The first essay titled “Fundamental Sources of Long-run Labour Productivity Improvements in Canada” examines the importance of Research and Development activities, as well as the stock of public infrastructure, and economic openness as sources of growth in labour productivity in the Canadian economy within the last four decades. The second paper titled “R&D Spillovers, Innovation, and Entry” extends a theoretical framework to analyze the impact of R&D spillovers on entry and the resulting equilibrium market structure. It is shown that the degree of spillovers plays a fundamental role on the number of firms entering the market, their R&D activities, and social welfare. The third paper titled “The Search for New Drugs: A Theory of R&D in the Pharmaceutical Industry” uses a dynamic model of optimal patent design and in the presence of information externalities studies the evolution of technological progress in the context of a pharmaceutical industry.

The first essay titled “Fundamental Sources of Long-run Labour Productivity Improvements in Canada” examines the importance of Research and Development activities, as well as the stock of public infrastructure, and economic openness as sources of growth in labour productivity in the Canadian economy within the last four decades. The second paper titled “R&D Spillovers, Innovation, and Entry” extends a theoretical framework to analyze the impact of R&D spillovers on entry and the resulting equilibrium market structure. It is shown that the degree of spillovers plays a fundamental role on the number of firms entering the market, their R&D activities, and social welfare. The third paper titled “The Search for New Drugs: A Theory of R&D in the Pharmaceutical Industry” uses a dynamic model of optimal patent design and in the presence of information externalities studies the evolution of technological progress in the context of a pharmaceutical industry.

The first essay titled “Fundamental Sources of Long-run Labour Productivity Improvements in Canada” examines the importance of Research and Development activities, as well as the stock of public infrastructure, and economic openness as sources of growth in labour productivity in the Canadian economy within the last four decades. The second paper titled “R&D Spillovers, Innovation, and Entry” extends a theoretical framework to analyze the impact of R&D spillovers on entry and the resulting equilibrium market structure. It is shown that the degree of spillovers plays a fundamental role on the number of firms entering the market, their R&D activities, and social welfare. The third paper titled “The Search for New Drugs: A Theory of R&D in the Pharmaceutical Industry” uses a dynamic model of optimal patent design and in the presence of information externalities studies the evolution of technological progress in the context of a pharmaceutical industry.

The first essay titled “Fundamental Sources of Long-run Labour Productivity Improvements in Canada” examines the importance of Research and Development activities, as well as the stock of public infrastructure, and economic openness as sources of growth in labour productivity in the Canadian economy within the last four decades. The second paper titled “R&D Spillovers, Innovation, and Entry” extends a theoretical framework to analyze the impact of R&D spillovers on entry and the resulting equilibrium market structure. It is shown that the degree of spillovers plays a fundamental role on the number of firms entering the market, their R&D activities, and social welfare. The third paper titled “The Search for New Drugs: A Theory of R&D in the Pharmaceutical Industry” uses a dynamic model of optimal patent design and in the presence of information externalities studies the evolution of technological progress in the context of a pharmaceutical industry.

This research examines the relationship between culture and economics, with an emphasis on the relationship between Japan and the United States. Previous attempts to link culture with economics have been unable to determine measurably which cultural characteristics correlate with economic growth. Culture is extremely hard to measure, and thus has not be frequently studied by economists. This research uses three different methods to try to determine the correlation between economic growth and culture. The first method applies specific data to a pre-existing cultural index model. There have been past attempts to create an index based on culture, but this index has many limitations. This paper will graph data illustrating differences between Japan and the United States based on this index. The practicality of a cultural index and its applications to specific nations is questioned and shown to be of little value in correlating the cultural differences between Japan and the United States to economic growth. The second method attempts to determine whether the relative difference in economic openness between Japan and the United States has any correlation with per capita GDP. Different levels of openness can be linked to cultural reasons. It can be preliminarily shown that a higher level of economic openness, such as that of the United States, is significantly, positively correlated with GDP per capita. While, in countries of lower economic openness, such as Japan, there is no correlation between variables chosen to approximate economic openness and per capita GDP. The final method employed considers a game theory model for bargaining that can be applied in a situation where a country with a low amount of economic openness bargains with a country that has a higher level of economic openness. The model shows that countries that are relatively open have a better bargaining position than closed economies, because such countries have payout alternatives. These outside options place economically open countries into a position of increased bargaining power. These three methods take different approaches to the problem, but none of them provide specific, measurable effects of culture on economic growth, although the regression analysis testing economic openness against per capita GDP provides useful results that can be expanded with further research.

<p>This thesis consists of an introduction and three stand-alone essays. In the introduction I discuss the commonalities between the three essays. Essay I charts the the main political cleavages among 59 Swedish unions and business organizations. The main conclusion is that there appear to exist two economic sources of political cleavage: The traded versus the nontraded divide and the labor versus capital divide. Essay II suggests a political rationale for why strikes have been more common in those OECD countries where the legislature is elected in single member districts (e.g. France, Great Britain) than where it was elected by proportional representation (e.g. Sweden, Netherlands). In Essay III I present a theoretical model of political support for different types of labor market regulations. From it I recover two implications: Support for industrial relations legislation that enables unions to bid up wages should be inversely related to the economy's openness, while support for employment protection legislation should be positively related to the size of the unionized sector. Empirical evidence from a cross-section of 70 countries match my theoretical priors.</p>

This thesis consists of an introduction and three stand-alone essays. In the introduction I discuss the commonalities between the three essays. Essay I charts the the main political cleavages among 59 Swedish unions and business organizations. The main conclusion is that there appear to exist two economic sources of political cleavage: The traded versus the nontraded divide and the labor versus capital divide. Essay II suggests a political rationale for why strikes have been more common in those OECD countries where the legislature is elected in single member districts (e.g. France, Great Britain) than where it was elected by proportional representation (e.g. Sweden, Netherlands). In Essay III I present a theoretical model of political support for different types of labor market regulations. From it I recover two implications: Support for industrial relations legislation that enables unions to bid up wages should be inversely related to the economy's openness, while support for employment protection legislation should be positively related to the size of the unionized sector. Empirical evidence from a cross-section of 70 countries match my theoretical priors.

Au début des années 80, le gouvernement chinois a lancé une politique d’ouverture dans le but d’attirer les capitaux, les compétences modernes et les techniques avancées nécessaires au développement économique de la Chine. Aujourd’hui, cette politique semble porter ses fruits. La Chine, qui était un pays quasiment autarcique avant les années 1980, est devenue actuellement le premier pays exportateur et le deuxième pays destinataire des investissements directs étrangers du monde. Jusqu’à présent, la plupart des travaux de recherche sur l’ouverture économique de la Chine se sont contentés de démontrer les effets positifs des exportations et des entrées des IDE sur l’économie interne de la Chine. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, en partant d'une analyse fondée sur l’économie de production et en étudiant la relation entre le taux de change du yuan, l’exportation, l’investissement direct étranger et le revenu, nous démontrons que la politique d’ouverture menée par le gouvernement chinois depuis les années 80 ne profite pas vraiment à la plupart des habitants de la Chine. En nous fondant sur la notion d’inflation-déséquilibre monétaire, nous expliquons que l’exportation nette et l’entrée d'investissements directs étrangers en Chine ont provoqué une tension inflationniste et une dégradation du pouvoir d’achat réel de la majorité de ses habitants ainsi qu'une aggravation des inégalités économiques. Ces effets ne peuvent pas être corrigés par la politique monétaire de la Banque centrale chinoise. De plus, cette politique monétaire est susceptible d’engendrer un dysfonctionnement de l’économie chinoise dans la mesure où elle accentue les difficultés financières de nombreuses entreprises, notamment celles de petite taille, ce que tente de démontrer cette thèse / In the early 1980s, Chinese government has adopted an opening up policy in order to attract capital, skills and modern advanced technology that are necessary for the economic development of China. Indeed, this policy has already borne fruit. China, that was almost self-sufficient until the 1980s, has now become the largest exporter and the second largest recipient of foreign direct investment in the world. Until now, most of the research on the economic opening up policy of China, however, has concentrated on the demonstration of the positive effects of exports and FDI inflows on the domestic economy of China. In this thesis, based on the analysis of economics of production, we study the relationship between the exchange rate of the yuan, export, foreign direct investment and income. We show that the opening up policy conducted by the Chinese government since the 1980s does not really benefit most of the residents in China. Based on the concept of inflation of monetary imbalances, we explain that the net export and entry of foreign direct investment in China have resulted in the inflationary pressures, degradation of real purchasing power of the majority of residents and increasing economic inequalities. These effects can’t be remedied by the monetary policy of the Central Bank of China. In addition, the monetary policy is likely to cause a malfunction of the Chinese economy to an extent that increases the financial difficulties of many firms, especially those small ones. That is what we are trying to prove in this thesis

Cette thèse propose une analyse du développement économique à partir du concept de facteur humain qui apparaît en économie institutionnelle à travers les institutions informelles. Ces dernières sont responsables du caractère spécifique de chaque structure institutionnelle nationale qui forme le cadre incitatif de l'économie. Composée de règles formelles et informelles, la structure institutionnelle représente un ensemble évolutif. L'objectif élargi de cette recherche est donc de comprendre l'évolution et le changement des structures institutionnelles en étudiant particulièrement l'impact international sur ce processus. L'objectif spécifique de ce travail est d'appliquer l'approche développée au cas de la Russie afin de contribuer à une meilleure compréhension de la structure institutionnelle russe actuelle, de son efficacité pour le développement économique du pays et de l'impact de l'ouverture économique sur son changement, et notamment sur le facteur humain russe. Avec l'adhésion de la Russie en 2012 à l'Organisation Mondiale du Commerce cette question est d'intérêt particulier car le pays s'ouvre aux nouveaux attributs de la mondialisation. En mobilisant le cadre théorique croisé entre l'économie institutionnelle, l'économie de développement et l'économie internationale, cette étude nous conduit à présenter la mondialisation en tant que processus institutionnel qui en généralisant les institutions formelles de l'économie de marché et de la démocratie à l'échelle planétaire, a ignoré le rôle du facteur humain local. Cela explique la différence des performances économiques des pays qui ont adopté les mêmes cadres organisationnels. En revanche, la prise en considération du facteur humain dans l'analyse économique permet de développer la vision plus optimiste de la mondialisation. En facilitant le contact direct entre les représentants des structures institutionnelles différentes, elle est capable de stimuler l'évolution des normes de comportement improductif vers les valeurs sociales incitant les actions productives. En appliquant ce constat à l'analyse de la structure institutionnelle russe qui a vu diverger ses institutions formelles et informelles en résultat des réformes de la transition des années 1990, il est possible de conclure que l'ouverture économique de ce pays dans les conditions actuelles favorisera le changement de son facteur humain. Compte tenu de l'incohérence entre le cadre formel et les institutions informelles russes, l'évolution de ces dernières contribuera à l'instauration de l'ordre social formel et impersonnel. / This PhD dissertation analyzes the economic development from the concept of human factor which appears in the Institutional Economics trough the informal institutions. These institutions are responsible for the specific character of each national institutional structure which forms the incentive system of an economy. An institutional framework as a composite of formal rules and informal institutions is an evolutionary set. The wider objective of this thesis is to understand the evolution and change of institutional structures by studying in particular the international impact on this process. The specific objective of this research work is to apply the developed approach to the Russian case in order to better understand the actual Russian institutional structure, its effectiveness for the economic development of the country and the impact of the economic openness on the institutional change, in particular on the Russian human factor. This impact is a highly topical question for Russia because of its greater economic openness due to its accession to the World Trade Organization completed in 2012. Within the theoretical framework formed by Institutional Economics, Development Economics and International Economics, this research leads us to present the globalization as an institutional process which generalized formal institutions of the market economy and the democracy on the global scale but which ignored the role of the local human factor. It explains the differences of the economic performance in the countries who adopted the same formal framework. In contrast, taking into account the role of the human factor in the economic development allows to develop more optimistic views of globalization. By facilitating the direct contact between the representatives of the different institutional structures, the globalization can stimulate the evolution of social norms of unproductive behavior to the social values inciting productive actions. Applying this to the Russian framework which formal and informal institutions became strongly divergent in result of the transition reforms of 1990s, it is possible to conclude that the economic openness of this country in the actual situation will favor the change of its human factor. Considering the incoherence between Russian actual formal framework and Russian informal institutions, the evolution of the last will contribute to establish former and impersonal social order.

Summaries in English, Afrikaans and Southern Sotho / The aim of this study was to assess the suitability of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption in Ethiopia. To this effect, the study focused on examining the key factors that would influence IFRS adoption in the context of Ethiopia, namely economic growth, economic openness, capital market development, level of accounting education as well as legal systems and government policies. The study used a mixed-method approach, which involved a survey and content analysis. While the survey was the primary research approach in this study, the secondary data analysis was used to obtain additional evidence to corroborate the information gathered through the survey. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse and interpret the data. The study results show that the aforementioned factors examined were not conducive to adopting IFRS, and thus IFRS was not regarded as suitable in Ethiopia at the time of this study. The study also revealed an absence of a single set of accounting standards in Ethiopia. / Die doel van hierdie studie was om die geskiktheid van Internasionale Finansiële Verslagdoeningstandaarde-aanneming (IFRS-aanneming) in Ethiopië te assesseer. Die studie het derhalwe daarop gefokus om die sleutelfaktore te ondersoek wat die IFRS-aanneming in die konteks van Ethiopië sal beïnvloed, naamlik ekonomiese groei, ekonomiese oopheid, kapitaalmarkontwikkeling, vlak van rekeningkundeopvoeding, asook regstelsels en regeringsbeleide. Die studie het ’n gemengdemetodebenadering gebruik, wat ’n ondersoek en inhoudsontleding ingesluit het. Hoewel die ondersoek die primêre navorsingsbenadering in hierdie studie was, is die sekondêre ontleding gebruik om bykomende bewyse te bekom om die inligting wat deur middel van die ondersoek ingesamel is, te bevestig. Beskrywende statistiek is gebruik om die data te ontleed en te interpreteer. Die resultate van die studie dui daarop dat die bogenoemde faktore wat ondersoek is, nie bevorderlik is om die IFRS aan te neem nie en derhalwe is die IFRS as nie geskik vir Ethiopië ten tye van hierdie studie beskou nie. Die studie het ook ’n afwesigheid van ’n enkele stel rekeningkundige standaarde in Ethiopië aan die lig gebring. / Maikaelelo a thutopatlisiso eno e ne e le go sekaseka go tshwanelega ga go amogelwa ga Seemo sa Tlhagiso ya Dipegelo Tsa Ditšhelete sa Boditšhabatšhaba (IFRS) kwa Ethiopia. Go fitlhelela seno, thutopatlisiso e totile go tlhatlhoba dintlha tsa botlhokwa tse di tlaa susumetsang go amogelwa ga IFRS mo bokaong jwa Ethiopia, e leng kgolo ya ikonomi, go bulega ga ikonomi, tlhabololo ya mmaraka wa matlotlo, seelo sa thuto ya palotlotlo gammogo le dithulaganyo tsa semolao le dipholisi tsa puso. Thutopatlisiso e dirisitse molebo wa mekgwa e e tswakaneng, o o akareditseng tshekatsheko ya diteng. Le fa tshekatsheko e ne e le molebo wa ntlha wa patlisiso mo thutopatlisisong eno, go dirisitswe tshekatsheko ya bobedi ya data go bona bosupi jwa tlaleletso go tshegetsa tshedimosetso e e kokoantsweng ka tshekatsheko. Go dirisitswe dipalopalo tse di tlhalosang go sekaseka le go ranola data. Dipoelo tsa thutopatlisiso di bontsha gore dintlha tse di tlhagisitsweng fa pele tse di tlhatlhobilweng di ne di sa siamela go amogela IFRS mme ka jalo IFRS ga e a tsewa e tshwanelegile go ka dirisiwa kwa Ethiopia ka nako ya thutopatlisiso eno. Gape thutopatlisiso e senotse gore ga go na le fa e le peelo e le nngwe ya palotlotlo kwa Ethiopia. / Financial Accounting / M. Phil. (Accounting Sciences)