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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.

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]

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]

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]

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 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]

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]

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 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.)

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.)

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.)

Abstract Background Acute hepatic porphyria (AHP) is a rare, debilitating disease characterized by potentially life-threatening attacks often resulting in chronic symptoms that negatively impact daily functioning and quality of life. Symptoms of AHP prevent many individuals from working and achieving lifetime work averages. The aim of this study was to apply a public economic framework to evaluate AHP in Belgium, taking into consideration a broad range of costs that are relevant to government in relation to social benefit payments and lifetime taxes paid. Methodology A public economic framework was developed exploring lifetime costs for government attributed to an individual with AHP and recurrent attacks in Belgium. Work-activity and lifetime direct taxes paid, indirect consumption taxes and requirements for public benefits were estimated based on established clinical pathways for AHP and compared to the general population (GP). The model includes AHP-related healthcare costs and non-AHP healthcare costs for the GP. Results Lifetime earnings are reduced in an individual with AHP by €347,802 per person (p.p.), translating to reduced lifetime taxes paid of €183,187 for an AHP individual compared to the GP. We estimate increased lifetime disability benefit support of €247,242 for an AHP individual compared to GP. Lifetime healthcare costs for a person with AHP were estimated to be €3,030,316 due to frequent hospitalisations associated with porphyria attacks compared to the GP. The lifetime costs for a person with 12 attacks per annum factoring in transfers, taxes and healthcare costs are estimated to be €3,460,745 p.p. Eliminating AHP attacks after 10 years of active disease, thus, enabling a person to return to work increases lifetime earnings by €224,575 p.p. Increased work activity in such individuals would generate an estimated €118,284 p.p. over their lifetime. The elimination of AHP attacks could also lead to reductions in disability payments of €179,184 p.p. and healthcare cost savings of €1,511,027 p.p. Conclusions Due to severe disability resulting from constant attacks, AHP patients with recurrent attacks incur significant public costs. Lifetime taxes paid are reduced as these attacks occur during peak earning and working years. In those patients, reducing AHP attacks can confer significant fiscal benefits for government, including reduced healthcare costs, reduced disability payments and improved tax revenue.

Aim: To estimate the fiscal burden for taxpayers in Sweden associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) attributed to diabetes‐related complications in patients failing to meet HbA1c targets. Material and Methods: We developed a public economic framework to assess how changes in diabetes‐related complications influenced projected tax contributions and government disability payments for people with T2D. The analysis applied accepted disease‐modelling practices to estimate different rates of diabetes‐related complications based on an HbA1c of 6.9% (52 mmol/mol) and of 6.0% (42 mmol/mol). We adjusted the employment activity rates for those experiencing T2D‐related events, applying age‐specific earnings to estimate lifetime tax losses. Furthermore, the likelihood of receiving payments for health‐related employment inactivity was estimated. Direct healthcare costs are excluded from this analysis. Results: The estimated per person earnings loss for immediate and delayed HbA1c control was Swedish krona (SEK) 42 299 and SEK 44 157, respectively, over 10 years. The lost employment activity of people with T2D translates to lost tax revenues of SEK 23 265 and SEK 24 287 for immediate and delayed control, respectively. The estimated difference in disability payments was SEK 538. Combining the tax revenue loss and excess disability payments defines the broader fiscal costs, where we observe combined fiscal losses that favour immediate and sustained control by SEK 1560 over 10 years. Conclusions: We show that conducting fiscal analysis of diabetes interventions offers an enriched perspective capturing a range of costs that fall on government in relation to lost tax revenue and disability payments. Tax‐financed health systems may benefit from broadening the consideration of costs and benefits when evaluating new interventions and treatment practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to measure the impact of policies towards facilitating access to financial instruments, especially on the living standards of the lower income segment of the society. Hence, a multidimensional financial inclusion index representing access to financial instruments was created. Then, the absolute, social and income distribution-related definitions of the concept of poverty were analyzed separately. The link between financial inclusion and different definitions of poverty was measured by Dynamic Panel Data Analysis methods. The methodology of the analysis reveals the unique side of the study and its contribution to the literature. It has been revealed with the outcomes of study that policies for increasing access to financial instruments, have positive effects on the living standards of people in the lowest segments of the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of institutions—notably the degree of administrative decentralisation across levels of government—in health care decision-making and health spending as well as life expectancy. The empirical analysis builds on a new methodology to analyse health sector performance. In particular, the present analysis examines the impact of centralisation versus decentralisation of responsibilities across levels of government, making use of newly collected data on governance and expenditure assignment, as well as non-linear empirical specifications. An interlocking U-shaped relationship is found with respect to expenditure and life expectancy. Under moderate decentralisation, public spending in health care is lower, while life expectancy is higher, compared with more centralised systems; however, in highly decentralised systems, public spending is higher and life expectancy is lower. This finding of a "fish-shaped" relationship for decentralisation and outcomes also helps to understand recent reforms of OECD health systems, which have often reverted towards more moderate degrees of administrative decentralisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 public health crisis, market failures such as shortage of supplies and soaring prices of anti-epidemic materials – with masks as the core – have occurred. In essence, such anti-epidemic materials have the dual nature of necessities with low elasticity of demand and private products with positive externalities. This research explores the understanding of anti-pandemic materials and how different initiatives, and evaluation to increase availability of necessary resources can be effective in curbing a pandemic. Market regulation results in a non-Pareto optimal allocation of resources and the difficulty of exerting the positive externalities of products. However, in China, the market failure of anti-epidemic materials was quickly resolved, due to the institutional advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the social responsibility drive of domestic enterprises, and cultural genes that focus on equity and concern for the disadvantaged. The optimal allocation of anti-epidemic materials gave access to exerting efficiency and fairness effects, positive external effects, and public effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of the present study on the effects of the fiscal policy response of Bulgaria to the COVID-19 outbreak illustrates that the European Union (EU) additional fiscal rules introduced after the 2008 global economic and financial crisis help build buffers for the period of a new sudden macroeconomic shock. The new legislative initiatives to reform the coordination, monitoring and macroeconomic risk management in the EU taught lessons about fiscal framework from Maastricht, which inevitably has had an impact on national fiscal policies of the EU member states before COVID-19 pandemic. The assessment of Bulgaria’s fiscal sustainability indicates that the government followed a strong fiscal discipline since early 2000s, which helped the country during both recent crises. Prior to the EU accession Bulgaria experienced strong economic growth above its potential provoked by the attractiveness of the country to foreign investors. The fiscal policy has been countercyclical, which contributed to the macroeconomic stability of Bulgaria as a country in the currency board arrangements. During the good periods when the output gap was positive the government created stable buffers with positive structural fiscal balance, which was above the medium-term budgetary objective (MTO) of 1% of GDP. Thus, in the emergency COVID-19 epidemic situation Bulgaria has had fiscal space for additional public spending and debt issuance. The assessment of the study shows that Bulgaria should return to its MTO with a gradual fiscal consolidation over the following years.