How Much Do Taxes Discourage Incorporation.

One of the most basic distortions created by the double taxation of corporate income is the disincentive to incorporate. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which the aggregate allocation of assets and taxable income in the U.S. between corporate vs. noncorporate forms of organization during the period 1959-86 has responded to the size of the tax distortion discouraging firms from incorporating. In theory, profitable firms should shift out of the corporate sector when the tax distortion to incorporating is larger, and conversely for firms with tax losses. Our empirical results provide strong support for these theoretical forecasts, and hold consistently across a wide variety of specifications and measures of the tax variables. Measured effects are small, however, throwing doubt on the economic importance of tax-induced changes in organizational form.

Why Is There Corporate Taxation In a Small Open Economy? The Role of Transfer Pricing and Income Shifting

Several recent papers argue that corporate income taxes should not be used by small, open economies. With capital mobility, the burden of the tax falls on fixed factors (e.g., labor), and the tax system is more efficient if labor is taxed directly. However, corporate taxes not only exist but rates are roughly comparable with the top personal tax rates. Past models also forecast that multinationals should not invest in countries with low corporate tax rates, since the surtax they owe when profits are repatriated puts them at a competitive disadvantage. Yet such foreign direct investment is substantial. We suggest that the resolution of these puzzles may be found in the role of income shifting, both domestic (between the personal and corporate tax bases) and cross-border (through transfer pricing). Countries need cash-flow corporate taxes as a backstop to labor taxes to discourage individuals from converting their labor income into otherwise untaxed corporate income. We explore how these taxes can best be modified to deal as well with cross-border shifting.

System Design, User Cost and Electronic Usage of Journals

Dramatic increases in the capabilities and decreases in the costs of computers and communication networks have fomented revolutionary thoughts in the scholarly publishing community. In one dimension, traditional pricing schemes and product packages are being modified or replaced. We designed and undertook a large-scale field experiment in pricing and bundling for electronic access to scholarly journals: PEAK. We provided Internet-based delivery of content from 1200 Elsevier Science journals to users at multiple campuses and commercial facilities. Our primary research objective was to generate rich empirical evidence on user behavior when faced with various bundling schemes and price structures. In this article we explain the different types and levels of cost that users faced when accessing individual articles, and report on the effect of these costs on usage. We found that both monetary and non-monetary user costs have a significant impact on the demand for electronic access. We also estimate how taking user costs into account would change the optimal (least cost) bundle of access options that an institution should purchase.

Economic FAQs About the Internet

This is a set of Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) about the economic, institutional, and technological structure of the Internet. We describe the history and current state of the Internet, discuss some of the pressing economic and regulatory problems, and speculate about future developments.Internet, telecommunications, congestion pricing, National Information Infrastructure

Effects of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 on Corporate Financial Policy and Organizational Form

We examine the effects of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 on the financial decisions made by firms. We review the theory and empirical predictions of prior literature for corporate debt policy, for dividend and equity repurchase payouts to shareholders, and for the choice of organizational form. We then compare the predictions to post-1986 experience. The change in debt/value ratios has been substantially smaller than expected. Dividend payouts increased as predicted, but stock repurchases increased even more rapidly which was unexpected and is difficult to understand. Based on very scant data, it appears that some activities have shuffled among organizational forms; in particular, loss activities may have been moved into corporate form where they are deducted at a higher tax rate, while gain activities may have shifted towards noncorporate form, to be taxed at the lower personal rates. In addition, several interesting new issues are raised. One concerns previously neglected implications for the effective tax on retained earnings that follow from optimal trading strategies when long- and short-term capital gains are taxed at different rates. Also, new interest allocation rules for multinational corporations provide a substantial incentive for many firms to shift their borrowing abroad.

Young people and housing: identifying the key issues

The housing experiences of young people are a contemporary global concern, with the exacerbation of young people's housing problems in many countries reported widely in the media and raising important policy questions. In response, this special issue of the International Journal of Housing Policy presents new empirical research from Europe and East Asia and seeks to identify key areas for improvement in national housing policies. This editorial summarises the main housing issues identified in the special issue articles and identifies the emergence of two cross-cutting policy challenges. The first challenge is to ensure all young people have an equal opportunity to leave the family home and live independently. This will require a much greater awareness of the political, economic and cultural forces restricting young people's transitions. The second key policy challenge is to improve the suitability and availability of housing for young people, with studies in this special issue specifically pointing towards an improved private rented sector and further provision of shared housing. Articles in this special issue indicate that a failure to respond to these significant housing policy challenges will have wide reaching social and economic consequences

The Role of Responsive Pricing in the Internet

The Internet continues to evolve as it reaches out to a wider user population. The recent introduction of user-friendly navigation and retrieval tools for the World Wide Web has triggered an unprecedented level of interest in the Internet among the media and the general public, as well as in the technical community. It seems inevitable that some changes or additions are needed in the control mechanisms used to allocate usage of Internet resources. In this paper, we argue that a feedback signal in the form of a variable price for network service is a workable tool to aid network operators in controlling Internet traffic. We suggest that these prices should vary dynamically based on the current utilization of network resources. We show how this responsive pricing puts control of network service back where it belongs: with the users.Internet, pricing, feedback, networks

Presence and Use of Designated Charging Stations for Electronic Devices in Academic Libraries: An Exploratory Study

This article reports the results of an exploratory survey of academic librarians, to determine the presence and use of charging stations for electronic devices. Of particular interest were the institutions that provide and/or require their students to have electronic devices. Results show that institutions without charging stations have identified them as a need, and institutions with charging stations see them as effective. Overall, this article highlights that, at the time of the survey, there was a disparity between users’ needs and institutional resources as few institutions were addressing students’ battery power needs in regards to electronic devices. Conducted in 2013, the information from this survey continues to be relevant to libraries considering installing charging stations for electronic devices

The who, how and why of Facebook use : the relationship between level of use and the big five personality traits

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between personality traits and level of Facebook use. It was hypothesized that certain personality characteristics such as extraversion and low levels of conscientiousness would be more strongly correlated with higher levels of Facebook use. In addition, the study explored whether agreeableness and openness were significantly correlated to use/non-use of the site as had been found in previous research. Data was collected using an online survey, which included questions regarding demographic criterion, the Big Five Personality Inventory, whether participants utilized Facebook and if so how frequently, and what their reasons were for either using or not using the site. Results demonstrated no significant relationship between any of the five personality traits and level of Facebook use; however, differences in use were found according to age and gender. These findings were similar to some of the work of past researchers, which contributes to the exploration about the nature of the interconnectedness between technology and the psychological self

A MORPHOMETRIC STUDY OF MAXILLARY POST CANINE DENTITION IN AUSTRALOPITHECUS AFRICANUS FROM STERKFONTEIN, SOUTH AFRICA: ONE SPECIES OR TWO?

The objective of this study was to examine whether the premolars and molars found at Sterkfontein Sts Mbr. 4 and StW Mbr. 5 are morphometrically similar to the degree that all individuals could belong to the same species, A. africanus. Mesial-distal (MD) and buccal-lingual (BL) measurements were obtained from maxillary premolars (P3 and P4) and molars (M1, M2, and M3) of Homo, Pan, and Gorilla, and compared to their counterparts attributed to A. africanus from Sterkfontein. Specimen samples were statistically analyzed using univariate and multivariate analyses. The results support the acceptance of the null hypothesis, indicating that the dental remains from Sts Mbr. 4 and StW Mbr 5 are from the same species