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4652. Threats to Financial Privacy and Tax Competition
- Author:
- Veronique de Rugy and Richard W. Rahn
- Publication Date:
- 10-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Global economic growth and personal freedom are under attack by governments and international organizations seeking to squelch financial privacy and tax competition. Privacy rights and international tax competition are beneficial constraints on the monopoly power of governments. But high-tax nations and organizations such as the European Union are pressing for international agreements to remove those limits on government power at the expense of prosperity and freedom.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and International Organization
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
4653. Africa's Debt: Fueling the fire of AIDS
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Africa Policy Information Center
- Abstract:
- Africa is the world's poorest region, and most of its people live on less than $1 a day... but African countries owe $300 billion in foreign debt. This is a huge financial burden on the people of Africa. While African countries struggle to cope with the HIV/AIDS crisis and with extreme poverty, they must spend millions more on debt repayments than on their own urgent priorities.
- Topic:
- Debt, Economics, Human Rights, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- Africa
4654. Keeping America in Business: Advancing Workers, Businesses and Economic Growth
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- American Assembly at Columbia University
- Abstract:
- At the close of their discussions, the participants in the 102nd American ;Assembly on “Achieving Worker Success and Business Prosperity: The New Role for Workforce Intermediaries,” at Arden House, Harriman, New York, February 6-9, 2003 reviewed as a group the following statement. The statement represents general agreement; however, no one was asked to sign it. Furthermore, it should be understood that not everyone agreed with all of it.
- Topic:
- Economics, Education, and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States, New York, and America
4655. An Economic Theory of Censorship
- Author:
- J. Gregory Sidak
- Publication Date:
- 09-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- Legal criticism of broadcast regulation typically starts by demonstrating the paradoxically disparate treatment of print media and broadcast media under the First Amendment. In contrast, economic criticism typically starts by demonstrating that the scarcity of the electromagnetic spectrum, to the questionable extent that it exists, does not distinguish broadcasting from any other medium of communications for which the essential factors of production are privately owned and ordered. Each line of criticism is powerful. And each continues to the current day to appear again and again in court challenges to broadcast regulation. It is more useful, however, to model broadcast regulation in terms of the creation and dissipation of rent.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Human Rights
- Political Geography:
- United States
4656. Taking Stock of Business: Public Opinion After the Corporate Scandals
- Author:
- Karlyn H. Bowman and Todd J. Weiner
- Publication Date:
- 11-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- More than a dozen corporate scandals have unfolded since December 2001. How have ordinary Americans reacted? One answer can be provided by the performance of the stock market. Another indicator is public opinion. As some of the key trials get underway, it's worth examining the polls to see how the scandals have affected perceptions of business. The results should provide some warning flags for Congress as that institution takes a closer look at the mutual fund industry.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
4657. Emerging Third Stage Peri-Urbanization: Functional Specialization in the Hangzhou Peri-Urban Region
- Author:
- Douglas Webster, Jianming Cai, Binyi Luo, and Larisa Muller
- Publication Date:
- 10-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
- Abstract:
- Hangzhou Municipality is the provincial capital of Zhejiang, on China's east coast. It forms part of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region. Hangzhou was “opened up” in the mid-1980s, following Deng Xiaoping's visit to the South, resulting in an almost immediate flood of foreign and domestic investment in manufacturing. This initial investment was significantly in the peri-urban areas, i.e., outside the built-up area. The authors have been following development in the Hangzhou extended urban region, with emphasis on peri-urbanization processes, since 2000. A previous APARC discussion paper describes findings of preliminary field research on the Hangzhou–Ningbo Corridor, conducted in August 2000 and March 2001. The present paper zooms in on two peri-urban clusters in the Hangzhou extended urban region, and assesses their development over time. The goal of the research is to better understand how a peri-urban region changes—particularly in terms of firm evolution, labor characteristics, and spatial dynamics—as it becomes more economically and demographically mature. This paper also examines such changes in the context of the increasing cost structures and emerging competitors, primarily from other areas in China, that the Hangzhou peri-urban region now faces.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, and Maryland
4658. Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Urban Dynamics in Chengdu, 1975–2002
- Author:
- Douglas Webster, Jianming Cai, Binyi Luo, Annemarie Schneider, and Karen C. Seto
- Publication Date:
- 10-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
- Abstract:
- Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, has undergone rapid transformation during China's post-reform period between 1978 and 2003. One of the leading cities in southwest China, Chengdu is second only to Chongqing in population. Chengdu anchors one end of the Chongqing-Chengdu urban corridor, the fourth most populous urban cluster in China. Although the upgrading of Chongqing Municipality to the equivalent of provincial status in 1997 has increased the city's profile and potential as an administrative, land transportation, and manufacturing center, it is expected that Chengdu's regional and strategic importance as a service and high-tech center will increase in the future. With increased economic specialization among Chinese cities, it is expected that Chengdu and Chongqing cities will increasingly complement each other in terms of function, both enhancing their developmental prospects as a result. Further, the development of western China is a major objective of the Tenth Five Year Plan. The “Go West” policy was introduced in 1999.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, Chongqing, and Chengdu
4659. Tax Reforms for Enhancing the Stable Development of the Chinese Financial System
- Author:
- Lawrence J. Lau and Guijuan Wang
- Publication Date:
- 09-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
- Abstract:
- The Chinese economy has had the highest rate of growth in the world in the past two decades. However, despite its rapid growth and the significant improvements in its financial system, serious risks and problems still exist in both the commercial banking sector and the stock market, that may potentially threaten the stable development and growth of the entire economy. In this paper, these risks and problems in the stock market and the commercial banking sector are identified. Possible solutions are then discussed. Finally, tax reforms are proposed that have the effects of (1) eliminating the double taxation on cash dividends from corporate profits; (2) encouraging the substitution of new equity for existing debt by corporations, which can lower the P/E ratios without lowering the stock prices and improve quality of commercial bank assets by reducing the probability of new nonperforming loans; and (3) attracting new and longer-term investors, both domestic and foreign, to the Chinese stock market. It is also shown that the proposed tax reforms will not result in a significant reduction in total fiscal revenue.
- Topic:
- Economics and Government
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
4660. Farmer's Willingness to Pay for Power in India
- Author:
- Rafiq Dossani and V. Ranganathan
- Publication Date:
- 07-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
- Abstract:
- Electric power for rural pumpset usage is subsidized by all the states in India, the subsidy being estimated at 1.1 percent of GDP. Users are charged a highly subsidized, flat, annual fee that varies with pumpset size. This fixed charge has encouraged waste and raised subsidies over time. Unwilling to bear these costs any longer, states have proposed a range of strategies, including independent regulation, metering of agricultural pumpsets, and raising prices.
- Topic:
- Economics and Government
- Political Geography:
- South Asia and India