Studying macroeconomic indicators as powerful ideas

Mügge, Daniel

doi:10.1080/13501763.2015.1115537

Cited by 54 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…In a world characterised by complex, multifaceted cross‐border socioeconomic phenomenon, conventional measurement systems are under strain (Christophers, ; Mügge, ). Many traditional numerical indicators and methods of calculation struggle to provide accurate gauges of complex global economic chains.…”

Section: The Context and Case For Tax Spillovermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Normative criteria are often projected into many existing evaluation exercises by specifying appropriate conducts, behaviours and good practices (Broome and Quirk, 2015b). Measurement systems and forms of evaluation are difficult to meaningfully separate from their underpinning political values and preferences, frequently resulting in forms of ‘norm evaluation’ (Broome et al., ; Mügge, ). Consequently, choice of norm is usually prior in the construction of international benchmarks and multilateral evaluation frameworks.…”

Section: Norms Reputation and International Benchmarkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Political Economy of ‘Tax Spillover’: A New Multilateral Framework

Baker

Murphy

2019

Global Policy

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Tax spillovers are the effects one country's tax rules and practices have on other countries. They have been assessed in aggregate terms by the IMF using econometric models, and were found to have a ‘significant and sizable’ impact in reducing corporate tax bases and rates in ‘developing countries. However, a widely accepted form of country level spillover analysis remains elusive, despite demands from non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) and international organisations (IOs). We present the first framework for conducting comprehensive national level spillover analyses using a qualitative evaluation framework in three steps. First we identify the importance of the normative underpinnings of multilateral evaluation frameworks. We make the case for an international moral harm convention that discourages states from doing harm to other states through their tax policies. Second we illustrate some of the difficulties in conducting country level spillover analyses using econometric methods, while advancing a broader conception of spillover, based on the defensive purpose of corporation tax. Third we present a new framework for conducting spillover analysis, that assesses relationships between four direct taxes and a number of administrative and institutional features of tax systems. Finally, we present initial pilot qualitative assessments for the UK and Denmark, involving scores, risk dashboards and visualisations.

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Section: The Context and Case For Tax Spillovermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Norms Reputation and International Benchmarkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Political Economy of ‘Tax Spillover’: A New Multilateral Framework

Baker

Murphy

2019

Global Policy

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“…Macroeconomic forecasting is based on economic formulae that make distributional choices by default. This is because macroeconomic indicators such as public deficits are calculated on the basis of deeply political formulae engrained with significant distributive implications (Mügge 2016). Powerful neoliberal ideas linger in the background and govern these indicators.…”

Section: Macroeconomic Indicators and Forecastingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If one follows this line of argument, it would mean that even a fiscal council with a narrow mandate to only produce macroeconomic or budgetary forecasts inevitably makes deeply distributional choices. Accordingly, these forecasts can never be completely 'unbiased' because a specific measurement will always lead to an advantage for some societal groups over others (Mügge 2016). However, the mere production of 'unbiased' macroeconomic projections can improve the conduct of fiscal policy significantly (Jonung and Larch 2006).…”

Section: Macroeconomic Indicators and Forecastingmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Legitimacy of Fiscal Councils in the European Union: Trustees or Orchestrators of Fiscal Discipline?

Tesche¹

2019

JCER

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This article distinguishes theoretically two conceptual models of a fiscal council -the trustee and the orchestrator model. The article reviews the arguments that prominent advocates of fiscal councils have put forth and finds that those who argue that the deficit bias is caused by the common pool problem prefer the trustee model, while others identifying asymmetric information as the root cause of the deficit bias prefer the orchestrator model. While the latter model relies on throughput legitimacy, the former relies on output legitimacy. The article concludes with a discussion about the contribution of fiscal councils towards strengthening EMU and weakening populism.

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“…They often aggregate variant quantities and details that measure very different aspects of social reality. In the worst case, hard data constructs ambiguous phenomena as objective facts built through standardised methodologies that defy local and contextual knowledge (Irvine et al, 1979;Mügge, 2016;Pearce et al, 2014). Unlike the assumption that rational plans with clear causal relations can be made and their effects measured, reality is more fuzzy and blurred.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The making of responsive innovation policies: varieties of evidence and their contestation in the Basque Country

Kleibrink

2018

Palgrave Commun

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In the European Union (EU) multiple levels of governance interact in the design of public policies. Multi-level policies require a variety of evidence to define problems appropriately, set the right objectives and create suitable instruments to achieve them. How such a variety of evidence is used in practice, however, remains largely elusive. In 2013, the reformed EU Cohesion Policy brought about a sea change in the way governments must justify their investment priorities to support innovation and economic development. One of many new 'ex-ante conditionalities' sought to improve the design of regional innovation policies by putting strong emphasis on the underlying evidence base of policy strategies. A multitude of data sources had to be combined to meet this novel requirement in 120 regional and national strategy documents. Combining various data sources meaningfully was a necessary first step to engage with stakeholders from relevant business and research communities to jointly develop and decide on priorities for public investments. Stakeholder organisations had the opportunity to contest insights coming from official statistics. But how do governments reconcile insights from socioeconomic analyses with differing views from stakeholders? We illustrate how such contestation of evidence has unfolded in the Basque Country. In this region, socioeconomic analysis and broader stakeholder consultation rapidly confirmed three investment priorities that had been already quite established. Stakeholders from local governments, universities and other government departments contested this choice as not fully representative of the local potential and societal needs. Through their participation in a multi-stakeholder body advising the government they succeeded in adding four priorities that address local societal issues: sustainable food, urban living, culture and environmental protection. Our findings underline that rational planning using statistics gets governments only so far in meeting pressing societal challenges. Stakeholders contesting and complementing statistical insights make policies more responsive to local needs.

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Studying macroeconomic indicators as powerful ideas

Cited by 54 publications

References 56 publications

The Political Economy of ‘Tax Spillover’: A New Multilateral Framework

The Political Economy of ‘Tax Spillover’: A New Multilateral Framework

On the Legitimacy of Fiscal Councils in the European Union: Trustees or Orchestrators of Fiscal Discipline?

The making of responsive innovation policies: varieties of evidence and their contestation in the Basque Country

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