The purpose of this essay is to explain Chinas growing presence in Africa through a case study regarding the relationship with South Africa and highlight the specific features of this Chinese presence. In order to achieve the essays goal two theoretical perspectives will be applied to examine the data. These two theoretical perspective is the theory of imperialism defined by Johan Galtung and Rational Choice theory defined by Vivien Lowndes, et al. Through a textual analysis of the sources used, the essay has found that Chinese finance projects in Africa that are commercially viable and mutually beneficial for the African countries still somehow have an negative impact on the African countries development. The textual analysis also account for the motives and reasons behind Chinese presence on the continent as lack of resources as the main reason for China and the lack of a developed society for the African countries. The essay examine as well the consequence with the Chineses expansion on the continent for the African sovereignty and their development in the future.

No description available.

In this thesis, a particular class of agent is singled out for examination. In order to provide a guiding metaphor, we speak of control room agents. Our focus is on rational decision- making by such agents, where the circumstances obtaining are such that rationality is bounded. Control room agents, whether human or non-human, need to reason and act in a changing environment with only limited information available to them. Determining the current state of the environment is a central concern for control room agents if they are to reason and act sensibly. A control room agent cannot plan its actions without having an internal representation (epistemic state) of its environment, and cannot make rational decisions unless this representation, to some level of accuracy, reflects the state of its environment. The focus of this thesis is on three aspects regarding the epistemic functioning of a control room agent: 1. How should the epistemic state of a control room agent be represented in order to facilitate logical analysis? 2. How should a control room agent change its epistemic state upon receiving new information? 3. How should a control room agent combine available information from different sources? In describing the class of control room agents as first-order intentional systems hav- ing both informational and motivational attitudes, an agent-oriented view is adopted. The central construct used in the information-theoretic approach, which is qualitative in nature, is the concept of a templated ordering. Representing the epistemic state of a control room agent by a (special form of) tem- plated ordering signals a departure from the many approaches in which only the beliefs of an agent are represented. Templated orderings allow for the representation of both knowledge and belief. A control room agent changes its epistemic state according to a proposed epistemic change algorithm, which allows the agent to select between two well-established forms of belief change operations, namely, belief revision and belief update. The combination of (possibly conflicting) information from different sources has re- ceived a lot of attention in recent years. Using templated orderings for the semantic representation of information, a new family of purely qualitative merging operations is developed. / School of Computing / Ph. D. (Computer Science)

Dans le contexte du programme de recherche scientifique autrichien en économie, le processus de marché doit être appréhendé par le prisme du concept d'entrepreneur. La fonction créative d'entrepreneur se présente comme un processus individuel largement épistémique, lequel s'élucide en une action à effet catallactique. Elle contribue à l'émergence spontanée de l`ordre, concrétisant ainsi l'évolutionnisme individuel et institutionnel. Or son apparition dépend de déterminants institutionnels particuliers. Par conséquent, le processus de marché, qui émerge des actions catallactiques, requiert un fondement institutionnel spécifique comme une condition sine qua non. En outre, notre analyse s'étend au processus politique à travers le prisme de l'action politique, afin d'examiner l'adéquation de cette action à la nature catallactique. Cette analyse permet aussi de décrypter les institutions qui régissent l'ordre politique confectionné. Cependant, cette investigation relève au cours du processus politique, la déficience du fondement institutionnel indispensable à l'émergence de la fonction d'entrepreneur dans l'action politique. Cela constitue une barrière infranchissable pour l'analogie catallactique dans la pratique politique, et contribue à expliquer la défaillance de la conjecture de marché politique, en raison de l'impossibilité de l'émergence d'un échange politique légitime. Du point de vue de l'éthique, l'action politique s'avère nocive à l'ensemble des droits individuels, voire aux droits de propriété privée. Elle diverge de celle entrepreneuriale car elle dénie la coordination. Par conséquent, cette réalité nous amène à réfuter la conjecture d'entrepreneur politique. / In the context of the Austrian scientific research program in economics, our study deals with the market process through the prism of Entrepreneur`s concept. The creative entrepreneurial function emerges as an epistemic individual process, which contributes to a catallactic action. It strengthens the emergence of the spontaneous order, thus shaping individual and institutional evolutionism. The emergence of such action mainly depends on institutional determinants. Therefore, the market process, emerging from catallactic actions, requires a specific institutional foundation. Thereby, our analysis concerns the political process; this, through the prism of the political action, to match the adequacy of this action to the catallactic one. This analysis also decrypts the institutions which determine the political order. However, this introspection identifies the deficiency of the institutional foundation required for the emergence of the entrepreneurial function through the political action. This barrier of the catallactic analogy in the political practice contributes to the refutation of the political market conjecture. The main reason of this failure is the impossibility of a legitimate political exchange emergence. From the objective ethics perspective, the political action harms the individual rights in general and the private property rights in particular. By denying the coordination, this political action shows a divergent nature from the entrepreneurial one. Therefore, this reality leads to refute the political entrepreneur conjecture.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:48:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruno Beltrame.pdf: 550537 bytes, checksum: dd98c2c17868e3f8b2d425a2f8ed1be8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-05-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The aim of this dissertation is to inquire in what sense it is reasonable to locate in Kenneth Arrow s social choice theory and in John Rawls theory of justice the two main theoretical roots of Amartya Sen s capability approach. It will be argued that Arrow s social choice theory had the role of revealing the main deficiencies of the welfare economics theory. Thus, Arrow s analysis points the limitations to be fulfilled in order to arrive at satisfactory theory of social choice indicating, in this sense, the paths to be pursued. In the same manner, it is argued that Ralws theory of justice provided important elements that inspirated certain ethical positions present in Amartya Sen s thought, which appear in his approach to the problem of social choice. To conclude, the main features of the capability approach that can be directly associated with these two theoretical origins are exposed, and it is argued that Sen s theory simultaneously solves the deficiencies pointed by him in the theoretical structure of Arrow s social choice and embodies, even though in a modified way, elements of Rawls thought / O objetivo dessa dissertação é investigar em que sentido é pertinente localizar na teoria da escolha social de Kenneth Arrow e na teoria da justiça de John Rawls as duas principais raízes teóricas da abordagem das capacidades de Amartya Sen. Argumentar-se-á que a teoria da escolha social de Arrow cumpriu o papel de explicitar as deficiências da teoria econômica do bem-estar. Desse modo, as análises de Arrow apontam as limitações a serem superadas para se chegar a uma teoria satisfatória da escolha social indicando em certa medida rumos a serem seguidos. Da mesma maneira argumenta-se que a teoria da justiça de Rawls forneceu elementos importantes que inspiraram certos posicionamentos éticos evidentes no pensamento de Amartya Sen e que se refletem em suas análises da escolha social. Por fim são apresentadas as principais características da abordagem das capacidades que podem ser diretamente associados a estas duas origens teóricas, e será argumentado que a teoria de Sen ao mesmo tempo soluciona as deficiências apontadas por ele na estrutura teórica da escolha social de Arrow e incorpora, ainda que de forma modificada, elementos presentes no pensamento de Rawls

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Anoar Jarbas Provenzi.pdf: 1155462 bytes, checksum: 48318e7c0a982942ec4541880001698e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study is about the secularization according to Peter L. Berger (theory of secularization) and according to Rodney Stark/William Sims Bainbridge (rational choice theory). Berger (chapter 1) affirms in Sacred Canopy the decrease of religion in modernity, whereas Stark/Bainbridge (chapter 2) supports in A theory of religion its increasing or maintenance. However, both theories have problems (chapter 3). Berger is criticized to affirm the equivalence between modernity and secularization, the belief in a previous age of the faith and the necessity of religious monopoly; Stark/Bainbridge are criticized to defend previous power of rational choice theory, a decontextualized universal rationality and an merely economic approach of religious phenomenon / Este estudo é sobre a secularização segundo Peter L. Berger (teoria da secularização) e segundo Rodney Stark/William Sims Bainbridge (teoria da escolha racional). Berger (capítulo 1) afirma, na obra O dossel sagrado, a diminuição da religião na modernidade, enquanto Stark/Bainbridge (capítulo 2) defendem, na obra Uma teoria da religião, seu aumento ou manutenção. Mas ambas as teorias apresentam problemas (capítulo 3); Berger é criticado porque afirma a equivalência entre modernidade e secularização, a crença em uma pregressa idade da fé e a necessidade de monopólio religioso; Stark/Bainbridge são criticados porque defendem o poder preditivo da teoria da escolha racional, uma racionalidade universal descontextualizada e uma abordagem puramente econômica do fenômeno religioso

過去有關土地使用分區管制與地價兩者間關係之研究，往往假設地價在實施規劃管制過程中呈中立性，且過去在探討土地使用分區管制與地價二者間關係之研究時，多著重在探討土地使用分區管制施行後對地價之影響上，對於土地使用分區管制決策是否受到土地市場中地價之影響，則僅在少數的研究中被探討。故本研究首先透過國內外相關文獻之回顧與分析，得知規劃管制決策者有時為求得最大之政治支持，有可能會以規劃管制為其尋求最大政治利益之工具，而扭曲規劃管制之原意，使得土地使用分區管制決策可能受到土地市場中地價之影響，然而地價於實際經濟社會中是否會影響土地使用分區管制決策，則有待進一步的探討與驗證。 是以本研究以公共選擇理論與消費者效用理論為基礎，透過台北縣市土地使用分區管制決策過程與內涵之探討，利用羅吉特(logit)迴歸分析模型，以台北市為實證範圍，並以其72至81年度之房地移轉買賣實際調查資料，進行分年橫斷面分析方式，求取選擇性偏誤訂正項後，再納入地價方程式中估計，以求地價函數一致性估計，據以逐年檢驗地價對土地使用分區管制決策之影響情形。再以台北市信義計畫區為個案分析之對象，檢視於現實社會中地價對土地使用分區管制決策之影響情形。 經由上述之實證與個案分析，得到以下之結論： 一、土地使用分區管制決策在執政者追求最大政治利益之假設下，將可能受到利益團體等相關者之壓力，而做出只利於少數人之土地使用分區管制決策。 二、土地使用分區管制決策可能會受土地市場中地價之影響。 三、地價對土地使用分區管制決策之影響不穩定。 四、對土地使用分區管制決策時應有制度性之建立以審慎考量規劃管制之旨意。 / In the literatures, the study on. the relationship between land price and zoning control was assumed that land price is neutral. Moreover, the studies of land price and zoning control are more on the impact of land use control upon land price. The issue that impact of land prices upon the decision making of zoning control is rarely investigated. Based upon the theories of public choice and consumer's utility, this study discusses the process and content of zoning control decision-making. Then, by Logit model, the transaction data of property in Taipei City from 1983 to 1992 are employed to test the impact of land price upon the decision making of zoning control. Furthermore, a case study of Shin-I Planning District in Taipei City is analyzed so as to examine the impact of land price upon zoning control decision-making in the real operation. The major findings of this study are that, land price may affect the decision making of zoning control in the long term. However, the impact of land price upon the zoning control decision-making is unstable. Finally, based upon the public choice theory, the empirical results are discussed so as to apply the findings to the land policy.

This thesis consists of three independent papers. They are put in reverse chronological order according to when they were initiated. The first paper, which is a joint work with Özgür Evren, extends the standard rational choice framework with the option to postpone the act of selecting an alternative. In that paper, we propose an axiomatic model of choice over risky prospects that restricts the classical rationality axioms solely to those instances in which the decision maker does not defer. The cardinal approach we follow allows us to identify the preference relation of the decision maker over lotteries, even if the choice data is very scarce due to deferral. Moreover, we also derive the value of deferring choice from a given set of options, which turns out to be an affine utility function over choice sets. At each choice situation, the decision maker compares the utility of each available alternative with that of deferral so as to decide on opting for an alternative immediately. The second paper is a model of status quo bias with choice avoidance. It describes the choice behavior of an otherwise standard decision maker whose choices are affected by the presence of a status quo alternative. The status quo emerges as a temporary choice, which may be reversed upon arrival of new (introspective or objective) information, or upon finding new alternatives. The third paper considers the network formation problem from a matching perspective. In that paper, agents want to link with each other and each has preferences over the subsets of others. We consider various solution concepts regarding the stability of a matching between the agents, establish relations between these concepts under several preference restrictions, and provide sufficient conditions for these solutions to be nonempty. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2011

In this thesis, a particular class of agent is singled out for examination. In order to provide a guiding metaphor, we speak of control room agents. Our focus is on rational decision- making by such agents, where the circumstances obtaining are such that rationality is bounded. Control room agents, whether human or non-human, need to reason and act in a changing environment with only limited information available to them. Determining the current state of the environment is a central concern for control room agents if they are to reason and act sensibly. A control room agent cannot plan its actions without having an internal representation (epistemic state) of its environment, and cannot make rational decisions unless this representation, to some level of accuracy, reflects the state of its environment. The focus of this thesis is on three aspects regarding the epistemic functioning of a control room agent: 1. How should the epistemic state of a control room agent be represented in order to facilitate logical analysis? 2. How should a control room agent change its epistemic state upon receiving new information? 3. How should a control room agent combine available information from different sources? In describing the class of control room agents as first-order intentional systems hav- ing both informational and motivational attitudes, an agent-oriented view is adopted. The central construct used in the information-theoretic approach, which is qualitative in nature, is the concept of a templated ordering. Representing the epistemic state of a control room agent by a (special form of) tem- plated ordering signals a departure from the many approaches in which only the beliefs of an agent are represented. Templated orderings allow for the representation of both knowledge and belief. A control room agent changes its epistemic state according to a proposed epistemic change algorithm, which allows the agent to select between two well-established forms of belief change operations, namely, belief revision and belief update. The combination of (possibly conflicting) information from different sources has re- ceived a lot of attention in recent years. Using templated orderings for the semantic representation of information, a new family of purely qualitative merging operations is developed. / School of Computing / Ph. D. (Computer Science)

This study examined the lobbying of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) by South African companies. The aim of this study was to establish the timing and methods of lobbying of the IASB by South African companies. Central to this study was the seminal work of Sutton (1984), predicting when and how companies lobby an accounting standard-setter. The research hypotheses for this study were formulated on the basis of Sutton’s (1984) predictions. The online questionnaire in this study was distributed to the top 100 JSE primary listed companies in order to collect primary data to test the four hypotheses regarding the timing, methods and perceived effectiveness of lobbying by South African companies. The findings of the empirical investigation indicated that most South African companies lobby later in the due process of the IASB and prefer using their auditors to support their views at the IASB. The findings are subject to certain limitations that are addressed in the study. Lastly, the researcher provided recommendations for future research in accounting standard-setting in South Africa. / Financial Accounting / M. Phil. (Accounting Sciences)