Impact of tax rate cut cum base broadening reforms on heterogeneous firms: Learning from the German tax reform 2008

The German corporate tax reform of 2008 has brought about important cuts in corporate tax rates, which were at the same time accompanied by significant changes in the determination of the tax base for both major German corporate taxes - corporate income tax and trade tax. The reform followed the distinct and internationally prevalent pattern of tax rate cut cum base broadening. Its implications are thus not unique to Germany. Especially in view of the current economic crisis, questions on the distribution of the tax burden among firms of different characteristics have arisen and still remain at the heart of the academic and political debate in Germany and other countries. In this paper we present a new corporate microsimulation model, ZEW TaxCoMM, which allows for the coherent micro-based analysis of revenue implications of tax reforms and the distribution of tax consequences among heterogeneous firms. The model processes firm-level financial accounting input data and derives the firm specific tax base and tax due endogenously in accordance with the tax code. To smooth out distortions between the sample and the population of German corporations, the sample is extrapolated on the basis of the corporate income tax statistic. The simulation results show inter alia that the average annual relief as measured by the average decline in the effective tax burden on cash flow amounts to 2.8 percentage points for large corporations and to 6 percentage points for small corporations. Furthermore, the results illustrate that firms with low profitability, high debt ratio and high capital intensity benefit least from the reform. As to tax revenues, the reform induced decrease amounts to € 9.8 billion and the trade tax gains fiscally in importance. --tax reform,microsimulation,tax policy evaluation

Impact of tax rate cut cum base broadening reforms on heterogeneous firms: Learning from the German tax reform 2008

The German corporate tax reform of 2008 has brought about important cuts in corporate tax rates, which were at the same time accompanied by significant changes in the determination of the tax base for both major German corporate taxes - corporate income tax and trade tax. The reform followed the distinct and internationally prevalent pattern of tax rate cut cum base broadening. Its implications are thus not unique to Germany. Especially in view of the current economic crisis, questions on the distribution of the tax burden among firms of different characteristics have arisen and still remain at the heart of the academic and political debate in Germany and other countries. In this paper we present a new corporate microsimulation model, ZEW TaxCoMM, which allows for the coherent micro-based analysis of revenue implications of tax reforms and the distribution of tax consequences among heterogeneous firms. The model processes firm-level financial accounting input data and derives the firm specific tax base and tax due endogenously in accordance with the tax code. To smooth out distortions between the sample and the population of German corporations, the sample is extrapolated on the basis of the corporate income tax statistic. The simulation results show inter alia that the average annual relief as measured by the average decline in the effective tax burden on cash flow amounts to 2.8 percentage points for large corporations and to 6 percentage points for small corporations. Furthermore, the results illustrate that firms with low profitability, high debt ratio and high capital intensity benefit least from the reform. As to tax revenues, the reform induced decrease amounts to 9.8 billion and the trade tax gains fiscally in importance. --Tax reform,microsimulation,tax policy evaluation

ZEW Corporate Taxation Microsimulation Model (ZEW TaxCoMM)

Current political discussions in Germany and other European countries illustrate the importance accorded to revenue and distribution effects of tax reforms. Whereas widely recognized concepts of effective tax measures can provide important insights into the incentives of taxation they do not allow robust revenue estimations or distribution analyses. Hence there is need to supplement existing quantitative tax models by approaches apt for these issues of policy analysis. Against this background, this paper puts forward a corporate microsimulation model allowing an ex-ante evaluation of tax reforms with regard to distributional consequences and revenue effects. Central feature of the model is the processing of financial statements included in the DAFNE data base of the Bureau van Dijk. The firm-level data is supplemented by survey data on tax accounting practices. The focus of the paper is on the documentation of the model set-up. Its application will be addressed in future publications. --Microsimulation Model,Corporate Taxation,Policy Analysis,Firm-Level Data

ZEW Corporate Taxation Microsimulation Model (ZEW TaxCoMM)

Current political discussions in Germany and other European countries illustrate the importance accorded to revenue and distribution effects of tax reforms. Whereas widely recognized concepts of effective tax measures can provide important insights into the incentives of taxation they do not allow robust revenue estimations or distribution analyses. Hence there is need to supplement existing quantitative tax models by approaches apt for these issues of policy analysis. Against this background, this paper puts forward a corporate microsimulation model allowing an ex-ante evaluation of tax reforms with regard to distributional consequences and revenue effects. Central feature of the model is the processing of financial statements included in the DAFNE data base of the Bureau van Dijk. The firm-level data is supplemented by survey data on tax accounting practices. The focus of the paper is on the documentation of the model set-up. Its application will be addressed in future publications. --Microsimulation Model,Corporate Taxation,Policy Analysis,Firm-Level Data

Zur Erklärung der Zuwanderungen nach Deutschland: ein Gravitationsmodell

Diese Arbeit untersucht die Wirkung geographischer, sozio-politischer und ökonomi-scher Einflussfaktoren auf die Zuwanderung nach Deutschland. Die komparativ-statische Analyse erfolgt auf Grundlage des Gravitationsmodells für die Jahre 1970, 1981, 1992, 1999 und 2003 mit Hilfe der OLS-Methode. -- This paper examines the influence of geographic, social, political and economic factors on the immigration to Germany. Based on the gravity model of migration we adopt a comparative-static approach and estimate the model for the year 1970, 1981, 1992, 1999 and 2003 with OLS.

A Formal Framework for Strategic Representations and Conceptual Reorganization

In this paper, we introduce a formal language for modeling the structure of strategic representations and operations that conceptualize change on basis of them. Strategic representations are lower dimensional representations of the world, that underlie the understanding of what business environments are, how they may change, and attempts to shape them. We start from discussing known strategic representations like Porter's five forces model or the strategy canvas. We elicit the conceptual structure underlying these representations by capturing them in our formal language. We demonstrate that our formal language can express operations of conceptual change of strategies such as stretching (the extension of value ranges), lifting (deleting dimensions), extending (adding dimensions), amalgamation (enabling new combinations of features by amalgamating different domains), and transferring structure (exploring analogies). These operations can be the basis for strategizing: for seeing possible reorganizations of strategies and even to become aware of new opportunities. We apply these operations to explain classical business cases, including a detailed study of the conceptual structure underling Steve Jobs' digital hub concept. Our formal language is, to our knowledge, the first attempt to capture the variety of conceptual operations underlying strategic change using one comprehensive mode

Männlichkeit…?! : zur Relevanz der Männlichkeitskonstruktion für die Soziale Arbeit am Beispiel häuslicher Gewalt

Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit Männlichkeit. Dabei geht sie der Frage nach, was Männlichkeit ist und definiert diese als gesellschaftliches Konstrukt. Anschliessend wird untersucht, wie die Männlichkeitskonstruktion sich im Feld der häuslichen Gewalt auswirkt, um darauf aufbauend nach der Bedeutung derselben für die Soziale Arbeit zu fragen. Vor dem Hintergrund, dass Geschlecht als zentraler Code die gesellschaftliche Struktur prägt und beeinflusst, werden Funktionsweisen von Männlichkeit betrachtet, da sich Männlichkeit über stetiges Tun und Performen reproduziert. Zudem ist Männlichkeit innerhalb der Gesellschaft hierarchisch geordnet. Da bei Gewalt im Geschlechterverhältnis «Männer» als Täter überrepräsentiert sind, wird der Frage nachgegangen, inwiefern Männlichkeit Gewalttätigkeit verursachen kann, wobei verschiedene Begründungen erörtert werden. Festzustellen ist dabei, dass sich eine starke Identifikation mit Männlichkeit negativ auswirken kann, da die Männlichkeitskonstruktion sehr klare Handlungsanweisungen erfordert und dadurch Handlungsmöglichkeiten verengt und Druck ausübt. Auf der Grundlage der Auswirkungen von Männlichkeit auf Individuen und Gesellschaft wird die Relevanz von Männlichkeit für die Soziale Arbeit erörtert. Um einerseits der professionellen Verantwortung Sozialer Arbeit, Diskriminierung zurückzuweisen gerecht zu werden und andererseits die persönlichen Lebenssituationen der Adressat*innen in ihren geschlechtlichen Existenzweisen besser verstehen zu können, soll sich die Soziale Arbeit mit Geschlechterkonstruktionen auseinandersetzen. Dabei ist gerade die Auseinandersetzung mit Männlichkeit eine vielfach schwierige Herausforderung, da Männlichkeit und Soziale Arbeit in traditioneller Funktionsweise in Widerspruch stehen, weshalb die Zusammenarbeit besonders mit Bedacht gestaltet werden muss, wie am Konzept der dreifachen Entwicklung aufgezeigt wird. So kommt die Arbeit zur Konklusion, dass gerade ein Verständnis über Funktionsweisen von Geschlechtlichkeit und Männlichkeit für die Soziale Arbeit von zentraler Bedeutung ist, um dem eigenen Berufsauftrag gerecht zu werden. Ein allgemeines Grundverständnis und Selbstreflexion von Geschlechterkonstruktionen ist deshalb für Professionelle, wie auch für Adressat*innen der Sozialen Arbeit von grosser Bedeutung. Eine solche Reflexion kann im Sinne der Prävention sogar als Verhinderung von Diskriminierung betrachtet werden

ZEW Corporate Taxation Microsimulation Model (ZEW TaxCoMM)

Current political discussions in Germany and other European countries illustrate the importance accorded to revenue and distribution effects of tax reforms. Whereas widely recognized concepts of effective tax measures can provide important insights into the incentives of taxation they do not allow robust revenue estimations or distribution analyses. Hence there is need to supplement existing quantitative tax models by approaches apt for these issues of policy analysis. Against this background, this paper puts forward a corporate microsimulation model allowing an ex-ante evaluation of tax reforms with regard to distributional consequences and revenue effects. Central feature of the model is the processing of financial statements included in the DAFNE data base of the Bureau van Dijk. The firm-level data is supplemented by survey data on tax accounting practices. The focus of the paper is on the documentation of the model set-up. Its application will be addressed in future publications

Impact of tax rate cut cum base broadening reforms on heterogeneous firms : learning from the German tax reform 2008

The German corporate tax reform of 2008 has brought about important cuts in corporate tax rates, which were at the same time accompanied by significant changes in the determination of the tax base for both major German corporate taxes - corporate income tax and trade tax. The reform followed the distinct and internationally prevalent pattern of tax rate cut cum base broadening. Its implications are thus not unique to Germany. Especially in view of the current economic crisis, questions on the distribution of the tax burden among firms of different characteristics have arisen and still remain at the heart of the academic and political debate in Germany and other countries. In this paper we present a new corporate microsimulation model, ZEW TaxCoMM, which allows for the coherent micro-based analysis of revenue implications of tax reforms and the distribution of tax consequences among heterogeneous firms. The model processes firm-level financial accounting input data and derives the firm specific tax base and tax due endogenously in accordance with the tax code. To smooth out distortions between the sample and the population of German corporations, the sample is extrapolated on the basis of the corporate income tax statistic. The simulation results show inter alia that the average annual relief as measured by the average decline in the effective tax burden on cash flow amounts to 2.8 percentage points for large corporations and to 6 percentage points for small corporations. Furthermore, the results illustrate that firms with low profitability, high debt ratio and high capital intensity benefit least from the reform. As to tax revenues, the reform induced decrease amounts to € 9.8 billion and the trade tax gains fiscally in importance

Dispositivo de lectura de microarrays de tipo eléctrico y reutilizable

Dispositivo de lectura de microarrays de tipo eléctrico y reutilizable. El objeto principal de la presente invención es un dispositivo de lectura eléctrica de microarrays que se puede limpiar y volver a utilizar más de una vez. El dispositivo (1, 1’, 1”) de lectura de microarrays (6) tiene las siguientes partes: una base (2, 2’, 2”), que tiene unos medios de apoyo (3, 3’, 3”) para situar la superficie de test (7) del microarray (6) en paralelo a una superficie de lectura (4) de la base (2, 2’, 2”); una matriz de transductores (5, 5’, 5”), dispuestos sobre la superficie de lectura (4) de la base (2, 2’, 2”), que traducen una variación de una magnitud eléctrica o química en una variación de una magnitud eléctrica; y unos medios de lectura (10), conectados a los transductores (5, 5’, 5”), que interpretan las señales eléctricas de los transductores (5, 5’, 5”).Peer reviewedConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España)A1 Solicitud de patentes con informe sobre el estado de la técnic