This dissertation is concerned with the issue of economic fluctuations; the following related topics are analysed: co-integration and the NAIRU hypothesis: the theoretical implications of different classes of models, some implying that the NAIRU is a structural parameter that can only be influenced by supply-side measures, others that the attainable level of unemployment is a function also of demand variables, are first discussed; co-integration techniques (the Engle-Granger and the Johansen procedure) are then used to test the NAIRU hypothesis; the more powerful maximum likelihood method developed by Johansen shows that the unemployment rate is co-integrated with both supply and demand variables only as well as a combination of the two; supply versus demand shocks as the driving force of business cycles: using two measures of productivity growth (the Solow residual and the dual residual from the cost function), competing theories of the cycle are tested in a number of OECD countries; the issue of market structure and its relevance to explain economic fluctuations is also addressed; the empirical evidence refutes the "stronger" real business cycle (RBC) hypothesis that denies the role of demand shocks; aggregate versus sectoral shocks: their relative importance in the UK economy is evaluated by estimating a vector autoregression (VAR) of the output growth rates of 19 industrial sectors and doing a factor analysis on the innovations; the one-factor model performs quite well when applied to the British data implying that there is an aggregate shock that can account for a high percentage of the fluctuations of output over the cycle; the "seasonal cycle" in the UK economy: the quantitative importance of seasonal fluctuations and the existence of a "seasonal cycle" whose main features are very similar to those of the conventional business cycle are documented by running regressions with seasonal dummies and band spectrum regressions; a one-sector, neo-classical model of capital accumulation in which seasonal preferences are explicitly incorporated (the coefficient of risk aversion depending on the season s) is then set up; the model is not rejected by the data, confirming that seasonality is a feature to be explained within the economic model.

The thesis is concerned with the evolution of prices in market economies. In the first chapter we analyze price competition among firms with limited capacities in the framework of the classical Bertrand Edgeworth model. For this model it is well known that a Nash equilibrium in pure strategies may not exist. We discuss the nature of this non-existence result. While enlarging the strategy space to include non-linear strategies in general does not suffice for existence in the simultaneous move game, the possibility of reactions to competitors' actions in a dynamic context may restore equilibrium. In the remaining part of the thesis we analyze intermediation in frictional markets. When market participants are informed only imperfectly about potential trading opportunities, search and negotiations may prove costly. In such markets intermediaries by publicly quoting prices can help to reduce the transactional costs of exchange. In chapter two we analyze the case, in which intermediaries have access to an information technology which informs the full market. We characterize equilibrium. The inability of market participants to coordinate market participation is reflected in a large variety of subgame perfect Nash equilibria. Using a refinement criterion we find that high valuation traders typically trade with intermediaries, while low valuation traders engage in search. Moreover, price competition among several intermediaries yields Walrasian outcomes. Nevertheless, the market exhibits the features of a natural monopoly. In chapter three we relax the assumption concerning the information technology. An intermediary's choice of an information network determines the size of his clientele and hence the probability of trading. In this case the size of the information network is viewed as a quality attribute by market participants and imperfect price competition among intermediaries obtains. We characterize the industrial structure of those markets as natural oligopolies. Consequently, there is no convergence to a fragmented industrial structure as the economy grows large. Still, as the largest competitors are of roughly equal size equilibrium allocations tend to be fairly competitive.

This thesis comprises five chapters and a short introduction. Chapter 1 reexamines the "stylised facts" about cyclical fluctuations in external balances proposed by real business cycle economists and investigates whether technology shocks are the main source of fluctuations in external balances. It is found that real business cycle evidence is not invariant to the method of detrending and a substantial proportion of movement of current accounts is due to demand shocks. Furthermore, it is found that the single commodity real business cycle model cannot explain countercyclical movement of current accounts. Chapter 2 studies the effect of anticipated inflation on economic growth in an endogenous growth model. Money is introduced into an endogenous growth model which exchange requires cash-in-advance. It is shown that the decentralized competitive outcome is an inefficient balanced growth equilibrium. It is also shown that efficiency is restorable by means of a well-known optimum money supply rule. Chapter 3 extends the basic product variety endogenous growth model by introducing a fixed cost in research and development. It is shown that the fixed cost determines the rate of growth. By integrating with the human capital accumulation, it is shown that the It is growth rate of output is twice the rate of human capital accumulation without any increasing returns to scale or externality assumptions. In addition, this chapter also studies the effects of trade liberalization of physical goods on economic growth and further discuss the effect of economic integration on economic growth. Chapter 4 addresses the question of whether environmental conservation adversely affects growth. It is shown that environmental control is not necessarily a depressant on growth from a laissez-faire economy. Even if the economy starts off pursuing optimal growth without considering environmental damage, the growth rate of output may be increased if the environment is a factor of production. Chapter 5 deals with financial development in an endogenous growth model. The model integrates theories of growth and financial intermediation. Problems of moral hazard dictate that an optimal loan contract must involve either ex ante or ex post monitoring which is costly. However, lenders can delegate the monitoring to a financial intermediary. It is found that there is a positive, two-way causal relationship between growth and financial development. Different economies may evolve towards different financial systems depending on cross-country differences in the relative costs of these systems. In addition, it is also shown that the market may choose a financial system which does not generate the fastest possible economic growth.

This thesis concerns an intervention in commodity markets known as 'Fairtrade', which pays producers a minimum 'fair' price and provides support to their cooperative organisations. Fairtrade justifies its intervention in commodity markets like coffee by claiming that factors like market power and producer organisation inefficiency marks down the prices producers receive ("producer price mark-downs"). As the market share of Fairtrade coffee grows. its intervention in commodity markets is of increasing interest. This is particularly true as international commodity policy also increasingly focuses less on the support and stabilisation of low prices. and more on enabling producers to increase their share of existing returns through gains in efficiency and profitability. Using an original data set collected from fieldwork in the coffee market for Costa Rica, the thesis assesses the role of Fairtrade in overcoming the market factors it claims limits producer returns. Careful research into farm-gate prices paid by milling firms and the detailed construction of an international benchmark price for Costa Rican coffee permit the construction of a producer price mark-down measure that informs on efficiency and market power. In addition to the role of Fairtrade, the measure permits the testing of hypotheses about what explains producer price mark-downs over mills and over time. Features of the Costa Rican input market for coffee permit a generalisation of the results. The empirical results find that market power is a limiting factor in the Costa Rican market and that Fairtrade does improve the efficiency of cooperatives, thereby increasing the returns to producers. The results also suggest that producers selling to vertically integrated multinational coffee mills face lower producer price mark-downs as compared to domestically owned non-cooperative mills. This result contradicts the popular view that increasing concentration of vertically-Integrated multinational firms account for a decline in coffee producer returns over time.

The main purpose of this thesis is to provide statistical evidence on the value relevance of a set of selected performance measures, to measure the performance of companies according to the traditional accrual measures and value added measures, and finally, to assess their information content and incremental information content. The study covers a sample of 986 UK companies listed in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with an active share during the period 1990 to 2012. J This thesis also provides evidence on the long-tern impact of adopting economic value added (EVA) by 89 US companies on a set of important firm decisions, namely, the investing, financing and operating decisions. The time horizon of this analysis spans the period 1960 -2012. The empirical evidence indicates that all the performance measures used in this thesis have a significant association with stock prices and returns. In addition, the results also reveal that when applying the price model, cash flows from operation (CFO) has the highest explanatory power among the variables considered. The remaining performance measures regarding their value relevance are in the following order: earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) , net income (NI), earnings before extra ordinary items (EBEI), cash value added (CVA) and EVA. Furthermore, the results show that EBITDA dominates other variables when the return model is used. I

Empirical studies have questioned the effectiveness of equity-linked compensation in increasing managerial ownership and improving interest alignment. In particular, studies have found that executives unwind incentives by selling shares that are acquired through equity-linked compensations. Scholars argue that such freedom to unwind incentives is undesirable as it can lead to managerial self-beneficial behaviour that harms shareholders. Under such arguments, a minimum executive shareholding policy has been proposed, which requires executives to maintain a minimum ownership of the company's shares through retaining a portion of vested equities. Core and Larcker (2002) made the first attempt to provide a preliminary understanding of the minimum shareholding policy. This thesis builds on Core and Larcker (2002) and provides a deeper understanding of a minimum shareholding policy as a corporate governance mechanism in improving managers-shareholders interest alignment. This thesis analyses minimum shareholding policy by asking three main empirical questions: What determines the policy adoption? Do executives respond to the policy by retaining more vested equity? What is the performance impact of the policy? By analysing UK firm data, I found that firms adopt the minimum shareholding policy to reverse low prior ownership and to prevent share sales that are led by managerial market-timing. Firms seem to be influenced by peer action and adopt the policy when more firms in the same size group have the policy in place. The policy is also adopted to counter potential agency problems. This takes the form of high managerial power and discretionary spending. Additionally, a larger volume of equity-linked compensation grants and vested equities also contributes to the probability of policy adoption. In quest of the second empirical question, ] first confirmed that executives indeed unwind incentives when they receive shares from newly vested equities. However, as the policy is adopted, executives tend to retain more newly vested equities if their prior period ownership is below the minimum requirement. This is in contrast to weaker share retention which is demonstrated when managerial ownership is above the minimum. This result shows that the minimum shareholding policy is effective in limiting unwinding of incentives by executives and also echoes earlier findings that policy adoption is related to a larger prior period equity-linked compensation. The result is also robust when controlling for potential self-selection bias. While policy compliance does not have significant performance implication in its own right, the degree of compliance has a significantly positive performance impact when the difference between actual holding and minimum requirement is large. This reveals that the minimum shareholding requirement is potentially too low to exert a strong performance impact. In a number of sensitivity tests, I found that such performance impact is enhanced when the pre-adoption ownership percentage is lower, or when the policy is more intense as compared to pre-adoption ownership value. The lack of evidence of proper policy enforcement on violation penalties may have explained the finding presented in this thesis that performance does not respond significantly, albeit negatively, to policy violation. I argue that, although managers begin by complying with the policy at the inception of the process, those who have the tendency to violate have room to negotiate to avoid penalty towards the end of the policy deadline. The analysis suggests that executive compensation regulators should pay more attention to the implementation of corporate governance mechanisms. In particular, regulators can play a key role in preventing the board from allowing the management far too much flexibility in policy compliance. This should enhance not only the effectiveness of the policy, but also the disciplinary function of the corporate governance mechanism in general. Investors can also use the compliance of minimum shareholding policy and the penalty of policy violation as a way of understanding the true level of board independence. This should assist investors in analysing their company's corporate governance quality.

This research examines the internationally coordinated, state-led response to the 2007- 2008 economic and financial crisis. It addresses the construction of ‘alternative narratives’ which encompass a partial revision of the economic paradigm, with a particular emphasis on the role of international financial regulatory authority, its rules and institutionalization. The meta-theoretical theme at the centre of this thesis involves the manner in which severe crisis episodes provoke and also reveal the underlying tension and contestation between ‘market authority’ and ‘state authority’ in relation to the regulation of the world economy, financial system and firms, with the goal of ensuring maximization of long-term systemic stability and crisis prevention. The construction of alternative crisis-driven narratives is in part a reaction to the previous ideological hegemonic domination of laissez faire neo-liberal beliefs as applied to deregulation (i.e., of self-regulation by markets and private sector actors in the financial sector). The thesis identifies and examines a paradigm shift in response to the crisis: a move from the dominance of market authority to the reassertion of state authority over financial markets and actors. It addresses the way in which crisis narratives are constructed in response to such episodes and the policy implications of paradigm shifts when they occur. The thesis empirically examines the elite state-level crisis response and its policy consequences, with particular emphasis on the institutional reforms most important to the construction, post-crisis, of a ‘new global financial architecture’. A principal argument within the thesis is that the severity of the financial crisis precipitated a rapid shift in the policy narrative held to by the central banking epistemic community, which constitutes a paradigm shift, and which led to a series of institutional and policy reforms addressing the application of state power and regulatory authority over global financial markets and firms.

The financial crisis that hit the world at the end of 2007 has impacted not only the banking systems and private sector companies, but also the public sector. The government of Dubai responded effectively to the repercussions of the financial crisis, and provided ample support to its entities to minimize the effects of the financial crisis on its performance. One of the main reasons for the superior performance of the government of Dubai is its investment in its human capital. Providing sufficient funds for training and bringing international experts to deliver high quality programs was one of the main drivers of top performance. However, the financial crisis has undoubtedly affected the ability of the government to provide the same quantity of training programs, and this might affect the overall performance of the employees within its realm. The purpose of this study is to examine to what extent the financial crisis has affected the budget allocated to training and its subsequent impact on the overall organizational performance of government entities within the Emirate of Dubai. The study tests three hypotheses: 1 ) the impact of the financial crisis on training effectiveness; the variables look at the level to which the financial crisis influenced training effectiveness. 2) Impact of training strategy on training effectiveness; the variables look at the influence of training strategy of the government on training effectiveness. It achieves this by measuring variables that look at the elements embedded in the training strategy like the involvement of the employees in its preparation, implementation and its design. 3) Impact of training effectiveness on organizational performance; the variables test the relationship between the quality of training under the restricted budget and the effectiveness of training. The main finding is that contrary to expectations perceived, training effectiveness did not decrease as a result of the reduced budgets. Those responsible for training and development responded creatively to the financial stringency by finding alternative and more cost-effective methods of delivering their programmes. More specifically, the 1st hypothesis H0: Financial crisis and Training effectiveness are unrelated. HA: Financial stringency is negatively correlated with Training effectiveness. The simple regression result shows that financial stringency is not significantly associated with Training effectiveness. Hypothesis 2 H0: Training Approach and Training effectiveness are unrelated. HA: Training strategy is correlated with Training Approach. The results show that Training Approach and Training effectiveness are positively associated with a strong relationship. Hypothesis 3 H0: Training effectiveness and Organizational performance are unrelated. HA: Training effectiveness is correlated with Organizational performance. The results show that the Training effectiveness and Organizational performance are positively associated. The study provides recommendations to policy makers in the UAE on how to better improve the quality of training and at the same time reduce the costs involved in running them. The findings of this study provide a clear picture of the challenges that face organizations in Dubai as a consequence of the financial crises and subsequent pressure on training budgets.

This study aims to define marketing orientation, identify it in practice, and examine its association with company financial performance. An empirical analysis is made of marketing orientation of a sample of companies. These are analyzed by financial performance, level of technology and company size. Extant marketing literature is used to develop a model of marketing orientation. This is examined, operationalized and tested. The research methodology involves a sampling frame of all manufacturing firms in Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes 320 (industrial plant and steelwork) and SIC 330 (manufacture of office machinery and data processing equipment). These industry sectors are chosen to include the technology dimension in the study. The first sector is classified as 'low-tech': second as ... 'high-tech'. This classification is based on industry averages for R&D expenditure. The study is confined to specific industry sectors and to manufacturing companies in order to make meaningful inter-company comparison of financial performance, measured here using 3-year average for: i) return on capital employed ii) profit margin. Data collection is by a postal survey of chief executive officers to study marketing practices from a preselected framework in order to assess marketing orientation of sample companies and to study its relationship with their financial performance. . The results (based on response from 84 companies -- 42 in each of the two industry sectors) show no significant association between marketing orientation and financial performance. For the sample used in this study, high-tech companies tend to be more marketing oriented than low-tech firms. Also, for both industry sectors, large-sized companies are more marketing oriented than small companies.

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