A Política de Garantia de Preços Mínimos (PGPM) no Brasil foi inaugurada oficialmente em 1966, com os objetivos de reduzir a instabilidade dos preços agrícolas, assegurar uma renda mínima aos produtores e garantir o abastecimento interno de alimentos. Tratava-se de uma política de caráter universal, no sentido de que qualquer produtor poderia vender a sua produção ao Governo Federal, desde que este último tivesse recursos suficientes para adquiri-la. O governo utilizava-se, até meados da década de 1990, dos instrumentos de intervenção ampla no mercado, as Aquisições do Governo Federal (AGF) e os Empréstimos do Governo Federal (EGF). Com a crise fiscal do Estado nos anos 1980 e as mudanças estruturais liberalizantes da década de 1990, a intervenção governamental reduziu-se gradativamente. No que se refere à ação do governo por meio da PGPM, foram criados instrumentos de apoio à comercialização, cujos subsídios foram reduzidos em relação aos anteriores e levaram à redução de estoques públicos. No Plano de Safra 1996-1997, o governo adicionou aos instrumentos tradicionais de operacionalização da PGPM o Prêmio para Escoamento de Produto (PEP) e o Contrato de Opção de Venda de Produtos Agrícolas (COVPA). Em 2004, foram criados os Contratos Privados de Opção de Venda e Prêmio de Risco de Opção Privada (PROP) e, em 2006, o governo criou o Prêmio Equalizador Pago ao Produtor (PEPRO). Simultaneamente, os instrumentos de operacionalização da PGPM de caráter universal voltaram-se à agricultura familiar, a partir da criação do Plano Safra da Agricultura Familiar, pelo MDA, em 2003. Tomando como base a exposição acima, o objetivo geral desta tese é analisar a política de garantia de preços mínimos no Brasil, no período de 1987 a 2013, ressaltando os instrumentos de execução da PGPM e os seus custos sociais e orçamentários. A escolha desse período devese às grandes mudanças ocorridas na PGPM e à disponibilidade de dados para os cálculos a serem realizados. Especificamente, procurou-se avaliar a influência dos grupos de interesse no redirecionamento da política brasileira de preços no período democrático, bem como quantificar os custos sociais e orçamentários envolvidos na operacionalização dos instrumentos tradicionais (AGF) e dos novos instrumentos, criados a partir de 1996/1997. Para atender aos objetivos propostos, conjugou-se um referencial de economia política para o estudo dos grupos de interesse e dos seus recursos de poder e o referencial da microeconomia para a avaliação dos custos sociais das diferentes políticas de preços agrícolas. Verificou-se que a atuação dos distintos grupos de interesse resultou na dissociação entre os instrumentos de política de garantia de preços voltados à agricultura familiar e não familiar, nos planos de safra e nos ministérios que atendem aos pleitos de cada grupo. No que se refere aos custos sociais e orçamentários da PGPM, verificou-se que a política de compra de excedentes é a mais custosa, seguida pela política de seguro de preços e pela subvenção ao preço para o produtor. / The Minimum Price Guarantee Policy (PGPM) in Brazil was officially started in 1966 with the objective of reducing the volatility of agricultural prices, ensure a minimum income to producers and secure food supply. It was a universal policy, in the sense that any producer could sell their produce to the federal government, since the latter had sufficient resources to acquire it. Until the mid-1990s the government used broad market intervention tools, the Federal Government Acquisitions (AGF) and the Federal Government Loans (EGF). With the fiscal crisis in the 1980s and the liberalizing structural changes of the 1990s, government intervention was reduced gradually. With regard to government action through PGPM, marketing support instruments were created which led to lower subsidies and to the reduction of public stocks. In Harvest Plan 1996-1997, the government added to the traditional instruments of operationalization of the PGPM the Award for Product Flow (PEP) and the Agricultural Products Put Option (COVPA). In 2004, the Private Put Option and Private Option Risk Premium were created (PROP), and in 2006 the government created the Equalizing Premium Paid to Producer (PEPRO). At the same time the instruments of implementation of universal nature of PGPM turned to family farming, since the creation of the Family Agriculture Harvest Plan by the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA) in 2003. Based on the above exposure, the overall objective of this thesis is to analyze the minimum price guarantee policy in Brazil, from 1987 to 2013, highlighting the implementation instruments of PGPM and its social and budgetary costs. The choice of this period is due to the large changes in PGPM and the availability of data for the calculations to be performed. Specifically, we sought to evaluate the influence of interest groups in redirecting the Brazilian pricing policy in the democratic period (1988 onwards) and to quantify the social and budgetary costs involved in the operation of traditional instruments (AGF) and the new instruments created from 1996/1997. To meet the proposed objectives, we used both the political economy framework for the study of interest groups and power resources of these groups and the microeconomics framework for assessing the social costs of different agricultural pricing policies. It was found that the performance of the various interest groups resulted in the decoupling of the price guarantee policy instruments aimed at family farming and not family farming, as well as of the harvest plans and ministries that meet the claims of each group. With regard to social and budgetary costs of PGPM, it was found that the surplus purchasing policy is the most expensive, followed by price insurance policy and by the price subvention to producer.

Introdução: A assistência hospitalar a pacientes portadores de queimaduras é altamente dispendiosa devido aos recursos humanos, materiais e estruturais necessários à sua viabilização. O conhecimento financeiro relativo a essa temática ainda é escasso, especialmente no que tange aos custos dos procedimentos executados por profissionais de enfermagem a pacientes, grandes queimados, em condições críticas. Objetivo: Identificar o custo direto médio (CDM) dos procedimentos realizados, com maior frequência, por profissionais de enfermagem, a pacientes grandes queimados internados em uma Unidade de Terapia Intensiva de Queimaduras (UTIQ). Método: Esta pesquisa quantitativa, exploratório-descritiva, do tipo estudo de caso único, foi conduzida na UTIQ da Unidade de Queimaduras do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo. O CDM foi calculado multiplicando-se o tempo (cronometrado) despendido por profissionais de enfermagem na execução dos procedimentos, objeto de estudo, pelo custo unitário da mão de obra direta, somando-se ao custo dos materiais e soluções/medicamentos. Para a realização dos cálculos utilizou-se a moeda brasileira (R$). Resultados: A partir de 1354 observações, relativas a 12 procedimentos frequentemente realizados na UTIQ, obteve-se o CDM de R$ 1,88 (DP=1,04) para controle dos sinais vitais; R$ 28,78 (DP=69,74) para administração de medicamentos via intravenosa; R$ 16,97 (DP=7,92) para mensuração de diurese; R$ 2,68 (DP=1,20) para verificação de glicemia capilar; R$ 6,71(DP=2,20) para administração de medicamentos via sonda nasoenteral; R$ 50,07 (DP=11,89) para higiene íntima no leito; R$ 3,64 (DP=2,01) para auxílio alimentação; R$ 55,88 (DP=18,98) para banho no leito/arrumação da cama; R$ 287,11 (DP=372,87) para curativo; R$ 6,65 (DP=2,09) para higiene oral; R$ 3,13 (DP=1,08) para administração de medicamentos via oral e R$ 8,51 (DP=1,79) para administração de medicamentos via subcutânea. Conclusão: A apuração dos custos dos recursos consumidos nos procedimentos requeridos pelos pacientes, grandes queimados, em UTI, pode fundamentar as tomadas de decisão gerenciais subsidiando a sua eficiência alocativa, evitando a ocorrência de desperdícios e, quando possível, indicando estratégias de contenção/minimização de custos sem prejuízos à qualidade da assistência de enfermagem. / Introduction: Hospital care for critical burn patients is highly costly due to human, material and structural resources required for its viability. The financial knowledge concerning this subject is still scarce, especially in regard to the cost of procedures performed by nurses in critical burn patients. Objective: To identify the average direct cost (ADC) of the nursing procedures carried out with greater frequency for burn patients admitted into the burn intensive care unit (BICU). Methodology: This quantitative exploratory and descriptive single case study was conducted in BICU at the Burn Unit of the Hospital das Clinicas of the Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de Sao Paulo. The ADC was calculated by multiplying the time (chronometering) spent by nursing professionals in procedures, object of this study, by the unit cost of direct labor adding to the cost of materials and solutions/drugs. For the purposes of the calculation, the Brazilian currency (R$) was used. Results: Based on 1354 observations related to 12 procedures often performed in BICU, it was obtained the ADC of R$ 1.88 (SD=1.04) for \"control the vital signs\"; R$ 28.78 (SD=69.74) for \"administering medication intravenously\"; R$ 16.97 (SD=7.92) for \"measurement of diuresis\"; R$ 2.68 (SD=1.20) to \"check Capillary Blood Glucose\"; R$ 6.71 (SD=2.20) for \"drug administration via nasogastric tube\"; R$ 50.07 (SD=11.89) for \"patient intimate hygiene; R$ 3.64 (SD=2.01) for \"food aid\"; R$ 55.88 (SD=18.98) for \"bed bathing/make the bed\"; R$ 287.11 (SD=372.87) for \"dressing\"; R$ 6.65 (SD=2.09) for \"oral hygiene\"; R$ 3.13 (SD=1.08) for \"oral drug administration\" and R$ 8.51 (SD=1.79) for \"drug administration subcutaneously\". Conclusion: The calculation of the resource costs spent in the procedures required by critical burn patients, in ICU, justify the decision making of subsidizing its allocative efficiency, avoiding the occurrence of waste and, when possible, indicating control strategies/minimizing strategy costs without impairing the quality of nursing care

Sustainability has been heightened to a new level of importance, due to the current global race for commodities and conservation of our environment. Sustainable Buildings are of particular interest since buildings are significant contributors to consumption of resources. Since the inception of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) in 1993, USGBC has played a key role in providing guidance to the design and construction community in building“green" structures. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system is an industry accepted standard for the design/construction and measurement of green buildings. Although USGBC provides guidance on performance measurement, a streamlined process of performance tracking and measurement has not been formalized. This research focuses on identifying vital areas of required tracking and measurement; to allow for a systematic analysis of costs and benefits, over the life of sustainable buildings. A case-study based on the recently designed and constructed East Hall LEED-Gold Certified, dormitory building at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), was undertaken to create and assess a life cycle costs analysis framework. This research is aimed at understanding what the costs of building green at WPI truly are. Life Cycle Cost Analyses of the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and roof components were evaluated to generate percent savings or percent added cost. This research reviewed the various green and non-green costs of construction, consumption, and operations and maintenance costs providing a comparative analysis to leading researchers in the field of costs and benefits of building green.

O conceito de governo eletrônico (e-Gov) surgiu do somatório de ações e benefícios proporcionados pelas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TICs). O produto final deste trabalho é a proposição de um estudo que identifique os custos de produção e os custos de transação, bem como seus respectivos componentes nos projetos do Governo do Rio Grande do Sul analisados antes e depois das modernas soluções de TICs implantadas a partir de 2003, tanto sob a ótica do Estado como do cidadão. Nessa proposta, foi adotado o referencial teórico da Nova Economia Institucional (NEI), focando custos de produção e de transação positivos, representados, respectivamente, pelos projetos Órgãos Públicos e Pregão Eletrônico, sendo o primeiro vinculado à Junta Comercial do Rio Grande do Sul (JUCERGS) e o último à Central de Compras do Estado (CECOM-RS). Concluiu-se que a utilização de TICs torna os processos mais ágeis e transparentes, permitindo uma queda tanto dos custos de produção como dos custos de transação. Isto é possível devido ao arrefecimento dos custos de barganha, negociação, tomada de decisão, monitoramento e cumprimento das cláusulas vigentes nos contratos firmados entre o Estado do Rio Grande do Sul e seus fornecedores, além do estabelecimento dos chamados “acordos de confiança”. Da mesma forma, ao possibilitar a diminuição ou extinção dos custos médios de transação, tanto para o Estado como para o cidadão, faz com que os custos de transação por gerenciamento caiam, uma vez que estes representam os custos originados nas relações de trabalho e nas transferências de bens e serviços entre organizações. De forma análoga, em relação aos custos de produção, o investimento realizado em TICs permite a redução dos custos médios por processo, devido ao crescimento da produtividade. / The concept of electronic government (e-gov) arose from the sum of actions and benefits provided by the Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). The final product of this work is to propose a study to identify both the costs of production and transaction and their components in the projects of the Government of Rio Grande do Sul examined before and after the modern ICT solutions that have been deployed since 2003 both from the perspective of the state and the citizen. In this proposal we adopted the theoretical framework of the New Institutional Economics (NIE), focusing on positive production costs and transactions, represented respectively by the projects Public Agencies and Mobile Computing. The first one is related to the Junta Comercial do Rio Grande do Sul (JUCERGS), and the last to the Central de Compras do Estado (CECOM-RS). The conclusion was that the use of ICTs makes the processes more agile and transparent, allowing a reduction in the costs of production and transaction. This is possible due to the cooling of the bargain costs, negotiation, decision-making, monitoring and compliance of existing clauses in the contracts between the state of Rio Grande do Sul and its suppliers, besides the establishing of the so-called “trust agreements”. In the same way, by enabling the reduction or the extinction of the average costs of transaction, both for the state as for the citizen, it provokes a drop in the costs of transaction by management, once they represent the costs originated in the work relationships and in the transferring of goods and services among organizations. In a similar way, in relation to the costs of production, the investment done in the ICTs allows for the reduction of the average costs by process, due to the growth in productivity.

一、研究緣起： 　　一般研究租稅超額負擔時，多探討租稅課徵造成資源配置扭曲的問題，而忽略租稅徵收成本(Administrative Costs)和納稅成本(Compliance Costs)亦會擴大租稅的超額負擔；事實上，租稅的徵納成本在整個財政制度的運作上是不容忽視的；再者，就公平面而言，租稅制度之設計除了必須考慮稅額負擔的垂直公平與水平公平外，對於納稅義務人間負擔租稅徵納成本是否平均的問題亦不可忽視。 　　二、研究過程： 　　（一）介紹納稅成本意義與文獻回顧。 　　（二）台灣地區建築業營利事業所得稅納稅成本問卷調查分析。 　　由於時間和經費的限制，本研究僅以台灣地區建築業作為調查對象，以探討營利事業為依從稅法規定申報與繳納營利事業所得稅所發生的各種費用（即納稅成本）。 　　本調查以參加各縣市建築投資同業公會之建設公司為抽樣對象，採分層比例隨機抽樣法抽取樣本數1000家；問卷自民國八十三年四月三十日陸續郵寄發出，至同年五月十五日截止，獲得104份回卷，有效回卷96份；使用SAS電腦軟體進行迴歸和變異數分析，以了解影響營利事業所得稅納稅成本的原因和各事業納稅成本負擔的分配狀態；再利用卡方檢定和交叉分析調查納稅義務人對處理營利事業所得稅可能遭遇困擾的程度。 　　三、結論： 　　（一）各項納稅成本中，以會計人員成本佔總納稅成本比例最大。 　　（二）總納稅成本與營業額、資本額、員工人數之間具正相關係。 　　（三）總納稅成本率與營業額、資本額之間具負相關係；因此，納稅成本負擔在各事業間之分配呈累退狀態。 　　（四）事業外部人員成本和內部人員成本與營業額、資本額之間具正相關係。 　　（五）在精神成本方面，受訪事業在處理營所稅事務時，認為困擾程度最多之排名為： 　　　　1.稅務法令規定繁瑣、不明確(77.89%)。 　　　　2.稅務機關核定太嚴苛(71.16%)。 　　　　3.稅務人員行政裁量權太大(61.54%)。 　　四、建議： 　　（一）提供免費稅務諮詢服務。 　　（二）簡化帳證處理。 　　（三）加強稅務法令宣導。 　　（四）簡化憑證查核。 　　（五）制定稅法必須明確。 　　（六）加強租稅核定前之溝通與協談。 　　（七）加強稅務人員租稅教育。 　　（八）協助提供事業單位納稅之服務。

Riyadh city suffers from high housing and construction costs, which have increased by more than 200% over the last 7 years. This problem led to a significant interest from the government and the citizens of the city in understanding the causes of housing and construction cost escalation and the best strategies to address this problem in the short and long-terms, in order to find solutions for affordable housing. In response to the absence of research regarding this problem, the researcher has decided to conduct a scientific survey about the factors that might have led to this problem in Riyadh. While conducting the literature review, the researcher identified 16 possible factors that were mentioned as possible causes for this problem. Thus, the main objective of this study is to identify the main factors that affect housing cost escalation. All of the survey samples were collected from construction industry professionals and experts working in Riyadh. The sample size required was calculated using the statistical equation mentioned in Chapter 4, and based on an estimated level of confidence of 90%, standard error of 10%, and a standard deviation calculated from 30 random samples collected initially. The required sample size was estimated to be at least 215 surveys, and the researcher was able to collect a total of 237 surveys. After collecting the data, the researcher analyzed the data through Microsoft Excel software by applying descriptive statistics, means, modes, and standard deviations. Tables and figures have been used to show the results of the survey. After analyzing the data, the researcher identified the main factors based on the mode and mean averages. The researcher has identified four major impacting factors that affected housing and construction costs. The most impacting factors on housing and construction cost are the corruption in selling land, speculative purchases of land, high demand for housing, and the high population growth rate in Riyadh. The main recommendations that should help the government to solve this problem are: to apply an annual tax on large plots, prevent speculative purchases in housing areas, monitor the prices of consruction materials, and revive small cities around Riyadh to reduce congestion and crowding.

Breaking Through the First Cost Barriers of Sustainable Planning, Design, and Construction John W. Mogge Jr. 377 Pages Directed by Dr. Rita Oberle The research integrates elements of the bodies of knowledge for sustainability, planning, design, and construction to create an understanding of green project first cost drivers. It extends conceptual models for sustainable infrastructure and the built environment process by creating a framework based linkage to analyze first cost impacts of sustainable project planning, design, and construction decisions. The framework functions as an analytical bridge between the built environment process and sustainability and is the principal contribution of this research. Through a preliminary analysis of fourteen projects, the work draws out relevant planning, materials and methods, and estimating and scheduling best practices and guiding principles. The work then proposes a first cost impact framework derived from the preliminary analysis as a decision support tool and tests the framework using an expert system derived linguistic database. The test results support the functionality of the framework. The test linguistic database was developed through an interdisciplinary professional expert practitioner interview process using common green project planning, design and construction strategies. The qualitative, interpretative, multi-criteria analysis of the data used fuzzy set theory and presents findings helpful in understanding green project first cost drivers. The work concludes with an assessment and a discussion of parallel research, and ten recommended areas for further research.

一般認為稽徵成本之高低，不必然反映稅務行政的良窳；但透過歷史資料及長期趨勢的稽徵成本分析與檢討，若能降低稽徵成本，不僅增加國庫淨收入，且可以督促稽徵行政效率的提高，對於維護稅制的公平與合理亦有所助益。本文根據稽徵成本理論及我國內地稅14種稅目20年間的整合資料，進行稽徵成本效率的指標衡量。且蒐集國際間租稅稽徵成本的資料，與我國現況進行比較，並進一步探討影響我國租稅稽徵成本之成因，得到下列發現：（一）國稅與地方稅稽徵效率之更迭，主要係受到稅務行政組織變革的影響。（二）從稅務人員總數與全國人口數和勞動力比值顯示，我國比OECD國家高出甚多，隱含著我國稅務人力顯有不足。（三）國稅的稽徵成本遠較地方稅節省，而貨物稅為最節省的稅目，遺產贈與稅及娛樂稅分屬國稅及地方稅最昂貴的稅目；另台北市國稅局及北區國稅局為稽徵成本節省的機關，而南區國稅局則為稽徵成本昂貴的機關。（四）將稅收實徵淨額取自然對數和稽徵成本率進行迴歸測定，稅收規模與稽徵成本率呈顯著的負相關，顯示稅源較豐之轄區，稅收多，其稽徵成本率自較低，反之，稅源較匱乏之轄區，其稽徵成本率相對較高。（五）我國賦稅的稽徵經費與賦稅收入之趨勢，符合稽徵經費與賦稅收入的數學理論模型，稅源充足，增加一定稽徵經費時，賦稅收入增長較快，稅源較少，即使增加稽徵經費時，賦稅收入增長也較慢。（六）從人事費占總稽徵經費的比例分析，發現我國賦稅的課徵，最重要的是稅務稽徵人力，且我國用人費低於新加坡及香港，我國稅務人員待遇明顯偏低。 / Enhancing cost efficiency in an increasingly globalized world plays an important role to the cut of tax costs that must be taken into account in tax administration costs and compliance costs, resulting in the efficiency improvement of tax-collection either by maximizing the revenue or by minimizing the tax cost. Tax collection cost, taxpaying cost and excess burden of economy are to be considered in tax costs. The basic theoretical analysis on tax costs research of tax administration costs in Taiwan’s reality have been studied and examined in the this study with the add of the tax cost theory and the investigations of the factors affecting these costs. This work is composed of five parts. There are the research contents and framework of this study, the theoretical definition and classification of tax costs, an illustration of the tax administration costs and compliance costs on the Taiwan’s current tax operating costs compared to the tax administration in OECD member countries, the analysis of the situation and possible affecting factors of government tax collection costs, and making some discussions and conclusions as well as drawing the policy suggestions for Taiwan government regarding tax collection costs, respectively.

There has been a huge increase in the costs of the journal collection at the University of Natal, Durban Libraries. This is due to the increased foreign exchange rate compounded by the frequent increase in the price of journal subscriptions. The library budget has not been able to keep pace with these increases in materials. The consequence is the cancellation of journal subscriptions together with the erosion of new book purchasing. To cope with this situation, libraries are coming to measure their collections and looking at alternative ways to overcome this journal crisis. The development of the technology of computers has greatly widened access to information but still at a cost in money and specialized skills much higher than is required for access to the traditional media. With the technology, the user can access the information or journal from anywhere not necessarily in the library but from home as well as the office. The patron can access various information sources from one point. For this study a multi-pronged method was employed. The methods employed were a literature review, a review of the documentary sources, an analysis of the journal data, surveys by self-administered questionnaires to the users – postgraduate students and academic staff in the Faculty of Science and an interview with the Acting University Librarian, Ms Nora Buchanan. One important element of the survey was to obtain in-depth information on journal usage patterns. The study was interested in determining whether the shift from print to electronic would affect journal usage patterns and dependence on the physical library. The findings of the survey demonstrated that usage patterns have changed and now favour the use of e-journals. There are, however, certain advantages to both formats and it is important to take advantage of both. The University Librarian interviewed recognized the popularity of e-journals and saw that over time the journal collections will shift from print to electronic. The archiving of online content remains a concern and print is still regarded as a short-term answer to the archive problem. The analysis of the journal data revealed that print and e-journal prices increased substantially each year, with the exception of 2004, for various reasons. But the print journals increased much more than the e-journals. The findings of this study could be drawn on to inform policy and practice regarding journal acquisition at the Howard College Libraries, University of KwaZulu-Natal and possibly other libraries as well. / Thesis (M.I.S.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

The implications of introducing shift work and flexible working hours into the UK clothing industry were examined, with special reference to the effects on personnel, plant utilisation and garment costs. A total of 37 garment manufacturing establishments, within 17 companies, were visited; 91 managers (for production and economic data)and 1018 supervisors and operatives, 87% female and 13% male, (for social data) were consulted. The main points arising from the survey are:- 1 . Social (i) The average age and length of service of respondents were respectively 30.4 and 7.1 for women and 40 and 13.9 for men. Nearly three fifths were married and over half of the women had children, most of them at school or pre-school stage. (ii) Over four fifths were committed to some kind of housework; 3 to 5 hours between 17.00 and 24.00 hours were usually spent on this task but about 9% spent more than 5 hours on it. (iii) Over half would be very much bothered by the inability to carry on their individual and/or group social activities. About two thirds would also be concerned by a change in the period of and time for sleep and meal times. Nearly two fifths used public transport for the journey to work. (iv) Only 15% had worked on multiple shifts previous to their present employment and 16% left their previous job because of being on shifts or unsuitable hours. About one fifth worked currently part-time and only 13% wanted to change their existing working system so that they might gain extra convenience and leisure in their working life. (v) The unsolicited personal choice of working systems were mainly shifts (13%), flexible working hours (14%) and part-time day work (30%); working only in school hours appeared to attract the choice of about 40% of the women. (vi) From the points above, it seemed that a high proportion of married female workers, mostly with dependent children and committed to housework, would probably react against shift work. The availability of part-time work together with the normal day work habit acquired would also affect the employees' attitudes towards the acceptance of even flexible working hours. 2. Production (i) The main problems involved with introducing shift work were considered to be sharing of equipment, bonus and piece rate payment and responsibility for quality failures. Dislike of sharing machines by operatives was considered to be a severe problem in sewing section and the extent of this dislike seemed higher in traditional rather than non traditional clothing areas; the operatives' age and length of service appeared to affect their attitudes. The smaller the period of time for each job then the less the problem of sharing payment and responsibility could become. (ii) Introduction of flexible working hours could create the difficulties of shortage and/or excess of supply of work within the production flow with interdependent operations; the extent of the problem could vary with the amount of work in progress and the period of time spent by each operative on the garment and/or its parts. Economic (i) Garment cost elements are material, labour, variable and fixed overheads (survey averages 50.6%, 24.9%, 8% and 16.5%), of which labour and variable overheads would be affected by introducing multiple shifts and only fixed overheads by flexible working hours. There should be a decrease in variable overheads per garment because of sharing a fixed amount of cost between shifts, an increase in labour cost due to shift premium and an increase in fixed overheads because of longer opening hours of the plant on flexible working hours. (ii) The capital employed on plant and machinery, C, could often be divided by the number of shifts so that this could help to increase profitability by a factor of 2 or 3. (iii) General formulae were established, using the most relevant variables, for calculating the profitability and profitability ratios of different working schemes. Generally, if the number of shifts are increased then the profitability of the plant could be very greatly increased. This was well illustrated from the calculated profitability ratios of about 2 and 3 respectively, when industrial survey values were used, for 2 and 3 shift systems replacing a single shift system. Profitability of flexible working hours would, theoretically, be less than that of single shift, but there might be some economic gains, such as reduced rates of labour turnover and absenteeism (which are currently high in the garment industry), arising from the introduction of flexible working hours.