This thesis is structured in two parts: the first part investigates topics in economics of education and the second part topics in commodity tax competition. The common thread in the first part is the English 2004 HE reform,we present both theoretical and empirical models that compare the pre-reform and post reform financing schemes, i.e. income contingent loan and mortgage loan. In the first chapter, in a world where graduates are risk averse and receive uncertain earnings, we evaluate which method gives better insurance and returns when the investment in education is risky. In the second chapter we consider the possibility that graduates do not receive an income sufficient to repay completely their loan, that is they are in default. We still develop a theoretical model, structured as a game between government and students, to see whether an ICL or a ML give students higher incentives to put more effort in their studies and avoid the risk of default. In the third chapter we present an empirical analysis, in line with the recent studies on the return to schooling. We first estimate the returns for different levels of education and then we compute the internal rate of return of the investment in higher education versus high school, under a ML and an ICL. In the second part of the thesis we provide an empirical model to develop the key idea that completion of the Single Market in the EU can be interpreted as a kind of "natural experiment" that allows us to separate the effects of tax competition from other forms of strategic interaction. We first find the conditions of cross-border shopping and the government reaction functions in three different market regimes: duty-free market before 1993, mixed market up to 1999, single market after 1999. Second, we provide an empirical test of the theoretical predictions using a panel data set of 12 EU countries over the period 1987-2004.We find that for all excise duties that we consider (beer, ethyl alcohol, still wine, sparkling wine, cigarettes, tobacco, petrol), strategic interaction between countries significantly increased after 1993, consistent with the theoretical prediction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:487818 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Migali, Giuseppe |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/62121/ |
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