Determinants of Tax Effort: A Cross Country Analysis

This paper analyzes the determinants of tax effort. Tax effort is defined as the aggregate tax level of a country divided by its Gross Domestic Product. A country‘s tax effort is an expression of the tax burden the government imposes on the economy. One of the most fundamental issues confronting a society is the size of the governmental sector. How large should the government be relative to the size of the economy? The nations of the world have crafted many different answers to that question as evidenced by the fact that tax effort and the size of government sectors varies widely. At the low tax extreme countries such as Guatemala can have tax efforts as low as ten percent of GDP while at the other extreme high tax countries such as Sweden have tax efforts in excess of fifty percent of GDP (World Bank 2010). While part of the variation in tax effort and the size of government among countries has been explained, much remains unexplained. The extent to which national cultural attributes as determined by Hofstede (2005) and the World Values Survey (2010) affect total tax levels is explored in this paper. In other words, this paper answers the question: does culture affect total tax effort and the size of the governmental sector? This research contributes to the literature by explaining more of the difference in tax effort among nations and by expanding our understanding of why some countries are high tax states and others are low tax states

Fairgoers’ Attitudes Toward Youth Livestock Exhibits at the California State Fair

Developing public and policy maker understanding of agriculture and natural resources is a national research priority of the American Association for Agricultural Education. Because of cultural and geographic distancing from agriculture, consumers\u27 ability to obtain firsthand knowledge of agriculture may be limited to a handful of experiences including local, county, and state fairs. As such, agriculturalists\u27 opportunities to communicate with the public about production agriculture may be limited to these experiences. Youth livestock exhibitors fill a gap in the agricultural education system. While a body of research exists about agricultural literacy among youth and adult groups, few studies exist concerning the impact of youth livestock show exhibits upon fairgoers. This study employed a survey research method using semantic differential scales with a then-now approach. Fairgoers, who had been through the youth livestock exhibits at the California State Fair, were asked about their attitudes toward the exhibits. Findings led to the conclusion viewing livestock exhibits and interacting with youth exhibitors resulted in fairgoers having more positive attitudes toward animal agriculture. Interaction between fairgoers and livestock exhibits should be encouraged and exhibitors should be prepared to view interactions with fairgoers as opportunities to educate about agriculture

\u3cem\u3eDrosophila Unpaired\u3c/em\u3e Encodes a Secreted Protein that Activates the JAK Signaling Pathway

In vertebrates, many cytokines and growth factors have been identified as activators of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway. In Drosophila, JAK and STAT molecules have been isolated, but no ligands or receptors capable of activating the pathway have been described. We have characterized the unpaired (upd) gene, which displays the same distinctive embryonic mutant defects as mutations in the Drosophila JAK (hopscotch) and STAT (stat92E) genes. Upd is a secreted protein, associated with the extracellular matrix, that activates the JAK pathway. We propose that Upd is a ligand that relies on JAK signaling to stimulate transcription of pair-rule genes in a segmentally restricted manner in the early Drosophila embryo

Monoclonal Antibody to a 35 kD Epidermal Protein Induces Cell Detachment

A murine monoclonal antibody (ECS-1) was prepared from BALB/c mice immunized with trypsinized cultured human foreskin keratinocytes. The antibody showed a pattern suggestive of intercellular staining on the nucleated layers of normal human epidermis, adult palm, mouse lip epidermis, and cultured human keratinocytes. ECS-1 stained human fetal skin by 9 weeks estimated gestational age. ECS-1 reacted with a 35 kD protein extracted from neonatal foreskin epidermis and cultured human keratinocytes. The protein required Nonidet P-40 or sodium dodecyl sulfate and mercaptoethanol for solubilization. ECS-1 induced epidermal cell detachment which was enhanced by complement. ECS- 1 shares characteristics with human pemphigus antibodies

Insertional gene synthesis, a novel method of assembling consecutive DNA sequences within specific sites in plasmids. Construction of the HIV-1 tat gene.

The construction of the HIV-1 tat gene using a novel method termed insertional gene synthesis (IGS) is described. IGS is used to assemble a gene or any DNA sequence in a stepwise manner within a plasmid containing a single stranded DNA phage origin of replication. The IGS method is based upon consecutive targeted insertions of long DNA oligonucleotides (greater than 100 bases) within the plasmid by oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis. IGS therefore involves synthesis of only a few oligonucleotides corresponding to one strand of a gene. Furthermore, the gene is synthesized directly adjacent to bacterial gene regulatory sequences for direct expression. Using this approach, the 261 bp tat gene was assembled in three successive cycles adjacent to the lac promoter in the pEMBL-derivative, pKH125. The 15 kD tat protein was produced from this synthetic gene in E. coli upon IPTG induction. However, it was necessary to tightly control the expression of tat by including the lac I gene directly within the tat expression vector

Sea Urchin FGFR Muscle-Specific Expression: Posttranscriptional Regulation in Embryos and Adults

AbstractWe have shown previously byin situhybridization that a gene encoding a fibroblast growth factor receptor (SpFGFR) is transcribed in many cell types during the initial phases of sea urchin embryogenesis (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) (McCoonet al., J. Biol. Chem. 271,20119–20195, 1996). Here we demonstrate by immunostaining with affinity-purified antibody that SpFGFR protein is detectable only in muscle cells of the embryo and appears at a time suggesting that its function is not in commitment to a muscle fate, but instead may be required to support the proliferation, migration, and/or differentiation of myoblasts. Surprisingly, we find thatSpFGFRtranscripts are enriched in embryo nuclei, suggesting that lack of processing and/or cytoplasmic transport in nonmuscle cells is at least part of the posttranscriptional regulatory mechanism. Western blots show that SpFGFR is also specifically expressed in adult lantern muscle, but is not detectable in other smooth muscle-containing tissues, including tube foot and intestine, or in coelomocytes, despite the presence ofSpFGFRtranscripts at similar concentrations in all these tissues. We conclude that in both embryos and adults, muscle-specific SpFGF receptor synthesis is controlled primarily at a posttranscriptional level. We show by RNase protection assays that transcripts encoding the IgS variant of the ligand binding domain of the receptor, previously shown to be enriched in embryo endomesoderm fractions, are the predominant, if not exclusive,SpFGFRtranscripts in lantern muscle. Together, these results suggest that only a minority ofSpFGFRtranscripts are processed, exported, and translated in both adult and embryonic muscle cells and these contain predominantly, if not exclusively, IgS ligand binding domain sequences

Drosophila unpaired encodes a secreted protein that activates the JAK signaling pathway

In vertebrates, many cytokines and growth factors have been identified as activators of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway. In Drosophila, JAK and STAT molecules have been isolated, but no ligands or receptors capable of activating the pathway have been described. We have characterized the unpaired (upd) gene, which displays the same distinctive embryonic mutant defects as mutations in the Drosophila JAK (hopscotch) and STAT (stat92E) genes. Upd is a secreted protein, associated with the extracellular matrix, that activates the JAK pathway. We propose that Upd is a ligand that relies on JAK signaling to stimulate transcription of pair-rule genes in a segmentally restricted manner in the early Drosophila embryo