This dissertation studies agricultural input intensification, defined as the increased use of modern inputs such as hybrid seeds, mineral fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide in African agriculture. It also analyses the potential of this intensification to accelerate productivity growth and tests the effectiveness of two policies, input subsidies and land reforms, in promoting it and consequently in increasing crop yield. In the first essay, we argue that to create the conditions for the emergence of a green revolution in Africa, modern agricultural technologies have to be adopted as a package, not in a piecemeal fashion. This argument is consistent with a conceptual framework that we develop to illustrate the importance of harnessing strategic complementarities among agricultural technologies by adopting them simultaneously rather than sequentially. Based on this framework, we propose a methodology to estimate an index to measure agricultural input intensification in its many dimensions. The index provides a simple and intuitive measure to quantify joint adoption of several inputs and compare it across plots, crops, farmers, and regions. Applying this methodology to maize producers in Burkina Faso and Tanzania, we show that our estimated index is a valid measure of joint input adoption and effectively captures the relative importance of each input as well as the number of different inputs adopted. Using the estimated index, we find that simultaneous adoption of modern inputs in Burkina Faso and Tanzania is limited but not rare. Most importantly, we find that the impact of the adoption of individual modern input on yield is increasing with the level of intensification for others. In the subsequent two essays, we assess the effectiveness of government’s direct intervention through input subsidies and indirect intervention through land reforms in promoting agricultural input intensification and increasing productivity. Our empirical analyses focus on Burkina Faso, a country that has recently implemented a fertilizer subsidy program and is undertaking profound land reforms to improve land tenure security and land transferability among households. The second essay tests the hypothesis that subsidizing only one input might promote or discourage the use of other inputs. We find that fertilizer subsidy for maize farmers in Burkina Faso crowds in the use of hybrid seeds and crop protection chemicals, but discourages the use of manure. The last essay assesses whether the development of rural land rental markets can facilitate land transferability among farmers and increase input intensification and productivity. The findings suggest that land rental transfers land from less talented or committed farmers to the more able but have minimal impact on input intensification. However, our results show that land renters are more productive and better farm managers. These results suggest that the short-term gains from policies that foster the development of land rental markets in Burkina Faso, and more generally Africa, will likely be in term of efficiency rather than widespread adoption of modern agricultural technologies.

The once flourishing small-scale poultry industry in Ghana has over the past two decades undergone a severe deterioration as a result of fortunes that has diverted the industry from near self-sufficiency in the early 1990s to a net importer of poultry products. Since the later part of 1990s the Ghana market has followed a steep and uncontrolled influx of cheap poultry meat from subsidized poultry producers from advanced countries (Osei, unpublished) including USA and EU, not to mention countries such as Brazil and Canada. A multiplicity of factors have accounted for the decline and mortalities of the domestic poultry industry. These include unfair competition from subsidized poultry producers from advanced countries, unfavourable and indifferent government policy direction, escalating costs of production, inefficient methods of production, lack of funds and credit, inadequate knowledge in poultry management, socio-cultural factors, lack of information needs on the part of small-scale poultry farmers, inadequate access to market, lack of processing facilities, and high rates of perishability. Therefore, the present study examines the factors that affect the growth of the small agribusiness in Ghana, focusing mainly on the small-scale poultry industry. The purpose of the study is to provide guidelines and recommendations for improving poultry farming at the level of small-scale poultry farmers in Ghana through the organized social movement (new generation cooperative movement). The study further seeks to solicit government interventions through political arguments so as to sustain and strengthen the failing small-scale poultry industry in Ghana. The purpose of the organized social movement is to bundle competencies and resources that are more valuable in joint effort than when kept separate by the small-scale poultry farmers in racing against competitors who are driving them out of business. This is due to an on-going severe competition as a result of unprotected market and political bias of trade liberalization, structural adjustment policies and deregulations on the part of the government. A sample of 120 poultry farmers was selected by a stratified random sampling approach. This was followed by 75 stakeholders through a snowball approach and data was collected by using a semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study shows that the organized social movement (SM) of small-scale poultry farmers, provision of government subsidies, placing a ban or increase tariffs on imports of poultry meat, access to cheap loans, provision of infrastructure, access to incentives and awards, training and education of poultry farmers, advertising campaign, and dissemination of information, had positive and significant impact on the competitiveness and growth of the small-scale poultry industry.

[pt] Esta dissertação analisa o setor habitacional brasileiro, após a criação do Sistema Financeiro de Habitação (SFH), com ênfase nas características dos financiamentos realizados no âmbito do Sistema e nas benesses concedidas de forma indiscriminada aos mutuários. Por meio de estudos de caso, identificam-se os principais fatores responsáveis por essa concessão de subsídios, os quais podem ser classificados em três grupos: falhas intrínsecas aos planos de financiamento, renegociações contratuais oferecidas pelo governo entre 1983 e 1985, e planos de estabilização econômica implementados na segunda metade da década de 80 e na primeira metade da década de 90. Apresenta-se a análise da contribuição individual de cada fator, bem como seu efeito conjunto, o que permite concluir que os mutuários do SFH receberam enormes subsídios, que resultaram no esgotamento das fontes de financiamento para as décadas subseqüentes. Conclui-se que as benesses concedidas de forma generalizada tiveram um efeito perverso, uma vez que foram aplicadas em razão inversamente proporcional às necessidades dos mutuários. Os detentores de dívidas mais elevadas e, portanto, em média, possuidores de maior renda, receberam subsídios mais elevados. Dessa forma, houve transferência de riqueza da sociedade como um todo para os mutuários do Sistema, em especial, transferência de riqueza das classes mais pobres para as mais abastadas e transferência de recursos dos que não possuíam casa própria para os que haviam adquirido sua moradia. / [en] This thesis analyzes the evolution of the Housing Financing System (SFH) in Brazil, focusing on the characteristics of the mortgages and on the subsidies given to borrowers. Homebuyers were given large subsidies that led to the breakdown of the system in the following decades. Using case studies, the main factors that gave rise to those subsidies are identified and classified into three groups: failures in the structure of the financial plans, contract renegotiations offered from 1983 through 1985, and macroeconomic stabilization plans launched in the second half of the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. The individual contributions of each factor for the overall subsidies are estimated. It is also shown that subsidies had a very perverse distributional effect, since high-debt holders received proportionally larger subsidies. There was a transfer of wealth from society as a whole to homebuyers, from the poorest to the richest, and from those who did not own a house to homeowners.

Magister Legum - LLM / The aim of the research is to establish how trade distorting agricultural subsidies have impacted South Africa’s agricultural exports. The research will explore trade distorting subsidies and how South Africa’s trade liberalisation approach relative to its trading partners have impacted South Africa’s trade output, as well as suggesting effective policy recommendations for South Africa’s agricultural trade going forward.

This thesis evaluates the practice of subsidizing entertainment projects as economic development strategy through a case study of the American Airlines Arena (AAA). Subsidy proponents argued that it would generate new tax revenue and jobs, and enhance the city’s image and pride. This rationale neglects factors that mitigate the economic impact of arenas and fails to consider the social costs. The AAA subsidy is evaluated using a cost-benefit method that has been underutilized in academic research. The economic impact is analyzed by estimating the fiscal return on the public’s investment and the number and quality of new jobs created. The social costs are considered in light of Miami’s economic development history and the policy implications are discussed. The AAA subsidy results in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses over the term of the public-private partnership and created a negligible number of low quality jobs. Furthermore, the AAA subsidy may have exacerbated relations between residents and leaders by prioritizing the leisure spending of visitors over the needs of inner city residents.

The study of the Walmer Links Finance Linked Individual Subsidy (FLISP) is the response to the housing backlogs that have been experienced by the Port Elizabeth area. The ownership programme is the first of its kind in the area and has been met with scepticism, revolt and acceptance as the neighbouring township of Walmer and the nearby suburbs had mixed feelings about the project. The overall feeling and experience of the new FLISP owners far exceeds the scepticism around the project. The project also brought racial integration and improved the quality of life for the poor. It also seems as though the success of the project will be the determinant factor of whether it can rolled out to other provinces as an approach to development and poverty alleviation.

Venture capital finances high-risk, high-return projects. In addition to financing, venture capitalists provide advice and expertise in management, commercialization, and development that enhance the value, success, and marketability of projects. Venture capitalists also have skills in selecting projects with potentially high returns. The first chapter investigates the contracting relationship between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs in a setting where the venture capitalist and entrepreneur contribute intangible assets (advice and effort) to a project that are non-contractible and non-verifiable. In general, in the private market equilibrium, advice provided by the venture capitalist and the number of projects funded are lower than the social optimum. Government tax and investment policies may alleviate these market failures. The impact of a capital gains tax, a tax on entrepreneur’s revenue, an investment subsidy to venture capitalists, and government run project enhancing programs are evaluated. Finally, we analyze the effects of a government venture capital firm competing with private venture capital. The second chapter focuses on competition in venture capital markets. We model a three-stage game of fund raising, investment in innovative projects and input of advice and effort, where fund raising is used as an entry deterrence mechanism. We examine the impacts of taxes and subsidies on venture capital market structure. We find that a tax on venture capitalist revenue and a tax on entrepreneur revenue increase the likelihood of entry deterrence and reduce the number of projects funded in equilibrium. A subsidy on investment reduces the likelihood of entry deterrence and increases the number of projects funded. The third chapter examines the venture capitalist's choice of investment in project selection skills and investment in managerial advice. We model, separately, a private venture capitalist and a labour-sponsored venture capitalist (LSVCC) with different objectives. A LSVCC is a special type of venture capitalist fund that is sponsored by a labour union. The private venture capitalist maximizes its expected profits, while the LSVCC maximizes a weighted function of expected profits and returns to labour. Consistent with empirical evidence, the quality of projects, determined by project selection skills and managerial advice, is higher for the private venture capitalist.

The master thesis deals with passive houses and their profitability's economic analysis. The thesis focuses on both new buildings and renovations, which have the greatest potential for energy savings in the building's sector. The cost-effectiveness of proposed measures is evaluated using the example of reconstruction of an existing house with passive and low-energy standard. Low-energy option of reconstruction is more profitable from an investor's perspective than the passive one. At 4% annual growth in energy prices, both options become comparable. The result of the calculation is not generally applicable. The profitability always depends on a specific building and various measures. Besides the cost-effectiveness, the investor's decision about an investment is also influenced by an increasing level of living comfort, subsidies and environmental protection.

The work deals with the comparison of the export promotion policy of the Czech Republic and Austria. The first chapter describes the development, structure of the international trade and export position of the Czech Republic and Austria and subsequently compares the importance of export in both countries. The second and the third chapter characterize the export promotion system in the Czech Republic and Austria. The chapters focus at first on the concept of export promotion in both countries, its main objectives, projects and results and then on the main institutions dealing with the export promotion and their main services. The fourth chapter evaluates and compares the export promotion in both countries as far as its main concept, institutions and services are concerned.

This thesis deals with funding methods of municipalities in France. The first part of this thesis is theoretical, it introduces fundamental terms and theories, regarding funding of municipalities, problems of budget setting and components, which can form revenue side of the budget. At the beginning of the second part I introduce the structure of municipalities in France. The main objective of this thesis is detailed characterization of revenues, that these municipalities collect, and their subsequent analysis. For this reason I answer these questions: What revenue sources are collected by municipalities, what are the most important revenue sources, how individual revenue sources evolve over time, whether there is in this country the tendency to strengthen the financial autonomy of municipal authorities or rather the state tends to finance municipal authorities through subsidies. At the end of this thesis, I have compared the system of municipal financing in France and in the Czech Republic and made some recommendations, how could the Czech system be reformed.