in general and in C. elegans is presented. Next, in Chapter 2, the sensory system of C. elegans is discussed in more (molecular) detail. In Chapter 3, the impact of sensory signaling on the regulation of dauer formation and longevity is discussed. Chapter 4 deals with the role of G protein signaling in the detection of attractive odorants by C. elegans. Data is presented which indicate that olfaction in C. elegans is regulated by a complex signaling network involving five G proteins. In Chapter 5, the regulation of olfactory receptor gene expression by G proteins is described. B! oth cell autonomous as well as non-cell autonomous G protein signals regulate str-2 receptor gene expression, in cooperation with Ca2+/MAPK signaling molecules. Chapter 6 shows that G protein signaling in the sensory neurons also modulates longevity in C. elegans. Finally, in Chapter 7, future directions are provided

Cefsulodin for the treatment of Pseudomonas infections : a study comparing cefsulodin and ticarcillin

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