Nonbusiness bankruptcy filing rates have increased very rapidly over the last couple of decades.  In 1980, roughly 15 of every 10,000 Americans filed for bankruptcy protection. By 2004, that number had reached 54 of every 10,000 Americans.  These alarming increases in bankruptcy filing rates...

This paper modifies a model proposed by Anand and Sansing (2000) to explain why states have chosen different formulas for corporate income apportionment.  I demonstrate that nexus assumptions and allocation rules can have significant effects on the outcomes of the model, and are important...

In Jamaica, as in most countries, consumption taxes in the form of a value-added tax called the General Consumption Tax (GCT) and several excise taxes collectively known as the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) are critically important revenue sources, accounting for 37.4 percent of total revenues...

Workers’ Compensation reforms have been on the table in virtually every state over the last several years, and many states have launched comprehensive reforms.  At least nine states undertook major reforms of their workers’ compensation systems in 2004 alone, and the reforms were driven...

This paper sets out to evaluate the role that entrepreneurs and small businesses play in economic development.  How important are entrepreneurs and small businesses in creating jobs, and are these the types of jobs that should be encouraged?  How important are entrepreneurs and small...

Recent banking problems have prompted a variety of proposals for reforming deposit insurance and the banking system. Nearly all of these proposals, however, suffer from a common flaw - they would fail to create a banking system that is both stable and free to respond to market forces and...

We test whether rural versus urban location, and the amount of social capital present in those locations, influence the performance of Small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) loans originated between 1984 and 2012. On average, we find that rural loans are about 11% less likely to default than...