L'objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier la définition de paiements incitatifs pour la conservation de la biodiversité d’un point de vue empirique et théorique. Dans ce travail, nous visons également à intégrer de façon pertinente les processus écologiques spatiaux et dynamiques inhérents à la biodiversité terrestre dans les modèles économiques que nous développons.Dans le premier chapitre de cette thèse, nous évaluons empiriquement la coût-efficacité des paiements pour contrats Natura 2000 mis en place en forêt en France par le biais d'une approche ex ante. Le caractère insuffisant de la définition de ces paiements et leur mauvaise calibration montre la nécessité de repenser la définition de ces dispositifs d’incitations. Dans le deuxième et troisième chapitre de cette thèse, nous étudions donc la définition de paiements incitatifs efficients et coût-efficaces de façon théorique et conceptuelle, tout en prenant en compte les principaux enjeux posés par la définition de paiements incitatifs pour la conservation de la biodiversité terrestre. Le chapitre 2, par le biais d'un modèle principal-agent à valeur commune, étudie la possibilité de définir des paiements incitatifs différenciés à destinations des propriétaires privés lorsque les coûts et bénéfices de conservation sont hétérogènes et inobservables pour l’agence de conservation. Ce chapitre s’intéresse donc à l’impact de l’asymétrie d’information -- en particulier du phénomène d’anti-sélection -- sur la définition des paiements. Dans le chapitre 3, nous nous intéressons principalement à l’impact du changement climatique sur la définition de paiements incitatifs coût-efficaces. Dans ce chapitre, nous développons un modèle écologique-économique intégré, dynamique et spatialement explicite, nous permettant d’étudier la coût-efficacité relative de différents types de design, impliquant différents degrés de ciblage et de différentiation des paiements de conservation. Le travail réalisé dans l'ensemble de cette thèse nous permet de formuler des recommandations concernant le ciblage et le design de paiements incitatifs pour la conservation de la biodiversité. / The objective of this thesis is to study the definition of incentive payments for biodiversity conservation from an empirical and theoretical perspective. In this work, we also aim to account, in a relevant way, for spatial and dynamic ecological processes inherent to terrestrial biodiversity in the economic models that we develop. In the first chapter of this thesis, we empirically assess the cost effectiveness of incentive payments for biodiversity conservation implemented in French forests, namely Natura 2000 contracts, by undertaking an ex ante approach. Our results underline the inadequacy of the current definition of payments for Natura 2000 contracts and their poor calibration. This calls for a rethinking of the definition of conservation incentives. In the second and third chapter of this thesis we leave the framework of Natura 2000 contracts. We study the definition of efficient and cost-effective incentive payments in a theoretical and conceptual way, while taking into account the main challenges posed by the definition of incentive payments for biodiversity conservation. Chapter 2 explores, through a principal-agent common-value model, the possibility of differentiating conservation payments for private landowners when both conservation costs and benefits are heterogeneous and unobservable to the conservation planner. This chapter focuses on the impact of asymmetric information - especially of adverse selection - on the definition of payments. In Chapter 3, we investigate the impact of climate change on the definition of cost-effective incentive payments. In this chapter, we develop an integrated, dynamic and spatially explicit ecological-economic model, and study the relative cost-effectiveness of various payment design options, involving different levels of targeting and differentiation of conservation payments. The work done throughout this thesis allows us to formulate recommendations regarding the targeting and design of incentive payments for biodiversity conservation.

[pt] Adequação e validação de métodos econométricos para quantificar o impacto da padronização (normalização) de produtos no consumo e no bem estar dos consumidores. Três são os objetivos centrais da presente pesquisa: (i) caracterização do impacto da implementação da padronização na produção de açúcar, (ii) desenvolvimento de metodologia para a quantificação do impacto da implementação da padronização (normalização de pré-medidos) sobre o nível de produção e, portanto, sobre o bem-estar dos consumidores e (iii) análise do acervo de normas e regulamentação técnica aplicável ao setor açucareiro. Como motivação o trabalho mostra que funções da tecnologia industrial básica constituem de fato instrumentos de redução da assimetria da informação. O trabalho se desenvolveu no recente contexto de implementação de políticas públicas sociais que visam à melhoria do bem-estar de consumidores de baixa renda. O trabalho se desenvolveu em conformidade aos seguintes preceitos metodológicos: (i) revisão da literatura relacionada à assimetria da informação com o propósito de comprovar a hipótese de que a padronização de produtos pode de fato reduzir a assimetria informação; (ii) análise econométrica das sérias históricas da produção brasileira de açúcar. Os resultados do trabalho mostraram que a padronização do açúcar (normalização de pré-medidos), se devidamente implementada, pode implicar na melhoria no bem estar dos consumidores. Uma análise contra-factual clássica dos resultados consolidados mostrou que a padronização brasileira do açúcar reduziu a assimetria da informação presenciada nesse mercado, impactando num aumento de cerca de 8 porcento na produção de açúcar em 2006 devido `a padronização do produto implementada em 1992. Como conclusão a análise econométrica permitiu mostrar que a padronização de produtos constitui-se numa ferramenta estratégica a serviço do Estado promover a competitividade e como instrumento de redução de assimetria da informação em benefício do consumidor e de redução de distorções de mercados. / [en] There are two objetives in this Master dissertation in Metrology: (i) characterization of the impact of the implementation of the standardization in the production of sugar and (ii) development of methodology for quantifying the impact of the implementation of the standardization on the production level and, therefore, on the welfare of consumers. The work was motivated by the use of functions of basic industrial technology to reduce the asymmetric information as market failure is able to generate deficiencies. The investigation was developed in the recent context characterized by the implementation of social public policies aimed to improve the low income consumer s welfare. The work was developed in accordance to the following methodological precepts: (i) review of the literature on asymmetric information in order to verify the hypothesis that the products standardization can reduce the asymmetric information, generating an improvement in the consumer s welfare; (ii) econometric analysis of the Brazilian sugar production time series. As a result, the research shows that the sugar standardization, if correctly implemented, induces consumer s welfare. A contra-factual analysis of the consolidated results has shown that the Brazilian sugar standardization reduced the asymmetric information in this market. The impact of this policy was an increase in roughly 8 percent in the sugar production in 2006 due to the product standardization implemented in 1992. As a conclusion, the econometric analysis developed show that the standardization of products can be considered a powerful strategic tool. Not only to promote specific sector competitiveness, but also as an instrument to reduce the asymmetric information to the benefit of consumers.

Este estudo faz uma análise teórica e empírica dos processos de licitação e contratação de obras e reformas de prédios públicos em uma Universidade Pública Federal, utilizando a Teoria da Informação Assimétrica e dos Contratos. O período da pesquisa foi entre 2010 a 2013, na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, sendo que foram analisados 127 processos licitatórios e contratos. As análises revelaram diversas ocorrências em licitações e nas contratações de obras e reformas. Na etapa licitatória, anterior à contratação (ex ante), a sessão para lances das licitações de obras e reformas, em alguns casos, estiveram desertas. Na contratação e execução de obras e reformas (ex post), foram constatados diversos pedidos de prorrogação de prazos e de reequilíbrio econômico financeiro, e na fiscalização das obras e reformas foram constatadas 31 ocorrências nos serviços finalizados pelas Empreiteiras. Os resultados também indicaram que, do total dos processos analisados no período de 2010 – 2013, cerca de 30% das obras e reformas ainda não foram finalizadas ou estão suspensas, o que demonstra deficiências na fiscalização e na gestão dos contratos. Além disso, o tempo médio entre a abertura do processo e a conclusão dos serviços gira em torno de três anos, sendo que grande parte deste tempo foi despendido com procedimentos internos da UFRGS. Tais fatos indicam problemas de seleção adversa e assimetria de informações, além do Hold up problem, em que o Principal é tomado como refém pelo Agente e do problema do Risco moral (Moral Hazard), em que o Agente passa a agir de modo não apropriado ou não aprovado pelo Principal, com a ocorrência dos custos de transação. / This study makes a theoretical and empirical analysis of the processes of bidding and contracting works and reforms of public buildings in a Federal Public University, using Asymmetric Information Theory and Contracts. The period analyzed was between 2010 and 2013, at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, being that 127 bidding processes and contracts were analyzed. The analyses revealed several occurrences in tenders and hiring of work and restoration. In the bidding phase, prior to hiring (ex ante), the bidding session for work and renovations, in some cases, was deserted. There were several requests for deadline extension, and economic-financial adjustment in the work and restoration hiring and execution (ex post), while in the inspection of work and restoration it could be noticed 31 occurrences in services finalized by the contractors. The results also indicated that, of the total number of processes analyzed in the period 2010-2013, about 30% either have not been completed or are suspended, which shows deficiencies in the supervision and management of the contracts. In addition, the average time between the opening of the process and the conclusion of services is about three years, and much of this time was spent with internal procedures of UFRGS. These facts indicate problems of adverse selection and information asymmetry , in addition to the "Hold up problem", in which the Principal is taken hostage by the Agent besides the problem of Moral Hazard, when the Agent begins to act inappropriately or in a way which is disapproved by the Principal, together with the incidence of transaction costs.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-07T14:27:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 791997 bytes, checksum: f3ad0c758d859a493db03aabe9e56eea (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-07 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Given to the changes occurred from a wave of corporate mergers in recent decades, the global process of liberalization and also some technological advances arising from the current phase of globalization, new challenges were brought up to the economic regulation. As a result, it is questioned whether the regulatory model applied is the most suitable for promoting the goals of economic regulation, or if the most appropriate regulatory model would be different, being necessary to reform the regulatory structure. Thus, this work provides a critical view of the existing regulatory models, especially the unissetorial one, and upholds for a multissetorial, conceived as more appropriate to face the new entrepreneurial behaviors, such as horizontal specialization and internationalization, as well as to promote effective information management, preventing the regulator of the consequences stemming from asymmetric information. It is still unpredictable whether a shift of regulatory standards in the major world economies will minimize the effects of market failures. This paper analyzes the main aspects of this problem in order to promote greater discussion of the models and structure of regulatory agencies. / Diante das transformações advindas da onda de fusões empresariais das últimas décadas, ao processo mundial de liberalização e também alguns avanços tecnológicos decorrentes da fase atual da globalização, novos desafios se apresentam para a regulação econômica. Como consequência, é questionado se o modelo de regulação aplicado é o mais adequado para a promoção dos objetivos da regulação econômica, ou se o modelo regulatório mais apropriado seria outro, sendo necessária a reforma da estrutura regulatória. Nesse sentido, este trabalho estabelece uma visão crítica dos modelos regulatórios existentes, principalmente, o modelo unissetorial, e propugna por um multissetorial, concebido como mais apropriado frente aos novos comportamentos empresariais, como a especialização horizontal e a internacionalização, assim como, para a promoção da gestão informacional eficaz, prevenindo o ente regulador das consequências advindas das informações assimétricas. Ainda é imprevisível saber se uma mudança de atuação regulatória nas grandes economias do mundo minimizará os efeitos das falhas de mercado. Este trabalho analisa os principais aspectos dessa problemática de modo a promover maior discussão sobre os modelos de atuação e estruturação das agências reguladoras.

nÃo hà / Este trabalho se inicia analisando os aspectos teÃricos relacionados ao financiamento das empresas e os riscos atrelados a esta atividade de emprÃstimo realizada pelo sistema financeiro bancÃrio. Dada uma estrutura Ãtima de capital buscada pelas empresas, passa-se a analisar se este parÃmetro ou conjunto de parÃmetros à um bom indicativo para discriminar as empresas quanto ao seu risco de crÃdito analisado pelo mercado financeiro. Em relaÃÃo à gestÃo de risco, serà testado um modelo, tendo como variÃvel explicativa principal a variÃvel(ou conjunto de variÃveis) utilizada como parÃmetro de sinalizaÃÃo ao mercado de limite de risco, dentro dos conceitos de seleÃÃo adversa e modelos de sinalizaÃÃo num ambiente em que impera a informaÃÃo assimÃtrica. Assim, o uso de um sinalizador Ãtimo da estrutura de capital pelos bancos levaria a um equilÃbrio de Nash1 com informaÃÃo assimÃtrica no mercado de fundos emprestÃveis. No desenvolvimento do modelo estatÃstico utilizamos um modelo Logit em virtude da nÃo normalidade e as condiÃÃes de nÃo linearidade do modelo de probabilidade linear, entretanto, a anÃlise discriminante e Probit serÃo testados concomitantemente para efeitos comparativos entre os modelos. Outro ponto importante à a incorporaÃÃo de um modelo de decisÃo de crÃdito com o uso de programaÃÃo Linear Inteira. O uso deste modelo incorpora cenÃrios prospectivos com a taxa de juros, qualificando o ponto de corte(limites de aceitaÃÃo) para tomada de decisÃo. Ressaltamos aqui a importÃncia do uso da anÃlise fatorial no tratamento e configuraÃÃo das variÃveis explicativas, ferramenta nÃo observada para modelagem de risco nas diversas referencias deste trabalho. Diversos mÃtodos estatÃsticos univariados e multivariados, assim como critÃrios qualitativos sÃo usados na discriminaÃÃo e classificaÃÃo do risco, no entanto, o uso da AnÃlise Fatorial qualifica ainda mas as variÃveis independentes usadas, colocando-as em grupos de explicaÃÃo que captam melhor os efeitos dos diversos indicadores econÃmicofinanceiros. Neste trabalho foram revisados os principais modelos de insolvÃncia para avaliaÃÃo de risco de crÃdito no Brasil, concluindo-se com uma proposta de adoÃÃo de um modelo estatÃstico com o uso do modelo Logit e ProgramaÃÃo Linear Inteira, com o objetivo de medir o risco associado ao financiamento e emprÃstimo a clientes. / This work to research the theory about enterprises financial, financial struture, risk of the borrowe (enterprises) to repay the loan, credit of banks. In views of the optimal capital struture, credit analyses examines factors that may lead to default in the repayment of a loan. As for the risk management the general kinds of risks are described, particularly the credit risc and the credit concession models are evaluated. The risc models will have the financial demonstrations of interprises, here can be viewed as a signal, about the concept of asymmetric information. Thus, the signal to leave a nash equilibrium in this credit market. In the development of the statistic model, using the Logit Model because the problems of functional form of the linear probability model, the resÃduos is heteroscedastic and not have normal distribuition. The discriminant analyse, probit e logit will be test. Another important point in this work is the decision model. This model have predtion of interest to improve the decision with the cutoff. Referring to the factorial analyse in the statistic of the independentes variable, the use of factorial analyses is not observations in the reference. Having this purpose in mind a statistic model was developed, using logit regression with factorial analyse in variable and linear programming. This project aims at evaluating the used models and proposing the adoption of new models, for the allowance for dobtful accounts, with the objetive of mensuring the risk related to customers financing and loan activities.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T18:33:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Otmar Plec.pdf: 1699195 bytes, checksum: 19cc33a2e51e7d92a59fc89a6c06842a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-03-08 / Work carried out on a empirical research on the difficulties of Micro and Small Company in obtaining credit from the financial market and the establishment of a Credit Guarantee Organization in the Western Region of Paraná as a tool for facilitating access to credit from bank. The object of study is the Micro, Small and Medium Company- MSME and Financial Institutions of the Western Region of Paraná. Where 1250 questionnaires were analyzed of a total population of 48,350 companies and 23 financial institutions. The dissertation aims to contribute to the advancement of knowledge of the difficulties surrounding the MSMEs from the region and diagnose if the lack of guarantees and the asymmetry of information are inhibiting factors on getting resources from the banks. The conclusion of this study contributes to the academy to examine the feasibility of this new tool in helping the development of the region than in other countries has been highlighted as a facilitator and supporter of the SMEs as a transforming force in society and that has been fostered by SEBRAE together with various entities. / O Trabalho realiza uma investigação empírica sobre as dificuldades da Micro e da Pequena Empresa na obtenção do crédito junto ao mercado financeiro e sobre a implantação de uma Sociedade de Garantia de Crédito na Região Oeste do Paraná como ferramenta facilitadora de acesso ao crédito junto aos bancos. O objeto de estudo será a Micro, a Pequena e a Média Empresa (MPME) e as instituições financeiras da Região Oeste do Paraná. Foram analisados 1250 questionários aplicados a empresas da Região de uma população total de 48.350 empresas e 23 instituições financeiras. A dissertação tem como objetivo contribuir para o avanço do conhecimento das dificuldades que cercam as MPMEs e diagnosticar se a falta de garantias e a assimetria de informação são fatores inibidores na tomada de recursos junto aos bancos na região Oeste do Paraná. A conclusão deste estudo contribui para a academia no sentido de examinar a viabilidade desta nova ferramenta na ajuda do desenvolvimento da região, ferramenta que, em outros países, tem tido destaque como facilitadora e apoiadora das MPMEs como força transformadora da sociedade e que vem sendo fomentada pelo SEBRAE num trabalho conjunto com diversas entidades.

The thesis explores how monetisation of corporate externalities, can be carried out in order to provide investors, policy makers and consumers with accurate pictures of the true costs and benefits of business operations from a resilience and ecosystem services perspective. By drawing conclusions from company cases, and previous research – methods, drivers and monetary values of impacts such as carbon dioxide, water usage, pollutants and land use are analysed. The findings reflect opportunities that open up with monetisation, in terms of tools for guidance and support in internal corporate decision making, by making the actual impacts visualised and understandable. Findings from company cases, show that monetisation of corporate effects has potential to contribute to visualising impacts – and add knowledge that may close information gaps internally as well as externally. It can guide and facilitate strategic choices at corporate level. It may also have a role in bridging information asymmetries in the picture of a firm’s operation, to consumers and investors. Monetising effects may facilitate identification of risks arising from ecosystem services dependencies, visualising the actual impacts by, assed costs in losses in ecosystems’ production (yields e.g.) caused by corporate harm.Providing relevant information to policy makers, on obstacles and where regulative incentives are needed, and investors and consumers with guidance, monetisation of impacts potentially can play a part in bridging market information gaps toward better incentive structures and possibly facilitating effective market transformation in favor of sustainable production and consumption patterns.

Cette thèse étudie le rôle des tierces parties dans les problématiques informationnelles autour de la responsabilité sociale et environnementale des entreprises (RSE). Les entreprises revendiquent de plus en plus le fait qu'elles adoptent des pratiques responsables. Cela peut être lié au fait qu'il existe des parties prenantes (e.g. consommateurs, investisseurs) qui sont prêtes à récompenser les comportements responsables. Cependant, la véracité des revendications des entreprises est souvent impossible ou au moins difficile à certifier, ce qui peut inciter les entreprises à manipuler leur communication. Cette dissertation a pour objectif d'analyser la façon dont de tierces parties peuvent tempérer cette asymétrie d'information. Des organisations comme des agences de notations, des organisations non-gouvernementales (ONGs) ou des organismes certificateurs, peuvent examiner les actions réelles des entreprises et transmettre cette information aux parties prenantes. Ces tierces parties ont un comportement informationnel hétérogène: certaines fournissent des informations plus particulièrement sur les entreprises qui se comportent de manière irresponsable, alors que d'autres se spécialisent dans la mise en lumière des entreprises responsables. Nous développons un modèle théorique simple qui explore l'offre de qualité dans des environnements informationnels amicaux, où la qualité est révélée plus souvent lorsqu'elle est haute que lorsqu'elle est basse, et dans des environnements hostiles, où c'est l'inverse. Nous appliquons ensuite ce modèle à deux types de tierces parties: les ONGs et les labels. Nous étudions le choix de production de bonnes ou mauvaises nouvelles afin de comprendre quand et pourquoi les ONGs choisissent d'être hostiles ou amicales. Ensuite, nous cherchons à évaluer quel est le niveau de sévérité des labels qui entraîne le plus d'investissement et le bien être social le plus important. / This thesis studies the role of third parties in tempering informational issues at stake with regard to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Firms growingly claim to be adopting responsible practices, and it may be so because some socially conscious stakeholders (e.g. consumers, investors) are ready to reward such behaviors. Nevertheless, truthfulness of firms' virtue claims is often impossible or at least difficult to ascertain, which creates an incentive for firms to manipulate their communication. This dissertation intends to analyse how third parties can temper this asymmetry of information. Organisms such as rating agencies, non-governmental organisations, labeling institutions, can investigate firms' real actions and convey this information to stakeholders. These third parties have heterogeneous informational behaviors: some of them mostly disclose information on firms that do not behave responsibly while others are specialized in revealing firms that are socially or environmentally responsible. We develop a simple theoretical model that explores the provision of quality by a firm under friendly informational environments, in which quality is more often disclosed when it is high than when it is low, and hostile environments, in which the converse holds. We apply this base model to two types of third party: NGOs and labels. We endogenize the production of good and bad news in order to understand when and why NGOs choose between being hostile or friendly. Then, we seek to assess what is the more efficient level of label's strictness to spur social welfare and investment in high quality.

This dissertation contains three essays on environmental economics and on credit market imperfections. The literature on carbon tax incidence generally finds that carbon taxes have a regressive impact on the distribution of income. The main reason for that finding stems from the fact that poor households spend a larger share of their total expenditure on energy products than the rich households do. This literature, however, has ignored the impact of carbon taxes on income stemming from changes in relative factor prices. Yet, changes in household welfare depend not only on variations in commodity prices, but also on changes in income. Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive analysis of the distributional impact of carbon taxes on inequality by considering both demand-side and supply-side channels. We use a multi-sector, multi-household general equilibrium model to analyze the distributional impact of carbon taxes on inequality. Using equivalent income as the household welfare metric, we apply the Shapley value and concentration index approaches to decomposing household inequality. Our simulation results suggest that carbon taxes exert a larger negative impact on the income of the rich than that of the poor, and are thereby progressive. On the other hand, when assessed from the use side alone (i.e., commodity prices alone), our results confirm previous findings, whereas carbon taxes are regressive. However, due to the stronger incidence of carbon taxes on inequality from the income side, our results suggest that the carbon tax tends to reduce inequality. These findings further suggest that the traditional approach of assessing the impact of carbon taxes on inequality through changes in commodity prices alone may be misleading. Chapter 2 investigates the economic impacts of creating an emissions bubble between Canada and the US in a context of subglobal participation in efforts to reduce pollution with market based-instruments. One of the advantages of an emissions bubble is that it can be beneficial to countries that differ in their production and consumption patterns. To address the competitiveness issue that arises from the free-rider problem in the area of climate-change mitigation, we consider the imposition of a border tax adjustment (BTA) - a commonly suggested solution in the literature. We develop a detailed multisector and multi-regional general equilibrium model to analyze the welfare, aggregate, sectoral and trade impacts of the formation of an emissions bubble between Canada and the US with and without BTA. Our simulation results suggest that, in the absence of BTA, the creation of the bubble would make both countries better off through a positive terms-of-trade effect, and more importantly, through a significant reduction in Canada’s marginal abatement cost. The benefits of these positive effects would spill over to the non-participating countries, leading them to increase their trade shares in non-emissions-intensive goods. Moreover, the simulation results also indicate that a unilateral implementation of a BTA by any one of the two countries is welfare deteriorating in the imposing country and welfare improving in the other. In contrast, a joint implementation of a BTA by the two countries would make Canada better off and the US worse off. Chapter 3 shows that learning by lending is a potential channel of understanding the business cycle fluctuation under an imperfect credit market. An endogenous link among the learning parameter, lending rates, and the size of investment makes it possible to generate an internal propagation even due to a temporary shock. The main finding of this chapter is the explanation of how ex post non-financial factors such as information losses by individual agents in a credit market may account for a persistence in real indicators such as capital stock and output.

This paper aims to find an optimal regulatory system for banking industry. In its first part, it analyzes main sources of banking crises throughout 20th and 21st century. In the second part, it proposes a regulatory system and its tools. Analysis is based on understanding of incentives of market participants, regulators and their interactions. Regulatory tools are assessed in terms of efficiency, i.e. examining their consequences for the economy. This paper is based on an idea that despite unquestionable flaws, market mechanism is the best tool to organize an economy and its industries.