Reform Acts Research Articles

La transformación del Estado regional italiano. Las modificaciones introducidas por las últimas reformas constitucionales (II)

The Italian regional Model, set by the Constitution of 1948, has been traditionally presented as a paradigm of political decentralization among unitary States. This essay intends to explain how the recent Constitutional Reform (Acts 1/1999, 2/2001 y 3/2001) tránsformed such territorial model. After a broad explanation of the main constitutional regulations, the analysis focuses in the structure and powers of government agencies, in the modified allocation of competences at state, regional and local level, as well as in financing autonomy. Attention is also payed on certain structural causes (political and, very specially, socio-economic ones) which have been determinant for the development of competences recognized by the Constitution and the statutes. Finally, from a comparative approach, the ltalian reform can be defined as a pattern with own identity. lt cannot be assimilated with other models of territorial allocation of power, such a federalism, british devolution or Spanish autonomy.

Impact of the 1996 Welfare Reform and Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Acts on Caribbean Immigrants

SUMMARY This paper examines the impact of the 1996 Welfare Reform and Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Acts on Caribbean immigrants in the United States. Drawing from the conceptual framework posited by Dye's (1984) Elite Preference Modelof policy analysis, the author argues that the three laws have created enormous economic and psychological difficulties among families in the United States. Developing countries in the Caribbean region have been severely impacted by the law since they have had to accommodate returning citizens when they are deported under provisions of immigration policies. The question for consideration by this paper is how may the legal and human rights of deportees be balanced against the rights of the U.S. government to secure its borders and ensure the security of its citizens? The paper also addresses issues of immigration, and international relations particularly the north-south dialogue between powerful developed countries such as the United States and small develo...

Small Town Politics in Mid‐Victorian Britain

AbstractElectoral politics in the small towns of England and Wales between the First (1832) and Second (1867) Reform Acts have been dismissed by historians as corrupt or controlled by influential patrons. This article uses qualitative and quantitative data to reveal that voters in these small boroughs demonstrated a surprising degree of party loyalty, with the politics of influence less obvious that those of principle. The article concludes that these towns, which elected almost one‐third of the membership of the House of Commons, exhibited a far more vibrant political milieu than was previously thought.

TAX COSTS AND CORPORATION DIVIDEND POLICY: Evidence from the 1986 U.S. Tax Reform Acts

Scholes and Wolfson (1992) predict that following the 1986 TaxReform Act, the tax cost of the corporate form relative to that of the partnership form (the incremental tax cost) increased significantly. This study hypothesizes that since dividends represent a tax disadvantaged form of income relative to capital gains, then in response to an increase in incremental tax costs, corporations would decrease their dividend payout ratios. The response is expected to be stronger for corporations owned byshareholders with long investment horizons because the tax cost saved from decreasing dividend payout ratios is an increasing function of shareholders’ investment horizon. The empirical tests support the hypothesis and show a negative relationship between the change in incremental tax costs and the change in dividend payout ratios for firms with long average investment horizons.

Luxembourg Tax Reform Acts of 21 December 2001 – International Aspects for Corporations and Businesses

Luxembourg Tax Reform Acts of 21 December 2001 – International Aspects for Corporations and Businesses

The Industrial Revolution, Political Transition, and the Subsequent Decline in Inequality in 19th-Century Britain

Democratization was a key mediating factor linking Britain's first industrial revolution to subsequent reductions in income inequality. Accelerated economic growth, generating a wider distribution of discretionary resources, created incentives for repeated expansions of the franchise, which then led to a progressive shift in legislation. After the Second and Third Reform Acts, income inequality was reduced by successive acts of legislation which provided free public education; strengthened the legal standing of the trade unions; aided the aged, the sick, and the unemployed without abridging their political rights; and replaced regressive indirect taxes with progressive taxes on income, land, and inherited wealth.

Implications of the 1996 Welfare and Immigration Reform Acts for US Immigration

The authors assess the impact of the U.S. welfare and immigration reforms enacted in 1996. They suggest that these reforms will produce unintended and possibly undesirable consequences. They argue in particular that the 1996 reform measures instead of preserving legal immigration and discouraging illegal immigration are more likely to reduce the former and expand incentives for the latter. In addition the Personal Responsibility Act creates added pressures for eligible legal immigrants to apply for U.S. citizenship. To the extent that higher rates of naturalization were unanticipated by reformers of welfare policy the actual cost savings attributable to reduced benefits for noncitizens will be smaller than expected. (EXCERPT) (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)

A Microstructure Analysis of Ex-Dividend Stock Price Behavior Before and After the 1984 and 1986 Tax Reform Acts

This article extends ex-dividend research by explicitly modeling trading at bid and ask quotations. This refinement distinguishes between buying and selling for long-term investors and short-term dividend capture traders. It also explicitly incorporates the bid-ask spread and eliminates some potential measurement errors that may bias returns. Marginal conditions are tested during 1983 and 1988, periods that span the 1984 and 1986 Tax Reform Acts. Results for long-term investors are consistent with the elimination of favorable capital gains tax rates. At observed prices, tax-neutral short-term traders cannot profit. Corporate dividend capture traders face profit opportunities during 1983 that disappear by 1988. Copyright 1996 by University of Chicago Press.

Shareholder Wealth Responses to Bankruptcy Filing Announcements under the Chandler and Reform Acts

AbstractThis paper examines shareholder wealth responses to bankruptcy filing announcements between 1974 and 1989 to draw inferences about the impact of the adoption of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978. The authors find that post‐Reform Act announcements are associated with more negative pre‐filing and announcement period returns to shareholders. Unlike prior research, this study finds that large firms and NYSE‐listed firms experience more negative returns. It also finds that the market can discriminate between firms that are ultimately worthless and those that may retain some value for shareholders.

The Effects of Tax Reform on Real Estate: Some Empirical Results

This paper uses data on publicly traded real estate firms to examine the effects of two major tax reforms. Specifically, we analyze the effects of the 1976 and 1986 Tax Reform Acts (TRAs) on the risks and returns of real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other real estate firms, using intervention analysis. Since REITs have been a dominant force in the real estate equity markets, and since they are treated differently for tax purposes than corporations investing in real estate, we examine the two groups of firms separately.' While there exists much popular press literature which discusses the impact of tax reform on real estate, little empirical work has directly examined the market's response to these changes.2 Most previous work undertaken to examine the potential impact of tax changes has used simulation modeling to estimate the effects on real estate firms' values (e.g., Fisher and Lentz 1986; Hendershott, Follain, and Ling 1986). A review of the simulation literature is presented in Follain and Brueckner (1986). Turning away from the simulation technique, Nourse (1987) uses appraisal data to empirically estimate how the 1976 and 1981 tax laws affect capitalization rates (i.e., net income divided by value) for real estate. In contrast with the existing literature, we use market data to evaluate the empirical effects of the 1976 and 1986 law changes. The empirical results provide insights into the interaction between tax laws and the market for real estate assets. In the next section of the paper we discuss the historical background of the 1976

Historic preservation and tax incentives: The US experience

ffAB~~A~~~~~. Vol. Y, No. I. pp. 1%24.1985 In recent years, the US Government has enacted several major legislative programmes to stimulate the preservation of historic structures and to encourage community revitalisation activity. The legislation, following years of neglect of our historic resources, aimed to reverse the imbalance in the US tax codes that had previously favoured new construction over rehabilitation efforts. The first major legislative initiative involved the enactment of the ~~tjo~~Z ~istor~cu~ ~reserv~t~o~ Act in 1966. The act established a decentralised structure of State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs) to promote the retention and reuse of historic structure under the purview of the Federal Department of the Interior. SHPO programmes, involving primarily review and technical assistance activities, included survey and inventory of historic structures, public info~ation and education, environmental review, and administrative activities. Although the programmes were helpful, they lacked sufficient financial incentives to have a significant effect on historic preservation efforts. The US Congress has attempted to remedy this situation by including historic preservation provisions in both the Tax Reform Acts of 1976 and the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. Although both acts contain significant tax incentives to promote preservation, there has been little systematic investigation of their overall effects. The few national studies that have been conducted (Department of the Interior, 1982) have contained insufficient detail to adequately evaluate the land use, construction and community effects of the legislation. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to examine the overall impacts of the two major US tax initiatives to promote historic preservation in the hope that other nations may benefit from our experiences. Although both acts share the overall goal of promoting preservation, their specific provisions have resulted in significantly different community impacts. This article, therefore, examines the impacts by using national data and also case studies from the state of Georgia. The case study approach allows us to take advantage of such micro-data as floor area, original and new use of structures and extent of federal and state financial involvement in projects, that is not systematically available on a national basis. The study is organised into four parts. First, the provisions of the two major tax acts are reviewed and their known impacts evaluated. Second, the effects of the Tax Reform Act of 1976 are analysed based on a random sample of projects submitted for SHPO review in the state of Georgia from 1977 to 1982. Third, a similar investigation of projects and their effects under the Economic Recovery Tax of 1982 is undertaken. Conclusions and recommendations are presented in the final section.

Condominium Conversion and the Tax Reform Acts of 1969 and 1976

Condominium conversions became a major factor in housing markets durig the 1970s. The analysis presented in this paper suggests that rental housing investors are in high marginal tax brackets and use rental housing tax losses to shelter other income. These characteristics imply that rental housing tax benefits are an important determinant of rental housing investment. The Tax Reform Act of 1969 and 1976 reduced rental housing tax benefits and may have provided an important stimulus for the condominium conversions of the 1970s. Tax and survey data confirm the predicted characteristics of rental‐housing investors. Estimates of rental flows in Chicago from 1962 to 1977 indicate that the Tax Reform Act of 1969 and 1976 were possible causes of condominium conversions during the 1970s.

The Continuation of War by other means: Party and Politics, 1855–1865

In the familiar triptych of British political history between the first and third Reform Acts, whose panels are neatly divided by the years 1846 and 1867, the confused and uninspiring iconography of the large central canvas contrasts sharply and puzzlingly with that of its flanking pieces. In 1855 Gladstone lamented thatThe Session of 1845 was the last of those that witnessed party connection in its normal state. Throughout the decade which preceded that year it was in full and brilliant blossom. Since then we have had properly speaking…none in the best sense of the term: none compact and organized after the ancient manner.

The Origins of the Mental Health Act 1983: Doctors in the House

The role played by the House of Commons in the legislative process has been steadily changing since the Reform Acts of the nineteenth century. Previously, most of the Commons' legislative work consisted in passing private measures initiated and introduced by individual Members of Parliament concerned with, and knowledgeable about, local issues which required change. The growth of an increasingly vocal and educated mass electorate, the pressures of mass-membership political parties, and the increasing specialization of an industrial society, all increased the need for wider legislation, particularly for public social measures, and its initiation passed from the hands of individual members to the Government Parliament as a law-making body moved towards a more formal constitutional and legal role. Its twentieth century task is more often the legitimation of legislative changes originating elsewhere.

An Outsider's View: Alexis de Tocqueville on Aristocratic Society and Politics in 19th Century England

This brief account of Tocqueville's ideas on aristocratic society and government in England is intended to serve as a sort of introduction to the longer papers that follow in this symposium. For some years the subject of English aristocratic power in the 19th century—especially in connection with the First and Second Reform Acts—has been much discussed. The discussion has dwelt on such questions as whether the aristocracy grew or declined in power, whether the Reform Acts made for a growth or loss of power, whether aristocratic leadership knew precisely what it was doing, and so on. So far this discussion has been carried on, so to speak, exclusively from the inside: that is, in terms of contemporary English events and ideas. In Tocqueville, who was both an Anglophile and an informed and penetrating observer of England from the 1830s until his death in 1859, we have a distinguished outsider. His ideas are always interesting for their own sake. For this symposium they have the added merit of touching on some of its central themes. On occasion, his ideas may strike the reader as exaggerated, ambiguous, even inconsistent, certainly without system. But they are usually suggestive, and merit the historian's serious attention.Tocqueville's first impression of the English aristocracy was one of great power—a power rooted in its monopoly of landowner ship. As he saw it, the contrast between the French landowning aristocracy and the English was that between an aristocracy, on the one hand, that was land poor, and an aristocracy, on the other hand, that was richly endowed in land. Tocqueville also saw that if landed property did not always lead to economic power—since agriculture did not pay that well—it had a special quality, as compared to other forms of wealth, which was bound to lead to political power.

The Changing Context of British Politics in the 1880s: The Reform Acts and the Formation of the Liberal Unionist Party

The Changing Context of British Politics in the 1880s: The Reform Acts and the Formation of the Liberal Unionist Party

The Changing Context of British Politics in the 1880s: The Reform Acts and the Formation of the Liberal Unionist Party

In the summer of 1886, the conservative “Whig” wing of the Liberal party, led by Lord Hartington, together with a small group of Radical Unionists under Joseph Chamberlain, broke with the Liberal leader, Prime Minister W.E. Gladstone, and formed the Liberal Unionist party. This not-unexpected event occurred in two stages. The first was the defection of ninety-three Liberals to the Conservative opposition on the second reading of Gladstone’s Irish Home Rule Bill in June, resulting in its defeat. The second stage was the decision of Hartington, Chamberlain, and their followers to contest, with Conservative support, parliamentary seats against Liberals in the ensuing July election which Gladstone called on the issue of Irish Home Rule.The election of July, 1886 proved to be a critical juncture in British party alignment. The shift in the strength of the parties caused by the return of seventy-eight Liberal Unionists to the parliament of 1886-92 and their support of the Conservatives ended forty years of Liberal domination and began a generation of Conservative hegemony. The Liberal Unionists maintained a parliamentary strength of about seventy members and a separate identity until they merged with the Conservatives in 1912; few of the dissident Liberal Unionists returned to the Liberal party. The formation of the Unionist (Conservative and Liberal Unionist) coalition had long-term ramifications as well because it set the stage for the emergence of class politics shortly after the turn of the century.

"Moral Order" and the Criminal Law-Reform Efforts in the United States and West Germany

I: Crime, the Criminal law, and the Ethics of Criminalization.- A. Extent of the Problem of Crime and Making the Criminal Law.- B. Individual Freedom and Social Order.- C. The Right-Minded and The Reasonable Man.- D. The Community and The People.- E. Legal Obligation and Moral Obligation.- Criminal Law and Reform in the United States.- II: Historical and Theoretical Problems.- A. What is a Crime?.- (1) Social Context of an Offense and the Extent of Criminalization.- (2) Actus Reus and Mens Rea: Criminal Act and the Measure of Guilt.- (3) Defense of Insanity and the Problems of Limited Responsibility.- (4) Defense of Mistake of Fact and Mistake of Law.- B. Individual Rights during Enforement of the Law.- (1) Search and Seizure.- (2) Rights of the Arrested Party.- (3) Bail and Pre-Trial Detention.- C. Approaches to Criminal Law Reform.- (1) Theory and the Form of Correction.- (2) Sentencing and Grading of Punishment.- (3) Full-scale Reform vs.Piecemeal Revision: American Attempts at Recodification.- III: Current issues and Selected Substantive Reforms.- A. Abortion: When Does Human Life Begin?.- B. Drug Abuse and Marijuana: Moral Responsibility vs. Control of Morals.- C. Offense of Obscenity and Problem of Consorship.- D. Homosexuality: Controlling Personal Morality Through the Criminal Law.- Criminal Law and Reform in West Germany.- IV: Historical and Theoretical Problems: issues in the General Part of the Code.- A. Full-scale Recodification: Background of the German Criminal Law Reform.- (1) Passage of the German Criminal Law Reform Acts.- (2) Origins of the German Criminal Code and of the Present Reform: Contending Versions of Social Ethics in the Federal Republic.- B. What is a Crime?.- (1) Gravity of an Offense and the Constituent Elements of an Offense.- (2) Concepts of Guilt and Mitigation.- C. Approaches to Criminal Law Reform.- (1) Theory and Form of Correction.- (2) Grading of Punishment.- V: Current issues and the Reform of the Special Part of the Code.- A. Political Offenses.- (1) Constitutional Questions.- (2) Treason, Betrayal, and State Secrets.- B. Offenses against Religious Sensibilities.- C. Offenses against Public Morality.- (1) Abortion and Birth Control.- (2) Homosexuality and Varieties of Sexual Offenses.- (3) Adultery.- VI: Conclusions on the Role of Function and Ideal in Making the Law.- A. Social Ethics in the Law.- B. Politics in the Formation of the Law.- C. Public Conscience: Reason and Rhetoric.- A Brief Bibliography of Sources on the German Criminal Law in English.- A Note on the U.S. Supreme Court's Decisions on Abortion.- Index of Persons.

IV. Liberal versus Liberal: The General Election of 1874 in Bradford and Sheffield

Throughout its history the United Kingdom Liberal party has been a conglomerate. On the other hand, it was very rarely just an anti-Conservative Front, feeding off the grasslands of negation. Whatever the manifold stresses and strains of a given moment, the liberty-loving and reforming mentality almost invariably held together the disparate elements for purposes of positive action. And with the Conservative party essentially standstill and inherently strong at most times, this was scarcely surprising in the context of the battle for political power. That context was shaped by the break-up of the vast Liverpool-style coalition and the emergence under Lord Grey of a left-centre administration. The bundle of ideologies and interests behind Grey stuck together until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, although economic and social changes, along with alterations in the constitutional structure both springing from and causing them, did much to shift the influence they exercised. While it is true that the first and second Reform Acts were of crucial importance, the forces behind their passing should not be ignored. The hens did come before the eggs, even though the eventual arrivals were uncommonly large chickens, and hatching out was far from automatic

Book Notes

WHO'S MASTER? WHO'S MAN?: Australia in the Victorian Age. By Michael Cannon.THE FIRST GENERATION: School and Society in Early Australia. By John F. Cleverly.THE AUSTRALASIAN SKETCHER WITH PEN AND PENCIL 1880. Edited by MichaelBIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE VICTORIAN ABORIGINES: from the earliest manuscripts to 31 December 1970. By Aldo Massola.THE AUSTRALIAN THUNDERER: The Age after the Gold Rush 1854–1859. Edited byA COLONIAL AUTOCRACY: New South Wales under Governor Macquarie 1810–1821. By M. Phillips.THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT O F JUSTUS MOSER: The Growth of a German Patriot. By William F. Sheldon.LITERATURE AND POLITICS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: Essays. Edited by John Lucas.TWICE ROUND THE CLOCK: Or the Hours of the day and night in London. By George Augustus Sala. Introduction by Philip Collins.MIDLOTHIAN SPEECHES 1879. By W. E. Gladstone. Introduction by M. R. D. Foot.THE GREAT LANDOWNERS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. By John Bateman.REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION IN ITALY. By M. M. Watson.IMPERIAL CONTROL OF COLONIAL LEGISLATION, 1813–1865: A Study of British Policy towards Colonial Legislative Powers. By D. B. Swinfen.THE EMERGENCE OF BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: The Passing of the Reform Acts of 1832, 1867, and 1884–1885. Edited by J. B. Conacher.THE PRICE REVOLUTION IN SIXTEENTH‐CENTURY ENGLAND. Edited by P. H. Ramsay.DOCUMENTS IN THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT, 1815–1939. Edited by G. A. Kertesz.PROLOGUE: A documentary history of Europe, 1846–1960. Edited by M. Christine Walsh.ALLIANCES: Latent War Communities in the Contemporary World. Edited and introduced by Francis A. Beer.NATIONS AND MEN: An Introduction to International Politics. By Ivo D. Duchacek.THE POLITICS OF THE DEVELOPING AREAS. Edited by G. A. Almond and J. S. Coleman.DEMOCRACY. By D. Pickles.THE TRADING VOYAGES O F ANDREW CHEYNE 1841–1844. Edited by Dorothy Shineberg.SHIRLEY BAKER AND THE KING OF TONGA. By Noel Rutherford.SPEECHES AND DOCUMENTS ON NEW ZEALAND HISTORY. Edited by W. D. McIntyre and W. J. Gardner.THE OKINAWA PROBLEM: A Chapter in Japan‐US. Relations. By Akio Watanabe.THE ROLE OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE INDIAN PARLIAMENT. By H. S. Fartyal.AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. By R. K. Carr, M. H. Bernstein, W. F. Murphy, and M. N. Danielson.ESSAYS ON THE STATE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS. By D. G. Herzberg and J. Unruh.POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION AND EDUCATIONAL CLIMATES: A Study of Two School Districts. By Richard M. Merelman.MELBOURNE STUDIES IN EDUCATION, 1971. Edited by R. J. W. Selleck.