The Experts below are selected from a list of 210 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Michelle J. White - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Personal Bankruptcy and the Level of Entrepreneurial Activity
The Journal of Law and Economics, 2003Co-Authors: Wei Fan, Michelle J. WhiteAbstract:Abstract The U.S. personal bankruptcy system functions as a bankruptcy system for small businesses as well as consumers, because debts of noncorporate firms are personal liabilities of the firms’ owners. If the firm fails, the owner has an incentive to file for bankruptcy, since both business debts and the owner’s personal debts will be discharged. In bankruptcy, the owner must give up assets above a fixed Exemption Level. Because Exemption Levels are set by the states, they vary widely. We show that higher bankruptcy Exemption Levels benefit potential entrepreneurs who are risk averse by providing partial wealth insurance and therefore that the probability of owning a business increases as the Exemption Level increases. We test this prediction and find that the probability of households owning businesses is 35 percent higher if they live in states with unlimited rather than low Exemptions.
-
Bankruptcy and Small Firms' Access to Credit
National Bureau of Economic Research, 2002Co-Authors: Jeremy Berkowitz, Michelle J. WhiteAbstract:In this paper, we investigate how personal bankruptcy law affects small firms' access to credit. When a firm is unincorporated, its debts are personal liabilities of the firm's owner, so that lending to the firm is legally equivalent to lending to its owner. If the firm fails, the owner has an incentive to file for personal bankruptcy, since the firm's debts will be discharged and the owner is only obliged to use assets above an Exemption Level to repay creditors. The higher the Exemption Level, the greater is the incentive to file for bankruptcy. We show that supply of credit falls and demand for credit rises when non-corporate firms are located in states with higher bankruptcy Exemptions. We test the model and find that, if small firms are located in states with unlimited rather than low homestead Exemptions, they are more likely to be denied credit, they receive smaller loans and interest rates are higher. Results for non-corporate versus corporate firms suggest that lenders often disregard small firms' organizational status in making loan decisions.
-
Bankruptcy and Small Firm’s Access to Credit
National Bureau of Economic Research, 2002Co-Authors: Jeremy Berkowitz, Michelle J. WhiteAbstract:В статье Берковица и Уайта анализируется влияние института банкротства на доступность кредитов для мелких фирм. Законодательство о банкротстве, как правило, разделяет процедуры, применяемые к корпорациям и отдельным индивидам. Согласно американскому законодательству к индивидам и мелким фирмам применяются индивидуальные процедуры банкротства (personal bankruptcy procedures), то есть выдача кредита мелкой фирме эквивалентна выдаче кредита ее владельцу как частному лицу, который в случае банкротства будет отвечать в рамках имущества, превышающего «неприкосновенный» уровень (Exemption Level). Чем выше этот уровень, тем выше стимулы объявления себя банкротом у мелких фирм, тем ниже предложение кредитов и выше спрос на кредиты, и как следствие частота отказов в выдаче кредитов мелким фирмам. Таким образом, небольшие фирмы будут получать мелкие займы под более высокие проценты. Авторы смоделировали эту ситуацию и протестировали модель для Соединенных Штатов.
-
Bankruptcy and Small Firms' Access to Credit
2002Co-Authors: Jeremy Berkowitz, Michelle J. WhiteAbstract:We investigate how personal bankruptcy law affects small firms’ access to credit. When a firm is unincorporated, its debts are personal liabilities of the firm’s owner, so that lending to the firm is legally equivalent to lending to its owner. If the firm fails, the owner has an incentive to file for personal bankruptcy, since the firm’s debts will be discharged. The higher the Exemption Level, the greater the incentive to file for bankruptcy. We test the model and find that if small firms are located in states with unlimited rather than low homestead Exemptions, they are more likely to be denied credit, and when loans are made, they are smaller and interest rates are higher. Results for noncorporate versus corporate firms suggest that lenders often disregard small firms’ organizational status in making loan decisions.
-
Personal Bankruptcy and the Level of Entrepreneurial Activity
National Bureau of Economic Research, 2001Co-Authors: Wei Fan, Michelle J. WhiteAbstract:The U.S. personal bankruptcy system functions as a bankruptcy system for small businesses as well as for consumers. When firms are non-corporate, debts of the firm are personal liabilities of the entrepreneur/owner. If the firm fails, the entrepreneur has an incentive to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 7, since both business debts and the entrepreneur's personal debts will be discharged. The entrepreneur must give up assets above a fixed bankruptcy Exemption Level for repayment to creditors, but future earnings are entirely exempt. Exemption Levels are set by the states and they vary widely. We show that higher bankruptcy Exemption Levels benefit potential entrepreneurs by providing partial wealth insurance. The predicted relationship between the probability of owning a business and the Exemption Level is positive at low Exemption Levels, but may be either positive or negative at high Exemption Levels, depending on whether higher bankruptcy costs outweigh the gain from additional insurance. We test this prediction and find that the probability of families who are homeowners being self-employed is 35% higher if families live in states with unlimited Exemptions rather than low Exemptions. We also find evidence that families who are homeowners are more likely to start businesses and to organize their businesses as non-corporate rather than corporate if they live in states with high or unlimited, rather than low, bankruptcy Exemptions.
Willfred Greyling - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Literacy and numeracy assessment (LNAT) tool numeracy progress for targeted Wintec learners in 2019
2020Co-Authors: Willfred Greyling, Farzana Ahmad, Nika WallaceAbstract:The main aim of this report is to track reading gains achieved by targeted 2019 students at Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec). Tracking is required by the Wintec LN Policy (Revised, 2018) to ensure we meet Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) funding requirements. We generated a composite data set, applying the multi-year testing requirement referred to by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC, 2012, 2017a, b) as the sequence concept. To compare initial and progress reading assessment scores, we manually set up a multivariate layout. We report on learners’ step-based progress to Exemption Levels for reading. Of the targeted reading cohort (N=557), 40.4% of learners (n=225) progressed to Exemption Level (step 4 or higher). We used cross-tabulations to report on reading progress by ethnicity, school/centre of study at the institute and enrolment type. To establish whether learners achieved statistically significant gain in reading, we used a matched-pairs t-test to compare initial and progress scale scores for the full cohort. To complete the picture, we replicated TEC’s (2012) algorithm for calculating gain to illustrate that these results under-reported learners’ reading progress. Our findings showed that the full cohort achieved reading Levels at or above the Tertiary Education Commission’s (TEC’s) targets (TEC, 2015). We replicated past reports (Greyling, 2017; Greyling & Ahmad, 2019) showing that the TEC’s LNAT algorithm under-reported progress. Instead, we argued, cross-tabulations of initial and progress step scores provided a far more positive account of students’ reading progress. Our findings also showed that Pasifika learners performed at Levels significantly below those of other ethnicities. Waikato Trades Academy (WTA) and Māori and Pasifika Trades Training (MPTT) students performed at lower Levels than other groups yet achieved significant progress. We concluded that current LN practices continued to yield consistent and positive results. Outcomes could be improved by pursuing a more joined-up system of teaching, learning and support as suggested in the report on the 2018 cohort’s progress (Greyling & Ahmad, 2019). Specific attention has to be paid to • Pasifika ways of being, doing and learning to improve outcomes for them following a collaborative approach with stakeholders responsible for teaching, learning and support. • Waikato Trades Academy (WTA) and Māori and Pasifika Trades Training (MPTT) who have performed at Levels slightly below other enrolment types, specifically to improve the proportions of learners who achieve Exemption-Level scores.
-
Report on Reading and Numeracy Progress at Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) for the period 2015-2017
2018Co-Authors: Willfred GreylingAbstract:This report outlines literacy and numeracy gains achieved at the Waikato Institute of Technology for the period 2015-2017. It extends similar analyses conducted for the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) in 2015 (Greyling, 2015a, b, c, d, and e). Given the challenges in analyzing and tracking learner progress in the Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Tool (LNAT) outlined in the 2015 reports, and the sector waiting for TEC decisions about LN Progress calculations, we report on literacy progress goals for reading and numeracy following the current LNAT Gain Calculation algorithm. Curiously, TEC are yet to use this algorithm to formalize the goals for the sector set in the draft 2015 LN Refresh Policy. The goal stated that by the end of 2019, the sector would be required to have achieved statistically significant progress for 25% of targeted L1 to L3 learners who, on initial assessment, achieved reading step scores of ≤ 3 and numeracy step scores of ≤ 4. In this report, we apply the algorithm to show in Appendix S that it yields modest if not misleading results. We argue that • If 69.4% of learners (n=1574) were at step 3 for reading (Appendix A, Table 1) and 57.4% of learners (n=1296) at step 4 for numeracy (Appendix A, Table 2) on initial assessment, the likelihood of reporting significant LN progress for the targeted learners at these higher Levels was much lower than for learners at the lower end of the distribution. • at higher Levels of difficulty on the scale, it is far more difficult to achieve statistically significant gain. • the algorithm masks LN success, especially where targeted learners were able to achieve Exemption-Level steps deemed by TEC to place them in the low risk-of-failure category. • cross-tabulations represent a far more realistic mode of reflecting on LN progress, especially if we report on learners who achieved the threshold Levels of Exemption. • cross-tabulations also allow us to identify the proportions of students who have achieved gains of two or more steps, or who regressed. • reading and numeracy gains that see learners achieve the Exemption Levels for reading and numeracy are statistically and educationally significant. We recommend that the results reported for the institute, centres and programmes be taken as baselines for setting targets for LN progress. These baselines may be cross-validated against earlier results for the institute (Greyling, 2017; and 2015a, b, c, d and e).
-
Describing learners’ literacy and numeracy progress at Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) for the period 2013 to 2016
2017Co-Authors: Willfred GreylingAbstract:This report outlines literacy and numeracy progress for learners enrolled at Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) from 1 January 2013 to 31 January 2017. Following the Tertiary Education Commission’s (TEC’s) sequence concept (TEC, 2014), which allows for multi-year analyses, we selected a four-year period for review. We present a snapshot of reading and numeracy progress scores. Although this data-selection procedure can be contested, we believe it provides reliable evidence of enrolled learners’ LN progress. Using paired t-tests, we analysed two data sets: paired reading (N= 3551) and numeracy (N=3483) scores were significantly different when time 1 (initial scores) and time 2 (progress scores) were compared . We also report cross-tabulations which show the proportions of learners whose scores had progressed and regressed. At least 35% of learners who were targeted for re-testing on reading obtained Exemption Level scores, while 33.7% of learners obtained Exemption Level scores for numeracy. We concluded that these snapshot results provided clear evidence that the institute exceeded the performance targets (of statistically significant gain for 25% of targeted learners) set as part of TEC funding requirements for literacy and numeracy gain in the sector.
Ugo Colombino - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
The case for NIT+FT in Europe. An empirical optimal taxation exercise
Economic Modelling, 2018Co-Authors: Nizamul Islam, Ugo ColombinoAbstract:We present an exercise in empirical optimal taxation applied to a Negative Tax with Flat Tax reform for a sample of eight European countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom. Two popular approaches to empirical optimal taxation are the structural analytical approach and the non-tructural “sufficient statistics” approach. This paper presents a different approach that combines structural microeconometric modelling, behavioural microsimulation and numerical optimization. For each country, we estimate a microeconometric model of labour supply for both couples and singles. A procedure that simulates the households' choices under given tax-transfer rules is then embedded in a constrained optimization program in order to identify optimal rules under the public budget constraint. The optimality criterion is the class of Kolm's social welfare function. The tax-transfer rules considered as candidates are members of a class that includes as special cases various versions of the Negative Income Tax: Conditional (means-tested) Basic Income, Unconditional Basic Income, In-Work Benefits and General Negative Income Tax, combined with a Flat Tax above the Exemption Level. The analysis in most cases show that: the General Negative Income Tax strictly dominates the other rules, including the current ones; the Unconditional Basic Income policy is better than the Conditional Basic Income policy; Conditional Basic Income policy may lead to a significant reduction in labour supply and poverty-trap effects; In-Work-Benefit policy is strictly dominated by the General Negative Income Tax and by the Unconditional Basic Income. We also exemplify the possibility of identifying the mapping between the contry-specific “primitives” (social preferences, productivity, public budget constraint, labour supply elasticity and Gini coefficient) and the optimal tax-transfer rules.
-
the case for negative income tax with flat tax in europe an empirical optimal taxation exercise
2018Co-Authors: Nizamul Islam, Ugo ColombinoAbstract:We present an exercise in empirical optimal taxation for a sample of European countries from three areas: Southern, Central and Northern Europe. For each country, we estimate a microeconometric model of labour supply for both couples and singles. A procedure that simulates the households’ choices under given tax-transfer rules is then embedded in a constrained optimization program in order to identify optimal rules under the public budget constraint. The optimality criterion is the class of Kolm's social welfare function. The tax-transfer rules considered as candidates are members of a class that includes as special cases various versions of the Negative Income Tax: Conditional (means-tested) Basic Income, Unconditional Basic Income, In-Work Benefits and General Negative Income Tax, combined with a Flat Tax above the Exemption Level. The analysis in most cases show that: the General Negative Income Tax strictly dominates the other rules, including the current ones; the Unconditional Basic Income policy is better than the Conditional Basic Income policy; Conditional Basic Income policy may lead to a significant reduction in labour supply and poverty-trap effects; In-Work-Benefit policy is strictly dominated by the General Negative Income Tax and by the Unconditional Basic Income.
-
The Case for NIT FT in Europe. An Empirical Optimal Taxation Exercise
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2018Co-Authors: Nizamul Islam, Ugo ColombinoAbstract:We present an exercise in empirical optimal taxation for a sample of European countries from three areas: Southern, Central and Northern Europe. For each country, we estimate a microeconometric model of labour supply for both couples and singles. A procedure that simulates the households’ choices under given tax-transfer rules is then embedded in a constrained optimization program in order to identify optimal rules under the public budget constraint. The optimality criterion is the class of Kolm’s social welfare function. The tax-transfer rules considered as candidates are members of a class that includes as special cases various versions of the Negative Income Tax: Conditional (means-tested) Basic Income, Unconditional Basic Income, In-Work Benefits and General Negative Income Tax, combined with a Flat Tax above the Exemption Level. The analysis in most cases show that: the General Negative Income Tax strictly dominates the other rules, including the current ones; the Unconditional Basic Income policy is better than the Conditional Basic Income policy; Conditional Basic Income policy may lead to a significant reduction in labour supply and poverty-trap effects; In-Work-Benefit policy is strictly dominated by the General Negative Income Tax and by the Unconditional Basic Income.
-
The case for NIT+FT in Europe. An empirical optimal taxation exercise
2017Co-Authors: Nizamul Islam, Ugo ColombinoAbstract:We present an exercise in empirical optimal taxation for European countries from three areas: Southern, Central and Northern Europe. For each country, we estimate a microeconometric model of labour supply for both couples and singles. A procedure that simulates the households’ choices under given tax-transfer rules is then embedded in a constrained optimization program in order to identify optimal rules under the public budget constraint. The optimality criterion is the class of Kolm’s social welfare function. The tax-transfer rules considered as candidates are members of a class that includes as special cases various versions of the Negative Income Tax: Conditional Basis Income, Unconditional Basic Income, In-Work Benefits and General Negative Income Tax, combined with a Flat Tax above the Exemption Level. The analysis show that the General Negative Income Tax strictly dominates the other rules, including the current ones. In most cases the Unconditional Basic Income policy is better than the Conditional Basic Income policy. Conditional Basic Income policy may lead to a significant reduction in labour supply and poverty-trap effects. In-Work-Benefit policy in most cases is strictly dominated by the General Negative Income Tax and Unconditional Basic Income.
Y.Ö. Özkök - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Measurement of enhanced radium isotopes in oil production wastes in Turkey.
Journal of environmental radioactivity, 2015Co-Authors: Aydın Parmaksız, Y. Ağuş, F. Bulgurlu, Emine Bulur, T. Öncü, Y.Ö. ÖzkökAbstract:Abstract Gamma dose rates of oil production equipment and wastes were measured externally by survey meter. They were found to be between 0.2 μSv h −1 and 25.7 μSv h −1 . Activity concentrations of radium isotopes in crude oil, scale, sludge, contaminated soil and water samples were determined by gamma spectrometric method. Activity concentrations of 224 Ra, 226 Ra and 228 Ra in samples varied from MDA to 132,000 Bq kg −1 . Radium isotopes enriched up to 14,667 times in scale samples. The highest value of 226 Ra was found to be 35,122 ± 1,983 Bq kg −1 for sludge samples. Activity concentrations of a considerable number of samples were found to be higher than the Exemption Level recommended by IAEA. Measurement results revealed that oil production wastes caused soil contamination up to 70,483 Bq kg −1 . They may pose a radiological risk for workers and members of the public.
Iván Werning - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Progressive Estate Taxation
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2010Co-Authors: Emmanuel Farhi, Iván WerningAbstract:We present a model with altruistic parents and heterogeneous productivity. We derive two key properties for optimal estate taxation. First, the estate tax should be progressive, so that parents leaving a higher bequest face a lower net return on bequests. Second, marginal estate taxes should be negative, so that all parents face a marginal subsidy on bequests. Both properties can be implemented with a simple nonlinear tax on bequests, levied separately from the income tax. These results apply to other intergenerational transfers, such as educational investments, and are robust to endogenous fertility choices. Both estate or inheritance taxes can implement the optimal allocation, but we show that the inheritance tax has some advantages. Finally, when we impose an ad hoc constraint requiring marginal estate taxes to be nonnegative, the optimum features a zero tax up to an Exemption Level, and a progressive tax thereafter.