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The portability of pension rights is an increasingly important issue in the Caribbean. The large and increasing flows of migrant workers, including both permanent and temporary migrants, the small size of the domestic economies and the process of regional integration and economic openness call for effective means to make pensions portable. This document presents a select survey of the literature on pension portability and reviews the progress made by the Caribbean countries as well as some remaining challenges in the light of the international experience.

There is no doubt that a robust competition policy and its proper enforcement through transparent competition law contributes to the growth and economic development by way of offering choices to the stakeholders, reduced prices due to reduced costs of production or otherwise (say innovation). Despite the aforesaid principle, we find that the Governments lack in promoting sustainable economic growth through competition reforms; this is more so true for the developing countries which have many more other things on the agenda (like tackling the challenges of malnutrition, poverty, unemployment, health and others) than competition. On this aspect, it is important to note that the developing countries did not realize the role an effective competition policy may play in a strong economy. While developed countries like Australia and UK have been able to map the inter-relationship between the competition law enforcement and economic / social benefits to the stakeholders, for developing countries this exercise has not been easy to carry out. There are several reasons for that, some of them include capacity building issues, institutional reforms, roles to be played by various stakeholders. India is watched by all developing countries and especially on the competition law and policy front. The Hon’ble Finance Minister in one of the ICN conferences highlighted the need for a clear competition and regulatory reform. Citing an example of telecom sector, it was pointed out “If two telecom majors are to amalgamate, will there be common turf areas between the telecom regulator and market regulator CCI. Therefore, how do you built the jurisdiction of the two. Obviously jurisdiction in this area is emerging.” While competition and regulatory reform have been on the agenda of the Government which is evident from the reports like National Competition Policy 2011 and Financial Sector Reforms Commission (FSLRC) Report, the action on these have not been yet prioritized. There is indeed a need to convince the Government both at the central and the state level towards the importance of competition and regulatory reforms in public policy discourses and also the need for competition impact assessment. The present paper focuses upon the aforesaid issues and challenges.

In this paper, we provide the first cross-country empirical evidence on the relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and banks’ interest income activities (measured using the net interest income). Using bank-level panel data of 3,252 banks in 16 economies over the period 2009-2018, we show that EPU has a negative and statistically significant effect on banks’ net interest income (NII). Specifically, we find that banks’ NII decreases as the level of EPU increases. We also show that this reduction is due to the reduction in other interest income which is only partially offset by the reduction in other interest expense. Finally, our results show that the reduction in banks' net interest income (associated with an increase in EPU) is stronger for banks located in countries where negative interest rates are in place.

This paper seeks to highlight key issues pertaining to debt relief and moratoria under the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), including the importance of debt relief under public resource constraints in the developing world, the difficult trade-offs of capital markets access and accruing interest payments, the need for prolonging moratoria, and the disinterest of private creditors in the rehabilitation of third world economies. The findings suggest that, while international cooperation on debt relief is necessary during the pandemic, the distorted motives of private power make the rescue of developing world a more difficult proposition.

The economic and social crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe and around the world is without precedent since World War II if not before. With more than 40 million known cases in Europe in one year, and over 900 000 deaths (March 2020 to March 2021), governments have stepped up their emergency measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus: locking down their populations, closing non-essential businesses, closing offices, factories, schools and places of worship; cancelling cultural events, suspending sports contests and festivals; restricting people’s movements, closing or monitoring borders, grounding airlines and more. Since March 2020, measures such as these have brought economic activity to a standstill. The interdependence of various economic sectors through supply chains, materials and transport for example, together with the fact that the shock hit supply and demand at the same time, mean that the crisis can be described as systemic. No sector has been spared: the entire economic system has taken a hit. The gross domestic product of the European Union shrank by 6.2% in 2020 (6.6% in the euro area), leading to soaring unemployment and temporary unemployment. The key question this paper attempts to answer is as follows: has European social dialogue played any useful part in this wholly exceptional economic and social situation?

This paper examined the effects of public sector reforms in entities and how the reforms promote accountability and transparency. The purpose is to examine public sector reforms between 2015 - 2020 that support transparency and accountability. We further examine to what extent the objectives have been attained and factors or challenges militating against efficient public sector reforms in Nigeria. We focus on a three specific proxies and their dimension of transparency and Accountability-Ease of doing business, Open Budget Initiative and Corruption Index using World Bank's Indicators and Transparency International Rankings. We carry out a thematic survey and find that in the Nigeria context, several public sector reform initiatives have been implemented over the years covering all sectors and different levels. The reform measures vary depending on the priority of the political leadership, however, it all anchored on the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness, transparency, social growth, innovation, and good governance. In the end we discovered that some of the reforms initiatives yielded moderate result why other have little or no impact on transparency and accountability. We concluded that, though, Nigeria has developed general guidelines and evolve initiatives to improve the ease of doing business and its budgeting processes, corruption is a widespread problem and is responsible for poor socioeconomic growth and development. We recommend that government take a more direct and frontal route, like imposition of death penalty in the fight against corruption. This will create an environment in which graft and fraud are less likely to proliferate. Additionally, it will ensure government operate seamlessly to the benefit of the general public, the emergence of strong public institutions and finally, a nation where the rule of law actually rules.

Most contemporary decentralization has occurred at the local (district) rather than regional (provincial) level. Why? We advance a theory highlighting the political incentives of central authorities to bypass the regional tier of government in favor decentralizing to smaller, more fragmented units. Regional decentralization can better take advantage of economies of scale and scope in public service provision, but it also enables regional political opposition to scale more effectively. Central authorities may therefore have an incentive to forgo the welfare benefits of regional decentralization in favor of the imperfect substitute of local decentralization, which provides some of the same benefits at less risk. Drawing on cases from Africa and Latin America, we discuss when and how strategic local decentralization can be an effective strategy to maintain political control in divided societies and when it is likely to be ineffective.

As part of its ongoing consultation on the European crisis management and deposit insurance framework currently available for the management of bank failures within the EU generally and the Banking Union in particular, the European Commission has called for the respondents’ views as to the need for further harmonisation of resolution arrangements for banks that currently do not qualify for resolution under the auspices of the Single Resolution Mechanism. In this respect, the consultation takes up a broader discussion on the need for harmonised bank insolvency regimes within the EU, which also ties in with an earlier international debate on the functional characteristics of optimal bank insolvency regimes initiated by international standard setters in the early 2000s. Against this backdrop, the paper analyses the case for further reform, and identifies potential impediments (both technical and political) to be expected in this regard. It argues that, while a full harmonisation of resolution powers and the centralisation of decision-making powers can be expected to address relevant concerns regarding the status quo, a comprehensive harmonisation can also be expected to meet with substantial political opposition, which in turn requires a better understanding of the functional requirements to be met by less ambitious reforms.

Motivated by the unprecedented high levels of recent economic policy uncertainty in Europe and the globe, this paper examines the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and bank stability, as well as the conditioning effects of bank regulation and supervision on this relationship. Using a sample of around 900 commercial banks in eight major European countries over the period 2005-2014, economic policy uncertainty has been consistently linked to a sharp decrease in bank stability, once other traditional drivers are controlled for. More importantly, this paper offers insight into how strengthening bank regulation and supervision, particularly regulations on activity restrictions, capital stringency, official supervisory power, and private monitoring, cushions the adverse effects of policy uncertainty on bank stability.

Russian Abstract: В данной работе проанализированы имеющиеся методики оценок незаконного импорта и уровня собираемости таможенных пошлин и налогов, описан международный опыт измерения т.н. «налоговых разрывов», оценок незаконного импорта. Представлены различные оценки незаконного импорта в Российской Федерации. English Abstract: This research analyzes the applicable methods for estimating illegal imports and the level of collection of customs duties and taxes, describes the foreign experience in measuring the so-called "tax gaps" and the share of illegal imports.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp global economic decline. The U.S. government responded to the downturn with record fiscal legislation totaling over $5 trillion, which includes considerable tax relief. Most notably, the U.S. government distributed over $800 billion in three rounds of advanced refundable tax credits (known as recovery rebates, or stimulus checks) to most households. Tax relief has been unprecedented in scale but has often been the product of political circumstances rather than theorized conception. Tax relief thus remains largely undertheorized and politically motivated. This Article examines the U.S. tax policy response to the COVID-19 crisis, focusing on recovery rebates for individuals. It evaluates considerations for reforming tax relief and proposes several changes for future crises. First, the Article recommends targeting credits towards low-income households. This should be accomplished by decreasing phase out thresholds and increasing credit amounts. Second, the Article recommends targeting credits towards households which lost income or whose income did not substantially increase. This should be accomplished by implementing a recapture (repayment) requirement at the end of the tax year from households whose income increased beyond the phase out threshold, subject to a safe harbor. These proposals increase vertical equity and effectiveness, allow increased aid to those who suffered the most and enhance economic stimulus. Additionally, the Article explores arguments for universal benefits and recurring payments. It thereby examines the widely publicized debate on fiscal response to COVID-19 and suggests meaningful improvements to tax policy response for future crises.

In Q1 2021, the revenues of the regions’ consolidated budgets went up compared to Q1 2020. The growth was ensured by the federal budget fiscal transfers and an increase in the own tax and non-tax revenues of regional and local budgets. According to the results of H1 2021, we can expect double-digit growth rates of own tax and non-tax revenues of the consolidated budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation, and the main trend in the structure of public debt of the regions until the end of this year will be the replacement of commercial loans with budget ones.

In this book of proceedings the reader will find interesting analyses about several contemporary aspects. We have separated the volume into thirteen topics, based on the focus of the papers which were presented in the conference. The papers of the first three topics analyse aspects concerning the EU governance and leadership, the EU defence and international security as well as opinions about the EU integration, politics and governance issues. In the forth topic the contributors focus on issues of energy and sustainable development, which are crucial to the stability in Europe and its periphery and in the fifth topic the focus is on Euroscepticism and populism, which still concern the European political arena. The sixth topic focus on a very important contemporary European problem; the immigration and refugee crisis, with several contributions presenting novel research and important outcomes. Topic seven focuses on finance and investments issues while topics eight and nine on educational policy issues and their connection with social cohesion. Topic ten focuses on regional development and governance in the EU and Greece while topic eleven on media in the digital era. Finally, topic twelve analyses healthcare policy issues while topic thirteen closes the volume with issues concerning governance and politics in Greece. At the end of the volume you could find the full book of abtracts as well as the programme of the conference.

After the tumult of the Whitlam government, the Fraser government (1975-1983) saw consolidation with less reform. The 1975 Asprey report remained largely unactioned, despite the fundamental problems that burdened the Australian tax system. The 1983 election of the Hawke government, however, set in train a series of economic reforms, and tax would play a big part in these. This paper tracks those developments, starting with the tax avoidance and evasion issues that plagued the era and the 1981 Campbell Committee financial system review. The main focus, though, is on the 1985 draft white paper and tax summit that delivered the first instalment of the Asprey blueprint. While the broad-based consumption tax didn’t get up, the package reformed Australia’s income tax system, with a capital gains tax, a fringe benefits tax, a foreign tax credit system and a dividend imputation system.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has devastated economies around the world – an impact which is minuscule compared to the toll it has taken on human lives. Daring to see that something good may come from this tragedy, this paper argues that there are clear synergies to be drawn between the health measures required as a consequence of the global pandemic and the opportunities offered by automation and digital technologies. It is further argued that the tax policies adopted to check the impact of COVID-19 may be adapted to better harness the potential prospect of improved productivity that automation offers. The focus of this analysis is on how this may be of use to African countries, as these countries have been the hardest hit economically by the global pandemic.

Ukrainian Abstract: Глобальна пандемія стала випробуванням світової економічної системи. Аналітики прогнозують фінансовий колапс 2020–2021 років. Негативні наслідки пандемії не обійшли стороною країни ЄС, які були змушені зупинити роботу великих підприємств, закрити повітряні коридори, припинити транспортне сполучення, вжити обмежувальні заходи для малого та середнього бізнесу. Така ситуація ще більше поглибила соціально-економічні дисбаланси усередині ЄС. Процедура прийняття бюджету на 2021–2027 роки стала найдовшою та найсуперечливішою для країн-членів Євросоюзу. Перед Європейським Союзом постали питання, які вимагають термінового вирішення: подолання наслідків коронавірусної хвороби, попередження майбутнього фінансового колапсу та соціально-економічних асиметрій, боротьба з тероризмом, врегулювання міграційної кризи, налагодження діалогу з Російською Федерацією та зв’язків з новою владою США і Китаю, зупинка відцентрових тенденцій після виходу Великої Британії з ЄС. English Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a test for the global economic system. Analysts predict a financial crisis in 2020–2021, which will be deeper than in 2008–2009. The negative consequences of the pandemic didn’t go unnoticed by EU countries, which were forced to shut down large enterprises, close air corridors, stop traffic, and take restrictive measures for small and medium-sized businesses. The benefits of integration in the context of the 2020 crisis have been questioned. This situation is further exacerbated socio-economic imbalances within the EU, the procedure for adopting the 2021–2027 budget has become the longest and most controversial for the EU. The European Union faces urgent issues: overcoming the effects of coronavirus, preventing future financial crises and socio-economic imbalances within the EU, cessation of terrorist acts, settlement of the migration crisis, dialogue with the Russian Federation, establishment of relations with the new authorities of the USA and China, cessation of centrifugal tendencies (domino principle / effect) after Great Britain's withdrawal from the EU on January 31, 2020. The current political development of the EU member states is characterized by a significant strengthening of the positions of Eurosceptics who have formed their groups inthe European Parliament. The spread of a negative attitude towards European integration – Euroscepticism, gives rise to disintegration processes in the EU. The uncoordinated socio-economic policies of the EU countries have failed to withstand the crisis within the Union. Polls in EU countries show the protest mood of the population due to the inefficiency of public authorities of the EU member states in combating the effects of the pandemic. Researchers distinguish between "soft" and "hard" Euroscepticism. Many economists see Brexit as a threat to the future development of the EU. Maybe by 2050 we will not see the EU as it is now. In the EU member states there are ideas for the future exit of Italy (Italexit), France (Frexit), Greece (Grexit), Spain (Spexit), Poland (Polexit), Austria (Austrexit). In 2020, the EU Council decided to provide loans to 17 Member States under The European Instrument for Temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency. SURE loans will be backed by the EU budget and guarantees from member states according to their share in the gross national income of the European Union.

America is currently experiencing an economic recession plagued with high unemployment and low economic output. The Alliance for Sensible Markets and other proponents of cannabis legalization think that the cannabis industry can be extremely helpful in recovery through an interstate cannabis commerce plan. This plan could potentially pump in immediate waves of investment and create thousands of jobs. The plan lays out two steps: (1) have at least two states enter into an interstate compact for cannabis and (2) obtain congressional approval for the interstate compact. This article will look at the trends of a few states; speak about the benefits of the plan; touch on the consequences; and talk about the chances of this plan working, especially with the 2020 election approaching. Additionally, the article will tackle questions that face the plan if those two steps are met, such as questions on banking laws, tax laws, and whether psychoactive cannabis will be regulated as a commodity crop or if states will maintain their own existing regulatory framework.

The right to bail is defined as a fundamental safeguard ensuring a fair hearing under Article 49 (1) (h) of the Constitution. This Article states that any arrested person has the right to be released on bond or bail, on reasonable conditions, pending a trial, unless there are compelling reasons not to be released. Public procurement process on the other hand plays a vital role in ensuring effective control and supply of inputs that are important for all levels of government structural establishments, particularly aimed at the economic growth of a state. However, recent developments in Kenya have revealed corruption as a major obstacle to the economic development in the country. This has led to a series of reforms aimed at streamlining the public procurement process, yet the bulk of corrupt practices still occur in public procurement whose explanation could be found in the changing economic, political and social state of affairs.

The decision of HMG to cease UKEF support for the fossil fuel energy sector is a signal achievement in global climate finance. It demonstrates the ambition of the UK – post-Brexit, and post-pandemic – to lead international on climate action. In order to deliver on that ambition important practical issues require consideration. First, how can the decision be implemented such as to maximise its credibility and impact, both domestically and internationally? A central issue to implementation is the imperative to avoid the regulatory displacement of finance from UKEF to other UK public finance entities, such as CDC group and PIDG. More ambitiously, if the UK and other similarly situated jurisdictions are to genuinely become a Paris aligned low carbon economy and society, there is a need to understand the role that GGR (greenhouse gas removal technologies) have to play in the process. A complex matter involving climate finance, but also moral hazard and innovation policy, GGR will be a central plank to going beyond ‘do no harm’ and delivering transformation.

AI and reinforcement learning (RL) have improved many areas, but are not yet widely adopted in economic policy design, mechanism design, or economics at large. At the same time, current economic methodology is limited by a lack of counterfactual data, simplistic behavioral models, and limited opportunities to experiment with policies and evaluate behavioral responses. Here we show that machine-learning-based economic simulation is a powerful policy and mechanism design framework to overcome these limitations. The AI Economist is a two-level, deep RL framework that trains both agents and a social planner who co-adapt, providing a tractable solution to the highly unstable and novel two-level RL challenge. From a simple specification of an economy, we learn rational agent behaviors that adapt to learned planner policies and vice versa. We demonstrate the efficacy of the AI Economist on the problem of optimal taxation. In simple one-step economies, the AI Economist recovers the optimal tax policy of economic theory. In complex, dynamic economies, the AI Economist substantially improves both utilitarian social welfare and the trade-off between equality and productivity over baselines. It does so despite emergent tax-gaming strategies, while accounting for agent interactions and behavioral change more accurately than economic theory. These results demonstrate for the first time that two-level, deep RL can be used for understanding and as a complement to theory for economic design, unlocking a new computational learning-based approach to understanding economic policy., Comment: Substantial Extension of arXiv:2004.13332. SZ and AT contributed equally

This paper explores the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and financial reporting quality. Quality is operationalized using Ball and Shivakumar’s (2005) accruals-based measure of incremental bad news’ sensitivity. We hypothesize that increased uncertainty raises the demand for conditional conservatism that, in turns, leads to a larger incremental bad news’ sensitivity. Using firm-level data from 22 countries over 1995 to 2019, we find robust evidence that supports a positive relationship between economic policy uncertainty and incremental bad news’ sensitivity. This relationship is shaped by the prevalence of bank debt usage, judicial independence, and debt enforcement efficiency that is a measure of creditor protection.

The objective of this paper is to explore whether huge public investments in international sports events necessarily turn out to be burdens for regional economies or not. This will be illustrated by estimating the economic and, in particular, the fiscal impact of the forthcoming Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics on the economies and the public finances of the Veneto Region and on those of the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano. To this end, we use an Input-Output (IO) analysis that we suitably modelled in order to measure also the specific impacts of the Olympic event on the national, regional and local tax systems. The paper will argue that in the case of international sports events, when prepared and managed carefully and also when their legacy is rooted in the regional economic systems from the start, the net effects of these events on the economy and on the public finances might be positive. It also tries to provide regional administrations, specifically referring again to the regional governments of the Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige in particular, with a number of essential elements for a correct assessment of the socio-economic impact of this event and some suggestions on how the above-mentioned policies before, during and after the event, can help regional administrations to safeguard the collective interest through the hosting of international sports events.

This is inclusive study of Turkish sustainable development. Our study seeks to study Turkish sustainable development amidst policy uncertainty towards its energy policy and progressive economic performance. Dual analyses of symmetric (Dynamic Ordinary Least Square-DOLS) and asymmetric (Non-linear autoregressive distributed lag-NARDL) approaches with granger causality estimate were adopted for clear and in depth analysis of this study. We adopt Turkish data of 1985 to 2017 for the accommodation of both short term and long term analysis. From both approaches, entrepreneur activities and renewable energy policy are observed mitigating ecological footprint thereby impacting favourable to the environmental performance of Turkey, while the economic policy uncertainties has no mitigating force against the ecological footprint. The impact of economic growth on the environment comes in stages through inverted Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Also, findings from granger causality attest to the findings from both symmetric and asymmetric by establishing a two-way granger causality between entrepreneur and ecological footprint which shows that the entrepreneur has a great influence in impacting ecological footprint.Renewable energy is found mitigating environmental damage through a one-way granger causality from renewable to ecological footprint. Hence, policy is advised to be framed towards enhancing entrepreneurial activities and renewable energy sector with technological innovation in order to achieve Turkish climate goals

In this paper the focus of the research is arbitration and conciliation in industrial dispute and its legal provisions. As we see in the current scenario industries are booming and have reached their paramount stage of development and still continue to grow. However with the development industrial disputes have also increased. The disputes and conflicts between the employees and the employers have caused adverse effects to the commercial development of these industries. With globalization and increase in complexities the responsibilities have shifted to the state to find an amicable way where the disputes are resolved quickly and efficiently with consuming a lot of cost. Thus here the alternative dispute resolutions came in the play; the legislation had enacted these provisions to solve the same. Here in this paper we will look into the provision of ADR in labour legislation and also see recent judgments, amendments and the different aspects of arbitration and conciliation in the labour legislation in India.

India has one of the most advanced pharmaceutical industries among developing countries. Yet India is critically dependent on China for supplies of bulk drugs and drug intermediates with China accounting for about two-thirds of the total imports. In the early 1990s, China was relatively a minor source of bulk drugs imports for India. Imports increased since then and sharply accelerated after the early 2000s. By the mid-1990s, India was able to successfully develop a pharmaceutical industry. The policies that India pursued till then significantly influenced the transformation. The mid-1990s however saw the beginning of a series of policy changes in India in the pharmaceutical industry. Unlike China where the government intervened strongly, the role of the government was consciously diminished in India. As a result, India became increasingly dependent on bulk drugs supplied from China. India’s critical dependence on China for bulk drug supplies was flagged from time to time in different circles. The government has been slow in responding to the situation but has now announced major schemes for promoting local production of bulk drugs, drug intermediates and key starting materials. These are expected to have a major impact. But the paper argues that these deal with only a part of the problem and suggests the other policy steps that need to be taken.

This paper argues that provincial leadership rotation has been designed as an institutional arrangement for maintaining China's political and economic integration while continuing decentralizing the economy. I find that, over the 2005-2019 period at least, if two provinces shared the same number-one or number-two leader, then the difference between these two provinces' annual government work reports - which review the socioeconomic development in the last year and set economic targets for the coming year - would decrease by around 5.7% of the standard deviation. This suggests that leadership rotations have indeed promoted the convergence of subnational economic policies across China. However, the estimation results also indicate that such economic policy similarity would immediately disappear after the shuffled leader leaves office, thus implying that the convergence effect of provincial leadership rotations might not be permanent. In view of these findings, one plausible explanation is that a leadership exchange indicates that a provincial leader is selected for further promotion in the future because of the success of the economic policies that person implemented in the origin province, so that shuffled leader would tend to choose similar economic policies in the destination province to maximize the chance of even higher promotions. I provide some suggestive empirical evidence in support of this explanation.

Russian Abstract: Республика Беларусь является одним из основных экономических партнеров России, входя вместе с последней в Евразийский экономический союз. В этой связи важно оценивать изменения, происходящие в этой стране, в том числе и с точки зрения экспортной диверсификации и экономического усложнения. В этой работе оцениваются результаты этих процессов для Белоруссии с 1995 по 2018 год. Полученная оценка указывает на увеличение уровня сложности ее отраслевой структуры после завершения трансформационного спада 1990-х. В последующем Республика Беларусь характеризовалась стагнирующим уровнем экономической сложности и высокой концентрацией более сложного экспорта на нескольких географических рынках. Дальнейшее развитие белорусского экспорта связывается с созданием новых сложных товаров, но ограниченным расширением экспортной географии. Альтернативные сценарии развития связываются с выходом ее экспортеров на новые рынки, условием чего представляется отказ от крайних форм вертикальной экономической политики, при которых белорусские предприятия не только контролируются властями и получают от них ту или иную поддержку, но и напрямую ими управляются. Такая экономическая политика затрудняет привлечение прямых иностранных инвестиций и технологий, позволяющих расширить географию белорусского экспорта. English Abstract: Belarus is one of Russia’s main economic trade partners and, along with the latter, a member of the Eurasian Economic Union. It is important to keep on the radar how this economy evolves in terms of export diversification and economic complexity. This paper’s focus is the process of sectoral transformation in Belarus during 1995-2018. Our analysis reveals an increase in this economy’s complexity level after the transformational recession of the 1990s. The increase, however, was sluggish and ultimately changed for stagnation in the level of economic complexity. Belarusian exports are also highly geographically concentrated. Under the policy status quo, their future is associated with moderate product diversification and stagnant geographical coverage. If instead Belarus follows a policy alternative, it might gain a viable opportunity to enter new geographic markets. The precondition for this result is the dissolution of extreme forms of vertical economic policy of not only keeping the national industry under control, but also directly managing it. Such a policy does impede obtaining foreign direct investment and receiving new technologies that might allow the geography of Belarusian exports to broaden.

Congress first enacted the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax in 1976 to protect the estate and gift tax base and to ensure that extraordinary fortunes would bear their fair share of the transfer tax burden. Nearly a half-century into the life of the GST tax, those goals remain unrealized. In recent decades, high-net-worth individuals have succeeded in shifting hundreds of billions of dollars to “dynasty trusts” that—under current law—are poised to escape federal wealth transfer taxation indefinitely. The rise of dynasty trusts reduces the revenue-raising potential of the estate and gift taxes and allows a privileged class to exert vast economic and political power based solely on an accident of birth. This white paper presents a legislative reform agenda designed to reinvigorate the GST tax, stem the rise of dynasty trusts, and bring hundreds of billions of dollars back within the federal transfer tax base. We highlight three flaws in current law that account for the GST tax’s failure: (1) very high exemption amounts; (2) loopholes that allow high-net-worth taxpayers to stuff GST-exempt trusts with assets worth many multiples of the exemption amount; and (3) the lack of any durational limit on dynasty trusts in states that have abolished the rule against perpetuities. Our three-part reform agenda addresses each of these flaws. First, we propose a reduction in the GST exemption from the current level ($11.7 million) to the 2009 level ($3.5 million). A $3.5 million GST exemption still would be higher, in inflation-adjusted terms, than the exemption amount advocated by the Reagan administration. Second, we propose a set of common-sense loophole closers that would prevent high-net-worth taxpayers from stuffing GST-exempt trusts with assets worth far more than the exemption amount. Third, we propose to limit the maximum duration of a trust’s GST exemption to two generations, with an exception that would allow tax-free distributions to beneficiaries who were alive at the time of the trust’s inception. Our plan would shore up the estate and gift tax base and stem the rise of dynasty trusts while allowing more than 99 percent of American families to pass wealth across multiple generations tax-free.

This paper warns of an emerging post-pandemic fiscal austerity shock—one that is far more premature and severe than the one that followed the global financial crisis—and presents alternative options to ensure that populations do not yet again have to suffer from austerity cuts. It does so by: (i) examining IMF government expenditure projections until 2025; (ii) summarizing the most common austerity measures to be avoided given their negative social impacts; (iii) presenting financing alternatives and (iv) calling on governments to urgently create fiscal space to finance an equitable socio-economic recovery and progress toward human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In 2020, the budget policy of the Russian Federation regarding regions had a strongly pronounced counter-cyclical nature aimed at immediate support of the worst-off subjects. This measure allowed to offset declining tax and non-tax revenues and ensure implementation of regional anti-crisis measures intended to strengthen the public health system, support of the economy and the social sphere. Proper tax and non-tax regions’ revenues contracted by merely 1.8%, which is a good result against the 2009 and 2014–2015 crises and was mainly due to a rebound in tax receipts in H2 2020. An all-time high public regional debt amounting to Rb2.5 trillion at the end of 2020 does not pose a serious threat for their budget stability owing to a relatively low debt burden.

In this paper, we develop a Twitter-based measure of public sentiment that is useful for measuring the economic policy uncertainty that impacts individual decisions for Turkey. We extract a Twitter-based Economic Policy Uncertainty (TEPU) Index based on a selected set of Twitter user accounts whose tweets are considered to reflect expert opinion on the topic by the general public. We track the behavior of the constructed index in relation to economic and political events that are thought to create uncertainty in Turkey, a key emerging market economy, and examine its relationship with salient financial variables since 2013.

We find that Chinese regional state-owned City-Commercial Banks (CCBs) landlocked by their remit to operate within a city respond to natural disasters more effectively by aggressively expanding credit, especially to corporate borrowers. The credit expansion is more remarkable in CCBs with high state ownership and those that are private. However, the additional lending does not sacrifice asset quality. Moreover, using satellite-based city night lights, we find post-disaster cities that experience greater CCB credit expansion enjoy stronger economic recovery. Overall, our findings highlight the critical role played by regional state-owned lenders in economic recovery from increasingly frequent natural disasters.

The first trend of the Corona virus in India has been hugely confused. The World Bank and the credit rating agencies have reduced India's growth for the year 2021. The major companies have provisionally suspended their operations. Majority of the companies postponed their operations and the state governments have proclaimed financial assistance for the various unorganized sector. According to the survey of FICCI nearly 53 per cent of the businesses shutdowns due to the COVID-19 in India. Several businesses such for example hotels, airlines are hurtful salaries. Due to these problems the tea estates were unable to harvest because of the unavailability of labours. The production of two wheeler and four wheelers companies stopped their production till the further announcement. Due to the lockdown, various sector of the economy severely affected such as transport, banking, railways, construction and engineering etc.

The recommencing growth in demand increased the level of satisfaction with its volumes to 78% of the surveyed industrial enterprises. The dynamics of output lagging behind the growing demand and the logical caution in the context of the ongoing fight against coronavirus, keep manufacturers from filling warehouses of finished products. In the context of the pandemic crisis, the industry is experiencing challenges in replenishing stocks of raw materials. The shortage of personnel emerged early in Q3, forced enterprises to take measures in July-August to restore the recruitment of workers. The increase in the key rate by the RF Central Bank in July did not affect the rate on loans offered to the industry.

Human society is now directly linked to digitized technologies, creating a "robotic effect" for the future of society. However, 70% of the world's food production is supplied by family farms, which leads us to say that a combination of technology and the human capacity to absorb this technology will give the necessary socio-economic balance. People and technology are connected directly and permanently. Scientific discoveries have influenced society and progress over the years, and examples include the discovery of fire, the invention and development of vaccines and antibiotics that have allowed people to reduce their mortality rates significantly in the eighteenth century. Another example of scientific progress is the use of fossil fuels, electricity, fertilizers, technological equipment present in family farms as an element of optimization of productive flows. These discoveries / researches / inventions have changed the way people live. More at this moment, we are witnessing technological breakthroughs (blockchain technology) in the virtual space with implications for everything that exists, from education, industry, services, finance, research and continuing at the societal level.

At face value, the intentions of EU’s Directives {2003/87 to 2018/410} are good – limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as a way to combat global warming and avert dangerous climate change. However, the implementation of those Directives – specifically, the Emissions Trading System (ETS) – entails two paths of discrimination: 1. Against Eastern European members, since in 2014 most of them have already exceeded the 2030 reduction target (40% compared to 1990), set by the European Council during the same year. The GHG reduction results in 2014 stood as follows: Bulgaria - 49.5%, Estonia - 48.4%, Hungary - 47.1%, Latvia - 58.7%, Lithuania - 58.2%, Romania - 63.4%, Slovakia - 45.7%. Those were some of the biggest GHG reductions worldwide, much higher than the EU average of 24.1%. Instead of being completely relieved of participation in the ETS, the aforementioned EU members continued (and continue) to comply fully with the regulations, incurring substantial costs. 2. Against all EU members, as worldwide there is no matching scheme and even some of the wealthiest nations – with sufficient capabilities for environmental policies – recorded an increase of GHG emissions during the 1990-2019 period: Australia by 28.7%, Canada by 24.1%, and New Zealand by 26.4%. The statistics for developing countries are even worse: for instance, India’s and China’s emissions increased nearly four-fold. In other words, the EU is almost alone in implementing ambitious policies – respectively, incurring social and economic costs – to reduce GHG emissions.

This study examines the correlation of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) across countries and regions. Using correlation analysis, the findings reveal that some countries have a positive EPU correlation while other countries have a negative EPU correlation. The economic policy uncertainty index is positively correlated and jointly significant for EU member-countries. There is evidence of cross-regional positive correlation. Also, the EPU correlations are significant for Europe, non-EU countries and the region of the Americas during the global financial crisis, which suggest that financial crises are a contributory factor that drives the correlation of economic policy uncertainty in certain regions.

La version espanola de este articulo se puede encontrar en: http://ssrn.com/abstract=3858999 During the last years, there has been an increase in the use of derivative instruments, in addition to significant losses reported by companies and financial institutions, putting the appropriate use of this type of product in the spotlight. These instruments supposedly reduce financial risks, but, paradoxically, they are accused of producing new risks. However, are the derivatives themselves or their misuse to blame for these losses? As such, a greater understanding of derivative products and their implicit risks in market disruption events is urgently required.

In this paper I review the latest development of China's public pension system. Last several decades saw China's tremendous achievement in various public pension reforms. Especially since the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), reform has accelerated. By 2019, the public pension system in China has covered almost one billion adults, which makes it the biggest pension system in the world. Together with the expansion of Dibao (Basic living allowance) and the eradication of poverty, the development of pension system has become the top agenda in current policy making of the Chinese government. Yet, challenges exist: unequal distribution of pension resource and the long-run unsustainability of the pension system are waiting to be addressed with increasing urgence. Although potential countermeasures, both based on international experience and with Chinese feature, has been proposed and piloted in both regional and national level, there are incremental pressure for further reforming the system. In the latest Five-Year Plan (2021-2015), the government has vowed to construct a unified, equitable, and sustainable pension system with full coverage. This is a very challenging yet exciting goal to achieve not only for the policy makers, but also for academic researchers and general public.

Russian Abstract:В работе представлены результаты анализа мер бюджетной поддержки городов в России с учётом отраслевой структуры экономики города. Кейсовый анализ показал, что бюджетная поддержка не способствовала диверсификации экономики городов в России. Создание территорий опережающего развития (ТОР) вызвало налоговую конкуренцию за одну и ту же налоговую базу. English Abstract:The paper presents the results of the analysis of measures of budgetary support for cities in Russia, taking into account the sectoral structure of the city's economy. The case study showed that budget support did not contribute to the diversification of the urban economy in Russia. The creation of territories of advanced development (TOP) has caused tax competition for the same tax base.

Carbon taxation and the advancement of economic justice do not seem to be particularly consonant goals. But in fact, carbon taxation is vital to preserving economic justice, because it is the most important tool for arresting, to the greatest extent possible, climate change. Climate change is the most brutal segregator of haves and have-nots, and unless a dramatic economic transformation takes place quickly, climate change could drive inequality to apocalyptic extremes. Moreover, a carbon tax can, and should, be designed so that the revenues are distributed on a per-household or per-person basis, which would have a modest redistributive effect, because such lump-sum payments would have the effect of overcompensating most poor households and undercompensating most rich households for the increased energy costs resulting from a carbon tax. Despite almost universal approval from economists, carbon taxes remain politically challenging to enact, for three reasons. First, carbon taxes are viewed unfavorably because people superficially perceive carbon taxes as pure costs while paying only secondary attention (if any at all) to the revenue side, and the benefits that could be obtained using carbon tax revenues. Second, skepticism persists about the effectiveness of markets for changing behavior. And finally, concerns persist that carbon taxation is regressive, hurting poor households much more than rich ones. This essay offers a response to these concerns. While many measures must be undertaken to address economic inequality and unequal vulnerability to climate change, the most important step to take would be to enact a carbon tax in which the revenues are returned directly to taxpaying households on a per-household or per-person basis, leading to a modestly redistributive outcome. The only way to cure misperceptions about carbon taxation may simply to institute one, and let the outcomes speak for themselves.

Russian Abstract: В рамках данной работы были проанализированы аспекты правового регулирования перечисленных видов онлайн-платформ, в частности, стандарты регулирования в рамках международных организаций, включая ОЭСР, ВТО, ЮНСИТРАЛ, МОТ, а также практики стран, включая США, страны ЕС (Франция, Нидерланды), Австралию, Канаду. English Abstract: As part of this work, aspects of legal regulation of the listed types of online platforms were analyzed, in particular, regulatory standards within international organizations, including OECD, WTO, UNCITRAL, ILO, as well as practices of countries, including the USA, EU countries (France, Netherlands), Australia, Canada.

Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, wider and decisive actions to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been called for in the international community. Many countries are seeking a sustainable economic recovery plan that reflects climate change and environmental considerations. The private sector has also been trying to expand environmentally sustainable investments and disclose relevant information on climate change. In particular, major GHG emitters such as China, the United States (U.S.), European Union (EU), Japan and Korea have pledged to move forward carbon neutrality. For this goal, the EU has established action plans for the European Green Deal, including a plan for introducing a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). In this context, this study aims to propose policy recommendations for Korea by analyzing measures to strengthen reduction targets and the economic impact of the EU's CBAM. The following implications can be derived. First, it is necessary to support low-carbon transition efforts in industries. Second, it is also important to support low-carbon technological innovation. Third, monitoring and response measures for the CBAM should also be prepared. Fourth, the private sector should expand voluntary efforts to reduce emissions and environmentally sustainable investment. Lastly, it is necessary to actively engage in international cooperation, not only in terms of reducing GHG emissions but also responding to climate change.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, states around the world swiftly enacted a multitude of far-reaching emergency responses to contain the viruses’ spread and to cope with the economic repercussions of the ensuing crisis. However, these measures detrimentally impacted the operating conditions of many businesses or otherwise decreased their profitability. As this inevitably affected foreign investments, investors could be tempted to invoke ISDS clauses in International Investment Agreements to initiate proceedings before arbitral tribunals and seek compensation for loss of profit caused by states’ COVID-19 responses. Due to the specific circumstances in most developing countries, they were hit particularly hard by the crisis and are especially vulnerable to the threat of investment claims. It is therefore important to enable developing countries to realistically anticipate the risk of investment arbitration by assessing the chances of success of foreign investment claims against those policies that were most frequently adopted by them amidst the crisis. Against this background, this paper assesses how likely developing countries’ COVID-19 responses breached substantive standards of investor treatment under typical IIAs and which defence strategies states may invoke to justify their regulatory action. Based on this analysis, this paper concludes by formulating policy recommendations on how developing countries may enhance the resilience of their emergency responses against foreign investors amidst future public health crises.

This study is about the taxation system of Pakistan, especially in legal perspective, review the tax policy structure, its concerns and recent tax reforms initiatives of current Government of Pakistan. The purpose is to determine the tax policy scope of improvement to meet the changing needs of the modern world and in interest of public development and services. Pakistan’s taxation system has complex nature, narrow approach and administrative flaws. With a public trust deficit and corrupt practices, reliance of the government on foreign and local borrowing can’t stop. Government has introducing, amnesty schemes for asset declaration, tax cut for construction industries and rewards scheme on whistleblowing, to enhance economic activity, financial circulation and minimizing shadow economy. In conclusion some recommendations to legislatures for complex taxation structure to rectify imbalance approach of tax policy.

The Greek pension system has been costly, complex, and distortive, which has contributed to Greece’s fiscal problems and discouraged labor force participation. Several attempts to reform the system faltered due to lack of implementation, pushback by vested interests, and court rulings leading to reversals. A series of reforms introduced throughout 2015–17 unified benefit and contribution rules, removed several distortions and reduced fragmentation and costs. If fully implemented throughout the long-term, these reforms can go a long way towards enhancing the pension system affordability. However, reforms faced setbacks and fell short of creating stronger incentives to build long contribution histories, to deliver sustainable growth by improving the fiscal policy mix, and to ensure fairness and equitable burden sharing across generations and interest groups. Policy priorities should aim towards fully implementing the 2015–17 reforms and complementing them with additional reforms to address these remaining objectives.

The economic vulnerability of small-island developing states (SIDS) to macroeconomic shocks has long been recognized. One significant factor is the perception that their economic health is dominated by external factors over which their local governments have no control. The SIDS government economic policies are inconsequential, according to this perception, in the face of macroeconomic shocks, as these regional economies will drown in the macroeconomic tsunami. This study compares the economic impact on the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) and Aruba, two SIDS whose small-business, entrepreneurially-focused economies that are largely dependent on tourism, to two identical macroeconomic shocks. The United States Virgin Islands (USVI) and Aruba are island states with many similarities, including similar economies, but differ from one another on their approach to economic growth, development, or industrialization. This study shows that the two states demonstrated significantly different levels of economic resiliency in face of nearly identical macroeconomic shocks, inferring that regional economic policies, counter to the common perception, can indeed positively impact SIDS economic outcomes.

According to data for H1 2021, own tax and non-tax revenues of the consolidated budgets of RF subjects recovered after their fall in 2020 and showed an increase, compared to the same period in 2019.The structure of expenditures of regional consolidated budgets changed in 2021 compared with their pre-pandemic structure, indicating changing priorities of territorial budget policy. The rapid growth of own tax and non-tax revenues in H1 2021 reduced the territorial debt burden to the lowest level for this period since 2009.