Corporate flat tax reforms and businesses' location choices: evidence from Switzerland

Profit taxation affects corporate investment decisions through several channels. This paper focuses on the impact of corporate income flat tax reforms on businesses' location choices. Since 1990, Swiss states (cantons) have been switching from a graduated to a flat tax rate scheme on profits. The paper assesses the effects of such a reform on the number of establishments by computing a difference-in-differences estimation. Our results show a negative impact on the number of firms in a given jurisdiction. Interestingly, the effect is considerably larger for riskier firms, suggesting the presence of an insurance effect from progressive taxation for risk- averse entrepreneurs

Three essays in applied economics

In the last two decades many countries have proposed structural reforms to decentralize public tasks as well as policy decisions to sub-central jurisdictions. The aim of these reforms, accordingly with the common theoretical arguments, was to produce beneficial effects such as an improved matching between citizens' preferences and policy adoption, an increase in politicians' accountability and a more efficient selection of good officials. Interestingly, these changes have been put in place in both developed countries (e.g., Italy and Spain) and developing countries (e.g., Brazil and South Africa). As a direct consequence, local authorities have assumed an important role in the policy arena given the increased power to impact effectively citizens' welfare. As additional result, these reforms have produced in several countries a condition of partial decentralization, where both lower and upper level jurisdictions are put in a position to affect the final policy decisions. These two effects together draw to evaluations of policies that need to consider more carefully the hierarchical structure of the decision-making process and highlight the existence of potential vertical interactions between governments. This thesis aims at giving a substantial contribution in that direction by studying some of the economical issues that affect local governments policies, taking into account the multi- tiered decision-making system which is nowadays present in many federations and decentralized countries. To do so I provide in my thesis three empirical applications. The first two chapters focus on the effect of direct democratic institutions respectively on local expenditure and expenditure decentralization. They both can be considered part of the recently growing literature often called second generation theory of fiscal federalism, where political incentives are crucial to describe fiscal outcomes in federal systems. Instead, the third chapter deals with the effect of taxation on firms' location choices by emphasizing the role that reforms occurred at the state level might have on local economies

Popularity shocks and political selection

We observe that popularity shocks are crucial for electoral accountability beyond their effects on voters’ behaviors. By focusing on Brazilian politics, we show that the disclosure of audit reports on the (mis)use of federal funds by local administrators affects the type of candidates who stand for election. When the audit finds low levels of corruption, the parties supporting the incumbent select less-educated candidates. On the contrary, parties pick more-educated candidates when the audit reveals a high level of corruption. These effects are stronger in municipalities that have easier access to local media

Abandon ship? Party brands and politicians’ responses to a political scandal

How do politicians react to a political earthquake? In this article, we study politicians’ – rather than voters’ – responses to the main political scandal in Italian recent history (Tangentopoli), and overcome endogeneity concerns by analysing the local implications of this national corruption scandal. We find that local politicians withdraw support for incumbents in parties hit by Tangentopoli – inducing early government terminations in such municipalities. Moreover, politicians in parties hit by the scandal exhibit higher rates of party switching and lower re-running rates. By decreasing the value of the party “brand”, scandals thus become transmitted across politicians and levels of government via partisan cues

Law enforcement, municipal budgets and spillover effects: evidence from a quasi-experiment in Italy

In this paper, I empirically investigate the presence of spillover effects resulting from the strengthening of law enforcement against corruption and organized crime in local governments. Specifically, I take advantage of an Italian law that gives power to the central government to replace democratically elected municipal officials who are potentially connected with mafia with a commission of non-elected administrators. Fixed effects model estimates that focus on a sample of municipalities from three Italian regions (Campania, Calabria and Sicilia) for the period 1998 to 2013 show that the city council dismissal of a municipality fosters a reduction in public investments in neighboring municipalities. Additional empirical evidence suggests that this result could be explained by the presence of law enforcement spillovers potentially reducing misconducts in neighboring municipalities

Popularity shocks and political selection: the effects of anti-corruption audits on candidates quality

We show that the disclosure of information about a government's conduct affects the types of candidates who stand for election. Our empirical test focuses on Brazilian city council elections in 2004 and 2008. The identification strategy exploits the randomness of the timing of the release of audit reports on the (mis)use of federal funds by local governments. We observe that when the audit finds low levels of corruption (i.e., when it represents a positive popularity shock), the parties supporting the incumbent select less-educated candidates. On the contrary, parties pick, on average, more-educated candidates when the audit reveals a high level of corruption (i.e., when it represents a negative popularity shock). These effects are stronger in municipalities that have easier access to local media. Our evidence confirms that parties are strategic players: their decisions are affected by shocks that influence the electoral race

Direct democracy, partial decentralization and voter information: evidence from Swiss municipalities

In this paper I investigate whether changes in the availability of direct democratic institutions in local Swiss jurisdictions affect expenditure decentralization. By using a panel-based difference in differences estimation I find a statistically significant reduction in decentralization when the mandatory fiscal referendum is introduced at the local level. This result is consistent with the proposed theoretical framework. Direct democracy increases citizens' awareness of governments' behavior which eventually affects politicians' electoral incentives. When officials from two different levels of government share the responsibility for the provision of public goods, they find it convenient for electoral purposes to favor expenditures where citizens have the lowest control over government actions

Imaging features of perineural and perivascular spread in rapidly progressive rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis: A case report and brief review of the literature

Background: Rhinocerebral mucormycosis (ROCM) is an opportunistic fungal infection originating from the paranasal sinuses with extension to the brain. A delayed diagnosis can rapidly result in a poor prognosis. ROCM commonly affects patients with diabetes or immunocompromised states with a variable progression. Case description: We report the case of a 59-year old patient with an untreated diabetes who developed a ROCM with rapidly progressive neurological symptoms. From the onset of sinus pain, nasal congestion, he rapidly developed facial swelling and masticatory dysfunction. The patient underwent sinus surgery which allowed Rhizopus oryzae to be isolated. Accordingly, a systemic therapy by intensive intravenous amphotericin B was started. Nevertheless, the infection rapidly resulted in bilateral cavernous sinuses thrombosis and occlusion of the left internal carotid artery providing the subsequent patient death. Conclusion: Mucormycosis is a life-threatening fungal infection in diabetic and/or immunosuppressed patients. Our case demonstrates the three main mechanisms for infection spreading that are direct, perineural, and perivascular diffusion. Clear identification of the main risk factors, proper assessment of clinical features, and radiological findings may improve the chance for an early diagnosis and patient survival

Participatory processes in water governance in Senegal: the case study of the Ecopass project

Giving that participation represents a crucial element in any model of environmental governance today,the article - after describing participatory processes, related to the management of water resources andto the international development cooperation, and introducing water governance in Senegal - deals withthe features of the process implemented by the Ecopas project in four municipalities in the DakarMetropolitan area. The field of application is the governance of environmental resources with a specialfocus on water resources. The participatory processes accompanied all the activities carried out byEcopas and in particular they focused on the development of water and sanitation guidelines, the Atlasof issues and challenges of environmental governance, and the territorial pact for environmentconservation and promotion, which was signed by the municipalities targeted by the project. Theguiding approach was the structured dialogue, which promotes in an organised way the activeparticipation of local communities and Civil Society Organisations (Cso), and their interaction withpolicy makers.Essendo la partecipazione ormai un elemento cruciale in qualsiasi modello di governance ambientale,l'articolo - dopo un'introduzione sui processi partecipativi nella gestione delle risorse idriche e nellacooperazione internazionale allo sviluppo, e sulla governance dell'acqua in Senegal - analizza lemodalità di realizzazione dei processi partecipativi nel campo della governance delle risorse ambientalie in particolare delle risorse idriche, a partire dal progetto Ecopas in quattro comuni della periferia diDakar. I processi partecipativi hanno interessato tutte le attività svolte dal progetto Ecopas ed inparticolare quelle riguardanti lo sviluppo delle linee guida in materia di acqua e servizi igienicosanitari,l'atlante dei temi e delle sfide della governance inclusiva delle risorse ambientali, e il pattoterritoriale per la conservazione e la promozione dell'ambiente firmato dai comuni dell'area diintervento. L'approccio guida utilizzato è quello del dialogo strutturato, che promuove in modoorganizzato la partecipazione attiva delle comunità locali e delle Organizzazioni della Società Civile(Osc) e la loro interazione con i decisori politici