Magister Legum - LLM / South Africa

Magister Legum - LLM / South Africa

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil

Magister Legum - LLM

Taxation and tax evasion is an observable fact that occurs in all societies. In South Africa, tax evasion is one of the most sinister forms of crime and millions of rands are sidetracked by tax criminals. Studies from various countries indicate that it is not unusual for about half of the possible tax revenues to remain uncollected. Tax evasion is not something that is restricted to poor third world countries, it is a global phenomenon that has been there from the time tax was invented and will in all likelihood be with us until the end of time. Tax evasion is an intricate and overall hidden behaviour, but it has significant social and economic consequences. Taking this into consideration almost anything could influence the taxpayer’s decision to evade tax or not. The decision to comply with tax laws or to evade tax depends on various internal and external factors with regard to the taxpayer and this may differ from person to person. This study discusses the various factors influencing the taxpayer’s decision to comply with tax legislation, and whether these factors differ or correlate in developed and developing countries. Firstly, the factors influencing tax evasion in the United States of America and Switzerland were determined, after which the factors influencing tax evasion in South Africa and Brazil were determined. Secondly, the factors in the developed countries were compared to those in developing countries. Lastly these comparisons were analysed and they determined whether there were any major differences between the factors influencing tax evasion in developed and developing countries. AFRIKAANS : Belasting en belastingontduiking is ‘n waarneembare feit wat in alle samelewings voorkom. Belastingontduiking is een van die mees ernstige vorme van misdaad in Suid-Afrika en miljoene rande word deur belastingontduikers gesteel. Studies vanuit verskillende lande dui daarop dat dit nie ongewoon is dat omtrent die helfte van die moontlike belasting- inkomste nie ingevorder word nie. Belastingontduiking is nie beperk tot arm derdewêreldlande nie, dit is 'n wêreldwye verskynsel, en was daar van die tyd dat belasting uitgevind is en sal in alle waarskynlikheid met ons wees tot aan die einde van tyd. Belastingontduiking is 'n ingewikkelde en grootliks verborge gedrag, maar dit het belangrike sosiale en ekonomiese gevolge. Met dit ingedagte kan byna enigiets die belastingbetaler se besluit beïnvloed om belasting te ontduik of nie. Die besluit om aan belastingwetgewing te voldoen of om belasting te ontduik hang af van verskeie interne en eksterne faktore met betrekking tot die belastingbetaler en verskil waarskynlik van persoon tot persoon. Hierdie studie bespreek die verskillende faktore wat die belastingbetaler se besluit om aan belastingwetgewing te voldoen beïnvloed, en of hierdie faktore verskil of korreleer tussen ontwikkelde en ontwikkelende lande. Eerstens was die doel van die studie om die faktore wat belastingontduiking in die Verenigde State van Amerika en Switserland beïnvloed te bepaal, gevolg deur die bepaling van die faktore wat belastingontduiking in Suid-Afrika en Brasilië beïnvloed. Tweedens is die faktore in ontwikkelde lande met dié in ontwikkelende lande vergelyk. Laastens is hierdie vergelykings ontleed om te bepaal of daar groot verskille is tussen die faktore wat belastingontduiking beïnvloed in ontwikkelde lande in vergelyking met ontwikkelende lande. Copyright 2011, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Venter, JH 2011, Factors influencing tax evasion, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03062012-153138 / > F12/4/149/gm / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Taxation / unrestricted

Research studies on portfolio diversification have tended to focus on developed markets and paid less attention to emerging markets. Traditionally, correlation analysis has been used to determine potential benefits from diversification but current studies have shifted focus from correlation analysis to exploring cointegration analysis and other forms of tests such as the Vector Error Correction Methodology. The research seeks to find if it is beneficial for a South African investor to diversify their portfolio of emerging market equities over a long-term period. Daily weighted share indices for the period of January 1996 to November 2008 were collected and analysed through the application of the Johansen cointegration technique and Vector Error Correction Methodology. Granger Causality tests were also performed to established whether one variable can be useful in forecasting another variable. The study found that there was at least one statistically significant long-run relationship between the emerging markets. After testing for unit roots for all the share indices and their first difference using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test (ADF), Philips-Perron and Kwiatkowski, Phillips, Schmidt, and Shin (KPSS) unit root tests, similar conclusions were m~de. All the unit root tests and their levels could not be rejected for all the series. However, unit root tests on the first differences were rejected, meaning that all series are of order 1(1) - evidence of cointegration. Simply put, emerging markets tend not to drift apart over time. This suggests that emerging markets offer limited benefits to investors who are looking to add some risk to their portfolios. In addition, the study also found evidence of both unidirectional and bidirectional causality (Granger-Cause tests) between markets. This implies that the conditions for a particular market are exogenous of the other market. The study concludes that emerging markets are gradually adopting the same profile as developed markets.

Le rôle économique de l’État fait l’objet de nombreuses controverses autant dans le cadre théorique que du point de vue pratique. Les acteurs de ces controverses sont les objecteurs de l’efficacité de l’intervention publique depuis Smith à nos jours, les keynésiens et les économistes de la synthèse néo-classique. Divers thèmes allant du principe de la main invisible, de l’impôt, des anticipations, du fardeau de la dette, de l’effet d’éviction, de la production de biens publics sont questionnés à travers de tels débats. Le travail explique la ventilation des composantes des dépenses publiques et leurs conséquences suivant le développement (OCDE, BRICS et UEMOA). L’étude montre également que les effets des dépenses publiques et de leurs composantes sur l’activité économique sont différents suivant le niveau de revenu des pays. Enfin, ce travail de recherche suggère que la taille optimale des dépenses publiques et celle de leurs composantes sont une fonction croissante du niveau de développement à l’exception des dépenses militaires. / The economic role of the State has been the subject of much debate both from theoretical and the practical perspectives. The actors of these controversies include the objectors of the efficiency of the public intervention since Smith to the present days, Keynesians and economists of the synthesis. Topics ranging from principle of the invisible hand, tax, expectations, burden of the debt, crowding out effect, public sector production are treated through of such debates. The work explains the breakdown of public spending components and implications for countries at levels development (OECD, BRICS, and WAEMU). The study also indicated that the effects of the public spending and its components on the economic activity are different according countries’ stage of development. A lastly, research work suggests that the optimal size of the public spending and its components are an increasing function of the level of development with the exception of military expenditures.

Du GATT de 1947 à l’OMC, l’encadrement juridique de l’agriculture demeure un processus difficile et laborieux tant dans ses aspects processuels, normatifs qu’institutionnels. Le cadre décisionnel de l’OMC marqué du sceau du « consensus », peine à instituer un cadre normatif satisfaisant. De plus, la conclusion d’un Accord global sur les politiques agricoles est retardée par des stratégies de blocage ou des coalitions de circonstance lors des négociations multilatérales successives. La question agricole se retrouve donc coincée entre des enjeux nationaux et des logiques d’économie politique que ni le droit positif de l’OMC, ni les processus décisionnels en vigueur à l’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce ne parviennent à résorber. Par ailleurs, le processus de démantèlement des barrières tarifaires a laissé place à des politiques nationales de subventionnement massif que les accords sur l’agriculture et celui sur les subventions et mesures compensatoires tentent en vain d’endiguer. Cette thèse jette donc un regard critique sur ce phénomène à travers une réflexion approfondie du statut juridique de l’agriculture en général et du traitement particulier des subventions agricoles. De cette analyse, il ressort que l’impasse de Doha relève d’une triple carence du système de régulation des subventions agricoles. D’abord, une carence du cadre normatif découlant du « péché originel » de l’exception agricole largement décrite dans la première partie de la thèse. Ensuite, et telles que décrites dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, une carence institutionnelle relevant de l’inadaptation de l’architecture de l’OMC, principalement le processus décisionnel face au phénomène du subventionnement agricole et une carence structurelle liée au déroulement des négociations multilatérales. La thèse démontre donc que cette triple carence explique pourquoi il demeure difficile au processus de Doha de déboucher sur des engagements contraignants en terme d’élimination des subventions agricoles et en terme de politiques de développement favorables aux PED et PMA. La thèse démontre aussi que l’impuissance du « système OMC » face aux divergences agricoles animées notamment par les États-Unis, l’UE, le groupe de Cairns et le groupe africain sur le coton découle de cette triple carence. Prospectivement, il s’est donc avéré nécessaire de formuler des alternatives nouvelles reposant sur l’introduction des logiques d’efficacité lors de l’élaboration et de l’application des mesures anti-subvention ainsi que dans les techniques de négociations commerciales multilatérales. / From GATT 1947 to WTO, the legal framework of agriculture remains a difficult and laborious process in its procedural aspects as well as in its normative and institutional ones. The decision framework of the WTO is marked by the seal of "consensus" and hardly allows to establish a satisfactory regulatory framework. A comprehensive agreement on agricultural policy has been postponed by blocking strategies or ad hoc coalitions at the critical times of the successive multilateral negotiations. Therefore, the agricultural question is being smothered by national issues and the logic of political economy which neither positive law of the WTO, nor the decision-making processes in force at the World Trade Organization have been able to resorb. The process of dismantling trade barriers has given way to national policies of massive subsidizing that the agreements on Agriculture and on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures have tried to stem in vain. This thesis reviews this phenomenon with a critical eye through an extensive consideration of the legal status of agriculture in general and the special treatment of agricultural subsidies. This analysis shows that the dead-end situation in the Doha negotiations result from a triple deficiency of the regulatory system on agricultural subsidies: (1) a deficiency of the regulatory framework resulting from the "original sin" of the agricultural exception, (2) an institutional deficiency coming from the inadequacy of the architecture of the WTO, mainly the decision-making process in relation to the phenomenon of agricultural subsidies and (3) a structural deficiency related to the conduct of the multilateral negotiations. This thesis demonstrates that these three deficiencies explain why it remains difficult for the process of Doha to bring binding commitments on the elimination of agricultural subsidies and development policies which would favour of developing countries and LDCs. The thesis also reveals that the inability of the "WTO system" to cope with diverging views over agriculture mainly livened up by the United States, the EU, the Cairns Group and the African Group on cotton results from those three deficiencies. A prospective analysis leads to the formulation of new alternative solutions based on the introduction of logics of efficiency in the elaboration and application of anti subsidy measures altogether with multilateral trade negotiation techniques.

Orientador: Leandro Gobbo Braz / Resumo: Braghiroli KS. Mortalidade perioperatória e por fator anestésico em pacientes geriátricos: revisão sistemática com metanálise e análise de metarregressão [tese]. Botucatu. Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Estadual Paulista; 2020. Introdução: o número de procedimentos anestésico-cirúrgicos está aumentando nos pacientes geriátricos, pois este grupo etário está em aumento progressivo dentro da população mundial. A presente revisão comparou as incidências de mortalidade perioperatória e mortalidade por fator anestésico em pacientes geriátricos de acordo com o IDH (Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano) dos países e com o tempo. Métodos: realizou-se uma revisão sistemática de estudos observacionais da literatura mundial sobre as incidências de mortalidade perioperatória e mortalidade por fator anestésico em pacientes geriátricos. Para a estratégia de busca, foram utilizadas as seguintes bases de dados até 30 de setembro de 2019: Medline, Embase, LILACS e SciELO. Foi utilizado o teste estatístico de Freeman-Turkey e um modelo de efeito randômico para comparar com a metanálise proporcional a incidência de mortalidade perioperatória e mortalidade por fator anestésico, de acordo com o IDH dos países (alto e baixo-IDH) e o período de tempo (pré-1990 e versus 1990-2019). Utilizou-se um modelo de efeito fixo para a análise de metarregressão, analisando-se a incidência de mortalidade perioperatória e mortalidade por fator anestésico ao longo do tempo e do IDH dos países. Resultados: foram i... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Braghiroli KS. Anesthesia-related and perioperative mortality in geriatric patients according country Human Development Index status: a systematic review with meta-regression and meta-analysis [Ph.D. thesis]. Botucatu: Medical School, São Paulo State University; 2020. Background: There is an increase in anesthetic procedures performed in geriatric patients, since the worldwide population is ageing. This is the first review of the literature related to global perioperative and anesthesia-related mortality rates in older patients according to country Human Developed Index (HDI) status and time. Methods: A systematic review was performed to identify worldwide observational studies in which older patients were submitted to anesthesia with perioperative and/or anesthesia-related mortality rates. Databases searches of Medline, Embase, LILACS and SciELO from inception to September 30th, 2019. We applied Freeman-Turkey transformation and a random-effects model to perform proportion meta-analysis to compare perioperative and anesthesia-related mortality in low- and high-HDI and in two time periods (pre-1990 versus 1990-2019). Perioperative and anesthesia-related mortality rates were analyzed by time and country HDI status using a fixed-effects model to perform meta-regression. Results: Twenty-five studies from 12 countries fulfilled the inclusion criteria with more than 4 million anesthetic procedures administered to older patients undergoing anesthesia. In high-HDI countries, the rat... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

The purpose of this research is to assess the impact of Chinese acquisitions on Italian target firm performance, and explore which characteristics of the acquirer can determine a change of it. First, a Paired-Samples T-test has been applied to appreciate the difference between pre-and post-acquisition performance on 27 sample companies. Secondly, through an OLS regression, the impact of the Chinese acquirers’ characteristics on the performance of Italian target companies has been estimated for the year 2018. In addition, two interviews with managers from one sample company were carried out to complement the quantitative findings with qualitative insight. The results show that the performance of Italian target companies did not change significantly after the acquisition-at least not in the time span of 3 years used for the analysis- in terms of: profitability, solvency and growth. However, job creation slightly increased following the takeover. Furthermore, our findings indicate that, among the Influential factors examined, Chinese acquirers’ prior M&amp;Aexperience in developed countries and the level of relatedness have a significant and positive impact on the performance of Italian target sampled companies. Whereas, being acquired by a Chinese SOE or POE seems to not affect the performance. Lastly, another influential factor raised by our respondents resulted to be the integration strategy implemented by the Chinese acquirer.Indeed, choosing the appropriate integration strategy for the two entities can be crucial for the acquisition success, and ultimately, for the future performance of the target.