This thesis is made of five different chapters. Chp 1: OPTIMAL FISCAL AND PUBLIC EXPENDITURE POLICY IN A TWO CLASS ECONOMY This paper deals with optimal taxation and provision of public goods in a two-class economy with non linear income and linear commodity taxes. As far as optimal taxation is concerned, we first show that with two private goods the good complementary with leisure should be taxed more heavily. Second the standard income tax rules are shown to be augmented by considerations for offsetting the distortions created on the commodity markets. As to the provision of public goods we extend recent results for a two class economy with public funds raised entirely by means of a non-linear income tax system. The standard Samuelson rule is modified by two additional terms related to the self selection constraint and to the revenue of indirect taxes. They are both shown to vanish when the agents' utility functions are weakly separable between public and private goods (taken together) and leisure. Chp 2: DIRECT AND INDIRECT TAX EVASION: A SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE The purpose of this selective survey of the literature on both income and commodity tax evasion is to show in which directions, the literature has evolved. Two main approaches are identified for both direct and indirect tax evasion literature. The so-called taxpayer's point of view approach which is basically an exercise of maximization under uncertainty and the so-called tax collector's point of view which is a refinement of the Mirrlees-Stiglitz approach to income taxation and of the Ramsey approach to commodity taxation. The current state of the art is such that both approaches share similar strengths and weaknesses. Chp 3: TAX STRUCTURE, TAX REFORM AND TAX EVASION In this paper we explore whether the shift from an ad valorem tax to a value added tax (which is a prerequisite to join the European Union) improves the "integrity" (number of people in the regular market) and the "efficiency" (total tax revenues) of the tax system. A model of two parallel (black and regular) markets is analyzed. The production in both the black and the regular market is divided in three stages: raw material, intermediate good and final good. Firstly, we prove that if an ad valorem tax is levied, at all stages of the regular market, any, even partial, tax reform towards VAT unequivocally increases integrity (the number of agents). Secondly, we prove that efficiency of the tax system is a direct function of its integrity. Therefore a tax reform from ad valorem to VAT seems justifiable under these two criteria. As a passing result, regular market consumers' welfare is shown to increase. Chp 4. A NOTE ON CORRUPTION, PRODUCTION AND SHORTAGE IN USSR AND RUSSIA Shleifer and Vishny, 1992 argue that privatization increases production and reduces shortage; Komai, 1979 argues that privatization reduces both production and shortage. The transition from USSR to Russia reduced both production and shortage. We argue that this is just the result of the shrinking of the loss-making sector (industrial sector) and the expansion of the profit-making sector (the service sector and namely trade and retailing). We also argue that the validity of Kornai's model is limited to those firms which are overproducing (i.e. more than the profit maximization quantity) and the validity of Shleifer and Vishny's model is limited to those firms which are underproducing. This reconciles two otherwise contradictory papers. Chp 5: LABOUR MARKET REALLOCATION AND RENT-SEEKING IN TRANSITION ECONOMY We present a simple two-sector model of the Russian labour market. Starting from a "full-employment" equilibrium with no search (the USSR), we analyze the path to the new equilibrium with unemployment and search (Russia). The links between the fraction of people searching, the wage differential and the hiring and firing probability of both sectors are investigated. A tentative way to compute these probabilities is proposed starting from recent (91-94) Russian data on unemployment and wages. It is shown that the wage differential across sectors rises with the strengthening of the entry barriers. It is argued that if no action is taken by the Authorities to fight unemployment and to reduce the wage differential across sectors (e.g. relaxing the entry barriers to the most productive sector), the market will react by developing, as an endogenous alternative to unemployment, a third sector which would act as a rent seeking one against the most productive sector. This will increase the outflow of workers from the least productive sector. Finally, it is shown that if the fraction of rent-seeking people attains a critical mass the above-mentioned policies may not be enough to rid the economy of the rent-seeking sector.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Dallas, 2007. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-177)

The aim of this thesis was to describe the relationships between energy expenditure and body composition in healthy adults and children and in patients with metabolic disorders. In a healthy population resting energy expenditure (REE) is highly influenced by body composition, specifically lean mass (LM). Prediction equations can therefore accurately predict REE from body composition in healthy individuals. However, application of these equations to clinical patients, in whom metabolism is disordered, risks miscalculation of energy metabolism due to their dissociation between body composition and energy expenditure. Therefore new prediction equations were derived based on precise body composition measurements in healthy adults and children. Then, in patients with metabolic disorders, differences between their measured and equation-predicted REE and LM were presented as standardised Z scores. REE in healthy adults was predicted by the coefficients: age, fat mass and fat-free mass. LM in healthy adults was predicted by the coefficients: bone mineral content and height2 in men; and by fat and height2 in women. In healthy children, REE was predicted using gender specific models: by fat and LM in boys; and by solely LM in girls. REE and LM were then measured in adult and paediatric patients with metabolic disorders (Lipodystrophy, Thyrotoxicosis and Resistance to Thyroid Hormone β or α), and Z scores were calculated to highlight their deviations from the healthy populations. In adults, thyrotoxicosis patients displayed the highest REE Z scores (5.8), followed by lipodystrophy (2.9) and RTHβ cases (1.8), with RTHα demonstrating the lowest REE Z scores (-2.3). For LM, lipodystrophy patients exhibited with the highest Z scores (4.2), followed by RTHα patients (2.1), with RTHβ patients showing normal LM Z scores (-0.2) and thyrotoxicosis patients presenting with the lowest LM Z scores (-1.2). In the paediatric patients, RTHβ patients demonstrated REE Z scores similar to healthy controls (males; -0.15, females; 0.15), but RTHα patients displayed lower REE Z scores (male; -0.82, female; -2.2) compared to RTHβ patients and healthy controls. These studies highlight the disassociation between REE and body composition in patients with metabolic disorders. The application of a prediction equation for REE to calculate Z scores between measured and predicted values allows quantification of the differences between patients with metabolic disorders and healthy populations, and is a new and important concept.

To determine the association between military expenditure (ME) and public investment efficiency, I regressed a measure of public investment effectiveness upon a measure of ME in a cross-section of 59 developing countries. A strong association was only observed for Sub-Saharan Africa. One of the main explanations for the strong association is a relatively big government which was accompanied by government operations being inefficient and corrupt. This served as a reason to separately observe group of regions with relatively small and big governments. The results confirmed that the effect of ME on public investment effectiveness in the group with a relatively big government is negative whereas the effect is positive in group of region with small governments. Thus, it confirms that the increase of ME is not always negative but can in some cases improve the effectiveness of public investment.

No description available.

Advertising expenditure is one of the most important budget items supporting marketing activities for most companies, and may be treated as an intangible asset. Through the impact on demand and costs, advertising activities affect the firm’s pricing and output decisions as well as the firm’s market value (Tannous, 1997; Chauvin & Hirschey, 1994). Despite the significant economic importance of advertising expenditure, not much attention has been given to the value relevance of advertising expenditure and the impact of advertising expenditure disclosure on firms’ market value. Most of the empirical studies for value relevance of advertising expenditure have been conducted using data from the US and UK Academic research on the value relevance of advertising expenditure in Canada is nonexistent. The accounting standard applied in Canada is different from that used in prior US and UK studies. . Canada adopts Canadian GAAP before 2011, and switches to IFRS from 2011onwards. Both regimes do not require firms in Canada to disclose advertising expenditure. However, most US studies use data before 1994 to analyze value relevance of advertising expenditure. Before 1994, disclosing advertising expenditure is mandatory for US firms under US GAAP. The UK evidence uses data before 2005, during which period UK firms still adopt UK GAAP. Although UK. GAAP does not require companies to disclose advertising expenditure, unlike IFRS, different accounting standards can lead to different financial data reporting and different results. In addition, studies on the impact of voluntary disclosure of advertising expenditure on market value are nonexistent. Furthermore, Canada has a more stable financial system than that of the US and UK In this context, the objective of this thesis is to initiate research on the important dimension of advertising expenditure among Canadian firms. The findings of this thesis will enhance understanding of the relationship between advertising expenditure and market value, and companies’ decisions to voluntarily disclose advertising expenditure on their market value.

This study uses a simple univariate regression model to assess the cyclicality of fiscal policy, based on government expenditure, in South Africa since 1994. The model suggests that that total government expenditure is highly procyclical, indicating that government spending responds positively to economic growth. The results from similar regression focusing on components of government spending suggests that only capital spending (economic classification) and general services (functional classification) are countercyclical, while other classifications are more procyclical in line with total government spending. The procyclicality of expenditure components such as compensation of employees, goods and services and all functional classification is in line with government’s decisions to reduce taxes in order to boost economic activities during periods of recessions, coupled with South Africa’s high public wage bill. The countercyclicality of capital spending is attributed to government's view on prioritising capital projects during periods of recession, in line with the Keynesian theory. Results of procyclicality confirm most of other empirical findings on South Africa’s fiscal policy. However, this suggests that the procyclicality of South Africa’s government expenditure plays only a small role in demand management and therefore stabilising aggregate demand or economic fluctuations. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

A vast literature has investigated the returns to investment in agriculture research and generally found extremely high rates of return. These results suggest policymakers would do well to maintain or increase resource allocation to public agricultural research. Remarkably little attention has been paid, however, to the issue of how best to allocate public agricultural research funding between competing research areas and organizations. This paper considers the relative returns to alternative uses of public agricultural research funds committed to the agricultural experiment stations of 10 western states of the United States over the years 1967-91. A model of expected utility maximization subject to risk is presented with comparative analysis. After establishing empirically that the mean variance analysis would be an inappropriate method to solving the problem, a stochastic dominance testing method is employed to identify dominated and undominated research categories and state agricultural experiment stations. The mean variance analysis also is used to evaluate whether research productivity has been increasing or decreasing over time, and to establish which among the western states hold absolute advantage in particular research areas.

M.P.H., Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011

There is a need to examine the difference in the relationship between oxygen uptake (VO2) and output from hip- and wrist-worn accelerometers in adults with Down syndrome (DS). The purpose of this study is to identify if that relationship is different between adults with and without DS. Hip- and wrist-worn accelerometer accuracy was also assessed. The sample included 16 adults with DS (10 men; age 31±15 years) and 19 adults without DS (10 men; age 24±6 years). We measured VO2 with a portable spirometer and accelerometer output (Vector Magnitude [VM]) with a hip- and a wrist-worn accelerometer. VM and group were significant predictors of VO2 (p?0.021). BMI became a significant predictor in the second model and DS was no longer significant for both accelerometer models. The Bland-Altman plots indicated nearly zero mean error for both groups. Hip-worn accelerometers showed greater accuracy, and showed less error based on 95% confidence intervals.