ÁùºÏ±¦µä

Mehmet Tosun

The government response to the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most discussed topics since the pandemic started. While some governments responded quickly and swiftly to the pandemic, others have largely failed. For example, in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Rebecca L. Haffajee and Michelle M. Mello note “strong, decisive national action is therefore imperative,” and add “…the lack of interjurisdictional coordination has and will cost lives.” In this presentation, I will be showing differences in government response in different countries using data from the Oxford Coronavirus Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) and other sources including the OECD and IMF databases. I will also provide examples of central-local government coordination from different country cases.

Pawel Pietrasienski

The lockdown measures during Covid-19 as a response to the spread of the new coronavirus threaten the existence of high-growth innovative startups and SMEs. That is why policy measures should not only provide short-term financial support to struggling companies, but also involve long-term approaches to boost a growth and attractiveness of the whole entrepreneurial ecosystem. One of the ways is to boost SMEs export activities and implement dedicated support programs by regional governments. In a post Covid-19 era governments will face enormous financial deficits resulting to be extremely constrained in the selection of the best investments to restart their economies. Therefore, existing entrepreneurial support programs with a strong track record, like ÁùºÏ±¦µä’s State Trade Expansion Program, should be in a favorable position to be successfully funded. As a strong economy is essential for recovery, increasing export capabilities by ÁùºÏ±¦µä’s small businesses is essential to sustain and increase a state economy’s competitiveness. As exporting companies pay almost 20% more to their employees than non-exporting ones, increasing the number of new-to-export entities will improve the quality of life for ÁùºÏ±¦µä’s workers and their families. In order to stay competitive, ÁùºÏ±¦µä needs to boost its presence abroad through cooperation with global partners who play a major role in foreign direct investment, lead generation, and export support. The latter - because of the COVID-19 – should use more digital instruments and platforms than ever before.

Sonja Pippin

Similar to the United States, Switzerland’s government system is highly decentralized. Furthermore, in Switzerland the people participate directly in policy decisions at every level (municipal, canton, as well as national). Decentralization of government responsibilities is often touted as means to ensure a more efficient and better accepted government. Yet, decentralization has its limits which has historically been shown in the 1840s when certain unifying standards (e.g., currency & customs) improved trading and boosted the Swiss economy. These limitations can also apply in situations of a crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences. This paper illustrates how the Swiss national government was torn between needing unified national responses to combat the virus and aid the economy and the people’s desire to address as many issues as possible at the local level. The outcome was a less than optimal strategy which resulted in the national referendum, a national vote on the Covid-19 law (scheduled for June 13, 2021).

Andoni Montes

The Covid-19 crisis has caused unmeasurable damage on our society and economy. But perhaps, it has also brought the opportunity to deepen into the construction of an actual European Fiscal Union, as many called for to complete an ill-functioning European Monetary Union (EMU). Before the pandemic emerged, the debate on the European arena was focused on how large the budgetary cut on the 2021-27 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) would be due to Brexit. Just a few months later, the budgetary stability and financial sustainability framework was suspended, and member states have reached a compromise to create a recovery fund (NextGenEU). This fiscal response to the pandemic was to be funded by new own fiscal resources and by an unprecedented issuance of common EU debt. This chapter will first look back to the pre-COVID-19 European fiscal discussion, to continue addressing the fiscal response to the pandemic, both from revenue and expenditure point of views. Finally, considerations on the future of the European Fiscal Union will be developed, from the analytical framework of fiscal federalism.

Raquel Tubía

In the current situation, with an ongoing Pandemic that will have not yet quantified economic consequences, and when we were still recovering from the last big crisis of 2008, one of the main risks for the worldwide governments is the fall of the public incomes due to tax avoidance and fraud. A long way has been done since the OECD Global Convention started its life in 1998 to implement effective measures to help countries to fight the fall of the tax collection. Several tools have been, and are being, developed to stablish an international exchange of financial information for transparency between jurisdictions, including FATCA law from the USA. Countries have all understood that only through cooperation, tax evasion will be tackled. In this context, the involvement of all the countries and jurisdictions is undoubtedly the key of the success of those tools that will allow us to reduce fraud, tax avoidance and public incomes erosion. And we cannot forget that the tax policies are managed, in a lot of countries, in a decentralized way. This is the case of the Basque Country, whose special autonomous tax system based on the legal status of the ‘Economic Agreement’, turns this Administration into a necessary participant of those cooperation tools, not just as a giver and receiver of information, but also as an advisor in the decision making groups. Let’s not forget that those autonomous jurisdictions have not only the responsibility of legislate their taxes, but also the accountability for the results.

Mikel Erkoreka and Robert Ugalde

The Covid-19 pandemic has placed great pressure on public finances around the world, causing a sharp increase in global public debt. The recovery of long-term fiscal sustainability and public debt management will be one of the hot topics to be managed in the post-pandemic scenario. In the systems of fiscal federalism and/or decentralisation, the management of public finances also reaches subnational governments. The Basque Country has overcome the initial impact of the COVID-19 crisis by keeping its credit rating -according to Moody’s and S&P-, above that of the sovereign state itself (Spain). This paper examines the Basque Country’s case study to analyse the importance of tax autonomy and the principles of fiscal responsibility and unilateral risk in ensuring a sustainable and creditworthy management of subnational governments debt within the framework of fiscal federalism systems.

Doctor in Contemporary History and degree in Economics from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Lecturer in the Department of Public Policy and Economic History and researcher at Ituna Center for Basque Economic Agreement and Fiscal Federalism Studies (UPV/EHU). He mainly develops his research activity in the areas of public finances, fiscal federalism and economic history with emphasis on works relating to the Basque Economic Agreement, swiss fiscal federalism, European Union integration process and health economics.

Born in exile in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1967, Xabier Irujo is the director of the Center for Basque Studies at the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno, where he is professor of genocide studies. He was the first guest research scholar of the Manuel Irujo Chair at the University of Liverpool and has taught seminars on genocide and cultural genocide at Boise State University and at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He holds three master’s degrees in linguistics, history and philosophy and has two PhDs in history and philosophy. Dr. Irujo has lectured in nearly on hundred American and European universities and academic or cultural institutions (typically governments, parliaments, museums and libraries.) He has published on issues related to Basque history and politics and has specialized along his career in genocide studies with a focus on physical and cultural extermination. He has mentored numerous graduate students and he is the member of the editorial board of four academic presses in Europe and the Americas. Dr. Irujo has authored more than fifteen books and a number of articles in specialized journals and has received awards and honors at national and international level. His recent books include Gernika: Genealogy of a Lie (Sussex Academic Press, 2018), Gernika 1937: The Market Day Massacre (ÁùºÏ±¦µä University Press, 2015) and Charlemagne’s Defeat in the Pyrenees: The Battle of Rencesvals (Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2021).

BA degree in Law and a MA degree in tax systems at the University of Deustu. She is the Deputy Director for Advising and Tax Policy at the Department of Treasury and Finance of the Government of Bizkaia. She is responsible for the preparation of the draft regulatory provisions concerning taxation at the Government of Bizkaia and for the legal and economic advice in regard to the Basque Economic Agreement. 

She is the Bizkaian representative at the Basque Tax Coordination Body in the Basque Country and at the ECOFIN Taxation working groups in Brussels. She is a regular contributor to various specialized journals and has published extensively on taxation and was awarded the prestigious Leizaola Saria award in 2013 and the Francisco Javier Landaburu Universitas award in 2018 with a collective work. Among others, she has edited two of the volumes on tax systems published by the CBS Press. Currently, she is a professor of the Master in Tax Consultancy at the Business School of the Chamber of Commerce in Bilbao and of the Master in Shipping Management at Deustu University. She was the first visiting expert of the Government of Bizkaia in staying on campus during the spring semester of 2015. While in Reno she taught several classes at the UNR Business School. Since 2015, Gemma has been instrumental in the agreements that the Center for Basque Studies has signed with the Government of Bizkaia and currently is involved in many of the projects that the Center is working out together with the UNR Business School.

Public Finance Professor at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) and Researcher at Ituna Center for Basque Economic Agreement and Fiscal Federalism Studies. He is currently working on his PhD thesis on the “Equity-efficiency trade-off on fiscal equalization systems” at Complutense University in Madrid, being Associated Researcher at Complutense Institute for International Studies (ICEI-UCM). He studied Economics and Law, followed by postgraduates programmes on European Economic Policy at Utrecht University (NL) and London School of Economics and Political Science (UK). His research is focused on federalism, fiscal policy and welfare state. In addition, he frequently collaborates with Fundación Alternativas and the specialized media outlet Agenda Pública.

Pawel Pietrasienski serves as the Director of International Trade in The ÁùºÏ±¦µä Governor's Office of Economic Development International Division and Coordinator of the ÁùºÏ±¦µä Global initiative. He is also a member of the ÁùºÏ±¦µä District Export Council (nomination of the US Secretary of Commerce) helping ÁùºÏ±¦µä’s SMEs in their export opportunities. He earned his Master Degree in Management & Marketing, his Doctorate in the International Business and Post-Doctoral Degree (second doctorate called “habilitation” in Europe) in the Governance of Export Promotion Systems. Besides being the Associate Professor of the Warsaw School of Economics, Pawel Pietrasienski served as Deputy and Acting Consul General in Chicago as well as Minister Counselor, Head of the Trade and Investment Section at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington D.C. He was a member of the Public Governance Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) based in Paris and served in the Board of Governors of the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht. He was also the Advisor to the Prime Minister of Poland and Deputy Prime Minister responsible for economic affairs. Pietrasienski is the author of books “International Marketing Strategies” and "Stimulating the Internationalization of Enterprises” /Warsaw 2005 & 2014/ as well numerous scientific and business publications in the field of international business, global marketing, entrepreneurship and public governance. Pawel Pietrasienski is the recipient of the Medal for Export Achievements (Warsaw 2014), the Outstanding International Business Leadership Honoree (Chicago 2015) and the Medal of Honor for Merits in Economic Development – the latter awarded in 2015 by Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and Minister of Economy.

Sonja Pippin is a professor of Accounting at the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä Reno. She earned her Ph.D. in 2006 from Texas Tech University. She currently teaches mostly financial accounting at the undergraduate and graduate level. In the past she taught various tax courses covering aspects of individual tax and the taxation of business entities as well as international tax. Sonja Pippin’s research comprises aspects related to tax policy, taxpayer behavior, and tax legislation. She publishes in academic and practitioner-oriented journals.

Raquel Tubía was born in Bilbao in 1975. She obtained her Degree in Business Administration, in Finance, by the University of Deusto, in Bilbao. She started her career in Unilever Foods, working in Bilbao and Barcelona as Controller for 3 years, and later, in Paris as Internal Auditor for 2 more years. When she returned back, Raquel worked for CIE Automotive (a Basque multinational manufacturer of car pieces and components) as Plant Financial Director for 1 year. Then she worked for 4 years as Management Control Director for Avenir Telecom, a French company in the telephone services sector with 150 stores in Spain. Raquel has been working for the Government of Bizkaia since 2010, and nowadays she works for the Unit of Tax Compliance of the Treasury and Finances Department as Deputy Inspector. In 2020 she travelled to Reno as visiting fellow within the collaboration agreement between the Government of Bizkaia and the Center for Basque Studies.

Dr. Tosun is the Barbara Smith Campbell Distinguished Professor at the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno (UNR). He is also a Professor of Economics and the Director of Ozmen Center for Entrepreneurship and International Business Programs in the College of Business. He is a research fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), an affiliate research fellow at the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, a research fellow at the Economic Research Forum (ERF) for Arab Countries, Iran and Turkey, and a fellow at the Global Labor Organization (GLO). He is an Associate Editor of Socio-Economic Planning Sciences. Tosun received his Ph.D. in Economics from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He has published in such journals as the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Oxford Economics Papers, National Tax Journal, Economics Letters, International Tax and Public Finance, Journal of Regional Science, and Regional Science and Urban Economics. He has done consulting for a number of national and international agencies. Dr. Tosun received a number of awards including the Graduate Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award from the College of Business in 2019, the Global Engagement Award from the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno in 2018, the Dean’s Research Professorship Award in 2013, the Best Researcher of the Year Award from Beta Gamma Sigma (an international business honor society) in 2009, and the Middle East Economic Association’s Ibn Khaldun Prize in 2005. He was also the local organizer of the 72nd Annual Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance (IIPF) which was held in Lake Tahoe in 2016, and the Anniversary Chair of the National Tax Association's 100th Anniversary Conference in 2007.

Doctor in Business Management from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Lecturer in the Department of Financial Economics II and researcher at Ituna Center for Basque Economic Agreement and Fiscal Federalism Studies (UPV/EHU). He focuses his research activity on the study of business risks in the tuna sector, especially on its accounting side. He has also worked on issues related to taxation in the Basque Country and the Basque Economic Agreement.