Global pharmaceutical pricing strategies have been debated in published literature; however, these debates have not accounted for the differences in elasticity of demand between the public, private and cash paying markets. A mathematical model is presented that explores several plausible...

An unprecedented number of hotel company mergers took place between 2004 and 2007. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were abnormal stock returns or volume activity in the periods surrounding the merger announcement date in the trading of 19 public hotel companies which...

The Caribbean share of the global tourism market has been declining. This study examines what is driving tourism flows. It estimates the determinants of tourism and explores variations based on sample differences, and also constructs a static nominal price comparison index. The paper finds that:...

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.

The paper reviews Slovakia's comprehensive reforms to its taxation and welfare systems in 2004, including the introduction of a flat-rate income tax and single-rate value-added tax (VAT), and linkage of social benefits to participation in labor market programs. Though revenues following the...

This paper examines the reform of the main domestic consumption taxes initiated by the CEMAC and the WAEMU aimed at reinforcing their economic integration. On the whole, compliance with the VAT is relatively weaker in the CEMAC than in the WAEMU. The opposite applies for excises. Major reforms...

This paper assesses the distributional impact of the recent VAT reform in the Philippines and evaluates alternative methods to mitigate the effects of the reform on poor households. The reform was progressive and relatively well targeted. To alleviate the impact of the reform on the poor,...

A theoretical model of excise tax evasion is developed in this paper. The dynamics of a change in tax policy is derived, under the assumption that consumers benefit from a lower price when entering a "black market". However, entry also impose a sunk cost, which gives rise to asymmetric effects...

This paper recommends a system of upstream taxes on fossil fuels, combined with refunds for downstream emissions capture, to reduce carbon and local pollution emissions. Motor fuel taxes should also account for congestion and other externalities associated with vehicle use, at least until...