In addition to the usual range of local, state, and Federal taxes, the telecommunications sector faces a number of specific taxes and tax-like fees not faced by other industries. There is clear evidence that these sector specific taxes fail to satisfy the usual criteria of fairness, efficiency,...

A Behavioral Theory of the Firm presents a computational model of a duopoly that is based on observations of firm behavior and that incorporates a range of behavioral constructs. Because this model is starkly different from the traditional game theoretic analysis of duopoly, it useful to compare...

Although the R&D tax credit is viewed, in part, as the equivalent to a uniform tax on all inputs, the effect is minimal (to the extent its effect is uniform across all inputs) and creates no substitution distortions. Shows that the current system offers a greater marginal incentive for R&D than...

The effects of the favorable tax treatment of nonprofit commercial activities are best understood in a framework that explicitly accounts for a number of interactions. these involve differential taxation of nonprofits and for-profits and of nonrprofits' "related" and "unrelated" activities; the...

Social impact bonds, a recent innovation in social finance, are designed to harness capital and knowledge from private nonprofit, for-profit, and public entities to address pressing social problems. Although there is great policy interest in understanding how social impact bonds can be used to...

When the government institutes a program thought to be useful for society as a whole, such as building a highway or controlling air pollution, those that benefit from such programs are usually quite different from those that bear its costs. Sometimes the government responds by postponing or...

Some analysts have argued that return-free filing systems, such as those used in other countries and in California, could substantially reduce the costs for many individual taxpayers with relatively simple returns at little or no net administrative cost to the government. There is substantial...

Explores the evidence on how tax-favored savings accounts affect national saving. Looked at in terms of the traditional life-cycle model of savings, such accounts would not be expected to increase national savings; because of the limitation on annual contributions, the tax incentive might well...

Considers a number of tax policy issues related to the proposed legislation for resolving the thrift industry problem. Discusses the role that tax policy plays in two fundamental aspects of the legislation: Resolution of the current problem and restoration of the reserves of the thrift industry...