From our Board Members
A window into the works and accomplishments of our remarkable Board of Trustees
A Proposal for a Carbon Wealth Tax: Modelling, Empirics, and Policy
Report by Dr. Willi Semmler and José Pedro Bastos Neves
Although economists widely advocate carbon pricing as an effective solution to reduce carbon emissions, this mechanism has had so far limited effects. This paper proposes a new type of tax to help finance (and accelerate) the green transition. The “carbon assets” tax would be levied on carbon-intensive (brown) wealth rather than carbon-intensive goods. We consider tax implementation issues such as tax base, incidence, and efficiency. Moreover, we analyze the impacts of such a tax scheme by setting up a model of asset pricing and dynamic portfolio decisions. Green and carbon-intensive returns used in the model are calibrated with low-frequency returns on stock prices between 2010 and 2021. We find that such a tax and subsidy scheme is a feasible and effective instrument in speeding up the transition to a greener economy, particularly in protracted periods of economic contraction. Our approach also brings a new perspective to wealth inequality discussions.
Diaspora Networks? (In Sven Horak (ed) Informal Networks in International Business (Emerald Publishing), Forthcoming)
Chapter by Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan
This chapter contributes to the study of social capital in international business from a perspective of diaspora networks. Previously secure within the domains of academic fields of history and sociology, diaspora is now an essential concept across business disciplines influencing economic development policy. Diaspora networks are argued to be the first movers carrying a promise of robust entrepreneurial activity, potentially transferring unique skills and knowledge by way of formal and informal engagements with their ancestral lands. Stitching global value chains into the development structures of weaker economies, diaspora networks are hypothesized to be strengthening homeland’s competitive advantage and macroeconomic resilience. With much enthusiasm for the strong potential of diaspora networks, this study calls for a realistic caution and against mechanistic interpretation of the phenomenon. Three key elements formulate a diaspora network operational sustainability requiring deeper reflection in the business literature: identity, trust, and engagement infrastructure. Such triangularity of diaspora networks is in parallel with the three dimensions of social capital: bonds, bridges, and linkages. Connecting with the literature and informed by a unique survey this contribution also sketches an analytical framework for future research and meaningful policy approach.
A Georgist perspective for addressing San Francisco’s budget shortfalls.
To Plug Budget Hole, San Francisco Should Look to the Past
By Dr. Ibrahima Dramé and Alan Tonelson
INTRODUCTION
Although its economy and therefore budget situation have brightened faster than expected since the worst of the Covid 19 pandemic, and the new American Rescue Act will actually wipe out most of its short-term deficit, like most American states and cities, San Francisco’s fiscal challenges are far from over. Indeed, without major policy changes, the city can expect a future dominated by bad financial choices for controlling its chronic budget shortfalls: broad-brush growth-killing tax hikes, deep services cuts, or some combination of both. Just as important, the resulting vise will do little more than keep San Francisco running in place. Most hopes for addressing pressing unmet needs will be squeezed out…
More from our Board of Trustees
Alan Tonelson
Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan
Edward J. Nell
James Cusick
Willi Semmler
More from our Board of Advisors
Edward Harrison
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