While the benefits of analysing social networks within the wider humanities are becoming more accepted, very little work of this kind has been done in medieval studies. This thesis seeks to begin to fill this lacuna by considering the advantages of examining historical moments through the lens of ‘network’. Focusing on the later medieval world (in particular c.1300-1520), but also drawing on parallel evidence from the modern day, it demonstrates how the paradigm of ‘network’ allows a more nuanced reading of, predominantly literary, historical moments, which in turn reveals a deeper understanding of collective social thinking and behaviour. This new methodological approach is threefold, drawing on analytic tools from various disciplines. It blends historical contextual investigation with literary analysis, and frames the results in the sociological and anthropological theories of belonging, exchange, and play. The thesis is structured around four case studies, each of which demonstrates a particular form of network formation, and also shows how far these networks reflect their respective cultural milieus and influences. Three medieval chapters focus on what I term ‘literary networks’, a concept ripe for network analysis thanks to the highly participatory nature of medieval literature, and thus theoretically comparable to modern networks based around information exchange. Across the thesis, instances of formal, informal, and virtual networks are considered from medieval France and England, as well as the twenty-first century West. This combination of interdisciplinary method and structure allows innovative new readings of underappreciated sources, whilst also highlighting a transhistorical continuum of universal appeals to social networks: namely, the satisfaction of the human need to belong, the facilitation of competitive play, and the opportunity to acquire social capital and build reputations. This investigative synthesis between medieval material and more modern network evidence reveals that, while realised through unrecognisably altered technologies and experiencing some resultant disruptions, these fundamental appeals of social network membership, in part, remain constant between the two periods.

Problems of rural development are influenced by changes in perception and conception of rural areas in developed countries, there is paradigm shift within the theory. It is reflected into the policy of single countries and into the structural policy of EU on the global level. Differentiated rural space requires differentiated approach in the form of local development which is based on endogenous potential. Activity and initiative of local human resources - human capital and especially social capital is able to cause differentiated development of rural areas. This thesis tries to confirm the relation between quality of human resources and level of rural development on the example of czech rural municipalities. Key words: local rural development, regional policy, human resources, human capital, social capital, endogenous potential

The diploma thesis Economic and social interaction during Normalization era is is based on qualitative research. It deals with issues of system of return services and barter exchange in non - cash market in 1970's and 1980's in Czechoslovakia. The centrally planned economy was not able to produce enough consumer goods and meet the demand of the population. Employees, who worked in department stores, took easier approach to consumer goods than others. They excercised power over distribution and they traded some commodities for another services. As a research method applied is oral history. The primary sources used are narrative interview and secondary history literature.

The venture capital (VC) landscape is a crucial driver of economic growth and innovation, comprising a diverse range of capital investors. This dissertation highlights the heterogeneity, performance, and massive and rapid scaling efforts in this sector, focusing on the two dominant actors: Independent Venture Capital (IVC) and Corporate Venture Capital (CVC). The first study examines the contrasting lifespans of CVCs and IVCs, highlighting the early termination patterns of CVCs. The second study delves into the diverse nature of CVCs and analyzes their influence on the efficiency of portfolio firms. The third study probes the hypercompetitive environment in the VC landscape. It examines its implications and funds' strategies to provide quality signals to investors and startups in a hypercompetitive market. The fourth study looks deeper at the beneficiaries of VC funding: digital startups. Specifically, it delves into massive and rapid business scaling dynamics, shedding light on the key drivers behind this growth trajectory and its tensions. In sum, this dissertation advances the prevailing knowledge on venture capital and digital entrepreneurship, offering a deeper exploration of the heterogeneity of the VC landscape with a spotlight on CVCs. Additionally, it provides frontier research into hypercompetition and the underlying dynamics of massive and rapid business scaling.

This thesis challenges core assumptions associated with the peer production of culture using the web-based collaborative film production platform Wreckamovie to understand how peer production works in practice. Active cultural participation is a growing political priority for many governments and cultural bodies, but these priorities are often implemented without a basis in empirical evidence, making it necessary for rigorous scholarship to tackle emerging networked cultural production. Existing work portrays peer production efforts as unrealistically distinct from proprietary, market-based production, incorrectly suggesting that peer production allows distributed, non-monetarily motivated, collaboration between self-selected individuals in hierarchy-free communities. In overcoming these assumptions, this thesis contributes to the development of a consolidated theoretical framework encompassing the complicated and multifaceted nature of networked cultural production. This theoretical framing extends Bourdieu’s theory of cultural production and reconciles it with Becker’s Art Worlds framework, and further embeds and draws on Benkler’s notion of commons-based peer production. Concretely, this research tackles the emergence of new collaborative production models enabled by networked technologies, and theorizes the tensions and challenges characterizing such production forms. Secondly, this thesis redefines cultural participation and considers the divisions of labour in online filmmaking materializing from the interactions between professional and non-professional filmmakers. Finally, this study considers the social economies surrounding networked cultural production, including crowdfunding, and characterizes associated conversions of capital, such as the conversion of symbolic capital into financial capital. Methodologically, this thesis employs an embedded case study strategy. It examines four feature film productions facilitated by the online platform Wreckamovie, as well as the online community within which these productions are embedded. The four production cases have completed all production stages, and have resulted in completed cultural goods during the course of data collection. This study’s findings were derived from two and half years of participant observations, interviews with 29 Wreckamovie community and production members, and the examination of archived production-related discourses (2006-2013). Ultimately, this study makes concrete proposals towards a theory of networked cultural production with clear policy implications.

This diploma thesis presents the concept of lifelong learning as an ambitious political project born in the field of international organisations at the beginning of the 1970s which now reaches far beyond the borders of national states and education policy. The sphere of education still remains the responsibility of national governments, however, even here strong globalising tendencies have occurred since the 1990s, as a result of which the national policy is more and more being influenced by supranational institutions. Although the concept of lifelong learning now serves as a common framework, it has been interpreted differently during its evolution and a consensus on what it exactly means and how it should be put into practice still does not exist. Based on analysis of key documents, this thesis aims to compare the view of lifelong learning held by the international organisation UNESCO with that of OECD, as two distinctive perspectives on this issue. The comparison draws on Rubenson's model (2004), which examines lifelong learning through three key categories representing the main actors of social life - the state, the market and civil society. As this topic has not been widely explored in the Czech Republic, this thesis aims to present a complete overview, including a critical assessment of both...

The higher education system has undergone considerable change in the past fifty years. Increasing the number of students enrolled in university has been a focus of these changes. Despite the governments’ attempts in reducing the social class gap, there exist very large differences in those applying for r higher education. It seems despite the large socio-economic gap and the elitist image of attending university, UK government policies have not provided suitable support to reduce this gap. The level of concern over this subject has varied across different governments which could possibly have effects on young people’s transition from school across the different social classes. This thesis will address the difference between the New Labour and the Coalition governments’ level of attention to the issue of working class under-representation in universities and the policies they have developed to tackle it. It then investigates the effects of selected schemes designed to widen participation and explains how and why they are assumed to contribute to the reduction of the class gap in higher education participation. This study uses the dataset Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) to explore the relationship between attending widening access schemes and the likelihood of attending university during the New Labour office term. In doing so, and due to the shortage of direct measurements of state-funded widening participation programs, the analysis in this research uses school engagement activities as proxies. Additionally to provide an intergenerational comparison, given the differences in both data and policy environment, this research analyses the British Cohort Study 1970 data in order to provide further insights regarding the effectiveness of the then school engagement activities on university attendance. In other words, can the activities used to widen participation then provide greater insight into the kinds of programmes that might be effective in raising working class university participation? In turn this analysis provides the basis for an in-depth policy discussion of the issue.

This thesis presents three essays on the main determinants and regulations of international capital flows. The essays contribute to an ongoing significant debate among scholars and practitioners on what determines international capital flows by examining the following issues: Global liquidity, market sentiment and financial stability indices; Global liquidity and capital flow regulations; and Global governance and gross capital flows dynamics. In the first essay, we explore the main determinants of global liquidity, measured using cross-border claims of banks, and establish the link between a variety of financial stability indices and global liquidity. For a sample of 149 countries between 2000 and 2016, we find that Bloomberg Financial Stability Indices are more powerful in explaining global liquidity than FRED Financial Stress Indices and the Euro Area Systemic Stress Composite Indicator (CISS). Moreover, both market sentiment indices, namely the US Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) and the US IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index are economically and statistically significant on cross-border bank flows. The research provides useful insights on what market sentiment and financial stability indices are better to employ for financial markets surveillance and as such practice of investment management. We argue that anyone interested in using financial stability indices as indicators of financial conditions and the level of financial stress would benefit from tracking several indices and not just one. The second essay examines the effectiveness of capital controls and macroprudential policies as ways to manage the volume of international capital flows, controlling for other determinants. The findings show that capital controls imposed on inflows generally prevail over controls imposed on outflows in reducing the magnitude of capital flows. The results are consistent with the pecking order theory on capital flows and are connected with the riskiness of different asset classes. For a sample of 112 countries over 2000 and 2016, we find that FX and/or countercyclical reserve (RR_REV) and general countercyclical capital buffer requirements (CTC), reserve requirement ratios (RR) and concentration limits (CONC) are the most effective macroprudential policies for managing countries' exposures to global liquidity fluctuations. Moreover, progress is being made to reduce the systemic risks created by systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) using macroprudential policies. The results reflect recent developments in Basel III regulations and shed light on the effective calibration of capital flow regulations to country-specific circumstances. The final essay examines the link between global governance indicators and patterns of gross capital flows, controlling for other determinants. For a sample of 67 countries between 2000 and 2016, we contribute to explain the existence of the Lucas paradox (1990) on "why doesn't capital flow from rich to poor countries" and the Feldstein-Horioka puzzle (1980). The findings show that institutional quality rather than the effect of diminishing returns of capital is a key explanation for the Lucas paradox. Finally, we provide new evidence on the relationship between the multidimensional nature of financial development and gross capital flows. The findings show the importance and predominance of financial institutions versus financial markets in the dissemination of international capital flows across counties.

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2009.

In my diploma I analyzed the USA capital market. I concentrated on 5 representative branches of this market - the biotechnology, the food industry, the car industry, the mining and the finances. 12 companies, which quote their share of stocks in the american capital market, were choosed. I tested the efficiency of this capital market and tried to establish the rate of this market´s efficiency. Later the best strategy was added to the rate of capital market´s efficiency. I counted the average decree, the standard deviation, the variation coefficient, the {$\alpha$} coefficient and {$\beta$} coefficient at the choosed share of stocks. I accomplished the correlative and the runs testing, which were supposed to certify the efficiency of market. The certain anomalies as The Day of the Week Effect, The January Effect and The Size Effect were investigated in more detail. Further I was considering if either the active or the passive strategy should have been used. I concluded that the active strategy is better for investors in times of the financial crisis. I also analyzed P/E ratio at choosed companies. The performated testing shows that the american market of shares is effective, it has the form of low efficiency peak-form efficient markets hypothesis.