Michael Smart

Links to journal articles:

• You can find most of my papers on Google scholar or in their pre-publication versions below.

Working papers and publications:

• Research papers
• Policy papers
• Popular articles

• "Departures from neutrality in Canada's Goods and Services tax base," paper prepared for SPP Symposium on the GST at 20, Calgary, November 2011.
  
• "Proportional influence? Electoral rules and special-interest spending" with M. Koethenbuerger and P. Egger, July 2011.
  
• "Why do VATs tax housing so little?", May 2011.
  
• "Repatriation taxes and foreign direct investment: Evidence from tax treaties," revised February 2011.
  
• "Discussion: Intergovernmental Transfers to Local Governments", Lincoln Institute, June 2009.
  
• "In praise of tax havens: International tax planning and foreign direct investment," with Qing Hong, European Economic Review, 2010.
  
• "The impact on investment of replacing a retail sales tax by a value-added tax: Evidence from Canadian experience," with Richard Bird, National Tax Journal 62 (2009), 591-609.
  
• "The economic incidence of replacing a sales tax with a value-added tax: Evidence from the Canadian experience," with Richard Bird, Canadian Public Policy 35 (March, 2009), 85-98.
• "Raising taxes through Equalization,", Canadian Journal of Economics, 2007.
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• "Regional grants as pork barrel politics," with Kevin Milligan, revised version, March 2005.
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• "Term Limits and Electoral Accountability," with Daniel Sturm, Working Paper, July 2006.
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• "Fiscal restraints and voter welfare" with Tim Besley, Journal of Public Economics 91 (3-4), April 2007, pp. 755--773.
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• "The incentive effects of grants," in Theory and Practice of Intergovernmental Transfers, ed. R. Boadway and A. Shah, MIT Press, 2007.
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• "Raising taxes through Equalization,", Canadian Journal of Economics, 2007.
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• "Equalization and stabilization," Canadian Public Policy, June 2004.
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• "The efficiency consequences of local revenue equalization: Tax competition and tax distortions," with Sam Bucovetsky, Journal of Public Economic Theory 8, 2006, 119-144.
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• "Municipal taxation and transfers in Colombia," with J. Chaparro and J.-G. Zapata, in Bird, Poterba and Slemrod (eds.), Fiscal Reform in Colombia: Problems and Prospects, (MIT Press, 2005).
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• "Income shifting, investment, and tax competition: Theory and evidence from provincial taxation in Canada," with Jack Mintz, Journal of Public Economics, 88 (June, 2004), 1149-1168.
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• "Is targeted tax competition less harmful than its remedies?," with Eckhard Janeba, International Tax and Public Finance 10 (May, 2003), 259-280.
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• "Intergovernmental fiscal transfers: International lessons for developing countries," with Richard Bird, World Development 30 (June, 2002).
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• "An empirical study of matching grants: The `cap on CAP'," with Michael Baker and Abigail Payne, Journal of Public Economics 72 (May, 1999), 269-289.
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• "Taxation incentives and deadweight loss in a system of intergovernmental transfers," Canadian Journal of Economics, 31 (February 1998), 189-206.
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• "Regional grants as pork barrel politics," with Kevin Milligan, revised version, March 2005.
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• "Term Limits and Electoral Accountability," with Daniel Sturm, Working Paper, July 2006.
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• "Fiscal restraints and voter welfare" with Tim Besley, Journal of Public Economics 91 (3-4), April 2007, pp. 755--773.
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• "Corporate lobbying and commitment failure in capital taxation," with Nicolas Marceau, American Economic Review 93 (March, 2003), 241-251.
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• "Majority voting with single-crossing preferences," with Joshua Gans, Journal of Public Economics 59 (February, 1996), 219-238.
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• "Tax credits and the use of medical care," with Mark Stabile, Canadian Journal of Economics 38, 2005, 345-365.
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• "Tax support for the disabled in Canada: Economic principles and options for reform," with Mark Stabile, Canadian Tax Journal 54 (2006), 407-425.
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• "Reforming the direct-indirect tax mix," International Tax and Public Finance 9 (March, 2002), 141-153.
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• "Tax-exempt investors and the asset allocation puzzle," with Jack Mintz, Journal of Public Economics, 83 (February, 2002), 195-215.
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• "A simple proof of the efficiency of the poll tax," Journal of Public Economics 71 (February, 1999), 459-465.
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• "An Environmental CGE model of Canada and the United States," with Louis Beausejour and Gordon Lenjosek, The World Economy 18 (May, 1995), 457-488.
  
• "What's the cost of the foreign property limit in Canada's pension rules?" with Kevin Milligan, Policy Options 21 (March, 2000), 36--40.
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• "Restricting foreign investment: Estimating the costs of Canada's foreign property rule," with Kevin Milligan, Working paper, January 2000.
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• "The impact of federal fiscal arrangements: Evidence from the `cap on CAP'," with Michael Baker and Abigail Payne, Policy Options 19 (November, 1998), 56-59.
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• "Fiscal arrangements in Canada: An analysis of incentives," with Richard Bird, Proceedings of the National Tax Association Annual Conference on Taxation, Boston, 1996, 17 pp; also International Centre for Tax Studies Discussion paper No. 8, November 1996.
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• "Competitive insurance markets with two unobservables," International Economic Review 41 (February, 2000), 153--169.
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• "On limited liability and the development of capital markets: An historical analysis," with Ed Nosal, Working paper, June 1996. Currently under revision.
  

• "Departures from neutrality in Canada's Goods and Services tax base," paper prepared for SPP Symposium on the GST at 20, Calgary, November 2011.
  
• "Taxation of corporate groups: The provincial dimension," slides for C.D. Howe conference, May 25, 2011.
  
• "The impact of sales tax reform on Ontario consumers: A first look at the evidence," Research Paper, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, March 2011.
  Link to paper on SPP website
  
• "International taxation in Canada," with Angelo Nikolakakis and Nick Pantaleo, under revision.
  
• "New Housing and the Harmonized Sales Tax: Lessons from Ontario," with Bev Dahlby and Ben Dachis, Backgrounder, CD Howe Institute, 2009.
  
• "The Evolution of Federal Transfers since the O'Brien Report", John Deutsch Institute, May 2009.
• "The economic impacts of value added taxation: Evidence from the HST provinces," Working Paper, 2007.
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• "Equalization and resource taxation," in Paul Boothe and Francois Vaillancourt, eds., A Fine Canadian Compromise: Perspectives of the report of the Expert Panel on Equalization and Territorial Formula Finance, Edmonton: Institute for Public Economics, 2007.
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• "The GST Cut and Fiscal Imbalance," with Richard Bird, The 2006 Federal Budget: Focussing on Priorities, ed. by Charles Beach, Michael Smart, and Thomas Wilson, Kingston: John Deutsch Institute.
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• "Federal transfers: Principles, practice, prospects," Working Paper, CD Howe Institute, 2005.
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• "Some notes on Equalization reform," Working Paper, 2005.
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• "Tax support for the disabled in Canada: Economic principles and options for reform," with Mark Stabile, Canadian Tax Journal 54 (2006), 407-425.
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• "Brooking no favorites: A new approach to regional development in Atlantic Canada," with Jack Mintz, C. D. Howe Institute Commentary 192, December 2003.
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• "Redistribution, risk, and incentives in Equalization: A Comparison of RTS and macro approaches," working paper, Institute for Intergovernmental Relations, Queen's University, 2002, No. 1, 17 pp.
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• "Tax policy and tax research in Canada," with Richard Bird, The State of Economics in Canada: Festschrift in Honour of David Slater, (Kingston, John Deutsch Institute), 2001, 59--76.
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• "How do recent tax reform initiatives affect household behaviour?" The 2000 Federal Budget: Retrospect and Prospect, (Kingston, McGill--Queen's University Press), 2001, 102--112.
  

• "HST: That didn't hurt much", Toronto Star, March 20, 2011.
  
• "Off key opposition to sales tax harmony", Toronto Star, May 8, 2009.
• "Transfer real taxing power to the provinces," with Richard Bird, National Post (Toronto), June 27, 2006.
• "Priming the pump: The politics of federal spending in Canada," with Kevin Milligan, CBC.ca, May 2004.
• "A better way to prime the East Coast pump," with Jack Mintz, National Post (Toronto), December 10, 2003.
• "Why Quebec's tax point transfers are a good idea," with Jack Mintz, National Post (Toronto), March 25, 2002.