Raising revenue with transaction taxes in Latin america - or is it better to tax with the devil you know?

In recent years, various Latin American governments have resorted to taxes on bank debits and financial transactions as alternative ways of raising revenue. Considerable interest has developed in understanding the consequences of such reforms. The author constructs a dynamic general equilibrium model to assess the size of distortions and other quantitative implications associated with a transaction tax. The distinctive feature of the model is the non-neutrality property of the tax in the sense that it distorts the structure of relative prices of intermediate transactions, giving rise to tax"pyramidation."The effective tax rate ultimately borne by the economy is shown to depend on the complexity of the transaction structure. Calibrated for Latin America, the model finds that, contrary to existing evidence and conventional wisdom, a transaction tax is not a particularly burdensome levy in terms of economic growth and efficiency costs. The model also shows that if a government can credibly commit itself to an announced two-step reform in which it first uses a transaction tax temporarily and then replaces it with any other conventional tax, this policy will improve economic welfare relative to a tax reform where a consumption tax (or a labor income tax or a capital earnings tax) is exclusively used from the start to raise the required additional revenue.Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Growth

Fiscal space for investment in infrastructure in Colombia

For the evaluation of macroeconomic policies Colombian authorities rely heavily, if not exclusively, on the operational framework known as the Financial Programming Model developed by the International Monetary Fund in the 1950s. Based on this static framework, the formulation of fiscal policy in the country, just as in various Latin American countries, focuses primarily on fiscal deficit and gross debt targets. However, the type of fiscal policy advice derived from it is not useful for understanding the asset-creating nature and the inter-temporal tradeoffs involved in public investment decisions. The author develops a perfect foresight, dynamic small open economy model to provide an alternative framework for fiscal analysis and policy purposes. He shows that the two competing frameworks deliver differing paths for the expected behavior of the Colombian economy. He then uses the proposed framework to study the likely consequences of using public capital spending to achieve deficit targets since, in addition to an already high public debt, in the years ahead unfunded pension obligations will put enormous pressure on the Colombian government's solvency. The results indicate that public capital compression is costly in terms of foregone growth and very ineffective in achieving fiscal consolidation. The adoption of fiscal rules such as the golden rule or the permanent balance rule to shield public investment from undue budgetary pressures makes little sense in the presence of sustainability concerns. The author shows that a transitory capital spending increase is not self-amortizing in the long run; hence an extra peso of public capital spending deteriorates the inter-temporal fiscal position. A permanent increase largely pays for itself in terms of additional tax revenue but this effect is offset by a deterioration of infrastructure user charges, as long as public prices are determined competitively.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Stabilization

Occupational Choice and Academic Planning in the Colombia-Venezuela Union of Seventh-day Adventists : a Needs Assessment

Problem. In Colombia and Venezuela the number of students demanding higher education commonly surpasses the capacity of their educational systems. Furthermore, the academic programs may not match the occupational needs of the region. When academic planning occurs without systematic needs assessment, resources are wasted and graduates are ill prepared tor the labor market. The Subjects. The subjects included senior high-school students attending SDA institutions, teachers serving those schools, the students’ parents/representatives, school and church administrators, and SDA members within Colombia and Venezuela. The Method. A design for needs assessment was developed upon the implementation of a Data Flow Diagram (DFD) as used in systems analysis to design pertinent computer programs. Using this design, information was secured from a variety of sources to provide approaches for academic planning in the Colombia-Venezuela Union. Findings. 1. Occupation preferences of sample SDA respondents matched the preferences of each country\u27s larger population; differences in preferences were observed between the two countries. 2. Significant positive correlations were observed in the occupational preferences of adult groups-parents, teachers, and administrators. 3. Occupational preferences of adult groups, failed to match career preparation provided for in the master plan of Corporacion Universitaria Adventista. 4. Occupation preferences of students and adult groups were only partially compatible with the officially documented needs of the labor market. 5. In both countries students tended to prefer careers related to technology. Preferences for social areas were more prevalent in Venezuela, artistic areas in Colombia, but neither was strong. 6. Occupational preferences of students failed to realistically consider their financial capacity to participate in career-preparation programs. Conclusions. 1. The Colombia-Venezuela Union of Seventh-day Adventists should examine its Educational program offering to address the needs and opportunities of the labor market. 2. Students’ occupational preferences matched the traditional and frequently irrelevant preferences of their adult counterparts. 3. CUA Academic Master Plan needs to be re-designed to reflect current and future demands of the labor market. 4. Administrative involvement is crucial in securing institutional commitment to the needs-assessment process. Implications. The Educational system of the Colombia-Venezuela Union should be revised to reduce mismatch between traditional offerings and the growing demands of a developing society. Needs assessment may assist in reducing the gap between academic training and the labor market

The size and effectiveness of automatic fiscal stabilizers in Latin America

This paper measures the size of automatic fiscal revenue stabilizers and evaluates their role in Latin America. It introduces a relatively rich tax structure into a dynamic, stochastic, multi-sector small open economy inhabited by rule-of-thumb consumers (who consume their wages and do not save or borrow) and Ricardian households to study the stabilizing properties of different parameters of the tax code. The economy faces multiple sources of business cycle fluctuations: (1) world capital market shocks; (2) world business cycle shocks; (3) terms of trade shocks; (4) government spending shocks; and (5) nontradable and (6) tradable sector technology innovations. Calibrating the model economy to a typical Latin American economy allows the evaluation of its ability to mimic the region's observed business cycle frequency properties and the assessment of the quantitative relationship between tax code parameters, business cycle forcing variables, and business cycle behavior. The model captures many of the salient features of Latin America's business cycle facts and finds that the degree of smoothing provided by the automatic revenue stabilizers-described by various properties of the tax system-is negligible. Simulation results seem to suggest an invariance property for middle-income countries: the amplitude of the business cycle is independent of the tax structure. And government size-measured by the GDP ratio of government spending-plays the role of an automatic stabilizer, but its smoothing effect is very weak.Economic Theory&Research,Fiscal Adjustment,Economic Stabilization,Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations and Local Finance Management,Inequality

A linguagem expositiva e o modo como se apresenta no jardim botânico do Rio de Janeiro

SIAM. Series Iberoamericanas de Museología. Año 3, Vol.

Los alabastros medievales ingleses y la iconografía jacobea: algunas piezas singulares

In this paper some items made in alabaster will be analyzed in order to review the iconography of the Apostle St. James the Greater. Most of these artworks have been kept in religious institutions or Spanish collections but they were made in England, during a period of splendor that took place from mid 14th century to the first decades of the 16th century. These pieces were made in a production line style, so they often repeat the same models, with very few differences. Even so, they are pieces of great beauty which were very appreciated by devotees and collectors in the past and still today.A partir del análisis de varias piezas de alabastro conservadas en nuestro país, o que en algún momento han pertenecido a instituciones religiosas o colecciones españolas, se estudia la iconografía del Apóstol Santiago en la vasta producción de alabastros ingleses que tuvo su periodo de esplendor desde mediados del s. XIV hasta las primeras décadas del s. XVI. Se trata de piezas producidas de manera casi industrial, a menudo siguiendo modelos que se repiten con escasas variantes, pero no por ello dejan de ser piezas de gran belleza que despertaron el interés de devotos y coleccionistas en el pasado y lo siguen haciendo hoy día

Simulation of industrial power consumption with electric energy storage

Este proyecto fin de carrera se basa en el desarrollo de un modelo para la simulación del consumo eléctrico de una empresa de ámbito industrial. Para proveer la carga eléctrica se dispone de la red eléctrica, una batería, un sistema de cogeneración y una entrada para potencia de un sistema solar. Matlab es el programa elegido para dicha simulación, utilizando mayoritariamente el entorno de programación visual “Simulink", que funciona bajo la plataforma de Matlab. Se ha hecho especial hincapié en la elaboración de un bloque de funciones donde, mediante lenguaje de programación, quedan expuestos los aspectos más importantes de la simulación. También se han creado varios scripts gracias a los cuales se pueden introducir datos al programa, inicializar el modelo y mostrar los gráficos y datos sobre los resultados de la simulación. El objetivo de la simulación es facilitar al usuario un balance económico, evaluando diferentes opciones en lo referente al dimensionado de la bateria y del sistema de cogeneración, con el fin de seleccionar la alternativa más rentable y eficiente. A partir de los resultados de las simulaciones se puede concluir que, para una empresa de ámbito industrial invertir dinero en la compra de una batería para evitar picos de potencia no resultaría una solución económica dado que el tiempo de amortización de la batería estaría en el rango de 45-60 años para una batería de Flujo Redox.The present project is based on developing a model in order to simulate the power consumption of a company in an industrial environment. The grid, a battery, a cogeneration system and a solar power input are used to provide the electric load. Matlab is the program chosen for that purpose, mainly using the visual programming environment "Simulink" which works under Matlab platform. It has particular emphasis on the development of a function block which, through programming language, comprises the most important aspects of the simulation. Furthermore, several scripts have been created through which the user can enter manually data into the program, initialize the model and display the graphs and data on the results of the simulation. The simulation aims at giving the user an economic balance, evaluate different options with regard to the size of battery and cogeneration system, in order to select the most profitable and efficient alternative. On the basis of the simulation results obtained, it can be concluded that, in the industrial sector, the investment of a battery is no an economic solution, because the return of investment time by saving grid power cost is in the range of 45-60 years, for a Redox Flow Battery.Ingeniería IndustrialIndustria Ingeniaritz

Las sirenas medievales: aproximación literaria e iconográfica.

Sin resume