This dissertation comprises three chapters. The first chapter investigates whether consumers can help governments improve firm compliance with the Value Added Tax. It exploits quasi-experimental variation from a government program from Sao Paulo, Brazil that created monetary rewards for consumers to ask for receipts. To assess how incentives to consumers can be effective despite potential collusion opportunities, I construct datasets for 1 million firms, 40 million consumers, and 2.7 billion receipts. I estimate that revenue reported in retail increased by at least 22% over four years. The estimated compliance effect is stronger for sectors with a high volume of transactions and small receipt values, consistent with a model in which there are fixed costs to negotiate collusive deals to avoid issuing receipts. Furthermore, the effect has an inverted-U shape with respect to firm size. This result is consistent with a model of higher baseline compliance among larger firms, and in which shifts in audit probability from consumer monitoring increase in firm size. I find no effects on exit rates or formal employment decisions.

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Lactobacillus panis PM1 is a novel microorganism isolated from thin stillage (TS), a major by-product resulting from bioethanol fermentation, and was selected as the focus of this thesis due to its ability to produce 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) from glycerol. The purpose of this thesis was to understand the central and auxiliary metabolic pathways of L. panis PM1 and to metabolically-engineer strain PM1 based on the improved metabolic knowledge for industrial applications. The 16S rRNA sequence and carbohydrate fermentation pattern were used to classify L. panis PM1 as belonging to the group III lactobacilli; thus, strain PM1 exclusively fermented glucose to lactate, acetate, and/or ethanol, clearly suggesting that its primary metabolism occurred via the 6-phosphogluconate/phosphoketolase (6-PG/PK) pathway. In contrast to typical group III lactobacilli, for fructose fermentation, L. panis PM1 utilized both the 6-PG/PK and the Embden-Meyerhof pathways, showing distinct strain-specific characteristics (more lactate, less acetate, no mannitol, and sporadic growth). In the PM1 strain, auxiliary metabolic pathways governed end-product formation patterns along with central metabolism. Under aerobic conditions, a coupled NADH oxidase-NADH peroxidase system was a determinant for NAD+ regeneration and was regulated by oxygen availability; however, the accumulation of its major end-product, hydrogen peroxide, eventually resulted in oxidative stress. The citrate-to-succinate route was another important auxiliary pathway in L. panis PM1. This route was directly connected to central energy metabolism, producing extra ATP for survival during the stationary phase, and was regulated by the presence of citrate, acetate, and succinate and a transcriptional repressor (PocR). Lactobacilli panis PM1 produced 1,3-PDO via the glycerol reductive route; however, the absence of the glycerol oxidative route restricted the utilization of glycerol to solely that of electron acceptor. Lower ratio of glucose to glycerol, in combination with PocR, repressed the glycerol reductive route, resulting in less 1,3-PDO production. In an effort to metabolically engineer L. panis PM1, an artificial glycerol oxidative pathway was introduced, and the engineered PM1 strain successfully produced a significant amount of important platform chemicals, including 1,3-PDO, lactate, and ethanol, solely from TS. Overall, this thesis reveals the significant feasibility of utilizing L. panis PM1 for industrial fermentative applications.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Montana, 2008. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed May 4, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-92).

Bachelor-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2004.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2006.

Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006.

Magister Economicae - MEcon / Countries reform their tax systems to improve economic and administrative efficiency, the impact on income distribution and their revenue-raising capacity. Globalisation has also affected the fiscal autonomy of countries and resulted in the reality of tax competition. The South African tax authorities have made significant changes to the tax system in over the past 20 years. The first phase occurred after the publication of the Margo Commission’s report in 1987 and the second phase followed the work done by the Katz Commission since 1996. The objectives of the reforms included the improvement of tax administration and collection, a re-evaluation of the efficiency and equity aspects of the different taxes, the broadening of the tax base, and most important, to bring the South African tax system in line with changing international tax practise.The main objectives of this study are to give a descriptive overview of the reforms, to investigate the economic rationale behind the reforms and to answer the question of whether the objectives of the reforms were actually achieved. The study fills an important void in the South African literature as it is the first comprehensive overview of the tax reforms since the 1990s.The nature of the study is qualitative and investigative. An overview of the theoretical literature is presented together with some evidence from developing countries. To determine whether the objectives were achieved, descriptive statistics are presented using secondary data from South African Revenue Service (SARS); National Treasury, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). The main findings are that the establishment of SARS contributed significantly to the administrative efficiency and revenue-raising capacity of the tax system. The taxing of fringe benefits under the personal income tax, the introduction of capital gains tax (CGT) and the residence-based principle contributed to the broadening of the tax base. The decrease of marginal rates of personal income tax (PIT) to be more in line with the rate on company income decreased the possibility of tax arbitrage. The phasing out of the secondary tax on companies together with the decrease of the rate of company income tax (CIT) increased the attractiveness of South Africa for capital-exporting countries. Significant tax relief to middle and lower-income earners over various years improved the equity impact. However it did not improve the position of the really poor, who are not liable for PIT. The increasing contribution of value-added tax (VAT) compensated to the decreasing contribution of trade taxes; the fact that the VAT rate has stayed constant, since 1993 is an indication of the unpopularity of the tax.

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