Thesis (M.A. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This dissertation comprises two essays that attempt to determine, empirically, the fiscal response of governments’ to international assistance. The first essay examines whether an increasingly popular recommendation in international aid policy to switch from tied foreign assistance to untied foreign assistance affects investment in critical development expenditure sectors by developing countries. In the past, most international aid has been in the form of tied assistance as donors believed that tying aid will improve its effectiveness. It has been argued, that if tied aid is well designed and effectively managed then its overall effectiveness can be improved. On the contrary, it is also believed that tied aid acts as an impediment to donor cooperation and the building of partnership with developing countries. In addition, it is also argued that it removes the ‘feeling’ of ownership and responsibility of projects from partner countries in aid supported development. Two other more popular arguments used to challenge the effectiveness of foreign aid is that it is compromised when tied to the goods and services of the donor countries because almost 30 percent of its value is eliminated and also because it does not allow recipient countries to act on their priorities for public spending. These problems bring into question whether tied aid is truly the most effective way to help poor countries. A recommendation by the international community is that a switch to untied aid would be necessary. With untied aid, the recipient country is not obligated to buy the goods of the donor country neither is it compelled to pursue the public expenditure priorities of donors. Instead with untied aid they will have greater flexibility over spending decisions and can more easily pursue the priorities of their countries as they see fit. Hence, one could expect that a one dollar increase in untied aid will increase spending in the critical priority sectors by more than a one dollar increase in tied assistance. The question therefore is whether national domestic priorities coincide or not with what the international community has traditionally deemed should be priority. Empirically, we test this prediction using country-by-country data for 57 countries for the period 1973 to 2006. The results suggest that on average untied aid has a greater impact on pro-poor spending than do tied aid. In addition, the results also suggest that fungibility is still an issue even after accounting for the effects of untied aid. However, one could argue that fungibility may not be as bad as it appears since the switch to untied aid improves spending in the sectors that are essential for growth and development. The second essay explores the hypothesis that the expectations of debt forgiveness can discourage developing countries from attaining fiscal independence through an improvement of their tax effort. On the one hand, the international financial community typically advises poor countries to improve revenue mobilization but, on the other hand, the same international community routinely continues to bail-out poor countries that fail to meet their loan repayment obligations. The act of bailing-out these countries creates an expectation on the part of developing country governments that they will receive debt forgiveness time and again in the future. Therefore, the expectation of future bail outs creates a moral hazard that leads to endemic lower tax efforts. The key prediction of our simple theoretical model is that in the presence of debt forgiveness, tax ratios will decline and this decline will be stronger the higher the frequency and intensity of the bailouts. Empirically, we test this prediction using country-level data for 66 countries for the period 1989 to 2006. The results strongly suggest that debt forgiveness plays a significant role in the low tax effort observed in developing countries. Our empirical model allows for the endogeneity of tax effort and debt forgiveness. Interestingly we find that more debt forgiveness is actually provided to countries with lower tax effort. The results are robust to various specifications.

This thesis examines the economic and time barriers to dietary adherence for T2D patients living in Edmonton by using utility theory, household production theory and the concept of health capital. Socio-demographic, food consumption, food purchase and time use information was obtained by administering a questionnaire and a food record; collecting grocery receipts and a blood sample; conducting a telephone interview, and taking measurements. Multivariate regression analysis and correlations showed a negative association between fruit and vegetable expenditure and A1c. Diet quality was negatively associated with A1c and total food expenditure but had an inverted U-shaped association with income. While working time was negatively correlated with diet quality and positively correlated with A1c, regression analysis showed a negative association between working time and diet quality only among higher income participants. Budget constraints and time constraints appear to be the barriers to dietary adherence among low-income and high-income patients, respectively. / Agricultural and Resource Economics

While a significant amount of research has examined the more traditional budgetary and procedural controls used by governments to maintain control over social security expenditure, very little research has examined the more obscure formal social controls used to achieve the same purpose. The primary aim of this study was to fill this research vacuum by examining both the formal and informal mechanisms used by governments to maintain control over social security expenditure and to achieve longer-term public policy appropriation. In particular the study focused on the payment of Job Newstart and Youth Allowances and how the social control discourse of marginalisation was used to achieve such control. The study was undertaken in two stages. In stage one, an e-mail questionnaire was distributed to Job Network consultants (n = 739) employed at 66 not-for-profit Job Network Providers throughout Australia. In stage two, focus group interviews were conducted to expand on the responses previously obtained from the e-mail questionnaire survey. The study produced several significant findings from the views of Job Network consultants. Most significantly the results support Foucault's discourse on marginalisation. That is the results help to explain how consultants identify and single out people who do not fit the norm and therefore represent a case for special treatment. The effect of this marginalisation process is that governments are able to assert power and authority over welfare claimants and that the process is justified from the government's viewpoint. It would also seem that society and the individual accept such institutional arrangements. The techniques of marginalisation are disciplinary in their nature and relate to the multiplication of social security rules and procedures and a correlative division of the claimant population in accordance with constitutive criteria of status and entitlement. The study also concluded that Job Network consultants recognised that the breaching regime should be modified longer-term to take account of the i nformal ethical and moral criteria of fairness, justice and the rights of individuals. Having said this however, the same group of consultant's indicated in very strong terms that recipients' of Newstart and Youth Allowances should comply with their mutual obligation requirements and that they should be penalised in those instances where they do not comply with these requirements.

While a significant amount of research has examined the more traditional budgetary and procedural controls used by governments to maintain control over social security expenditure, very little research has examined the more obscure formal social controls used to achieve the same purpose. The primary aim of this study was to fill this research vacuum by examining both the formal and informal mechanisms used by governments to maintain control over social security expenditure and to achieve longer-term public policy appropriation. In particular the study focused on the payment of Job Newstart and Youth Allowances and how the social control discourse of marginalisation was used to achieve such control. The study was undertaken in two stages. In stage one, an e-mail questionnaire was distributed to Job Network consultants (n = 739) employed at 66 not-for-profit Job Network Providers throughout Australia. In stage two, focus group interviews were conducted to expand on the responses previously obtained from the e-mail questionnaire survey. The study produced several significant findings from the views of Job Network consultants. Most significantly the results support Foucault's discourse on marginalisation. That is the results help to explain how consultants identify and single out people who do not fit the norm and therefore represent a case for special treatment. The effect of this marginalisation process is that governments are able to assert power and authority over welfare claimants and that the process is justified from the government's viewpoint. It would also seem that society and the individual accept such institutional arrangements. The techniques of marginalisation are disciplinary in their nature and relate to the multiplication of social security rules and procedures and a correlative division of the claimant population in accordance with constitutive criteria of status and entitlement. The study also concluded that Job Network consultants recognised that the breaching regime should be modified longer-term to take account of the i nformal ethical and moral criteria of fairness, justice and the rights of individuals. Having said this however, the same group of consultant's indicated in very strong terms that recipients' of Newstart and Youth Allowances should comply with their mutual obligation requirements and that they should be penalised in those instances where they do not comply with these requirements.

Children are becoming more inactive and are spending a significant proportion of their time participating in screen-time sedentary behaviours. New generation active video games may provide an opportunity to convert traditional sedentary screen-time into active screen-time. The aims of this thesis were to: 1) determine the metabolic costs of different activities; 2) determine whether experience and fitness influence the metabolic costs of active video games; and 3) determine children's enjoyment of active video games. Accordingly, this thesis is presented as two papers. Twenty-six boys' (11.4 ± 0.8 yr) participated in the study. Each performed sedentary activities (resting, watching television and sedentary gaming), active video games (Nintendo® Wii Bowling, Boxing, Tennis, Skiing and Step Aerobics), traditional physical activities (walking and running) and a maximal fitness test. During all activities oxygen uptake and heart rate were measured and energy expenditure (EE) calculated. The active video games resulted in a significantly higher EE compared to rest (63-190%, p<0.05). No significant differences in EE were found between the most active video games (Wii Boxing and Wii Step) and walking. The intensities of the active video games were low (≤ 3 METSmeas). There was no evidence to suggest that gaming experience or aerobic fitness influenced EE during active video game play. Using the same sample, the aim was to determine the participants' enjoyment of active video games sedentary activities and physical activities. Participants' enjoyment was measured using the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale immediately after the activities. The percentages of children that enjoyed each activity were: walking (39%), television (58%), running (60%), PS3 (73%), Wii Boxing (88%), Wii Tennis (77%), Wii Fit (75%) and Wii Bowling (89%). The active video games were the most enjoyable activities irrespective of participants' weight status, fitness and experience. The metabolic costs of active video games suggest that they may be suitable for future interventions which are aimed at decreasing time spent in sedentary behaviour. However, as they are low intensity activities, active video game play time should not be accumulated as part of the 60-minutes of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity that is currently recommended for children.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2008. / "August, 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-49). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Mémoire (M.E.S.R.)-- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1993. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: This work is driven by two facts. First, the majority of households in the U.S. obtain health insurance through their employer. Second, around 20% of working age households choose not to purchase health insurance. The link between employment and health insurance has potentially large implications for household selection into employment and participation in public health insurance programs. In these two essays, I address the role of public and private provisions of health insurance on household employment and insurance decisions, the distribution of welfare, and the aggregate economy. In the first essay, I quantify the effects of key parts of the 2010 health care reform legislation. I construct a lifecycle incomplete markets model with an endogenous choice of health insurance coverage and calibrate it to U.S. data. I find that the reform decreases the fraction of uninsured households by 94% and increases ex-ante household welfare by 2.3% in consumption equivalence. The main driving force behind the reduction in the uninsured population is the health insurance mandate, although I find no significant welfare loss associated with the elimination of the mandatory health insurance provision. In the second essay, I provide a quantitative analysis of the role of medical expenditure risk in the employment and insurance decisions of households approaching retirement. I construct a dynamic general equilibrium model of the household that allows for self-selection into employment and health insurance coverage. I find that the welfare cost of medical expenditure risk is large at 5% of lifetime consumption equivalence for the non-institutionalized population. In addition, the provision of health insurance through the employer accounts for 20% of hours worked for households ages 60-64. Finally, I provide an quantitative analysis of changes in Medicare minimum eligibility age in a series of policy experiments. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Economics 2011