Binh Tran-Nam

Applications of Behavioural Economics to Tax Evasion

The paper reviews recent models that have applied the techniques of behavioural economics to the analysis of the tax compliance choice of an individual taxpayer. The construction of these models is motivated by the failure of the Yitzhaki version of the Allingham–Sandmo model to predict correctly the proportion of taxpayers who will evade and the effect of an increase in the tax rate upon the chosen level of evasion. Recent approaches have applied non-expected utility theory to the compliance decision and have addressed social interaction. The models we describe are able to match the observed extent of evasion and correctly predict the tax effect but do not have the parsimony or precision of the Yitzhaki model.

Use and Misuse of Tax Compliance Costs in Evaluating the GST

This article examines the use of tax compliance costs in evaluating tax reform and seeks to demonstrate that the Governments current approach is flawed.

Human capital and economic growth in an overlapping generations model

The paper describes an aggregative optimal growth model, the essential features of which are that individuals are mortal and obtain their labor skill through educational training. The process of human capital formation is described by an education function which relates the pass rate to the educational expenditure per student. Two alternative scenarios, private and public education regimes, are separately investigated. Under the decentralized education regime, risk-neutral individuals borrow to finance their education when young. Under the centralized education regime, the cost of education is financed by taxes imposed on the workers in the economy, and the central government maximizes a long-term social target function. The equilibria of both regimes are analyzed and various comparative static results derived. It is shown that educational investment in a decentralized equilibrium is higher than that in the centralized steady state. We also establish that there exists a time discount rate at which or above which the decentralized per capita consumption exceeds that of the centralized steady state whereas for time rates of discount sufficiently near the population growth rate, the above result will be reversed.

Personal Taxpayer Compliance Costs: Recent Evidence from Australia

This article reports on the tax compliance burden of Australian personal (non-business) taxpayers in the 2011-12 tax year. A survey of just over 4,000 individuals was conducted in late 2012 and average tax compliance costs were derived from the data and combined with macro-statistics to generate aggregate personal taxpayer compliance costs. The study demonstrates that personal taxpayer compliance costs have grown by about 73 per cent since 1995 and suggests that various technologically driven simplification initiatives undertaken by the government (such as e-tax and pre-filled income tax returns) have not been sufficient to slow down this growth in personal tax compliance costs.

An Extended Ricardian Model Incorporating a Consumption Time Constraint

This paper investigates the impact of incorporating a Gossenian−Beckerian consumption time constraint into a simple Ricardian model. It is shown that in such a model the consumption gain from trade is zero, the specialization gain can be negative and a small nation devotes less labor to production after trade.

Tax Reform and Tax Simplification: Conceptual and Measurement Issues and Australian Experiences

The chapter is derived from an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage project being conducted by the author in conjunction with Professor Chris Evans (UNSW Australia), Professor Richard Krever (Monash University) and Dr Phil Lignier (University of Tasmania) together with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA). The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ARC or ICAA. This chapter also draws from previously published materials by the author. Most of these materials have first appeared in Australian Tax Forum and have been reproduced with permission from the Tax Institute.

Time Allocation Under Autarky and Free Trade in the Presence of Time-Consuming Consumption

This chapter examines the impact of incorporating a Gossenian−Beckerian consumption time constraint in a simple general equilibrium model with representative agents. In the closed economy case, the conventional theory is shown to remain more or less intact with the conventional transformation curve being replaced by the generalized transformation curve. In the open economy case, while trade remains welfare improving, the sources of trade gainfulness differ from those in conventional trade models. In particular, the conventionally defined exchange (consumption) and specialization (production) gains vanish. There are, however, positive gains from time reallocation (away from production toward consumption) and specialization associated with this time reallocation. The model produces results which are similar to those obtained from trade theory with an endogenous labour supply.

The history of accounting standard setting in an emerging transition economy: The case of Vietnam:

The article aims to examine the history of Vietnam’s accounting practices and standard setting in the context of its transition towards a market-based economy. Vietnam is chosen as a case study because of its unique combination of factors and the accelerated changes occurring in recent years. More specifically, the article has three research objectives: (1) to explore the distinctive stages in the evolution of accounting practices in Vietnam, (2) to explain the institutional pressures that have shaped the evolution of accounting standards in Vietnam and (3) to understand the implications of these historical developments on the changes in Vietnam’s accounting standards. To achieve these research objectives, we employ a theoretical framework that incorporates elements of the institutional theory to the 7Ps model proposed by Carnegie and Napier. This framework analyses the issues under study in terms of the seven dimensions: periods, places, people, practices, propagation, products and profession.

A review of the Gossenian approach to the theory of time allocation

Today Hermann Heinrich Gossen is primarily known to economists as one of the forerunners of the Marginal Revolution. His other contribution to economic theory, namely, a theory of time allocation, is equally if not more significant but not widely cited by economists. Surprisingly this has remained the case despite the availability of several major papers (in English) on his contributions to economic ideas. Building on the work of others, this paper seeks to provide a biographical sketch of Gossen, examine why his work has been neglected, analyze his contribution to economic theory, and assess his influence on the discipline of economics. The paper incorporates discussions on the latest findings about Gossen himself, translations of his book and the implications of his laws for the theory of the evolution of customs.

Endogenous Growth and Publicly Funded Knowledge Accumulation

We investigate a centrally planned, infinite horizon, single good economy in which new knowledge is generated in a separate RD Journal compilation