Economic and environmental effects of the CO2 taxation: an input-output analysis for Spain

CO2 emissions induced by human activities are the major cause of climate change; hence, strong environmental policy that limits the growing dependence on fossil fuel is indispensable. Tradable permits and environmental taxes are the usual tools used in CO2 reduction strategies. Such economic tools provide incentives to polluting industries to reduce their emissions through market signals. The aim of this work is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of an environmental tax on Spanish products and services. We apply an environmentally extended input-output (EIO) model to identify CO2 emission intensities of products and services and, accordingly, we estimate the tax proportional to these intensities. The short-term price effects are analyzed using an input-output price model. The effect of tax introduction on consumption prices and its influence on consumers’ welfare are determined. We also quantify the environmental impacts of such taxation in terms of the reduction in CO2 emissions. The results, based on the Spanish economy for the year 2007, show that sectors with relatively poor environmental profile are subjected to high environmental tax rates. And consequently, applying a CO2 tax on these sectors, increases production prices and induces a slight increase in consumer price index and a decrease in private welfare. The revenue from the tax could be used to counter balance the negative effects on social welfare and also to stimulate the increase of renewable energy shares in the most impacting sectors. Finally, our analysis highlights that the environmental and economic goals cannot be met at the same time with the environmental taxation and this shows the necessity of finding other (complementary or alternative) measures to ensure both the economic and ecological efficiencies. Keywords: CO2 emissions; environmental tax; input-output model, effects of environmental taxation.

The Rise of The Swiss Tax Haven in the Interwar Period: An International Comparison

The history of tax havens is still little known for the decades before World War II. Up to now the studies that have focused on the 1920s and 30s have presented either a very general perspective on the development of tax havens or a narrow national point of view. Based on unpublished historical archives of four countries, this paper offers therefore a new comparative look on international tax competition during this period in order to answer the following question: was the Swiss case - already considered as a quintessential tax haven at the time - specific in comparison to other banking centres? This research has two results. On the one hand, the 1920s and 30s appear as something of a golden age of opportunity for avoiding taxation through the relocation of assets. Actually, most of the financial centres granted consistent tax benefits for imported capital, while the extremely limited degree of international cooperation and the usual guarantee of banking secrecy in European countries prevented the taxation of exported assets. On the other hand, within this general balance sheet, the fiscal strategies of a tax haven like Switzerland differed from those of a great financial power like Great Britain. Whereas the Swiss administration readily placed itself at the service of the bankers, the British policy was more balanced between the contradictory interests of the Board of Inland Revenue, the Treasury and the English business circles.

Investment, duration, and exit strategies for corporate and independent venture capital-backed start-ups

We propose a model of investment, duration, and exit strategies for start-ups backed by venture capital (VC) funds that accounts for the high level of uncertainty, the asymmetry of information between insiders and outsiders, and the discount rate. Our analysis predicts that start-ups backed by corporate VC funds remain for a longer period of time before exiting and receive larger investment amounts than those financed by independent VC funds. Although a longer duration leads to a higher likelihood of an exit through an acquisition, a larger investment increases the probability of an IPO exit. These predictions find strong empirical support.

Geração e gestão do valor por meio de métricas baseadas nas perspectivas do capital intelectual

No presente estudo, tomou-se como ponto de partida pesquisa em que se discutem possibilidades de as empresas alcançarem valor superior com base no alinhamento estratégico, na gestão do capital intelectual e na adoção do Balanced Scorecard (BSC). Investigou-se a associação entre a geração de valor e os componentes do capital intelectual segundo preceitos, entre outros, de Stewart (1999; 2001) M'Pherson e Pike (2001) e Kaplan e Norton (2004), além de trazer à tona a questão da implementação e extensão da utiliza- ção do Balanced Scorecard. As proxies empregadas para caracte- rizar geração de valor foram a média do price-to-book value (razão entre o valor de mercado e o valor patrimonial) e o retorno médio das ações no período estudado. Para caracterizar os componentes do capital intelectual, adotaram-se índices computados a partir da percepção de executivos de topo responsáveis por processos corporativos de planejamento e controle, com base na revisão de literatura e com base em procedimento de fatoração. O estudo utilizou testes não paramétricos para identificar se há evidências de diferente apreciação e retorno no mercado acionário para segmentos homogêneos de empresas com perfis diferenciados quanto aos índices de capital intelectual. Os resultados mostraram-se conclusivos e significantes - em reforço à proposição de sintonia entre a percepção do valor sob o enfoque do mercado de capitais e a percepção da performance em múltiplas perspectivas por parte de gestores. Quanto à adoção do BSC, foram identificados indícios de interferência favorável à performance nas empresas classificadas como de melhores padrões de geração de valor.

Problemas de estimação de custo de capital de empresas concessionárias no Brasil: uma aplicação à regulamentação de concessões rodoviárias

Neste trabalho, discute-se a fixação de taxas de retorno de concessões no Brasil, com aplicação específica ao caso da metodologia da Agência Nacional de Transportes Terrestres (ANTT). Mostra-se a inadequação da regulamentação vigente, baseada no conceito de taxa interna de retorno (TIR), e não de custo de oportunidade do capital. A partir de um exemplo com dados referentes ao auge da crise financeira internacional (dezembro de 2008), evidencia-se também a falta de lógica decorrente da utilização de retornos e preços passados na estimação de taxas de retorno, um procedimento comum a toda a área de concessões de serviços públicos no Brasil. Propõe-se uma metodologia alternativa cujos resultados são sensíveis às condições correntes de mercado de capitais, que produz resultados coerentes com a situação então vigente.

The generation and re-generation of social capital and enterprises in multi-stakeholders social cooperative enterprises: a system dynamic approach

Theories on social capital and on social entrepreneurship have mainly highlighted the attitude of social capital to generate enterprises and to foster good relations between third sector organizations and the public sector. This paper considers the social capital in a specific third sector enterprise; here, multi-stakeholder social cooperatives are seen, at the same time, as social capital results, creators and incubators. In the particular enterprises that identify themselves as community social enterprises, social capital, both as organizational and relational capital, is fundamental: SCEs arise from but also produce and disseminate social capital. This paper aims to improve the building of relational social capital and the refining of helpful relations drawn from other arenas, where they were created and from where they are sometimes transferred to other realities, where their role is carried on further (often working in non-profit, horizontally and vertically arranged groups, where they share resources and relations). To represent this perspective, we use a qualitative system dynamic approach in which social capital is measured using proxies. Cooperation of volunteers, customers, community leaders and third sector local organizations is fundamental to establish trust relations between public local authorities and cooperatives. These relations help the latter to maintain long-term contracts with local authorities as providers of social services and enable them to add innovation to their services, by developing experiences and management models and maintaining an interchange with civil servants regarding these matters. The long-term relations and the organizational relations linking SCEs and public organizations help to create and to renovate social capital. Thus, multi-stakeholder cooperatives originated via social capital developed in third sector organizations produce new social capital within the cooperatives themselves and between different cooperatives (entrepreneurial components of the third sector) and the public sector. In their entrepreneurial life, cooperatives have to contrast the "working drift," as a result of which only workers remain as members of the cooperative, while other stakeholders leave the organization. Those who are not workers in the cooperative are (stake)holders with "weak ties," who are nevertheless fundamental in making a worker's cooperative an authentic social multi-stakeholders cooperative. To maintain multi-stakeholder governance and the relations with third sector and civil society, social cooperatives have to reinforce participation and dialogue with civil society through ongoing efforts to include people that provide social proposals. We try to represent these processes in a system dynamic model applied to local cooperatives, measuring the social capital created by the social cooperative through proxies, such as number of volunteers and strong cooperation with public institutions. Using a reverse-engineering approach, we can individuate the determinants of the creation of social capital and thereby give support to governance that creates social capital.

Ensaio sobre as virtudes do capital de risco corporativo para projetos de alta tecnologia no setor agrícola: a trajetória inovadora da Alellyx Applied Genomics e da CanaVialis

O objetivo neste artigo é investigar a trajetória de duas empresas startups brasileiras dedicadas a pesquisa e desenvolvimento (P&D) no setor de biotecnologia: a Alellyx e a CanaVialis. São dois casos de spin-offs acadêmicos e de bioemprendimentos germinados na esfera do Projeto Genoma, da Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (Fapesp), maturadas na Votorantim Novos Negócios (VNN), área de novos negócios de um dos maiores grupos industriais brasileiros que atua no segmento de commodities, o Grupo Votorantim S/A, e depois vendidas para a Monsanto. Neste estudo, tentou-se compreender a racionalidade e as virtudes das ações de investimentos corporativos e das políticas públicas destinadas à biotecnologia focada em genômica aplicada para a agricultura no Brasil. A metodologia utilizada é a de estudo de caso, mais especificamente de análise dos dois casos de empresas comentados acima. Os resultados demonstraram que, apesar de o principal objetivo do grupo econômico ser a célere valorização do capital investido e seu retorno financeiro, a afiliação corporativa dessas empresas estimulou a aceleração de um conjunto de capacitações para a gestão empresarial da Alellyx e da CanaVialis, que foram críticas para o amadurecimento do negócio. Evidenciou-se, ainda, que foi fundamental o significativo aporte de recursos por meio dos mecanismos de apoio do sistema nacional à inovação.

Estudo dos fatores que determinam a formação do capital social familiar em empresas familiares na região sul de Minas Gerais

No estudo aqui relatado identificaram-se os fatores que levam à formação do capital social familiar em empresas familiares. Para atingir o objetivo proposto, utilizou-se, como aporte teórico, a teoria do capital social e do capital social familiar. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória, do tipo survey, em 120 empreendimentos familiares. Aplicou-se questionário, sob a forma de entrevista, a todos os empresários. Os dados foram analisados por meio de análise fatorial. Os resultados foram apresentados em dois blocos: primeiro, a caracterização da amostra em relação ao perfil do respondente e ao perfil do empreendimento, bem como a apresentação da frequência de cada uma das assertivas; na segunda parte, foi feita a análise fatorial, após a qual foram identificados sete fatores relacionados com a formação do capital social familiar. São eles: diálogo colaborativo, rede familiar, infraestrutura moral, confiança, normas éticas, ideias próprias e canais de informação externos. O capital social familiar é solidificado por meio do diálogo colaborativo, a partir do qual é possível enraizar, na família e na empresa, as normas éticas, originando o que se chama de infraestrutura moral, quando a família e a empresa estão em sintonia interna e externa. Em um sentido contraditório, a ausência do diálogo colaborativo gera autoritarismo por parte dos dirigentes e membros da família, prevalecendo ideias próprias, as quais foram identificadas como fator contraditório à formação do capital social familiar.

"Um arranjo produtivo em xeque": campo, habitus e capital simbólico em um Arranjo Produtivo Local moveleiro em Minas Gerais

O Arranjo Produtivo Local de Ubá e região (APL de Ubá) gera cerca de nove mil empregos e abriga a sede da maior empresa de móveis de aço da América Latina, além de três outras grandes empresas. Entretanto, é marcado por relações de disputa que preocupam os próprios empresários locais. O problema investigado é até que ponto essas disputas, especialmente entre fabricantes e fornecedores, colocam em risco esse APL moveleiro. O objetivo neste artigo é apresentar um entendimento de como se dão as relações de poder entre os empreendedores locais fabricantes de móveis e os fornecedores dessas empresas, discutindo suas implicações para o APL. Os resultados apontam para a existência de problemas nas relações entre fabricantes e fornecedores decorrentes, principalmente, da acumulação desigual de capital simbólico, do predomínio de interesses diferentes em jogo (illusio), bem como dos princípios diferentes e em oposição que orientam as práticas dos agentes (habitus). Os resultados apontam os riscos que essa natureza de relações acarreta para o APL de Ubá.

Social capital and the equilibrium number of entrepreneurs

Social capital is viewed either as a proprietary asset that serves private interests, including those of entrepreneurs, or as a collective asset that supports trust-based transactions saving on transaction costs both in markets and within the boundaries of firms, and benefiting society as a whole. This paper explains the relative specialization between entrepreneurs and market-governed exchanges as a result of the interaction between social capital that lowers transaction costs, and the scale economies of ability in managerial jobs (Lucas 1978). The main hypothesis formulated in the paper is that higher social capital will benefit the hierarchy relatively more than the market as a governance mechanism, and therefore in economies with higher social capital, the equilibrium number of entrepreneurs will be lower and their average span of control larger than in economies with lower social capital. The empirical evidence, with data from the Spanish Autonomous Communities, is consistent with this prediction.

Girona, capital jurisdiccional de la Catalunya convulsa dels anys 1630

El treball té per marc precís els anys 1635-37. El seu objecteés la transferència de Barcelona a Girona de la plana major deles institucions virregnals de Catalunya (la Reial Audiència, laBatllia General, l’ofici del mestre racional...) i el seu personal.

Social capital and cognitive attainment

We review the different meanings that researchers have given to theconcept of social capital, differentiate four types – bridging, bonding,linking, and overheads –, and discuss their different functions as public,club, and common goods.For each form of social capital we distinguish its productivity (acollective characteristic) from the factors that account for individual’sdifferential access to its returns, and propose alternative ways formeasuring each.We show the utility of our theoretical and measuring approach byanalyzing the impact of the each form of social capital on 15 year-oldstudents’ cognitive attainment across OECD countries, using 2006 PISAdata.The results show that students’ cognitive attainments are a direct functionof the richness or productivity of each form of social capital and ofstudents’ degree of access to each.

Capital cities of federations. On the way to analysing the normative base of their asymmetrical status

Federal Capitals often have special statutes. Compared with member states, they often enjoy a lower degree of self-government and a lesser share in the governing of the federation. Why do actors choose such devices, and how can they be justified in a liberal democracy? Surprisingly, the burgeoning literature on asymmetric federalism (to which our research group has contributed significantly) has overlooked this important feature of a de iure asymmetry, perhaps because political theory up to now has concentrated on cases of multicultural and plurinational federations. However, comparative literature is also rare. This paper is the first step to filling in this gap by comparing some federal capitals. The Federal District model (Washington) is compared to capitals organized as member-states (Berlin and Brussels), and capitals that are cities belonging to a single member state (Ottawa in Ontario). The different features of de iure asymmetry will thereby be highlighted. Some light will be shed on the possible motives, reasons and justifications for the choice of each respective status. The paper opens the door to further research on such status questions by analysing public and parliamentary debates, for example. It paves the way for more thorough research. Sicne the author has been awarded a grant by the Institut d’Estudis Autonòmics, this research will be carried out soon.