This essay conducts a Plausibility Probe Case Study focused on how the UN and the wider international community have approached the civil war in Ethiopia. Because the Ethiopian Government has been unable to protect its population, Ethiopia can be considered a typical case for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). R2P was introduced in response to the genocides in Rwanda and Srebrenica and builds upon the idea of the international community having a responsibility to assist states to protect their populations. R2P’s normative status remains debated, however, due to criticism directed against R2P’s third pillar which prescribes the international community a responsibility to act when a state is unwilling or unable to protect its population. Therefore, scholars have started to analyse R2P’s status by the use of Finnemore & Sikkink’s Norm Life Cycle Theory, disagreeing about R2P’s normative strength and whether R2P will ever be able to enter the third stage of the Norm Life Cycle (NLC). This essay applies the same theory to the empirical findings from the Ethiopian case with the primary aim to contribute to the debate about R2P’s normative status. Findings show how R2P seems to be positioned at the second stage of the NLC. This does not necessarily mean that R2P should be considered a weak norm as the UN and the international community have indirectly complied with R2P when approaching the Ethiopian conflict. Yet, the fact that none of the relevant actors under study has mentioned R2P explicitly indicates how R2P still remains a controversial norm within international politics.

Municipal urban management and the democratic flexible guardian – a study concerning the officials’ changing work in the urban management process in the municipality of Norrköping. The purpose of this study is partly to analyse how implement measures in a change project (in the municipality of Norrköping) may impact the officials, linked to the urban management process, in their work practices. The study also aims to problematize a political science theory by Professor Lennart Lundquist (from 1998) that states how officials should relate to their office. The reason behind this problematizing stems from a shift in the municipalities’ responsibilities over the last 20 years. They have gone from having a more exclusively administrative responsibility to focus more on societal investment. The analysis of this study shows that a lot of the implement measures have a positive impact on the officials’ work practices, although some risks were found. The study also indicates that the imbalance between economical and democratic values (that is addressed in Lundquist’s theory) tend to even themselves out in order for a more sustainable development to be achieved.

This investigation represents an initial attempt toward the construction of a general life cycle theory of parent-child relations. Emphasis was placed on the parent-adult child relationship with the onset of a filial crisis, e.g., due to illness. After the theory was described, two of the five propositions comprising this orientation (i.e., propositions four and five) were analyzed through a series of twenty-five hypotheses. The objectives of these hypotheses were (a) to analyze the relationship between the length of time involved in various patterns of filial responsibility and the likelihood that these patterns will become institutionalized as obligatory roles and (b) to determine how factors associated with these emergnt role obligations contribute to the cost of caregiving. A probability sample of 180 caregivers was obtained from within the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Multiple and partial correlation analyses and the use of Student's t revealed that the length of time involved as a caregiver was significantly related to the number of informal caregiving roles performed by adult children. In addition, results indicated that the length of involvement in each caregiving role examined (i.e., household care, transportation service, personal care, medical attention, meal preparation, financial management and mobility assistance) was significantly related to (a) the frequency of providing these services to an aged parent and (b) the level of responsibility in each service area except financial management (which tended to remain constant over time)• An adult child s level of obligation to ensure that caregiving services were provided was also significantly associated with the length of caregiving involvement. Furthermore, this study found tentative support for the contention that the social-psychological cost of providing care for a dependent parent was associated with (a) the frequency of providing transportation services and medical attention, (b) the number of informal caregiving activities performed and (c) the length of caregiver involvement. A set of three control variables (i.e., the household living arrangements and both the aged parent s and adult child's physical health status) were identified as significant contributors to the cost of caregiving. Based on the empirical results of this investigation, propositions four and five of the theoretical perspective presented in this dissertation were supported.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:57:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silvio de Brito Marcelino.pdf: 2271607 bytes, checksum: 6b6a10a1167ce96272393b8b040aaa14 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-05-13 / This paper describes an investigation into the use of software SuperLogo by a group of teachers of basic education in public schools of the State of São Paulo, specifically in order to understand how these teachers in activity on mathematical problems, acquire fluency in the use of interface, think math questions from the use of digital technology as well as develop / explore mathematical topics from the perspective of computational artifact. The theoretical framework of the study had by reference the Theory of Didactical Situations, the humans-with-media construct and cycle theory (use of technologies for teaching and learning mathematics). The research had qualitative approach, and analyzes were carried out from the point of view of content analysis, employing four sessions, held in a computer lab at a public school, and having by instruments for data collecting informal interviews, a questionnaire, a sequence of activities supported by non-digital technology (pencil and paper) and a didactical sequence built with problems that should be solved with the SuperLogo software. The results indicate that teachers could expand connections between mathematical knowledge available to them and the development of fluency in relation to the interface, and began to express thoughts that indicated the connection of their knowledge with the use of software, which led them to considerate the use of such resources with their student groups in the development of mathematical topics / Este trabalho descreve uma investigação sobre o uso do software SuperLogo por um grupo de professores da Educação Básica de escolas públicas do Estado de São Paulo, especificamente no sentido de compreender de que maneira os mesmos, em atividade sobre problemas matemáticos, adquirem fluência no uso da interface, pensam as questões matemáticas a partir do emprego da tecnologia digital, bem como desenvolvem/exploram temas matemáticos na perspectiva do artefato computacional. O quadro teórico do estudo teve por referência a Teoria das Situações Didáticas, o construto seres-humanos-com-mídias e a teoria do ciclo (uso de tecnologias para ensinar e aprender Matemática). A pesquisa teve caráter qualitativo, e as análises foram realizadas sob o ponto de vista da análise de conteúdo, empregando quatro sessões, realizadas em laboratório de informática de uma escola pública, e tendo por instrumentos de coleta de dados entrevistas informais, um questionário, uma sequência de atividades realizadas com suporte tecnológico não digital (lápis e papel) e uma sequência didática por meio de problemas que deveriam ser resolvidos no âmbito do SuperLogo. Os resultados indicam que os professores puderam ampliar as conexões entre o conhecimento matemático de que dispunham e o desenvolvimento de fluência em relação à interface, bem como passaram a expressar pensamentos que indicavam a conexão de seus conhecimentos com o uso do software, o que os levou a cogitar no emprego de tais recursos com seus grupos de estudantes, no desenvolvimento de temas matemáticos

FDI har sedan början på 80-talet växt sig allt större och blivit en av de viktigaste tillgångarna till finansiellt och fysiskt kapital i världen. FDI har enligt många studier en viktig funktion för ett lands ekonomiska utveckling, detta gäller främst för outvecklade länder men också utvecklade länder. Studiens mål var att hitta viktiga faktorer som påverkade FDI inflöde till Sub-Sahara regionen. Den empiriska analysen gjordes med hjälp av en OLS regressionsmodell och hade 42 observationer sammanlagt. Huvudvariabeln var FDI/BNP. Resultatet av den empiriska analysen visade att den viktigaste faktoren för FDI inflöde hos länder söder om Sahara är ett lands ekonomiska öppenhet. Öppenhet visade en positiv signifikans i alla regressioner som gjordes. BNP per capita hade en negativ signifikans i den första regressionen men visade ingen signifikans när kunskapskapital och språkskillnader testades i regressioner. Variabeln för naturtillgångar hade en positiv signifikans när en tredje regression gjordes där länder delades upp i två språkkategorier.

<p>Diss. Umeå : Umeå universitet, 1988</p> / digitalisering@umu

This dissertation presents the results of research focused on the Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT). The main part of the thesis is an econometrical test of five predictions based on ABCT. I used data on the US economy for period 1967 - 2016, which is the longest time period covered in the Austrian empirical literature so far. Since one of the most important variables for ABCT is so called interest rate gap (the difference between market interest rate and natural interest rate), I use three alternative models of this variable. The results of my empirical tests predominantly confirm theoretical predictions of ABCT. It can be shown that the interest rate gap influenced the relative structure of economic activity and resource allocation in a way predicted by ABCT. I also investigate whether the interest rate gap does have a significant impact on stock market valuations (in terms of aggregate level or relative structure), although the results are mostly statistically insignificant. In addition I also described several possible new distortions which may emerge due to unconventional monetary policy. I argue that these distortions should be of primary interest for researchers engaged in the Austrian research program. I devoted special attention to the specifics of monetary policy regime in Japan, where the Bank of Japan regularly intervenes on the stock market. Another theoretical contribution can be found in the second chapter where I respond to the White's (1999) claim that Hayek implicitly repudiated his own version of ABCT in later part of his career, when proposing free competition in money production. I attempt to show that White's conclusion stems from an inadequate interpretation of Hayek's writings. Finally I provide an alternative interpretation of Hayek's work that reveals the compatibility of his early and late theoretical contributions.

Today’s household debt consists for the most part of credit money, and this general phenomenon does not only occur in Sweden. Money in the economy is mostly created by private banks, as much as 97 percent of the money in the United States, while central banks only create a very small share of all money. This is the reason for the oppressed household debt. During this period of high debt in Sweden, the household consumption has also increased in comparison to earlier years. The aim is to study and compare how the money supply in two different full-reserve systems, the Austrian through convertibility and the Chicago plan through quantity control, would reduce the household debt in relation to today’s fractional system. The method used in this study is a time series analysis where data of Sweden’s household debt, savings, money supply; M1 and M3, GDP, assets, currency reserves, gold reserves and interest rates has been collected for the years 2005-2013. These are further examined in three different equations. The data for all the variables was collected from SCB, IMF, Ekonomifakta and the World Data Bank. The first theory that is used in this study is Wicksell’s cumulative process which will explain how the money supply M3 affects household debt in today's fractional reserve system. The second theory is the Austrian Business Cycle Theory which will examine the money supply M1 effect on household debt through full reserves by convertibility control. The third theory is the Friedman rule, where the effect of household debt by money supply M1 will be examined. This rule explains how the Chicago Plan is affecting household debt through a full reserve system by quantity control. In the both systems, fractional reserves and full reserves, the debt will increase in this study. The result shows that with full reserves, the household debt would be backed by savings in comparison to fractional reserves, where household debt would be backed by credit money. Therefore, full reserves would contribute to a healthier economy in contrast to today’s fractional system. Since it would involve a large cost for Sweden to transcend to an Austrian system through convertibility, where price inertia would occur as well, the conclusion of this study is that the Chicago Plan, based on the quantity principle, is to prefer. / Största delen av hushållens skuldsättning består idag av kreditpengar, och detta generella fenomen finns inte bara i Sverige. Pengarna i ekonomin är för det mesta skapade av affärsbankerna, så mycket som 97 procent i USA, medan centralbanken endast skapar en liten del av dessa pengar. Detta är anledningen till de höga hushållsskulderna. Under den här perioden av hög skuldsättning i Sverige så har även hushållens konsumtion ökat i förhållande till tidigare år. Syftet med denna studie är att jämföra hur penningmängden i två olika hundraprocentiga reservsystem, den österrikiska konjunkturcykeln, genom konvertibilitet, och Chicago planen, genom kvantitetskontroll, skulle reducera hushållens skulder i relation till dagens bråkdelsreservsystem. Metoden som används i denna studie är en tidsserieanalys där data från hushållens skulder, sparande, penningmängd; M1 och M3, BNP, tillgångar, guldreserver, valutareserver och repo räntan har samlats in under åren 2005-2013. Dessa variabler är studerade i tre olika ekvationer och all data har samlats in från SCB; IMF, Ekonomifakta och the World Data Bank. Den första teorin som används är Wicksells kumulativa process som beskriver hur penningmängden M3 påverkar hushållens skulder i dagens bråkdelsreservsystem. Den andra teorin är den österrikiska konjunkturcykel teorin och kommer att undersöka penningmängden M1 effekt på hushållens skulder med ett hundraprocentigt reservsystem med konvertibilitetskontroll. Den tredje teorin är Friedmans regel, där effekten på hushållens skulder kommer att bli undersökt med hjälp av penningmängden M1. Denna regel förklarar hur Chicagoplanen påverkar hushållens skulder via ett hundraprocentigt reservsystem med kvantitetskontroll. Hushållens skuldsättning ökade i samtliga regressioner och resultaten visar att med hundraprocentiga reserver så skulle hushållens skulder vara backade med sparande, jämfört med bråkdelsreserver, där hushållens skulder skulle vara backade med krediter. Därför skulle hundraprocentiga reserver bidra till en mer välmående ekonomi. Eftersom det skulle tillkomma höga kostnader att övergå till ett österrikiskt system med konvertibilitet, så är slutsatsen av denna studie att istället implementera Chicagoplanen baserad på kvantitetsprincipen.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to empirically investigate the explanatory power of Austrian business cycle theory. My dataset consists of US quarterly time series within the period between 1971 and 2009. As regards the NBER classification, this dataset covers six complete business cycles, including the recent global financial crisis. Following Wainhouse (1984), Keeler (2001) and Bjerkenes et al. (2010) I use Granger causality as one of the primary tools of the analysis. Moreover I also add Impulse response functions to discover the direction of observed relationships. As regards my primary group of hypotheses I found significant empirical evidence for the connection between changes in interest rate and structure of production. The secondary group of hypotheses is less successful; however I found the very first empirical illustration of Garrison's version of ABCT.

Payout policies is one of the most discussed topics in corporate finance. Since Miller &amp; Modigliani (1961) dividend irrelevance theory, which was based on perfect markets, many theories have been developed in order to incorporate market imperfections to payout decisions. Numerous scholars have been trying to explain why companies pay dividends, whether they should compensate investors with alternative methods such as share repurchases or not distribute cash at all. The theme has gained lots of attention during the 21-st century driven by the subprime financial crisis in 2008 and mostly recently, in 2020, due to economic impacts brought by the Covid 19 pandemic. Another important aspect that makes the study of payout policy relevant in the 21-st century is the unique impacts of unveiled trends such as globalization and volatile markets, increased importance of ecology and sustainability, emergency of fast growth firms (mainly in the Tech industry) and change characteristics of listed firms. Globally there is a tendency of reduction in the number of listed firms and also deterioration in the quality of earnings. Additionally, there is no consensus about which factors influence a firm propensity of distributing cash to shareholders, which makes the topic very intriguing. Previous research has been conducted mainly within US firms. Few studies have been conducted regarding payout policies in the Nordic countries and most of them give little attention to share repurchases and payout policy determinants. Therefore, we decided to conduct a study regarding the patterns and determinants of payout policy in the 21-st century with focus on the Nordic countries. The purposes of the study are: first, to understand the pattern of payout policies in the Nordic countries during the 21-st century and second determine if there is a relationship between a number of firm’s selected factors and firm’s payout policy. As a sub purpose we intend to examine whether the Covid 19 pandemic had any effect on Nordic firm’s payout policies. The factors investigated, namely: debt, profit, retained earnings, growth opportunities, cash holdings, size and age were identified through a detailed literature review. We collected data from Thomson Reuters DataStream Eikon covering the period between 2000 and 2020 for 1,153 firms from all Nordic countries: Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The study follows a quantitative research method with a deductive approach, and we have based the theoretical framework on the following theories: Miller-Modigliani dividend irrelevance theory, Signaling theory, Agency theory, Life-cycle theory and Substitution and Flexibility hypotheses. In order to determine whether there is a relationship between the companies selected factors and the payout ratios we conducted ordinary least square (OLS) correlation analysis. Additional regression analysis was conducted to verify possible impacts of Covid 19 on Nordic payout policies. Results indicate that some firms’ selected characteristics such as debt, size and age have an impact on Nordic firms’ payout policy during the 21-st century. Larger firms with lower debt are more willing to pay cash dividends, while older firms tend to present higher levels of share repurchase. Firms’ characteristics showed no impact on changes in payout ratios during the initial period of Covid 19.