CORPORATE TAX INCIDENCE AND INEFFICIENCY WHEN CORPORATE AND NONCORPORATE GOODS ARE CLOSE SUBSTITUTES

An important deficiency in Harberger's [1962] model of corporate income taxation is its inability to consider both corporate and noncorporate production of the same good. Within-industry substitution has potentially major implications for both the excess burden and incidence of the corporate tax.
We analyze this within-industry substitution using a model in which each industry/sector contains corporate and noncorporate firms (with identical production functions) which produce goods that are close substitutes. The scope for considerable within-industry substitution of noncorporate for corporate capital leads to a very much larger excess burden than that in the Harberger model.     

THE STRUCTURE OF SLAVE PRICES IN NEW ORLEANS, 1804 TO 1862

This paper analyzes the structure of slave prices in New Orleans from 1804 to 1862 in an attempt to shed light on such issues as the competitive nature and economic "rationality" of the slave system, the impact of the slave trade on the separation of the slave family, the extent of slave skill formation and its importance to the Southern economy, and the personal relationships between owners and slaves. The analysis is based on the Rogert Fogel and Stanley Engerman (1974) sample of New Orleans slave invoices representing over 5700 slaves sold during the years 1804 to 1862. These invoices contain a rich assortment of information detailing the characteristics and attributes of slaves sold in the market as well as the particulars of slave transactions. The data are investigated within a regression model that relates the price of slaves sold in the market to their characteristics and to other aspects of the slave sale. After discussing the data and the regression model, the paper presents general results; subsequent sections of the paper focus on questions of more particular interest.     

RISK, RATIONALITY, AND RELIGIOUS PORTFOLIOS

This paper derives a theory of religious behavior and organization from the assumption that people seek to limit the risk associated with their religious activities. Alternative risk reduction strategies lead to different styles of religion: one centering on collective production, exclusivity, and high levels of commitment; another centering on private production, diversified consumption, and fee-for-service transactions. Western religions, particularly their more sectarian forms, exemplify the collective style, whereas Asian and New Age religions approximate the private.     

INTERTEMPORAL SUBSTITUTION AND CONSTRAINTS ON LABOR SUPPLY: EVIDENCE FROM PANEL DATA

This paper tests an intertemporal labor supply model for workers who say they face quantity constraints on their hours and for workers who say they do not. The data reject the model for the first group but not for the second. I conclude from this evidence that employment fluctuations result mainly from changes in the severity of constraints—that is, changes in involuntary unemployment—rather than intertemporal substitution. It also appears that liquidity constraints influence labor supply. Finally, the paper proposes a new approach to identifying intertemporal labor supply equations.     

Goodness‐of‐Fit Test for Monotone Functions

Abstract. In this article, we develop a test for the null hypothesis that a real‐valued function belongs to a given parametric set against the non‐parametric alternative that it is monotone, say decreasing. The method is described in a general model that covers the monotone density model, the monotone regression and the right‐censoring model with monotone hazard rate. The criterion for testing is an ‐distance between a Grenander‐type non‐parametric estimator and a parametric estimator computed under the null hypothesis. A normalized version of this distance is shown to have an asymptotic normal distribution under the null, whence a test can be developed. Moreover, a bootstrap procedure is shown to be consistent to calibrate the test.     

P2P文件共享网络中被动蠕虫传播建模与分析

为了抑制P2P被动型蠕虫在大规模P2P文件共享网中的传播和攻击,对P2P网络中文件共享的特点和被动型蠕虫传播的特点进行了深入的分析,并在此基础上提出了3个分别适用于蠕虫传播不同阶段的传播模型。为了证明模型的正确性,进行了大规模仿真实验。使用专门的数值分析工具求出相应模型的理论值。为了仿真大规模P2P文件共享网,专门基于P2P仿真平台开发出能真实模拟流行P2P文件共享网的软件并基于该软件进行了仿真。理论值与仿真值匹配的事实表明,该模型基本上反映了蠕虫的传播情况,可以用来预测蠕虫的传播趋势和行为。     

DEREGULATING RELIGION: THE ECONOMICS OF CHURCH AND STATE

Traditional religious research fails to recognize religion as a market phenomenon. It especially overlooks supply-side factors that shape the incentives and opportunities of religious firms, emphasizing instead demand-side shifts in the perceptions, tastes, and needs of consumers. This paper reviews the effects of government actions that alter religious supply. Our examples demonstrate that simple deregulation lies at the root of major religious trends and that the vitality of a religious market depends critically upon its competitiveness.     

RATIONALITY AND THE "RELIGIOUS MIND"

The social-scientific study of religion has long presumed that religious thought is "primitive," non-rational, incompatible with science, and (thus) doomed to decline. Contemporary evidence, however, suggests that religious involvement correlates with good mental health, responds to perceived costs and benefits, and persists in the face advanced education and scientific training. Although professors, scientists, and other highly educated Americans are less religious than the general population, the magnitude of this effect is similar to those associated with gender, race, and other demographic traits. Moreover, "hard" science faculty are more often religious than faculty in the humanities or social sciences. ( JEL Z10)