The European Union: Eastern Enlargement and Taxation

M. PETER VAN DER HOEK

The European Union has not defined its limits in geographical terms. Each enlargement has led and will lead to a decrease of the European Union's per capita GDP. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the transition countries went through a long and deep recession. However, they have reached a stage of positive growth and their tax levels are approaching the lower limit of the range of tax/GDP ratios in European Union countries. Differences exist in tax capacity and tax effort. In some countries, greater efforts are possible to improve tax revenues. Further examination of the timing of tax administration reform may shed light on tax effort in transition countries. The paper also suggests the existence of a negative relationship between tax effort and corruption. (JEL P27, H20); Atlantic Econ. J., 32(2): pp. 75-88, June 04. ©All Rights Reserved

Data Errors in Small Data Sets Can Determine Empirical Findings

LING T. HE AND JOSEPH P. MCGARRITY

This paper provides an example of a model that yields widely divergent estimates when different stock market indexes are used to calculate two independent variables in Romer's [1990] model. Her model sought to explain consumer durable good production before the Great Crash (31 observations). She used the Cowles Commissions Series P Stock Price Index to calculate two independent variables. However, when this paper uses the S&P Index to calculate these variables, its estimates completely contradict Romer's findings. It discovered that one incorrect monthly observation in the S&P Index is responsible for this difference. It also found that robustness techniques serve to limit the impact of the errant observation, illustrating the importance of using robustness techniques in small data sets.(JEL N11, N21); Atlantic Econ. J., 32(2): pp. 89-99, June 04. ©All Rights Reserved

Newspaper Quality, Pulitzer Prizes, and Newspaper Circulation

BRIAN LOGAN AND DANIEL SUTTER

Many journalists and journalism scholars contend that the profit motive of commercial media companies conflicts with the supply of high quality journalism. However, media companies should supply high quality news if quality yields sufficiently greater revenues. Quality journalism may not increase audience either because of a lemons problem or because consumers do not value the product dimensions that journalists do. The authors test whether news quality matters in a cross-section of U.S. newspapers. Newspapers winning Pulitzer Prizes in recent years have significantly higher circulation, even when controlling for the economic, demographic, and media characteristics of their markets. (JEL K19, L82); Atlantic Econ. J., 32(2): pp. 100-12, June 04. ©All Rights Reserved

Impact of Behavioral Health Problems on Access to Care and Health Services Utilization

KATHERINE S. VIRGO, NATHAN K. RISK, EDWARD J. SPITZNAGEL, AND RUMI KATO PRICE

Access to specialists for treatment of behavioral health problems has become restricted in this era of capped budgets and reductions in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. Patients with multiple mental health problems may face additional barriers to obtaining needed health care services. The study's aim was to measure the impact of behavioral health problems on access to care and health services utilization for veterans and non-veterans and to determine the contribution of health system characteristics in the prediction of self-reported health services utilization. The study sample consisted of Vietnam veterans who participated in both the Vietnam Drug User Study (September 1971 Army discharges) and the Vietnam Era Study (25-year follow-up) (N=642), as well as a non-veteran cohort (N=197). (JEL I12); Atlantic Econ. J., 32(2): pp. 113-29, June 04. ©All Rights Reserved

Wage Inequality and Firm Performance: Professional Basketball's Natural Experiment

DAVID J. BERRI AND R. TODD JEWELL

The purpose of this inquiry is to utilize a natural experiment from professional basketball to examine how wage inequality impacts the productivity of the firm. The literature suggests that wage inequality may promote firm productivity if higher wages are necessary to limit the damage potential of certain workers. In contrast, other writers have trumpeted the productivity gains from worker cooperation and thus, argued that wage disparity lowers firm output. During the 1990s, the National Basketball Association experienced dramatic increases in the level of wage inequality. The empirical evidence reported here supports a third possibility. Specifically, wage inequality and firm productivity are not related. (JEL J41, L83); Atlantic Econ. J., 32(2): pp. 130-39, June 04. ©All Rights Reserved