International Tax Competition: A Case for International Cooperation in Globalization

The liberalization of international financial flows and foreign direct investment has induced countries to use diverse measures to attract inflow of foreign capital and foreign direct investment, which is expected to have a positive effect on the growth of GDP and thus a positive effect on social welfare. Tax exemption, reduction of tax rate, tax holiday, or diverse subsidies are some of the most important measures used. In this paper we study international tax cooperation, i.e., countries change and especially reduce tax rate for corporate income or for asset revenues to attract inflow of foreign direct investment. Both theoretical and empirical studies have shown the sensibility of foreign direct investment decision with respect to tax rate differences between home countries and host countries. In general, more inflow of foreign direct investment can be expected if the tax rate of the home country is lower than that of foreign countries. This is the main reason for international tax cooperation. In this paper we propose a simple model to prove the sub-optimal Nash non cooperative solution in a two-country tax-competition game. The model shows that international tax cooperation can improve welfare of the participating countries. How to reach a cooperative solution for an international tax competition game (ITCG) is therefore an important issue for further discussions and studies. International institutions can play a crucial role to reach international tax cooperation or international tax harmonization.     

农户对农村公共服务的需求意愿分析 ———基于一项全国范围农户调查的实证研究

文章基于一项关于农户对农村公共服务需求意愿的全国范围的调查数据，分析了农户对农村义务教育、农村医疗卫生、农村社会保障、农村文化事业、农村劳动力技能培训这5种农村公共服务的整体需求意愿及不同特征农户需求意愿的差别、农户对5种农村公共服务各个方面要素的需求意愿以及农户对5种农村公共服务需求的优先序。研究结果表明农户对5种农村公共服务的整体需求意愿并不相同，对农村劳动力技能培训的需求最强烈，不同特征的农户的需求意愿也不相同。另外与其他农村公共产品相比，农户对文章所研究的5种农村公共服务的需求意愿比较强烈。     

Statistical consulting

The paper and the special issue focus on the activity of statistical consulting and its varieties. This includes academic consulting, consulting to and in industry as well as statistics in public media.     

大学英语阅读障碍诊断及治疗之探讨

由于阅读过程内在的复杂性，阅读是较难掌握的一项语言技能。本文从阅读障碍的诊断和治疗两方面对中国大学英语阅读教学进行探讨，抛砖引玉，以期有更多的同仁加入这一话题的讨论。     

Some results on optimality in models with heteroscedastic errors from partial optimum designs

This paper studies optimum designs for linear models when the errors are heteroscedastic. Sufficient conditions are given in order to obtainD-, A- andE-optimum designs for a complete regression model from partial optimum designs for some sub-parameters. A result about optimality for a complete model from the optimality for the submodels is included. Supported by Junta de Andalucía, research group FQM244.     

A “brer rabbit” case for reverse mandated benefits

Reverse mandated benefits is a government-mandated policy that requires employees to provide their employers with benefits that workers would not provide otherwise. Of course, only those benefits would be mandated that are worth more to employers than they cost, as determined by political authorities. My case for such a policy argues that it is at least as sensible as policies mandating that employers provide benefits to their employees that would not be provided otherwise.