In 1990, the U.S. Congress approved an increase in the federal excise tax on beer from $9 to $18 per barrel. This tax was required to be paid by all brewers and importers, on all produced units as of January 1991. The hike, which was equivalent to an additional 65 cents in federal taxes per 288 ounces (a 24 pack), represented the largest federal tax increase for beer in U.S history. Interestingly, retail prices increased by an average of $1.40 per pack; that is, the tax pass-through was “over-shifted” by approximately 115% (i.e. 75 cents above the 65 cent increase). Economic theory raises questions about the standard assumption that the pass-through rate of alcohol taxes to consumer prices is equal to 100%, but does not provide exact predictions. This study analyzes the determinants of tax over-shifting observed as a result of the 1991 federal tax increase on U.S. beer production. This thesis reports cross-sectional OLS regressions where several variables at the market, firm and brand level are used to explain the change in the nominal price of beer between the last quarter of 1990 and the first quarter of 1991. After controlling for as many factors as the available dataset permits, a robust result across specifications is that non–price vertical restraints (exclusive territory and exclusive dealing contract between beer manufacturers and beer distributors), advertising expenditures (a proxy for product differentiation) and the number of brands are important determinants of pass-through rate. While the three determinants appear to be statistically significant, it is the first two that seem to be of greater economic importance. The fact that vertical restraints are associated with a smaller pass-through rate is consistent with the idea that vertical restraints can serve to mitigate the double marginalization problem; the reason for this interpretation is that theoretical work suggests that a more severe double-marginalization problem can magnify the pass-through rate. Conversely, the effect of advertising is consistent with the theoretical notion that less price-elastic (i.e. more heavily advertised) products will experience a higher pass-through rate. Together, advertising expenditures (evaluated at the mean of the data) and the absence of vertical restraints, can account for $1.075 out of the $1.40 price increase (i.e. 76.8% of the pass-through rate).

In free-to-play (F2P) games, development has rapidly progressed in recent years with the introduction of numerous new games as well as new revenue models. In 2014, a survey was conducted to understand how game developers themselves viewed the genre and its revenue models, but since then, there have been changes in the F2P model and the gaming industry. This survey aims to again examine how developers currently perceive the model and its evolution in recent years. Among players, there has been a perceived sense of unfairness regarding the F2P model, and the revenue models have been perceived as intrusive and aggressive. Some of these revenue models have also been linked to problematic gaming behavior due to their design. The research question underlying this study is: How do game developers view the current in-app purchase (IAP) model in mobile games? Is it possible to design it in a way that is not perceived as intrusive and unfair, while still serving as a viable revenue model for companies? To answer this question, the study employed a qualitative approach, conducting several semi-structured interviews with individuals working in the gaming industry. The interviews were then subjected to thematic analysis to identify codes and themes. The results indicate that developers generally have a positive attitude towards the F2P model. However, they do see issues with how some of the revenue models are implemented and presented to players. The interviewees expressed optimism about the future of F2P games, but they also believe that the revenue models may undergo changes.

In the beginning of 1990s Sweden implemented several measures in order to maintain price stability. These measures have resulted in an environment in which inflation is lower and more stable. The same development could be seen in other OECD countries. At the same time a decrease in exchange rate pass-through was noticed in many countries. This has led researchers to believe that there may be a connection, between these two phenomena. This dissertation analyzes whether there has been any change in exchange rate pass-through for manufacturing products in Sweden between the high inflation period (1977-1993) and the low inflation period (1994-2006). The result shows that there is a difference in the exchange rate pass-through between the two periods. During the low inflation period the degree of pass-through was lower than during the high inflation period.

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As the number of wireless devices in the world increases, so does the demand for flexible radio receiver architectures capable of operating over a wide range of frequencies and communication protocols. The resonance-based channel-select filters used in traditional radio architectures have a fixed frequency response, making them poorly suited for such a receiver. The N-path filter is based on 1960s technology that has received renewed interest in recent years for its application as a linear high Q filter at radio frequencies. N-path filters use passive mixers to apply a frequency transformation to a baseband low-pass filter in order to achieve a high-Q band-pass response at high frequencies. The clock frequency determines the center frequency of the band-pass filter, which makes the filter highly tunable over a broad frequency range. Issues with harmonic transfer and poor attenuation limit the feasibility of using N-path filters in practice. The goal of this thesis is to design an integrated active N-path filter that improves upon the passive N-path filter’s poor harmonic rejection and limited outof- band attenuation. The integrated circuit (IC) is implemented using the CMRF8SF 130nm CMOS process. The design uses a multi-phase clock generation circuit to implement a harmonic rejection mixer in order to suppress the 3rd and 5th harmonic. The completed active N-path filter has a tuning range of 200MHz to 1GHz and the out-ofband attenuation exceeds 60dB throughout this range. The frequency response exhibits a 14.7dB gain at the center frequency and a -3dB bandwidth of 6.8MHz.

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