Trata a presente tese da sustentação da indispensabilidade de utilização, em um sistema tributário, para almejar ser justo, da tributação indireta. E não basta a utilização dela como elemento complementar do sistema. É necessário que sua participação seja equilibrada em relação à utilização da tributação direta, igualmente indispensável à justeza do sistema. Assim, entre a tributação direta e a indireta, não se deve cogitar de qual das duas é mais justa, sim que uma e outra contribuem igualmente para que o sistema como um todo, possa ser o mais justo possível. A exposição se inicia com um escorço histórico em que se procura analisar e situar o funcionamento dos sistemas tributários na evolução e conformação das diversas sociedades que antecedem à nossa, com uma natural ênfase à civilização ocidental como a entendemos, isto é, centrada em uma corrente econômica, cultural e técnica, de linha mediterrânea e européia. Neste escorço, superada a exposição referente às origens mais remotas, foram feitos alguns destaques temáticos, o primeiro e mais importante destacando a atuação de Colbert no reinado de Luiz XIV, na França, pela sua contribuição crítica ao sistema tributário então vigente naquele país, e a reforma que implementou com a introdução de impostos indiretos e redução de impostos diretos, no sentido de institucionalizar e fortalecer o reino. Outros destaques foram feitos, merecendo especial citação Ricardo, Enno Becker e Keynes, o primeiro pela sua exposição crítica dos impostos vigentes na Inglaterra em seu tempo, o segundo pela sua notável participação na elaboração da Constituição de Weimar e o terceiro pela sua atuação nos Estados Unidos após a crise de 1929 e sua participação na conferência de Bretton Woods. Findo o escorço histórico, segue-se uma exposição de natureza pessoal, historiando a forma como a presente tese se conformou, sob o título de \"Reintrodução\". A partir da conceituação de \"justiça fiscal\", a tese propriamente dita se delineia, passando-se de uma análise crítica relacionada ao objetivo maior, a justiça, para a análise do papel dos impostos indiretos e diretos e da contribuição de melhoria. Em sua parte final cuida-se do ajustamento sistêmico do problema, inspirando, além do desejável ajuste científico e cibernético, uma profunda reforma tributária, que poderia destinar-se ao Brasil, ou a qualquer outro país, em qualquer estágio de desenvolvimento que se encontre. O modelo é inspirado na reforma que, produzida inicialmente na França com a introdução da T.V.A. (\"Taxe a la Valeur Ajoutée\"), depois estendida à comunidade econômica européia, praticamente institucionalizou naqueles quadrantes um tipo de imposto único indireto, altamente simplificador desse sistema impositivo. Propõe-se desta forma, a introdução também de um imposto único similar, direto, que aliado à uma nova contribuição de melhoria, melhor instituída, e da terceirização sistêmica das taxas, dariam estrutura final a todo o conjunto tributário nacional, tendo por objetivo maior o estado de direito democrático moderno. Esta, assim, seria a \"grande síntese\" tributária passível de ser alcançada, em qualquer sistema moderno. / Cette thèse concerne le maintien du caractère indispensable de Ia tributation indirecte dans un système tributaire qui vise à Ia justice. Cependant, il ne suffit pas I\'emploie de Ia tributation indirecte en tant qu\'élement complémentaire du système. Il faut que sa participation soit equilibrée par rapport à I\'emploie de Ia tributation directe, également indispensable à Ia justesse du système. Ainsi, entre les impôts directs et les indirects, Ia cogitation est que tous les deux contribuent également pour que le système soit juste et non qu\'an entre le deux est plus juste. L\'exposition part d\'un raccourci historique dont le but est d\'analyser et placer le fonctionnement des systèmes tributaire dan I\'évolution et Ia conformation de plusieurs societés ultérieures, comprennant surtout Ia civilisation occidentale en tant que nous I\'envisageons. Ça veut dire, dont I\'axe consiste dans une chaine économique, culturelle et technique d\'origine meditarrenée et européenne. Dans ce raccourci, apres avoir surmonté I\'exposition concernant les origines les plus lointaines, on a choisi quelques groupes thématiques, dont le premier et le plus important concerne I\'action de Colbert dans le royaume de Louis XIV, en France, en raison de sa contribution critique au système tributaire lors y en vigueur, ainsi que Ia reforme qu\'il a implanté, dont I\'innovation consistait dans I\'introduction des impôts indirects et dans Ia reduction des impôts directs, de façon à institucionaliser et rendre plus puissant le royaume. Ensuite, on passe à d\'autres souslignements, et on doit mentionner de façon spéciale ceux-Ià concernant Ricardo, Enno Becker et Keynes. Le premier en raison de son exposition critique des impôts, lors en vigueur dans l\'Angleterre. Le second en fonction de sa remarquable participation dans I\'élaboration de Ia Constitution de Weimar. Et le troisième en raison de son sction aux États Unis aprés Ia débâcle de 1929, ainsi que sa participation dans Ia réunion de Bretton Woods. Apres ce raccourci historique, on passe à une exposition d\'ordre personnel, en racontant en detail le développement de cette thèse, sous le titre \"Reintroduction\". À partir de Ia conceptualisation de \"justice fiscale\", Ia thèse, en son essence, se delinée, et on passe à une analyse critique par rapport à son but majeur - Ia justice -, par I\'analyse de Ia fonction des impôts indirects et directs et Ia contribution d\'amélioration. La dernière section est consacrée à I\'ajustement systémique du problème, qu\'inspire, au-delà d\'un souhaitable couplage scientifique et cybernétique, une reforme tributaire profonde, capable d\'être employée soit au Brésil soit à un autre pays quelconque, independamment du degrée de développement qu\'il a atteint. Le modele s\'inspire à Ia reforme qui a commencé en France, avec I\'introduction par Maurice Lauré de Ia T.V.A. (Taxe à Ia Valeur Ajoutée) et, qu\'ensuite, étendue à Ia Communauté Européenne, a contribué pour I\'institutionnalisation, dans Ia pratique, d\'un genre d\'impôt unique indirect, de façon à simplifier remarquablement de système de ces impôts. On propose, donc, I\'introduction d\'un impôt unique similaire, direct, que s\'alliant à une nouvelle contribution d\'amélioration, meilleurment instituée, et de Ia concession systématique des services, serait capable de donner une structure finale à tout I\'ensemble tributaire national, en une grande synthèse, ayant pour but majeur I\'état de droit démocratique moderne.

Cette thèse étudie dans une perspective comparée les modalités du travail de représentation en matière d’impôt sur la fortune, au Bundestag et à l’Assemblée nationale. S’appuyant sur des approches empiriques complémentaires (entretiens semi-directs, observation non-participante, bases de données prosopographiques, travail d’archive codé), cette enquête entend expliquer la variété des pratiques constatées. La recherche montre que les débats en matière d’impôt sur la fortune se caractérisent par la place centrale prise par les mondes de l’entreprise, faisant émerger le constat d’une forme d’inégalité d’accès à la parole parlementaire pour les groupes sociaux cités au sein des deux Assemblées. L’enquête souligne également que les députés développent des pratiques différenciées entre groupes en utilisant plusieurs registres de représentation visant à justifier et légitimer les différents modes d’investissement observables dans les deux pays. Face à ce constat, cette étude entend proposer un examen des causes des phénomènes observés. Plus d’une trentaine de facteurs explicatifs sont ainsi pris en compte, à des niveaux micro, méso et macrosociologiques (histoire politique, dispositions individuelles, processus de socialisation politique, économique et professionnelle, influence des entourages, effets de positions et de contextes, etc.). La thèse montre alors que les pratiques de représentation sont le résultat de l’articulation d’un système de facteurs qui interdisent de penser ces pratiques de façon réifiée. En cherchant à comprendre la complexité et l’intrication de nombreux éléments intervenant dans les prises de position des élus, la thèse cherche à démêler les fils explicatifs de l’écheveau des pratiques de représentation. / This thesis aims at analysing the methods of representing during wealth tax debates in the French Assemblée nationale and in the German Bundestag. Based on empirical researches (semi-direct interviews, non-participating observations, prosopographic data, coded archival work), this research aspires to explain the variety of identified practices. The research shows on one hand that debates around wealth tax are characterized by the central position of concerns and businesses, highlighting the following acknowledgment: the inequity in accessing speaking time for social groups mentioned in both Parliaments. The thesis also underlines that members of parliament develop differentiated practices between groups by using multiple register of representation, which aim at justifying and legitimating all the different ways of commitment observed in both countries.Facing this observation, the thesis strive to provide a review of the causes of the observed phenomena. More than thirty explanatory factors are taken into consideration on micro, meso and macro sociological levels (political history, individual provisions, political/economical/professional socialisation processes, influence of close circle, effects of positions and environment). The thesis therefore demonstrates that the practices of representation are the result of a very high number of diversifying factors, which prevent from thinking those practices on a reified way. While trying to understand the complexity of new elements intervening in elected representatives’ position statements, the thesis aspires to untangle the explanatory threads of political representation. / Diese Doktorarbeit vergleicht die Modalitäten der politischen Repräsentation in Bezug auf die Vermögensteuer im Bundestag und in der Assemblée nationale. Die Recherche will Erklärungen geben für die Vielfalt der hierbei beobachteten Praktiken. Dafür stützt sie sich auf komplementäre empirische Materialien (Gespräche, Beobachtungen, prosoprographische Daten, codierte Archivarbeit). Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt, dass die Debatten um die Vermögensteuer durch die zentrale Stellung der Unternehmen geprägt sind. Es existiert eine Form von ungleichem Zugang zur parlamentarischen Rede für die sozialen Gruppen innerhalb der beiden Versammlungen. Oft werden bestimmte soziale Gruppen einfach ignoriert. Die Studie verweist auch darauf, dass die Abgeordneten Praktiken von differenzierter Repräsentation zwischen Gruppen entwickeln, indem sie mehrere Register der Repräsentation benutzen, die darauf aus sind, verschiedene Modi der Investitionen zu rechtfertigen und zu legitimieren- in beiden Ländern. Vor diesem Hintergrund bietet diese Arbeit eine Analyse der Gründe der beobachteten Phänomene an. Dazu werden mehr als dreißig explikative Faktoren unter micro-, meso- und makrosoziologischen Gesichtspunkten untersucht (politische Geschichte, individuelle Dispositionen, Prozesse politischer, ökonomischer und professioneller Sozialisierung, Einflüsse des Umfelds, Einflüsse von institutionellen Positionen und Kontexten usw.). Diese Doktorarbeit will nachweisen, dass die Praktiken der Repräsentation das Ergebnis eines sehr hohen Anteils verschiedener Faktoren sind, die es untersagen diese Praktiken gedanklich zu verfestigen. Indem wir versuchen, die Komplexität und die Verstrickung der zahlreichen Elemente zu verstehen, die in den Stellungnahmen der Abgeordneten zum Ausdruck kommen, will diese Doktorarbeit die erklärenden Fäden des Knäuels der Repräsentationspraktiken entwirren.

L’étude repose sur l’hypothèse que les aides d’État fiscales sont autonomes, se singularisant par rapport aux autres règles du droit fiscal de l’Union. Cela est dû au fait que la véritable nature de l’intégration, la véritable finalité du contrôle des aides fiscales, n’est pas facilement perceptible.Le régime des aides fiscales dépasse son cadre initial de contrôle des systèmes fiscaux pourintégrer celui d’élaboration de règles juridiques communes. Les autorités de l’Union, par le biais du régime des aides fiscales, contrôlent les systèmes fiscaux nationaux ; en même temps, elles parviennent à jouer un rôle important pour la coopération interétatique au regard de la lutte contrela concurrence fiscale dommageable. Plus important encore, elles réussissent à coordonner les systèmes fiscaux nationaux, procédant d’une instrumentalisation du contrôle des aides fiscales,contrôle étant conçu comme un succédané de l’harmonisation fiscale. La démonstration des finalités protéiformes de ce contrôle repose d’abord sur la méthode d’identification d’une aide fiscale, identification qui correspond aux finalités recherchées. La vérification de l’hypothèse initiale de singularisation des aides fiscales pose également la question de sa finalité. Ce contrôle est-il susceptible de façonner la structure même du droit fiscal de l’Union et, d’une manière plus substantielle, la répartition des compétences entre les autorités européennes et nationales ? Une technique comme celle du contrôle des aides fiscales peut-elle potentiellement contribuer à redéfinir la ligne de démarcation entre souveraineté fiscale des États membres et limitation tolérable de celle-ci par le droit de l’Union ? / This thesis is based on the premise that tax state aids differentiate themselves from other tax law related rules of the European Union. This is due to the fact that the true nature of the integration, the true purpose of the regulation of tax state aids, is not so easily discernible. The legal status oftax state aids outreaches its original scope—the scrutiny of fiscal systems—to integrate that of creation of common legal rules. The authorities of the Union, through the tax aids regime, monitor domestic tax systems; at the same time, they come to play an important role in the context of the interstate cooperation tackling harmful tax competition. More importantly, they manage to coordinate domestic tax systems as a result of the “instrumentalization” of the regulation of taxaids. The latter is then regarded as a substitute to tax harmonization. This manifestation of themultifarious objectives of tax state aids regulation is firstly based on the technique ofcharacterization of a tax aid, a characterization corresponding ultimately to the goals as expected.The proof of the initial hypothesis of the self-containment of tax aids raises the question of its purpose. Is this regulation likely to weave the very structure of Union tax law and, more substantially, the division of competences between European and domestic authorities? Is a technique like the one related to tax state aids regulation likely to contribute to redefining the dividing line between member States tax sovereignty and its tolerable limitation by Union law?

La question du développement inclusif dans les pays en développement est au cœur de cette thèse. Cette dernière s'articule autour de quatre chapitres sur les questions de politique fiscale et les questions liées à la croissance inclusive. Le chapitre 1 explore comment la politique fiscale de l’Etat affecte l'inclusivité de la croissance dans les pays en développement. Nous observons que la politique fiscale affecte la croissance inclusive de manière significative si et seulement si les pays ont de fortes qualités institutionnelles. En outre, notre résultat montre qu'il existe un seuil optimal au-delà duquel toute augmentation du taux d'imposition négativement la croissance inclusive. Le chapitre 2 examine les effets des composantes des dépenses publiques sur l'équité et la croissance dans les pays d’Afrique subsaharienne, notamment s'il est possible de concevoir des dépenses publiques en vue de promouvoir une société plus équitable sans sacrifier la croissance économique. Notre étude a permis de montrer que l’investissement en infrastructure a contribué à une croissance plus inclusive en Afrique subsaharienne que d'autres dépenses publiques. Ces résultats suggèrent que des programmes temporaires et bien ciblés devraient être mis en place pour aider ceux qui sont laissés pour compte par le processus de croissance. Le chapitre 3 cherche à savoir si les problèmes d’inégalités de revenus se sont posés ou non dans les périodes d'ajustement budgétaire en Côte d'Ivoire au cours de la période 1980-2014. Nos résultats montrent une amélioration de la performance de croissance après les épisodes de consolidation budgétaire, mais aussi des diminutions de l'écart de revenu dans les périodes suivantes les années d’ajustements budgétaires. Enfin, le chapitre 4 évalue la crédibilité des prévisions budgétaires et leurs effets sur le bien-être social dans les pays de la CEMAC et de l'UEMOA. Nous sommes aboutis aux résultats que l'inefficacité des prévisions budgétaires se produit dans la plupart des cas parce que les erreurs de prévisions sont proportionnelles à la prévision elle-même, mais aussi parce que les erreurs passées sont répétées dans le temps. En outre, une partie des erreurs de prévision des recettes peut s'expliquer par des chocs aléatoires survenus dans l'économie. Par conséquent, ces erreurs dans les prévisions de revenus considérées comme des chocs de politique budgétaire ont un effet négatif sur la croissance inclusive. / The issue of inclusive development in developing countries is at the heart of this thesis. The latter revolves around four chapters on fiscal policy issues and inclusive growth-related matters. Chapter 1 explores how government tax policy affects the inclusiveness of growth in developing countries. Evidence is shown that tax policy affects significantly inclusive growth if and only if the countries have a strong institution quality like low corruption and a good bureaucratic policy. In addition, our result shows that there is an optimal tax beyond which, any increase in the personal income tax rate should have negative impact on inclusive growth. The Chapter 2 examines the effects of government expenditure components on both equity and growth in sub-Saharan countries, especially whether it is possible to design public spending to promote a more equitable society without sacrificing economic growth. We find that investment in infrastructure contributed to more inclusive growth in Sub-sub Saharan African economies than others government spending. These results suggest that temporary and well-targeted programs should be implemented to help those being left out by the growth process. The Chapter 3 investigates whether income inequality matters in the periods of fiscal adjustments in Côte d’Ivoire over the period 1980-2014. The results show an improvement in growth performance after fiscal consolidations episodes, but also income gap decreases in the periods ahead fiscal adjustments. Lastly, Chapter 4 assesses the credibility of fiscal forecasts and their social effects in CEMAC and WAEMU countries. We obtain evidence that the inefficiency of fiscal forecast occurs in most time because the forecast deviation is proportional to the forecast itself, but also because the past errors are repeated in the present. Furthermore, a part of revenue forecast errors can be explained by random shocks to the economy. Therefore, these errors in revenue forecast considered as fiscal policy shocks has a detrimental effect on inclusive growth.

Le droit fiscal international contemporain vit une époque de bouleversement profond dont les développements relatifs à l’utilisation des conventions fiscales portent l’empreinte. La recherche conduira à s’intéresser à différents agissements qui se trouvent, grâce aux travaux consacrés au BEPS, sous le feu des projecteurs. Un éclairage nouveau s’avérait nécessaire, il a permis d’apporter un peu plus de lumière sur la notion d’abus de convention fiscale internationale trop longtemps restée dans l’ombre. Face à l’absence de définition unanimement consacrée, certains traits caractéristiques seront mis en évidence en insistant sur la dimension fonctionnelle de la notion qui épouse la forme d’un standard. Dans le cadre d’une analyse comparée menée à l’aune des droits français et américain, l’étude a pour objet de l’appréhender sous un regard nouveau en délimitant précisément les modalités de contrôle des opérations abusives. Les techniques de répression des abus mises en œuvre par les juges seront analysées. Les différents dispositifs internes et conventionnels anti-abus seront discutés en insistant sur les points de divergence et de convergence des politiques fiscales conventionnelles américaine et française. Une attention particulière sera portée aux conflits de norme inhérents à la juxtaposition de différents ordres fiscaux. L’idée selon laquelle, sous l’effet de l’instrument multilatéral notamment, la notion d’abus de convention fiscale internationale a acquis une individualité propre sera défendue. Il importera d’en préciser les conséquences au regard de la répression des abus par le juge français / Contemporary international fiscal law is undergoing a period of upheavals regarding the use of tax treaties. The research will lead to an interest in the different type of abuse that, thanks to the work devoted by the BEPS, are under the spotlight. It was necessary to shed some new light on the notion of tax treaty abuse that had long remained in the background. Faced with the absence of an unanimously adopted approach, many characteristics will be highlighted by insisting on the functional dimension of the notion which follows the form of a standard. In the context of a comparative analysis conducted in the light of French and American law, the object of the research is to analyse its several aspects from a new perspective by defining precisely the modalities of controlling abusive schemes. How judges deal with tax treaty avoidance strategies will be analysed. The various internal and international anti-abuses mechanisms will be discussed, highlighting the points of divergence and convergence of U.S. and French tax treaty policies. Attention will be paid to the conflicts of law regarding the juxtaposition of different tax order. The idea that under the effect of the multilateral instrument the notion of tax treaty abuse has acquired a distinct individuality will be defended. It will be important to specify what are the consequences for the application of the notion by the French judge

No description available.

Cette thèse vise à étudier les liens entre les investissements publics, le mode definancement et la croissance économique, tout en mettant en exergue le rôle des conditionsstructurelles. Premièrement, dans un scenario d’amélioration des conditions structurelles(mesurées par l’efficience et la capacité d'absorption de l’économie) comparé à un scenario debase, nous montrons que le potentiel de croissance est supérieur comparé au scenario de base. Parconséquent, la stabilisation de la dette ne nécessite pas des ajustements budgétaires douloureux.Deuxièmement, à travers un scénario d'investissement agressif sur la base d’emprunts nonconcessionnelsen anticipation des revenus futurs du pétrole, nous constatons l’occurrence decontraintes liées à la capacité d'absorption et partant l’effet adverse du syndrome hollandais sur lacroissance du PIB hors pétrole. En outre, des réformes structurelles qui résorberaient lescontraintes liées à l’inefficience et à la capacité d'absorption se traduiraient par une augmentationimportante et durable du capital public. Cela entrainerait une croissance supplémentaire du PIBhors pétrole. Troisièmement, nous montrons que les délais d’exécution peuvent contrer l’effetclassique selon lequel une augmentation de l’investissement public entraine un effet richessenégatif dans le long terme. Aussi, une productivité élevée de l’investissement public peutsubstantiellement créer un effet richesse positif dans le long terme, stimuler la production etpermettre à la consommation et à l’investissement privé de baisser moins. Finalement, noussimulons l’impact des dépenses publiques d’éducation sur la pauvreté au Burkina Faso en utilisant2 mécanismes d’ajustement fiscal : la taxe directe et la taxe indirecte. Les simulations montrentqu’une augmentation uniforme de 40 pourcent des dépenses publiques dans l’éducation primairefiancée par les deux mécanismes de financement améliore non seulement le bien-être maiségalement entraine une baisse de la pauvreté chez tous les types de ménage. Toutefois, lefinancement par la taxe indirecte conduit à un résultat inférieur comparé au financement par lataxe directe. / This dissertation seeks to study the public investment-financing-growth linkages whileeliciting the role of structural economic conditions. First, through an alternative scenario ofimproved structural economic conditions (efficiency and absorptive capacity) and comparing witha baseline scenario, we find that the growth potential is higher than the baseline. Consequently,stabilizing debt does not require painful fiscal consolidation. Second, through an aggressiveinvestment scaling-up scenario that builds on commercial borrowing in anticipation of future oilrevenue, we find that the economy is subject to absorptive capacity constraints and ultimately toDutch disease effects that affect negatively the non-oil GDP growth in the short run. Moreover,we find that structural reforms that address absorptive capacity constraints and inefficienciestranslate into sizable and sustainable increase in public capital. This in turn has a positive spillovereffect in terms of additional growth in the non-resource GDP. Third, we find that implementationdelays can offset the standard negative wealth effect from an increase in government investmentspending in the long run. Also, high-yielding public investment can substantially create positivewealth effect in the long run, raise output and enable private consumption and investment to fallless. Finally, we simulate a 40-percent across-the-board increase in public spending for primaryeducation, financed by an increase in taxes on household income and indirect taxes. We find thatthe two financing mechanisms, not only leads to an increase in the welfare but also to a decline inthe incidence of poverty for all household types. However, the indirect tax-based financing leadsto smaller outcomes compared to the income tax-based financing.

Principe trouvant une expression solennelle à l’article 6 C.E.D.H., le droit au procès équitable irradie aujourd’hui l’ensemble de notre droit interne. Dans un contexte de subjectivisation du droit, le droit administratif n’échappe pas à cette « irrésistible extension du contentieux du procès équitable » (Mme KOERING-JOULIN). Cette assertion trouve une manifestation éclatante quant aux pouvoirs de sanctions et de règlement des différends reconnus aux autorités administratives. La définition européenne du champ d’application du droit au procès équitable, suivie par la Cour de cassation et adaptée par le Conseil d’État, permet, en effet, à l'article 6 précité de faire florès en ce domaine. Ainsi, en l’état actuel de la jurisprudence administrative, le moyen tiré de la violation de cette stipulation peut utilement être invoqué à l’encontre des autorités administratives indépendantes, tant dans le cadre de leur activité répressive que contentieuse. Depuis maintenant huit ans, le respect de cette garantie s’impose à la procédure d’établissement des sanctions fiscales. A suivre cette ligne jurisprudentielle, l’extension du droit au procès équitable à l’ensemble des autorités administratives répressives voire contentieuses pourrait être la voie de l’avenir. Une telle évolution n’est toutefois pas sans soulever certaines questions. La processualisation croissante de la répression administrative, sous l’effet du droit au procès équitable, n’est-elle pas une contradiction en soi ? Ne va-t-elle pas à rebours de l’objectif initialement poursuivi par l’externalisation de la sanction ? Plus fondamentalement, l’assujettissement de l’administration aux garanties spécifiques à la procédure juridictionnelle ne participe-t-il pas au rétablissement d’une certaine confusion entre l’administration et la juridiction ? N'y a-t-il pas là renaissance, sous une forme évidemment nouvelle, de la figure que l'on croyait révolue de l'administrateur-juge ? / The right to a fair trial is enshrined in the article 6§1 of the European Convention on Human Rights and irradiates now all French law. In the context of the subjectivization of the law, administrative law is also subject to this "unstoppable rise of disputes in the name of the right to a fair trial" (Mrs. KOERING-JOULIN). This assertion is particularly true regarding the powers of sanction and the settlement of disputes granted to the administrative authorities. The European definition of the right to a fair trial applied by the Court of Cassation and adapted by the Council of State allows a wide application of this right. So, given the current state of the administrative case law, the right to a fair trial can be usefully claimed against independent administrative authorities as regard either their law enforcement activities or litigation practice. And the tax administration has also been compelled to respect this fundamental right for eight years now. In line with this settled jurisprudence, the extension of the right to a fair trial to all the administrative authorities may be the way of the future. But such an evolution raises a few questions. Isn't the increasing jurisdictionalization of the administration activities as a result of the right to a fair trial an inconsistency in itself? Doesn't it go against the primary goal of the outsourcing of the administrative penalties? More fundamentally, doesn't subjecting the administrative authorities to the specific principles of court procedures participate in reinstating some confusion between administration and jurisdiction? Isn’t it the rebirth, under a new form, of the administrator-judge we thought was long gone?

The active use of macroeconomic policies to smooth economic fluctuations and, as a<p>consequence, the stance that policymakers should adopt over the business cycle, remain<p>controversial issues in the economic literature.<p>In the light of the dramatic experience of the early 1930s’ Great Depression, Keynes (1936)<p>argued that the market mechanism could not be relied upon to spontaneously recover from<p>a slump, and advocated counter-cyclical public spending and monetary policy to stimulate<p>demand. Albeit the Keynesian doctrine had largely influenced policymaking during<p>the two decades following World War II, it began to be seriously challenged in several<p>directions since the start of the 1970s. The introduction of rational expectations within<p>macroeconomic models implied that aggregate demand management could not stabilize<p>the economy’s responses to shocks (see in particular Sargent and Wallace (1975)). According<p>to this view, in fact, rational agents foresee the effects of the implemented policies, and<p>wage and price expectations are revised upwards accordingly. Therefore, real wages and<p>money balances remain constant and so does output. Within such a conceptual framework,<p>only unexpected policy interventions would have some short-run effects upon the economy.<p>The "real business cycle (RBC) theory", pioneered by Kydland and Prescott (1982), offered<p>an alternative explanation on the nature of fluctuations in economic activity, viewed<p>as reflecting the efficient responses of optimizing agents to exogenous sources of fluctuations, outside the direct control of policymakers. The normative implication was that<p>there should be no role for economic policy activism: fiscal and monetary policy should be<p>acyclical. The latest generation of New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium<p>(DSGE) models builds on rigorous foundations in intertemporal optimizing behavior by<p>consumers and firms inherited from the RBC literature, but incorporates some frictions<p>in the adjustment of nominal and real quantities in response to macroeconomic shocks<p>(see Woodford (2003)). In such a framework, not only policy "surprises" may have an<p>impact on the economic activity, but also the way policymakers "systematically" respond<p>to exogenous sources of fluctuation plays a fundamental role in affecting the economic<p>activity, thereby rekindling interest in the use of counter-cyclical stabilization policies to<p>fine tune the business cycle.<p>Yet, despite impressive advances in the economic theory and econometric techniques, there are no definitive answers on the systematic stance policymakers should follow, and on the<p>effects of macroeconomic policies upon the economy. Against this background, the present thesis attempts to inspect the interrelations between macroeconomic policies and the economic activity from novel angles. Three contributions<p>are proposed. <p><p>In the first Chapter, I show that relying on the information actually available to policymakers when budgetary decisions are taken is of fundamental importance for the assessment of the cyclical stance of governments. In the second, I explore whether the effectiveness of fiscal shocks in spurring the economic activity has declined since the beginning of the 1970s. In the third, the impact of systematic monetary policies over U.S. industrial sectors is investigated. In the existing literature, empirical assessments of the historical stance of policymakers over the economic cycle have been mainly drawn from the estimation of "reduced-form" policy reaction functions (see in particular Taylor (1993) and Galì and Perotti (2003)). Such rules typically relate a policy instrument (a reference short-term interest rate or an indicator of discretionary fiscal policy) to a set of explanatory variables (notably inflation, the output gap and the debt-GDP ratio, as long as fiscal policy is concerned). Although these policy rules can be seen as simple approximations of what derived from an explicit optimization problem solved by social planners (see Kollmann (2007)), they received considerable attention since they proved to track the behavior of central banks and fiscal<p>policymakers relatively well. Typically, revised data, i.e. observations available to the<p>econometrician when the study is carried out, are used in the estimation of such policy<p>reaction functions. However, data available in "real-time" to policymakers may end up<p>to be remarkably different from what it is observed ex-post. Orphanides (2001), in an<p>innovative and thought-provoking paper on the U.S. monetary policy, challenged the way<p>policy evaluation was conducted that far by showing that unrealistic assumptions about<p>the timeliness of data availability may yield misleading descriptions of historical policy.<p>In the spirit of Orphanides (2001), in the first Chapter of this thesis I reconsider how<p>the intentional cyclical stance of fiscal authorities should be assessed. Importantly, in<p>the framework of fiscal policy rules, not only variables such as potential output and the<p>output gap are subject to measurement errors, but also the main discretionary "operating<p>instrument" in the hands of governments: the structural budget balance, i.e. the headline<p>government balance net of the effects due to automatic stabilizers. In fact, the actual<p>realization of planned fiscal measures may depend on several factors (such as the growth<p>rate of GDP, the implementation lags that often follow the adoption of many policy<p>measures, and others more) outside the direct and full control of fiscal authorities. Hence,<p>there might be sizeable differences between discretionary fiscal measures as planned in the<p>past and what it is observed ex-post. To be noted, this does not apply to monetary policy<p>since central bankers can control their operating interest rates with great accuracy.<p>When the historical behavior of fiscal authorities is analyzed from a real-time perspective, it emerges that the intentional stance has been counter-cyclical, especially during expansions, in the main OECD countries throughout the last thirteen years. This is at<p>odds with findings based on revised data, generally pointing to pro-cyclicality (see for example Gavin and Perotti (1997)). It is shown that empirical correlations among revision<p>errors and other second-order moments allow to predict the size and the sign of the bias<p>incurred in estimating the intentional stance of the policy when revised data are (mistakenly)<p>used. It addition, formal tests, based on a refinement of Hansen (1999), do not reject<p>the hypothesis that the intentional reaction of fiscal policy to the cycle is characterized by<p>two regimes: one counter-cyclical, when output is above its potential level, and the other<p>acyclical, in the opposite case. On the contrary, the use of revised data does not allow to identify any threshold effect.<p><p>The second and third Chapters of this thesis are devoted to the exploration of the impact<p>of fiscal and monetary policies upon the economy.<p>Over the last years, two approaches have been mainly followed by practitioners for the<p>estimation of the effects of macroeconomic policies on the real activity. On the one hand,<p>calibrated and estimated DSGE models allow to trace out the economy’s responses to<p>policy disturbances within an analytical framework derived from solid microeconomic<p>foundations. On the other, vector autoregressive (VAR) models continue to be largely<p>used since they have proved to fit macro data particularly well, albeit they cannot fully<p>serve to inspect structural interrelations among economic variables.<p>Yet, the typical DSGE and VAR models are designed to handle a limited number of variables<p>and are not suitable to address economic questions potentially involving a large<p>amount of information. In a DSGE framework, in fact, identifying aggregate shocks and<p>their propagation mechanism under a plausible set of theoretical restrictions becomes a<p>thorny issue when many variables are considered. As for VARs, estimation problems may<p>arise when models are specified in a large number of indicators (although latest contributions suggest that large-scale Bayesian VARs perform surprisingly well in forecasting.<p>See in particular Banbura, Giannone and Reichlin (2007)). As a consequence, the growing<p>popularity of factor models as effective econometric tools allowing to summarize in<p>a parsimonious and flexible manner large amounts of information may be explained not<p>only by their usefulness in deriving business cycle indicators and forecasting (see for example<p>Reichlin (2002) and D’Agostino and Giannone (2006)), but also, due to recent<p>developments, by their ability in evaluating the response of economic systems to identified<p>structural shocks (see Giannone, Reichlin and Sala (2002) and Forni, Giannone, Lippi<p>and Reichlin (2007)). Parallelly, some attempts have been made to combine the rigor of<p>DSGE models and the tractability of VAR ones, with the advantages of factor analysis<p>(see Boivin and Giannoni (2006) and Bernanke, Boivin and Eliasz (2005)).<p><p>The second Chapter of this thesis, based on a joint work with Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, presents an original study combining factor and VAR analysis in an encompassing framework,<p>to investigate how "unexpected" and "unsystematic" variations in taxes and government<p>spending feed through the economy in the home country and abroad. The domestic<p>impact of fiscal shocks in Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. and cross-border fiscal spillovers<p>from Germany to seven European economies is analyzed. In addition, the time evolution of domestic and cross-border tax and spending multipliers is explored. In fact, the way fiscal policy impacts on domestic and foreign economies<p>depends on several factors, possibly changing over time. In particular, the presence of excess<p>capacity, accommodating monetary policy, distortionary taxation and liquidity constrained<p>consumers, plays a prominent role in affecting how fiscal policies stimulate the<p>economic activity in the home country. The impact on foreign output crucially depends<p>on the importance of trade links, on real exchange rates and, in a monetary union, on<p>the sensitiveness of foreign economies to the common interest rate. It is well documented<p>that the last thirty years have witnessed frequent changes in the economic environment.<p>For instance, in most OECD countries, the monetary policy stance became less accommodating<p>in the 1980s compared to the 1970s, and more accommodating again in the<p>late 1990s and early 2000s. Moreover, financial markets have been heavily deregulated.<p>Hence, fiscal policy might have lost (or gained) power as a stimulating tool in the hands<p>of policymakers. Importantly, the issue of cross-border transmission of fiscal policy decisions is of the utmost relevance in the framework of the European Monetary Union and this explains why the debate on fiscal policy coordination has received so much attention since the adoption<p>of the single currency (see Ahearne, Sapir and Véron (2006) and European Commission<p>(2006)). It is found that over the period 1971 to 2004 tax shocks have generally been more effective in spurring domestic output than government spending shocks. Interestingly, the inclusion of common factors representing global economic phenomena yields to smaller multipliers<p>reconciling, at least for the U.K. the evidence from large-scale macroeconomic models,<p>generally finding feeble multipliers (see e.g. European Commission’s QUEST model), with<p>the one from a prototypical structural VAR pointing to stronger effects of fiscal policy.<p>When the estimation is performed recursively over samples of seventeen years of data, it<p>emerges that GDP multipliers have dropped drastically from early 1990s on, especially<p>in Germany (tax shocks) and in the U.S. (both tax and government spending shocks).<p>Moreover, the conduct of fiscal policy seems to have become less erratic, as documented<p>by a lower variance of fiscal shocks over time, and this might contribute to explain why<p>business cycles have shown less volatility in the countries under examination.<p>Expansionary fiscal policies in Germany do not generally have beggar-thy-neighbor effects<p>on other European countries. In particular, our results suggest that tax multipliers have<p>been positive but vanishing for neighboring countries (France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria), weak and mostly not significant for more remote ones (the U.K.<p>and Spain). Cross-border government spending multipliers are found to be monotonically<p>weak for all the subsamples considered.<p>Overall these findings suggest that fiscal "surprises", in the form of unexpected reductions in taxation and expansions in government consumption and investment, have become progressively less successful in stimulating the economic activity at the domestic level, indicating that, in the framework of the European Monetary Union, policymakers can only marginally rely on this discretionary instrument as a substitute for national monetary policies. <p><p>The objective of the third chapter is to inspect the role of monetary policy in the U.S. business cycle. In particular, the effects of "systematic" monetary policies upon several industrial sectors is investigated. The focus is on the systematic, or endogenous, component of monetary policy (i.e. the one which is related to the economic activity in a stable and predictable way), for three main reasons. First, endogenous monetary policies are likely to have sizeable real effects, if agents’ expectations are not perfectly rational and if there are some nominal and real frictions in a market. Second, as widely documented, the variability of the monetary instrument and of the main macro variables is only marginally explained by monetary "shocks", defined as unexpected and exogenous variations in monetary conditions. Third, monetary shocks can be simply interpreted as measurement errors (see Christiano, Eichenbaum<p>and Evans (1998)). Hence, the systematic component of monetary policy is likely to have played a fundamental role in affecting business cycle fluctuations. The strategy to isolate the impact of systematic policies relies on a counterfactual experiment, within a (calibrated or estimated) macroeconomic model. As a first step, a macroeconomic shock to which monetary policy is likely to respond should be selected,<p>and its effects upon the economy simulated. Then, the impact of such shock should be<p>evaluated under a “policy-inactive” scenario, assuming that the central bank does not respond<p>to it. Finally, by comparing the responses of the variables of interest under these<p>two scenarios, some evidence on the sensitivity of the economic system to the endogenous<p>component of the policy can be drawn (see Bernanke, Gertler and Watson (1997)).<p>Such kind of exercise is first proposed within a stylized DSGE model, where the analytical<p>solution of the model can be derived. However, as argued, large-scale multi-sector DSGE<p>models can be solved only numerically, thus implying that the proposed experiment cannot<p>be carried out. Moreover, the estimation of DSGE models becomes a thorny issue when many variables are incorporated (see Canova and Sala (2007)). For these arguments, a less “structural”, but more tractable, approach is followed, where a minimal amount of<p>identifying restrictions is imposed. In particular, a factor model econometric approach<p>is adopted (see in particular Giannone, Reichlin and Sala (2002) and Forni, Giannone,<p>Lippi and Reichlin (2007)). In this framework, I develop a technique to perform the counterfactual experiment needed to assess the impact of systematic monetary policies.<p>It is found that 2 and 3-digit SIC U.S. industries are characterized by very heterogeneous degrees of sensitivity to the endogenous component of the policy. Notably, the industries showing the strongest sensitivities are the ones producing durable goods and metallic<p>materials. Non-durable good producers, food, textile and lumber producing industries are<p>the least affected. In addition, it is highlighted that industrial sectors adjusting prices relatively infrequently are the most "vulnerable" ones. In fact, firms in this group are likely to increase quantities, rather than prices, following a shock positively hitting the economy. Finally, it emerges that sectors characterized by a higher recourse to external sources to finance investments, and sectors investing relatively more in new plants and machineries, are the most affected by endogenous monetary actions. / Doctorat en sciences économiques, Orientation économie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

« L’Europe ne se fera pas en un jour, ni sans heurts.», dixit Monsieur Robert Schuman. Tel est le constat qui peut encore être fait à l’heure actuelle avec l’adoption, après trente ans d’intenses débats au niveau européen, de la Societas Europaea, introduite en droit français avec la loi du 26 juillet 2005 pour la confiance et la modernisation de l’économie, complétée par les décrets du 14 avril 2006 et du 9 novembre 2006. La même analyse peut s’appliquer à la proposition du règlement de la commission européenne relatif au statut de la société privée européenne faite le 25 juin 2008, en cours d’examen devant le Parlement Européen. Il s’agit de démontrer l’existence de normes communautaires flexibles propices au développement des normes statutaires, à l'image de celles applicables à la société privée européenne (SPE) d'origine communautaire et d'essence contractuelle. La SPE doit être analysée comme structure sociétaire, symbole de l’émancipation du droit communautaire et vecteur du principe de libre établissement des sociétés, à la fois par rapport à sa « grande cousine », la société européenne, et à travers l’étude des normes communautaires comme éléments nécessaires au bon fonctionnement des structures européennes.La question est enfin de savoir si le recours à la SPE constitue un instrument pertinent dans les opérations de restructuration intra-communautaire. Deux axes de réflexion semblent s’imposer : l’aménagement des relations contractuelles intragroupe via le modèle de la SPE et la SPE comme élément moteur dans le cadre des opérations de fusion intracommunautaire. / “Europe will not be made in a day, nor without any clashes,” according to Mr Robert Schuman. The statement proved to be true with the adoption, after thirty years of intense debates at the European level, of Societas Europaea, introduced into French law with the bill of July 26, 2005 for the confidence and modernization of the economy, supplemented by the decrees of April 14, 2006 and November 9, 2006. The same analysis can be made of the European Commission proposals for the regulations relating to the statute of the European private company made on June 25, 2008, and now under consideration before the European Parliament. The question is to show the existence of flexible Community standards favourable to the development of statutory standards, in the image of those applicable to the European Private Company of Community origin and which is contractual in essence. The European Private Company should be analysed as a member structure and a symbol of the emancipation of Community legislation as well as a vector of the principle of free establishment of companies both in relation to its “big cousin,” the European Company, and through the study of Community standards as necessary elements to the correct operation of European structures. The next step is to question if resorting to the European Private Company constitutes a relevant instrument in the operations of intracommunitarian reorganization following two main lines of investigation: the adjustment of contractual intragroup relations via the model of the European Private Company and the European Private Company as a mainspring within the framework of intracommunitarian fusion operations.