Identifying Tax Effects on Charitable Giving

This paper estimates the effects of three federal tax acts—the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (H.R. 1836), the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (H.R. 2), and the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 (H.R. 1308)—on charitable giving, and offers four extensions relative to previous work. First, we use new data—the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study, the philanthropy module in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics—that permit the estimation of the effect of switches in itemization status on giving. This is important because switches permit a direct answer to the question: How much of an increase in charitable giving is caused by tax deductibility? Second, the new data permit the estimation of tax effects on charitable giving to secular charities as well as to religious organizations. This is important because the main policy question in the literature on taxes and giving is to evaluate “treasury efficiency”—whether the Treasury can cause more money to flow to charitable organizations by allowing deductibility of giving than by eliminating deductibility and sending the increased tax revenue directly to charitable organizations. By using secular giving, we can focus on the type of giving most relevant to this policy question. Third, the new data allow for improved methodological approaches over past studies. Fourth, we argue that the 2001, 2003, and 2004 federal tax acts were timed such that they provide a set of tax changes suitable for identifying permanent effects of taxes on giving. The estimates based on the analysis of families who switch itemization status suggest that secular giving is price elastic, implying that treasury efficiency holds. In contrast, estimates which impose the restrictions facing other datasets suggest a statistically insignificant price elasticity

Generational Succession in American Giving: Donors Down, Dollars Per Donor Holding Steady But Signs That It Is Starting to Slip

Comparing two generations at the same point in their life cycles, four decades apart, indicates that average giving to charitable organizations (not including congregations) by Baby Boom families has remained roughly in line with the level of giving done by the Greatest and Silent generations, but that average giving by GenX and Millennial families is lower. All three generations exhibit the confluence of two divergent trends: lower percentages who give large amounts, but among families who do give large amounts, levels of giving compared with donors in previous generations are similar if not higher. The two divergent trends also characterize giving to religious congregations. Although “dollars per donor holding steady or up” describes Millennial, GenX, and Baby Boom families compared with the Greatest and Silent generations, when the former three generations are compared with each other, there are some indications that average giving among donors is starting to slip

Comunicação mercadológica versus comunicação para transferência de tecnologia na Embrapa: limites e instrumentos.

As mudanças ocorridas no cenário agropecuário brasileiro, especialmente nos últimos 50 anos, propiciaram não apenas a criação e a evolução de instituições para o desenvolvimento do negócio agrícola, mas também a modernização e adequações constantes de áreas como Administração, Economia, Marketing, Comunicação e outras inseridas neste contexto. A Embrapa, empresa que surgiu em 1973, a partir das transformações econômicas, políticas e sociais no campo nas décadas anteriores, também apresentou e apresenta constante adequação, tanto estratégica quanto de gestão. Exemplo disso, são suas diretrizes de atuação ao longo dos anos, apresentadas por meio de seus Planos Diretores e Políticas. A comunicação na Embrapa, em particular, modificou-se sensivelmente, em cerca de 40 anos. Inicialmente pautada no modelo difusionista, realizada por pesquisadores das mais diversas áreas, transformou-se em uma base estratégica, orientada por modalidades estruturadas em objetivos de diferentes naturezas. Este trabalho busca avançar nas discussões sobre a caracterização de duas modalidades apresentadas nas três edições da Política de Comunicação da Embrapa: a Comunicação para Transferência de Tecnologia e a Comunicação Mercadológica. Quais são as práticas vivenciadas ao após o lançamento da primeira edição da política para a Empresa? Quais são os principais processos comunicacionais inerentes a cada modalidade? Essas questões são tratadas nesta monografia, a partir da análise bibliográfica acerca do tema e estudos de casos. Como principais conclusões, identificou-se que os instrumentos de comunicação usados para as ações de cada modalidade podem ser os mesmos, porém, as diferenças cruciais entre estas modalidades estão relacionadas aos objetivos e procedimentos empregados para cada ação a ser desenvolvida.Monografia (Especialização em Gestão da Comunicação) - Instituto CEUB de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento, Centro Universitário de Brasília, Brasília, DF

Pectinolytic activity of Aspergillus section Nigri strains

Pectinases are a heterogeneous group of related enzymes that hydrolyze pectic substances present mostly in plants. Pectinases are produced by plants, fungi, yeasts and bacteria. Filamentous fungi are good producers of pectinolytic enzymes (e.g., exopolygalacturonase (exo-PG) and endopolygalacturonase (endo-PG) and Aspergillus niger is the most commonly used fungal species for industrial production of pectinolytic enzymes. The application of pectinolytic enzymes plays an important role in food technology. In juice production, these enzymes have been used to improve the yield, decrease the viscosity, clarify the juices and make them more stable. In this context, the concept of using filamentous fungi and row and cheaper materials for pectinase production is an important parameter in technological development. In the present study a microplate method was developed for a rapid screening of Aspergillus strains. Fifty-tree strains of Aspergillus section Nigri obtained from the University of Recife Mycology (URM) culture collection and 8 of the Micoteca da Universidade do Minho (MUM) culture collection were used. Orange peel was the unique carbon source in the composition of the culture medium. The samples were incubated at 25 ºC for 120 h. After 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 h the exo-PG and endo-PG were assessed using absorbance colorimetric and decrease in viscosity methods, respectively. The utilization of orange peel allowed the detection of exo-PG and endo-PG activity for all strains studied. The maximum exo-PG and endo-PG activity was obtained by strain URM5162 to the values 4.37 U and 2.13 U, respectively. This method and substrate may be useful to reduce the time for selecting promising strains and in reducing the enzyme production costs. The strain is now being used in a bioreactor and the enzymes and their mechanisms are also under further investigation

Fear of Crime and Victimization in the Federal District: Analyzing the Vulnerabilities of Gender, Age, Race and Income

In this article we analyze the fear of crime and criminal victimization among residents of the Federal District. We will use data from the Distrital Victimization Survey, conducted between 2015 and 2016 by the Public Security Secretariat. We found that the fear only correlates with victimization by theft. As for the profile of people, income proved to be the main determinant of fear and perception of risk and, on the other hand, age is the main determinant of criminal victimization. Gender and race also have a significant impact on determining fear

Dynamics of American Giving: Descriptive Evidence

Almost all of the scientific literature on charitable giving is implicitly based on a static paradigm which posits there are non-donors who never give and donors who habitually give year-in/year-out to a specific charitable purpose. This article presents evidence that charitable giving is not static, but dynamic: Few Americans never give, and among Americans that donate the majority are switchers—giving in some years but not others or switching from one charitable purpose to another. The implications are that a static perspective is misleading, and research questions should place more emphasis on the time dimension of charitable giving