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Voting can abstractly model any decision-making scenario and as such it has been extensively studied over the decades. Recently, the related literature has focused on quantifying the impact of utilizing only limited information in the voting process on the societal welfare for the outcome, by bounding the distortion of voting rules. Even though there has been significant progress towards this goal, almost all previous works have so far neglected the fact that in many scenarios (like presidential elections) voting is actually a distributed procedure. In this paper, we consider a setting in which the voters are partitioned into disjoint districts and vote locally therein to elect local winning alternatives using a voting rule; the final outcome is then chosen from the set of these alternatives. We prove tight bounds on the distortion of well-known voting rules for such distributed elections both from a worst-case perspective as well as from a best-case one. Our results indicate that the partition of voters into districts leads to considerably higher distortion, a phenomenon which we also experimentally showcase using real-world data.

Dissertação de mestrado em Direito dos Negócios, Europeu e Transnacional ; This thesis shows that taxes are frequently a foe but also an ally of competition. Traditionally, both the legal doctrine and economic theory see taxes as an obstacle to competition. The imposition of a tax affects the supply and demand and therefore interferes with the normal balance of the market. Custom duties and tax aids are basic examples of how taxes can restrict competition. In the European context, the lack of tax coordination in the internal market is another factor that contributes to distort competition considering that it obliges European firms to compete under different rules and involves high compliance costs. These and other situations where taxes affect competition will be analysed in this study. Despite of the obstacles that taxes often represent to competition, the author believes that taxes must also be regarded as an ally to the extent that they can foster competition as well as be used to correct serious market failures, some of the most important purposes of competition policy. That is the case e.g., of taxes that foster competition in monopolistic markets, patent boxes and even environmental taxes. Through these and other examples the author will try to sustain that the negative and the positive effects that taxes have on competition are two sides of the same coin. As taxes are more often a foe than an ally, it is necessary from a competition policy perspective to eradicate the obstacles that taxes create for competition. Therefore in this work the author contributes with a list of recommendations for the EU policymakers, hoping that in the future they will be reflected in European tax law. ; Esta tese demonstra que os impostos são frequentemente um inimigo, mas também um aliado da concorrência. Tradicionalmente, não só a doutrina jurídica mas também a teoria económica, vêm os impostos como um obstáculo à concorrência. A imposição de um imposto interfere com o normal funcionamento do mercado, afectanto a oferta e a ...

The return of the Irish Republic to economic growth after years of recession has been hailed as a vindication of the country's adherence to strict austerity policies after the crash. In this article, we provide a critical reading of this familiar rendition of the recent turn in Ireland's economic fortunes. We argue that the discourse of 'recovery' is an ideologically partisan reading that distorts the scale, origins and benefits of the recent spell of growth in the Irish economy. A close examination of each of these distortions suggests that the current economic revival has occurred in spite, rather than because, of the austerity strategy and has resulted in the lives of many ordinary Irish people becoming not better but worse.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has become an influential player in the field of direct taxation in the European Union in the past twenty years. However, it is unclear whether the ECJ's decisions actually increase tax neutrality and therefore contribute to the achievement of an internal market as stipulated by the European treaties or not. In 2006, the ECJ limited the applicability of specific tax rules in Europe that are intended to prohibit the excessive use of low-tax countries. Our counterfactual scenarios show that this restriction of so-called controlled foreign company (CFC) rules and the related emergence of IP boxes cast doubt on the positive effects the ECJ is assumed to have. Additionally, we show that the abolishment of IP boxes would strengthen tax neutrality in Europe. Overall, further research is needed to relate and harmonise economic and legal concepts of tax neutrality.

Der Schleifprozess ist bedeutend für die Endbearbeitung von Bauteilen und erzeugt hohe Oberflächengüten. Durch die Wärmeentwicklung an der geschliffenen Oberfläche können Zugeigenspannungen in das Bauteil eingebracht werden, welche wiederum in Bauteilverzügen resultieren. Zur Abbildung dieser unerwünschten Eigenschaften werden im Folgenden mittels der Finite-Elemente-Methode Wirkmechanismen im Bauteil modelliert. Auf Basis der Simulationsergebnisse können nachfolgend mechanische und thermische Richtprozesse ausgelegt werden.
 
The grinding process is a significant finishing process for components and allows for high surface quality. Due to the heat development at the ground surface, tensile residual stresses may be induced into the component, which in turn result in component distortions. In order to determine these unwanted properties, the research work presented here uses the finite element method to model mechanisms of action within the component. Using the simulation results, mechanical and thermal straightening processes can be designed.