Firms are usually better informed than tax authorities about market conditions and the potential profits of competitors. They may try to exploit this situation by underreporting their own taxable profits. The tax authority could offset firms' informational advantage by adopting "smarter" audit...

This paper examines the effects of recent welfare reforms in the US and UK on the well-being of children in low-income families, looking specifically at the effects on poverty, family expenditures, and child health and development. The paper finds some commonalities but also some notable...

Families with disabled children are susceptible to poverty because low income is compounded by high costs. Combing caring with employment is extremely difficult, so families are heavily reliant upon benefits. But do disability benefits provide financial security for families who are susceptible...

In this paper we provide evidence on how the UK government's welfare reforms since 1998 have affected the material well-being of children in low-income families. We examine changes in expenditure patterns and ownership of durable goods for low- and higher-income families between the pre-reform...

This paper is an overview of the social welfare systems of five East Asian countries, namely Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. It analyses the overall costs of welfare as well as income distribution aspects, based on both aggregate data and a programme-by-programme review of their...

We re-examine the labor donation theory of not-for-profits and show that these organizations may exist not necessarily because motivated workers prefer to work in them, or that they dominate for-profits in terms of welfare, but because the excess supply of motivated workers makes the non-profit...

The Report provides an in-depth examination of public attitudes towards economic and social rights using the 2005 Citizenship Survey (Rights and Responsibilities Module). The central finding is that the concept of “rights” is not understood by the public “narrowly” in terms of a limited...

European colonialism had two key economic aspects: the extraction of colonial wealth by colonizers, and the relevance of trade for colonial economies. I build a simple model of colonialism which puts these two elements at centre stage. By controlling policy in the colony, the colonizer can...

This CASEbrief summarises findings from CASEreport 15, Welfare To Work and the Organisation of Opportunity: Lessons From Abroad by Martin Evans, which can be downloaded at http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cr/CASEreport15.pdf

This CASEbrief summarises 'Paying for Health, Education and Housing: How does the centre pull the purse strings? by Howard Glennerster, John Hills and Tony Travers, with Ross Hendry, published by the Oxford University Press