Contemporary Flat-Tax Reforms in Eastern Europe. Causes of Diverse Approaches : A comparison of Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany.

The paper deals with the issue of contemporary flat-tax reforms in Eastern Europe and aims to account for the different approaches that various European countries adopted towards the idea of a flat-tax. Empirically, the work is based on detailed studies of Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany. The analysis considers three factors being decisive for the flat-tax feasibility: 1./ party system institutionalization, 2./ coalition/opposition cohesiveness, 3./ labor union institutionalization. First, the study is concerned with each of the factor's influence on the political decision-making process in the three country cases. Secondly, on country paired comparisons the findings for each of the countries are mutually contrasted. Although all identified factors seem to be at play with regard to flat-tax feasibility, I argue that it is either the strength or the weakness of labor unions' institutionalization and welfare identity that underlie the political decision-making in the East and the West and as a result determine the flat-tax (un-)feasibility. The absence of welfare identity in the East allows for higher coalition cohesion in favor and weaker opposition against the flattax adoption in contrast to the West.Series: Discussion Papers SFB International Tax Coordinatio

Report on Expert Interviews

This short report represents a summary of the analysis conducted so far on the GfK Panel Data. The focus was on the main three types of raw meat: chicken, pork, beef, as well as three categories of processed food products: liver paste, cold cuts and sausages. The aim was to look at the market indicators for each one of the six sub-categories, out of which market share and penetration were considered to be the most important. Besides these two indicators, I also included some extra calculations for each category, which can be analysed further and more in-depth if needed. One of the desired outcomes of the analyses was to identify companies and brands that were successful in each sub-category. Unfortunately, due to the generally low market shares of the organic products, the number of options was limited. Beef and pork were two categories where no brands were registered in the original product and sales Files. In the chicken category there was only one brand registered between 2006 and 2010, however, the market shares were extremely low for this category. There were only one or two households buying organic chicken products. The processed meat sub-categories both had a few companies registered. However, the diversity isn’t large. Still, it is good to notice that in the three sub-categories there were two companies that were most present: Farre Food and Hanegal. Market shares were generally low for all six sub-categories. Organic beef, pork and liver paste were the only categories to reach market shares of over 1%, while organic chicken had the lowest market shares of all. The trends were generally fluctuating over time. The highest market shares for liver paste, pork, chicken and beef were registered in 2007. All these four categories had much lower market shares in 2009, but it is interesting to notice that in the same year, organic cold cuts and sausages registered the highest market shares. Except for chicken, all market shares dropped in 2010 compared to 2009. Penetration levels had a clear descending trend for organic beef and liver paste, whereas for the other subcategories the levels fluctuated. Organic chicken and sausage generally had an ascending trend, while organic pork and cold cuts usually had descending trends in penetration levels. The highest penetration rates were registered in 2006 for liver paste, beef and cold cuts and in 2008 for sausages, chicken and pork. Out of all the six sub-categories that were analysed, organic beef has had the highest market shares and highest penetration rates, even though the figures were lower and lower every year. Regarding the average price paid/100 gr of meat products, we notice that in the organic category there is more fluctuation than in the conventional category, meaning that the price of organic products varies more between years. According to the analysis, the price difference between the organic and the conventional options in a sub-category is clearly notices in the processed meat category, but it is not as well defined for chicken, pork and beef. There are some limitations regarding the analysis of the panel data. On the one hand, these are due to the fact that there are some incompatibilities between the product file and the sales file regarding the identification of products as being organic or not. On the other hand, some of the products were registered as “unknown”, meaning that they are neither analysed as being organic, nor as being conventional, but as being a separate category. It is considered however that due to the fact that the results of the analysis are so small, the correction of these errors would not change the numbers significantly

Report on qualitative concept tests (D.6.2)

This report presents the findings of the qualitative concept tests, conducted as a part of WP6 of the SUMMER project. The main objective of the study is to explore consumers’ response to improved animal welfare standards in organic production systems. More specifically, the report intends to offer insights into how consumers perceive the production system, how the perception of the production system influences the perceived quality of the final products and the expectations people have from the final products. The report starts with an introductory section, where the purpose and objectives of this study are explained. Moreover, short literature reviews of concept testing and animal welfare in food research are also included. The methodology is described in the next section, which includes: an explanation of the choice of method, a description of the procedure used for conducting the focus groups, a description of the sampling method, as well as the interview guide and the stimuli used in the discussions. The findings of qualitative studies are usually vast and difficult to summarise in few pages. In this report, the findings are presented separately for the three focus groups that were conducted, where participants were split into groups based on their organic food and organic meat purchase rates, as follows: regular organic food buyers; regular organic food buyers-occasional organic meat buyers; occasional organic food buyers-occasional and non-organic meat buyers. A general overview the findings is included in the last section, where they are discussed and implications of the study are presented

Women Judges and Women\u2019s Rights in Pakistan

Although the first appointment of women judges in Pakistan dates back to 1974, the massive appointment of &ldquo;lady judges&rdquo; in the past decade has caused a jump in female representation in the judiciary to more than one third &ndash; a quiet move that sends a message of adherence to the principle of gender equality as per the international treaties to which Pakistan is signatory. By investigating the everyday interactions and preoccupations of women-judges in their daily management of justice, this paper explores the socio-legal reception of the human rights discourse from the perspective of the female judges. The challenge in this scenario lies, on the one hand, in whether this change will be only formal or will also lead to substantial and accountable justice and, on the other hand, how the global agenda impacts local expectations and conceptualizations of rights within and beyond the state. A pesar de que la designaci&oacute;n de juezas en Pakist&aacute;n se remonta a 1974, la significativa designaci&oacute;n de "se&ntilde;oras juezas" en la pasada d&eacute;cada ha provocado que la representaci&oacute;n de las mujeres en la judicatura haya pasado a m&aacute;s de un tercio en juzgados de familia -un cambio silencioso que env&iacute;a un mensaje de adhesi&oacute;n al principio de igualdad de sexos consagrado por los tratados internacionales de los que Pakist&aacute;n es firmante. Mediante la investigaci&oacute;n de las interacciones y preocupaciones cotidianas de las juezas en su gesti&oacute;n habitual de la justicia, este art&iacute;culo analiza la recepci&oacute;n sociojur&iacute;dica del discurso de los derechos humanos desde la perspectiva de las mujeres que ejercen la judicatura. En tal estado de cosas, cabe preguntarse si este cambio se limitar&aacute; a las formas o si, por el contrario, alcanzar&aacute; a la justicia sustancial y comprobable. Los hallazgos permiten tambi&eacute;n elucidar la forma en que la agenda global afecta las expectativas y conceptos locales sobre los derechos, dentro y fuera del estado. DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3034280</p

GfK Panel Data Analysis of meat consumption

This short report represents a summary of the analysis conducted so far on the GfK Panel Data. The focus was on the main three types of raw meat: chicken, pork, beef, as well as three categories of processed food products: liver paste, cold cuts and sausages. The aim was to look at the market indicators for each one of the six sub-categories, out of which market share and penetration were considered to be the most important. Besides these two indicators, I also included some extra calculations for each category, which can be analysed further and more in-depth if needed. One of the desired outcomes of the analyses was to identify companies and brands that were successful in each sub-category. Unfortunately, due to the generally low market shares of the organic products, the number of options was limited. Beef and pork were two categories where no brands were registered in the original product and sales Files. In the chicken category there was only one brand registered between 2006 and 2010, however, the market shares were extremely low for this category. There were only one or two households buying organic chicken products. The processed meat sub-categories both had a few companies registered. However, the diversity isn’t large. Still, it is good to notice that in the three sub-categories there were two companies that were most present: Farre Food and Hanegal. Market shares were generally low for all six sub-categories. Organic beef, pork and liver paste were the only categories to reach market shares of over 1%, while organic chicken had the lowest market shares of all. The trends were generally fluctuating over time. The highest market shares for liver paste, pork, chicken and beef were registered in 2007. All these four categories had much lower market shares in 2009, but it is interesting to notice that in the same year, organic cold cuts and sausages registered the highest market shares. Except for chicken, all market shares dropped in 2010 compared to 2009. Penetration levels had a clear descending trend for organic beef and liver paste, whereas for the other subcategories the levels fluctuated. Organic chicken and sausage generally had an ascending trend, while organic pork and cold cuts usually had descending trends in penetration levels. The highest penetration rates were registered in 2006 for liver paste, beef and cold cuts and in 2008 for sausages, chicken and pork. Out of all the six sub-categories that were analysed, organic beef has had the highest market shares and highest penetration rates, even though the figures were lower and lower every year. Regarding the average price paid/100 gr of meat products, we notice that in the organic category there is more fluctuation than in the conventional category, meaning that the price of organic products varies more between years. According to the analysis, the price difference between the organic and the conventional options in a sub-category is clearly notices in the processed meat category, but it is not as well defined for chicken, pork and beef. There are some limitations regarding the analysis of the panel data. On the one hand, these are due to the fact that there are some incompatibilities between the product file and the sales file regarding the identification of products as being organic or not. On the other hand, some of the products were registered as “unknown”, meaning that they are neither analysed as being organic, nor as being conventional, but as being a separate category. It is considered however that due to the fact that the results of the analysis are so small, the correction of these errors would not change the numbers significantly

Case studies/Strategic group analyses report of high value organic products

This report concerns the analysis of successful high-value products as case studies in each of the three meat categories: chicken, beef and pork. The main objective of our study was to identify strategic groups within the meat market, in which the new, high-value organic meat products were going to perform. The strategic group analysis also serves as a benchmark for determining the competitive situation on the Danish meat market. Hence, we analyse the market performance of the strategic groups and we describe the competition on the market, in order to identify the optimal market position for the new products

Interplay between Background Fluxes and Instanton Configurations

We focus on D-brane models in presence of closed string background fluxes. These fluxes modify the effective interactions on Dirichlet and Euclidean branes, in particular inducing fermionic masses. We show how they can create new non-perturbative superpotential terms in presence of gauge and exotic instantons in SQCD-like models.Comment: 18 pages. To appear in Nuovo Cimento B for the INFN "Sergio Fubini Prize" 200

The ALICE Muon IDentifier

During the LHC Run-I (2010-2013) and Run-II (2015-2018), the selection of interesting events for muon physics in ALICE was performed with a dedicated muon trigger system, based on 72 single-gap bakelite Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs), operated in maxi-avalanche mode (ADULT front-end electronics without amplification and a threshold of 7 mV). From Run-III (starting in 2021) on, in order to fully profit from the increased luminosity of Pb-Pb collisions, the ALICE experiment will run in continuous readout (triggerless) mode and the muon trigger system (MTR) will become a Muon Identifier (MID). The read-out electronics is being upgraded in order to support continuous readout. Moreover, in order to increase the RPC rate capability and to mitigate possible aging effects, it was decided to operate the detectors with a lower gain, and to replace the ADULT front-end cards with new cards (FEERIC), equipped with an amplification stage. Also, an upgrade of the threshold distribution system to the front-end will allow one to tune thresholds at the single front-end card level, while this was previously only possible at the single-RPC level. Finally, since some of the RPCs currently installed in ALICE have integrated a non-negligible charge with respect to their certified life-time, about 25% of the detectors will be replaced with new ones, built with a different type of bakelite laminates. A detailed description of the MTR upgrade and of its current status will be presented in this contribution.Comment: Proceeding of the 15th Workshop on Resistive Plate Chambers and Related Detectors (RPC2020), 10-14 February 2020, University of Roma Tor Vergata, Ital

Languages and Postmodern Ethnic Identities

Specific discourses of our mother tongue (which is not always our mother\u27s tongue) are supposed to decisively constitute our subjectivity. These discourses which are constituting us and are available to us offer possible identities. These identities carry ethno-culturally-specific meanings, which are symbolised within and by spoken, written, and non-verbal language/s. Are languages given the same relevance when giving meaning to postmodern ethnicity, if one understands postmodern ethnicity as a stance of simultaneously transcending ethnicity as a complete, self-contained system but retaining it as a selectively preferred, evolving, participatory system? Multilinguality, as it may correspond with aspects of postmodern ethnicity, seems to imply an interaction between different languages with their distinct understanding of self and the world which manifests in a kaleidoscopic view, temporarily creating new constellations of meaning