Issue 26, February 2020

The objective of the proposed fiscal federalism class, intended to be developed in a practical class or seminar, is to evaluate the effective learning of the student on the operation and results of the current financing model of the Autonomous Communities of common regime, through the simulations based on the actual system data. The simulations proposed involve total or partial changes on the configuration of the current model and allow quantifying the economic effects of the same in each Community and choosing students for a position in favor or against the proposed measure based on equity criteria

The aim of this paper is to develop a basic topic in economics, such as investment and business financing decisions, taking into account the incidence of taxes in force in Spain, and open to other variations that may be carried out in the tax laws. The main contribution of the paper is a fiscal simulator that will help to approach the knowledge of the incidence of taxes in these decisions. In the paper, we will start by presenting a basic model in which we will support our analysis, then we will present a fiscal simulator, that will allow to assess the incidence in the various fiscal incentives, in order to get the most advantageous result, and finally propose a practical exercise that the students can perform using the simulator, accessible at the following address: http://www.unizar.es/econ_aplicada/fiscalidad/simuladores.htm. The paper will be useful for teachers and students both in the branchs of Economics and Business, and especially in issues of public economics, general economics, business economics and business finance.

This article carries out an historical assessment of the epistemological changes Economics has attended to during the last two decades, specifically, the so-called empirical revolution and the collaboration with other sciences and disciplines, and how these changes has affected Public Economics. Right after, we make some reflections on the teaching practice in this field taking into account the mentioned evolution.

In this paper we make a review of Vito Tanzi’s work ‘Termites of the state. Why complexity leads to inequality’, published in 2018. The said work presents a broad account of the evolution of the role of the state in democratic countries since the end of the 19th century to the first decades of the 21st century. The book makes an analysis of the theoretical foundation of the functions to be developed by the state in a market-based economic system, and it also offers a detailed review of the changes that have marked their evolution in the referred period. Stress is laid on how the economic, technological, social and political transformations have conditioned the scope of the government actions, and how these have shaped the social and economic reality. The author highlights how the increasing complexity of the economic and social relations, as countries become more developed, creates the conditions for the rise and growth of a set of ‘termites’ that undermines the action of both the market and the public sector. Special attention is paid to the factors which, during the last decades, have led to an increased inequality in income distribution, as well as to the alternatives to correct this problem. The book urges the search of new formulas that, without relinquishing the democratic institutions or the market economy, enable to enhance the effectiveness of government interventions.