The most essential questions in economics is what determines economic growth? In theory FDI led to economic growth (Mello 1997), but empirical evidences indicate that the relationship is ambiguous (Masahiro & Iwasaki 2014). This thesis uses contemporary growth theories and econometric methods to empirically test for the association between foreign direct investment and economic growth in the six countries that form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The analysis indicates a positive relationship concerning FDI and GDP growth in the panel of GCC. The result furthermore supports the endogenous growth theory and provide insights on the regions progress towards income diversification whit respect to hydrocarbons.

The growth of the service sector, after the Second World War, represented one of the changes brought by the Third Industrial Revolution. Nowadays, the service sector makes up the bulk of today’s economies around the world. However, too much emphasize on the development of the service sector, can be harmful for the economies in the long run. Therefore, the manufacturing sector should not be neglected, but developed along with the service sector. During the past decades, the manufacturing and the service sectors “worked” alongside through the servitization. The product and service integrations that manufacturers are offering, not only create additional value for the products, but also allow the manufacturers to expand their market share, gain higher revenues, attract new customers, etc. The development of the new technologies have enhanced and stimulated the product and service integration, which creates additional value. The additional created value is not beneficial only for the companies, but also for the customers, since it increases the customers’ satisfaction. Moreover, due to the creation of hi-tech products, the manufacturers include expertise and training as part of the integrated offers, which is a benefit plus for the customers.

Diploma Thesis Abstract This thesis deals with a new institute in the financial law - an unreliable value added tax payor. This institute was established as one of the means of improving tax collection and is closely related to the liability of a third party - the payor of value added tax; the recipient of taxable transaction. Listing tax payors in a list of unreliable payors caters to the potential guarantor, but this is at the expense of increasing the administrative burden since the recipient of taxable transactions has to consult the list of tax payors before making any transaction and, as the case may be, enter into a contract in order to gain protection in the event that the provider of taxable transaction is included in the list of unreliable payors. The designation of a value added tax payor as an unreliable payor is not stipulated by law quite clearly, but it is based on an internal regulation known as the Information of the General Tax Directorate. The protection from tax evasion in the form of blacklisting business entities - in the records of unreliable payors - may represent an administrative burden that is too onerous for entrepreneurs as well as substantial financial costs associated with the entire unreliable payor agendas. In all probability, it is also contrary to Council Directive...

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the system of the value added tax refund to the businesses in the Community and to focus on the main changes in this area. In the thesis we find the answers to the question if the system was succesfully modernize, speed up and whether changes in the tax refund brought relief on the applicant and tax administrator.

Comprehensive evaluation of performance analysis of PBS INDUSTRY, a.s. When evaluating the performance of PBS INDUSTRY, a.s. the financial statements of the company for the period of 2005 -- 2008 are used. Performance evaluation is done through traditional methods of financial analysis and modern methods of economic added value. The interpretation of analytical results and recommendations was made.

The thesis deals with the possibilities of optimization in the field of the value added tax in small municipalities. First of all, the main aspects of the value added tax in relation to municipalities are analyzed, both from the perspective of the Czech legislation and the legislation and jurisprudence of the European Union. Then the VAT treatment of public authorities in other Member States and possible future development of this area in the European Union are described. In the third chapter, various possibilities how small municipalities in the Czech Republic may optimize the costs on value added tax are outlined, whilst all the possibilities are explained in concrete practical examples. The last chapter contains a summary of which particular possibilities of optimization are suitable for different kinds of municipalities and the basic rules of application of VAT in municipalities are presented in a simplified schematic form.

The subject of this thesis is interaction between market prices and consumption taxes. The thesis contains analysis of influence of consumption taxes on market prices of five chosen goods, monitors possible causes, observes and quantifies the amount of additionally imposed tax, which is beard by consumer or producer of the good. The analysis of consumption taxes influence on market prices is performed by methods of correlation and regression analysis. Analyzed products are petrol "natural 95" (unleaded), diesel oil, cigarettes Petra and Sparta, dark rum and beer. Prices of these goods are monitored by Czech Statistical Office. First part of this thesis contains mostly theoretical introduction and impact theory of taxes. Second part deals with particular consumption taxes and their short-term impact. The third part of this thesis contains the statistical analysis.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce (Specialising in Taxation) / The taxation of financial services is challenging from a Value-Added Tax (VAT) perspective. Conceptually, VAT should apply to any fee for services but where financial services are concerned, there is difficulty in quantifying the value-added by these institutions. According to the First Interim Report on Value-Added Tax for the Minister of Finance (the Davis Tax Committee report) most jurisdictions have therefore opted to exempt financial services from VAT. In South Africa, financial services are exempt from VAT, however, where an explicit fee is charged as consideration for a supply, it will be taxed. The South African VAT legislation provides for the denial of input tax on costs incurred to generate exempt supplies. The burden of an irrecoverable VAT cost exposes the financial industry to hindrances such as vertical integration and tax cascading. Certain VAT jurisdictions have however implemented policies to reduce the overall cost of financial institutions. This study will therefore analyse the alternate VAT methods to determine whether a more viable mechanism of taxing financial services in South Africa, exists. Key words: Apportionment, cascading, implicit fees, input tax, efficiency, exemption, explicit fees, equity, full taxation approach, neutrality, simplicity, standard rate, reduced input tax credit, value-added, VAT grouping, vertical integration, zero-rating / MT2017

O objetivo geral da presente pesquisa consiste em averiguar a percepção dos usuários externos dos relatórios anuais das empresas quanto à qualidade das informações sociais e ambientais neles contidas. As principais justificativas para a realização do estudo são: (i) os relatórios anuais das empresas são considerados importante meio de evidenciação; (ii) o número de empresas que divulgam informações socioambientais tem aumentado consideravelmente; (iii) o mercado de capitais é considerado importante usuário da informação contábil e foco de muitos estudos, mas não o único; por isso, se fazem necessários estudos que possam averiguar a qualidade da informação para os demais usuários. A pesquisa, de caráter descritivo, foi conduzida por uma survey, utilizando questionários como instrumento de coleta de dados. Os questionários foram hospedados no site do Formsite.com. Considerou-se a amostra por acessibilidade, composta de 169 representantes de empresas de capital aberto, 438 analistas credenciados na CVM e 220 acadêmicos, representados por professores de programas de pós-graduação em ciências contábeis recomendados pela CAPES. Foram obtidas 211 respostas válidas, representando um índice de resposta de aproximadamente 30%. Antes da análise dos dados, foi averiguada a confiabilidade do instrumento e o efeito da não resposta. O teste de confiabilidade demonstrou satisfatória a consistência interna do instrumento. O teste da não resposta apontou a não rejeição da hipótese de que não existe diferença significativa entre os respondentes pontuais e retardatários. Após os testes de consistência e não resposta, realizou-se, inicialmente, a análise descritiva dos dados, que consistiu na organização, sumarização, descrição da amostra, evidenciada por meio de tabelas e gráficos. Na segunda parte da análise, foram realizados testes de significância, com a finalidade de explorar relações de semelhanças/dessemelhanças entre os grupos estudados, por meio do teste paramétrico ANOVA e dos testes não paramétricos Qui Quadrado, Teste Exato de Fischer e Teste de Mann-Whitney. As análises demonstraram que os usuários consideram úteis tanto as informações sociais e ambientais, quanto a DVA. No entanto, usuários que não reconhecem a utilidade dessas informações não as utilizam, especialmente, analistas. Os respondentes concordam que as informações sociais e/ou ambientais divulgadas nos relatórios anuais das empresas têm por finalidade atender a acionistas, administradores, credores, empregados, governo, investidores institucionais e, notadamente, à sociedade. Os usuários consideram a preocupação com a imagem da empresa o principal motivo, dentre os sugeridos, para a evidenciação de informações sociais e/ou ambientais e entendem que, como consequência da referida evidenciação, as empresas passam a utilizar o relatório anual como meio de promoção. Os usuários são favoráveis a normas que exijam a evidenciação de informações de caráter social e ambiental e preferem que essas sejam evidenciadas, no relatório anual, em uma seção separada. Os usuários entendem que a DVA tem por fim demonstrar a contribuição da empresa para a riqueza nacional, a contribuição da empresa para a sociedade e a carga tributária. Os analistas demonstraram ser menos satisfeitos com as características qualitativas das informações. Os resultados apontam que a percepção dos usuários, quanto às informações sociais e/ou ambientais, bem como em relação à DVA, é divergente. Adicionalmente, analisou-se, por meio da Regressão Logística, a existência de relação entre o uso das informações sociais e/ou ambientais, inclusive a DVA, para tomada de decisões e a qualidade dessas informações, sob a perspectiva dos usuários. Os resultados apresentados pelas regressões logísticas não suportam que as características qualitativas sejam atributos que tornem as informações sociais e/ou ambientais, incluindo a DVA, úteis aos usuários. Os resultados apresentados não são, portanto, coerentes com a teoria. / This research has as propose to investigate the perception of external users of company annual reports about the quality of social and environmental information. The main reasons for conducting the study are: (i) the companies\' annual reports are considered important means of disclosure, (ii) the number of companies that disclose environmental information has increased considerably, (iii) the capital market is considered important user of accounting information and focus of many studies, but not the sole, so that investigations are necessary to ascertain the quality of information for other users. A survey was conducted by using questionnaires as a tool for data collection. The questionnaires were staying at the site Formsite.com. We considered the accessibility of sample composed of 169 representatives from public companies, 438 analysts registered in CVM and 220 academics, represented by teachers in graduate programs in accounting recommended by CAPES. We obtained 211 valid responses, representing a response rate of approximately 30%. Before data analysis, was determined the reliability of the instrument and the effect of non-response. Reliability testing demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency. The test of no response indicated the nonrejection of the hypothesis that there is no significant difference between punctual and late respondents. After the tests of consistency and non-response, there was initially a descriptive analysis of data, which consisted in the organization, summarization, description of the sample, as evidenced by tables and graphs. In the second part of the analysis, significance tests were performed, aiming to explore relationships of similarities/dissimilarities between groups through parametric test ANOVA and nonparametric tests Chi-Square, Fisher\'s exact test and Mann- Whitney. Analysis showed that users find useful both social and environmental information, as DVA. However, users who do not recognize the usefulness of this information does not use them, especially analysts. The respondents agree that social and/or environmental information disclosed in company annual reports are designed to attend shareholders, managers, creditors, employees, government, institutional investors and, especially, to society. Users consider the concern with corporate image the main reason, among those suggested for the disclosure of social and/or environmental information and understand that as a consequence of that disclosure, the companies started to use the annual report as a means of promotion. The users are in favor of regulations requiring disclosure of social and environmental information and prefer that these be shown in the annual report in a separate section. Users understand that DVA is intended to demonstrate the company\'s contribution to national wealth, the company\'s contribution to society and the tax burden. Analysts have been shown to be less satisfied with the qualitative characteristics of information. The results indicate that user´s perspective, about the social and/or environmental information, as well as about DVA, is divergent. Additionally, we analyzed, by logistic regression, the existence of a relationship between the use of social and/or environmental information, including DVA, for decision making and the quality of the information from the user´s perspective. The results presented by logistic regressions do not support that the qualitative features are attributes that make the social and/or environmental information, including DVA, useful to users. The results presented are not consistent with the theory.

Thesis advisor: David Scanlon / There is limited research on the relationship between socially just teaching practices and student achievement. While successful teaching is often defined through test scores, good teaching encompasses the moral elements of teaching (Fenstermacher & Richardson, 2005). This study, building on the work of Mitescu, Cochran-Smith, Pedulla, Cannady, and Jong (2011), is a secondary analysis examining the relationship between socially just teaching practices and student achievement. A subsample of 4th and 5th grade English/language arts (ELA) teachers (n=107) and students (n=2587) was taken from the Measures of Effective Teaching Longitudinal Database (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2013). Classroom videos were coded using the Teaching for Social Justice Observation Scale (TSJOS) of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol-Plus (RTOP+) (Mitescu et al.) to measure socially just teaching practices. Unadjusted linear regression analyses indicated a positive significant correlation between teachers’ mean TSJOS score and the class averages on standardized state ELA exams and the class average on an assessment of higher-order thinking skills. This relationship was also found when the same analysis was conducted on 4th grade classrooms as well as 5th grade classrooms. A hierarchical multiple linear regression found a positive significant relationship between TSJOS scores and student achievement after accounting for location, teacher, and student predictor variables. The relationship between socially just teaching practices and student achievement for subgroups of students is discussed. The study analyzed the significance and magnitude of the relationship between socially just teaching practices after two widely used classroom observation protocols, the Framework for Teaching (FfT) and the Protocol for Language Arts Observation Scale (PLATO), were entered into the model. Teacher mean TSJOS scores were found to explain a significant and unique proportion of the variation in state assessment scores after accounting for average FfT ELA observation scores and teacher average PLATO observation scores, separately. This study adds to the literature on the connection between socially just teaching practices and student achievement, in that it provides compelling evidence that socially just teaching practices are not only related to the good, or moral, side of teaching, but also have a positive and significant relationship with increased student achievement for all students. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.