In my diploma thesis, I deal with the federal budget of the US as an instrument designed to promote partisan policies on the example of the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama in order to find out whether there are ideological differences in the budgetary policy of Democrats and Republicans at the beginning of the 21st century. The main part of the thesis is devoted to the analysis of the revenue side and spending side of the budgets of both presidents and the development of the balance they managed. The analysis suggests that, although the nature of the time, phase of the economic cycle and other external influences have a significant impact on budgets, the federal budget can still be considered as an effective tool for expressing partisan preferences.

Final qualifying work (master's thesis) is devoted to the study of financing of budgetary institutions. The subject of the study are the economic relations arising between the state and the Department of the interior Ministry in the process of obtaining and using funds from the Federal budget. The aim of the work is to develop recommendations for improving the financing of the internal Affairs bodies of the Russian Federation, on the example of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Sverdlovsk region. As a result of the work is the development of ways to improve the financing Of the main Department of the Ministry of internal Affairs of Russia in the Sverdlovsk region. / Выпускная квалификационная работа (магистерская диссертация) посвящена исследованию финансирования бюджетных учреждений. Предметом исследования выступают экономические отношения, возникающие между государством и Управлением МВД в процессе получения и использования денежных средств из федерального бюджета. Целью работы является разработка рекомендаций по совершенствованию финансирования органов внутренних дел Российской Федерации, на примере Главного управления Министерства Внутренних Дел по Свердловской области. В качестве результата работы выступает разработка путей совершенствования финансирования Главного управления МВД России по Свердловской области.

This article examines the often studied guns vs. butter tradeoff within the context of federal military spending and means-tested social welfare spending in an effort to focus academic attention on the impact of military expenditure on America’s poorest populations. Using OLS regression on federal budgetary data ranging from 1962 to 2020, I test for a tradeoff between military spending as a proportion of the discretionary budget and means-tested welfare spending as a proportion of the mandatory budget. I also include several covariates that previous literature has shown to be relevant to a potential tradeoff — including war status, poverty rate, unemployment rate, economic growth, inequality, and legislator ideology — to determine whether they play a mediating role between military and means-tested welfare spending. I also conduct a qualitative analysis of platforms published by the Democratic and Republican parties during select election years between 1940 and 2020 in order to find a causal mechanism for a budgetary tradeoff. These analyses conclude that there is significant statistical evidence of a tradeoff between these two spending categories, and that party attitudes about who/what is more deserving of federal funding — which are consistently expressed by each party throughout the 80-year period — provide a causal mechanism for such a tradeoff. These attitudes, which are constructed through the priorities expressed in platforms over time, cause legislators to provide funding to groups (either the military or the American poor) that they find deserving, and subtract funding from those they find undeserving. In finding that military expenditure directly undermines life-saving assistance, this article encourages greater study of how seemingly unrelated budgetary decisions (especially those relating to national defense) may play an active role in America’s worsening inequality crisis.

This dissertation explored the differences in federal budget communication associated with the development and passage of the Federal Budget Resolution for Fiscal Years 1999, 2000, and 2001. A computer-aided (i.e., DICTION) content analysis was completed to explore Executive, Legislature, and Agency budget communication for source-based and party-based differences. Source-based differences were explored using the variables Activity, Realism, Optimism, Commonality, Certainty, Public Interest, Budget Concepts, and Functional Budget Categories. When reviewing the findings as a whole — and taking into account the variables, data, and time period analyzed - a distinct and predominant source-based perspective was not present in the federal budget communication associated with the development of the Congressional Budget Resolution. However, it was possible to identify predominant sources for individual variables Activity, Optimism, Commonality, and Certainty. Party-based differences were explored within seven themes: the use of Lakoff's value language; discussions of campaign actors; coalition building rhetoric; moral virtue and entrepreneurialism rhetoric; language of order, efficiency and unity; public interest; and, accusatory language. Variables included Liberal Language, Conservative Language, Party References, Voter References, Leader References, Commonality, Familiarity, Realism, Human Interest, Rapport, Praise, Inspiration, Liberation, Tenacity, Communication, Denial, Public Interest, Blame, and Pessimism. The analysis of party-based differences revealed that Democrats were more likely to incorporate language associated with the following variables: Liberal Language, Conservative Language, Party References, Voter References, Leader References, Human Interest, Rapport, Liberation, Blame, and Pessimism. Republicans were more likely to incorporate language associated with Familiarity, Realism, Tenacity, Communication, and Denial. This research illustrates that within our political institutions generally, and the budget specifically, there are significant source-based and party-based differences in the goals and values communicated by the actors within the federal budget process. If it is possible to gain a better understanding of how actors within this key process communicate, public administrators will be better equipped to engage each other in an honest dialogue and debate that facilitates agreement and understanding. Until source-based and party-based communication barriers have been broken down, the negative tenor in political communication and the public's apathy and frustration towards the political process will continue. / Ph. D.

The United States suffered a severe financial crisis in September of 2008, the effects of which are still strongly reverberating throughout the national economy and the finances of American government. While the financial downturn greatly exacerbated the nation's immediate fiscal stress, government policies have played a large role in the longer-term economic challenges. The buildup of financial insecurity for individuals and businesses since the 1970s, brought to painfully emphatic clarity by the 2008 financial crash, has citizens of all political persuasions deeply concerned about the future of the Republic. This thesis attempts to explain the historical context which is indispensable to understanding the significance of our current fiscal challenges. In doing so, we come to the conclusion that rising entitlement spending, coupled with severe problems within the nation's tax system, have become the primary drivers of the significant fiscal stress that is building. I argue that the most immediately viable option for reversing this trend, in a way that supports economic opportunity for all, is to implement fundamental tax reform to lift the current system's burdens of complication, inefficiency, and inequity off the shoulders of American taxpayers and businesses. / Master of Public and International Affairs

A tese analisa o problema da corrupção sob a perspectiva do direito econômico, buscando compreendê-la a partir da dicotomia público-privado e direito posto-pressuposto. Ambas as dicotomias são expostas e contextualizadas, voltando-se gradativamente ao contexto brasileiro. Por isso, em vez de conceber o objeto de estudo como universal e atemporal, a corrupção é localizada historicamente na formação do Estado brasileiro e nas relações patrimoniais deste com a sociedade: embora, com a importação de regras jurídicas do Estado moderno, tenha havido um verniz modernizante nos direitos penal, administrativo e político-constitucional, o substrato cultural atua de modo a condicionar sua aplicação e eficácia. No patrimonialismo brasileiro, o poder estatal é visto como um direito daquele investido da função pública, passível de ser exercido com pessoalidade, enquanto, de acordo com os princípios gerais de direito no Estado moderno, ao poder estatal corresponde um dever a ser exercido no cumprimento de uma função. Esse descompasso se encontra presente tanto nas formas mais explícitas de corrupção, claramente reprimidas pela regulamentação microjurídica, quanto em comportamentos mais sutis, muitos dos quais aceitos socialmente por parcelas significativas da população. Essas premissas informam a análise de variados aspectos do direito brasileiro, tais como os vários aspectos da discricionariedade, o corporativismo, o assimétrico federalismo fiscal e o orçamento público da União. Apesar de úteis e necessários, os mecanismos de combate à corrupção típicos da regulamentação microjurídica, expressos no direito posto, adotam uma lógica mercantilista no combate à corrupção, reduzindo-a ao mero jogo de alteração de incentivos e desincentivos. Logo, as propostas de reforma devem focar também os aspectos macrojurídicos do problema. / The thesis analysis the problem of corruption from the perspective of the economic law and tries to understand it with the support of the dichotomies between public-private spheres and positive-overpositive law. Both dichotomies are described and set within a context in order to gradually approach the Brazilian situation. For this reason, instead of conceiving of the subject matter as universal and timeless, the corruption has historically been found in the formation of the Brazilian state as well as in its patrimonial relationships with society; although a modernizing colour has been added following the importation of legal rules of the modern state in the criminal, administrative and political-constitutional laws, the underlying culture operates as a restraint on its application and efficiency. In the Brazilian patrimonialism, state power is deemed as a right of one individual vested with the public function, which can be used according to his or her private interests, whereas, according to the general principles of law in the modern state, state power consists of a duty to be fulfilled in order to perform a function. Such a mismatch is present both in gross corrupt behaviour, which is clearly banned by the microjuridical regulation, and in the more subtle practices, many of which are socially accepted by a significant number of people. These premises are used as guidelines for the analysis of several aspects of Brazilian law, such as the various facets of discretionary power, the corporativism, the asymmetric fiscal federalism and the federal budget. Even though the mechanisms for the fight against corruption used by the microjuridical regulation (positive law) are useful and necessary, they approach the problem using a mercantilistic logic which narrows down the debate on the dissuasion as to how to change the incentives and desincentives to corruption. In view of that, proposals for reform should also focus on the macrojuridical aspects of corruption.

O principal argumento deste trabalho é que a interação entre interesses, idéias e enquadramentos discursivos (frames) permite explicar como e por que certas instituições orçamentárias brasileiras foram escolhidas, desde 1987, em vez de outras. Defendo que os interesses dos parlamentares a respeito das instituições orçamentárias é definido, em grande parte, por como essas instituições funcionam na prática. Mostro que a estratégia de execução orçamentária utilizada pelo Executivo Brasileiro no período pós-1988 é fundamental para explicar por que parlamentares da coalizão devem, em tese, defender limites ao emendamento, a organização centralizada da Comissão Mista de Orçamento e o Orçamento Autorizativo. Os parlamentares da oposição, por sua vez, devem defender emendamento ilimitado, a descentralização da comissão orçamentária e o Orçamento Impositivo. Três critical junctures foram fundamentais para definir as instituições orçamentárias brasileiras no recente período democrático: a Assembléia Constituinte de 1987-1988, o período pós-CPI de 1994-1995 e a época de 2005-2006. Ao inserir as escolhas de instituições orçamentárias na lógica do processo constituinte, entende-se por que certas instituições da ditadura militar foram mantidas (por exemplo, a Comissão Mista de Orçamento) e outras foram ressuscitadas, parcialmente, do regime democrático de 1946-1964 (por exemplo, a prerrogativa de parlamentares emendarem o orçamento). Em seguida, o trabalho aborda as escolhas pós-constituintes, avaliando como escândalos de corrupção e as critical junctures derivadas parcialmente deles ajudaram a alterar diversos aspectos do emendamento orçamentário no Brasil. Mostro também como o entrepreneur de oposição Ricardo Barros conseguiu, em 2006, ser extremamente bem-sucedido na descentralização de aspectos da Comissão Mista de Orçamento. A estabilidade do Orçamento Autorizativo no Brasil é analisado em seguida e pode ser visto como um caso complementar aos demais, pois trata de uma quase mudança institucional. Os enquadramentos discursivos utilizados pelo entrepreneur Antônio Carlos Magalhães, principal defensor do fim do Orçamento Autorizativo, revelam quais interesses legislativos estiveram presentes na decisão de manter essa instituição. / How does the interaction between interests, ideas and frames help explain institutional development? This dissertation takes the evolution of budgeting institutions in Brazil since 1987 as a case study to answer this question. I argue that congressmens interests regarding budgeting institutions is mainly defined by how these institutions actually work. I show that the presidential strategy of executing amendments explains why coalition congressmen normally defend limited amendment power, a centralized budget process and the Authoritative Budget. The inverse goes for opposition congressment. Three critical junctures were very important in the definition of budgeting institutions in the recent democratic period: the National Constituent Assembly in 1987-1988, and two short periods during the unveiling of budgeting corruption scandals in 1994-1995 and 2005-2006. I show how the centralized budget process was kept in the 1988 Constitution and was used by the coalition up to 2006, when an opposition entrepreneur was successful in decentralizing part of the process. Congressmens prerogatives for amending the budget were enlarged in the 1988 Constitution, but somewhat toned down due to the influence of corruption scandals in shaping the institutional development agenda. Finally, I tackle the problem of how institutions remain stable in processes of reproduction that are not path dependent. I do so by analyzing Brazils main budgeting institution the Authoritative Budget as a case study to consider how control of the legislative agenda by the Executive can be considered a power mechanism through which institutions are endogenously maintained. It also illuminates the limitations of entrepreneurs who almost single-handedly attempt to change institutional arrangements. In this case, the entrepreneur, Antonio Carlos Magalhães, obtained relative success but ultimately failed.

This dissertation is dedicated to tax fraud in the area of VAT (Value Added Tax). First of all, VAT terms are primarily defined according to current VAT law and also with respect to the harmonization of this tax in the European Union. The next section focuses on the VAT authority and individual constituents which contribute to the tax authority, as well as compliance with its requirements. The main part of the dissertation is dedicated to the forms of tax evasion most frequently practiced in the Czech Republic. The most widespread tax fraud, carousel fraud, is explained and described with the help of diagrams in a separate section. This matter is followed by the issue of the ways in which tax fraud is being prevented, the means of which are examined individually. The process of VAT collections in the federal budget is analyzed, as is the growth of VAT in connection with that of the GNP, in the second half of the dissertation. Subsequently, there is an analysis of the growth of VAT due to higher tax rates, and as a result of the introduction of more efficient tax collection procedures for added value and the implementation of different measures against tax fraud. The analyses are followed by potential procedures and remarks which could lead to a further reduction of criminal activity in this tax area.

A tese analisa o problema da corrupção sob a perspectiva do direito econômico, buscando compreendê-la a partir da dicotomia público-privado e direito posto-pressuposto. Ambas as dicotomias são expostas e contextualizadas, voltando-se gradativamente ao contexto brasileiro. Por isso, em vez de conceber o objeto de estudo como universal e atemporal, a corrupção é localizada historicamente na formação do Estado brasileiro e nas relações patrimoniais deste com a sociedade: embora, com a importação de regras jurídicas do Estado moderno, tenha havido um verniz modernizante nos direitos penal, administrativo e político-constitucional, o substrato cultural atua de modo a condicionar sua aplicação e eficácia. No patrimonialismo brasileiro, o poder estatal é visto como um direito daquele investido da função pública, passível de ser exercido com pessoalidade, enquanto, de acordo com os princípios gerais de direito no Estado moderno, ao poder estatal corresponde um dever a ser exercido no cumprimento de uma função. Esse descompasso se encontra presente tanto nas formas mais explícitas de corrupção, claramente reprimidas pela regulamentação microjurídica, quanto em comportamentos mais sutis, muitos dos quais aceitos socialmente por parcelas significativas da população. Essas premissas informam a análise de variados aspectos do direito brasileiro, tais como os vários aspectos da discricionariedade, o corporativismo, o assimétrico federalismo fiscal e o orçamento público da União. Apesar de úteis e necessários, os mecanismos de combate à corrupção típicos da regulamentação microjurídica, expressos no direito posto, adotam uma lógica mercantilista no combate à corrupção, reduzindo-a ao mero jogo de alteração de incentivos e desincentivos. Logo, as propostas de reforma devem focar também os aspectos macrojurídicos do problema. / The thesis analysis the problem of corruption from the perspective of the economic law and tries to understand it with the support of the dichotomies between public-private spheres and positive-overpositive law. Both dichotomies are described and set within a context in order to gradually approach the Brazilian situation. For this reason, instead of conceiving of the subject matter as universal and timeless, the corruption has historically been found in the formation of the Brazilian state as well as in its patrimonial relationships with society; although a modernizing colour has been added following the importation of legal rules of the modern state in the criminal, administrative and political-constitutional laws, the underlying culture operates as a restraint on its application and efficiency. In the Brazilian patrimonialism, state power is deemed as a right of one individual vested with the public function, which can be used according to his or her private interests, whereas, according to the general principles of law in the modern state, state power consists of a duty to be fulfilled in order to perform a function. Such a mismatch is present both in gross corrupt behaviour, which is clearly banned by the microjuridical regulation, and in the more subtle practices, many of which are socially accepted by a significant number of people. These premises are used as guidelines for the analysis of several aspects of Brazilian law, such as the various facets of discretionary power, the corporativism, the asymmetric fiscal federalism and the federal budget. Even though the mechanisms for the fight against corruption used by the microjuridical regulation (positive law) are useful and necessary, they approach the problem using a mercantilistic logic which narrows down the debate on the dissuasion as to how to change the incentives and desincentives to corruption. In view of that, proposals for reform should also focus on the macrojuridical aspects of corruption.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze causes of United States budget deficits growth. In the first part, the thesis deals with the theory of public finance and fiscal policy including state budget and its balance. The thesis then focuses on the specific situation in the United Sates, its historical development of fiscal policies, development of federal debt, United States federal budget process, and also list of current main issues that represents main cause behind larger United States budget deficits. At the end, based on Congressional Budget Office data, is the indication of further development of federal debt including discussion over sustainability of the current development. In conclusion, the thesis also tries to find out whether the twin deficits hypothesis is valid for United States based on econometric analysis.