Informal sector, productivity, and tax collection

The informal sector is a prominent characteristic of many developing countries. Most of the literature has focused on understanding the determinants of informality. The connection between the informal sector and economic development is, nonetheless, relatively less understood. One of the most important determinants of informality is the tax enforcement quality of a country which, some authors argue, additionally distorts firms' decisions and creates inefficiency. In this paper, I assess the quantitative importance of the effects of incomplete tax enforcement on aggregate output and productivity. I use a dynamic general equilibrium framework to study effects that have received little attention in the literature. I calibrate the model using data for Mexico, an economy where 31% of the employees work in informal establishments. I then investigate the effects of improving enforcement. My main finding is that under complete enforcement, Mexico's labor productivity and output would be 17% higher.Informal Sector, Productivity, tax enforcement, TFP, Heterogeneous plants

The motion of a deformable drop in a second-order fluid

The cross-stream migration of a deformable drop in a unidirectional shear flow of a second-order fluid is considered. Expressions for the particle velocity due to the separate effects of deformation and viscoelastic rheology are obtained. The direction and magnitude of migration are calculated for the particular cases of Poiseuille flow and simple shear flow and compared with experimental data

Loop representation of charged particles interacting with Maxwell and Chern-Simons fields

The loop representation formulation of non-relativistic particles coupled with abelian gauge fields is studied. Both Maxwell and Chern-Simons interactions are separately considered. It is found that the loop-space formulations of these models share significant similarities, although in the Chern-Simons case there exists an unitary transformation that allows to remove the degrees of freedom associated with the paths. The existence of this transformation, which allows to make contact with the anyonic interpretation of the model, is subjected to the fact that the charge of the particles be quantized. On the other hand, in the Maxwell case, we find that charge quantization is necessary in order to the geometric representation be consistent.Comment: 6 pages, improved versio

Petalite as determinant of maximum lithium content of Variscan pegmatites from NW Portugal – paragenetic and geochemical approach

Estudos petrológicos de aplito-pegmatitos Variscos, de tipo LCT, intrusivos em terrenos Silúricos do NW de Portugal, mostraram que o intercrescimento de espodumena + quartzo, em proporção modal 1:2, é persistente em dispositivos texturais circunscritos que podem ser interpretados como agregados miméticos, pseudomórficos após petalite em subsolvus, os quais depois evoluem sujeitos à deformação, metamorfismo e alteração. Cerca de 6 % dos corpos aplito-pegmatíticos que afloram naqueles terrenos, apresentam estes intercrescimentos, ou p etalite primária, a valores de Li2O situados no intervalo de 0,5 a 2,5 %. Uma sistemática químico - mineralógica das fácies analisadas sugere que o valor máximo de 2,5 % de Li2O em rocha total, pode ser considerado uma barreira geoquímica, imposta por um determinante petalítico primário cuja prevalência é balizada pelo equilíbrio com os feldspatos e pela magnitude da alteração argílica e correspondente lixiviação de LiPetrologica l studies of Variscan LCT aplite-pegmatites, hosted in Silurian metamorphic suites in Northwestern Portugal, revealed that the intergrowths of spodumene+quartz, in modal proportions 1:2, is ubiquitous in concealed pegmatite intergrowths, which can be interpreted as mimetic aggregates, pseudomorphic after petalite, that, afterwords, evolve, under changing conditions of metamorphism, deformation and alteration. 6% of the aplite –pegmatite bodies individualized in those Silurian host- rocks show this kind of intergrowths, or primary petalite, at a Li2O range between 0.5 % and 2.5 %. A chemical-mineralogical systematics of the composition data suggests that the maximum value of 2.5 % Li2O, in whole-rock analysis, should be considered a geochemical barrier imposed by a primary petalitic determinant and framed by the equilibrium with feldspars and by the magnitude of argillic alteration and corresponding lithium leaching(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Treatment of bimodality in proficiency test of pH in bioethanol matrix

The pH value in bioethanol is a quality control parameter related to its acidity and to the corrosiveness of vehicle engines when it is used as fuel. In order to verify the comparability and reliability of the measurement of pH in bioethanol matrix among some experienced chemical laboratories, reference material (RM) of bioethanol developed by Inmetro - the Brazilian National Metrology Institute - was used in a proficiency testing (PT) scheme. There was a difference of more than one unit in the value of the pH measured due to the type of internal filling electrolytic solutions (potassium chloride, KCl or lithium chloride, LiCl) from the commercial pH combination electrodes used by the participant laboratories. Therefore, bimodal distribution has occurred from the data of this PT scheme. This work aims to present the possibilities that a PT scheme provider can use to overcome the bimodality problem. Data from the PT of pH in bioethanol were treated by two different statistical approaches: kernel density model and the mixture of distributions. Application of these statistical treatments improved the initial diagnoses of PT provider, by solving bimodality problem and contributing for a better performance evaluation in measuring pH of bioethanol.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in Accreditation and Quality Assurance (ACQUAL

Kinetic modelling of epitaxial film growth with up- and downward step barriers

The formation of three-dimensional structures during the epitaxial growth of films is associated to the reflection of diffusing particles in descending terraces due to the presence of the so-called Ehrlich-Schwoebel (ES) barrier. We generalize this concept in a solid-on-solid growth model, in which a barrier dependent on the particle coordination (number of lateral bonds) exists whenever the particle performs an interlayer diffusion. The rules do not distinguish explicitly if the particle is executing a descending or an ascending interlayer diffusion. We show that the usual model, with a step barrier in descending steps, produces spurious, columnar, and highly unstable morphologies if the growth temperature is varied in a usual range of mound formation experiments. Our model generates well-behaved mounded morphologies for the same ES barriers that produce anomalous morphologies in the standard model. Moreover, mounds are also obtained when the step barrier has an equal value for all particles independently if they are free or bonded. Kinetic roughening is observed at long times, when the surface roughness w and the characteristic length $\xi$ scale as $w ~ t^\beta$ and $\xi ~ t^\zeta$ where $\beta \approx 0.31$ and $\zeta \approx 0.22$, independently of the growth temperature.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

Tax collection, the informal sector, and productivity

Some authors argue that informality is associated with distorted firm decisions and inefficiency. In this paper, I assess the quantitative effect of incomplete tax enforcement on aggregate output and productivity using a dynamic general equilibrium framework. I calibrate the model using data for Mexico and investigate the effects of introducing enforcement improvements. Under complete enforcement, labor productivity and output would be 19% higher under perfect competition and 34% higher under monopolistic competition. The source of this gain is the removal of distortions induced by incomplete enforcement of taxes which affect the economy in three ways: by reducing the capital-labor ratios of informal establishments; by allowing low-productive entrepreneurs to enter; and by misallocating resources towards low-productive establishments. I isolate the effects of pure factor misallocation, distorted occupational choices, capital accumulation, and complementarities