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on Accounting and Auditing |
| By: | Ramb, Fred |
| Abstract: | This study is the first empirical analysis to investigate the relationship between the investment behaviour of firms resident in Germany and the empirically determined marginal tax rates developed by John R. Graham. It is based on the Bundesbank's corporate balance sheet statistics for the period 1971-2002. In an autoregressive distributed lag model, the marginal tax rate is shown to be significant, with an elasticity of between 0.1 and 0.2. An error correction model does not produce any plausible results for the marginal tax rate. Graham's marginal tax rates are a complement to the methods typically used to determine the effective marginal tax rates and effective average tax rates. |
| Keywords: | Corporate marginal tax rate, tax loss carryforward, investment behaviour |
| JEL: | D21 H25 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdp1:6142&r=acc |
| By: | Mario Jametti (Department of Economics, York University); Marius Brülharty (University of Lausanne) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of tax competition on equilibrium taxes and welfare, focusing on the jurisdictional fragmentation of federations. In a representative-agent model of fiscal federalism, fragmentation among jurisdictions with benevolent tax-setting authorities unambiguously reduces welfare. If, however, tax-setting authorities pursue revenue maximization, fragmentation, by pushing down equilibrium tax rates, may under certain conditions increase citizen welfare. We exploit the highly decentralized and heterogeneous Swiss fiscal system as a laboratory for the estimation of these e¤ects. While for purely direct-democratic jurisdictions (which we associate with benevolent tax setting) we find that tax rates increase in fragmentation, fragmentation has a moderating e¤ect on the tax rates of jurisdictions with some degree of delegated government. Our results thereby support the view that tax competition can be second-best welfare enhancing by constraining the scope for public-sector revenue maximization. |
| Keywords: | tax competition,optimal taxation,government preferences,fiscal federalism,direct democracy |
| JEL: | H2 H7 D7 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yca:wpaper:2007_7&r=acc |
| By: | Waldo Tapia; Juan Yermo |
| Abstract: | In individual account pension systems, members bear the risks and consequences of their investment decisions. If participants behave as predicted by economic theory, such responsibility would be welfare-enhancing as members would invest and hold a portfolio of financial assets with a risk-return combination consistent with their investment horizon, degree of risk aversion and the portfolio of other assets they hold, including their human capital and, where relevant, their home. Behavioural economists and empirical researches have shown that in reality members are not particularly good at handling their retirement savings, either because they lack the necessary cognitive ability to solve the optimization problem, because they have insufficient will power to execute it, or even sometimes because they are overconfident. This paper describes the extent to which plan members make active investment decisions in these systems and assesses the policy solutions that have been put forward to facilitate choice. The paper offers a comparative analysis of ten countries that have implemented investment choice in the accumulation stage of their individual account pension system. <P>Implications de l’économie des comportements pour les systèmes de pension à comptes individuels obligatoires <BR>Dans les systèmes de pension à comptes individuels, les membres supportent les risques et les conséquences de leurs décisions d'investissement. Si les participants se comportent comme le prédit la théorie économique, le fait qu‘ils assument cette responsabilité doit améliorer leur bien-être car ils réaliseront des investissements et détiendront un portefeuille d‘actifs financiers présentant un couple risque-rendement qui sera cohérent avec leur horizon d'investissement, avec leur degré d'aversion au risque et avec les autres types d‘actifs qu'ils détiennent, notamment en termes de capital humain et, le cas échéant, d'immobilier. Les économistes du comportement et les recherches empiriques ont toutefois montré que, dans la réalité, les membres des systèmes de pension à comptes individuels ne savent pas particulièrement bien gérer leur épargne retraite, parce qu‘ils n‘ont pas les connaissances nécessaires pour résoudre le problème de l'optimisation, ou parce qu'ils n‘ont pas la volonté suffisante pour mettre en oeuvre les décisions nécessaires ou, parfois encore, parce qu'ils pèchent par excès de confiance. Dans ce document, on observe dans quelle mesure les membres des plans font des choix d'investissement actifs et on examine les mesures qui ont été prises par les pouvoirs publics pour faciliter ces choix. On procède, par ailleurs, à une analyse comparative de la situation dans dix pays qui ont introduit des possibilités de choix des investissements, durant la phase d'accumulation, dans leur système de pension à comptes individuels. |
| Keywords: | pension fund, fond de pension, portfolio preferences, préférence de portfolio, élection individuelle, compte individuel, alternative d'investissement, plan de retraite, retour d'investissement, limite d'investissement, individual choice , individual account, investment alternative, pension plan, investment return , investment limits |
| JEL: | G11 G18 G23 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:dafaab:11-en&r=acc |
| By: | Guillermo Larrain Rios |
| Abstract: | Several countries around the globe have established mandatory pension systems based on personal savings accounts. In contrast to the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) financed pensions that these new systems have partly replaced, retirement benefits are the outcome of an investment process. As a result, the choice of investment instruments and the timing of those decisions are crucial determinants of pension benefits. Focusing on this issue, this paper reviews the literature on optimal long-term investment from an individual investors' perspective, assessing the intertemporal portfolio choice problem in a retirement context. The paper then draws lessons for mandatory personal account systems, focusing on the Latin American experience. <P>Investissement de portefeuille dans un contexte inter-temporel : évaluation de la littérature sur le sujet et implications des politiques pour le système d’Amérique Latine. <BR>Plusieurs pays dans le monde ont mis en place des régimes de retraite obligatoires qui reposent sur des comptes d'épargne individuels. Contrairement aux pensions financées par répartition que ces nouveaux régimes ont en partie remplacées, les prestations de retraite sont le produit d'un processus de placement. En conséquence, le choix des instruments de placement et le moment auquel ces décisions d'investissement sont prises revêtent une importance déterminante pour les prestations de retraite. Se plaçant du point de vue de l'investisseur individuel, le présent document se consacre à cette question et procède à une revue des publications consacrées à l'investissement optimal de long terme et analyse le problème du choix intertemporel de constitution d‘un portefeuille appliqué à l'épargne retraite. Le document tire ensuite les leçons des régimes obligatoires reposant sur des comptes individuels et s'attachante à l‘expérience des pays latino-américains |
| Keywords: | pension fund, fond de pension, portfolio preferences, préférence de portfolio, alternative d'investissement, limite d'investissement, investment alternative, investment limits, intertemporal choice |
| JEL: | G23 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:dafaab:10-en&r=acc |
| By: | Altug, Sumru G.; Filiztekin, Alpay; Pamuk, Sevket |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the sources of long-term economic growth for Turkey over the period 1880-2005. The period in question covers the decline and eventual dissolution of the former Ottoman Empire and the emergence of the new Turkish Republic in 1923. Hence, the paper provides a unique look at the growth experience of these two different political and economic regimes. The paper examines in detail the evolution of factors that led to growth in output across broad periods, including the post WWII period and the era or globalization beginning in the 1980's. It also considers output growth in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors separately and allows for the effects of sectoral re-allocation. The lessons from this exercise have important implications for Turkey's future economic performance, for its ability to converge to per capita income levels of developed countries, and for the viability of its current bid for European Union membership. |
| Keywords: | determinants of growth; growth accounting; sectoral re-allocation |
| JEL: | E60 N15 O40 O50 O57 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6463&r=acc |