The thesis is divided in two basic parts. The first part includes structure of the tax system in the Czech Republic, explanation of tax definitions and characteristics of Czech tax system. The goal of the first part is to clarify the tax system, tax base calculation and factors that influence its amount. The second part is structured more practically and should offer several possibilities of how to optimize the firm's tax liability, with focus on the corporate income tax.

This Master's thesis focuses on Czech household savings. It describes the most important traditional and alternative financial products used by Czech households. Next it reveals the reasons why Czech households are so conservative in their attitude to their financial means in comparison with other European countries. In the last part of this thesis the most important determinants of household savings are identified and with the help of correlation coefficient the intensity of correlation between gross household savings and their determinants is explored.

The purpose of this study was to examine the budgeting behaviors of traditional-aged upper-division college students (juniors and seniors). Budgeting behaviors were operationally defined as students' spending and financial planning behaviors. These behaviors were studied by tracking participant expenditures and income of three weeks and administering electronic survey questions. The study was conducted at a large, public, research university, and was designed to answer the following research questions: 1. How do traditional-aged upper-division students spend their money? 2. What are the budgeting behaviors of traditional-aged upper-division students?> 3. Are there differences in budgeting behaviors between traditional-aged upper-division students who live off campus and those who live on campus? 4. Are there gender differences between budgeting behaviors of traditional-aged upper-division students? A sample of 32 college juniors and seniors who had moved directly from high school to college participated in the study. Participants tracked their expenses and income of a three-week period using computerized spreadsheets. These data were analyzed to determine participants' spending behaviors and to examine differences by gender and place of residence. Participants also responded to five electronic survey questions that investigated their budgeting behaviors. Responses from these questions were analyzed to identify themes about the budgeting behaviors of college juniors and seniors. The results of this study provided some interesting information about college students' budgeting behaviors. Several conclusions were drawn. First, students failed to budget effectively because they spent more than they earned. Across all groups, students' expenditures totaled more than their income. Second, students' comments regarding their budgeting behaviors were found to reflect either good or poor ratings. This suggests that while some students seem to have well-developed financial management skills, others do not. Third, off-campus students differ from on-campus students because they have more budgeting experience. Off-campus students seemed to have developed these budgeting skills by paying monthly bills associated with off-campus living. Finally, female students spent money on clothes and beauty items, relied on gifts as sources of income, and seemed more anxious about budgeting than male students. These kinds of behaviors may reinforce certain stereotypical beliefs about men and women. / Master of Arts

<p> My doctoral dissertation is composed of an introductory chapter followed by five independent chapters on household savings and finances.</p> <p> After the introductory chapter, the second chapter investigates the living standards of Canadian retirees and the adequacy of their financial preparations. We explore the responses of Canadian retirees to subjective survey questions administrated in General Social Surveys and in the 1975 Retirement Survey. Our results show that a significant portion of Canadians report enjoying life more after retirement compared to before retirement. Moreover, in 2002, three quarters of retired Canadians indicated being at least as satisfied with their finances as they were in the year prior to retirement. The most significant correlate of financial dissatisfaction that our analysis uncovers is involuntary retirement and, in particular, involuntary retirement associated with poor health.</p> <p> The third chapter revisits a long standing question of whether households with higher lifetime income save a larger fraction of their income. The major difficulty in empirically assessing the relationship between lifetime incomes and saving rates is finding a credible proxy for lifetime income. Taking advantage of the unique characteristics of the Canadian Family Expenditure Survey data, we construct reliable lifetime income proxies. Our empirical analysis suggests that the estimated relationship between saving rates and lifetime incomes is sensitive to the instrument used to proxy lifetime income. Nevertheless, our preferred estimates indicate that, except for the poorest households (who simply do not save), saving rates do not differ substantially across lifetime income groups. </p> <p> The fourth chapter examines the effect of taxation on households' portfolio allocation decisions. The key challenge in empirically assessing this relation is to find a substantial and plausibly exogenous source of variation in marginal tax rates. We use variation in marginal tax rates across households with the same total earnings, which arise in progressive income tax systems with individual taxation. Employing the Canadian Survey of Household Finances, we find statistically significant but economically modest responses to differential taxation.</p> <p> The fifth chapter investigates the problems associated with the estimation of intertemporal allocation parameters via linearized Euler Equations. We solve and simulate life-cycle consumption models in different economic environments and perform Monte Carlo experiments with these simulated data. Our results suggest that problems associated with the estimation of linearized Euler equations are strongly related to the assumed economic environments. In particular, the validity and relevance of conventional instruments used in the estimation depend on the concavity of the underlying policy rules, which in turn follows from features of the economic environment.</p> <p> The final chapter reviews the economic literature on the saving behavior of lower income households. Our discussion focuses on the motives shaping the saving behavior of low-income households. In addition to the standard economic framework used for analysis of this kind, the Life-Cycle/Permanent Income Hypothesis, we also discuss insights from "behavioral" economics. We review the international evidence on a variety of policies designed to stimulate savings among low income households.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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