This study examines empirically the transition, persistence, and loan demand in the rural credit market using panel data. The data was collected for seven rounds (1994-2009) from 15 villages in Ethiopia. The sample size is about 1500 households for each round. . Chapter one examines the determinants of simultaneous borrowing and lending. We also investigate why some households in rural Ethiopia simultaneously borrow and lend. Who are these households? Panel logit model is estimated for the sub-sample of borrowers and lenders. The result suggests that households that simultaneously borrows and lends are relatively better-off households. The probability of being a simultaneous borrower and lender is higher for households with strong village level networks. Moreover, households that are affected by common shock are more likely to be a simultaneous borrower and lender. Chapter two examines the dynamics and persistence in the rural credit markets in Ethiopia. It also examines the determinants of dynamics and persistence in borrowing and lending. Duration, dynamic probit, and dynamic multinomial logit models are estimated. We control for unobserved heterogeneity and initial condition. The result reveals the existence of positive duration dependence in both only borrowing households and simultaneously lending and borrowing households. The longer the duration as a borrower, the more likely to exit from borrowing. The longer the duration out of borrowing, the more likely to re-enter to borrowing. Off-farm work, fertilizer use, household size, and storing crop are an important determinant of the probability of exit from borrowing. There is also true state dependence in lending, borrowing, and simultaneously borrowing and lending households. This means the probability of being a borrower in the current period is highly correlated with being in the same state in the previous period. Poverty status, flood, labor sharing, membership in mutual help association, total oxen owned, storing crop, off-farm activities, and fertilizer use are an important determinant of the probability of being a borrower. Chapter three examines the determinants of demand for credit in rural Ethiopia. Bias due to data truncation, variation of the interest rate, and using loan data from a single source are the challenges in estimating demand for credit in the context of rural credit market. This study captures data truncation by estimating a panel Tobit model. The variation in the interest rate is also controlled by using village dummies and their interaction with the source of the loan. Total loan obtained from multiple sources is used as a dependent variable. The result reveals that initial endowment proxied by the value of assets, household size, the age of the head of the households, transitory income, and real per capita consumption are the most important determinants of demand for credit.

In this paper we study data on discrete labor market transitions from Austria. In particular, we follow the careers of workers who experience a job displacement due to plant closure and observe - over a period of 40 quarters - whether these workers manage to return to a steady career path. To analyse these discrete-valued panel data, we apply a new method of Bayesian Markov chain clustering analysis based on inhomogeneous first order Markov transition processes with time-varying transition matrices. In addition, a mixtureof- experts approach allows us to model the probability of belonging to a certain cluster as depending on a set of covariates via a multinomial logit model. Our cluster analysis identifies five career patterns after plant closure and reveals that some workers cope quite easily with a job loss whereas others suffer large losses over extended periods of time.

Este estudo tem como objetivo identificar evidências empíricas sobre os determinantes do desempenho dos postos de combustíveis urbanos brasileiros, em termos do volume mensal de vendas de gasolina comum. Para tanto, com base numa amostra de 372 postos de combustíveis, operando sob a bandeira da Petrobras Distribuidora, para os quais foram amostradas observações sobre o volume mensal de gasolina comum comercializado e seu respectivo preço de venda, o preço de venda do álcool combustível, a renda do consumidor e o estoque da frota de veículos leves, compondo um painel completo de dados, para o período compreendido entre janeiro de 2010 a dezembro de 2012. Assim, utilizando as ferramentas econométricas para dados em painel, concluiu-se que a abordagem dos efeitos fixos é a que melhor se adequa aos dados da amostra, evidenciando que há influência de efeitos específicos (heterogeneidade não observável) inerentes a cada unidade de corte transversal sobre o respectivo volume de vendas de gasolina. Além disso, foram estimadas as elasticidades da demanda em relação ao preço, à renda e ao estoque da frota de veículos, bem como a elasticidade-preço cruzada em relação aoálcool combustível.A demanda por gasolina comum mostrou-se elástica com relação ao seu preço. Foi confirmado o corretoemprego do etanol como um substituto imperfeito da gasolina. Constatou-se que, o estoque da frota de veículos tende a ter influênciasignificativa e positiva sobre a demanda de gasolina. Entretanto, contrariando a teoria econômica, foi rejeitada a hipótese de influência da variável renda sobre as vendas de gasolina comum. / This study aims to identify empirical evidence on the determinants of the performance of the Brazilian urban fuel stations, in terms of monthly sales of gasoline. Therefore, based on a sample of 372 gas stations operating under the banner of PetrobrasDistribuidora, for which were sampled observations on the monthly volume of traded gasoline and its respective saleprice, the sale price of ethanol, consumer income and the stock of the light vehicle fleet, composing a complete panel data for the period from January 2010 to December 2012. Thus, using econometric tools to panel data, it was concluded that the approach the fixed effects is the best suited to the sample data, evidencing the influence of specific effects (unobservable heterogeneity) inherent in every cross-section unit on the respective volume of gas sales. Moreover, the demand elasticities were estimated in relation to price, income and stock of the vehicle fleet, as well as the cross-price elasticity in relation to ethanol. Demand for regular gasoline was shown to be elastic with respect to its price. It was confirmed the use of ethanol as an imperfect substitute for gasoline. It was found that the stock of vehicle fleet tends to have significant and positive influence on the demand for gasoline. However, contrary to economic theory, the hypothesis of the influence of variable income on sales of gasoline was rejected.

O objetivo principal deste trabalho é estudar empiricamente o processo de formação de expectativas inflacionárias no Brasil, no período recente (pós metas de inflação), através de um modelo conexionista, que aproxima a forma como os agentes fazem previsões. A coordenação das expectativas do mercado em relação à inflação futura é um aspecto crucial do regime de metas de inflação. Dessa forma, entender os fatores que afetam tais expectativas é de grande relevância para o direcionamento adequado da política monetária. Os dados para expectativas de inflação utilizados são provenientes da pesquisa FOCUS do Banco Central do Brasil, e constituem um painel de dados não balanceado. Os resultados obtidos nos permitem afirmar que a maior influência sobre as expectativas inflacionárias no período como um todo foi da volatilidade cambial, seguida pela variação no preço das commodities, pela defasagem de ordem um das expectativas, pela variação cambial e pela meta. Em menor magnitude, afetam as expectativas o resultado primário do governo, a defasagem de ordem dois e a taxa Selic. O comportamento desse efeito ao longo do tempo foi verificado através da análise de sensibilidade do produto da rede em resposta a cada uma das variáveis. No período de crise de confiança, há um expressivo descolamento das expectativas em relação à meta, com um aumento do efeito das demais variáveis. Resultado inverso ocorre no período pós-crise: o efeito da meta de inflação aumenta e das demais variáveis tende a se reduzir, ainda que em alguns casos tais efeitos sejam expressivos (como da defasagem de ordem um e da volatilidade cambial). Isso nos leva a concluir que o Banco Central vem consolidando sua credibilidade ao longo do tempo, mas que há ainda espaço para melhorias. / This work aims to empirically study the formation process of inflationary expectations in Brazil, in the recent period (after the introduction of the inflation targeting policy) by a connexionist model that approaches the way agents forecast. The coordination of market expectations in relation to the future inflation is a crucial aspect of the inflation targeting. This way, understanding the factors that affect such expectations has great relevance for the adequate aiming of the monetary policies. The data for inflation expectations used in this work are from the FOCUS research of the Brazilian Central Bank, and it constitutes a unbalanced data panel. The results obtained allow us to affirm that the biggest influence on the inflationary expectations in the period as a whole was from exchange rate volatility, followed by the commodities prices variation, by the first order lag of the expectations, by the exchange rate variation and by the target. In lesser magnitude, the primary result of the government, the second order lag and the Selic tax affect the expectations. The behavior of this effect throughout the time was verified through the analysis of sensitivity of the product of the network in reply to each one of the inputs. In the period of reliable crisis, there is an expressive shift of the expectations in relation to the target, with an increase of the effect of the other variables. Inverse result occurs in the after-crisis period: the effect of the inflation target increases and of the other variables tend to be reduced, despite in some cases such effect are expressive (as the first order lag and exchange rate volatility). Thus we may conclude that the Brazilian Central Bank has been consolidating its credibility throughout the time, but there is still an open space for improvements.

Este trabalho estuda o desempenho do comércio externo brasileiro no período 1999-2005, especialmente a evolução do saldo comercial, das exportações e das importações de vários produtos da indústria nacional. Além de fazer uma análise da composição do saldo, estimam-se as funções valor das exportações e valor das importações de produtos industriais, de acordo com a classificação por produto do Sistema de Contas Nacionais do IBGE, através da técnica econométrica de painel. Os principais resultados mostram a importância do ambiente internacional e da demanda doméstica para explicar os resultados comerciais brasileiros, o primeiro com influência positiva e o segundo, negativa. A taxa de câmbio é considerada uma variável relevante apenas para explicar o valor das importações. / This thesis investigates the performance of the Brazilian foreign trade in the period 1999-2005, particularly the evolution of the trade balance, the exports and the imports of several national industrial products. Apart from performing an analysis of the trade balance, it estimates the exports value and the imports value of industrial goods through econometric panel data, according to the IBGE (Brazilian Bureau of Data) classification sector. The main results show the importance of the international commerce and of the domestic demand so as to explain the Brazilian trade results, the former with positive influence and the latter with negative. The exchange rate is significative only to explain the imports value.

Nota-se que, entre os inícios das décadas de 1990 e 2000, destacando-se, de forma mais evidente o meio dos anos 1990, ocorreu um expressivo fluxo de inversões espanholas em direção à América Latina. Esse montante chegou a representar, em alguns anos, mais de 30% do total de investimento externo recebido pelos países latino-americanos. Apesar desse expressivo aporte de inversões das empresas espanholas na América Latina, não se encontra um significativo número de trabalhos sobre esse tema, ao passo que, ao se buscar análises que utilizem a metodologia estatística, esse número se reduz consideravelmente. Com efeito, a tese aqui apresentada busca identificar os componentes macroeconômicos determinantes do movimento recente de internacionalização produtiva da economia espanhola na América Latina, empregando, basicamente, uma metodologia econométrica de dados em painel, caracterizando os push-pull factors dessa dinâmica. Para uma melhor compreensão da estrutura do modelo econométrico utilizado e, também, das respostas estatísticas alcançadas neste trabalho, faz-se primeiramente uma revisão nos conceitos teóricos das principais escolas econômicas relacionadas aos determinantes dos gastos com investimento em geral. Em seguida, apresentam-se as principais referências teóricas que tratam exclusivamente do investimento estrangeiro direto (IED). Também abordam-se a caracterização da metodologia de dados em painel, com seus respectivos estimadores, e os testes de especificação estatística utilizados. Por fim, já delimitadas as investigações teóricas e a metodologia usada neste trabalho, expõem-se os resultados encontrados. Com efeito, chegou-se a resultados estatísticos suportados por outros trabalhos que analisaram o mesmo tema, porém, com uma abordagem metodológica diversa. Ou seja, o IED espanhol direcionado à América Latina teve como push factors, basicamente, o nível de atividade da economia espanhola, com uma relação positiva, e a absorção interna desse país, com uma relação negativa. A primeira variável possibilita uma significativa acumulação interna às empresas da Espanha. Já o segundo componente aponta para a expectativa de não crescimento da demanda interna desse país ibérico. Os pull factors que, especificados a partir de uma relação positiva com o IED espanhol, se tornaram estatisticamente significativos foram: o tamanho de mercado, a absorção interna, a produtividade, uma variável binária que representa as privatizações, a taxa de câmbio nominal da moeda local contra o Euro e o grau de abertura. Assim, conclui-se que o processo de privatizações e a desvalorização da moeda local frente ao Euro na América Latina possibilitaram um movimento de internacionalização produtiva de alguns subsetores da Espanha que visavam a um aumento de escala, propiciando enfrentar a concorrência de empresas instaladas no mercado comum europeu. / An expressive inflow of investments from Spain towards Latin America occurred between the beginning of 1990’s and 2000’s, especially in the middle of 1990’s. This sum has come to represented in some years more than 30% of total foreign investment received by Latin-American countries. Despite this significant investments inflow from Spanish companies in Latin America, there is not an expressive number of papers related to the subject. Besides, works using statistical methodology are even rarer. The hypothesis encompassed at the present work aims at identifying the macroeconomic determinants to a recent movement of productive internationalization of Spanish economy in Latin America. For this purpose, a panel data econometric methodology has been used, revealing the pushpull factors of this dynamics. For a better understanding of both econometric model structure and reached statistical responses, first it was conducted a revision of theoretical concepts of the main economic schools regarding determinants to investment expenditures in general. Next, it is presented the major theoretical references that deal exclusively with foreign direct investment (FDI). The characterization of panel data methodology, with its respective estimators and statistical specification tests, is also covered. Finally, after having narrowed down theoretical investigation and the methodology applied in this study, the results achieved are discussed. In effect, reached statistical results are in conformity with those supported by other works that had the same issue under consideration, but used different methodological approaches. Hence, the push factors to Spanish FDI directed to Latin America were basically the level of economic activity in Spain, as a positive relation, and absorption rate in this country, as a negative relation. The first variable enabled a significant capital accumulation to Spanish companies. On the other hand, the second component points to the expectation of non-growth of this country’s domestic demand. The pull factors that have become statistically significant were market size, absorption rate, productivity, trade openness, a binary variable that represented privatizations, and nominal exchange rate of local currency against Euro, all of them with a positive relation to the Spanish FDI. Thus, it’s possible to conclude that process of privatizations and devaluation of Latin-American local currencies against Euro allowed a movement of productive internationalization of some subsectors in Spain, which aimed to increase their scale gains in order to face competition from companies installed in European market.

Neste trabalho busca-se analisar de que forma a desigualdade de renda em um país como o Brasil pode afetar as taxas de crescimento econômico. Depois de se apontar as possíveis causas da desigualdade e os principais modelos que estudam os efeitos que a diferença de rendimentos pode ter sobre o crescimento, aplicam-se, especialmente, modelos não-lineares para dados em painel com o intuito de descobrir a real relação entre essas variáveis no Brasil. Após realizar esses testes para o caso brasileiro mostrou-se que a relação negativa entre a desigualdade e o crescimento aparece com grande regularidade empírica, e, além disso, observou-se que variações na desigualdade, em qualquer direção, estão associadas com uma menor taxa de crescimento no período seguinte. / This paper analyses how the income inequality in a country like Brazil can affect the economic growth rates. After showing possible causes of inequality and the main models which observe the effects of income differences over growth, the article applies non-linear methods to panel data to detect the true relation between these variables in Brazil. After rebuilding these tests for Brazilian case, we show that an increase in the level of economic inequality has a significant negative relationship with subsequent economic growth, and moreover, it is possible conclude that changes in inequality, in any direction, are associated with reduced growth in the next period.

abstract: Although margin trading has significant impacts on the stock market, extant research has mainly focused on its effect on stock price volatility and has rarely examined its influence on the rate of returns. In addition, little systematic research has examined the differential effects of margin trading under different circumstances. This thesis examines the effects of margin trading in bull market, bear market, balanced market and among stocks included in main board, SMEs(small and medium-sized enterprises) board, GEM(growth enterprises board), as well as large-cap and small-cap in China. I further studied the long-, medium-, and short-term influences of margin trading on the volatility of stock price, return rate, and liquidity of the market by both using the SVAR model and conducting panel data analyses. The findings show that: a)Volatility. Margin trading can effectively curtail the medium- and short-term volatility of the share price under any market condition but has no prominent influence on long-term volatility. b)Profitability. Margin trading enhances profitability in the bull market with an apparent leverage effect while having no significant effects on short-term profitability in the balanced market and the bear market. c) Individual shares with different attributes. The influences of margin trading on the large-cap and small-cap shares, shares with high vs. low PE ratio, shares included in the main board and SMEs stocks vary in different types of market. d) Liquidity. The influences of margin trading on the fluidity of market are significantly different in the bull, bear, and balanced markets. Finally, I set up a new trading strategy based on the above conclusions. The result from hypothetical trading demonstrates that the newly-created trading strategy works better than the long-term holding strategy, highlighting the practical implications of this thesis in addition to its implications for research / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2018

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UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserve model reflects a shift from segregating towards more integrating area protection. This is attempted to be achieved through combining environmental protection with sustainable development, acknowledging hereby also human interests. The model is conceptually appealing and gaining popularity, which is indicated by the growing number of reserves worldwide. However, to successfully implement the desired goals in practice is challenging and substantial evidence of the concept’s effects is scarce. The aim of this thesis is, therefore, to investigate on the basis of the Swedish Biosphere Reserves what actual effects they have on local development, with a special focus on tourism. This was accomplished through analysis of general development indicators and a negative binomial regression to investigate the effect of Biosphere Reserves on the number of guest nights in the municipalities. In addition, to determine if stakeholder perceptions and the obtained results coincide, a survey amongst stakeholders in the lodging sector of Kristianstad has been carried out. The results suggest that being a municipality with a Biosphere Reserve may have no effect on general development regarding the chosen key variables and no effect on tourism development in terms of guest nights. Regarding stakeholder perceptions in Kristianstad, the Biosphere Reserve did not seem to be perceived as such an important asset, rather the single tourist attractions located in the Biosphere Reserve area were of interest. Overall, the standpoint that Biosphere Reserves are an ideal concept for sustainable development has been challenged in regard to the studied aspects and an objective view in the future on the matter is advised.