Suchergebnisse

This book surveys the theoretical issues that characterize the problem of reforming capital income taxes in an open economy. It explores the tax incentives and disincentives to investment in an open economy framework allowing cross-border portfolio and direct investment.

This book provides a reassessment of the government's role in the provision of social insurance. It shows how President Reagan's proposal for a transition to block grants is designed to lay the responsibility for financing the spending in the hands of the same political decision-makers.

The paper takes into account both the concerns of the EU, arguing that convergence is incomplete, and the demands from accession countries, claiming that monetary integration is optimal. Indicators are developed which measure convergence and optimality in comparison with a reference group of the four EMU-member countries Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. The general conclusion is that the demand of accession countries for entry into EMU can be supported by looking at the net benefits from monetary integration. The more serious problem is a lack of convergence which could imply serious risks during the transition towards monetary union.

he paper discusses the pros and cons of capital account liberalization. Rather than contrasting liberalization and regulation of capital flows as irreconcilable antagonisms, we argue that capital account liberalization requires institutional and regulatory safeguards. Even though the effectiveness of specific capital controls cannot be taken for granted, we reject the view that financial globalization has deprived national policymakers of the means to protect their economies against crisis. In addition to national safeguards, we assess the chances for crisis prevention and resolution on the regional level and present options to overcome institutional deficits on the global level. We conclude that reforms of the international financial architecture can help prevent illiquidity and ensure a fair burden sharing in the case of insolvency, without aggravating moral hazard behavior of the parties involved.

Preface / Herbert Giersch -- I. Services and the changing economic structure. Modern service sector growth : causes and effects / Herbert G. Grubel, Michael A. Walker. Discussant / Richard Blackhurst -- Defining and measuring output and productivity in the service sector / Domenico Siniscalco. Discussant / Frank D. Weiss -- II. International aspects. International transactions involving interactions : a conceptual framework combining goods and services / Seev Hirsch -- Services and comparative advantage theory / H. Peter Gray. Discussant / Henning Klodt -- Trade and foreign-owned production in services : some conceptual and theoretical issues / John H. Dunning. Discussant / Pan A. Yotopoulos -- III. Sectoral analysis. Telecommunications and the scope of the market in services / Gerald R. Faulhaber. Discussant / Axel Busch -- Telecommunications policy -- assessing recent experience in the US, Japan and Europe and its implications for the completion of the internal common market / Günter Knieps. Discussants / Tyll Necker, Herbert Ungerer -- Protection and the structure of the banking industry in an international context / Robert Z. Aliber. Discussant / Norbert Walter -- Integrated world markets in services : problems and prospects / Brian Hindley. Discussant / Jürgen Müller -- IV. Services and international division of labour. North-south trade in services : some empirical evidence / Rolf J. Langhammer. Discussant / J. Michael Finger.