Search results

Earned income tax credits (EITCs) have been used mainly in the United States. The Australian tax–transfer system is already very complicated and the aims of the EITC—notably reductions in effective tax rates for low income earners—might be achievable through reforms to existing components of the system. Such tax rates can be lowered either through reductions in social security tapers, or reductions in income tax payable. Action to reduce tapers affecting families is already proceeding through the social security component of the Government's tax reform package. To go further, by reducing tapers on the main allowances, like Newstart Allowance and Parenting Payment, would accelerate developments for such allowances to become forms of wage supplementation for the low paid. If it were not desired to go further down this path (and it does have problems), then relief of income tax burdens could be implemented through changes to the rate structure. While the EITC may make sense in the US context, a country with a well‐developed welfare system like that of Australia has other options. In particular any EITC in this country is likely to be a supplement, not an alternative, to existing cash support for low income families.

PurposeSocial media (e.g., e-WOM) and traditional media (e.g., media coverage) serve different roles in a firm's marketing activities and also interact with each other, which in turn affect the market outcome. In addition, how market outcome affects the two types of media in turn has not been examined, which brings the need for a holistic framework. The rare study that examines this relation mostly relies on the volume of media rather than the valence. This study examines the interdependent relation between the volume and valence of social media, the volume of traditional media and TV ratings.Design/methodology/approachForty-one South Korean TV drama shows from October 2014 to March 2016 were analyzed using the 3SLS estimation to examine the interdependent relation between the variables.FindingsFirst, the volume of traditional media has a negative effect on the volume of social media. Second, ratings negatively affect the valence of social media. Third, the volume of traditional media is found to have a negative effect on ratings. This is explained by the displacement effect.Originality/valueThis study is one of the very few studies that examine the interdependent relation between various earned media and market outcomes in one framework. In addition, it has originality in that it considers the valence of social media, which is an important dimension in analyzing earned media. Our results show negative effects of news media on TV ratings and e-WOM, which diverge from common intuition.

In light of the Ethiopian Government's efforts to develop and expand the country's industrial sector, various industrial projects are being constructed all over the country. In this regard, the construction industry is playing a very significant role in providing industrial buildings and associated accommodations in the large industries underway. Sufficed to mention that a major portion of the investments pouring into industrial development is attributed to industrial buildings and infrastructure. The investment made by governmental and non-governmental stakeholders into this sector is a large amount of capital that needs to be utilized in an effective and efficient system to achieve the best possible outcome. However, the trends observed in most construction projects are contrary to this, consuming extra time and budget but resulting in unsatisfactory quality. The reason for this, among other issues, is the lack of reliable project cost control techniques. Earned Value Analysis is a technique used to evaluate and monitor project performance and forecast future trends using planned value, actual value and earned value of work performed. The study was conducted on the cost control techniques employed in the construction of industrial construction projects in Addis Ababa. It aimed to identify the major earned value parameters in cost control, to determine cost performance indicators used in earned value analysis, and to predict future cost performance and estimates using earned value analysis supported by an excel spreadsheet model for industrial construction projects in Addis Ababa. The methodology used was a quantitative research approach, mainly through evaluating the primary project data and analyzing findings using excel spreadsheets and manual approaches. The research is a type of case study on the Bole Lemi Industrial Zone Development Phase II project and Revamping of Powder Plant Civil Works project. It analyzed the data from the projects using the excel spreadsheet to determine the performance and forecast parameter results and interpreted their meanings for each project. The findings show that the excel spreadsheet model for EVA is a simple and reliable method that showed a mostly similar result with that of manual calculation. The conclusions drawn from the research are EVMS is a better method than the traditional cost control used in these projects. It is not a complex concept but rather simple and easily understandable. It can resolve many of the problems related to cost and time overruns. Project managers are encouraged to adapt these models to their projects. However, due to poor cost accounting and data recording methods EVM is not implemented in industrial construction projects in Addis Ababa.

We run a laboratory experiment where some participants are selected to make investment decisions on behalf of others. We test whether a democratic context influences the social preferences of decision makers in terms of efficiency, altruism and concern for inequality. We find that decision makers who are selected democratically are generally more efficiency-oriented, but also more altruistic, than leaders who are selected at random or by ability. Because wealth generation and distribution sometime conflict, efficiency is no higher with democratic leaders, although payoffs are more equal. We interpret our results in terms of a democratic norm that mitigates how elections may otherwise lead to an enhanced feeling of entitlement to one's role. We exclude a selection effect and discuss the drivers of our results in terms of belief in the legitimacy of the selection procedure and reduced social distance.

This article revisits the fitting of parametric distributions to earned income data. A new candidate is proposed in line with Camilo Dagum's dictum that candidate distribution should not only be chosen for fit, but that economic content should also play a role. The fit of a simple finite mixture performs as well or better than the widely used generalized beta of the second kind (GB2) and is argued to be easier to interpret economically. Specifically, the good fit is taken as evidence for a finite number of distinct labor market segments with qualitatively different generating mechanisms. It is speculated that this could be reconciled with either modern search-and-match models in which agent and / or firm heterogeneity can lead to multiple equilibria, or with an older theory of labor market segmentation. Regardless, the use of the mixture model addresses one of the central weaknesses of testing the older theory of dual labor markets empirically. The approach taken in this article is also motivated by the work of E. T. Jaynes, the father of maximum entropy approaches to statistical inference, and related to recent work by physicists on the income distribution.

The annual income earned plays a very important role in stock investing as it influences several dimensions of the investment process. The main goal of this research was to examine the role of the annual income earned by the secondary equity investors in the decision- making process. The research is exploratory in nature where a questionnaire survey was conducted on a sample of 436 secondary equity investors residing in the Chennai city of India. The data was analysed using quantitative techniques like ANOVA, Multinomial Logistic Regression, Discriminant and Cross Tabulation. The ANOVA results revealed that except in economy analysis and company analysis, the investors belonging to the various income groups differed in all the other decision-making techniques. When divided in terms of gender and age as well, the results were significant. The Multinomial logistic regression analysis resulted in a robust model which showed that industry analysis, technical analysis, gender*advocate recommendation and gender*equity investment knowledge are significant predictors of the annual income. The Discriminant model developed to predict the returns earned in equity investments showed that only the industry analysis and company analysis have a positive relationship with the equity returns. The demographic and financial profile of the high- and low-income investors were examined in the Cross-tabulation analysis. The main outcomes of the study are (i) older investors are less likely to belong to the low income group compared to the average income group; (ii) the low-income investors are likely to be male investors with decreased equity investment knowledge; (iii) investors who employ industry analysis are more likely to belong to the high income group and those who employ technical analysis are less likely to belong to the high income group compared to the average income group and (iv) investors with more equity investment knowledge are more likely to belong to the high income group compared to the average income group. The results also show that adopting industry analysis and/or company analysis may lead to a higher probability of earning higher returns in the equity market whereas the adoption of economy analysis, technical analysis and/or advocate recommendation lead to lower returns. This study would guide investors and advisors to examine the direct and indirect influences of the income earned. Government bodies and investor associations need to focus on the low income investors who are more vulnerable to financial blunders owing to their financial issues.

This paper revisits the fitting of parametric distributions to earned income data. In line with Camilo Dagum's dictum that candidate distribution should not only be chosen for fit, but that economic content should also play a role, a new candidate is proposed. The fit of a simple finite mixture performs as well or better than the recently widely used generalized beta of the second kind (GB2) and is argued to be easier to interpret economically. Specifically, the good fit is taken as evidence for a finite level of segmentation in the labor market, with a distinctly different generating mechanism underlying each segment. It is speculated that this could be reconciled with either modern labor market models in which agent or firm heterogeneity can lead to different equilibrium configurations, or an older theory of labor market segmentation. In fact, the use of the mixture model addresses one of the central weaknesses of testing that older theory empirically. The approach taken in this paper is also motivated by the work of E. T. Jaynes, the father of maximum entropy approaches to statistical inference and related to the recent work by physicists on the distribution of income.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) serves more than 26 million U.S. tax filers every year. The EITC is distributed annually at tax time; however, past research suggests that lump-sum disbursements leave households with a lack of funds to deal with financial emergencies throughout the year. Drawing upon the data from a pilot program conducted in 2014–2015 in Chicago, this study analyzes how advanced periodic payments help mitigate financial instability for EITC recipients. Interview participants relate that advanced periodic payments result in a reduction in perceived stress, lower levels of debt, fewer unpaid bills, and the ability to engage youth in extracurricular activities. The findings provide a unique perspective on the ways in which low-income households cope with financial instability and stress and suggest that payment frequency options can play a small but important role in the way in which the EITC operates as a support mechanism.

Second Place Winner, Audre Rapoport Prize for Scholarship on Gender and Human Rights (2020). Vrinda Marwah is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin. Her primary research interests are in reproductive health issues, particularly in how they are translated into law and policy in contemporary India. Vrinda received her MSc in Gender and Social Policy from the London School of Economics, and her BA in Political Science from the University of Delhi. ; In this paper, I analyze the experiences of the world's largest, all-women community health workforce through the lens of liminality. Originally used to describe transition from one state to the other, the concept of liminality in the study of work and organizations can frame workers' experiences of being in-between established structures and roles in varying degrees, times, and/or places. India's ASHAs, or Accredited Social Health Activists, are community women at the frontlines of the state's health care provisioning. But the state does not categorize them as workers or employees. ASHAs are considered volunteers. Instead of salaries, they are paid task-based incentives. Based on 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork, including 80 interviews, I find that ASHAs' liminal occupational status as 'paid volunteers' produces conditions of chronic underpayment and control for them, further lowering their already low wages. This has implications for how we understand the gender wage gap. I argue we need to consider not just how much women are paid, but how the amount is structured, and how that places women workers in relation to others in the workplace. Moving beyond whether liminality is a negative or positive experience, future research should delineate the conditions under which liminality is negative or positive, and for whom. ; Law

How does technological progress in financial intermediation affect the economy? To address this question a costly-state verification framework is embedded into a standard growth model. In particular, financial intermediaries can invest resources to monitor the returns earned by firms. The inability to monitor perfectly leads to firms earning rents. Undeserving firms are financed, while deserving ones are under funded. A more efficient monitoring technology squeezes the rents earned by firms. With technological advance in the financial sector, the economy moves continuously from a credit-rationing equilibrium to a perfectly efficient competitive equilibrium. A numerical example suggests that finance is important for growth.

A few years ago, I earned my doctorate, entered into my first vice presidency, and adopted my daughter — all within nine months of each other! Friends and family helped me balance full‐time work and dissertating. Mentors and professional resources helped me transition into a new role within a new campus community. However, I struggled to find guidance on how to best navigate senior leadership and motherhood.

Intro -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- About the Authors -- Abbreviations and Acronyms -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Chapter 1: Introduction: Politics in 140 Characters or Less -- Reference -- Chapter 2: Less Is More Ideological: Conservative and Liberal Communication on Twitter in the 2016 Race -- The Nature of Twitter -- The Nature of Contemporary Ideology -- The Intersection of Twitter and Ideology -- Trump Versus Clinton in 2016 -- Ideology and Citizen Engagement -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 3: Tweet You Very Much: An Analysis of Candidate Twitter Usage from the 2016 Iowa Caucus to Super Tuesday -- Twitter as a Campaign Tool -- Data and Methods -- Discussion -- Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 4: Candidate Image: When Tweets Trump Tradition -- Candidate Image -- Twitter and Social Media Use by Campaigns -- The Importance of Earned Media in Campaigns -- Method -- Content Analysis of Tweets -- Content Analysis of Tweet-Related Earned Media Articles -- Results -- Candidate Image Attributes Through Tweets -- Earned Media Generated from Tweets -- Discussion -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 5: Tweeting on the Campaign Trail: The When, How, and What of Donald Trump´s Tweets -- Twitter and Electoral Politics -- Empirical Analysis of Trump´s Tweeting -- Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 6: Donald Trump, Naturally: Revisionist Environmental Policy, Global Warming Tweets, and the Unexpected Emphasis on Cl... -- The Mad Genius of Donald Trump´s Twitter Communication Strategy -- Trump´s Climate Tweeting: Frequency, Form, and Content -- Frequency: Gadfly Obsession but Not as Candidate -- Form: Trump´s T3 Climate Twitter Architecture-Topic, Target/Threat, Trump-Being-Trump -- Content: Conventional Climate Change Thinking and Trump´s gcc Revisionism -- President Trump and Climate Change: Trump Delivers on His Tweets