The study deals with the theory of optimal currency areas complemented with the EU's Maastricht criteria in order to investigate how today’s Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union can be divided into smaller unions with countries that are more homogeneous based on said criteria compared to the current larger currency union. To investigate this, we use cluster analysis as the method easily enables analysis of similarities and differences between countries. The results show that the optimal number of clusters for the nations in the EU in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2015 is ten and that the optimal number of clusters in 2019 is seven. We also observe a relatively distinct division between western and eastern countries, which splits the countries in two clusters. These two clusters are consistent over the studied years, however not considered the most optimal according to cluster analysis. Nonetheless, with respect to political, geographical, and cultural aspects, we conclude that having two different currencies within the European Union being the most realistic. / Studien behandlar teorin om optimala valutaområden, kompletterat med EU:s Maastrichtkriterier för att undersöka hur den nuvarande ekonomiska och monetära unionen i EU kan delas in i mindre unioner med länder som är mer homogena utifrån nämnda kriterier jämfört med dagens större valutaunion. För att undersöka detta använder vi oss av klusteranalys eftersom metoden på ett enkelt sätt möjliggör analys av likheter och skillnader mellan länder. Resultatet visar att optimalt antal kluster för länderna i EU under åren 2007, 2008, 2010 och 2015 är tio och att optimalt antal kluster under år 2019 är sju. Vi observerar också en relativt tydlig uppdelning mellan de västra och östra länderna, som delar länderna i EU i två större kluster. Dessa två kluster är enhetliga över de undersökta åren, men inte helt optimala enligt klusteranalysen. Trots detta, så bedömer vi att dela in den Europeiska unionen i två valutaunioner är den mest realistiska slutsatsen utifrån politiska, geografiska, och kulturella skillnader. / Die Studie behandelt die Theorie der optimalen Währungsräume, ergänzt durch die Maastricht-Kriterien der EU, um zu untersuchen, wie die heutige europäische Wirtschafts-und Währungsunion in kleinere Unionen aufgeteilt werden kann. Diese Unionen sollten auf der Grundlage dieser Kriterien homogener als die heutige größere Währungsunion sein. Um dies zu untersuchen, verwenden wir Clusteranalyse, da diese Methode die Analyse von Ähnlichkeiten und Unterschieden zwischen den Ländern leicht ermöglicht. Die Studie zeigt, dass die optimale Anzahl von Clustern für die EU-Länder in den Jahren 2007, 2008, 2010 und 2015 bei einer Größe von zehn liegt und dass die optimale Anzahl von Clustern im Jahr 2019 bei sieben liegt. Wir finden auch eine ziemlich deutliche Aufteilung zwischen westlichen und östlichen Ländern. Diese zwei Clustern sind über den studierten Jahren durchgängig, aber laut der Klusteranalyse nicht völlig optimal. Dennoch finden wir, die Europäische Union in zwei Währungsunionen verteilen, die am meisten realistische Schlussfolge laut politische, geographische, und kulturellen Aspekten ist.

Magistro baigiamojo darbo tema yra aktuali, nes Europos Sąjungos bendrosios pinigų politikos sukūrimas bei funkcionavimas yra ypatingai svarbus žingsnis Europos integracijoje, atveriantis kelią galutiniam politiniam valstybių narių suartėjimui. Todėl detali šios Europos Sąjungos politikos srities studija yra būtina siekiant pažinti ateities integracinių procesų galimybes bei iššūkius. Paskutinė euro zonos plėtra įvyko 2009 m. sausio 1 d., kuomet Slovakijoje įvesta euro valiuta. Europos Bendrijos valiutą naudojančių ES valstybių narių skaičius padidėjo ik šešiolikos. Nors Estija kol kas dar nėra pasiekusi visiškos integracijos EPS procese, tačiau 2010 m. gegužės mėn. Europos Komisija oficialiai pasiūlė Estijai nuo ateinančių metų sausio 1 d. prisijungti prie euro zonos. Tyrimo tikslas – įvertinti Slovakijos ir Estijos ekonominę ir teisinę konvergenciją. Atsižvelgiant į tyrimo tikslą ir iškeltus uždavinius, darbe teoriniu aspektu apžvelgiami Europos ekonominės ir pinigų sąjungos kūrimo etapai, išryškinami dalyvavimo ekonominėje ir pinigų sąjungoje privalumai ir trūkumai; išanalizuojama Europos centrinio banko bei kitų Europos Sąjungos institucijų politika euro zonos plėtros procese; įvertinamas Slovakijos ir Estijos makroekonominių rodiklių atitikimas Mastrichto konvergencijos kriterijams bei Europos Sąjungos ir šių šalių nacionalinės teisės harmonizavimas, bei pateikiamas Slovakijos naudos euro zonoje įvertinimas ir Estijos pasiruošimas prisijungti prie ekonominės ir pinigų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Subject of the final master’s thesis is topical, because development and functioning of the common European Union monetary policy is especially important step in European integration, opening the way for final political approach of the member states. Thus a detailed study of this sphere of the European Union politics is necessary striving to cognize possibilities and challenges of the future integration processes. The last expansion in the Euro-area happened on 1 January 2009, when the euro was introduced in Slovakia. A number of the EU member states that use the currency of the European Union increased up to sixteen. Though Estonia still hasn’t reached complete integration in the EMU process, yet in May 2010 European Commission officially suggested Estonia to join the Euro-area from 1 January 2011. Objective of the research is to assess Slovakia’s and Estonia’s economic and legal convergence. Considering the objective of the research and set tasks, stages of development of the Economic and Monetary Union in Europe are covered in the work in theoretical aspect, advantages and disadvantages of participation in the Economic and Monetary Union are highlighted; policy of the European Central Bank and other institutions of the European Union in the process of euro-area expansion is analysed; conformity of Slovakia’s and Estonia’s macroeconomic indices to criteria of Maastricht convergence and harmonization of the European Union Law and national law of the mentioned countries and... [to full text]

The aim with this thesis is to find out how one can understand the exceptions not to introduce the euro as the currency of Denmark and the United Kingdom, as well as their attitude to European integration. It has been implemented in a comparative case study using theories in which the case has been the central focus of the investigation. The theories being used is rational actor model that emphasizes rational decision-making and self-interest. In comparison to that theory has a historical institutional perspective been used, which emphasizes path-dependency and critical events. The focus of the study is the time when the countries became members of the European Economic Community in 1973 to the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 where these exceptions not to introduce the euro as the currency was ratified. In the analysis section, one can see portions of both theories to a varying degree. The conclusions of the study is that both countries show a skeptical attitude to European integration and that the exceptions to not introduce the euro as a currency is based on this critical view of moving power to centralized institutions.

The increasingly universal information society has required also the Swedish Armed Forces to participate in the information flow, for example by publishing images from its operations in an open digital image archive. With use of the image archive’s photographs from the Swedish Armed Forces’ military operations in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012, the study seeks to examine the way in which the Swedish army depicts its involvement in the region. From a postcolonial perspective, based on Edward Said’s notions on Orientalism, this semiotic analysis examines the image publications in order to reveal what messages the images convey. How are Afghan women respectively Afghan men depicted in contrast to Swedish soldiers? How are Swedish soldiers portrayed in relation to their Afghan military allies? Such are the questions at hand. The study makes use of a methodological framework based on Roland Barthes and Charles Saunders Pierce and looks to reveal the denotative and connotative meanings in the image material. The result of the study shows a depiction of the military intervention in Afghanistan that largely portrays Afghan women and girls in need of saving and emancipation, while Swedish soldiers are ascribed the role of the hero. Moreover, images depicting Swedish soldiers as modern, powerful and progressive in contrast to weak and underdeveloped Afghan men are also recurrent in the material. The cooperation between the Swedish military and its Afghan allies is throughout the material depicted in a positive manner, and symbolic gestures of friendship between the two frequent the image publications. At large, a positive perspective permeates the Swedish military’s depiction of its operations in Afghanistan, and its soldiers are portrayed as powerful bringers of Western liberty and equality. Meanwhile, the East is depicted as all that the West is not: uncivilised, weak and infantile.

In literature it has been stated that in times of low capital barriers policies can impact real exchange rates (RERs) and, it has been shown that RERs influence foreign direct investment (FDI). As inward FDI is a growth stimulating factor for the German economy and as more than a third of inward FDI stems from countries in the European Union (EU), this study investigates the RER-FDI link between Germany and seven EU countries. The impact of bilateral RERs between Germany and seven EU countries on German net FDI inflows is examined for the period 1974-2018. Further, it is investigated how the euro introduction in 1999 affected the RER-FDI links. Using Ordinary Least Squares models it is found that in the pre-euro period a real German currency appreciation led to decreases in net FDI from most economies in scope. This negative RER-FDI link endures for the non-euro countries Sweden, Denmark, and the United Kingdom after the euro introduction. France, Italy, and Spain, euro countries, are subject to the euro-effect: the negative RER-FDI link changes to a positive link with the euro introduction. This phenomenon indicates an altering investment behavior. The results are strengthened by a panel estimation as robustness check. As the euro-effect was not discovered in previous studies nor is a theory established explaining the altering investment behavior of euro firms, this thesis suggests an alternative explanation.

Neste trabalho estudamos diferentes variantes dos modelos GARCH quando consideramos a chegada da informação heterogênea sob a forma de dados de alta freqüência. Este tipo de modelos, conhecidos como HARCH(n), foram introduzidos por Muller et al. (1997). Para entender a necessidade de incorporar esta característica da heterogeneidade da informação, estudamos o problema da agregação temporal para processos GARCH e a modelagem destes em dados de alta freqüência e veremos quais são as desvantagens destes modelos e o porquê da necessidade de corrigi-lo. Propusemos um novo modelo que leva em conta a heterogeneidade da informação do mercado financeiro e a memória longa da volatilidade, generalizando assim o modelo proposto por Müller et al.(1997), e estudamos algumas das propriedades teóricas do modelo proposto. Utilizamos estimação via máxima verossimilhança e amostrador de Griddy-Gibbs, e para avaliar o desempenho destes métodos realizamos diversas simulações. Também fizemos aplicações a duas séries de alta freqüência, a taxa de câmbio Euro- Dólar e o índice Ibovespa. Uma modificação ao algoritmo de Griddy-Gibbs foi proposta, para ter uma janela móvel de pontos, para a estimação das distribuições condicionais, a cada iteração. Este procedimento foi validado pela proximidade das estimações com a técnica de máxima verossimilhança. Disponibilizaremos algumas bibliotecas para o pacote S-Plus em que as análises descritas neste trabalho poderão ser reproduzidas. Informações relativas a tais bibliotecas estarão disponíveis na página Web http://www.ime.usp.br/~ruilova. / In this work we study different variants of GARCH models to analyze the arrival of heterogeneous information in high frequency data. These models, known as HARCH(*n*) models, were introduced by Müller et al.(1997). To understand the necessity to incorporate this characteristic, heterogeneous information, we study temporal aggregation on GARCH processes for high frequency data, and show some problems in the application of these models and the reason why it is necessary to develop new models. We propose a new model, that incorporates the heterogeneous information present in the financial market and the long memory of the volatility, generalizing the model considered by Müller et al.(1997). We propose to estimate the model via maximum likelihood and Griddy-Gibbs sampler. To assess the performance of the suggested estimation procedures we perform some simulations and apply the methodology to two time series, namely the foreign exchange rate Euro-Dollar and the series of the Ibovespa index. A modification of the algorithm of Griddy-Gibbs sampler was proposed to have a grid of points in a mobile window, to estimate the condicional distributions, in each iteration. This was validated by the similar results between maximum likelihood and Griddy-Gibbs sampler estimates obtained. We implemented the methods described in this work creating some libraries for the SPlus package. Information concerning these libraries is available in the Web page http://www.ime.usp.br/~ruilova.

La réalisation du marché intérieur européen par une meilleure intégration des marchés financiers est aujourd’hui devenue une réalité. L'objectif est toutefois loin d'être atteint en matière de crédit hypothécaire, nonobstant de nombreuses initiatives européennes. Compte tenu de ces difficultés et du postulat selon lequel il serait impossible d'harmoniser le droit des suretés immobilières en raison de leur ancrage culturel et national, une proposition alternative consistant dans la création d'une sûreté immobilière commune (euro-hypothèque), venant se superposer aux systèmes nationaux, a été formulée depuis un certain nombre d'années. La recherche analyse dans un premier temps la réalité du postulat précité à la lumière du droit comparé et conclut qu'en réalité, les différents systèmes trouvent non seulement leur origine dans un modèle identique, fondé sur le caractère accessoire de la sûreté, mais ont en outre connu une évolution similaire au cours de ces dernières années. Il apparaît que ce modèle constitue la meilleure base pour toute harmonisation européenne. Après avoir examiné l'interaction avec le droit international privé, sous l'angle de la protection du consommateur, et le droit européen, sous l'angle de la question de la compétence communautaire et du principe de subsidiarité, des pistes sont proposés pour opérer un rapprochement des législations nationales relatives au crédit hypothécaire. La proposition consiste à intégrer dans un seul instrument juridique contraignant (une directive européenne) les différentes propositions permettant d'opérer un rapprochement des législations nationales à trois niveaux : celui de la sûreté immobilière et de la publicité foncier, celui du contrat de prêt et enfin, celui relatif à la procédure de réalisation de l'immeuble.

Abstract Title: A union, a collaboration and a currency crisis- a quantitative study of the media coverage of the euro crisis within the European Union in Spanish and Swedish newspapers. The purpose of this study was to see whether Sweden and Spain ́s differences in media climates and relations to the euro crisis would affect how the story was portrayed from a narrative perspective. Did the coverage differ between the two countries and who got to comment on the situation in the media were two of the questions I strived to answer. I also wanted to see how the coverage reflected on the situation that the euro crisis has created. In this study I used a number of theories that I based my research on. The main theories I focused on was about different media systems and Sweden and Spain ́s relation to the euro crisis. Other theories that this study rests on are narrative theory and media logic. The method I used was a quantitative text analysis from a narrative perspective. I formed variables that I tested against all of the articles. To limit the research to a manageable level I chose to analyze the articles of one newspaper from each country. The two newspapers that I analyzed were Dagens Nyheter from Sweden and El País from Spain. The results showed that the two countries, despite what the theories might have implied, portrayed the story in similar ways. The differences between the countries media climates and their relations to the euro crisis where not apparent in the newspapers storytelling. In almost all of the articles in both countries people in powerful positions got to make their voices heard whilst the citizens affected by the crisis rarely got the same opportunity. Spain reported more on the situation that followed the crisis and Sweden wrote more often about a solution to the problem.

This thesis has studied short and long-term dependence structures between European stock markets. Johansen's test for cointegration and Granger's test for non-causality have been applied in order to measure the degree of financial integration in Europe. The cointegration analysis has employed a comparative perspective in which different countries with different institutional adaptation to the economic cooperation within Europe have been considered. The study finds strong support for the existence of cointegration between the Belgian, Norwegian, Swiss and British stock markets in the period after the launch of the euro. This result indicates that financial integration has increased in Europe since no cointegration was identified prior to the introduction of the euro. However, it is more difficult to determine to what extent the European financial cooperation has affected the degree of integration because of the difficulties with isolating formal treaties contribution to the stationary equilibrium. Both the EU and the euro's importance may have affected the integration process, but this thesis finds that this is not the only explanation. Thus, it is more likely that the liberalization of financial markets and the overall integration process best explain the increase in financial integration. The most significant finding is that the cointegrated stock markets in the long-term can be regarded as a regional financial market characterized by similar systematic risk factors. This has implications for both policy-makers who adjust existing policies in Europe and investors looking to allocate portfolios in an efficient manner.

Wiss. Hochsch. für Unternehmensführung, Diss--Vallendar, 2006.