The purpose of our paper is to study how ownership structure affects ARL (audit report lag) in Swedish companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. In particular, family ownership (FAMO), institutional ownership (INSO) and foreign ownership (FORO) are analysed. Audit report lag is defined as the period between the end of a fiscal year to the signing of the audit report, which is directly followed by the release of an annual report. Based on a sample of 814 firm-year observations for Swedish-listed firms for 2020-2022, this study finds a significant negative relationship between audit report lag and both family and foreign ownership. The results indicate that audit report lag decreases when family and foreign ownership increases. Moreover, the findings suggest that family-owned firms have a shorter audit report lag compared to non-familyowned firms. No statistically significant relationship was discovered between ARL and institutional ownership. Arguments for our results can be found in the agency theory, signalling theory, and consequently the reputational hypothesis. Companies with certain ownership structures may try to signal certain information to investors to achieve the best possible reputation and external perception. Signalling theory has implications for companies that want to combat agency theory type 2 through timely reporting.

Syfte: Undersökningen syftar till att utifrån teorier kring kapitalstruktur och empiriska samband mellan skuldsättning och lönsamhet diskutera hur skuldsättning kan användas i ekonomistyrning. Metod: Undersökningen är gjord enligt kvantitativ forskningsmetod. Sekundärdata hämtas och analyseras med statistiska metoder. Resultaten diskuteras med teoretisk referensram. Slutsats :Studiens empiriska resultat visar på ett signifikant negativt samband mellan skuldsättning (​TSK ​ ) och lönsamhet (​ROA ​ ), samt ett signifikant positivt samband mellan skuldsättning (​TSK ​ ) och lönsamhet (​ROE ​ ). De empiriska resultaten tyder på att hur skuldsättning kan användas i ekonomistyrning beror på hur lönsamhet mäts. / Purpose: This study aims to; from theories of capital structure and empirical relations between debt and profitability discuss how debt can be used in management control. Method: This study follow quantitative research method. Secondary data is retrieved and analyzed by statistical methods. The results are discussed with the theoretical framework. Conclusion: Empirical results indicate a significant negative relationship between debt (​TSK ​ ) and profitability (​ROA ​ ), followed by a significant positive relationship between debt (​TSK ​ ) and profitability (​ROE ​ ). Empirical results further suggest that the measure of profitability is crucial for how debt can be used in management control.

Study project (MAcc)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The most basic principle of agency theory is that an individual will always serve his own interest best. According to Eisenhardt (1989) agency theory describes individuals as rational, risk averse en motivated by egotism. Agency theory also deals with the conflict that exists between different parties in an organization due to people's egoism. This self-interest can lead to goal incongruence if a person is placed in an environment where he has to serve somebody else's interest. Ownership and management vested in the same party until about 130 years ago. These roles were however separated with the development of the modem organization. The principal or owner is now represented by the shareholder and management serves as the agent. The principal thus appoints the agent to serve and manage his interest in the organization optimally. The principal's goal is the maximising of his shareholders' wealth. The agent's goal to carry out his task with the minimum effort and or to obtain maximum benefit for himself. It is thus clear that the goals of the principal and agent might often differ and this will give rise to goal Incongruence. This goal incongruence may give rise to some managerial actions which will be detrimental to optimal value of the company. The agency conflict, which is caused by man's self interest, manifests in the modem organization in a number of ways. These are referred to agency problems in this assignment. Agency problems are found both on a micro- and macroeconomical level. Agency cost is the sum of the difference between the real and optimal value of the company, the monitoring costs of the principal and the bonding costs of the agent. This cost is to the disadvantage of the principal and might even be to the disadvantage of the agent. It is thus essential that agency conflict and agency costs are reduced to a minimum. A number of measures are taken to address the agency problems and to reduce their negative effect on the organization. None of these measures will be efficient enough ifused in isolation. An optimal combination of solutions will depend on the company's specific circumstances. An empirical study was conducted to determine to what extent the agency problems manifest during the demutualisation of a big insurance business. The measures taken to address these problems were also investigated as well as the extent to which these were successful. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die basiese aanname van agentskapsteorie is dat die individu sy selfbelang altyd eerste sal stel. Volgens Eisenhardt (1989) beskryf agentskapsteorie individue as rasioneel, risikoongeneigd en gemotiveer deur selfbelang. Agentskapsteorie handel verder oor die konflik wat tussen die verskillende belanghebbende partye binne 'n organisasie as gevolg van persone se selfbelang ontstaan. Hierdie selfbelang van die mens kan lei tot doelwitinkongruensie, indien die persoon in 'n omgewing geplaas word waar daar van hom verwag word om 'n ander se belange te dien. Eienaarskap en bestuur was tot ongeveer 130 jaar gelede gevestig in dieselfde party. Met die totstandkoming van die moderne onderneming, is hierdie rolle egter geskei. Die prinsipaal of eienaar word nou verteenwoordig deur die aandeelhouer en die bestuur dien as die agent. Die prinsipaal stel dus die agent aan om na sy belang in die onderneming om te sien en dit optimaal te bestuur. Die prinsipaal se doel is die maksimering van sy aandeelhouerswelvaart. Die agent poog om sy taak met minimale inspanning te voltooi en of uitsonderlike voordeel vir homself te behaal. Dit is duidelik dat die prinsipaal en agent se doelwitte meermale sal verskil en doelwitinkongruensie ontstaan dus. Hierdie doelwitinkongruensie word vergestalt in sekere aksies wat bestuur soms neem en wat daartoe lei dat die optimale waarde van die firma nie bereik word nie. Die agentskapskonflik wat as gevolg van die partye se selfbelang ontstaan manifesteer in die moderne onderneming op 'n verskeidenheid van wyses, wat in hierdie werkstuk as agenskapsprobleme gedefinieer word. Agentskapsprobleme kom op 'n mikro- sowel as op 'n makro-ekonomiese vlak voor. Die verskil tussen die werklike en optimale waarde van die organisasie, plus die prinsipaal se moniteringskoste en die agent se gebondenheidskoste, verteenwoordig agentskapskoste. Hierdie koste strek tot die nadeel van die eienaars en meermale ook tot die nadeel van die bestuur. Dit is dus noodsaaklik dat agentskapskonflik en die gepaardgaande agentskapskoste tot 'n minimum beperk word. Daar word van 'n verskeidenheid van maatreëls gebruik gemaak ten einde die agenskapsprobleme aan te spreek en hul negatiewe impak op die onderneming te versag. Nie een van hierdie oplossings kan in isolasie gebruik gemaak word nie en afhangend van die onderneming se spesifieke omstandighede, sal daar hoogstens 'n optimale kombinasie van oplossings ontwikkel kan word. Daar is vervolgens in hierdie werkstuk 'n empiriese ondersoek uitgevoer ten einde te bepaal in hoe 'n mate die agenskapsprobleme tydens die demutualisering van 'n groot versekeringsonderneming manifesteer. Die neem van regstellende stappe om hierdie probleem aan te spreek is ondersoek, sowel as die mate waartoe hierdie maatreëls suksesvol was al dan nie.

股東權益與意見在公司治理中屬重要一環，否則少數公司決策者（例如董事會或公司的CEO）會過度左右企業資源的分配，甚至發生浪費、貪污等代理問題，進而損及小股東權益，甚至勞工權益。本論文以公司治理的基本概念及架構為基礎，並以惡意併購的個案作為案例，探討並說明股東行動主義的經濟與法律意涵。其中，主要就「金融控股公司依金融控股公司法申請轉投資審核原則」法規設計，選擇具代表性個案，探討個案公司於股東治理的基礎規範與相關運作程序，包括非合意併購、委託書爭奪戰等相關法律問題。若根據目前台灣上市/櫃公司，其公司治理的實施狀況，許多法律學者均認為職業股東屬必要之罪，委託書是在目前公司所有權與經營權不分下，可能的外部監督力量。目前台灣委託書的相關規定過於保護大股東、公司派，導致小股東的權益受到一定程度的損害。若能自由化委託書收購，並且讓委託書可以在自由市場買賣，如此所創造的市場機制，據委託書的價格及外部市場機制，對於台灣過度依賴大股東或管理階層的公司治理結構會產生顯著改善效果，有效提升公司治理。本論文所選擇的個案公司，可以充分顯現上述這些方面的法律與經濟意涵。另外一個好的金融控股公司合併政策有賴一個健全之法律制度加以配套。針對金控公司是否得以所謂非合意併購達成合併之目的，金管會僅以行政命令「金融控股公司依金融控股公司法申請轉投資審核原則」與「公開收購公開發行公司有價證券管理辦法」作為主要法源，在法律上之位階上似乎有將行政命令之位階提高至法律位階之必要，本文以個案公司為例探討其相關法律問題。 關鍵字：公司治理、委託書、非合意併購、代理理論、價購委託書 / Shareholder’s interests play an important role in corporate governance. Otherwise, few decision-makers (ex. Board members, directors, etc) might misuse corporate assets and abuse in related party transactions in which interests of minority shareholders and employees will be jeopardized. This thesis will explore synergies of shareholder’s activism based on basic concepts and framework of corporate governance. In particular, case studies will focus on related regulations and practicable mechanisms of corporate governance in which certain legal issues, such as hostile takeover and proxy battle, will be elaborated based on ‘Principles of supervising investment application from financial holding companies’. Related regulations of proxy rights in Taiwan tend to protect interests of major shareholders and result in negative impacts of minority shareholders. If purchase offers of proxy could be freely traded in public, marketing mechanisms will balance the distortion of major shareholders and enhance the essence of corporate governance effectively. Case studies in this thesis therefore will reflect the above-mentioned legal and business implications. In addition, merge policies of financial conglomerate need supplementally sound regulations. In Taiwan, legal sources in financial holding companies are based on “Principles of supervising investment application from financial holding companies “ and “Regulations Governing Tender Offers for Purchase of the Securities of a Public Company “ issued by Financial Supervisory Committee of Executive Yuan. Positions of legal sources, in which case studies will be reviewed, seemingly need to be upgraded from administrative to legal level. Key word: Corporate Governance, Proxy,Hostile takeover,Agency Theory, Proxy Buying

村里組織是台灣實施地方自治的最基層編組，而村里資源如何運用與分配，更是影響地方自治行政功能甚鉅，然過去研究鮮少討論村里公共資源的分配政治現象。於此，本研究以政治學的分配理論為基礎，採取質性研究方法，以村里基層工作經費為研究主軸，透過深入訪談及文件分析探討村里長是分配村里資源的情形，並分析公所與村里長之間委託-代理關係的監督失靈現象。 研究結果顯示，村里長分配村里資源的模式偏向Cox-McCubbins的模型，村里長以是否為「選舉票倉區」，作為分配村里基層工作經費的基準，而鄉鎮公所與村里長之間的委託-代理關係，則因資訊不對稱及里幹事聯繫失衡對村里長的行政監督有所失靈。 基於研究發現，本文建議，村里基層工作經費應依照村里的大小及人口予以公式化的補助金分配，此外村里長與公所之間的行政責任釐清，可助於減少資訊不對稱的問題，最後村里長運用村里資源的情形應建立衡量指標，落實稽核制度。本文為一初探性嘗試，提供台灣分配政策與政治研究另外一種思考的面向，並且提供未來台灣分配政治研究的實證基礎。 / Village and Neighborhood organization is the most basic unit of local governance in Taiwan, and how the village and neighborhood uses and allocates resources has important impact on the local self-government administration. However, existing research rarely discusses distributive politics of public resources in the village arena. Therefore, based on the perspective of distributive theory, this study explores the allocation of village resources by in-depth interviews and archival research. It further presents the supervision failure by township, on village and neighborhood. The results of this study confirm Cox-McCubbins ’s model on resources allocation. The village and neighborhood chiefs use "election support zone" as criteria to allocate the village and neighborhood funds. The principal-agency relationship between township and village was disconnected due to information asymmetries and loss of contact with the village secretary, which leads to the failure of administrative supervision on village chiefs regarding allocation of the funds.. This study proposes three suggestions for reforms. First, the village and neighborhood funds should be distributed in accordance with a formula based on the size of the village and neighborhood. Second, the administrative responsibility should be clarified between the village and neighborhood chief and townships to reduce the information asymmetry problem. Finally, the indicators measuring the effectiveness of the fund’s usage, should be constructed in order to enforce the audit system. This research is a pilot attempt to provide another perspective and empirical analysis on the distributive policy at local level. It has theoretical and empirical implications for distributive politics.

No description available.

Bakgrund: OECD har tillsammans med G20-länderna beslutat att koncerner skall skatterapportera i enlighet med ett nytt underlag utifrån en ny lagstiftning, som heter Country-By-Country-rapportering (CbCr). Detta innebär att företagen skall börja rapportera bland annat betald skatt och sina anställda per jurisdiktion där företaget verkar och på så vis kommer en ökad transparens inom skatteredovisning att ske. Ur myndigheters synpunkt är detta en ändring mot det positiva, men frågan blir vad företagen och dess koncernskattechefer anser om denna ändring i skatteraportering. Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att identifiera och beskriva koncernskattechefers attityder till en ny lagstiftning som ändrar dagens skatterapportering genom CbCr som leder till en ökad transparens i skatteredovisningen, samt att se vad som påverkar identifierad attityd. Denna studie kommer att bidra genom att ge ett empiriskt underlag som öppnar för framtida forskning kring attityder hos koncernskattechefer vid den ökade transparensen i skatteredovisning. Studien ger också ett kunskapsunderlag för statliga myndigheter, i synnerhet skattemyndigheter, och för berörda koncerner samt svenskt näringsliv. Metod: Genom en kvalitativ metod med  intervjuer av koncernskattechefer hos 8 stora koncerner samt skatteverket har empiriskt material samlats in som leder till en vidare analys och slutsats. Slutsats: De mest framträdande resultaten i denna uppsats har varit att en del koncernskattechefer ser samband mellan skatt och socialt ansvar och är därmed positiva till implementeringen eftersom det kommer att stärka det sociala kontraktet. Andra koncernskattechefer ser risker med CbCr och ökade kostnader och därmed minskade incitamentsersättningar och har en negativ attityd till en ökad transparens i skatteredovisningen. / Background: A decision made by OECD, together with G20-countries says that Corporate Groups shall report report tax according to new guideline, called Country-By-Country-reporting. This means that corporate groups for example will report tax paid per jurisdiction and therefore will the tax transparency be increased. According to  authorities, the new implementation is positive but the question is whether the corporate groups and their corporate group tax managers will be positive or not. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify and explain attitudes of tax managers when a new legislation changes today´s tax reporting in the form of a CbC-report which will increase transparency in the tax reporting, and what elements are behind these identified attitudes.This study will contribute by giving an empirical material thats opens to further research about corporate group tax managers attitudes with increased tax transparency. The study also gives better knowledge for public authorities, particularly the tax authority and to concerned corporate groups. Method: Through a qualitative method with interviews with corporate group tax managers with 8 large corporate groups and tax authorities, empirical material has been gathered, which leads to further analysis and a conclusion. Conclusion: The most prominent results in this essay has been the fact that some corporate group tax managers sees the connection between tax and social responsibility and therefor are positive to the implementation because it will strengthen the social contract.Other corporate group tax managers sees the hazards with CbCr and appurtenant costs and therefor decreased incentive compensation. These corporate group tax managers have a negative attitudes towards an increased tax transparency.

[pt] A forma de estruturação e gerenciamento dos canais de distribuição constitui para as firmas uma importante fonte de vantagem competitiva. Em linha com a sua visibilidade, o franchising vem atraindo a atenção de pesquisadores das mais diversas linhas teóricas, interessados em aprofundar a compreensão quanto as suas implicações econômicas e estratégicas. Esta pesquisa visa contribuir para ampliar os entendimentos quanto aos fatores que influenciam a adoção e o desenvolvimento do sistema, assim como da relação entre o seu grau de utilização e o desempenho das firmas. Com base na revisão da literatura, desenvolveu-se um modelo estrutural utilizando fatores preconizados pelas teorias da escassez de recursos, custos de transação e da agência. Esta modelagem do problema permitiu o teste das relações hipotetizadas e a mensuração das contribuições dos fatores na explicação do franchising e do desempenho das firmas. A investigação empírica utilizou informações de domínio público sobre 88 redes de fast food que operam no Brasil. De forma geral, os resultados corroboraram diversas proposições teóricas quanto aos efeitos dos fatores selecionados sobre do nível de utilização do franchising pelas firmas. Adicionalmente, revelou-se um impacto conjunto dos fatores antecedentes e da forma de estruturação das redes sobre o desempenho dos franqueadores. A análise da influência da maturidade das firmas permitiu diferenciar a importância relativa das relações estruturais do modelo entre franqueadores novos e maduros. Finalmente, foram discutidas as implicações acadêmicas e gerenciais das conclusões, bem como apontadas sugestões para futuras pesquisas. / [en] The distribution channel structuring and management represents to firms an important source of competitive advantage. Measure with its visibility, franchising has captured the attention of researchers from a wide variety of theoretical backgrounds, interested in deepening the understanding of its economic and strategic implications. This research aims at providing further comprehension about the factors that lead to the franchising adoption and development as well as the relationship between its level of utilization and companies´ performance. Based on literature review, a structural model was developed using factors nourished by the resource scarcity, transaction costs and agency theories. This problem-modeling approach allowed the testing of hypothesized relationships and the measuring of factors the contributions to the explanation of franchising and the performance of companies. The empirical investigation was developed using public information regarding 88 fast food chains operating in Brazil. Overall, the findings offered support for several theoretical propositions concerning the effects of each selected factors over the use if franchising level. Furthermore, the results revealed a combined impact of the selected factors and the network structure on franchisors´ performance. The examination of the company´s experience influence allows differentiating the relative importance of some structural relationships among young and mature franchisors. Finally, the academic and managerial implications of the conclusions were discussed and suggestions for future studies were provided.

Diversas teorias ao longo do tempo apresentam explicações sobre as estruturas de capital das organizações. As principais são a teoria Pecking Order, Teoria Trade Off e Teoria Free Cash-Flow, com base na teoria de Agência. Todas essas teorias apresentam relações teóricas entre alguns determinantes de estruturas de capital vinculadas a firma que poderiam interferir na decisão de financiamento. Uma segunda linha de estudos, vinculada a esta, apresenta que determinantes externas a firma também interferem nesta estrutura de capital, porém as variáveis de firma comportam-se de forma semelhante em diferentes cenários econômicos. (RAJAN e ZINGALES, 1995; BOOTH et. al., 2001; de JONG et. al., 2008; GURCHARAN, 2010; KAYO e KIMURA, 2011). Considerando as pesquisas anteriores, desenvolveu-se uma investigação para a confirmação desta hipótese, com o objetivo de identificar quais variáveis são mais importantes na tomada de decisão financeira e se há variabilidade em cenários temporais e ambientes econômicos distintos. Para tal foram analisadas 10.243 empresas sediadas em 61 países distintos no período de 2002-2011, totalizando o número de 58.423 observações firma ano, por meio de um modelo de regressão linear hierárquica de três níveis com medidas repetidas, verificando qual a importância das variáveis de firma e país no endividamento, se há variação das mesmas em países com diferentes contextos econômicos e em períodos de crescimento e retração econômica. Foram analisadas cinco determinantes clássicas de firma (lucratividade, tangibilidade, proteção fiscal não advinda da dívida, tamanho e oportunidades de crescimento), e onze variáveis de país que possuem relação com o endividamento (PIB, inflação, taxa de impostos, volume negociado em ações, liquidez de bolsa, capitalização das empresas listadas, índice risco país, taxa de juros, enforcement jurídico, nível de proteção ao investidor e nível de disclosure de negócios). A partir das análises realizadas, foi identificado que o endividamento está ligado em maior grau a características das firmas e ao tempo, e em menor grau, porém significante, às características do ambiente. Foi identificado que não há mudanças extremamente significativas no comportamento das variáveis de firma entre economias desenvolvidas e em desenvolvimento, assim como entre períodos pré e pós-crise financeira de 2008. Em relação as determinantes de país analisadas, observa-se que as mesmas apresentam comportamento adverso em função da crise de 2008, perdendo capacidade explicativa, e não apresentam comportamento de mudança de sinal dos coeficientes quando comparados países com desenvolvimento econômico distinto. Identifica-se que características do desenvolvimento econômico ficam mais evidentes no processo de financiamento, como acesso a recursos em economias com menor desenvolvimento. Os resultados apresentam convergência com os estudos anteriores como os de Moore (1986), Rajan e Zingales (1995), Booth et. al. (2001), Kayo e Kimura (2011), Bebzcuk e Galindo (2011), Akbar et. al (2012), entre outros. / Several theories over time present explanations of the capital structures of organizations. The main theories are the Pecking Order Theory, Trade Off and Free Cash-Flow Theory, based on the Agency Theory. All these theories have some theoretical relationships between determinants of capital structures linked to firm that could interfere in the financing decision. A second line of studies, linked to this, shows that determinants outside the firm also interfere in capital structure, but the firm variables behave similarly in different economic scenarios (RAJAN and ZINGALES, 1995; BOOTH et. al., 2001; de JONG et. al., 2008; GURCHARAN, 2010; KAYO and KIMURA, 2011). Considering previous researches, we developed an investigation to confirm this hypothesis, identifying which variables are the most important in financial decision-making and there is variability in temporal scenarios and different economic environments. To this end, we analyzed 10,243 companies based in 61 different countries in the period 2002-2011, a total number of 58,423 firm year observations, through a hierarchical linear regression model of three levels with repeated measures, checking the importance of the variables firm and country in debt, if there is variation in the same countries with different economic contexts and periods of growth and downturn. We analyzed five firm classical determinants ( profitability , tangibility, non-debt tax shield , size and growth opportunities) , and eleven variables that are related to country debt ( GDP , inflation, taxes , trading volume in shares , stock liquidity , capitalization of listed companies, country risk index , interest rate , law enforcement , level of investor protection and disclosure level) . From the analysis, it was identified the debt is linked to a greater degree the characteristics of firms and time, and on a lesser degree, but significant, with characteristics of the environment. It wasn\'t identified very significant changes in the behavior of firm variables between developed and developing countries, as well as between pre-and post- 2008 financial crisis. Regarding the determinants of country analyzed, it is observed that they present adverse behavior due to the 2008 crisis, losing explanatory power, and have no behavior change in sign of the coefficients when comparing countries with different economic development. Characteristics of economic development become more evident in the funding process, such as access to resources in less developed economies. The results show convergence with previous studies such as Moore (1986) , Rajan and Zingales (1995) Booth et al. al. (2001) Kayo and Kimura (2011) , Bebzcuk and Galindo (2011) , Akbar et al. al (2012 ), among others

La thèse s’intéresse à l’impact des subventions publiques sur les décisions de production des agriculteurs. Elle analyse d’abord le lien entre subventions et efficacité technique des exploitations, puis examine les effets des subventions découplées sur la fourniture de services écosystémiques par les agriculteurs. L'influence des subventions sur le comportement des agriculteurs est une question importante dans le contexte de réformes successives des politiques agricoles. Il existe une vaste littérature sur cette question, mais celle-là présente trois limites majeures. D’une part, la littérature sur le sujet spécifique du lien entre subventions et efficacité technique repose sur une pléthore de modèles empiriques qui traitent les subventions de façon ad hoc. De plus, cette littérature est presqu’exclusivement basée sur des modèles statiques, alors que les décisions de production sont essentiellement dynamiques.D’autre part, peu de travaux analysent le rôle des subventions découplées en considérant la nature multitâche de l’agriculture. C’est pourquoi la thèse réalise tout d’abord une méta-analyse des résultats empiriques existants sur le lien entre subventions et efficacité technique, afin de contrôler les effets qui seraient dus aux méthodes utilisées. Les résultats indiquent que la modélisation des subventions comme outputs, ou l’utilisation du ratio subventions/revenu comme proxy, pourraient générer des résultats trompeurs. Ensuite, la thèse développe et estime un modèle de frontière dynamique ainsi qu’un modèle similaire mais statique. Les résultats montrent que le cadre statique surestime l'effet (négatif) des subventions sur l'efficacité technique. Enfin la thèse développe et teste un modèle d'agence multitâche indiquant que les aides découplées peuvent inciter les agriculteurs à fournir des services écosystémiques / The thesis focuses on the impact of public subsidies on farmers’ production decisions. It first concentrates on the link between public subsidies and farm technical efficiency, and then investigates the potential effects of decoupled subsidies on farmers’ provision of ecosystem services. The influence of public subsidies on farmers’ behaviour is an important policy question in the context of the successive reforms of agricultural policies. There exists an extensive literature on this question, but this literature has three main shortcomings. First, the literature on the specific topic of the subsidy-efficiency nexus relies on a plethora of empirical models in which subsidies are often treated in an ad hoc way. Second, this literature is almost exclusively based on static modelling, while most agricultural production decisions are dynamic in nature. Finally, in the literature on the incentive effects of decoupled subsidies, the multitasking nature of farming activities has receivedlittle attention. The thesis addresses these issues, first, by undertaking a meta-analysis of the existing empirical findings on the subsidy-efficiency nexus, in order to control for effects arising from the various methodologies used. The results show that modelling subsidies as outputs, or using the ratio of subsidies to farm revenue as a subsidy proxy, could lead to misleading results. Then, the thesis develops and estimates a dynamic frontier model; for comparison purposes, the static counterpart of this model is also estimated. The results indicate that the static framework overestimates the (detrimental) effect of subsidies on farm technical efficiency. Finally, the thesis develops and tests a multitasking agency model, indicating that decoupled subsidies could raise farmer's incentives to provide environmental services and ecologically sound production