This master thesis focuses on application of tracking and tracing technologies in the tobacco industry. As per Directive 2014/40/EU, overall trackability and traceability will be an obligation for all unit packs of tobacco products. The reason for this is the fight against the black market. The thesis analyses the current track and trace technologies, evaluates the important points of the Directive and describes tobacco market specifications. The core is to propose a specific technology for this objective and to summarise essential features of the system. In addition, a technology called Codentify is described in detail, as it has the potential to fulfil the legislative demands.

Thesis deals with the gambling industry in the Czech Republic since 2012, when the major amendment of lottery act was introduced, which allowed municipalities to regulate or eventually completely prohibit gambling with generally binding ordinances. The complete ban, which began to be implemented within some municipalities, caused an emergence of the black market. This economically interesting phenomenon is in terms of the thesis resolved - its origin and forms of expression. Furthermore, the thesis deals with the emergence of new laws that will gradually apply from 2016 and 2017. It analyses the impact on companies operating in the sector, the state budget and municipal budgets. There is also research of background data and economic models that the Ministry of Finance results from and in contrast to the critical analysis of the social costs of gambling it is being considered whether prepared regulation in the form of substantial increases in taxes is adequate or not. As the solution method was chosen descriptive analysis of relevant materials, especially the outputs from the Ministry of Finance, specifically established institutions, municipalities and real companies operating in the sector, as well as explanatory reports from lawmakers proposing new laws. The executed analysis provides a critical look at some of the background bases of the regulator. It impeaches the calculation of the social costs of gambling, which are further imbedded into a broader context in order to revalue the severity of the problem. Also is examined the estimation of the additional revenue from gambling after the tax increase, shifting the point of profitability and the transition to the emergence of a black market. The main contribution of this thesis is the emphasis on the greatest possible objectivity in the analyzing and processing of a wide range of inputs, which are further critically evaluated. This thesis comprehensively summarizes the situation of the gambling industry, its present and future regulation considering its bases and possible impacts.

Since 2012, many states and Canada have legalized the use and sale of recreational marijuana. One of the expected benefits of the legalization is that the establishment of a legal cannabis market would eliminate the black market which has been the main form of marijuana trade for decades. Even though legal options are available for marijuana producers and consumers, the black market is still thriving in states where recreational marijuana has been legalized. The reasons behind the persistence of the marijuana black market are complex. One of the main arguments is that the legalized states have failed to establish a regulatory framework which effectively keeps both producers and consumers in the legal market. Instead, strict regulations and high cost of compliance have created an environment in favor of big players while driving small-scale businesses into the black market. The current research attempts to study this issue by answering the research question of whether overregulation is pushing some marijuana businesses back to the black market or preventing them from entering the legal market. This thesis employs a mix-method design to analyze qualitative data of news articles reporting the reasons that marijuana businesses decide to stay in the black market and a quasi-experimental time series analysis of National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data regarding marijuana offenses in Colorado and Washington between 2014 and 2017. The qualitative analysis of news reports reveals that regulation is one of the main reasons that people stay in the illicit market. The comparison of marijuana crime trends in Colorado and Washington shows mixed findings. While marijuana offense rates in Colorado largely remained steady over the years, those in Washington increased dramatically after the implementation of more intensive regulations. The results of this study have several policy implications for the marijuana legalization as well as implications for future research on the black-market issue.

The dissertation deals with rivalling discourses on dynamics of consumption in early postwar Japan, led by the theses of Bourdieu on social distinction, Lefebvre\\\'s analysis of spaces, the politics of noise and a discourse analysis after Laclau/Mouffe. While consumerism began to develop into a great energetic ideology of a middle class in Japan in the 1960s, the early postwar renegotiation of social spaces produced a form of social noise and highly moving social environment and spaces: alternative discourses and debates on what poverty, luxury or even consumerism itself were, emerged from within these spaces of noise. Between luxury and poverty, the black market was one of the central places of consumption, but also developed into the central social space which defined both poverty and luxury from within and beyond the blurred social boundaries. In the end, social discourses of distinction against poverty and black market consumers also encouraged social mobility and shaped an exotic ideal of \\\"European\\\" luxury.

The Yugoslav wars of the 1990s - namely Croatia/ Bosnia (1991-1995) and Kosovo (1998-1999) - were the focus of unprecedented, and uninformed, international attention. This attention accepted at face value an ethnic rationale for the conflict that was often peddled by the combatants themselves; such rationales served to mask the economic and political aspirations of engaged state- and non-state actors. The wars allowed organised crime to take root and proliferate exponentially across geographical, political, and economic spheres. It became a tool of states, militaries and militias; states co-opted criminals, and vice-versa. The Serbian state became a criminal entity (as did, to a lesser extent, surrounding states) in partial control of a thoroughly criminalised regional combat economy, often in collusion with supposed ethnic `enemies.¿ Reconstruction, development, and governance interventions conducted by international actors in the successor states of the former Yugoslavia remain stifled by an absence of understanding of both the systematic infrastructural presence of organised crime, and a lack of acknowledgement of the economic rationales underlying the wars themselves.

This thesis deals with the black market of enhancing drugs with a particular focus on androgenic anabolic steroids (AAS). Medical studies agree that these substances in the form and quantity abused by athletes to improve performance are damaging the body and therefore author is looking for recommendations for economic policy on how to reduce rate of this abuse. The study of economic literature (especially the Becker's "Theory of rational addiction") shows that users of AAS are rational, often even more rational than users of other harmful substances, because they abuse these substances with long-term plan. The reason of this purposeful approach is that the desired "delight" is derived from hard-earned success unlike other drugs and therefore abuse of AAS is associated with discipline, calculation and hence a (limited ) rationality. Economists building on Becker 's theory point out to cases where this limitation is so significant that it justifies regulation. This thesis is based on the assumption (supported by studies) that prohibition or penalizing the users themselves are ineffective instruments and therefore is the author looking for alternative solution. The author believes that the main stimulators of demand for AAS are misleading media; benevolent government's approach towards bodybuilding competitions; and finally the prohibition leading to the formation of the black market which makes it impossible for (potential ) users to become optimally informed about health risks etc. This hypothesis is being tested in questionnaire survey distributed mainly through social networks. Finally, the author sets out recommendations for economic policy: that restrictive hand of the state should focus attention in the opposite direction than before i.e., the demand side and thereby subtly demotivate users themselves.

The thesis describes and analyzes the excise tax on tobacco products and the relevant market in the Czech Republic. Changes of the excise tax on tobacco products in the Czech Republic and their impacts on the public finance, on sales of tobacco products, and on illegal market trading these products are analyzed as well as effects of government regulation on the tobacco products market. The thesis concludes that increasing excise taxes, due to the Peltzman effect, may lead to originally unintended consequences which are in the contradiction to arguments in favor of the tax increase. Distortions on the tobacco products' market make the efficient regulation difficult.

This dissertation thesis deals with the notion of "vekslactvi" in socialist Czechoslovakia and with a social group called "vekslaci", which orchestrated illicit trade with foreign currencies, the so called tuzex vouchers, and smuggled consumer goods. The analysis lays emphasis on the daily operations of the "veksláci" and also on the commodities which they traded. From this perspective, "vekslaci" could be treated as a driving force within the Czechoslovak black market. In addition to the basic principles of "veksl", the chapter also presents a certain typology of traffickers and mutual hierarchical links within this specific community. The lifestyle of the "vekslák subculture" is also a subject of historical reconstruction as the thesis seeks to place "veksláci" in the context of the Czechoslovak society before 1989. The thesis also deals with the social and economic circumstances that enabled the birth of a peculiar social group of "vekslaci". Among others, it focuses on the role of the Tuzex hard currency shops, which was introduced in order to sell (mostly imported) consumer goods in exchange for foreign currencies or special vouchers. Attitude of the Czechoslovak state regarding the issue of "veksláctví" is also a subject of analysis. The research focuses on legislation, which gradually...

The dissertation deals with rivalling discourses on dynamics of consumption in early postwar Japan, led by the theses of Bourdieu on social distinction, Lefebvre\\\''s analysis of spaces, the politics of noise and a discourse analysis after Laclau/Mouffe. While consumerism began to develop into a great energetic ideology of a middle class in Japan in the 1960s, the early postwar renegotiation of social spaces produced a form of social noise and highly moving social environment and spaces: alternative discourses and debates on what poverty, luxury or even consumerism itself were, emerged from within these spaces of noise. Between luxury and poverty, the black market was one of the central places of consumption, but also developed into the central social space which defined both poverty and luxury from within and beyond the blurred social boundaries. In the end, social discourses of distinction against poverty and black market consumers also encouraged social mobility and shaped an exotic ideal of \\\"European\\\" luxury.

À la Libération, vu les pénuries et les restrictions, le troc, entre civils et militaires américains, s’organise tout naturellement. Mais, les produits de l’U.S. Army font rapidement l’objet de trafics, essentiellement basés sur un échange monétaire. En Seine-et-Oise, au cours des premiers mois de liberté, ce phénomène économique enregistre un développement au processus rapide, favorisé par l’installation de troupes et d’infrastructures américaines ainsi que par le désenchantement de la Libération. En 1945, vu le contexte militaire, économique et social, l’expansion des trafics est fulgurante. D’ailleurs, la gangstérisation des relations, entre certains civils et militaires, et l’inertie des polices franco-américaines et de la justice française ont largement contribué à cette expansion. Les trafiquants professionnels et occasionnels volent, recèlent ou trafiquent, dans la plupart des cas, des vêtements, des chaussures, des textiles, des denrées alimentaires, de l’essence ou des pneumatiques. Mais, du redéploiement des troupes américaines au retour d’un marché libre, ces trafics de proximité perdent brusquement de leur importance. L’année 1946 marque les derniers temps forts de ce marché clandestin. De 1947 à 1949, les trafiquants assistent à la disparition des trafics et à la fin d’une époque dorée. Car, malgré les mésententes locales et l’antipathie réciproque, ces trafics ont enregistré un succès phénoménal. Les civils et les militaires américains étaient conscients de la brièveté de cette manne. Cependant, en 1950, même si le contexte économique diffère totalement, les trafics de produits américains vont réapparaître aux abords des bases militaires américaines de l’OTAN. / At the Liberation, in circumstances of scarcity and restrictions, barter between civilians and American servicemen developed quite naturally. But the U.S. Army goods quickly became the object of illicit sales, mainly for cash. In Seine-et-Oise, during the first months of freedom, this economic phenomenon developed rapidly, facilitated by the installation of American troops and infrastructures as well as by the disillusionment that followed Liberation. In 1945, given the military, economic and social context, the expansion of black market traffic was sensational. Moreover, the gangsterization of relations between some civilians and servicemen and the inertia of Franco-American policing and French justice contributed significantly to this expansion. The professional and occasional traffickers stole, received stolen goods and dealt mainly in clothing, shoes, textiles, foodstuffs, gasoline or tires. With the redeployment of the American troops and the return of the free market, these convenience transactions lost their importance abruptly. The year 1946 marked the last surge of this illicit market. From 1947 to 1949, the traffickers saw the decline of black market traffic and the end of a golden era. Despite local misunderstandings and mutual antipathy, this traffic was phenomenally successful. The civilians and the American servicemen were aware that this opportunity would be brief. However, in 1950, in a very different economic context, the traffic in U.S. Army goods would reappear around the American military bases established as part of NATO.