Shlomo Maital

A simulation study of income tax evasion

In a game-simulation context, tax evasion behavior of 15 subjects was observed. Large fines were found to be more effective deterrents than frequent audits. The decision to underreport income appears to be influenced by different factors than the magnitude of underreporting. Tax evasion behavior differed widely among individuals.

PUBLIC GOODS AND INCOME DISTRIBUTION: SOME FURTHER RESULTS'

Aaron and McGuire recently put forward a new method for imputing benefits of government expenditures on public goods for various income classes. They fail to present conclusive empirical results, however, lacking a parameter whose value is heretofore unmeasured. This note uses three independent empirical estimates of this crucial parameter to compute estimates of the net incidence of the fiscal system. For the U.S., 1961, it is found that benefits from public goods are regressively distributed. It is further suggested that the desire to equalize incomes requires provisions of less, not more, public goods.

A Survey Analysis of University-Technology Transfer in Israel: Evaluation of Projects and Determinants of Success

The purpose of this study is to examine how technology transfer organizations (TTOs) at Israeli universities evaluate projects and how they perceive the success or failure of these projects once they are selected. We also analyze whether the criteria they use are similar to those employed by venture capitalists and MIT. We find that the decision criteria used by Israeli universities are similar to those employed by venture capitalists and by the relatively entrepreneurially-focused TTO at MIT. The perceived success of a technology transfer project is strongly related to the quality and motivation of the project team. Dimotech, an Israeli TTO that is focused on entrepreneurial startups, appears to place a stronger emphasis on the characteristics of the individuals involved in launching a new venture than the other Israeli TTOs, which are focused on licensing.

Measuring Efficiency by Product Group: Integrating Dea with Activity-Based Accounting in a Large Mideast Bank

We built a method for measuring product-specific inefficiency in bank branches to facilitate precise measurement of waste and identify its causes. Our method combines and integrates two separate, widely used models for measuring costs and efficiency performance: activity-based cost accounting (ABC) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). The resulting method for activity-based management provides managers with detailed quantitative performance benchmarks for the specific business activities of their firms or divisions. We used an integrated model to create a branch profile of a large 250-branch Mideast bank that measures inefficiency separately for customer services and transactions.

Is the future what it used to be? A behavioral theory of the decline of saving in the west

Abstract In all but one (Austria) of the 24 OECD countries, all forms of saving—personal, business and government—expressed as a percent of income or GDP were lower in 1987 than in 1973. This decline in national saving—amounting to over 4% of GDP—implies a serious devaluation of the future among countries that comprise 60% of world output. No persuasive explanation or model has been advanced to explain it. This article proposes a behavioral theory, based on the proposition that for most households the marginal rate of time preference (the subjective premium attached to present consumption compared to future consumption), exceeds, rather than equals, market interest rates. This implies that it always pays to spend more by borrowing . People constrain themselves from doing so by a variety of self-imposed precommitment constraints. These constraints have been seriously weakened during the past 15 years by various forms of deregulation. It is argued that national saving will not recover until the pro-savings self-imposed constraints are restored, at least in part.

Voluntary provision of a pure public good as the game of ‘chicken’

Abstract The voluntary exchange model, where the amount of a public good and contributions to its cost are simultaneously determined, is treated as a (2×2) non-cooperative non-constant-sum game. Three conceptually different types of games emerge. One of them is ‘Chicken’; each player can gain by pre-emptively threatening to pay nothing—unless the other player acts likewise. ‘Zero public goods’ is thus a possible outcome of voluntary exchange, even though it is Pareto inferior.

Executive Economics: Ten Essential Tools for Managers—

As a science of decision-making, modern economics is unparalleled in its disciplined exploration of social dilemmas. This book explains how economic thinking can help clarify business decisions. Using ten basic principles for calculating accurate costs, benefits, and prices, the author shows how all decisions can be reduced to two questions: What is it really worth? What must I give up to get it? Using running examples from both large and small companies, the book shows executives how they can succeed using the creative discipline of the skilled economist.

Data envelopment analysis with a single DMU: A graphic projected-gradient approach

Abstract Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) gradient lines are constructed in a two-dimensional section of the production set, for the case of constant returns to scale. Differential equations are obtained and solved. The gradient lines – showing the optimal direction of partial improvement in efficiency – are derived and are represented graphically. It is shown that for proportional change of inputs and outputs: (i) both input minimization and output maximization problems have one and the same set of gradient lines, (ii) gradient lines are invariant with respect to weights of inputs and outputs, and (iii) if inputs and outputs are measured in relative units, the gradient line starting from an actual input–output point may be derived without solution of the optimizing DEA problem , so that it becomes possible to carry out a partial DEA analysis with only a single Decision Making Unit (DMU). The formula for the optimal proportional change of inputs and outputs is obtained. A numerical example is provided.

Interpreting the sources of market value in a capital goods market: R&D management in industrial sensors

This paper presents an integrated model for evaluating purchasers’ perceptions of science-based products. The model combines a new approach to benchmarking, known as technometrics, that provides a quantitative profile of a products key attributes, with direct and indirect methods for measuring buyers’ perceptions regarding the relative importance of product attributes as a source of value. A new measure for the demand orientation is proposed, which shows the extent to which a products ‘supply’ of characteristics matches the ‘demand’ for them in the market place. The model is illustrated using several types of industrial pressure sensors. The paper also demonstrates how the integrated model may be made effective for quality function deployment (QFD) during the R&D phase.

Multidimensional scaling: Some econometric applications

Abstract Multidimensional scaling algorithms seek N points, in M-dimensional space, whose interpoint distances match in some sense the experimental dissimilarities of N variables. The dissimilarity coefficients may be qualitative and of diverse kinds. For M = 2 or 3, complex relationships can be depicted graphically and summarized succinctly. Prevalence of bulky correlation matrices in econometric research suggests multidimensional scaling may prove a helpful tool.