The theoretical analysis of tax progressivity has proceeded on the unrealistic assumption that tax liability is never zero, thereby precluding a systematic examination of the progressivity effects of such basic tax reforms as an increase in personal allowances. This paper extends the core...

It seems to be widely believed that the case for centralising revenue-raising is stronger than that for centralising expenditure decisions, so that federal governments should typically make transfers to lower level "state" governments. This paper argues, however, that pure efficiency...

We analyse labour supply of 16 year old British children together with the cash transfers made to them by their parents. We develop a theoretical framework with an altruistic parent and a selfish child, which serves as the basis for the empirical specification in which labour supply and...

A model is developed that allows for a layoff rate and a job arrival rate in the intertemporal choice of consumption and labor market state. The identification of such a model is established without recourse to dynamic programming solutions and the minimum data requirements for estimation are...

Much of the dramatic change in skill and wage structure observed in recent years in the United States is believed to stem from the impact of new technology. This paper compares the changing skill structure of wages and employment in the United States with three other advanced developed countries...

This paper investigates a set of strategic decisions facing US firms. We develop a simple theoretical framework in which firms choose whether or not to serve a foreign market, and if so whether by exporting, or by becoming a multinational. The model is applied to a sample of US firms choosing...

In this paper we use data on the Norwegian bus transport industry to investigate the effects of different regulatory mechanisms and their economic implications. We develop a model that includes an efficiency parameter and a cost reduction effort variable, both of which enter the cost function,...

This paper derives a series of simple characterisations of optimally coordinated regimes for the taxation of international capital income. The influential 'weighted average' rule of Horst (1980) is shown to presume unattractive restrictions on the set of tax instruments available, precluding any...

A key dimension of differentiation between health care systems concerns the relative role of the public and private sectors in delivering care. Even in countries, such as Britain, that have relied on a national health care system for 50 years, there has always been an active private sector,...

This paper estimates the impact of schooling on the earnings of men. It is important to know what the return to educational investments might be since a high return to such investments may imply that individuals, for whatever reason, are investing in too little schooling. The major preoccupation...