Neighbour effect: applicability of tax mimicking concept to setting tariffs for water provision in Poland

In our paper, tariff mimicking is interpreted as a specific type of yardstick competition. Local authorities compete for political capital and, in order to maintain (or increase) it, they compare their voter-sensitive policies with the policies of other local governments. The phenomenon of mimicking is related to the subject of inter-jurisdictional interactions. We try to identify the phenomenon of mimicking in local fees for water provision in Poland in the period 2013–2017. Our empirical strategy is based on two methods: spatial lag regression and a quasi-experimental design using a difference-indifferences method. In the latter method, we first identify local governments that have considerably increased their tariffs for water. Next, we compare whether their immediate neighbouring municipalities are more likely to follow the change than a ‘control group’ of similar, more distant, local governments. The results of our study confirm the existence of geographical interactions in the tariff policies of Polish local governments. Furthermore the results of our regression models confirm that ‘mimicking interactions’ are stronger in the case of tariffs for water provision than for local tax policies.

Spillover Effects of Japan’s Quantitative and Qualitative Easing on East Asian Economies

This chapter explores the spillover effects of Japan’s quantitative and qualitative easing (QQE) on East Asian economies. Under the new monetary policy regime, the Japanese yen depreciated substantially, raising concerns that it would have a regional beggar-thy-neighbour effect. It is thus important to see what effects the QQE had on neighbouring economies. Our empirical investigation of East Asian stock markets finds that they first reacted to the yen’s depreciation negatively, yet came to respond positively as the QQE progressed, implying that the QQE had a much smaller beggar-thy-neighbour effect than was originally feared. We show that the QQE benefited East Asian economies because the positive spillover effect of Japan’s stock market recovery dominated the beggar-thy-neighbour effect in the region.

Cation distribution in some natural spinels from X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy

Three natural spinels of different places of occurrence and compositions were investigated by means of microprobe chemical analysis, single crystal X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy. All cation distributions between T and M sites were calculated from microprobe and XRD experimental data, by means of a mathematical model with appropriate assumptions. Fe2+ and Fe3+ assignments calculated in this way were compared with those observed in Mössbauer spectra. The satisfactory agreement found proves, at least in the samples studied, the reliability of the model and the assumptions used. In the spinels examined, such results show Fe2+ and Fe3+ virtually ordered in T and M sites respectively. Mössbauer data also revealed Fe2+ in different tetrahedral sites due to the next-nearest neighbour effect, probably as a consequence of spinel genetic conditions.