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This article studies local government investments using a panel data set of Norwegian municipalities in the period 2003–2019. We investigate variations in investments across local governments and their relation to fiscal capacity, needs based on population growth, and political factors. Our results suggest that expected population growth and fiscal capacity largely explain variations in investments. The finding that expected population growth is a strong determinant, while other factors such as political composition of the local council has little if any effect, indicates that Norwegian local governments are quite rational in deciding their investment policy. On the other hand, we do observe indications of election cycles, where investments increase in election years. We also find results suggesting that increased investments can increase the vote-share for the incumbent coalition, although we see no additional effect from increasing investments in election years. Hence, investments do not seem to be completely insulated from political considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a standard median voter model, low-income immigration increases the size of the welfare state. Other research suggests evidence for a group-interest voter model, which predicts that welfare will shrink with an increase in low-income immigration. We contend that neither model accurately describes political reality after testing these theories with US data from 1970 to 2010. We use a variety of measures for welfare and related public spending such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, K-12 education, and Medicaid. Contrary to expectations from previous work focused on Europe, we find that the amount of immigrant-driven heterogeneity does not have a significant effect on these spending areas, whether considered in total or per capita expenditure. This could be because of countervailing pressures from these two models of voter motivation or because of factors unrelated to immigration, such as differences in institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Götürü vergi ve götürü sübvansiyon uygulaması, refah iktisadının ikinci temel teoreminin bir konusudur. Refah iktisadı bilimsel olarak götürü vergi ve götürü sübvansiyon uygulamasının etkinliği bozmadan adaleti sağlayabileceğini savunur. Götürü vergi ve götürü sübvansiyonlar ikame etkisi yaratmamaktadır. Ancak özellikle vergi özelinde, farklılaştırılmış götürü vergi sistemi etkinlik bozmadan gelir dağıtım fonksiyonunu kazanabilir. Bu bağlamda kamu maliyesi, mükellefler arasında farklılaştırılmış götürü vergi sisteminin arayışı içindedir. Götürü vergi, mükellefler arası farklılaştırılabilirse vergi sistemi içinde yer edinebilir ve işlerlik kazanabilir. Götürü sübvansiyon uygulamalarında, alt gelir gruplarına uygulanacak yoksulluk programlarının serbest işleyen bir piyasada kaynak dağılımında etkinliği bozmayan doğru fiyat sinyalleri yaratacağı öngörülmektedir. Çalışmanın amacı, götürü vergi ve götürü sübvansiyon kavramlarını kamu ekonomisi açısından inceleyerek; uygulama örneklerini araştırmak ve günümüz maliye sistemlerinde götürü vergi ve götürü sübvansiyonun kullanılabilmesi için ne gibi arayışlar olduğunu ve dünyada yaygınlaşması için nelere gerek duyulduğunu ortaya koymaktır.

In recent decades, economists have played an active role in shaping public policy by publicly recommending the adoption of certain policies. These recommendations are often based on normative assumptions that are not the product of economic analysis; nor are they shared by the laypeople to whom these recommendations are made. Inducing people to adopt public policies for reasons that are neither the product of expertise, nor shared by the people, is a form of manipulation that violates the ideals of a liberal democratic society. Thus, the economists' recommendations constitute an abuse of their expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyse the tax efforts of 17 non‐special category states of India over the period of 2000–01 to 2020–21. The stochastic estimation of the tax frontier identified per capita income and urbanisation as dominating factors determining tax revenue across Indian states. The implementation of a Goods and Services Tax is estimated to increase tax revenue significantly, whereas the pandemic shock resulted in a deterioration of the tax revenue. In addition, the sampled states have collectively secured a tax effort score of 0.832, ranging from 0.62 (Goa) to 0.92 (Karnataka). The empirics showed that Goa and West Bengal were the laggard states in terms of tax effort. Among the determinants of tax efficiency (effort), the variates 'outstanding liabilities' and 'fiscal devolution from central government' are found to be adversely affecting, while 'social expenditure' is predicted to have a stimulating impact on tax effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores how the one-size-fits-all government-led counter-cyclical policy response to societal disruptions, in this case COVID-19, produces distributed fiscal autonomy outcomes across local governments. The Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test reveals statistically significant results in a before-after research design. The overall median local authority transfer dependence during the post-intervention year was lower than in the pre-intervention year by 14.2% for Romanian local governments. However, the lower horizontal fiscal gap indicates that counter-cyclical measures were less effective in addressing the adverse effects of disruption on local governments’ revenues in larger local economies compared to those in smaller ones.

Copyright of Journal of Public Finance Studies / Maliye Çalismalari Dergisi is the property of Journal of Public Finance Studies / Maliye Calismalari Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Atlantic Review of Economics / Revista Atlántica de Economía is the property of Colegio de Economistas de La Coruna and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This research explores how the one-size-fits-all government-led counter-cyclical policy response to societal disruptions, in this case COVID-19, produces distributed fiscal autonomy outcomes across local governments. The Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test reveals statistically significant results in a before-after research design. The overall median local authority transfer dependence during the post-intervention year was lower than in the pre-intervention year by 14.2% for Romanian local governments. However, the lower horizontal fiscal gap indicates that counter-cyclical measures were less effective in addressing the adverse effects of disruption on local governments' revenues in larger local economies compared to those in smaller ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to forecast the amount of tax complaints filed with the Turkish Ombudsman in the future and whether or not policymakers require a specific tax Ombudsman. The polynomial regression for discrete data set is proposed to fit the number of events of tax complaints in the period from years $2013$ to $2021$. The artificial data set is generated by models which are polynomial regression and parametric distribution. The location, scale and shape parameters are determined according to the smallest value between the observed and predicted dependent variable. After determining the smallest value for the tried values of shape parameter and the parameters of polynomial regression, the best value determined by grid search for shape parameter is around $1.07$. Thus, the heavy-tailed from of exponential power distribution is gained. The artificial data sets are generated and sorted from the smallest to biggest ones. The maximum values are around $700$ and $800$ which can be regarded as future prediction because the distance among observations is taken into account by models from polynomial regression and parametric distribution. Since the polynomial regression and the parametric models are used simultaneously for modelling, the distance among observations can also be modelled by parametric model as an alternative approach provided.

Financial planning evaluates a person's financial goals by identifying the necessary steps to achieve them according to their financial resources. With the increased influence of technology on day-to-day life and the countless innovations, incorporating new opportunities into the financial planning process increases the possibilities of achieving settled purposes. Using smartphone applications to manage personal finances improves economic behaviour, knowledge, attitudes, and motivation. In this study, we will analyse the changes brought about by using cash management applications among young people and through the delivery of a survey, we could gather their feedback. The answers are then analysed through SPSS Statistics, using Pearson correlation analysis. We measure the strength and direction of the relationship between variables related to what leads to using or not using cash management applications. At the end of the analyses, we conclude a weak positive relationship between using cash management applications and improving personal finances, according to Good Things Foundation (n.d.). From analysing the ties between smartphone usage and cash management apps, resulting in a fragile negative relationship, we conclude that the weak relationship between cash management apps and improved personal finances results from a low recognition in this typology of applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to forecast the amount of tax complaints filed with the Turkish Ombudsman in the future and whether or not policymakers require a specific tax Ombudsman. The polynomial regression for discrete data set is proposed to fit the number of events of tax complaints in the period from years 2013 to 2021. The artificial data set is generated by models which are polynomial regression and parametric distribution. The location, scale and shape parameters are determined according to the smallest value between the observed and predicted dependent variable. After determining the smallest value for the tried values of shape parameter and the parameters of polynomial regression, the best value determined by grid search for shape parameter is around 1.07. Thus, the heavy-tailed from of exponential power distribution is gained. The artificial data sets are generated and sorted from the smallest to biggest ones. The maximum values are around 700 and 800 which can be regarded as future prediction because the distance among observations is taken into account by models from polynomial regression and parametric distribution. Since the polynomial regression and the parametric models are used simultaneously for modelling, the distance among observations can also be modelled by parametric model as an alternative approach provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 crisis poses new policy challenges and has spurred new research agendas in public economics. In this article, we selectively reflect on how the field of public economics has been shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss several areas where more research is necessary. We highlight major changes and inequalities in the labor market and K-12 education, in addition to discussing how technological change creates new challenges for the taxation of income and consumption. We discuss various policy responses to these challenges and the role of fiscal federalism in the context of worldwide crises. Finally, we summarize the key issues discussed at the 2021 International Institute of Public Finance Congress and the papers published in this special issue.

In the early 20th century, municipal housekeeping became popular as a natural science-based endeavour focused on the improvement of living conditions in urban areas, especially in terms of public sanitation, water quality, satisfaction of basic needs, and access to natural amenities. It has been well documented in social history as a movement led by middle-class women advocating for higher standards of public health and social order in American cities. This article explores another dimension of municipal housekeeping: its contributions to economic thought and how it amounted to an early economics of the urban environment. It analyses the relationship between municipal housekeeping and other important economic currents, such as home economics and conservation economics, before shedding light on the economic content of its proposals regarding sanitation, community welfare, and public utility regulations. It concludes that municipal housekeeping, rather than a merely derivative intellectual current, constitutes an original source of inspiration for public and particularly environmental economists interested in intersections with the tenets of the natural sciences, from chemistry to ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a theoretical model designed to characterize a static, individual vaccination decision environment. I identify and characterize both equilibrium and socially optimal vaccination behavior and determine how this behavior changes as the effectiveness of the vaccine changes. I also evaluate the individual and social welfare implications of a change in vaccine effectiveness. I find that under certain conditions, an increase in vaccine effectiveness can decrease the number of agents vaccinating in equilibrium due to the positive external effects of vaccination. Notably, it is also possible for individual and total welfare to decrease. This is an undesirable, and perhaps unexpected, consequence of better vaccines. Fortunately, welfare at the social optimum always increases as vaccine effectiveness increases. However, equilibrium behavior often falls short of the social optimum due to the positive externalities created by vaccinating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped public policies and government finances, it has also influenced the topics that public finance economists are researching. Because the 2020 International Institute of Public Finance Congress featured papers that were submitted prior to the start of the pandemic, the Congress allows us to reflect on the state of research prior to the pandemics shock to both fiscal policies and our worldview. In this article, the Editors of International Tax and Public Finance reflect on interesting papers that were presented at this internationally representative conference in public economics. The exercise provides insight on where the field of public economics was heading prior to the pandemic and will provide a yardstick to see how the field evolves in the coming years afterward.

This article analyses selected interdisciplinary exchanges between analytical political philosophy and public economics in the United States during the 1970s. It focuses on three core themes in which public economists interpreted, discussed, and incorporated concepts from John Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1971), namely: (1) the limits and uses of utilitarianism as a useful framework for capturing social welfare; (2) the ethics of promoting justice and fairness; and (3) how to promote redistribution through taxation. An exploration of published and unpublished sources (personal correspondence, articles, and books) following the publication of Rawls's magnum opus reveals an intense engagement from public economists with key Rawlsian concepts in the 1970s, in particular the "maximin." Whilst such exchange offered important thematic inspiration for making the field more ethically driven and engaged with justice-related issues, generating policy discussions on promoting redistribution through optimal taxation, their exchange remained within the economist's formal toolbox and way of reasoning. Political philosophy made public economics to become ethical without challenging the core epistemic-methodological foundations of economic reasoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papers in this issue deal with the transformation from public finance to public economics at a theoretical and philosophical level in the mid-twentieth century. Our introduction situates these papers within their intellectual context. To do so, we provide a broad outline of the trajectory of the field beginning with the transformation of welfare economics. Acknowledging the structuring role of Richard Musgrave and James Buchanan for the field, the papers highlight the key role also played by Paul Samuelson in the transition to public economics. Moreover, they underscore how ethical issues were formalised into normative economics at this critical juncture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of the expression of 'public economics' marked an epistemological rupture in the economic discourse about the state. The local problems and national intellectual traditions that had shaped the centuries-old field of public finance were cast aside in favour of new problems and new methods. From the 1970s onward, public economics became an integrated international field defined by a methodological approach embodied in general equilibrium. Mathematics and optimisation changed the nature of the questions considered. After briefly outlining the historic constitution of the field of public finance and how it was transformed in the middle of the twentieth century, we explain how a new economic theory of public expenditures emerged with one foot in the old public finance and one foot in the new public economics. We then hint at how the integration of risk into economic theory unexpectedly transformed the way economists conceptualised the public sector. Last, we consider how the maximisation of social welfare functions exhibiting a trade-off between equity and efficiency replaced principles of taxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A history of the transformation of public finance into public economics necessarily involves an understanding of the tension between positive and normative statements, that is a history of how public economists dealt with Robbins's requirements that economists should not make normative statements. In this paper, we propose to contribute to this history by discussing and comparing the works of two major economists of the 20th century, Paul Samuelson and James Buchanan. We show that they both use the same strategy to deal with the positive/normative tension: they adopt a reduced scale of analysis to escape normative judgements – the family for Samuelson and small groups (clubs) for Buchanan. What they do manage at this level is to create examples or models which remove that normative response from the theorist, and ascribe it to the participants. The normative views of the theorist are not involved. Yet, when one shifts back to a larger scale, the positive element of the analysis is less clear, at least in Samuelson's work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the import and appropriation of Rawls's theory of justice into the emerging field of optimal taxation theory in the 1970s. It focuses first on the pioneer contributions of Atkinson and Phelps to integrate Rawls's maximin into optimal taxation models, and then on their numerous followers during this decade. It shows that the maximin criterion was quickly accepted and appropriated in optimal taxation theory using "Rawlsian" Social Welfare Functions, which are founded on a welfarist interpretation of the maximin, unfaithful to Rawls. I try to explain why public economists made this choice, insisting on issues of simplicity, tractability, and comparisons with other ethical criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic theory does not give clear predictions on the impact of social security wealth on private wealth. While the basic life-cycle hypothesis predicts full displacement, many more advanced theoretical contributions anticipate only a limited offset. Empirical research on the issue is also not conclusive. In this paper, we measure the substitution between social security wealth and private wealth in Poland. To obtain measures of long-term substitution, we measure the displacement effects of social security wealth on net wealth. Our estimates of the effects on consumption and the saving rate reflect a short-term impact. Our results do not provide support for the hypothesis that social security wealth crowds out private savings in the long term. The short-term evidence is mixed, but the effects of social security wealth on consumption are at best weak, while the impact on saving rates is not statistically significant. In our view, in transition economies, the influence of social security wealth on private wealth is weaker than in developed economies because the wealth distribution has been to a large extent transformed by random and rapid events such as the privatisation of housing assets.

This article deals with the measurement of quality in public health services in the Basque Country, which are provided by the public body Osakidetza - Basque Health Service. It describes general quality methods and tools in the field of business and health management, together with others specific to Osakidetza, the latter of which are analysed in greater depth. Specifically, the concept of quality has been studied from a multi-faceted perspective, which includes different aspects of the term. Such as contracted versus funded quality; certified, comparative, perceived and evaluated quality. The main conclusion is the confirmation of the importance of objectives aimed at the quality of the health service and management quality in the Basque Health Service. These are achieved, among other things, through knowledge of the perception of patients and users of the health care received through satisfaction surveys, as well as the establishment of contracted quality commitments which, when achieved, receive specific funding through the formula of formalising programme contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Marmara University Social Sciences Institute / Öneri is the property of Marmara University, Institute of Social Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Polish Journal of Economics / Gospodarka Narodowa is the property of SGH Warsaw School of Economics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Study Question: What is the governmental fiscal impact of a new assisted reproduction subsidy scheme based on projected lifetime net taxes attributed to resulting live births in Taiwan?, Summary Answer: We estimate that the new fertility reimbursement scheme has generated favorable lifetime fiscal gains for the Taiwanese government, resulting in a return on investment (ROI) of NT$5.6 for every NT$1.0 spent based on those families receiving public subsidies for fertility care under the new scheme., What Is Known Already: Globally, there is variation in the amount of public reimbursement for assisted reproduction provided to infertile couples. Cost is an important consideration for many infertile couples that can influence the amount of services provided and the types of services used., Study Design, Size, Duration: The analysis is based on the number of live births resulting from those couples receiving public subsidies for assisted reproduction. The cohort is based on those children born between March 2022 and July 2023., Participants/materials, Setting, Methods: A lifetime fiscal model was developed to project age-specific lifetime tax revenue and age-dependent benefits likely received from government attributed to the children born. The analysis is based on age-specific projected earnings adjusted for work activity and applied to published income tax burden data, in addition to estimated indirect consumption taxes paid. Furthermore, we estimate the lifetime national insurance contributions per worker, including employer contributions. To account for changes over the modeling period, we increased wages based on historical economic growth, government benefits were increased based on the rate of consumer price inflation rate, and all costs and taxes were discounted at 3.5%., Main Results and the Role of Chance: A child born in Taiwan in 2022 is expected to pay discounted gross tax revenues of NT$7 257 438 and receive NT$5 373 730 in discounted future benefits from the government. Following implementation of the new funding policy, based on the number of resulting births, the cost per live birth is NT$331 918. Applying the cost per live birth, we estimate the discounted net tax revenue to be NT$1 551 789 for each child born from the subsidy. The ROI for the Taiwanese government is estimated at 568% over the lifetime of the IVF-conceived children., Limitations, Reasons for Caution: Several assumptions are applied in making long-term financial projections. Should economic conditions change dramatically, this could influence the projections described in our work., Wider Implications of the Findings: The results suggest the government benefits from public subsidy for fertility services when taking into consideration the long-term work activity of these children and future tax revenue generated for government. The results are broadly applicable to other markets, although variations in wages, lifetime work activity, and taxation rates would influence the conclusions reported here., Study Funding/competing Interest(s): The work was sponsored by the Merck Group in Singapore (funding to N.K. and M.P.C.). The sponsoring organization was given an opportunity to review the final manuscript; however, the authors retained full editorial control over the final published materials. The authors hold no financial interests in the sponsoring company. N.K. and M.P.C. have received consulting fees from Merck and Organon and payment/honoraria from Merck. M.-J.C. received no funding for this work but has received honoraria for lectures from the Taiwanese Society for Reproduction Medicine, Taiwanese Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Japanese Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Endocrine Society of the ROC, Merck, Organon, and Ferring; attendance fees for expert meetings from Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan, and the National Science and Technology Council of Taiwan; and support for attending meetings and/or travel from the National Science and Technology Council of Taiwan and Merck. None of the other authors report any conflicts in relation to this work., Trial Registration Number: N/A., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.)

Copyright of Revista de Economía is the property of Universidade Federal do Parana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)