Household Consumption Patterns, Indirect Tax Structures and Implications for Indirect Tax Harmonisation - A Three Country Perspective

The paper compares the indirect tax structures and consumption patterns of three European countries (the UK, Greece and Hungary) and studies the likely distributional impact of a potential convergence of their indirect tax systems by exploiting the rich source of Family Expenditure Survey microdata of these countries. The results reveal a southern/northern distinction in expenditure patterns, while, in terms of tax systems and inequality, the common history of a market economy within the European Union shared by the UK and Greece proves to be a strong determinant of common structures. Over the last decade indirect tax structures among the three countries converged, at the same time loosing part of their redistributive power. Indirect tax harmonisation towards a simple system of, for example, the UK type might reduce inequality.

“Stachtopouta” and “Nifitsa”: spinning tales in relation with feminine productivity and dowry practices of modern Greece

Stachtopouta (ATU 510A), una de les rondalles més populars de la tradició folklòrica grega, ha rebut recentment molta atenció des dels enfocaments pioners i innovadors d’estudiosos grecs i estrangers com ara D. Loukatos, Photeini P. Bourboulis, Nicole Belmont, Anna Angelopoulos, Margarita Xanthakou i Aigli Brouskou. Emmanouela Katrinaki, en el seu propi anàlisi de la versió grega de la Ventafocs, no només resumeix els enfocaments psicoanalítics existents basats en el rar element del matricidi de la rondalla grega sinó que també la col·loca en el marc d’altres rondalles en què apareix el tema del canibalisme imaginari. Un altre marc teòric sòlid ha estat proporcionat per Francisco Vaz da Silva en una sèrie d’articles sobre les versions europees (inclosa la grega) basat en el concepte dels allomotifs, les seves equivalències simbòliques i la seva comparació amb els costums populars correlacionats. Nifitsa, d’altra banda, un dels animals més comuns de la fauna grega, és l’heroïna d’una història de creences igualment ben coneguda, però menys estudiada. Encara que pertanyen a gèneres narratius diferents, la rondalla i la llegenda, respectivament, aquestes dues històries s’articulen entorn d’un mateix tema, l’activitat de filar. A través de l’estudi de l’apropiació narrativa d’aquest tema, aquest treball intenta establir les afinitats i les diferències entre les variants d’aquestes històries, tenint en compte la importància del seu ancoratge geogràfic i social. En aquest marc, les qüestions relatives a la productivitat femenina i les pràctiques d’acumulació de dots en les comunitats gregues modernes semblen tenir un paper important en la variació folklòrica

Short narratives and folktale variation in Greek folk culture

The study of folktale variation in Greek folk culture shows that, in the process of their oraltransmission, certain plots and themes are transformed into shorter and more stereotypednarratives. Thus, stories which belong to different subgenres of the folktale (the fable, themagic tale or the anecdote) can evolve to a shorter or simpler form, like a proverb, a parableor an allusion. This is, for example, the case of the paroimiomythoi (proverbs derived fromtales) to use the term coined by Demetrios Loukatos. It is also the case of international folktaletypes which are presented in the Greek corpus not as tales but as proverbial phrases. The mainobjective of this paper is, therefore, to study some examples of these short stories and analyzenot only their explicit images and allegorical meanings but also their adaptations to modernsocial and cultural conditions. The paper is based on the findings of the Catalogue of theGreek Folktale as well as micro-data recently collected during field research mostly on theAegean islands and in northern Greece

Indirect Taxation in Greece: Evaluation and Possible Reform

The paper assesses the distributional and efficiency/disincentive aspects of the Greek indirect tax system, which provides 60% of total tax revenue. The marginal welfare costs of broad commodity groups were computed to identify welfare-improving directions of reform. The disincentive effects were estimated from marginal indirect tax rates using Household Expenditure Survey data. The indirect tax structure is shown to be unnecessarily complicated and inefficient, without achieving any redistributive goals. The UK indirect tax structure was shown to be simpler, more equitable and more efficient to implement and administer when simulated on Greek consumers.indirect tax reform, inequality, tax efficiency, disincentive effects, tax simulations

Indirect Taxation in Greece: Evaluation and Possible Reform

The paper assesses the distributional and efficiency/disincentive aspects of the Greek indirect tax system, which provides 60% of total tax revenue. The marginal welfare costs of broad commodity groups were computed to identify welfare-improving directions of reform. The disincentive effects were estimated from marginal indirect tax rates using Household Expenditure Survey data. The indirect tax structure is shown to be unnecessarily complicated and inefficient, without achieving any redistributive goals. The UK indirect tax structure was shown to be simpler, more equitable and more efficient to implement and administer when simulated on Greek consumers

Notícies

IV Jornadas Franco-Españolas de Tradición Oral.16th International Society for Folk Narrative Research Congress.IX Trobada del Grup d’Estudis Etnopoètic

Short narratives and folktale variation in Greek folk culture

L’estudi de la variació de les rondalles en la cultura popular grega mostra que alguns arguments i temes, en el procés de la seva transmissió oral, s’estan transformant en narracions més curtes i estereotipades. Així, les històries que pertanyen a diferents subgèneres de la rondalla (la faula, la rondalla meravellosa o l’anècdota) poden evolucionar a una forma més curta o més simple, com un proverbi, una paràbola o una al·lusió. És, per exemple, el cas de la paroimiomythoi (proverbis derivats de rondalles) d’acord amb el terme de Demetrios Loukatos. També és el cas dels tipus internacionals de rondalles que es presenten al corpus grec no com a rondalles sinó com a frases proverbials. L’objectiu principal d’aquest article és, per tant, estudiar alguns exemples d’aquestes rondalles analitzant les seves imatges explícites i els significats al·legòrics que se’ls assignen, així com les seves adaptacions a les modernes condicions socials i culturals. L’article es basa en les conclusions del Catalogue of the Greek Folktale, així com en micro-dades recentment recopilades durant el treball de camp, majoritàriament a l’illa del mar Egeu i al nord de Grècia.The study of folktale variation in Greek folk culture shows that, in the process of their oral transmission, certain plots and themes are transformed into shorter and more stereotyped narratives. Thus, stories which belong to different subgenres of the folktale (the fable, the magic tale or the anecdote) can evolve to a shorter or simpler form, like a proverb, a parable or an allusion. This is, for example, the case of the paroimiomythoi (proverbs derived from tales) to use the term coined by Demetrios Loukatos. It is also the case of international folktale types which are presented in the Greek corpus not as tales but as proverbial phrases. The main objective of this paper is, therefore, to study some examples of these short stories and analyze not only their explicit images and allegorical meanings but also their adaptations to modern social and cultural conditions. The paper is based on the findings of the Catalogue of the Greek Folktale as well as micro-data recently collected during field research mostly on the Aegean islands and in northern Greece

Electrical behaviour, characteristics and properties of anodic aluminium oxide films coloured by nickel electrodeposition

Porous anodic films on 1050 aluminium substrate were coloured by AC electrodeposition of nickel. Several experiments were performed at different deposition voltages and nickel concentrations in the electrolyte in order to correlate the applied electrical power to the electrical behaviour, as well as the characteristics and properties of the coatings. The content of nickel inside the coatings reached 1.67 g/m2, depending on the experimental conditions. According to the applied AC voltage in comparison with the threshold voltage Ut, the coating either acted only as a capacitor when U\Ut and, when U[Ut, the behaviour during the anodic and cathodic parts of the power sine wave was different. In particular, due to the semi-conducting characteristics of the barrier layer, additional oxidation of the aluminium substrate occurred during the anodic part of the electrical signal, whilst metal deposition (and solvent reduction) occurred during the cathodic part; these mechanisms correspond to the blocked and pass directions of the barrier layer/electrolyte junction, respectively