個人捐贈為教育、文化及公益慈善機構或團體的重要經費來源，目前我國於租稅上，提供捐贈者可扣抵其課稅所得的租稅誘因，相當於政府利用補貼的方式，降低了捐贈者的捐贈成本。但是否能有效達到激勵捐贈者的效果，則待實證研究分析。 本研究利用民國92年綜合所得稅申報資料分析，實證結果得知，慈善捐贈金額與可支配所得呈正向且顯著的關係；租稅價格變動對慈善捐贈金額變動有負向且顯著之影響，顯示目前政府的租稅政策能夠有效刺激捐贈，但針對高所得者價格彈性的有效性則降低。薪資所得佔可支配所得比率與捐贈金額呈正向之關係。納稅義務人的年齡越大、未婚、女性，較有慈善捐贈的意願。但納稅人申報扶養親屬人數較多及申報自用住宅購屋借款利息較多者，捐贈意願較低。最後，納稅義務人所在的地區也會影響其捐贈支出，隨著納稅人可支配所得增加，地域性的影響也逐漸減小。 / Individual charitable giving is an important source of finance for a wide variety of nonprofit organizations. Charitable contributions are deductible in determining taxable income; therefore, the current income tax system makes the price of charitable contributions less than the price of other goods and services. The deduction can be viewed as a tax subsidy. Whether the tax subsidy can stimulate charitable giving or not should be examined by empirical research. This study uses tax return data obtained from the Taiwan Government Finance and Tax Statistical Databank (for the year 2004). The results indicate that the income elasticity of charitable giving has positive and significant effect on charitable giving; while the tax price elasticity estimate is found to have a negative effect, except for the group of high income taxpayers. Beside price and income, salary to disposable income ratio varies with the giving. Female, married, and elder taxpayers are more likely to donate. However, a taxpayer who claims more deductions for dependents or primary residential house interests will be reluctant to give money to charities. The taxpayer’s registered permanent residence is found to have a strong influence on charitable giving. Nevertheless, as taxpayer’s disposable income increases, the regional factor is diminished gradually. The evidence presented in this study provides a useful foundation for the government to devise the future policy on the charitable deductions.

This dissertation is a collection of three essays in the fields of environmental and public economics. The first essay assesses the effect of government spending on charitable donations to environmental causes. Using a theoretical model, I solve for changes in private donations due to increased government spending and contrast this with changes due to direct grants to nonprofit organizations. Depending on the nonprofit’s fundraising response, government spending may result in the crowding out or in of private giving. I empirically investigate this topic using data from the tax returns of environmental charities as well as a panel survey data set on the philanthropic behavior of individuals. My results indicate that government expenditures on the environment actually crowd in private giving, partly due to the increased fundraising response by charities. The second essay examines the incidence of a pollution tax scheme in which tax revenue is returned to low-income workers. Using a general equilibrium model with both skilled and unskilled labor, a decomposition of the real net wage effects shows the effect of the tax rebate, the effect on the uses side of income (higher product prices), and the effect on the sources side of income (relative wage rates). Numerical examples show that returning the revenue to the low-skilled workers is still not enough to offset the effect of higher product prices; in almost all cases, the rebate does not prevent a reduction in the real net wage. The third essay studies the distributional effects of the SO2 allowance market. Even if low-income households do not have large budget shares for the polluting good, grandfathered permit systems may still be regressive since the permit rents accrue disproportionately to wealthy shareholders in the polluting industry. I estimate the burden imposed on different income groups under a grandfathered permit policy and compare this with the burden under an auctioned policy. Using Monte Carlo techniques, I calculate the 5th and 95th percentiles of the distribution of possible results. I find evidence of regressivity for grandfathered permits whereas an emissions tax/auctioned permit system can be progressive if the scarcity rents are distributed in lump sums. / text

In direct marketing, understanding the response behavior of consumers to marketing initiatives is a pre-requisite for marketers before implementing targeting strategies to reach potential as well as existing consumers in the future. Consumer response can either be in terms of the incidence or timing of purchases, category/ brand choice of purchases made as well as the volume or purchase amounts in each category. Direct marketers seek to explore how past consumer response behavior as well as their targeting actions affects current response patterns. However, considerable heterogeneity is also prevalent in consumer responses and the possible sources of this heterogeneity need to be investigated. With the knowledge of consumer response and the corresponding heterogeneity, direct marketers can devise targeting strategies to attract potential new consumers as well as retain existing consumers. In the first essay of my dissertation (Chapter 2), I model the response behavior of donors in non-profit charity fund-raising in terms of their timing and volume of donations. I show that past donations (both the incidence and volume) and solicitation for alternative causes by non-profits matter in donor responses and the heterogeneity in donation behavior can be explained in terms of individual and community level donor characteristics. I also provide a heuristic approach to target new donors by using a classification scheme for donors in terms of the frequency and amount of donations and then characterize each donor portfolio with corresponding donor characteristics. In the second essay (Chapter 3), I propose a more structural approach in the targeting of customers by direct marketers in the context of customized retail couponing. First I model customer purchase in a retail setting where brand choice decisions in a product category depend on pricing, in-store promotions, coupon targeting as well as the face values of those coupons. Then using a utility function specification for the retailer which implements a trade-off between net revenue (revenue – coupon face value) and information gain, I propose a Bayesian decision theoretic approach to determine optimal customized coupon face values. The optimization algorithm is sequential where past as well as future customer responses affect targeted coupon face values and the direct marketer tries to determine the trade-off through natural experimentation. / text

This thesis examines the collective labour and resources utilized by farm women within the context of the farm women’s neighbourhood club in rural communities in twentieth century Southern Alberta. The ethnographic research explores the historic, cultural and political foundations of women’s labour on farms and in formal and informal farm organizations through interviews conducted with former members of two clubs that were actively involved in fundraising and philanthropic projects in their rural communities for more than forty-five years. The critical perspective argues farm women in rural clubs responded to the patriarchal farm discourse that gendered their labour by using their reproductive skills and resources to build and maintain friendships, social networks and mutuality, and do good works that ensured the livelihood of their rural communities. / vi, 141 leaves ; 29 cm.

Bibliography: leaves [282]-290 / vii, 290 leaves ; 20 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, 1988

'Biographical references': leaf 384-409. / Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, School of History, Philosophy and Politics, 1983. / Bibliography: leaf 418-434. / Introduction -- PART I: The 1870s -- Philanthropy for children: the Royal Commission and women philanthropists' "Natural rights" -- Philanthropic care for adults within the woman's sphere: diversity and limits -- Nuns and evangelicals: ladies and females: a case study of two refuges for prostitutes -- PART II: The 1880s -- Women's philanthropic care of the young: influence and expansion within the woman's sphere -- Women's philanthropy for adults: confidence within the woman's sphere -- A lady and a philanthropist: Helen Fell, 1882-92 -- PART III: The 1890s -- Philanthropic care of the young: from the lady and towards the mother -- Philanthropy for adults: the declining role of the lady within the woman's sphere -- Conclusion. / This thesis investigates the impact of an ideological construct - the woman's sphere - on philanthropy in Sydney during 1870-1900. The woman's sphere was a hegemonic concept which denoted the activities and functions deemed appropriate for women. Women were encouraged to work within their sphere in philanthropy and restricted from working in areas or ways outside their sphere. Within these limits, women had a distinct and important impact on philanthropy. -- Part I examines women's philanthropy in the 870s. The first two chapters deal with the major areas of women's philanthropy; the care of girls, mixed-sex groups of children, the sick and working class women. It is argued that women's involvement in these areas was increasingly justified as being within the woman's sphere. Chapter 3 analyses two Refuges for ex-prostitutes, the essential agreement on philanthropic aims between sectarian organisations and the relationship between the lady and the female within the woman's sphere. -- The 1880s, it is argued in Part II, was a decade when the lady became increasingly confident of her right to solve social problems considered to be within the philanthropic woman's sphere. In successive chapters, the impact of the woman's sphere concept on the philanthropic care of children and adults is analysed. The impact on the individual of the woman's sphere concept and the meaning of being a lady within that sphere is examined in Chapter 6. -- Part III discusses the changes in, and the expansion of, woman's sphere philanthropy during the 1890s. Although a select group of ladies still dominated women's philanthropy, much of their power and prestige was eroded. The woman's sphere concept remained but it was much less a means by which women philanthropists could justify independent action. -- In conclusion, it is argued that the woman's sphere concept is essential to an understanding of nineteenth-century life. Whilst this thesis demonstrates its impact on philanthropy, the concept was also a key determinant of women's activities in other areas. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xxiii, 434 leaves ill

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Münster, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 349-361) and index.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2010. / Title from screen (viewed on July 19, 2010). Departments of History and Philanthropic Studies, School of Liberal Arts, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Nancy Marie Robertson, Jane E. Schultz, Patricia Wittberg. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-169).

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Münster, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 349-361) and index.

Current state: The Congregation of Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo is the largest congregation of nuns in the Czech Republic. Its charism living mercy in contemplation is still valid. Religious sisters mainly care for sick people, the aged and the needy people, as they were serving them in the beginning of their history. The topic of this paper 'Education and care of nurses Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo operating in the Czech Republic' is original and has not yet been treated to such extent and with this focus. Some works have been written and published, but they cover our topic only partially. This study is a compilation of information, enriched with memories of those sisters who remember the early days. The aim of the thesis: The first aim of this thesis is to map education and care of nurses of The Congregation of Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo in the Czech Republic in its historical development with emphasis on health care and social facilities. The second aim is to compare education, care and status of religious sisters in the health-care team in each historical period. Methodology: In this thesis qualitative research was employed. There were two procedures of data collection used: exploration of written documents and narrative interviews. The research file for narrative interviews consists of ten persons. All respondents are women, members of The Congregation of Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo, who attained appropriate education for the profession of a nurse and carried out this job in a hospital. Respondents were segmented into three groups according to respective historical periods. The first historical period starts with the arrival of religious sisters from France to Prague in 1837 and finishes in 1948. The second historical period follows up the previous one and ends in 1989. The third historical period spans the time from 1989 till the present. The total number of recorded and assessed interviews is ten. Narrative interview were recorded on a voice recorder and consequently transcribed into the written form and further processed. To analyze the text we used open coding, performed by the paper-and-pencil tests. Findings were interpreted using 'card sorting' technique. Results: Education and care of nurses of Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo have always met the requirements of concrete times. Specific aspects of care for the sick and the needy was also influenced by other factors. Among others the development od medical science and political situation of individual historical periods. The care of Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo has always been based on their dedication and the vow of mercy. Conclusion: This is a compact work, describing education and care of nurses of Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo in contexts of different historical periods and in broader connection with the history of nursing care.