State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) today are seeking financing alternatives so that transportation infrastructure investments can become less dependent on the amount of fuel U.S. drivers consume. Because the fuel tax is no longer viewed as a sustainable and stable option, other financing alternatives are being considered. One such alternative includes the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee. Examples of such VMT fee alternatives include: 1) collection using an onboard diagnostic system (OBD), 2) collection at the fuel pump using an OBD in conjunction with GPS technology, and 3) collection at a vehicle inspection station using the OBD. This proposed research has two primary objectives: 1) to conduct a comparative review of VMT fee alternatives and their data collection methods, payment collection processes, expected costs and revenues, and anticipated challenges; and 2) to examine the suitability of these VMT fee alternative for consideration in Massachusetts. The major results and conclusions are the fuel tax, if increased and reviewed annually, is a viable short term solution and that a VMT fee should be considered further as part of a long term strategy. It is expected that the results of this research will be of interest to Federal and State DOT personnel and policy makers.

Inledning: Klimatförändringar innebär stora risker för den globala såväl som den svenska ekonomin. Politiker har kommit att inse att klimatförändringar därför utgör ett stort och pressande hot. I denna anda representerar Parisavtalet, som undertecknades i december 2015, det första heltäckande klimatavtalet som uttryckligen erkänner behovet av att göra finans flöden förenliga med en väg mot låga utsläpp av växthusgaser och klimattålig utveckling. Som en primär kreditgivare är banksektorn potentiellt en nyckelaktör kring vitala initiativ som skall minska belastningen på miljön. Syftet: Denna uppsats har haft som mål att undersöka svenska storbankers roll i samhället för hållbar utveckling samt hur de ger stöd till företag i omställningsarbetet för att möta kraven i Parisavtalet. Metod: Kvalitativa metoder används i detta arbete för att uppfylla studiens syfte. Forskningsdesignen representerar en dokumentstudie där bearbetning av empiriskt material sker med hjälp av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat. Resultatet visar att samtliga storbanker kommit en bra bit på vägen med både sin egen interna omställning i relation till ett mer hållbart arbete som ligger i linje med Parisavtalet. Samtidigt har denna transformationsresa kommit att även påverka de kundrelationer som företagen har genom att de har intagit en coachande roll i syfte att hjälpa andra att arbeta mer hållbart, samt att ingå mer finansiellt och moraliskt hållbara samarbeten. Slutsats: Bearbetad empiriskt underlag påvisar att storbankerna har ett viktigt arbete i sin roll som rådgivare för de svenska företagen i att stödja och påverka företagen i deras strävan att uppnå ett lyckat omställningsarbete inom hållbarhet i enlighet med Parisavtalet

I investigate how the presence of outsiders in the senior management team is related to the financing decision of Chinese listed family firms. For a sample of listed family firms from 2008 to 2017, I find that family firms with more outsiders in their senior management team (including the CEO, vice general manager, CFO, secretary of the board of directors, and other persons specified in the articles of Association) have higher leverage and take on more debt. Further, from the aspect of different financing choices, my empirical analysis shows that family firms with a higher proportion of outsiders take on fewer bank loans but issue more bonds. I use the proportion of outsiders in the firm's senior management team to measure the presence of outsiders in family firms. Besides, for the robustness test, I also use two dummy variables to measure the presence of outsiders in family firms. One indicates whether the family members fully exit from the senior executive team (including board chair, CEO, and CFO), and the other indicates whether the family members fully exit from the senior management team (including CEO, vice general manager, CFO, secretary of the board of directors, and other persons specified in the articles of Association). The results are consistent. To deal with the potential endogeneity issues, I use the outsiders’ full control of the senior executive team of the family firms as an exogenous shock to conduct PSM-DID analysis, and the results still hold. To conduct a heterogeneity analysis, I investigate factors that could moderate the relation between the presence of outsiders and financing policy in family firms from the perspective of family firms’ expropriation risks. The results show that the positive relationship between the presence of outsiders and the issue of bonds are both more pronounced for family firms with a higher amount of related party transactions, and for family firms with higher other receivables. My study shows that the presence of outsiders in family firms has a significant impact on firms’ financing decisions. In specific, the presence of outsiders leads to significantly higher leverage in family firms, fewer bank loans, and a larger amount of bond issuance. Considering the superiority of bonds to bank loans in the issuance procedure, amount, maturity, and cost, the positive impact of the presence of outsiders on bond issuance indicates that outsiders help to alleviate family firms’ financing constraints and improve financing structure. In addition, the strengthening role of expropriation risks in the positive relation of the presence of outsiders and bonds issuance also provides some implication that the introduction of outsiders in family firms helps to improve family firms’ governance structure, alleviate the concerns of creditors, and thus reduce agency conflicts between family shareholders and creditors. / Business Administration/Finance

Chapter 1 novelly examines the nature of the interaction between private donors and not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) when NPOs can invest endowment funds in a two-asset risky portfolio and donors can contribute to both the endowment fund and the annual campaign. I study a three-stage non-cooperative game with two types of economic agents: a cohort of heterogeneous donors and one representative NPO. In equilibrium, donors always contribute to the endowment fund; however, they may not contribute to the annual campaign. The proportion of the NPO's endowment fund invested in the risky asset is a discontinuous function of the endowment; donors contribute less to an aggressive NPO and more to a cautious one. When the NPO can solicit donors to contribute only once, this increases the expected level of the contribution in equilibrium, but this may not generate higher expected utility for donors. Chapter 2 presents a dynamic model of charitable giving. At each period, donors contribute to an NPO's endowment; the NPO provides a charitable good and invests in the  financial market. Investments are made in a risky asset and a risk-free asset. I introduce two types of shocks to account for uncertainty: donors' income shock and  financial market fluctuations. I show that the optimal share of disposable endowment invested in risky asset is constant. Donors' strategy, whether to contribute or free-ride on the NPO's investments, depends on donors' shadow prices. Donors contribute when NPO's endowment is relatively low. Large contribution levels encourage the NPO to participate in the capital market at the expense of providing charitable good. I show that the NPO prefers an environment with a lower rate of return on risk-free assets. NPO's risk exposure to the  financial market affects both NPO's and donors' decisions. However, risk exposures on donors' side do not impact parties' decisions. Regulation analysis suggests that portfolio ceiling and provision floor are achievable. Chapter 3 links two data sources: the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) data over the period of 1987-2014 and the U.S. presidential elections data. I develop a dynamic model to examine how the national-level political incumbent shapes the NPOs' risky investment portfolio selection, adjusting for a set of NPOs' intrinsic characteristics and real interest rate. I  find that right-leaning Republicans act as a rein on NPOs' risky investments, i.e., a Republican administration is associated with a reduction in NPOs' holdings of corporation stocks and a 16.28% reduction in equity share relative to a Democratic administration. It is attributed to the impact of the Republican administration by more facilitating NPOs' accessibility to borrowing than having a Democratic president. I argue that NPOs behave as backward-looking investors or are reluctant to change their portfolio due to the significant portfolio adjustment cost, using past performance as an indicator to make their current risky investment decisions. Heckman two-step estimation indicates that NPOs' investment is an endogenous sample selection instead of a random choice. I show that NPOs have a less extensive equity share with more severe agency costs; foundation size plays a different role when NPOs decide whether to invest in risky assets compared with investing NPOs. Moreover, for investing NPOs, the equity share is expected to decrease by 12.0% if there is a 1% increase in the real interest rate; NPOs are more inclined to invest in risky assets when the real interest rate increases, in the sense of riding with the rational bubble.

<p>This thesis deals with the incidence and economic effects of payroll taxes earmarked for unemployment insurance. A major objective is to provide an appropriate theoretical framework for a discussion of this issue. In cases where D.I. coverage is reasonably comprehensive, S6 that the D.I. tax can be regarded as a broad based tax, it is argued that the proper engine of analysis is basically the standard macroeconomic general equilibrium model. The macroeconomic effects of taxation, whether they originate from the demand or supply side, are regarded as an integral part of incidence analysis.</p> <p>The standard macro framework requires modification in one direction, which is a ~ore detailed development of the aggregate labour supply function. This reflects the view that the most important macroeconomic effects of unemployment insurance are likely to emerge from the supply side, via work incentives.</p> <p>A number of variants of a small macroeconomic model are developed, each incorporating an explicit modelling of a hypothetical D.I. system. Qualitative incidence results are obtained using the traditional method of comparative statics, while a quantitative dimension is added in static and dynamic simulation exercises with plausible parameter values drawn from the relevant econometric literature. Different versions of the model employ various alternative hypotheses about the way in which the labour market operates and/or different specifications of the aggregate labour supply function.</p> <p>The incidence results depend largely on the effect of payroll tax increases on labour supply. In the so-called neoclassical version of the model, for example, payroll tax increases reduce both participation and average weeks worked by participants, but tax and benefit rates are connected via the D.I. budget constraint, and benefit rate changes also effect labour supply. An increase in the benefit rate will tend to reduce average weeks worked by participants but to increase participation itself. Therefore a balanced budget increase in payroll tax rates has a potentially ambiguous effect on labour supply. If the net impact on lahour supply is negative we obtain the 'standard' incidence results. A balanced budget increase in payroll tax rates reduces output and emplo)~ent, increases the general price level, and reduces both capital and labour income. (Similar results also occur in other versions of the model in which the labour market does not clear due to (e.g.) real or money wage rigidity.) On the other hand, if the net impact on labour supply is positive we obtain 'perverse' results, increases in output and employment, reductions in the price level and so on.</p> <p>The comparative static analysis and simulation exercises enable us to identify the key parameters in the aggregate labour supply function, and their critical values. For plausible parameter values, chosen on the basis of the available empirical evidence, it would appear that perverse results are not likely. However, there is clearly a need for more empirical investigation in this area.</p> <p>These results conflict with the traditional view that labour bears the full burden of payroll taxation, but we conclude that this view depends heavily on the assumed inelasticity of the aggregate labour supply function. The latter assumption is demonstrated to be inconsistent with the bulk of the empirical evidence on labour supply.</p> <p>Finally, some attention is also paid to the aggregate demand effects of unemployment insurance, in particular the case where the savings propensity out of U.I. benefits is less than that out of private factor incomes.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

No description available.

Yes / This editorial introduction to this special issue provides an overview and a conceptual framework of governance and economics of smart cities. We begin with a discussion of the background to smart cities and then it focuses on the key challenges for consideration in smart city economics. Here it is argued that there are four dimensions to smart city economics: the first is regarding the scale of global market for smart cities; the second issue concerns data to be used for smart city projects; the third concerns market competition and structure and the fourth concerns the impact on local economy. Likewise, smart city governance framework has to be considered a layered and multi-level concept focusing on issues of transparency and accountability to the citizens.

Yes / This study investigates bank financing to small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and evaluates whether the difficulties of SMEs in accessing bank financing during a period of financial crisis are due to a reduction in the supply of credit, or to a decrease in the demand for credit. The results show that the macroeconomic setting matters: demand effects are unlikely to drive the decline in the stock of bank loans, while the supply of credit causes SMEs difficulties in accessing bank credit. During a crisis period, in particular, an increase in the risk of lenders leads to the reduced supply of credit and credit rationing (i.e. the bank lending channel). In a post-crisis period, SMEs with increased risk and decreased profits have great difficulties in securing bank loans (i.e. the borrower balance sheet channel). Taken together, these results suggest that supply effects initially emerge through the bank-lending channel and then shift to the borrower balance sheet channel over a period of financial crisis.

Thesis (MAcc)--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Op 9 Februarie 2007 het President Thabo Mbeki in sy “State of the Nation Address” aangekondig dat voorstelle vir ‘n bydraende verdienste-gebaseerde nasionale maatskaplike aftreefonds as deel van die 2007- begroting voorgelê sal word. Die raamwerk vir so ‘n nasionale maatskaplike aftreefonds is uiteengesit in ‘n dokument wat gepubliseer is in ‘n geskrif wat deur die Nasionale Tesourie beskikbaar gestel is vir openbare terugvoer. Hierdie stelsel beoog om deur middel van ‘n verpligte belasting wat maandeliks van lede se salarisse afgetrek sal word, ‘n fonds daar te stel wat ten doel het om ‘n sekere vlak van inkomste ná ‘n lid se aftrede te verseker. Die aangeleentheid het onlangs dekking in die pers ontvang onder die opskifte “Lede wat nie vroeg genoeg doodgaan nie, kan pensioenfondse knou”, “Aftreefonds-paniek” en "Nasionale fonds straks deur private sektor bestuur, staat gaan nie almal se geld vat”. Uit hierdie artikels kan afgelei word dat die Suid-Afrikaanse publiek bekommerd is oor die vooruitsig dat die regering aangedui het dat hulle voortaan aftreefondse sal bestuur onder die nasionale maatskaplike aftreefonds. Dit is ‘n welbekende feit dat soortgelyke stelsels in baie ekonomieë wêreldwyd teenwoordig is, en tans onder geweldige finansieringsdruk gebuk gaan. Hierdie navorsing is onderneem om die Suid-Afrikaanse publiek in staat te stel om ‘n ingeligte besluit te neem oor die risiko van ‘n finansieringskrisis by die voorgestelde Suid- Afrikaanse nasionale maatskaplike aftreefonds deur die volgende te doen: · Identifisering van die oorsake van finansieringsprobleme by maatskaplike aftreefondse wêreldwyd. · ‘n Vergelyking te tref tussen die voorgestelde Suid-Afrikaanse nasionale maatskaplike aftreefonds en beter praktyke vir maatskaplike aftreefondse. · ‘n Oorweging of die bogenoemde oorsake van finansieringsprobleme by maatskaplike aftreefondse wêreldwyd, van toepassing is op die Suid-Afrikaanse situasie. iii Die navorsing het op die volgende gedui: · Die hoofoorsake van finansieringskrisisse by nasionale maatskaplike aftreefondse wêreldwyd is: die teenwoordigheid van finalebydraeskemas, afname in die aftreeouderdom van die bevolking, die teenwoordigheid van langer lewensverwagtings en die afname in bevolkingsgroei. · Die voorgestelde Suid-Afrikaanse nasionale maatskaplike aftreefonds is byna identies aan die stelsel van beste praktyke soos voorgelê deur die Wêreldbank. Die feit dat die struktuur van die stelsel gebaseer is op soortgelyke stelsels wat reeds suksesvol geïmplementeer is in die res van die wêreld, behoort die Suid Afrikaanse publiek positief te beïnvloed. · Die Suid-Afrikaanse nasionale maatskaplike aftreefonds sal nie gebaseer wees op ’n finalebydraeskema nie en sal gevolglik nie blootgestel wees aan die risiko nie. Die fonds sal egter, soortgelyk aan die internasionale situasie, blootgestel wees aan ‘n afname in aftree-ouderdom, afname in geboortes en ‘n toename in lewensverwagting. Gebaseer op die bogenoemde bevindinge is dit duidelik dat die Suid-Afrikaanse voorstel vir ’n nasionale maatskaplike aftreefonds, wel blootgestel sal wees aan finansieringsrisiko’s. Die skrywer glo egter dat deur die Suid-Afrikaanse voorstel te baseer op die beste praktyke soos uiteengesit deur die Wêreldbank, hierdie risiko’s op die mees effektiewe manier gehanteer sal word. Die Suid-Afrikaanse voorstel is dus weens sy samestelling, nie voor sy inwerkingtreding reeds gedoem tot die ontwikkeling van ’n finansieringskrisis nie. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: On 9 February 2007 President Thabo Mbeki announced in his “State of the Nation Address” that proposals for an earnings-based national social security fund will be tabled as part of the 2007 budget. The framework for such a national social security fund is documented in a paper released by National Treasury and currently available for public feedback. The purpose of this system is to establish a fund which will ensure that members retain a certain level of income after retirement. This will be done by way of a compulsory tax, which will be deducted from members’ salaries on a monthly basis. This matter recently received widespread press coverage under the headlines “Lede wat nie vroeg genoeg doodgaan nie kan pensioenfondse knou”,”Aftreefonds-paniek” en “Nasionale fonds straks deur die private sektor bestuur, staat gaan nie almal se geld vat”. It is clear from these articles that the South African public is concerned about the prospect that the government indicated that they will be managing retirement funds under the national social security fund. It is also a well-known fact that similar systems worldwide are currently facing major financial pressure. The purpose of this research was to enable the South African public to make an informed decision regarding the financing risk associated with the proposed South African national social security fund by performing the following steps: · Identification of the causes of financing problems at social security funds worldwide. · To compare the proposed South African national social security fund to better practice for social security funds. · To consider whether the abovementioned causes of financing problems in social security funds worldwide, is also applicable to the South African situation. The research indicated the following: v · The main causes of financing crises in national social security funds worldwide are: the presence of final contribution schemes, the decline in the retirement age of the population, the presence of longer life expectancy and the decline in the population growth. · The proposed South African national social security fund is basically identical to the system of best practices as published by the World Bank. · The South African national social security fund will not follow the system of a final contribution scheme and will therefore not be exposed to the risk associated with these schemes. The fund will, however, in line with the international situation, be exposed to the risks associated with the decline in age of retirement, decline in population growth and an increase in life expectancy. Based on the findings listed above it is apparent that the South African proposal for a social security fund will be exposed to finance risks. The writer however believes that by basing the proposal on the best practices as set out by the World Bank, these risks will be mitigated in the most effective manner. The South African proposal is therefore, due to its composition, not doomed to the development of a financing crisis before its coming into existence.

This thesis aims to better understand the process of the funding of young innovative ventures, and how a deeper understanding of this process can help public policy to better stimulate entrepreneurial firms—especially in high-technology industries. I interpret entrepreneurial finance broadly to mean financing issues facing young innovative ventures. It includes three essays which deal with a set of economic, institutional, and public policy issues to examine entrepreneurial finance.