Tax reforms to influence corporate financial policy: the case of the Italian business tax reform of 1997-98

In this paper company-level panel data are used to explore the role of tax changes on corporate financial policy. A panel model for the years 1993-98 is estimated confirming the explanatory power of the tax variable. The estimation also shows that firms reduced leverage in the last three years (1996-98) as a reaction to important tax changes; the reduction in 1996 was the effect of the temporary investment tax credit of the previous year, while the one in 1997-98 was the result of the business tax reform started in 1997. The reform, by modifying the system for taxing profits, termed Dual income Tax (DIT), and introducing a new regional tax on business activity (IRAP), reduced the bias against equity finance that was present in the previous tax system. Focusing on the reform, a Logit model is estimated to highlight the characteristics of firms that used the DIT tax system in the first two years. The probability of using the DIT increases with profitability, productivity and investment. The significance of the latter variable suggests that the DIT system was used by firms to reduce the cost of financing new investments after the temporary investment tax credit of 1995.corporate taxation, corporate financial policy, tax reform

Economic developments in the Italian regions in 2006

The Economy of the Italian Regions in the year 2006 analyzes the evolution of production, labour market, financial aggregates and regional public finances in the four main Italian territorial areas. Topics analyzed focus on structural change in the Italian economy; trends in Mezzogiorno's exports; the evolution of local markets for university-level education after the introduction of a three-year degree; and the composition of households' financial assets and liabilities. Also examined are regional regulation in the commerce sector and the management of local public transportation. Two final points of focus relate to local public finances: the degree of regional taxation flexibility, and the main peculiarities of the five special statute regions.Italian Regions, Economic Developments

A Twin Spiral Planar Antenna for UWB Medical Radars

A planar-spiral antenna to be used in an ultrawideband (UWB) radar system for heart activity monitoring is presented. The antenna, named “twin,” is constituted by two spiral dipoles in a compact structure. The reflection coefficient at the feed point of the dipoles is lower than −8 dB over the 3–12 GHz band, while the two-dipoles coupling is about −20 dB. The radiated beam is perpendicular to the plane of the spiral, so the antenna is wearable and it may be an optimal radiator for a medical UWB radar for heart rate detection. The designed antenna has been also used to check some hypotheses about the UWB radar heart activity detection mechanism. The radiation impedance variation, caused by the thorax vibrations associated with heart activity, seems to be the most likely explanation of the UWB radar operation

Tax revenue and the macroeconomic framework in Italy

The performance of tax receipts in Italy during the period 1978-2006 is analysed through the relationship between the growth of revenue and the evolution of the macroeconomic framework. Series of actual tax receipts are adjusted to take account of discretionary measures, transformed into implicit tax rates, and then broken down into the structural components. A regression analysis of the trend element shows that the performance of tax revenue depends not only on the main variables used in forecasting models, but also on a number of factors, some of which (interest rates, oil prices, the output gap, and inflation) have a direct impact on implicit tax rates. Other factors (the share of profits of banks and listed companies, the proportion of energy consumption in total spending, and purchases of durable goods) indirectly effect the incidence of taxation by causing shifts in the tax base among sectors with different opportunities for tax evasion.tax receipts, discretionary measures, breakdown into structural components

Multidisciplinary surgical management of Cowden syndrome: report of a case

Cowdenâ s Syndrome (CS) is a rare congenital autosomal dominant disorder that affects around 1/200000 patients with an incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity, characterized by alterations in a tumor suppressor gene. A 14-year-old Caucasian male patient came to the attention of the authors complaining of palm nodules, gingival bleeding and painful pedunculated lesions on the lips and on the labial side of anterior sextants. After genetic investigation the final diagnosis of a Cowden Syndrome was made. The lesions were surgically removed under general anesthesia and no clinical signs of recurrence were found three months after surgical excision. Considering the severe symptoms of the syndrome and the strong tendency to malignant development of the associated lesions all clinicians should focus their efforts to the early diagnosis and, when possible, multidisciplinary treatment

Tomografia por impedância elétrica e seus possíveis usos na agropecuária.

bitstream/CNPDIA/10189/1/PA26_98.pd

A Relationship between bruxism and orofacial-dystonia? A trigeminal electrophysiological approach in a case report of pineal cavernoma

Background: In some clinical cases, bruxism may be correlated to central nervous system hyperexcitability, suggesting that bruxism may represent a subclinical form of dystonia. To examine this hypothesis, we performed an electrophysiological evaluation of the excitability of the trigeminal nervous system in a patient affected by pineal cavernoma with pain symptoms in the orofacial region and pronounced bruxism. Methods: Electrophysiological studies included bilateral electrical transcranial stimulation of the trigeminal roots, analysis of the jaw jerk reflex, recovery cycle of masseter inhibitory reflex, and a magnetic resonance imaging study of the brain. Results: The neuromuscular responses of the left- and right-side bilateral trigeminal motor potentials showed a high degree of symmetry in latency (1.92 ms and 1.96 ms, respectively) and amplitude (11 mV and 11.4 mV, respectively), whereas the jaw jerk reflex amplitude of the right and left masseters was 5.1 mV and 8.9 mV, respectively. The test stimulus for the recovery cycle of masseter inhibitory reflex evoked both silent periods at an interstimulus interval of 150 ms. The duration of the second silent period evoked by the test stimulus was 61 ms and 54 ms on the right and left masseters, respectively, which was greater than that evoked by the conditioning stimulus (39 ms and 35 ms, respectively). Conclusions: We found evidence of activation and peripheral sensitization of the nociceptive fibers, the primary and secondary nociceptive neurons in the central nervous system, and the endogenous pain control systems (including both the inhibitory and facilitatory processes), in the tested subject. These data suggest that bruxism and central orofacial pain can coexist, but are two independent symptoms, which may explain why numerous experimental and clinical studies fail to reach unequivocal conclusions.</br