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Research on the effects of positional concerns on individuals' attitudes and behavior is sorely lacking. To address this deficiency, we use the International Social Survey Programme 1998 data on 25,000 individuals from 26 countries to investigate the impact of relative income position on three facets of social capital: horizontal and vertical trust as well as norm compliance. Testing relative deprivation theory, we identify a deleterious positional income effect for persons below the reference income, particularly for their social trust and confidence in secular institutions. Also often a social capital-lowering effect of relative income advantage occurs, while a rise in absolute income almost always contributes positively. These results indicate that a rise in income inequality in a society too large is rather detrimental to the formation of social capital. (JEL Z130, I300, D310), I. INTRODUCTION Concern about relative position is a 'deep-rooted and ineradicable element in human nature' (Frank 1999, 145), the social repercussions of which have long preoccupied human secular self-reflection and [...]

The topics of corruption and tax evasion have attracted significant attention in the literature in recent years. We build on that literature by investigating empirically: (1) whether attitudes toward corruption and tax evasion vary systematically with gender and (2) whether gender differences decline as men and women face similar opportunities for illicit behavior. We use data on eight Western European countries from the World Values Survey and the European Values Survey. The results reveal significantly greater aversion to corruption and tax evasion among women. This holds across countries and time, and across numerous empirical specifications. (JEL H260, D730, J160, Z130), I. INTRODUCTION A large literature on compliance with the law has demonstrated strong gender differences. Women are less likely to commit almost all kinds of criminal offenses and are less [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2008.02.010 Byline: Ronald G. Cummings (a), Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (b), Michael McKee (c), Benno Torgler (d) Keywords: Tax compliance; Governance; Artefactual field experiments Abstract: Our working hypothesis is that cross-cultural differences in tax compliance behavior have foundations in the institutions of tax administration and citizen assessment of the quality of governance. Tax compliance being a complex behavioral issue, its investigation requires use of a variety of methods and data sources. Results from artefactual field experiments conducted in countries with substantially different political histories and records of governance quality demonstrate that observed differences in tax compliance levels persist over alternative levels of enforcement. The experimental results are shown to be robust by replicating them for the same countries using survey response measures of tax compliance. Author Affiliation: (a) Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA (b) Department of Economics, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA (c) Department of Economics, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608, USA (d) School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Qld 4001, Australia Article History: Received 19 April 2007; Revised 6 September 2007; Accepted 29 February 2008

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2008.08.004 Byline: Benno Torgler (a)(c)(d), Friedrich Schneider (b)(c)(d) Keywords: Shadow economy; Tax morale; Institutional quality; Government intervention; Corruption Abstract: This paper uses a multivariate analysis to examine how countries' tax morale and institutional quality affect the shadow economy. The literature strongly emphasizes the quantitative importance of these factors in understanding the level of and changes in the shadow economy. Newly available data sources offer the unique opportunity to further illuminate a topic that has received increased attention. After controlling for a variety of potential factors, we find strong support that a higher tax morale and a higher institutional quality lead to a smaller shadow economy. Author Affiliation: (a) The School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology, G.P.O. Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia (b) Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, A-4040 Linz-Auhof, Austria (c) CREMA - Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts, Switzerland (d) CESifo, Poschingerstrasse 5, D-81679 Munich, Germany Article History: Received 28 September 2007; Revised 22 August 2008; Accepted 26 August 2008

This paper studies the evolution of tax morale in Spain in the post-Franco era. In contrast to the previous tax compliance literature, the current paper investigates tax morale as the dependent variable and attempts to answer what actually shapes tax morale. The analysis uses survey data from two sources: the World Values Survey and the European Values Survey, allowing us to observe tax morale in Spain for the years 1981, 1990, 1995, and 1999/2000. The study of the evolution of tax morale in Spain over nearly a 20-year span is particularly interesting because the political and fiscal system evolved very rapidly during that period. Keywords: Spain, tax morale, tax compliance, endogenous preferences JEL Classification Codes: H260, H730, K420, O170, Z130, Spain has undergone fundamental changes in the public sector since the transition to a democratic system after the death of General Francisco Franco in 1975. These very significant changes in [...]

The relation between tax evasion and tax morals with relation to risk aversion behavior of consumers is presented.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2006.07.003 Byline: Christoph A. Schaltegger (a)(b)(d), Benno Torgler (c)(d) Keywords: Government accountability; Fiscal performance; Indebtedness; Social capital Abstract: Government accountability through electoral engagement, involvement and participation in the political debate can affect government performance. Using data for the full sample of Swiss cantons over the 1981-2001 period, this paper provides empirical evidence that government accountability is crucial for fiscal discipline. Specifically, in cantons with high levels of government accountability, the level of indebtedness is significantly lower, indicating that accountability supports fiscal discipline. To obtain a useful approximation for government accountability between citizens and their representatives, we use information from direct voter participation in political decisions (initiatives and public referenda) in Swiss state (cantonal) governments. Electoral support of government proposals reveals an important aspect of accountability in a real world setting. Author Affiliation: (a) Swiss Federal Department of Finance, Bundesgasse 3, CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland (b) University of St. Gallen, Switzerland (c) The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale, Leitner Program in International and Comparative Political Economy, 34 Hillhouse Avenue, P.O. Box 208206, New Haven, CT 06520, United States (d) CREMA, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts, Switzerland Article History: Received 11 July 2005; Revised 10 July 2006; Accepted 12 July 2006

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2004.10.007 Byline: Benno Torgler (a)(b) Keywords: Tax morale; Tax compliance; Religiosity Abstract: The intention of this paper is to analyze religiosity as a factor that potentially affects tax morale. For this purpose, a multivariate analysis has been done with data from the World Values Survey 1995-1997, covering more than 30 countries at the individual level. Several variables, such as church attendance, religious education, active membership in a church or a religious organization, perceived religiosity, religious guidance and trust in the church have been analyzed. The results suggest that religiosity raises tax morale. Author Affiliation: (a) Yale Center for International and Area Studies, Leitner Program in International & Comparative Political Economy, 34 Hillhouse Avenue, P.O. Box 208206, New Haven, CT 06520, USA (b) Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA), Gellertstrasse 24, 4052 Basel, Switzerland Article History: Received 29 April 2002; Revised 1 December 2003; Accepted 8 October 2004

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2005.09.002 Byline: James Alm (a), Benno Torgler (b)(c) Keywords: Tax morale; Tax compliance; Tax evasion; Culture Abstract: Much recent research has investigated whether values, social norms, and attitudes differ across countries and whether these differences have measurable effects on economic behavior. One area in which such studies are particularly relevant is tax compliance, given both the noted differences across countries in their levels of tax compliance and the marked inability of standard economic models of taxpayer compliance to explain these differences. In this paper we estimate the determinants of an individual's intrinsic willingness to pay taxes - what is sometimes termed 'tax morale' - using information from the World Values Survey for a wide range of countries over several years of data. We first analyze a cross-section of individuals in Spain and the United States. In line with previous experimental results, our findings indicate a significantly higher tax morale in the United States than in Spain, controlling in a multivariate analysis for additional variables. We then extend our multivariate analysis to include an additional 14 European countries. Our results again indicate that individuals in the United States have the highest tax morale across all countries, followed by Austria and Switzerland. We also find a strong negative correlation between the size of shadow economy and the degree of tax morale in those countries. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Economics, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 3992, Atlanta, GA 30302-3992, USA (b) Yale Center for International and Area Studies and Leitner Program in International & Comparative Political Economy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA (c) Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA), Gellerstrasse 24, CH-4052, Basel, Switzerland Article History: Received 29 June 2005; Revised 15 September 2005; Accepted 21 October 2005

The intention of this paper is to analyze how audit courts affect tax morale, controlling in a multivariate analysis for a broad variety of potential factors. Switzerland, with its variety of audit-court competence among the cantons, has been analysed. With data from the ISSP [1998] (Swiss data 1999), evidence has been found that higher audit-court competence has a significantly positive effect on tax morale. Thus, the results in Switzerland suggest that in the cantons where audit courts are ot just knights without swords; they help improve taxpayers' tax morale and thus citizens' intrinsic motivation to pay taxes. (JEL: H 260, H 730, D 700)

In this study, we apply economic principles to the heterosexual human mating market using data on the socio-demographics, biology, attractiveness, sexual behaviour, and reproductive history of 3,261 Australian online dating participants. More specifically, by using survey participants attractiveness ratings as a proxy for market value, we are able to quantitatively explore theories of sexual economics (SET), which conceptualizes sexual access as an economic resource supplied by women in the human mating market. Our study tests this theory further by incorporating heterosexual market substitutes (namely, 953 bisexual and pansexual individuals) to more accurately integrate the relevant supply and demand forces impacting market value and the commodity of sexual access. We find not only that bisexual and pansexual women (but not men) enjoy a market premium (7.3% higher; p < 0.001) relative to their heterosexual counterparts, but that, contrary to SET, women's market value in our sample does not diminish with age. We further find that in line with theory and evidence from evolutionary studies, men with (proxied) resources realize a higher market value (6.1% higher for every increased level of educational attainment; p < 0.001) than those without. In conclusion, SET is just one possible model that seeks to understand the complex multi-dimensionality of modern human sexuality and reproduction through an economics lens. As the internet and online dating now provide a low-cost conduit for human mating market participants, so to can it facilitate further large sample scientific studies of mating market dynamics such as this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional football is a globalized game in which players are the most valuable assets for clubs. In this study, we explore the evolution of the football players’ transfer network among 21 European first leagues between the seasons 1996/1997 and 2015/2016. From a topological point of view, we show that this network achieved an upper limit expansion around season 2007/2008, thereafter becoming more connected and dense. Using a machine learning approach based on Self-Organizing Maps and Principal Component Analysis we confirm that European competitions, such as the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League, are indeed a “money game” where the clubs with the highest transfer spending achieve better sportive performance. Some clubs’ transfer market activities also affect domestic performance. We conclude from our findings that the relationship between transfer spending and domestic or international sportive performance might lead to substantial inequality between clubs and leagues, while potentially creating a virtuous (vicious) circle in which these variables reinforce (weaken) each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study looks at careers in professional soccer to investigate the determinants of human capital (HC) specificity. Inspired by labour market research, we formulate three hypotheses on how uncertainty about the usefulness of individuals’ (more productive) specific skills affects their investment in (more flexible) general skills. The empirical analysis is based on unique panel data on school grades, soccer evaluations, and sociodemographic characteristics of 90 elite players from the youth academy of a German Bundesliga club. We find that senior and long-serving players, who are comparably certain that their (soccer) specific capital will be sufficient to pursue a lucrative professional career, invest less in general HC at school. Expected soccer performance, in contrast, has a counterintuitive positive effect. Our results expand knowledge on the factors influencing HC specificity from the macro to the subject level and highlight practical implications for institutions that train gifted individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Public referenda have gained momentum as a democratic tool to legitimize public mega projects such as hosting the Olympic Games. Interest groups in favour of hosting the Olympics therefore try to influence voters through public campaigns that primarily focus on economic benefits. However, recent studies find no or hardly any economic impact of hosting the Olympics, instead providing evidence for a positive social impact. This raises the question whether citizens consider economic or social factors when deciding on hosting the Olympics. Based on representative survey data from 12 countries, our results suggest that economic factors can influence voting behaviour, although the influence of social factors is stronger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ultimatum bargaining game (UBG), a widely used method in experimental economics, clearly demonstrates that motives other than pure monetary reward play a role in human economic decision making. In this study, we explore the behaviour and physiological reactions of both responders and proposers in an ultimatum bargaining game using heart rate variability (HRV), a small and nonintrusive technology that allows observation of both sides of an interaction in a normal experimental economics laboratory environment. We find that low offers by a proposer cause signs of mental stress in both the proposer and the responder; that is, both exhibit high ratios of low to high frequency activity in the HRV spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a quasi-natural voting experiment encompassing a 160-year period (1848–2009) in Switzerland, we investigate whether a higher level of complexity leads to increased reliance on trusted parliamentary representatives. We find that when more referenda are held on the same day, constituents are more likely to refer to parliamentary recommendations when making their decisions. This finding holds true even when we narrow our focus to referenda with a relatively lower voter turnout on days on which more than one referendum is held. We also demonstrate that when constituents face a higher level of complexity, they follow the parliamentary recommendations rather than those of interest groups. “Viewed as a geometric figure, the ant’s path is irregular, complex, hard to describe. But its complexity is really a complexity in the surface of the beach, not a complexity in the ant.” ( [1] p. 51) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With data gained from a controlled field experiment in Switzerland this paper analyses the effects of moral suasion on the timely paying and the timely filling out of the tax form 2001. Comparisons of different tax filing years and multiple regression estimations have been done using these two factors as dependent variables to check if there is a significant difference between the control group and the treatment group. In February 2002 the treatment group received a letter signed by the commune’s fiscal commissioner containing normative appeals. Results indicate that moral suasion has hardly any effect on taxpayers’ compliance behaviour. The strongest effect can be observed for the variable tax payments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of economics to ‘non-market topics’ has received increased attention in recent years. The economics of sports (football) is such a sub-field. This paper reports empirical evidence of team and referee performances in the FIFA World Cup 2002. The results reveal that being a hosting nation has a significant impact on the probability of winning a game. Furthermore, the strength of a team measured with the FIFA World Ranking does not play the important role presumed, which indicates that the element of uncertainty is working. The findings also indicate that the influence of a referee on the game result should not be neglected. Finally, the previous World Cup experiences seem to have the strongest impact on referees' performances during the game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editors discuss various articles within the issue on topics including the social and economic significance of value-added tax evasion, a link between psychology and economics, and the underground economy in European countries.

Many prior studies suggest that default alphabetical ordering of coauthors in economics confers disproportionate professional advantages on those with an early surname initial because of the greater prominence it gives to the first author. However, these studies do not consider that authors select into coauthorships according to the incentives identified. We develop a model of endogenous selection into single and coauthorships around the principle that no one wants to be second author when they expect to provide the larger contribution (i.e., are of higher “quality”). We test it with authorship data from economics, with management (which does not use default alphabetical ordering) as a benchmark. We predict for economics that lower quality authors with an early surname initial would be less desirable coauthors, whereas higher quality authors with a late initial would have a lower desire to coauthor. Most desired are early initial authors of high quality, who are therefore advantaged in forming high-quality collaborations. The combined effect predicts citation rank increases with surname initial for single-authored papers and decreases for coauthored. We find both effects for economics when compared to management and absolutely. Our findings indicate that part of the advantage enjoyed by early surname initial authors in economics could be due to the higher ability among them having more incentive-compatible collaborators, rather than merely to greater prominence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We find an inverse S-shape in stated subjective probabilities in a novel experiment. • Prelec's (1998) conditional invariant model provides the best fit. • We find a large degree of individual heterogeneity. Abstract We examine the nature of stated subjective probabilities in a complex, evolving context in which participants are not told what the actual probability is: we collect information on subjective expectations in a computerized car race game wherein participants must bet on a particular car but cannot influence the odds of winning once the race begins. In our setup, the actual probability of the good outcome (a win) can be determined based on computer simulations from any point in the process. We compare this actual probability to the subjective probability stated by participants at three different points in each of six races. In line with previous research in which participants have direct access to actual probabilities, we find that the inverse S-shaped curve relating subjective to actual probabilities is also evident in our far more complex situation, and that there is only a limited degree of learning through repeated play. We show that the model in the inverse S-shaped function family that provides the best fit to our data is Prelec's 1998 conditional invariant model. We also find that individuals who report a greater degree of ambiguity are more pessimistic and less responsive to actual changes in real probabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]