Search results
1 – 10 of 28Alvin Cheng, Keith Hooper and Howard Davey
This paper discusses the designing of a capital gains tax for New Zealand. The essential question is not why such a system is needed but what type of system should be implemented…
Abstract
This paper discusses the designing of a capital gains tax for New Zealand. The essential question is not why such a system is needed but what type of system should be implemented. The paper ignores the political discussion of whether such a tax is necessary and concentrates on design and implementation issues. Drawing from other tax jurisdictions, chiefly the United Kingdom and Australia, this article discusses the merits of tapering relief; indexation (now frozen in Australia); specific exemptions (e.g. owner occupied property); and of re‐defining capital assets into discrete categories which may be treated differently. The aim of the study is to open up the issue of capital gains for informed discussion: how such a tax should be administered, and the possibilities and likely difficulties involved in implementing such a tax.
Alvin Cheung, Charlotte Yu, Queenie Li and Helen So
The purpose of this paper is to review and compare the implementation of “arts inclusion” policies (AIPs) by 14 different public administrative systems around the world. It aims…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review and compare the implementation of “arts inclusion” policies (AIPs) by 14 different public administrative systems around the world. It aims to provide a consolidated source which informs further studies in this field, and to develop a framework to compare AIPs at a global level.
Design/methodology/approach
Using “arts inclusion policy” as the search term, academic journals from a wide spectrum of fields were reviewed. A data set was extracted from the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends’ online database which provided real-time information of national cultural policies. Another data set is from the United Nations’ Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, as the geographic scope of the review – largely focussing on UK, US, Australian, Scandinavian and Asian contexts. Using existing policy-making literature as benchmark, the authors designed and applied a comparative framework dedicated to AIPs which focussed on “policy-making structures” as the main ground of comparison.
Findings
An important finding is that the policy development and implementation of AIPs often underscore inter-sectoral involvement in many public administrations in this study. With policy leadership and financial incentives pivotal to effective AIPs, central governments should take a more concerted leadership role to include AIPs in national inter-sectoral policies, encourage evidence-based research, expand funding and advocate the recognition of the impacts of arts inclusion. It is concluded that AIPs in western countries remain more developed in targeted scopes and programme diversity compared to those of Asian countries and regions. Continued studies in this field are encouraged.
Originality/value
This review is the first of its kind to include a number of Asian and western countries within its research scope, allowing it to offer a more holistic outlook on the development and implementation of AIPs in different countries and regions. A common critique with all relevant existing literature was usually their lack of concrete comparative grounds, and the present study’s all-encompassing review of literature from across different levels and sectors of respective public administrative systems contribute to a unique and comprehensive perspective in the arts and health discourse.
Details
Keywords
Alvin G. Wint and Densil A. Williams
This study examines the efforts of many developing countries to promote their economies as sites for foreign direct investment. It develops a model of determinants of foreign…
Abstract
This study examines the efforts of many developing countries to promote their economies as sites for foreign direct investment. It develops a model of determinants of foreign direct investment flows to test the extent to which countries are able to differentially attract foreign direct investment through promotional activities. The statistical study lends support to the concept that the convergence of policy and promotional activities around the developing world is leading to a movement toward the maturity phase of the life cycle of the differential effectiveness of special attraction efforts. While this trend does not support a discontinuation of these special attraction efforts, we do suggest that it does make it critical that promotional organizations in developing countries emphasize “functional” rather than “selective” policy reforms and promotional activities that are non‐discriminatory in relation to local investors.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to trace the changing pattern of identity politics in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). It shows that in response to the massive urban…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to trace the changing pattern of identity politics in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). It shows that in response to the massive urban renewal projects in the 2000s, “civic localism” in the form of cultural preservation movement emerged to protect local community culture against the government-business hegemony. However, due to the deepening of social integration between Hong Kong and the mainland, a new “anti-mainland localism” emerged in the 2010s against the influx of mainlanders. In 2015–2016, as a result of Beijing’s active interference in Hong Kong affairs, localism is further transformed to Hong Kong “independence.”
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a historical methodology to trace the changing pattern of identity politics in Hong Kong after it becomes a special administrative region of China in 1997.
Findings
It shows how the interaction among the following three factors has shaped the pattern of localism in Hong Kong: macro historical-structural context, social movement dynamics and the response of Hong Kong and mainland government.
Practical implications
This paper argues that Beijing’s hardline policy toward Hong Kong localism may work in the short run to all push the pro-independence activities underground. However, unless the structural contradiction of the HKSAR is resolved, it seems likely that anti-mainland localism and Hong Kong independence sentiment and movement will come back with a vengeance at a later stage.
Originality/value
The literature tends to discuss Hong Kong localism in very general terms and fails to reveal its changing nature. This paper contributes by distinguishing three different forms of localism: civic localism in the mid-2000s, anti-mainland in the late 2000s and early 2010s, and independence after 2016. It shows how the macro historical-structural transformation, social movement dynamics and the responses of the Hong Kong SAR government and Beijing government have led to the changes of civic localism to anti-mainland localism, and finally to independence.
Details
Keywords
Kulondwa Safari, Aganze Bisimwa and Mugisho Buzera Armel
The purpose of this study is to investigate customers’ attitudes and intentions toward internet banking in an underdeveloped banking sector.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate customers’ attitudes and intentions toward internet banking in an underdeveloped banking sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was carried out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A sample of 215 respondents comprised of 112 non-users and 103 users of internet banking was selected in the city of Bukavu following a convenience sampling method and structural equation modeling was applied to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
The results show that for users of internet banking their attitudes are determined by their perceived usefulness while for non-users they are determined by their perceived usefulness and internet trust. For users of internet banking, their intentions to continue using internet banking are determined by attitudes and perceived usefulness; while for internet banking non-users, their intention to use internet banking is determined by their attitudes, their perceived web security and perceived usefulness.
Originality/value
Few research on internet banking have been done in central and sub-Saharan Africa. The present study gives new insights to assist financial institutions and researchers in understanding intentions and attitudes toward internet banking in an underdeveloped financial sector.
Details
Keywords
This paper gives a bibliographical review of the finite element and boundary element parallel processing techniques from the theoretical and application points of view. Topics…
Abstract
This paper gives a bibliographical review of the finite element and boundary element parallel processing techniques from the theoretical and application points of view. Topics include: theory – domain decomposition/partitioning, load balancing, parallel solvers/algorithms, parallel mesh generation, adaptive methods, and visualization/graphics; applications – structural mechanics problems, dynamic problems, material/geometrical non‐linear problems, contact problems, fracture mechanics, field problems, coupled problems, sensitivity and optimization, and other problems; hardware and software environments – hardware environments, programming techniques, and software development and presentations. The bibliography at the end of this paper contains 850 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with presented subjects that were published between 1996 and 2002.
Details
Keywords
Gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the…
Abstract
Gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the theoretical as well as practical points of view. The range of applications of FEMs in this area is wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore aims to give the reader an encyclopaedic view on the subject. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains 2,025 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the analysis of beams, columns, rods, bars, cables, discs, blades, shafts, membranes, plates and shells that were published in 1992‐1995.
Details
Keywords
Bing Qing Tan, Su Xiu Xu, Ray Zhong, Meng Cheng and Kai Kang
The purpose of this paper is to design a parking space management platform to alleviate the parking problem and a two-stage solution for sharing and allocating parking spaces.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to design a parking space management platform to alleviate the parking problem and a two-stage solution for sharing and allocating parking spaces.
Design/methodology/approach
The market design mechanism and auction mechanism are integrated to solve the problem of parking space sharing and allocation. In the first stage, the market design mechanism with two rules is applied for making the good use of idle parking spaces. In the second stage, two sequential auction mechanisms are designed by extending first/second-price sealed bid auction mechanism to allocate both private and public parking spaces, which are received in previous stage and owned by the platform. Two stages are connected through a forecasted price which is calculated through the exponential smoothing method.
Findings
First, we prove three important properties of the proposed sequential auction mechanisms, namely, incentive compatibility, revenue equivalence and individual rationality. Second, a simulation study is used to verify the effectiveness of the mechanisms through numerical analysis. The impact of the system on three parts, namely, agents (private parking space suppliers), bidders (parking space customers) and the platform, is examined. Third, the results show that the sharing mechanism with monetrary incentive will attract a number of agents to join in the platform. The bidders are also able to obtain considerable utility, as compared with the (average) market parking fees. The platform can thus effectively allocate parking spaces with reasonable prices.
Originality/value
This paper combines the classical sequential auction mechanisms with the market design mechanism for the parking space sharing and allocation problem. The modeling and analysis method can also be used to address the similar allocation and pricing problems of other resources like bicycle sharing.
Details
Keywords
The rise of East Asia to most dynamic center of processes of capital accumulation on a world scale is a phenomenon of the 1970s and 1980s. As a first approximation, the extent of…
Abstract
The rise of East Asia to most dynamic center of processes of capital accumulation on a world scale is a phenomenon of the 1970s and 1980s. As a first approximation, the extent of this rise can be gauged from the trends depicted in figure 1. The figure shows the most conspicuous instances of “catching‐up” with the level of per capita income of the “organic core” of the capitalist world‐economy since the Second World War. As defined elsewhere, the organic core consists of all the countries that over the last half‐century or so have consistently occupied the top positions of the ranking of GNPs per capita and, in virtue of that position, have set (individually and collectively) the standards of wealth which all their governments have sought to maintain and all other governments have sought to attain. Broadly speaking, three regions have constituted the organic core since the Second World War: North America, Western Europe and Australasia (Arrighi, 1991: 41–2; Arrighi, 1990).