過去數十年來，當社會福利的觀念盛行於歐美各國時，台灣仍處在經濟起飛的階段，為了致力於經濟繁榮而忽略了人民的福祉。近幾年來，台灣的經濟發展已經到達一個穩定的階段，人民在滿足了基本生活需求後，也開始重視自身的福利；促使政府轉而將政策目標集中在社會福利制度的推行。在國外實行了社會福利數十年的今天，累積了許多寶貴的經驗提供台灣在政策制訂上的一個參考，社會福利制度的效益廣及全國大眾，影響層面既深且巨，我國政府在社會福利的推動上面，不可不仔細評估。 政府為了鼓勵人們從事慈善捐贈行為，利用所得稅的扣抵方式使得人民的捐贈價格降低，如此一來，捐贈價格的降低將會提高人們捐贈的誘因。在國外，許多的學者利用所得稅資料庫和家庭收支調查資料庫，針對人們的慈善捐贈動機估計其價格彈性和替代彈性，以驗證政府制訂所得扣抵以提高捐贈誘因的政策有效性；實證結果大多同意所得稅抵減的政策有效性。在台灣，政府的所得稅抵減政策適用對象除了從事慈善捐贈，尚且包括政黨捐贈、私立學校捐贈等各種非慈善捐贈，其政策目的各有不同。因為資料特性的緣故，本文僅利用台灣地區的個人所得稅資料對於台灣地區的慈善捐贈進行價格彈性和所得彈性的估計；並同時對於捐贈的各種誘因進行實證上的分析。 研究結果發現，慈善捐贈價格彈性為-4.0768，相對於國外而言，捐贈價格的變動對於個人的捐贈金額似乎有更大的影響力。當捐贈價格越低，則對於慈善捐贈的誘因確實有提高的效果；是以如果政府致力於社會福利規模的增加，為了能使慈善團體不至於因為經費不足而面臨縮減規模或是關閉的命運，在不增加政府的負擔的情況下，可以租稅減免做為鼓勵的手段以達到鼓勵捐贈的政策目的。 在所得分層估計的實證結果方面，所得介於175,000∼400,000的階層的所得彈性估計值不顯著，其餘的所得階層的所得彈性估計值均為顯著且正向關係，且所得彈性隨著可支配所得越高而隨之提高；再觀察價格彈性，只有可支配所得介於900,000∼1,800,000的樣本其估計值顯著，其餘的所得階層其估計值均不顯著。隨著所得階層越高，其所得彈性彈性隨之提高，反之其價格彈性則相對降低。此估計結果和國外文獻的結果不謀而合。 迴歸式加入其他的列舉扣除一併探討其他列舉扣除額對於慈善捐贈的影響時，發現生育醫療費對於慈善捐贈金額的大小影響並不顯著；而人身保險費則對於慈善捐贈金額的大小有顯著且負向的影響，並且和本文的理論模型結果吻合。 最後在針對納稅義務人從事慈善捐贈與否的二元選擇模型中，結果發現配偶薪資所得對於納稅義務人從事捐贈與否雖然有顯著的結果，但是根據其邊際效果觀之，兩者對於納稅義務人是否慈善捐贈的機率影響不大，年齡和受扶養人數也同樣存在著顯著的結果，相對於配偶和本人薪資所得總額的邊際效果而言，其對於從事慈善捐贈與否的機率影響較大。婚姻狀況是此迴歸模型關注的焦點，結果發現，結婚與否對於納稅義務人從事慈善捐贈與否的確有較大而顯著的影響機率；已婚的納稅義務人較未婚的納稅義務人有較大的機率去選擇從事慈善捐贈行為，其直觀的原因應該是已婚人士的生活穩定，收入來源也較為穩定，心態上和經濟上都較單身者有較大的意願從事慈善捐贈行為。至於捐贈價格對於納稅義務人從事慈善捐贈與否有著極大的邊際效果，也就是說捐贈價格的減少對於人們從事慈善捐贈有著極大的機率，此結果再次印證了政府的所得稅扣抵政策對於鼓勵捐贈的有效性。

Esse trabalho tem como objetivo verificar se o sistema bancário brasileiro protege indivíduos contra os choques transitivos de renda. Por meio de experimentos e avaliação empírica, em pequenas regiões, a literatura tenta explicar como arranjos informais podem contornar os problemas de crédito causados por falhas informacionais e de comprometimento limitado. No entanto, falha em avaliar choques que afetam uma região geográfica ampla já que esses são comportados apenas por bancos. Através de um modelo de dois estágios com variação de renda instrumentalizada por variáveis climáticas, analisamos se existe um efeito significante entre os choques e as contas de crédito das instituições formais. Verificamos que os agentes usam poupança como meio principal de suavizar seu risco intertemporal. As contas de crédito, entretanto possuem um efeito distinto em municípios com mais desenvolvimento financeiro do que aqueles com menos. Isso indica que possuímos uma restrição de crédito para parte da população, deixando-a exposta ao seu risco. / This work aims to verify whether the Brazilian banking system protects individuals against transitive income shocks. Through experiments and empirical evaluation in small regions, literature tries to explain how informal arrangements can overcome credit problems caused by informational failures and limited commitment. But they fail to evaluate shocks that affect a broad geographic region that can only be dealt with banks. Through a two-stage model with varying income instrumentalized by climatic variables, we analyze whether there is a significant effect between shocks and credit accounts of formal institutions. We verify that agents use savings as the primary means of smoothing their intertemporal risk. The credit accounts however have a distinct effect in counties with more financial development than the ones with the least. This indicates that we have a credit crunch for a portion of the population, leaving it exposed to their risk.

This study investigates the linkage between long-run and short-run dynamics of exchange rate determination for the German mark/U.S. dollar quarterly rate for the period 1973-1990. Earlier investigations failed to explicitly take into account the possible nonstationarity of the data set they were using. This study continues the work performed in this area by applying modern econometric techniques to empirical tests of the Dornbusch model. In essence, this study revives the monetary model and determines if the empirical analysis using the German/U.S. case derives elements which are compatible with the monetary theory of exchange rate determination.

The primary task of this paper is to test the interactive relations between tax rates at municipality level. We include 96 municipalities between the years 2006 to 2013.   The relations are estimated by panel data instrumental variable estimation method with fixed effect for overcoming the possible specific error of simultaneity. In addition, we choose a set of control variables to strength our analysis. The main findings of this study suggest, one percent tax cut in the neighboring municipality leads to a 0,62 percent decrease in the tax in the home municipality ceteris paribus. This result is in line with theory and is similar to findings in previous studies such as Edmark and Åhgren (2008).

Esse trabalho tem como objetivo verificar se o sistema bancário brasileiro protege indivíduos contra os choques transitivos de renda. Por meio de experimentos e avaliação empírica, em pequenas regiões, a literatura tenta explicar como arranjos informais podem contornar os problemas de crédito causados por falhas informacionais e de comprometimento limitado. No entanto, falha em avaliar choques que afetam uma região geográfica ampla já que esses são comportados apenas por bancos. Através de um modelo de dois estágios com variação de renda instrumentalizada por variáveis climáticas, analisamos se existe um efeito significante entre os choques e as contas de crédito das instituições formais. Verificamos que os agentes usam poupança como meio principal de suavizar seu risco intertemporal. As contas de crédito, entretanto possuem um efeito distinto em municípios com mais desenvolvimento financeiro do que aqueles com menos. Isso indica que possuímos uma restrição de crédito para parte da população, deixando-a exposta ao seu risco. / This work aims to verify whether the Brazilian banking system protects individuals against transitive income shocks. Through experiments and empirical evaluation in small regions, literature tries to explain how informal arrangements can overcome credit problems caused by informational failures and limited commitment. But they fail to evaluate shocks that affect a broad geographic region that can only be dealt with banks. Through a two-stage model with varying income instrumentalized by climatic variables, we analyze whether there is a significant effect between shocks and credit accounts of formal institutions. We verify that agents use savings as the primary means of smoothing their intertemporal risk. The credit accounts however have a distinct effect in counties with more financial development than the ones with the least. This indicates that we have a credit crunch for a portion of the population, leaving it exposed to their risk.

This thesis compares different theoretical principles concerning the relationship between minimum wages and unemployment. In the empirical part examines the impact of minimum wages on unemployment in the Czech Republic for the period 1994 - 2012. The results of the econometric analysis indicate that the minimum wage significantly affects unemployment. I conclude that a 1% increase in the real minimum wage compared to the previous year will result in approximately a 0.17% increase in the unemployment rate for workers with at most primary education compared to the previous year and approximately 0.07% increase in the unemployment rate of men compared to previous year. Based on the extension of the basic models is rejected that the minimum wage statistically negatively influenced overall unemployment, unemployment of women and unemployment of workers under 25 years.

In this work, we look into the practical applicability of three joint quantile and expected shortfall regression backtests. The strict, auxiliary, and intercept ESR backtests are applied to the historical log returns of the OMX Stockholm 30 market-weight price index. We estimate the conditional variance using GARCH models for various rolling window lengths and refitting frequencies. We are particularly interested in the rejection rates of the one-sided intercept ESR backtest as it is comparable to the current standard of backtests. The one-sided test is found to perform well when the conditional variance is estimated by either the GARCH(1,1), GJR-GARCH(1,1), or EGARCH(1,1) coupled with student’s t-innovation residuals and a rolling window size of 1000 days.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo a avaliação de um software comercial de roteirização de veículos. Tal software, o Delivery, se propõe a ser uma ferramenta de apoio à decisão na escolha da rotina operacional de coleta e/ou distribuição física de produtos, através da criação de roteiros alternativos, o que possibilita analisar a viabilidade de implantação da rotina operacional. A proposta original consistia em desenvolver uma metodologia para testar e avaliar a qualidade das soluções geradas pelo algoritmo deste sistema. O trabalho foi conduzido através de uma pesquisa bibliográfica dos problemas clássicos de roteirização e programação de veículos, abordando suas classificações, estratégias e técnicas de solução. Um estudo em empresas que utilizam procedimentos sistemáticos de roteirização foi realizado, com a intenção de caracterizar o cenário em que se desenvolve a atividade de distribuição física. Neste estudo foi possível identificar as características mais relevantes para sistemas comerciais de roteirização de veículos, bem como caracterizar os software utilizados pelas empresas em questão. Finalmente, realizou-se uma análise empírica comparativa entre os software Delivery e TransCAD através da aplicação de problemas testes encontrados na literatura que representam algumas classes do problema de roteirização de veículos, além da aplicação de um caso real. Resultados demonstraram que a heurística do software TransCAD apresenta melhor desempenho que a do software Delivery. / The aim of this work is to evaluate a commercial computer program for vehicle routing. The software, named Delivery, has been designed to be a decision-support tool for planning goods collection and/or distribution. Its capacity for creating several alternative routes is very useful in the analysis of possible operational schemes before their actual implementation. A methodology for testing and evaluating the quality of the solution generated by the algorithm has been applied in this work, after a comprehensive literature review of the traditional vehicle routing and scheduling problems, their classification, and solution techniques and strategies. A field study in some companies that actually use a similar tool for routing their fleets has been carried out, in order to better understand how the activity is performed in real world conditions. The most important characteristics of commercial vehicle routing systems has been also identified in the field study, as well as the software used by the studied companies. Finally, a comparative empirical analysis with the software Delivery and TransCAD has been carried out. In order to compare them, test problems available in the literature, that correspond to some of the most common vehicle routing problems, and a real case application were employed. The results have shown that the heuristic of TransCAD had a better performance than the one used in Delivery.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo a avaliação de um software comercial de roteirização de veículos. Tal software, o Delivery, se propõe a ser uma ferramenta de apoio à decisão na escolha da rotina operacional de coleta e/ou distribuição física de produtos, através da criação de roteiros alternativos, o que possibilita analisar a viabilidade de implantação da rotina operacional. A proposta original consistia em desenvolver uma metodologia para testar e avaliar a qualidade das soluções geradas pelo algoritmo deste sistema. O trabalho foi conduzido através de uma pesquisa bibliográfica dos problemas clássicos de roteirização e programação de veículos, abordando suas classificações, estratégias e técnicas de solução. Um estudo em empresas que utilizam procedimentos sistemáticos de roteirização foi realizado, com a intenção de caracterizar o cenário em que se desenvolve a atividade de distribuição física. Neste estudo foi possível identificar as características mais relevantes para sistemas comerciais de roteirização de veículos, bem como caracterizar os software utilizados pelas empresas em questão. Finalmente, realizou-se uma análise empírica comparativa entre os software Delivery e TransCAD através da aplicação de problemas testes encontrados na literatura que representam algumas classes do problema de roteirização de veículos, além da aplicação de um caso real. Resultados demonstraram que a heurística do software TransCAD apresenta melhor desempenho que a do software Delivery. / The aim of this work is to evaluate a commercial computer program for vehicle routing. The software, named Delivery, has been designed to be a decision-support tool for planning goods collection and/or distribution. Its capacity for creating several alternative routes is very useful in the analysis of possible operational schemes before their actual implementation. A methodology for testing and evaluating the quality of the solution generated by the algorithm has been applied in this work, after a comprehensive literature review of the traditional vehicle routing and scheduling problems, their classification, and solution techniques and strategies. A field study in some companies that actually use a similar tool for routing their fleets has been carried out, in order to better understand how the activity is performed in real world conditions. The most important characteristics of commercial vehicle routing systems has been also identified in the field study, as well as the software used by the studied companies. Finally, a comparative empirical analysis with the software Delivery and TransCAD has been carried out. In order to compare them, test problems available in the literature, that correspond to some of the most common vehicle routing problems, and a real case application were employed. The results have shown that the heuristic of TransCAD had a better performance than the one used in Delivery.

This thesis aims to study the theoretical complexity and empirical performance of decomposition algorithms. We focus on linear programs with a block-angular structure. Decomposition algorithms used to be the only way to solve large-scale special structured problems, in terms of memory limit and CPU time. However, with the advances in computer technology over the past few decades, many large-scale problems can now be solved simply by using some general purpose LP software, without exploiting the problems' inner structures. A question arises naturally, should we solve a structured problem with decomposition, or directly solve it as a whole? We try to understand how a problem's characteristics influence its computational performance, and compare the relative efficiency of algorithms with and without decomposition. Two comparisons are conducted in our research: first, the Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition method (DW) versus the simplex method (simplex); second, the analytic center cutting plane method (ACCPM) versus the interior point method (IPM). These comparisons fall into the two main solution approaches in linear programming: simplex-based algorithms and IPM-based algorithms. Motivated by our observations of ACCPM and DW decomposition, we devise a hybrid algorithm combining ACCPM and DW, which are the counterparts of IPM and simplex in the decomposition framework, to take the advantages of both: the quick convergence rate of IPM-based methods, as well as the accuracy of simplex-based algorithms. A large set of 316 instances is incorporated in our experiments, so that different dimensioned problems with primal or dual block-angular structures are covered to test our conclusions.