The budget is shown to be the most prioritized management accounting tool for companies with scarce resources, while at the same time it is criticized for being time consuming and ineffective. This study uses life cycle theory as a framework to investigate how the budgets can be used in a more efficient and effective way, depending on what life cycle stage the company is in. The purpose of this study is to investigate how commonly budgets are used throughout the life cycle stages of IT companies in Sweden, and whether there is a difference in what reasons to budget are considered the most important in different stages. By using previous research made on life cycle theory and the reasons to budget as a foundation, this study collects the data using a quantitative method where a survey is sent to a sample of IT companies in Sweden. The answers to the survey lead to results about the budget use, what life cycle stage the respondents consider their company to be in, and how important ten different reasons to budget within the areas control, planning and evaluation are to the individual companies. The results show that there is a low budget use among companies in the birth stage, and that the budget use is high for companies in the growth, maturity and revival stages. The increasing budget use follows the increasing number of employees through the stages. The study finds that in general there are no major differences through the stages in what budget reasons are chosen to be most important; control is overall the most important purpose that the budget fulfills. Furthermore, there are some reasons to budget that have been assigned low values of importance across all the stages. Staff evaluation and encouraging innovative behavior are not considered important by the responding companies.

abstract: The present essay addresses the epistemic difficulties involved in achieving consensus with respect to the Hayek-Keynes debate. In particular, it is argued that the debate cannot be settled on the basis of the observable evidence; or, more precisely, that the empirical implications of the theories of Hayek and Keynes are such that, regardless of what is observed, both of the theories can be interpreted as true, or at least, not falsified. Regardless of the evidence, both Hayek and Keynes can be interpreted as right. The underdetermination of theories by evidence is an old and ubiquitous problem in science. The present essay makes explicit the respects in which the empirical evidence underdetermines the choice between the theories of Hayek and Keynes. In particular, it is argued both that there are convenient responses one can offer that protect each theory from what appears to be threatening evidence (i.e., that the choice between the two theories is underdetermined in the holist sense) and that, for particular kinds of evidence, the two theories are empirically equivalent (i.e., with respect to certain kinds of evidence, the choice between the two theories is underdetermined in the contrastive sense). / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Philosophy 2012

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-07-04T18:04:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 hermesaugustooliveirarabelo.pdf: 1597707 bytes, checksum: 60df1d97256f77c6b5615469af3f3435 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-07-13T16:22:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 hermesaugustooliveirarabelo.pdf: 1597707 bytes, checksum: 60df1d97256f77c6b5615469af3f3435 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-13T16:22:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 hermesaugustooliveirarabelo.pdf: 1597707 bytes, checksum: 60df1d97256f77c6b5615469af3f3435 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-27 / CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / O presente trabalho tem como objetivo verificar os determinantes da estrutura de capital em diferentes estágios de desenvolvimento das empresas sob a visão da Life Cycle Theory de Berger e Udell (1998). Esta teoria ressalta as diferentes fontes de financiamento que são utilizadas pelas empresas em diferentes momentos de sua vida. O banco de dados utilizado no trabalho foi retirado do software Economática, do qual foi possível observar dados dos balanços patrimoniais das empresas de capital aberto listadas na Bovespa entre os anos de 1996 a 2010. Dessa forma, o presente estudo utilizou a metodologia de análise de dados em painel através do Modelo de Regressão Logit Multinomial e do modelo logit Binomial. De modo a considerar a correlação entre as variáveis e reduzir o número delas no modelo, foi utilizada a Análise de Componentes Principais (PCA). Os resultados encontrados na pesquisa sugerem que a mudança na principal fonte de financiamento é influenciada por fatores como liquidez, colateral, risco e idade. Em relação à idade da empresa, há evidências de que, para empresas de mais de 30 anos de abertura de capital, a probabilidade de a empresa alterar sua principal fonte de financiamento é menor quando comparada a empresas mais jovens. No modelo logit multinomial, os resultados encontrados evidenciam um efeito positivo das empresas enquadradas como de médio e grande porte sobre a probabilidade de utilizar empréstimos de curto e longo prazo e financiamento interno quando comparadas com as empresas de pequeno porte. Em relação à idade desde a abertura de capital, os resultados da pesquisa mostram que empresas com mais de 30 anos apresentaram maior probabilidade de escolher financiamento para giro e fundos internos (lucros acumulados) quando comparadas com empresas que abriram capital mais recente e utilizam crédito de fornecedores. Apesar de alguns dos resultados estarem em conformidade com o apregoado por Berger e Udell (1998), a pesquisa evidencia muitos aspectos relacionados à Pecking Order Theory. / This study aims to focus on capital structure determinants in different stages of development in the entrepreneurial environment under Life Cycle Theory of Berger and Udell (1998). This theory emphasizes different funding sources which are used by companies in different cycles of their lives. The data were generated and processed according to the Brazilian Economática software. Balance sheets provided by public corporations and listed at Bovespa Stock Exchange during 1996-2010 were considered for analysis. Panel Data are important points in methodological plan. Indeed, Multinomial Logit and Binomial Logit models were used to investigation. Development process effects by corporations upon their own financing were detailed and looking for adding the correlation among variables and minimizing their effects, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was attained for diagnosis. Results suggest changing on the main funding source, influenced by factors such as liquidity, collateral and risk. Regarding firms' age, there is evidence that companies with more than thirty years of initial IPO are less likely to change their main source of funding. According to the multinomial logit model, results suggest that large companies are more likely using short-term loans and internal funding than trade credit that those classified in small businesses. Although some results are consistent to those claimed by Berger and Udell (1998), research provides some aspects related to Pecking Order Theory.

China's smog air pollution has become an increasingly urgent environmental crisis in China. Using framing as theoretical framework, this research examined how much media attention is focused on smog air pollution and how print media frame smog air pollution. An empirical content analysis of 339 articles in the People’s Daily newspaper was conducted from 2000 to 2016, and the results showed that “non-voluntary solutions” and “problem” frames were the two frames that had been most utilized to construct stories about air pollution. Smog air pollution crisis also discussed in terms of Downs issue-attention cycle, a five-stage model explaining the rise and down of social attention to a social issue. The smog air pollution crisis in China been found that exhibiting three cycles that relate to media attention. Also, the research found that the prominence of the frames varied at different cycles. It is worth noting that the prominence of the frames moved away from the “problem “and “effects on social economic” frames to the “government responsibility,” “individual responsibility,” and the “voluntary” frames. The finding suggests that media attention and media concerns and journalists’ narrative considerations change across the different phases of development, that natural instincts, political influence, and media norms can all affect it.

The purpose of this empirical research is to evaluate the relationship between credit constraints and household risky assets in China. The life-cycle hypothesis theory and household portfolio choice theory is the basis of the research. Using a probit model, we find out that credit constraints do not have a clear impact on the probability of households to hold risky assets. Furthermore, the coefficients between age and risky assets are non-linear. Households in urban regions have a high positive coefficient with risky assets. As for now, the literature is missing theories on the relationship between credit constraints and household financial risky assets in China. Thus, this study will enrich the literature of household financial assets allocation by using a questionnaire survey from CHFS (China Household Finance Survey).

The master's thesis critically analyses the works of John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich August von Hayek concering the explanation of business cycles based on monetary determinants. The analysis is primarily based on J. M. Keynes's Treatise on Money (1930) and Prices and Production (1935) author of which is F. A. Hayek. The thesis, on one hand, refutes the main explanation of the cause of business cycles of the Austrian business cycle theory and, on the other hand, it argues the imcompatibility of the main analytical tool of Treatise with the theory of innovation by J. A. Schumpeter.

Higher education is often considered as one of the safest and most profitable investments in human capital. There are, however, signals that this sector has been experiencing unsustainable economic boom in the United States. This study examines the ability of Austrian Business Cycle Theory to explain the possibility of such boom, i.e. to explain the potential systematic errors in the allocation of human capital. We find that respective allocation is driven by the similar market forces as the allocation of physical capital and hence, that it may fall victim to the same, or similar false market signals, thus creating the cycle of boom and bust. Credit expansion in the sector of student loans can be the trigger then. Furthermore, we study the actual development in this sector and find that empirical evidence provides many reasons to believe that there has actually been unsustainable boom i.e. an economic bubble in the sector of post-secondary education in the United States.

This paper examines the correlation between credit intermediated by financial systems and economic growth in developing countries. More specifically we have studied whether well-functioning financial markets result in economic growth. We base our study on data from 53 low- and lower-middle income countries in the period 2004-2011. By comparing the two different economic theories, Schumpeter’s growth theory and Austrian business cycle theory, we have analysed our results from two different perspectives. The results from this study show an insignificant relationship between financial systems and economic growth, contradicting much of the theory and results from previous studies that have been reviewed. Other variables outside of the financial system in this study, such as economic freedom and corruption, could be a reason for the non-existent correlation between financial development and economic growth in this study.

This thesis entitled "Theory of the organization life cycle and its use in small business' handles in the theoretical part with two well known theories of organizations, dealing with development and monitoring of common characters in their lives. In the practical part there is application of chosen theory to selected small engineering-oriented business, and also practical knowledge compared with those described in theory. Due to the special characteristics of the firm is then the next part of the work devoted to devising of appropriate strategies that could be used if a company will continue in development to avoid a crisis period, which may occur in its life cycle. The last part is the specification of possible risks that should the company expect during the development and also devising of preventive measures.

The thesis is dedicated to clarifying the origins and main causes of the economic crisis. In the first part I ilustrate the connection between the monetary policies of central banks and the changes in structure of the production and investments with the help of Austrian Business Cycle Theory. These theoretical assumptions are confronted with the empirical findings from USA throughout the 20th century. The second part discusses other factors leading to the crises, mainly focusing on the 2009 economic crises and various free market and state controlled factors. The thesis discusses these factors from the point of view of theoretical and empirical knowledge of economic science.