Search results

We conduct an experiment asking participants to choose to purchase either a traditional or hybrid car to examine how federal-state conformity of tax incentives impacts the decisions of taxpayers. We also examine perceptions of taxpayers surrounding federal-state conformity. Consistent with theory related to the effects of information environment and using an experiment in which taxpayers are asked to evaluate tax incentives related to a purchase decision between a traditional and hybrid car, we find that conformity is a significant factor in increasing the propensity to take advantage of the tax incentive. Specifically, we find that participants with simple and conforming federal-state incentives are more likely to take advantage of the tax incentive than with complex and conforming federal-state incentives. In addition, the effects of conformity between federal and state incentives suggest that participant perceptions of the federal system were heavily influenced by the actions of the state.

This research investigates the effect of imposing a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on the likelihood of purchasing SSBs. We design and test an experimental framework that examines this and the effects of providing an explanation about the presence of an SSB tax and information about the negative health effects of consuming SSBs. Consistent with Elbel, Taksler, Mijanovich, Abrams, and Dixon (2013) and Taylor, Kaplan, Villas-Boas, and Jung (2019), we find that imposing a tax, in addition to increasing the conspicuousness of the tax by explaining the presence of a tax (and in some cases, the negative health effects) reduces the likelihood of purchasing an SSB anywhere from 8.39% to 18.15%. We contribute to the public health and tax policy literature by testing consumer choice in a controlled experimental setting and considering the effect of individual differences on the choice to purchase SSBs. Imposing a tax on SSBs may be an effective tool for decreasing SSB consumption that is made more effective when the tax is conspicuous.

Common evaluation tools on e-government websites are available globally and locally to standardise and improve the quality of information and services. However, a commonly ignored aspect is the way to obtain detailed measurements of factors influencing citizen centricity; in other words, how official websites cater to the needs and contributions of citizens at different levels of government. Thus, this paper aims to apply a citizen-centric framework in evaluating the e-government websites of three different levels of authority in Malaysia: federal, state and local.

The adapted citizen-centric checklist for e-government websites (aCCEW) with 40 characteristics across four components – openness (21), transparency (5), participation (10) and responsiveness (4) – was adopted to evaluate case studies of 36 government agency websites in Malaysia. Any conformity between the characteristics was marked using a binary measure, and the citizen-centric value was calculated for each component/characteristic.

Through website observations, ratings and descriptive comparisons, this study found that the aCCEW is a useful tool, especially for identifying certain critically violated factors. These were deficiencies in e-decision-making, revealing successful initiatives created through open data, revealing fund transfers and expenditure records and the level of social media responsiveness.

The research contributes theoretically by improvising characteristics in the CCEW to become aCCEW and testing it in multiple levels of government in Malaysia to see its applicability to be adopted in other similar research of e-governments. This could become a new benchmark through the additional research insights it offers into similar perspectives of public values realisation in e-government website design that focuses on more than merely functionality. Attempt to relate the violated factors and strengths of aCCEW website design components to the level of centralisation (power) of federal, state and local governments was also genuine in the e-government research.

Regardless of the many different government systems, federal, state and local governments can benchmark the examples assessed in this study, rethink their power relationships, and further improve their e-platforms to suit the contexts of their users/residents’ needs and contributions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study contributed to the first Malaysia-based research that identifies and compares factors that contribute to citizen-centric e-government website building at the federal, state and local government levels. The discussion adds value by comparing different systems and levels of e-government websites to their power possession.

The object of this research is the reconstruction of the existing legal response by European Union states to the phenomenon of immigration. It seeks to analyse the process of conferral of protection.

One main dimension is selected and discussed: the case law of the national courts. The study focuses on the legal status of immigrants resulting from the intervention of these national courts.

The research shows that although the courts have conferred an increasing protection on immigrants, this has not challenged the fundamental principle of the sovereignty of the states to decide, according to their discretionary prerogatives, which immigrants are allowed to enter and stay in their territories. Notwithstanding the differences in the general constitutional and legal structures, the research also shows that the courts of the three countries considered – France, Germany and Spain – have progressively moved towards converging solutions in protecting immigrants.

The research contributes to a better understanding of the different legal orders analysed.

Explains and outlines the ideas of the Freiburg School. Points to the fact that the constitutive (structurizing) and regulative principles for economic policy developed by this school need operationalization in order to serve as a compass for economic policy. Presents a checklist to test policy proposals as to their effectiveness, necessity and cost appropriateness.

The article aims to provide a discussion of societal norms concerning “attractiveness,” the existence of appearance discrimination in employment, the presence of “preferring the pretty”, and then the authors examine important civil rights laws that relate to such forms of discrimination. Finally, the authors apply ethical theories to determine whether such discrimination can be seen as moral or immoral.

It is a legal paper which covers all the laws related to discrimination based on look. Court cases and Americans laws related to this concept are reviewed and critically discussed.

The paper finds that appearance‐based discrimination is not illegal in the USA so long as it does not violate civil rights laws.

This research is limited to Federal and State laws in the USA and may not be relevant in other countries as the local laws might vary.

Managers and employees can protect themselves in the workplace from illegal discriminatory practices.

Employees know their rights and enhance their understanding of laws related to appearance, attractiveness, and why companies look to hire those who are considered “handsome”, “pretty” and “beautiful”.

This is an original and comprehensive paper by the authors.

Wilhelm Roepke wrote his book Civitas Humana in the early 1940s in order to elaborate economic and social policy guidelines for postwar reconstruction in Europe. Rejecting both central economic planning (collectivism) and laissez‐faire, he looks for a third alternative. He finds it in a socially‐oriented market economy based on decentralisation, designed to provide citizens with roots in their communities and families. Roepke calls for a genuine competitive order with the government setting the general framework and also interfering in the market process itself to prevent monopolies and facilitate economic adjustments. He advocates a policy of encouraging the private ownership of homes and small plots. With such an “anchor of property”, people would be able to withstand the inevitable hardships resulting from economic change.

Enterprise software is a predominant sector in the European software industry. Four of the five largest European software companies are found in this sector. Interestingly, two of these — among them SAP as one of the two global market leaders — are located within the same industrial agglomeration in South-Western Germany. This agglomeration, the SAP cluster, further consists of enterprise software SMEs forming a ‘satellite system’ centred around the large players, which fosters the formation of ‘mutualistic symbiotic’ relationships between large and small firms. At first sight, cluster formation in the context of the enterprise software industry might seem perplexing considering that traditional rationales of agglomeration economies seem obsolete in an environment where advances in communications technology would permit companies to locate in any location within a modern developed economy instead of concentrating in proximity to each other or to major players in the industry. This chapter explores possible explanations of this agglomeration phenomenon based on patterns of competition, collaboration and the formation of social capital between smaller firms and large anchor firms.

The findings of a comparative analysis between the SAP cluster environment and two categories of controls (firms in other agglomerated environments and those unaffected by agglomeration effects within Germany) show that SAP cluster SMEs might simultaneously benefit from heightened intensity of competition and a more pronounced inclination towards collaboration. Moreover, the role of social capital derived from SAP as anchor firm clearly differentiates SAP cluster participants from firms located within other environments.

The reactions to informal surveys conducted by the author about the effort to set a national policy that would include public school districts indicated it was either largely unknown or not understood by many school officials and professors of education administration. Thus, an inquiry was conducted to document the historical basis for creating the double entry method of accounting, the impetus for a national accounting policy, and the relevance to public school districts. The ultimate objective of the inquiries, therefore, was to offer a set of conclusions regarding the current status of accounting and budgeting policies with particular reference to their potential influence on the practices of public school districts.