The Role of Housing Tax Provisions in the 2008 Financial Crisis

The 2008 financial crisis is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of 1929. It has been characterised by a housing bubble in a context of rapid credit expansion, high risk-taking and exacerbated financial leverage, ending into deleveraging and credit crunch when the bubble burst. This paper discusses the interactions between housing tax provisions and the financial crisis. In particular, it reviews the existing evidence on the links between capital gains taxation of houses, interest mortgage deductibility and characteristics of the crisis.financial crisis, tax policy, housing, interest deductibility, capital gains

Mauro Giuliani (1781 - 1829): Instrumental and Vocal Style in Le Sei Rossiniane

Mauro Giuliani (1781–1829): Instrumental and Vocal Style in Le Sei Rossiniane Abstract Instrumental music that derives from operas of the nineteenth century belongs to a rich tradition based on vocal and instrumental techniques and performing styles that also include a large element of unwritten performance practices and conventions. These include tempo rubato, phrasing, articulation and imitating orchestral instruments. The instrumental performance tradition based on vocal models has been filtered through modern performance practice, however, as modernist aesthetics have prevailed. Mauro Giuliani (1781–1829), in his Sei Rossiniane (opp. 119–124), takes his thematic material from Giaochino Rossini’s most popular and early operas. In the quest to perform these works in a historically informed way one must examine the historical practices that pertain to this repertoire. Understanding the emotional context of the arias from which composers borrow is an important link to conveying the original intention of the music. Whilst there is evidence to suggest that Rossini did not pay close attention to the literal meaning of the libretti in setting them to music, it is significant to be able to grasp the emotional context. This research sets out to investigate Mauro Giuliani’s musical upbringing, influences, performance style and ability to compose in a tasteful way so as to appeal to the mass market of amateurs that desired to have opera music dispersed in their homes. Ideas of instrumentation, voice type, vocal quality and tone colour, keys, tempi and expressive indications can be immediately identified upon perusal of the original aria scores, and provide important clues for guitarists about how to approach the Rossiniane. This research also looks at the specific vocal and guitar techniques that were widely employed at the time and suggests ways in which a modern guitarist performing on a modern classical guitar can try to emulate these techniques for audiences of today. Also included are score excerpts, audio examples and a case study of Giuliani’s arrangement of a Rossini aria in his Rossiniane, “Assisa a piè d’un salice”, from Otello. Keywords: Giuliani, Rossini, Rossiniane, nineteenth century guitar, Garcí

A Comparison of Two Initial Eligibility Rules: Proposition 48 and 16

Two NCAA initial eligibility rules were compared to determine which was more restrictive in terms of the overall number of studnet-athlete sdelcared ineligible to compete and which was more accurate in identifying future graduates. The sample consisteted of 164 freshman student-athletes enrolled at Clarion Univeristy of PA (DIvision II except Division I in wrestling) in 1989. A standard decision table was employed to classify the subjects. The variables studied included high school core GPA, precollege test scores, equally weighted average of GPA and test z-scores, and graduation within a five year period). Athletes who transferred, continued beyond five years, or left in good academic standing were all considered dropouts. Results found Proposition 16, which will be implemented in 1996, to be significantly more resitrctive than Proposition 48, the current rule. The new rule also rejected significantly more future graduates than the current rule, but no other statistically signifcant results were obtained

The tax system and the financial crisis

This paper investigates the effects of the tax system on the economic factors that triggered the financial crisis. We examine three cases in which the tax regime interacted with these factors, reinforcing them. First, we focus on the taxation of residential building: while the importance of capital gains taxes is disputed, the deductibility of mortgage interest may have contributed to the financial crisis by creating some of the raw materials for the securitization industry. Second, a narrow perspective on the tax treatment, together with specific provisions, may have fostered performance-based remuneration of managers, resulting in overemphasis of short-term profitability and incentive to excessive risk-taking. Third, the securitization process, which played a key role in the outbreak of the financial crisis, was accompanied by opportunities for tax arbitrage and reduction of the overall tax wedge paid by investors, through offset of incomes that are ordinarily taxed at different rates; a de facto exemption of CDS premiums received by non-residents supplemented the tax arbitrage.taxation, financial crisis, housing market, stock options, securitization, credit default swaps