Fluctuation of exchange rate has affected the increasing burden of foreign debt payment in emerging economies. This issue has negatively influenced the economic growth. It has been a severe obstacle considering that governments have to issue public debt denominated in foreign currency to finance the budget deficit. Hence, there is an urgent necessity to implement an efficient public debt management to minimize the exchange rate exposure. This thesis analyses how efficient the foreign debt portfolio management is in the 14 emerging economies under examination in the period of 1990-2013. Panel Dynamic Fixed-effect Estimator and Granger Causality approach are applied to analyze how responsive the currency composition of foreign debt portfolio to the exchange rates movement. The thesis examines the four biggest foreign debt shares that are denominated in US dollar, Euro, British pound, and Japanese yen, and the related exchange rates movement in the economies under consideration. The observation concludes that the foreign debt portfolio management in these emerging economies is not efficient or not optimal. The evidences prove that changes in the exchange rates of Euro, British pound, and Japanese yen relative to US dollar Granger cause changes in respected debt shares. It means that there is no substitution effects from the appreciation of the currencies vis-à-vis the US dollar during the year of observation.

This dissertation is structured in the form of two empirical essays, each investigating one type of irrational decision caused by mental accounting. The first essay, titled "Managing the Cost of Multiple Debt Accounts: A Behavioral Perspective", explores why many people pay off credit cards' with the lowest rate first when rationally speaking they should repay the debt with the highest rate most quickly. This essay suggests that irrationality emerges when people seek to close `mental accounts' associated with their credit cards and reduce the total number of outstanding loans rather than decrease the amount of total debt among all credit cards. Consumers want to be debt free. If they can get rid of debt, on even one credit card, they feel a sense of accomplishment which psychologically helps them manage remainder of their debt better. The second essay, titled "Saving by Overspending", explores consumers' over-expenditure and indulgent consumption when they make prepayments in the form of time, effort, or money toward a consumption goal. This essay proposes that people subconsciously try to get their prepayments' worth, but in fact they may be spending their money irrationally. In addition, contrary to common knowledge, this essay suggests that when a prepayment is unanticipated, the loss of self-control is often more prominent when prepayments are made with behavioral resources (e.g., time or effort) than equivalent monetary resources.

The level of university students' financial literacy has been discussed in Congress, opinion pieces in the media and the increasing level of student debt has been used to suggest their financial illiteracy. This study investigated the financial literacy of graduating university seniors by comparing their financial literacy level with their debt level. The difference in financial literacy levels of business majors, minors and non-business majors was assessed. The relationship between graduating university seniors' financial literacy level and their credit card and student loan debt was also reviewed. Gender, employment status, ethnicity, family income and college major were similarly examined to see if they were predictors of financial literacy levels and debt levels. Although financial literacy is frequently discussed in the national arena there is no clear definition of financial literacy; this ambiguity has led to multiple definitions. In this study, financial literacy was defined as "an individual's ability to obtain, understand, and evaluate the relevant information necessary to make decisions with an awareness of the likely financial consequences" (Mason & Wilson, 2000). The Jump$tart questionnaire (Mandell, 2004) was used to calculate participants' financial literacy level. The study found that the majority of the students had a high level of financial literacy with an average financial literacy score of 72.56% and with students majoring in business performing significantly better than non-business students. The use of debt level as an indicator of financial literacy level was found to be incorrect. No relationship was identified between financial literacy level and credit card debt or student loan debt. The study also found that demographic factors could not be used to predict financial literacy level and debt level. It was found that the majority of participants learned about managing money either on their own or at home from family members. More than half of the participants expressed an interest in taking a personal finance class but less than 20% were aware that this course was offered at their university. More effective methods are recommended to ensure that students become more aware such courses being offered on campus.

Bakalauro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjamos Lietuvos valstybės skolos valdymo priemonės atliekant jų analizę 2004 – 2012 metų laikotarpiu. Teorinėje darbo dalyje apibūdinta valstybės skolos sąvoka, jos sandara. Aptariama valstybės skolos valdymo reikšmė šaliai bei susistemintos ir apibūdintos skolos valdymo priemonės. Praktinėje dalyje detalizuota Lietuvos ekonominė padėtis 2004 – 2012 metų laikotarpiu. Pagal teorinėje dalyje apibūdintas skolos valdymo priemones, atsižvelgus į Lietuvos 2004 – 2012 metų ekonominius ciklus, atlikta Lietuvos skolos valdymo priemonių analizė. Tyrime išsiaiškinta, kad ekonomikos pakilimo laikotarpiu (nuo 2004 iki 2008 metų vidurio bei pradėjus justi pirmus ekonomikos atsigavimo požymius 2011 – 2012 metais) Lietuvos skolinimosi poreikis kilo siekiant padengti senas skolas. Nuosmukio laikotarpiu (nuo 2008 vidurio iki 2010 metų) skolinimosi poreikį lėmė biudžeto deficitas. Tyrimas padėjo atskleisti tai, kad skolos valdymo struktūra, socialinės, politinės bei ekonominės aplinkos gerinimas reikalauja didesnio skolos valdytojų dėmesio. Be to išsiaiškinta, kad tenkinant dabartinius Lietuvos valstybės skolinius poreikius mažai dėmesio skiriama jų poveikiui ateities kartoms išsiaiškinti. / The purpose of Bachelor's thesis is to structure government debt management measures and to accomplish analysis of Lithuania debt management measures of 2004–2012 period. The theoretical part of the paper describes the public debt and it’s composition, and public debt management impact on Lithuanian country. The practical part of this paper goes into details of Lithuanian economic condition of 2004-2012 period. The analysis of Lithuanian debt management measures was done on the basis of debt management measures as described in theoretical part. This study clarified that Lithuanian demand of higher debt to cover previous debt was growing in better economic times (from 2004 till the middle of 2008 and from 2011 till 2012). However, higher debt demand was also growing which was the impact of higher budget deficit (from the middle of 2008 till 2010). From the results of this paper we can conclude that the debt managers should pay more attention to debt management, social and political and moreover economic environment improvements. Also we can conclude that there is insufficient attention to future generations in contrast of current Lithuanian liabilities.

Universiẗat, Diss.--Bayreuth, 2007.

The global economy is still recovering from the effects of the sub-prime crisis. The economic downturn has created international tax policies that seem to encourage debt funding. Some commentators are of the view that debt and equity should have a uniform tax treatment. South Africa has not escaped the aftermath of the economic meltdown and had three credit downgrades since the second half of 2009. The first objective of this treatise was to determine whether loan funding still has a role to play in a SME environment. This was considered in the context of interest-free or low-interest rate loans advanced by companies to shareholders or other connected persons and interest-bearing loans due by companies that in substance clearly have equity features. The primary enquiry pertaining to debit loans is whether the debt arose by virtue of any share held in the company. It is submitted that a causal connection is required between any share in that company and the advance made. Where a company parts with funds for no quid pro quo a deemed dividend in specie is triggered. Conversely, where a loan was made on commercial grounds the company will not be in breach, even if the loan is interest-free. A loan that lacks a reasonable redemption period is more akin to equity and to this extent a deemed dividend will be triggered where a loan owing by a company to a shareholder or other connected person is not redeemable within 30 years. There is ambiguity with regards to the inception of the 30-year period for pre-existing loan agreements. Taking the contra fiscum rule into account, it is submitted that the 30-year period should only commence from the effective date due to the impracticalities involved and because the concept of an ‘instrument’ did not previously exist. It is submitted that shareholder and other connected person loans are not by default equity, to the extent that the transaction is on commercial grounds and in substance a loan. It is further submitted that loan funding still has a role to play in a SME environment and that South Africa has no need for uniform tax rules pertaining to debt and equity, due to the anti-avoidance provisions highlighted above. The poor state of the local economy prompted Treasury to introduce new debt relief rules to assist distressed debtors. The second objective of this treatise was to analyse whether the new rules will provide tangible relief to distressed debtors as this was one of the short comings of the previous system. It is submitted that the new ordering rules delay the incurrence of an immediate tax as trading stock held and not disposed of, the base cost of an asset or the balance of an assessed capital loss is first reduced compared to the old rules where it instantly triggered a recoupment or a deemed disposal for CGT purposes. Tangible relief is provided to distressed debtors as a tax debt reduced has no normal tax consequences. This provides an opportunity for companies under business rescue because SARS rank on par with concurrent creditors. As a result, the tax debt reduced is likely to be higher under business rescue than liquidation.

Context. Technical debt (TD) is a metaphor reflecting technical compromises that sacrifice long-term health of a software product to achieve short term benefit. TD is a strategy for the development team to obtain business value. TD can do both harm and good to a software based on the situation of TD accumulation. Therefore, it is important to manage TD in order to avoid the accumulated TD across the breaking point. In large-scale distributed projects, development teams located in different sites, technical debt management (TDM) becomes more complex and difficult compared with traditional collocated projects. In recent years, TD metaphor has attracted the attention from academics, but there are few studies in real settings and none in large-scale globally distributed projects. Objectives. In this study, we aim to explore the factors that have significant impact on TD and how practitioner manage TD in large-scale distributed projects. Methods. We conducted an exploratory case study to achieve the objectives. The data was collected through archival records and a semi-structured interview. For the archival data, hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyze the relationship between identified factors and TD. For interview data, we used qualitative content analysis method to get a deep understanding of TDM in this studied case. Results. Based on the results of archival data analysis, we identified three factors that show significant positive correlation with TD. These three factors were task complexity, global distance, and maturity, which were evaluated by the architect during the semi-structured interview. The architect also believed that these factors have strong relationships with TD. TDM in this case includes seven management activities: TD prevention, identification, measurement, documentation, communication, prioritization, and repayment. The tool used for TDM is an internally implemented tool called wiki page. We also summarize the roles involved and approaches used with respect to each TDM activity. Two identified TDM challenges in this case were TD measurement and prioritization. Conclusions. We conclude that 1) TDM in this case is not complete. Due to the lack of TD monitoring, the measurement of TD is static and lacks an efficient way to track the change of cost and benefit of unresolved TD over time. Therefore, it is difficult to find a proper time point to repay a TD. 2) The wiki page is not enough to support TDM, and some specific tools should be combined with wiki page to manage TD comprehensively. 3) TD measurement and prioritization should get more attention both from practitioners and academics to find a suitable way to solve such challenges in TDM. 4) Factors that make significant contribution to TD should be carefully considered, which increase the accuracy of TD prediction and improve the efficiency of TDM.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital (RCWMCH), located in Cape Town, South Africa, is the only hospital in sub-Saharan Africa dedicated to children. It renders world–class public health-care services to sick children; 95% of which come from the poor, local and distant communities and require specialised treatment to recover. This case study aims to explore the factors associated with debt management and revenue-enhancing strategies in the Hospital Fees Department (HFD). The primary objective of the study is to examine the way in which the hospital manages outstanding debt and identify different empirical methods to improve revenue collection. In order to ensure the cost recovery of services, members of the public are billed and the expectation is, of course, for the bills to be paid. The hospital has a Hospital Information System (HIS) in place that consists of Clinicom and the Accounts Receivable System (ARS). The business design of Clinicom ensures that patient information is recorded and billed correctly. The ARS, on the other hand, ensures the collection of debt and reconciliation of state funds. The reason for choosing the HFD is that this component influences service delivery and funding. The importance of cost recovery to improve service delivery coincides with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and it is for this reason that people have the right to basic services. By making for sure revenues are collected, it ensures that the improved health-care services, to which they are entitled, are delivered to members of the public at the RCWMCH. The primary approach employed to collect information is made using structured questions and interviews with the members of the public and the RCWMCH management. The secondary approach is through the use of books in the field of finance, the HFD annual reports and policies. The study concludes with findings and makes recommendations to the RCWMCH management, the South African government and the academic arena at large. The researched information can be used as a tool to manage outstanding debt and improve revenue collection for the RCWMCH and other hospitals that face similar circumstances.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier la soutenabilité de la dette publique en fonction du niveau de développement des pays. Après avoir revu la littérature économique en matière d’indicateurs de soutenabilité de la dette, nous avons appliqué des méthodes empiriques et statistiques pour analyser la viabilité de la dette des pays développés et en développement. Nous avons ainsi estimé une fonction de réaction budgétaire pour les gouvernements des pays du G7 qui révèle que les gouvernements des pays du G7 ne se sont pas souciés de l’équilibre de leurs finances publiques sur la période 1978-2007 ; et qu’il y a une attention particulière à la soutenabilité des finances publiques au sein de pays appartenant l’union monétaire européenne. Ensuite, nous avons analysé la soutenabilité de la dette de la Côte d’Ivoire, par le biais de méthodes statistiques utilisées par les Institutions Financières Internationales. Le pays présente ainsi un risque modéré du profil d’endettement ; et l’assainissement de ses finances publiques est essentiel pour la viabilité de la dette à long terme. Par ailleurs, l’évaluation de la performance de la gestion de la dette publique ivoirienne révèle que la conception d’une réelle politique nationale d’endettement permettrait de combler les insuffisances des dispositifs existants. En définitive, les conclusions de notre étude suggèrent des réflexions supplémentaires sur l’analyse théorique de la soutenabilité et sur la cadre de gestion internationale de la dette publique. / The purpose of this thesis is to analyse public debt sustainability according to the level of national economic development. After reviewing the economic literature on public debt sustainability indicators, we applied specific empirical methods to compare developed countries and analyse a heavily indebted poor country (HIPC). We first estimated, among G7 governements, an error-correction-type policy reaction function based on an iterative bayesian estimation that compares the different dynamics of public debt evolution. This analysis reveals that on one hand G7 governments did not focus on debt sustainability during the time frame (1978-2007) ; on the other hand, we noticed a particular attention to debt sustainability in Eurozone countries (Germany, France, Italy) as compared to other countries in the sample. Next, we analyzed the debt sustainability of Côte d’Ivoire, a sub-Saharan Heavily Indebted Poor Country using statistical methods developed by the IMF and the World Bank. The results showed that the country has a moderate risk to indebtment ; therefore budget stabilization and diversification of its exports will be critical for its long-term debt sustainability. Beyond these objectives, the evaluation of the public debt management process, based on an international method (DeMPA), also highlights that designing a real national debt policy could fulfill the shortcomings of current policies. Overall, the conclusions of our thesis suggest additional researches and reflections on the theoretical analysis of public debt and on the architecture of the international public debt management frameworks.

Technical Debt (TD) is a concept referring to technical deficiencies and sub-optimal decisions made in software development that may save time in the short term but lead to long-term obstacles. The concept also implies increased future costs, often growing with interest, caused by slower development rates and the need for refactorings. The high-paced environment of tech start-ups often leads to companies taking shortcuts in their development process, prioritizing iteration speed and time-to-market over longterm scalability. Oftentimes resulting in the accumulation of TD through sub-optimal technology choices, modularity, or architecture. Start-ups also play an important role in the innovation of many industries, hence, their contribution to differing markets and new products is valuable. Poorly managed TD in start-ups may lead to large obstacles when initiating a scale-up phase, leading to a possible development in industries slowing down, and it is therefore important to create the best possible conditions for start-ups to succeed in managing their TD, which is where this study aims to provide aid. A multiple-case study was performed with several tech start-ups in the Stockholm area on how TD has emerged and has been managed through its journey. The findings show that start-up companies are often inclined to deliberately accumulate TD in the early stages, in order to facilitate swift market establishment and proof of concept for their product. Further, the negative consequences of early accumulated TD were found to be limited. However, TD should not be left to grow for too long even in a start-up phase, since the findings show that this often results in large costs. Instead, start-ups should plan for there factoring of early accumulated TD by expecting a technological pivot. Furthermore, in the continuous management of TD, the results show that team composition, including personality traits and in-house competence, often impacts the success of managing TD more than meticulous planning, motivating the management in the start-ups to more thoroughly consider how they build their teams, and what competencies are present in the company, or needed. / Teknisk Skuld är ett begrepp som syftar på suboptimala beslut som fattas inom mjukvaruutveckling som kan spara tid på kort sikt, men som innebär framtida kostnader, ofta med ränta, genom refaktorering eller långsammare utvecklingstid. Den snabba miljön hos tech start-ups leder ofta till att företag tar genvägar i sin utveckling, vad gäller till exempel teknikval, modularitet eller arkitektur. Start-ups spelar också en viktig roll i innovationen i många branscher, och är därför värdefulla i olika marknader och nya produkter. Dåligt skött teknisk skuld i nystartade företag kan leda till stora hinder närman initierar en uppskalningsfas, vilket leder till att eventuell utveckling i branscher bromsar in, och det är därför viktigt att skapa de bästa möjliga förutsättningarna för start-ups att lyckas hantera sina tekniska skuld, vilket denna studie syftar till att bidra till. I den här artikeln genomfördes en flerfallsstudie med flera nystartade teknikföretag i Stockholmsområdet om hur teknisk skuld har vuxit fram och hanterats genom sin resa. Resultaten visar att teknisk skuld inte anses vara dåligt i mycket tidiga skeden, där ackumuleringen av teknisk skuld ofta skapar marknadsetablering och samlar bevis för vad produkten bör vara för, och tidigt ackumulerad teknisk skuld är oftast lättare att hantera än i senare skeden. Teknisk skuld bör dock inte lämnas att växa för länge även i en uppstartsfas, eftersom resultaten visar att detta ofta leder till alldeles för stora kostnader. Istället bör nystartade företag planera för omstrukturering av tidigt ackumulerad teknisk skuld genom att förvänta sig en teknisk pivot. Vidare, i den kontinuerliga hanteringen av teknisk skuld, visar resultaten att team-sammansättning, inklusive personlighetsdrag och intern kompetens, ofta påverkar framgången med att hantera teknisk skuld mer än noggrann planering, vilket motiverar ledningen i nystartade företag att mer noggrant överväga hur de bygger sina team och vilka kompetenser som finns i företaget, eller vilka som behövs.