O programa de transferencia de renda Bolsa Familia e um importante pilar da seguri- dade social brasileira, mas ha um senso comum de que as transferencias do programa incentivam casais beneficiarios a terem mais filhos. Utilizando base de dados do governo federal (Cadunico e Caixa) e valendo-se dos criterios de eligibilidade, prop6e-se uma ine- dita analise quase experimental para estudar os efeitos das transferencias nao condicionais (UCT) e das condicionais (CCT) sobre a fecundidade das beneficiarias entre os anos de 2011 a 2015, atraves de uma regressao descontinua fuzzy. Problemas de medida associa- dos a base (e.g.: manipulacao, arredondamento, atrito) sao remediados com a estimacao nao parametrica proposta por Gerard, Rokkanen & Rothe (2016), em que se determina limites superiores e inferiores aos efeitos de tratamento. Por um lado, nao ha evidencia de que o componente CCT afete a fecundidade das beneficiarias, mas por outro, o com- ponente mais flexivel do Bolsa Familia, o UCT, possivelmente reduziu a fecundidade das beneficiarias mais pobres, sobretudo no Nordeste. Tais resultados sao contraintuitivos em relacao a literatura te6rica ate entao, mas em linha com a grande maioria dos resultados encontrados em programas similares da America Latina. / The Brazilian cash transfer program Balsa Familia is a very, if not the most, important pil- lar of Brazil\'s welfare system. However, there is a common sense that the program\'s trans- fers incentive beneficiary couples to have more children. Using federal data (Cadunico and Caixa databases) and the eligibility rules for the program, I propose a quasi-experimental approach to verify both unconditional (UCT) and conditional transfers (CCT) on the beneficiaries\' fertility rates between 2011 and 2015, through a fuzzy regression disconti- nuity approach. Measure problems associated with the data (e.g.: manipulation, heaping, attriton), are solved using a non parametric estimation proposed by Gerard, Rokkanen & Rothe (2016), which determines lower and upper bounds for treatment effects. On one hand, there is no evidence that the CCT component affects the beneficiaries\' fertility rates, but on another, the more flexible component of Bolsa Familia, UCT, possibly reduced the fertility rates for the most poor. Those results are counter intuitive with the theoretical literature so far, but in line with the majority of other studies analyzing similar transfer programs in Latin America.

O papel dos Bancos de Desenvolvimento é amplamente discutido há décadas, cuja presença e atuação possui defensores e críticos. No Brasil, desde sua fundação em 1952, o Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) está no centro dessas discussões, pois é um dos 4 maiores Bancos de Desenvolvimento do mundo, desempenhando um importante papel na economia brasileira. Esta investigação focou empresas listadas na Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo (Bovespa) no período de 2002 a 2014, com ênfase na relação entre restrição financeira e contratação de empréstimos do BNDES. Para tanto, foi utilizado o modelo de Sensibilidade do Investimento ao Fluxo de Caixa por meio de regressão por efeitos fixos, aleatórios e dados agrupados em painel de dados estático desbalanceado. Outro aspecto deste estudo foi verificar as diferenças entre as empresas que contrataram e que não contrataram empréstimos do BNDES em períodos relacionados à crise financeira global de 2008, cuja análise foi desenvolvida pelo teste de Diferença-em-Diferenças. Os resultados evidenciaram que, na amostra geral, houve restrição financeira nos dois grupos de empresas, sendo que a restrição foi maior nas empresas que contrataram empréstimos do BNDES. Nesse grupo, as empresas que contrataram empréstimos diretamente pelo BNDES (forma de apoio Direta ou modalidade Não Automática) tiveram maior restrição financeira. As instituições financeiras que operaram com o BNDES (forma de apoio Indireta ou modalidade Automática) tiveram as menores restrições financeiras. Com respeito à crise financeira, o teste mostrou que o nível de investimento e a restrição financeira do grupo de tratamento tiveram diferenças significativas nos períodos pré-crise e a partir da crise, o que pode indicar uma influência do BNDES na atenuação dos efeitos da crise. O estudo conclui que as empresas que contrataram empréstimos do BNDES possuem maior restrição financeira do que aquelas que não contrataram empréstimo. Além disso, este estudo salienta que na crise financeira de 2008, a presença de recursos financeiros do BNDES nessas empresas contribuiu para diminuir a restrição financeira, enquanto que as empresas que não contrataram empréstimos tiveram maior restrição. Essas constatações confirmam o papel do banco de desenvolvimento atuando em empresas que mostraram maior necessidade de capital, assim como redutor de restrição financeira em momentos de crise. / The role of Development Banks has been widely discussed for decades, whose presence and performance have defenders and critics. Since its founding in 1952, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) has been in the center of these discussions as it is among the 4 largest development banks in the world, playing an important role in the Brazilian economy. This research focused on companies listed on the São Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa) from 2002 to 2014, with emphasis on the relationship between financial restraint and BNDES loan contracting. For this, the Cash Flow Sensitivity model was used through regression by means of fixed, random effects and grouped data in an unbalanced static data panel. Another aspect of this study was to verify the differences between the companies that hired and did not borrow from the BNDES in periods related to the 2008 global financial crisis, whose analysis was developed by the Difference-in-Differences test. The results showed that, in the general sample, there was a financial constraint in both groups of companies, and the restriction was greater in the companies that contracted BNDES loans. In this group, companies that borrowed directly from the BNDES (direct support or non-automatic mode) had greater financial constraints. The financial institutions that operated with the BNDES (Indirect support form or Automatic mode) had the lowest financial restrictions. In relation to the financial crisis, the test showed that the level of investment and the financial constraint of the treatment group had significant differences in the pre-crisis and crisis periods, which may indicate an influence of the BNDES in mitigating the effects of the crisis. This study concludes that the companies that contracted BNDES loans have greater financial constraints than those that did not take out a loan. In addition, the study points out that in the financial crisis of 2008, the presence of BNDES financial resources, in these companies, contributed to reduce the financial constraint, while the companies that did not contract loans were more restricted. These findings confirm the role of the development bank working in companies that showed greater need for capital, as well as reducing financial constraint in times of crisis.

As sociedades mundiais passam por mudanças substanciais que repercutem nas áreas da segurança alimentar e das políticas públicas sociais. Apesar de terem ocorrido significativas conquistas econômicas e sociais nos últimos anos, no Peru ainda existe dificuldade para oferecer segurança alimentar a toda sua população e isto se reflete na alta prevalência de subnutrição infantil concentrada principalmente nos espaços rurais, onde até o primeiro semestre de 2010, 30,9% das crianças são subnutridas. Esta situação representa uma ameaça para a sustentabilidade do desenvolvimento do Peru, devido aos efeitos irreversíveis da subnutrição na capacidade intelectual e física do indivíduo. Sendo a pobreza uma das principais causas da subnutrição, os programas de transferência condicionada de renda têm um grande potencial em favorecer a segurança alimentar dos beneficiados. Neste contexto o presente estudo tem como objetivo mostrar os reflexos na segurança alimentar dos beneficiados do programa de transferência condicionada de renda JUNTOS, na comunidade indígena de Pilpichaca, uma das comunidades mais pobres e com maior prevalência de crianças subnutridas do Peru. Foi realizado um estudo descritivo e quantitativo em uma amostra de 90 famílias. A escolha das famílias beneficiadas foi feita aleatoriamente em uma relação de todas as famílias beneficiadas com crianças menores de cinco anos. O levantamento dos dados foi feito através de questionário fechado apresentado as mães. Pretendia-se conhecer: a forma de acesso aos alimentos, à água e esgoto, acesso aos programas públicos de suplementação e complementação alimentar, uso da transferência de renda, mudança no consumo de alimentos, o estado nutricional nas crianças menores de cinco anos, a relação entre as variáveis: estado nutricional e o tempo de exposição ao programa JUNTOS; e a avaliação do Programa JUNTOS pelas mães beneficiadas. Os resultados mostram que aumentou o consumo de alimentos de alto valor nutritivo e o gasto com alimentos também é favorecido. Os resultados da regressão linear apontam que há uma relação proporcional entre o estado nutricional e o tempo de exposição ao programa JUNTOS, mas esta não é estatisticamente significativa. A transferência de renda representa 51.2% da renda familiar e as mães avaliaram o programa JUNTOS como uma boa política pública. / In Peru, although significant economic and social achievements have occurred in recent years, there is still a difficulty in providing food to entire population. This is reflected in a high prevalence of child malnutrition, mainly concentrated in rural areas, where, in the first half of 2010, even 30.9% of children is malnourished. This situation represents a threat to sustainable development of Peru, the irreversible effects of malnutrition on physical and intellectual capacity of the individual. With poverty being a major cause of malnutrition, the programs of conditional cash transfer have great potential to promote food security of beneficients. In this context, this study aims to show the effects of food security of the beneficients of the program of conditional cash transfer: JUNTOS, in the indigenous community of Pilpichaca, one of the poorest communities and with the highest percentage of malnourished children in Peru a descriptive and quantitative analysis on a sample of 50 families was made. The choice of beneficiary households was made randomly from a list of all beneficiary families with children under 5 years. The survey was made through different closed questionnaires presented to the mothers. The aim was to know: how to access food, water and sanitation, as well as public programs to food complement and supplementation, use of income transfer, change in food consumption, nutritional status among children under five years, the relationship between variables: nutritional status and exposure time to the program JUNTOS and program JUNTOS evaluation by mothers benefited. The results show that increased intake of foods of high nutritive value, spending on food is in plus, but can not show a significant relationship, between nutritional status and exposure time to the program JUNTOS. The transfer of income represents 51.2% of a total family income. The mothers generally rated JUNTOS as a good public policy.

[pt] A presente dissertação tem como propósito analisar o comportamento do investimento fixo seja ele proveniente das Contas Nacionais seja das Empresas abertas com ações negociadas na Bolsa de Valores no período entre 1987 e 2002. Para tanto, este estudo utilizará ferramentas analíticas e estatísticas. As Demonstrações de Origens e Aplicações de Recursos serão o instrumento utilizado para a compilação dos dados e, principalmente para mostrar a importância do investimento na Economia. O estudo mostra o crescimento do investimento do ativo imobilizado ao longo desses 16 anos, assim como a elevação da representatividade das companhias abertas na Formação Bruta de Capital Fixo. O resultado do estudo evidência a importância do investimento dentre as Aplicações de Recursos das Empresas assim como a crescente importância das companhias de capital aberto como investidoras. / [en] This essay focuses on the behavior of fixed investment, the investment of National Accounts as well as the investment of Companies with papers traded in the Brazilian Stock Exchange during the period of time between 1987 and 2002. This study will use analytical and statistical tolls to conquer its objectives. The instrument to analyze the evaluation along the years and to show the financial position of the entities will be the Statement of Sources and Application of Resources. This essay will show the growth of investment of the entities during the time period and also the increasing importance of the entities in the investment of the National Accounts. The results will emphasize the importance of the investment in the Application of Resources and the importance of the companies with open capital as investors in the economy.

My purpose in this essay is to analyse sexual messages and symbolism in music videos. Sexual contact can be depicted in various ways, like symbols of something hidden, not only how men and women relate to each other through a sexual act. I’ve demarcated the study into two music videos: Rammsteins Pussy, and Tommy Chashs Surf, based on the videos controversial reputation from the public. My question at issue is how sexual messages depicture and how symbolism indicates. The study is based on a semiotic model based on Roland Barthes' theory of character, as he presents in the book, Elements of Semiology. The result of this study is that the depiction of sex in these videos is presented as a symbol of personal message, and as a provocation. It reflects previous views on sexuality through the centuries. The provocation itself reinforces the artists image.

This study examines the relationship between reception of remittances and CCT participation. Three hypotheses, predicting a negative relationship between remittances and CCTs, are presented. These are tested by logit regressions based on data from national household surveys from four Latin American countries. The study finds some support for a negative correlation between remittances and CCT participation, but lack of data restricts the possibility of drawing firm conclusions from the study.

This study examines the effect of corporate liquidity and investor protection on the relation between financial distress and equity returns using a European sample over the 2002-2016 period. The results show that returns are hump-shaped and decreasing for increasing default risk. This can be rationalized by corporate liquidity indicating that higher cash holdings decrease liquidity risk. Moreover, firms in countries with high investor protection exhibit a more severe decrease of returns when default risk increases relative to firms in countries with low investor protection. This is because of the legal system that allows investors to renegotiate upon distress and to more accurately price equities.

Abstract Driven by fast evolution in the money market during the past two decades, financial and technological innovations, increasing competition, and internationalizing of businesses, cash and treasury management has become an increasingly important function in most firms. It is reasonable to expect that the role of financial transactions in the cash management process in adding to firm value has increased its importance and changed the cash management behavior of firms. The main purpose of this study is to investigate this potential behavioral change in cash management by examining the cash management practices behind the models explaining the cash management behavior and to test the stability of some of these models. It is hypothesized that the environmental changes have been remarkable enough to change the cash management behavior, which can be seen as a structural change in the cash management function. The factors assumed to explain this phenomenon may concern organizational and technological arrangements in cash management, likewise professional skills in the area of financial transactions and incentives for these especially created by emerging money markets. The examination was conducted using the survey method to map out the best cash management practices followed by Finnish listed manufacturing and service companies and by testing the stability of both static and dynamic models explaining cash management behavior. The empirical part of the study is based on three questionnaires in three separate years, namely 1988, 1994, and 2000, and the empirical estimation of the selected cash management models using financial statement data for the years 1972 to 2001. The study concludes that during the research period firms have achieved a significant technological progress (improving systems and methods) and significant behavioral changes (increasing professionalism) concerning cash management practices, referring to opportunities for more effective cash management operations. The stability tests of cash management models indicated that a structural change in cash management behavior occurred after the deregulation years in the money market. These results were consistent with the surveys referring the development in the efficiency of the firms' cash management.

This thesis presents three essays, with the first two focusing on the insider role of M&A advisors and the effectiveness of insider trading rule, while the third essay looks into the effects of product market competition on corporate cash holdings. The main hypothesis of the first and second essay is that the advisory banks that are privy to non-public deal information might have high motivation to exploit this privileged information by taking a position in a takeover target ahead of a deal and realise an excess return upon deal announcement. This motivation for and act of “insider trading” might be attenuated by the insider trading rules Rule10b5-1 and Rule10b5-2, which were released in 2000.The first essay examines the presence of acquiror advisors’ holdings in targets and their trading strategy on such holdings before deal announcement. Using an aggregate level of stake-holding in the target firm by a financial conglomerate/brands with which the advisor to the acquiror is affiliated, we find that advisory brands start to take and accumulate holdings in targets at least seven quarters before deal announcement through to announcement quarter. The stake-holding is significantly larger than that of a non-advisory brand group that is defined. We argue that these results imply the direct link between advisory holdings, advisor identity and the strong intentions of trading on private deal information. However, this tendency is markedly attenuated in the post-rule period after 2000. This change in advisory brand trading strategy on target stocks ahead of a deal with the passage of rules suggests a positive deterrence effect of the insider trading rule. In the second essay, we investigate the profitability of this trading strategy by advisory brands to acquirors taking stake in targets ahead of a deal. Results suggest that both the level and the build-up (increase) of an advisory stake between the last two quarters immediately preceding deal announcement are positively related to the target return. These results are consistent with the view that advisory brands trade on their privileged deal information by taking and increasing holdings in targets ahead of deals to profit from the increase in target share price. In our sub-period analysis, results suggest that all the coefficients become much smaller and insignificant for the post-rule period after 2000. This again indicates a strongly positive deterrent effect of regulation, which further confirms the conclusion of the first essay. The third essay is related to both the static and dynamic effect of product market competition on firm cash holdings. We find that the intensity of product market competition measured by product similarity from Hoberg and Phillips (2010, 2011) has a significant positive effect on firm cash holdings, after controlling for other measures including the Industry Herfindahl Index and industry fluidity. This suggests that firms in a more competitive industry reserve more cash as their war chest or preemptive tool against competitors. Further, Vector Autoregression (VAR) and analyses of shock show that when there is a sudden increase in product similarity/competition level (shock), firms use cash to fight off competition, leading to a decrease in cash holdings.

The purpose of this study is to test the relation, if any, between use of fair value measurement and reported performance ratios of the firms and finally its effect on CEO compensation in Sweden. This research aims to contribute knowledge of decision makers about the performance-pay link in Sweden by comparing the changes of CEO compensations across the years, before and after the use of fair value method. In this sense, firms divided in two models of ownership structure: firms with family concentration and firms with dispersed ownership structure. This paper intent to contribute the explanations of existing researches from the USA and China about exponential increase in CEO compensation after the use of fair value method, with the data of Swedish listed companies. The data set of this study was highly dependent of the accessibility of information. In this sense, this research can be contributed with different data set, with more detailed scrutinise of data and in a longer research period. / <p>Acknowledgements</p><p>Having completed this master thesis in Linnaeus University in 2017, I would like to thank several individuals. I would like to start by thanking Andreas Jansson, Associate Professor of Accounting and Logistics at Linnaeus University, who inspired me about the subject and my supervisor Fredrik Karlsson, Senior Lecturer of Accounting and Logistics at Linnaeus University, for his sincere assistance, guidance and immensely valuable criticisms.</p><p>I owe special thanks to Ozan Uyanık for proofreading my paper, for his never-ending support and his whole year patience and endurance at times of stress. Another special thanks to my friends Ayşegül Girgin Ring and Şeniz Yılmaz for their valuable advice in econometrics and statistics.</p>