Lobbying and Taxes Richter, Brian Kelleher; Samphantharak, Krislert; Timmons, Jeffrey F.
American journal of political science,
10/2009, Letnik:
53, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Lobbying dominates corporate political spending, but comprehensive studies of the benefits accrued are scarce. Using a dataset of all U.S. firms with publicly available financial statements, we delve ...into the tax benefits obtained from lobbying. Firms that spend more on lobbying in a given year pay lower effective tax rates in the next year. Increasing registered lobbying expenditures by 1% appears to lower effective tax rates by somewhere in the range of 0.5 to 1.6 percentage points for the average firm that lobbies. While individual firms amass considerable benefits, the costs of lobbying-induced tax breaks appear modest for the government.
This study examines the idea that youth’s perceptions of their political interactions with important others are influenced by their own political interest to a greater extent than the perceived ...political interactions that influence youth’s political interest. Hence, it was proposed that youth’s perceptions of important others’ (parents’, teachers’, friends’) political views, political interest, political influence, and support, as well as of being susceptible to others’ political communication, are all affected by their own political interest. Community samples of 908 13-year-olds and 869 16-year-olds were followed over 1 year. Latent change models supported the idea that youth’s political interest significantly affected their perceptions of important others’ political views, influence, and support over time in both cohorts. In 11 out of 12 longitudinal analyses, youth’s political interest strongly affected perceptions of their political interactions with others, but none of the 12 analyses showed that the perceptions of political interactions with others strongly predicted a change in youth’s political interest. These results suggest that the political interest of young people is an input in their political development, making politically interested youth active agents in their political interactions with their important others.
Oil, Islam, and Women ROSS, MICHAEL L.
The American political science review,
02/2008, Letnik:
102, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Women have made less progress toward gender equality in the Middle East than in any other region. Many observers claim this is due to the region's Islamic traditions. I suggest that oil, not Islam, ...is at fault; and that oil production also explains why women lag behind in many other countries. Oil production reduces the number of women in the labor force, which in turn reduces their political influence. As a result, oil-producing states are left with atypically strong patriarchal norms, laws, and political institutions. I support this argument with global data on oil production, female work patterns, and female political representation, and by comparing oil-rich Algeria to oil-poor Morocco and Tunisia. This argument has implications for the study of the Middle East, Islamic culture, and the resource curse.
Public sector audit organizations are usually expected to fight corruption. Yet they may also end up being involved in, and contributing to, sustaining corruption. Relying on multiple interviews, ...this paper sheds new light on the concrete mechanisms through which corruption is sustained by Brazilian regional Courts of Accounts and their members. Our findings show how politico-economic elites’ private interests infiltrate the Courts via the appointment of high-ranked officials and how those officials may resort to a variety of actions to perpetrate forms of selective justice and to weaken the audit findings of these organizations – which ends up strengthening and supporting corruption. Additionally, we provide evidence of collective action emerging to challenge the current situation and reinforce the role Courts could play as watchdogs of the public interest. We contribute to the literature by highlighting the deleterious role of the interface between political and economic interests and the functioning of audit organizations. Moreover, relying on the literature of first- and second-order corruption, we discuss the specific conditions and mechanisms which enable corruption in public audit organizations. Finally, we present practical implications providing alternative views to the status quo.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the scholarship on political skill and political will so that the authors might inspire future work that assesses these constructs individually and in ...tandem.Design/methodology/approachThe “political skill” and “political will” concepts were introduced about 40 years ago, but they only have been measured and produced empirical results much more recently. Since that time, substantial research results have demonstrated the important roles political skill and political will play in organizational behavior. This paper provides a comprehensive review of this research, draws conclusions from this work and provides a meta-theoretical framework of political skill and political will to guide future work in this area.FindingsScholarship in this area has developed quite rapidly for political skill, but less so for political will. The authors hope that recent developments in a political will can set the stage for scholars to create a theoretical and empirical balance between these two related constructs.Originality/valueThe authors corral the vast and widespread literature on political skill and will and distill the information for scholars and practitioners alike.
This 2023 study examines how corruption in higher education (HE) informs the brain drain phenomenon in North Macedonia. Through data collected from college-educated students who emigrated from the ...country, the research uncovers the reasons behind their emigration decision and highlights the high-level nature of corruption within HE. Findings reveal that corruption, along with limited career opportunities and distrust at the systemic level, motivates individuals to seek a better life abroad. The normalization of corruption and a lack of motivation to effect change further contribute to the emigration of highly skilled individuals. The study recommends measures such as establishing integrity units within universities and addressing political party involvement to combat these issues.
•Institutional corruption informs emigration trends in North Macedonia.•Pervasive corruption, a general sense of discontent, and a lack of opportunities drive the brain drain from the country.•Corruption also affects higher education, shaping students' perceptions of academic integrity.•The lack of priority given to tackling corruption hinders resolution efforts.•Political affiliations wield significant notification over academic paths, impacting admissions, graduation, and careers.
Why are voters influenced by the views of local patrons when casting their ballots? The existing literature suggests that coercion and personal obligations underpin this form of clientelism, causing ...voters to support candidates for reasons tangential to political performance. However, voters who support candidates preferred by local patrons may be making sophisticated political inferences. In many developing countries, elected politicians need to work with local patrons to deliver resources to voters, giving voters good reason to consider their patron's opinions of candidates. This argument is tested using data from an original survey of traditional chiefs and an experiment involving voters in Zambia. Chiefs and politicians with stronger relationships collaborate more effectively to provide local public goods. Furthermore, voters are particularly likely to vote with their chief if they perceive the importance of chiefs and politicians working jointly for local development.
Iraq has undergone radical changes since 2003, following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, which made it an area of influence for many international powers like the United States of America, ...and regional powers like the Iran, the latter which wants to impose itself, given the new balances in the region, the decline of the Arab regional order and the emergence of Turkey as a regional competitor in the Middle East. This study explored the concept of political influence in general, and extrapolated its factors and motivations from Iran to Iraq, and its repercussions on the latter, in the internal conditions of the two countries and the regional and international environments which surround them. Iran has relied on political, religious, sectarian and military means, exploiting the large Shiite component in Iraq, supporting political elites loyal to it to achieve power in Iraq, in addition to establishing military militias who are affiliated with it as a parallel force to the armed Iraq. And haggle over the nuclear program with Western countries to ensure the continuity of their political presence in Iraq.
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