Endogenizing leadership in tax competition: a timing game perspective

In this paper we extend the standard approach of horizontal tax competition by endogenizing the timing of decisions made by the competing jurisdictions. Following the literature on the endogenous timing in duopoly games, we consider a pre-play stage, where jurisdictions commit themselves to more early or late, i.e. to fix their tax rate at a first or second stage. We highlight that at least one jurisdiction experiments a second-mover advantage. We show that the Subgame Perfect Equilibria (SPEs) correspond to the two Stackelberg situations yielding to a coordination problem. In order to solve this issue, we consider a quadratic specification of the production function, and we use two criteria of selection: Pareto-dominance and risk-dominance. We emphasize that at the safer equilibrium the less productive or smaller jurisdiction leads and hence loses the second-mover advantage. If asymmetry among jurisdictions is sufficient, Pareto-dominance reinforces risk-domination in selecting the same SPE. Three results may be deduced from our analysis: (i) the downward pressure on tax rates is less severe than predicted; (ii) the smaller jurisdiction leads; (iii) the 'big-country-higher-tax-rate' rule does not always hold. Classification-JEL: H30, H87, C72.Endogenous timing; tax competition; first/second-mover advantage; strategic complements; stackelberg ; risk dominance.

Methodes en syntaxe M. Gross, Hermann, 1975, 414 pp.

Narcissism, the body and modernity The notion of narcissism is often used and misused within contemporary social theory. Whereas the concept is frequently used in discussions of moral decline and of the negative impact of consumer culture on social character, the aim of this article is instead to put forward a social psychological analysis of narcissism. Goffman’s discussion of the presentation of self in everyday life and Giddens’ theory of self-identity and modernity, are used as points of departure in an analysis of the social psychological aspects of narcissism. The main argument in the article is that it is necessary to study the contextual aspects of the construction of what is often called ”narcissistic disorders”. This implies a change of emphasis from narcissism as a general social and cultural disorder, to more specific analysis of critical situations and critical milieux. The article also contains a discussion of the relation between the ambivalent character of modernity, the cult of the body and narcissism. Examples from the gym culture are used in order to highlight some of the arguments in the article.Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv</p