One of the major issues associated with taxation are the costs incurred by taxpayers when they comply with their tax obligations, this is particularly important for smaller business taxpayers. Compliance costs are found to be regressive, falling with disproportionate severity on smaller businesses. This trend can be found across the globe and more importantly, in New Zealand. Prior research has shown that the severity of the regressiveness has increased over time. The current, “one-size-fits-all”, approach used in the New Zealand tax system, and others alike, have created undue complexity for small businesses. This study reviews small business tax regimes and concessions currently implemented (or proposed) in different countries to relieve the compliance burden for smaller businesses. Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States have either implemented a separate tax regime, or offers tax concessions to smaller business taxpayers. New Zealand on the other hand, presents minor ad hoc tax concessions for small business taxpayers, but since 2009, there have been proposals to change this system. This study evaluates and compares all the implemented (or proposed) regimes and concessions of the selected countries. Following from the case studies, interviews are conducted with tax professionals that have worked closely with smaller businesses, in order to shed light on the possibility of implementing a similar regime in New Zealand. The findings show that a small business tax regime has many avenues to consider, however, there is general consensus that suggests small business taxation should be kept as simple as possible. This thesis puts forward a baseline for further discussion and development of a small business regime to reduce compliance costs for smaller businesses.

The allocations of health care resources in Bangladesh are not based on the needs of the population. Equality in health care expenditure can be achieved by the use of needs-based resource allocation formulae. Applying such methods in Bangladesh can provide an essential guideline to achieve equality in resource allocation. This thesis examines the prospect of developing a needs-based allocation of health care resources. It attempts to address the counterfactual question of what would have been the allocation to each district had the needs of the population been accounted for. Two alternative approaches are considered. The first uses a simple capitation formula in which weights for the adjustment of the current allocation are generated directly based on the relative values of proxies for needs. The second approach predicts adjustment weights from the estimation of a standard econometric model of needs, controlling for a range of determinants including individual, household and district characteristics. Important predictors of current allocation were found to be the number of hospital beds and health workers rather than need factors. Important predictors of needs include demographic and socio-economic characteristics. The findings suggest that a needs-based allocation can be developed for Bangladesh. This research provides an alternative approach to generating weights showing systematic relationships between the need adjustment factors. The robustness of the methods used will be sensitive to the quality of the data and the assumptions of the models. As these approaches are based on sound economic analysis and are open to independent assessment, they will help to inform policy debate and can reduce the influence of politically motivated allocations. A gradual process of implementation and regular review of the methods used would be a way forward. Future areas of research may include: re-analysing data at smaller area level and use of different components of allocations.

Bakgrund: Med grund i finanskrisen år 2008, infördes förordningen European Market Infrastructure Regulation, EMIR, för att öka transparensen och minska motpartsrisken på den europeiska derivatmarkanden. Marknaden påvisar att implementeringen av regelverket har varit problematiskt då regelverket anses vara otydligt formulerat. Enligt undersökningar, ökar transaktionskostnaderna på derivatmarknaden till följd av EMIR. Nya aktörer faller, till följd av regelverket, under Finansinspektionens tillsyn vilket ytterligare bidrar till en implementeringsproblematik värd att analysera. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att utreda och utifrån institutionell teori analysera vilka kostander och problem som uppkommit vid implementeringen av EMIR samt diskutera lösningar för dessa. Genomförande: För att uppnå studiens syfte har författarna använt sig av institutionell teori samt ett kvalitativt tillväggångssätt. Empirin är behandlad med ansats i utredning av den implementeringsproblematik berörda parter upplevt till följd av EMIR. Empirin erhålls genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Med berörda parter avses, i studien, olika intressenter på den marknad som uppstått i och med implementeringen av EMIR. Med teorin som grund kommer olika lösningar på implementeringsproblematiken diskuteras i analysen. Slutsats: Regelverket anses vara otydligt och komplext vilket leder till ökade transaktionskostnader. Flertalet kostnader samt problem har identifierats som framträdande i samband med implementeringen av EMIR. De olika lösningarna som presenteras, förklaras vara olikt beroende på om aktören anses vara större eller mindre på marknaden. Författarna kan slutligen se en långsiktig nytta med EMIR. / Background: Due to the financial crisis of year 2008. European Market Infrastructure Regulation, EMIR, was introduced to increase transparency and reduce the counterparty risk on the European derivatives market. The market demonstrates that the implementation has been problematic and an indistinct designing is expressed. According to studies, increased transaction costs have occurred due to the regulation. Operators that usually not are included by oversight by the Swedish FSA, now are due to EMIR which contributes to an implementation problem essential to analyse. Aim: The aim with the study is to investigate and by institutional theory analyse what costs and problems that occurs at the implementation of EMIR and to discuss solutions for these. Completion: To accomplish the aim of the study, the writers have used institutional theory and a qualitative approach. The empirical data is treated with focus on the implementation problems that affected parts experienced due to EMIR. The empirical data will be concluded with semi – structured interviews. The affected parts, in the study, are different stakeholders on the market that has developed because of the implementation of EMIR. With the theory as background different solutions to the implementation problems will be discussed in the analysis. Conclusion: The regulation is considered to be unclear and complex which results in increased transaction costs. Several costs and problems have been identified in conjunction with the implementation of EMIR. The different solution provided is explained to depend on if the participant is considered a small or a big contestant on the market. The writer can ultimately se a long – term utility with EMIR.

Not available / text

In Chapter 1, I analyze a setting where a pair of retailers which sell unrelated products at the same location (e.g., a strip mall) compete with other retailers located at a different strip mall across town by jointly introducing a bundling discount while independently setting their respective stand-alone prices. Customers who shop from multiple strip malls rather than only one incur additional exogenous shopping costs. I first show that if each retailer chooses a bundling discount non-cooperatively, then the equilibrium bundling discounts will be zero. In contrast, pairs of firms located at the same strip mall always find it profitable to jointly offer positive bundling discounts in order to encourage customer loyalty. Moreover, I demonstrate as a comparative static that as the shopping costs increase, pairs of firms have less incentive to make joint bundling arrangements in equilibrium. If only one pair can introduce a bundling discount, in equilibrium while total industry profit rises, consumer surplus and welfare fall with the increase in shopping costs. When both pairs offer the bundling discounts, all consumers buy a bundle in equilibrium. Thus, the presence of a positive shopping cost does not affect any industry variables in equilibrium except stand-alone equilibrium prices which decrease with the shopping costs so that the standard Hotelling result extends to this case. In Chapter 2, I investigate the effects of shopping costs on the merger incentives of these unrelated retailers in the context of bundling. I demonstrate that contrary to one’s initial conjecture, pairs of firms do not merge to internalize the externalities created by shopping costs and bundling discounts. While consumers are better off with the merger outcome, consumer and total welfare fall significantly when firms stay independent in equilibrium. In Chapter 3, I analyze how legacy carriers and Southwest Airlines respond to the threat of AirTran Airways entry. My estimation results suggest that equilibrium prices of legacy carriers are on average lower in response to the threat of entry by AirTran as expected, whereas those of Southwest are on average higher. This robust result on AirTran and Southwest competition echoes the pricing behavior in the pharmaceutical industry where brand-name prices increase before and after generic entry. The incumbent low cost carrier Southwest, especially with the incapability to further lower its prices significantly, may still find it profitable to capitalize on its loyal price-inelastic (i.e., high-end) customers. Anticipating a definite price cut from AirTran, however, the high-end customers of legacy carriers may be more sensitive to price differentials offered by AirTran relative to the high-end customers of Southwest because of the size of the offer. Hence, legacy carriers, in contrast, simply reduce their prices in response to threat of AirTran entry to keep these valuable customers. / text

Not available / text

This study constructs a two-step model to test the most prominent market timing factors. We decompose equity issuances into 1) firm-specific components, which are predicted by firms’ characteristics, and 2) market-wide components, which are predicted by aggregate time series measures. Our evidence shows that, at the firm level, firms with higher market-to-book ratio, smaller size, more growth opportunities, and fewer tangible assets are more likely to issue equity. At the aggregate level, a greater proportion of firms issue equity in years with higher aggregate market-to-book ratio and lower asymmetric information. After controlling for the aggregate market-to-book ratio and information asymmetry, sentiment has no direct effect on equity issuance. This paper provides direct evidence that firms time their favorable market conditions to reduce adverse selection costs, and to exploit higher individual security valuations or capture growth opportunities.

No description available.

I explore the passage of wrongful discharge laws by U.S. state courts that allow workers to sue employers for unjust dismissal as an exogenous increase in employee firing costs. I find that firms reduce debt ratios following the adoption of these laws, and this result is strongest for subsamples of firms that experience larger increases in expected firing costs. Following the passage of these laws, firms also increase cash holdings, firms save more cash out of cash flows, and investors place a higher value on each additional dollar of cash holdings. Overall, my results indicate that employee firing costs can have an important impact on corporate financial policy decisions.

No description available.