Estate tax should be abolished. Most pertinently, it is one of the most inefficient taxes in the United States federal tax system. The amount of revenue it takes in is actually offset by the actual costs of collecting the tax itself. From a purely economic standpoint, the estate tax should be abolished and revenue should be made from increasing rates on other taxable sources. While it does seem fair to tax simply on transfers of wealth, which typically impacts more the beneficiary than the decedent, it is simply not an efficient way to gather revenue. The tax benefit for charitable donations is good for society as a whole and helps redistribute wealth, but this incentive is present in the federal income tax system and can be increased to make up for the loss from abolishing the estate tax.

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<p>The economic downturn of 2008-2010 has encouraged many economists andpoliticians to reconsider the role of fiscal policy. Whereas there is a broadly acceptedmodel which describes the influence of monetary policy on the economy, there is noconsensus concerning the fiscal policy.This paper aims to study the effectiveness of fiscal policy actions in Sweden over thepast 15 years, starting from the end of the banking crisis of 1992-93 to date. It has aspecific focus on the measures which were introduced in 2007-2010 and employs bothqualitative and quantitative analyses.The qualitative analysis investigates different expansionary fiscal measures, inter alia,the earned income tax credit, the new legislation for crisis management of banks, theguarantee program and the establishment of stability fund.The quantitative analysis is based on a 4-variable Vector Autoregression model whichhelps to identify the influence of general government expenditure, revenue and centralgovernment debt on GDP fluctuations over the past 15 years. The results demonstrate apositive response of GDP to an increase in government expenditure, with the maximumvalue of response achieved after 8 quarters. GDP also grows in response to a positiveshock in the central government debt, which is in line with the macroeconomic theory ofexpansionary fiscal policy. The positive response to an increase of revenue is somewhatcontradictory, and can become a topic for a further in-depth research.The economic downturn of 2008-2010 has encouraged many economists andpoliticians to reconsider the role of fiscal policy. Whereas there is a broadly acceptedmodel which describes the influence of monetary policy on the economy, there is noconsensus concerning the fiscal policy.This paper aims to study the effectiveness of fiscal policy actions in Sweden over thepast 15 years, starting from the end of the banking crisis of 1992-93 to date. It has aspecific focus on the measures which were introduced in 2007-2010 and employs bothqualitative and quantitative analyses.The qualitative analysis investigates different expansionary fiscal measures, inter alia,the earned income tax credit, the new legislation for crisis management of banks, theguarantee program and the establishment of stability fund.The quantitative analysis is based on a 4-variable Vector Autoregression model whichhelps to identify the influence of general government expenditure, revenue and centralgovernment debt on GDP fluctuations over the past 15 years. The results demonstrate apositive response of GDP to an increase in government expenditure, with the maximumvalue of response achieved after 8 quarters. GDP also grows in response to a positiveshock in the central government debt, which is in line with the macroeconomic theory ofexpansionary fiscal policy. The positive response to an increase of revenue is somewhatcontradictory, and can become a topic for a further in-depth research.</p>

Texte remanié de: Th. doct.--Droit--Paris 2, 2002. / Bibliogr. p. 329-355. Index. Résumé en anglais.

Texte remanié de: Th. doct.--Droit--Paris 2, 2003. / Bibliogr. p. 331-371. Webliogr. p. 371. Index. Résumé en anglais.

Texte remanié de : Mémoire de DESS : Fiscalité internationale : Paris 2 et HEC : 2004. / Titre provenant de l'écran d'accueil. Bibliogr. p. 169-174.

Digital analytic tools offer great potential to enhance town and city planning. Software that facilitates the modeling of possible urban design future scenarios can help planners and stakeholders in a city simulate economic, ecological, and social impacts of urban design choices. The Envision Tomorrow analytic suite is a software program that has been used to enhance participatory, small-group urban planning exercises in the Sustainable Places Project in four small cities in central Texas. This suite features formula-based measurements that relate aspects of the built environment, such as parking ratios and land uses, to indicators related to sustainability impacts. These outcomes range from demographic and density characteristics of new planning scenarios to their effects on municipal budgets and household water and energy consumption. Envision Tomorrow is analyzed in terms of its use in the Sustainable Places Project. While the town scenarios designed in this process reflect strong sustainable design principles, process analysis and stakeholder interviews suggest that the analytic indicators did not have major impacts on the community design process itself. Software use should be combined with more focus on outreach and education efforts to make modeling more representative and effective. / text

published_or_final_version / abstract / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts

No description available.

The first essay explores the nature of the equilibria obtained when state governments conduct industrial policies to affect firms' location choices. The model differs from existing ones by considering industrial policy targeted at small firms. In a simple two-region, two-industry model with imperfection information, it is shown how regions attempt to attract firms from the neighbouring one, either by making cash or in-kind transfers. The model rationalizes the use of in-kind subsidies for incentive-compatibility reasons, even though they are valued less by firms than what they cost to provide. It allows to understand why regions with a smaller industrial base may pursue a more aggressive industrial policy. The model sheds some light on which industries are likely to be targeted by industrial policy, and how the means of income transfers could be selected. The objective of the second paper is to determine under which circumstances an industrial policy that seeks to increase the number of new technologically-based firms in the economy is best assigned to the central or regional governments in a federation. Even though a decentralized industrial policy may be more flexible, it has the drawback that regions compete against each other to acquire successful firms. Because this margin is closed to a central government, it is likely to achieve a better outcome even if operating under "uniformity" constraints. The public policy implication is that this type of industrial policy should be transferred to the federal government. The third essay presents a new rationale for intergovernmental grants in a federation that arises strictly from the income redistribution concerns of the federal government. The central government seeks to redistribute income across agents, and behaves as a Stackelberg leader with respect to regional governments. Intergovernmental grants are needed to effect income redistribution while maintaining appropriate expenditure levels. Differentiated grants allow in some circumstances to implement a "third-best" solution when nominal prices differ across regions. They allow the federal government to affect provincial tax rate and public good provision, thus complementing the income redistribution done directly through the federal income tax system.