No description available.

The aim of the present study is to investigate how and why a country facing issues that needed to be tackled nationwide chose to decentralise political power and financial resources when it moved from military rule to redemocratisation. Furthermore, the study examines whether the decision to decentralise taken in Brazil in the period 1981-1991 has changed the allocation of public expenditure at sub-national level, especially to education. By analysing the decision to decentralise and its results at the sub-national level, the study embodies both an upstream and a downstream approach. The upstream approach encompasses the topics related to decentralisation in the Brazilian Constituent National Assembly that sat from 1987 to 1988. Research sources are based on the archives of the Constituent National Assembly and on interviews with key political leaders in Congress and practitioners. The decision to decentralise is analysed in three dimensions: the relationship between political parties and the State; intra- and inter-party competition; and regional cleavages. The downstream approach comprises three case studies: the state of Bahia, its capital, Salvador, and its most industrialised municipality, Camacari. The political analysis is based on (a) interviews with politicians in executive and in legislative positions, and officials and (b) newspaper material as a complementary source. The financial performance is based on the analysis of expenditure extracted from balance sheets. This study fills four gaps in political-science and public-administration works on contemporary Brazil First, it deepens the understanding of how and why Brazil became such a decentralised nation. Second, it links the analysis of political and financial resources. Third, it highlights differences between levels of government in their experiences with decentralisation. Fourth, it investigates the impact of decentralisation on political arrangements and on education expenditure. The results suggest that in Brazil there was a lack of social consensus on what was to be achieved by decentralisation. They suggest that decentralisation fosters democracy but its impacts on policy results have so far been limited. The evidence further implies that decentralisation and democratisation bring about a fragmentation of power without necessarily disintegrating previous political coalitions or changing the way public resources are spent. These findings indicate that various political and economic factors influence the outcomes of decentralisation, thus exposing the limits of decentralisation on policy results.

No description available.

Abstract Aim The aim of the study was to examine the capability of accelerometers to estimate energy expenditure during high-intensity complex physical activity patterns. Also, to investigate whether placing the monitor on the hip or wrist influenced its prediction ability. Furthermore, the purpose was also to evaluate if there was a significant difference in the aforementioned estimations using data from one axis compared to all three axis combined.     Method A total of 14 subjects, eight men and six women, mean (SD) age of 26, 4 (5,5) years were recruited for the study. The participants performed standardised aerobic exercise while accelerometer data and oxygen uptake was measured simultaneously. Two triaxial accelerometers (Actigraph GT3X) were worn on the hip and wrist during the experiment. Indirect calorimetry, using Oxycon mobile, was chosen as the criterion measure. Validity was determined by comparing accelerometer counts with estimated energy expenditure (EE) in kcal/min, derived from measured oxygen consumption, using bivariate Pearson correlation, linear regression and stepwise regression analyses. Equations were calculated using each participant’s individual regression analyses.   Results The experiment reveals that GT3x presents a moderate correlation (r= 0, 47) for estimating EE from aerobics when worn on the hip and a weak correlation (r = 0.34) when worn on the wrist. However, when combined with the body mass variable, a strong correlation was found between accelerometer data for the hip and EE (r= 0.73). At both positions the vector magnitude (r = 0.47 for the hip and r = 0.34 for the wrist) yielded stronger correlations compared to just using the Y-axis (r = 0.15 for the hip and r= 0.08 for the wrist).     Conclusions In conclusion, this study found that GT3x was not particularly valid for assessing energy expenditure in high intensity complex activities. Wearing the accelerometer on the hip yielded higher correlations compared to wearing it on the wrist. When using the accelerometer for estimations of EE the Vector magnitude is to prefer before the Y-axis solely.

No description available.

This study investigates the determinants of the structure of public budgets in Africa using a panel econometrics approach. Data for 28 countries was collected covering the period 1995-2004. The determinants of the spending behaviour of these governments are analysed with the specific objectives to: identify the factors that determine the structure of government spending; identify a framework that explains the structure of government spending; specify and estimate a model that explains the allocation of the public budget and finally, to make policy recommendations on the basis of the findings. A number of hypotheses are tested, namely: an increase in the level of corruption would tilt the budget allocation towards sectors such as defence and general public services; an increase in the level of political instability would cause a shift in the budget allocation to sectors that seek to secure government’s political power; an increase in political liberty results in a shift in the budget towards those sectors favouring citizens’ preferences, such as education, health and social security and services; an increase in the public debt leads to a shift in the budget towards expenditure on economic services; and the mere presence of International Monetary Fund (IMF)-supported programmes in a country plays an instrumental role in the distribution of the budget. The main findings are the following: The proportions of the public budget devoted to education, health and public services had been on an upward trend during the period 1995-2004 while that of defence and ‘other’ remained high but declined. The share of the public budget allocated to economic services remained large but showed substantial volatility. On average, general public service expenditures account for the largest share of the public budget, while health and social welfare services account for the lowest share. The results show that corruption is associated with high levels of general public services and ‘other spending while it is negatively correlated to education, health and social welfare spending. Evidence to support the notion that high levels of corruption are associated with large budget allocations to the economic services category seems to be ambiguous. Also, the findings on the role of corruption in twisting the budget towards higher levels of expenditure on defence are not conclusive which contradicts the findings of similar studies. Furthermore, countries that suffer from political instability tend to allocate a larger slice of their budgets to the general public services and defence spending categories while countries that are politically stable tend to allocate more of their budgets to the education and social welfare sectors. However, there is no strong evidence to support the role of political instability in health spending. It is found that in those countries where human rights are acknowledged and the political process is more transparent, a larger share of the budget is allocated to social welfare spending. The role of IMF programmes in budget allocation reveals that countries that have implemented IMF programmes tend to allocate less of their budgets to defence and ‘other’ spending while increasing the budget allocation to education, health, social welfare and economic services. Furthermore, the budget allocation to general public services is shown to be affected by changes in the IMF programmes. Also, irrespective of the corruption status of a country, the IMF programmes tend to cause spending to move away from defence. In the case of education spending, it is found that countries that are exposed to IMF programmes tend to allocate a larger share of their budgets to education than those countries without such programmes. Budget priorities of neighbouring countries with regard to defence expenditure positively affect a home country’s defence budget allocation. This is also true with regard to the number of military personnel per capita of the population which is found to correlate positively with the share of defence expenditure in the budget. Lastly, the coefficient of public debt is unambiguously positive in the economic services and health expenditure categories which may suggest that countries that have high levels of public debt tend to allocate more resources to these sectors. Based on these findings an ‘ideal’ distribution of a budget based on the economically most successful countries in Africa is proposed. According to this framework it is ideal, in the African context, to allocate not more than 21 per cent of the public budget to general public services; 8 per cent to defence and 18 per cent to ‘other’ spending. A minimum of 18 per cent should be allocated to education; 10 per cent to health; 11 per cent to social welfare and 18 per cent to economic services. For policy purposes the following are noted: Firstly, for an ‘ideal’ budget allocation to be achieved in the African context, measures must be put in place to control the level of corruption. These may include the following: <ol> <li>Anti-corruption legislation: Countries that have legislated anticorruption laws should ensure that they enforce these laws.</li> <li>Public officers’ ethics law: Countries that have not legislated laws relating to a code of ethics for public officials are recommended to do so. Such laws would include requiring public officers to declare their wealth and to disclose any interests that they may have in private investments.</li> <li>Anti-corruption institutions: Existing institutions such as parliamentary committees on public finance and investment should be strengthened and if non-existent should be established and entrenched in the constitutions of the respective countries.</li></ol> Secondly, to ensure optimal public choice that reflects the preferences of the citizens, the government should ensure that political stability is a high priority on its development agenda. Governments should establish early warning systems to enable them to address instability before it degenerates into civil unrest and war. Measures to deal with any instability should be put into place, for example the parties involved in a conflict should be brought together in order that they may enter into a dialogue. At the continental level, peace efforts under the African Union (AU) should be encouraged to ensure that problems on the continent can be resolved by its leaders without recourse to outside support. Thirdly, accountability is also important in the internal allocation of the budget. Governments must be informed about collective and individual needs, listen to the voice of the public and embrace transparency and true accountability to its citizens. This can be achieved through: <ol><li>Government openness with regard to its fiscal policies.</li> <li> The establishment of information and communication offices where anyone seeking information regarding public matters can get assistance.</li> <li> The retraining of the police and other security personnel on matters related to public relations since, in Africa, many of the human rights abuses are committed by the police.</li></ol> / Thesis (PhD (Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Economics / PhD / unrestricted

This dissertation examines the tax treatment of interest incurred in financing mining capital expenditure. The capital expenditure under consideration is shaft-sinking and mining equipment. The reason for concern as regards this form of capital expenditure lies in the provisions of section 36(11)(a) of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (‘the Act’). This provision counteracts section 15(a) read with sections 36(7E) and 36(7F) promulgated to encourage investment in mining through the immediate redemption of capital expenditure. Although mining companies generally finance shaft sinking and the acquisition of mining equipment, interest or finance charges are not capital expenditure for the purposes of section 36 of the Act. The study finds that on the basis of the exclusion referred to above, interest or finance charges cannot be deducted in terms of section 15(a) of the Act, against income earned from mining operations. The study, however, finds that section 11(a) or section 24J of the Act, can be relied on to deduct interest incurred to finance shaft-sinking and mine equipment. In order to rely on section 11(a), the interest or finance charges must have been incurred, but not however necessarily, by a person conducting trade for the production of income. It must further not be capital in nature. In contrast, section 24J(2), requires a person who is conducting trade to have incurred the interest in the production of income – there is no requirement that it must not be of a capital nature. Section 24JA works hand-in-hand with section 24J in that any amount deemed as interest in terms of a diminishing musharaka or murabaha arrangement, can be deducted against income under section 24J(2). The study recommends that section 36(11)(a) be amended by including interest or finance as capital expenditure. If this is done mining operators will no longer have to use sections 11(a) or 24J – provisions which fall outside of the mining tax regime – to claim a deduction. Amending section 36(11) would ensure that interest or finance charges are fully deductible against mining income because a deduction under section 11(a) or 24J(2) depends on the quantum of non-mining income. The study concludes that this recommendation is unlikely to be considered as the 2016 Davis Tax Committee Report on Hard Rock Mining recommended to the Minister of Finance that the entire mining tax regime be scrapped and that the taxation of mining be aligned with the tax regime for manufacturing. / Mini Dissertation (LLM (Tax Law))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Mercantile Law / LLM (Tax Law) / Unrestricted

The overarching aim of this study is to examine the significance of public expenditure management (PEM) for primary education outcomes in public schools in two South African provinces (Gauteng and North West). The study examines whether technical and allocative inefficiencies in public spending have a significant impact on education outcomes (measured by pass, repetition and dropout rates). In doing so, the study makes an important contribution to the economics of education literature, where the determinants of good education outcomes remain ambiguous. Using cross-sectional data from 175 public primary schools, the study finds evidence of technical inefficiencies in terms of misappropriation of education funds (leakages) and delays in remitting funds. While the occurrences of leakages are not strongly associated with poor education outcomes, the study finds a strong positive correlation between delays and Grade 1 repetition. In terms of allocative efficiency, the study finds no evidence that public expenditure is significantly associated with education outcomes. This remains true for public spending even when the redistributive component (the disproportional allocation of funds to disadvantaged schools) is taken into account. Total resource wealth (including public and private contributions) only matters when interacted with certain poverty quintiles and class sizes. The findings from the OLS and negative binomial regression analyses reveal that increased spending on learning and teaching support (LTSM) materials is strongly associated with lower Grade 1 repetition rates. The relationship is even stronger when LTSM spending is interacted with socio-economic status. The study also finds that repetition rates are strongly driven by poverty indicators at the district level while dropout rates are strongly driven by district and school inefficiency

The aim of this diploma thesis is to evaluate the capital expenditures of regions in terms of their volume, structure and dynamics. Data analysis of 13 regions of the Czech Republic for the period 2002 to 2016 was carried out to determine the determinants of expenditure behaviour of local self-governing units. The explained variable was the amount of capital expenditures of regions per inhabitant. Through a panel regression, 5 key factors influencing regional capital expenditures were identified. The capital expenditures of the regions in the previous year, the amount of tax revenues of the previous year, non-tax revenues and received transfers of the current year, and finally the level of indebtedness of the region, were confirmed as significant. The other tested factors did not appear to be statistically significant.

This thesis consists of three essays on the economics of education and migration. The first essay analyzes the effects of remittances on public education spending in migrants’ source countries. The second essay studies the impact of migration on public education expenditures in migrants’ destination countries. The third essay investigates the effects of public education expenditures on subsequent human capital inequality.