116 research outputs found
1935-06-02 (June 02, 1935): Correspondence From Rudiger Bilden to Manoel de Oliveira Lima
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Moderate inflation
Get PDFInflation persists at moderate rates (15-30 percent) in all the countries that successfully reduced triple-digit inflation in the 1980s. Several other countries--for example, Colombia--have experienced moderate inflation for prolonged periods. The authors introduce types of theories of persistent inflation. Theories emphasizing seigniorage as a source of government finance and those emphasizing the costs of ending inflation were detailed. They examine thesources and persistence of episodes of moderate inflation. Most episodes were triggered by commodity price shocks and were brief. Very few ended in higher inflation. This report presents case studies of eight countries, including three that now suffer from moderate inflation and four that successfully moved down to single-digit inflation rates. The authors analyze the roles of seigniorage, indexation and disindexation, the exchange rate commitment, and monetary and fiscal policy. The evidence suggests that seigniorage plays, at most, a modest role in the persistence of moderate inflation and that such inflation can be reduced only at a substantial short-term cost to growth.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Inflation,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Conditions and Volatility
The macroeconomics of populism in Latin America
Get PDFBy populism, this paper refers to an economic approach that emphasizes growth and income redistribution and deemphasizes the risks of inflation and deficit finance, external constraints and the reaction of economic agents to aggressive nonmarket policies. It analyzes two instances of populism - Chile under Allende and Peru under Garcia. These experiences are described in detail, not as a righteous assertion of conservative economics, but as a warning that populist policies ultimately fail, and always at a frightening cost to the groups they were supposed to benefit. This paper explores the question of whether some variant of populist policies could succeed. It suggests that populist policies could succeed if they stayed clear of foreign exchange constraints, emphasized reactivation for a brief initial period, and then shifted to growth policies. Most important, expansionary policies must reflect awareness of capacity constraints and must rely for financing on an extremely orthodox fiscal policy and rigorous tax adminsitration. The paper concludes by warning that IMF-style policies, unconcerned with growth of social progress, may establish financial stability in the short run, but inevitably open the door to yet another round of destructive reaction in the form of populist policies.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Economic Stabilization,National Governance,Banks&Banking Reform
Revenue-productive income tax structures and tax reforms in emerging market economies - evidence from Bulgaria
Get PDFUsing a household budget survey for 1992, The author shows the poor revenue performance and distributional impact of Bulgaria's personal income tax system. He explores the implications for revenue and income distribution of two alternative tax systems - a flat tax and a progressive but simpler three-brackets tax system. He demonstrates that simpler tax structures with lower tax rates could achieve at least equal revenue and distributional objectives and are superior in terms of efficiency and equity. (The findings are robust when Bulgaria's significant tax evasion is included). But tax changes since 1992 have, if anything, moved Bulgaria even further from a simple income tax system: the number of rates and brackets increased from 7 to 10, and the levels of exemption remain unchanged. (Complex, higher rates complicate administration and enforcement and provide incentives for tax evasions. And in the alternative systems the author explores, the poor are protected with higher exemptions.) Fortunately, the country's personal income tax structure began to move toward less nominal progressivity after Bulgaria's 1997 tax reform program. The tax rate in thetop income bracket was reduced from 52 percent to 40 percent, the number of tax brackets was halved, and the exemption level was increased 20 percent (reducing tax burdens on the poor).Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Regional Governance,Tax Policy and Administration,Economic Theory&Research,Governance Indicators,Economic Theory&Research,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Tax Policy and Administration
The tax base in transition : the case of Bulgaria
Get PDFThe transition from socialism characteristically reduces existing tax revenues at the same time that it increases the need for government spending. An increasing need for revenue combined with an eroding tax base creates a transition-related fiscal gap and a challenge for tax policy. The solution, say the authors, is not to lay a heavier tax burden on new private firms. The issue is how to meet revenue needs without inhibiting private sector development. Large-scale tax evasion in the private sector - the de facto outcome in Bulgaria and in many other transitional economies - may be a good incentive for development of private enterprise, but it is illegal and inequitable to wage-earners and salaried workers. The chief means of increasing tax revenue are to: (1) reduce tax rates to decrease the benefit of evasion; (2) improve tax administration (to increase tax coverage and better dectect evasion); and (3) increase penalties for evasion. These three measures effectively decrease the benefits and increase the cost of tax evasion to economic agents. It takes time to improve tax administration, however. Given administrative limitations, what should the tax structure be? The authors contend that an administratively feasible system designed to encourage development of the private sector during the transition should: (i) be simple, not complex or oversophisticated; (ii) be administratively implementable with current resources; (iii) impose a low tax burden on all economic agents; (iv) rely on broad tax bases with minimum exemptions; (v) begin the long-term improvement of tax administration; and (vi) limit the severity of tax penalties in the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic regime. In theory, reducing the cost of compliance and increasing the expected cost of noncompliance should reduce tax evasion and increase tax revenue. In practice, small businesses and self-employed citizens tend to evade taxes, providing an effective zero tax base. The government has little to lose from reducing taxes on the self-employed but, to be equitable, it should reduce taxes for everyone. As a general rule, say the authors, economies in transition should impose lower tax burdens than are imposed in mature western market economies. It may also reduce the perception of"exploitation"by giving the impression of a more modest government consistent with the dynamic private sector led economy.Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,National Governance,Municipal Financial Management
Douglas Kellner e os estudos de m?dia : exame cr?tico das ideias de um te?rico Norte-Americano
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Previous issue date: 2018-08-22Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior - CAPESDouglas Kellner (?1943) emerged in the 1990's as a leading scholar of media phenomena. This research seeks to reconstruct his trajectory in this area of knowledge. His ideas are analyzed by assessing their merits and problems, progress and difficulties. It is emphasized the way in which his intellectual course was influenced by the so-called western marxism, in particular by the School of Frankfurt. It also highlights how the author approaches cultural studies by appropriating the legacy of the Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies. Kellner makes both currents dialogue, in the shadow of discussions about postmodernism and the so-called cultural wars in the United States. Aiming to show how all this has repercussions in his analysis of what he called ?media culture?, and then ?era of the spectacle?, first his ideas are contextualized historically and intellectually. Second, his proposal for media literacy is analyzed, as a pragmatic dimension of his critical study of the media. Subsequently, the application of his studies about cinema and, especially, television is evaluated. In the end, the material presented is commented, interpreted, and criticized, making the study of media theories dialog with other areas of knowledge. In conclusion, Kellner proposes an innovative synthesis in theoretical and methodological terms, profiled with the so-called cultural Marxism. But also that it is not exempt of conceptual contradictions that generate analytical simplifications during the research, apparently deriving from unbridled ideological commitments.Douglas Kellner (?1943) emergiu nos anos 1990 como importante estudioso dos fen?menos de m?dia. A presente pesquisa busca reconstruir sua trajet?ria nessa ?rea do conhecimento. Quer-se analisar suas ideias avaliando m?ritos e problemas, avan?os e dificuldades. Salienta-se o modo como seu percurso intelectual foi influenciado pelo chamado marxismo ocidental, em especial pela Escola de Frankfurt. Tamb?m se ressalta como o autor se aproxima dos estudos culturais, ao apropriar-se do legado do Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. Kellner faz ambas as correntes dialogarem, ? sombra das discuss?es relativas ao p?s-modernismo e ?s chamadas guerras culturais ocorridas nos Estados Unidos. Visando mostrar como tudo isso repercute em sua an?lise do que chamou de ?cultura da m?dia? e, em seguida, ?era do espet?culo?, primeiro contextualiza-se historicamente e intelectualmente suas ideias. Em segundo, examina-se sua proposta de alfabetiza??o midi?tica, enquanto dimens?o pragm?tica de sua proposta de estudo cr?tico da m?dia. Em um terceiro momento, mostra-se a forma como ela se aplica em seus estudos sobre cinema e televis?o. Ao final, procede-se ao coment?rio, interpreta??o e cr?tica do material apresentado, vendo como se deu a recep??o de suas ideias no mundo acad?mico. Conclui-se que Kellner prop?s s?ntese inovadora em termos te?ricos e metodol?gicos, perfilada com o chamado marxismo cultural. Mas tamb?m que ela n?o est? isenta de contradi??es conceituais geradoras de simplifica??es anal?ticas durante a pesquisa, aparentemente oriundas de compromissos ideol?gicos desenfreados
Are Constitutional Courts Civic Educative Institutions? If So, What Do They Teach?
No full textThis volume addresses whether, how, and where laws (variously defined) teach values and shape moral character in late modern liberal societies. Each author recognizes the essential value of state law in fostering peace, security, health, education, charity, trade, democracy, constitutionalism, justice, and human rights, among many other moral goods. Each author also recognizes, however, the grave betrayals of law in supporting fascism, slavery, apartheid, genocide, persecution, violence, racism, and other forms of immorality and injustice. They thus call for state laws that set a basic civil morality of duty for society and for robust freedoms that protect private individuals and private groups to cultivate a higher morality of aspiration. With contributions by Rudiger Bittner, Brian Bix, Frank Brennan, Allen Calhoun, Robert F. Cochran, Jr., Kenneth John Crispin, Jean Bethke Elshtain, E. Allan Farnsworth, James E. Fleming, M. Cathleen Kaveny, Ute Mager, Linda C. McClain, Reid Mortensen, Patrick Parkinson, Thomas Pfeiffer, Robert Vosloo, Michael Welker, and John Witte, Jr
Combining results from multiple evaluations of the same measurand
No full textAccording to the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM), a result of measurement consists of a measured value together with its associated standard uncertainty. The measured value and the standard uncertainty are interpreted as the expected value and the standard deviation of a state-of-knowledge probability distribution attributed to the measurand. We discuss the term metrological compatibility introduced by the International Vocabulary of Metrology, third edition (VIM3) for lack of significant differences between two or more results of measurement for the same measurand. Sometimes a combined result of measurement from multiple evaluations of the same measurand is needed. We propose an approach for determining a combined result which is metrologically compatible with the contributing results
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