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Take a big bite of Apple

August 25, 2016 by andrew36 3 Comments

The FT reports today that the US administration is very upset with the EU, specifically with the Commission, for its attempts to get Apple to cough up billions of euros in unpaid taxes. The US Treasury is cited as being particularly worried that the Apple case “sets an undesirable precedent that could lead to other tax authorities . . . [seeking] large and punitive retroactive recoveries from both US and EU companies”.

As a character in a beloved BBC sit-com of my youth was fond of saying, dead-pan: Oh dear. What a pity. Never mind.

Without delving too deeply into the specifics of the case, a number of crucial issues are raised by this controversy, not just in the narrow area of taxation but for the European integeration process more generally. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Analysis Tagged With: Apple, corporation tax, EU Commission, FT, globalisation, inequality, Lux leaks, negative vs positive integration, Sharpf, tax competition, US Treasury

Plagiarism is not the problem – deception is

July 20, 2016 by andrew36 Leave a Comment

Much attention has been given to the fact that Melania Trump, or her handlers, couldn’t come up with an original speech for her to endorse her husband at the Republicans’ nominating convention. Instead she/they lifted shamelessly from a speech given on the same occasion, at the Democrat convention, by Michelle Obama eight years ago. The unfortunate Mrs. Trump has come in for a great deal of ridicule. A plagiarism blame game has ensued.

But this all seems to miss the point. Lazy plagiarism is embarrassing, whoever was responsible. But the real problem is the content of the hackneyed, recycled phrases, and in particular:

Because we want our children <MO: all the children> in this nation to know that the only limit to <MO: the height of > your achievements is the strength <MO: reach> of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.

No children, least of all in the US should “know” this, because it is Disneyesque pap, at odds with what we know about socio-economic outcomes in our societies, and the US in particular. The happenstance of birth dictates outcomes later in life to a very considerable extent in all modern societies. It does so to a markedly greater extent in the US than in other countries. And the extent to which such “socio-economic determinism” is decisive appears to have increased markedly in recent years.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: American dream, Great Gatsby curve, inequality, intergenerational immobility, Melania Trump, Michelle Obama, Piketty, plagiarism, US

Economic implications of Europe’s refugee surge

December 6, 2015 by andrew36 Leave a Comment

Although its roots go back some considerable time, in the summer of 2015 Europe was suddenly and unexpectedly confronted with a dramatic increase in the number of refugees seeking sanctuary and asylum. The “refugee crisis”, as it is often portrayed, raises primarily humanitarian, political and ethical issues, both for individual member states and, not least, for the European Union as a whole. In particular the sharing of costs and issues relating to the freedom of movement between EU countries raise thorny issues. Xenophobic and nationalist elements have sought to make political capital out popular fears associated with the inflow of refugees.

Against this background, the sharp rise in refugee inflows also raises questions about the likely economic, fiscal and labour market effects. There is still considerably uncertainty about the size of current inflows, not to speak of their composition in terms of country of origin, age, skill level, or their likely distribution across Member States. It is also unclear for how long elevated inflows from countries like Syria and Afghanistan, blighted by war and acute physical and economic insecurity, will persist. Last but not least, the economic, fiscal and labour market effects of the influx will depend on the policies implemented by Member States; as these are currently being formulated, against the background of a controversial public debate, these also, remain clouded in uncertainty.

With these important caveats in mind, an attempt is made here to collate the existing information. Where necessary making various assumptions, orders of magnitude of the impacts that might be expected, both positive and negative for EU countries and their domestic populations, are indicated. On this basis suggestions for an appropriate policy response that maximises benefits and minimises costs are made. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Analysis Tagged With: asylum, demography, EU, Germany, inequality, labour markets, refugee crisis, skills, unemployment

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Recommended links

  1. Mainly macro (Simon Wren-Lewis)
  2. Paul Krugman
  3. econoblog101 (Dirk Ehnts)