Tax incentives on research and development (R&D) are an important and widely used policyinstrument to elevate business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD). In times of economicdistress, firms tend to reduce their R&D investments, although it is crucial for long-termeconomic growth to keep those at a stable level. To evaluate the suitability for such policygoals, this paper investigates the relationship between the pre-existing level of R&D taxincentives and BERD during times of economic crisis.Country-level data from the OECD member states is used to investigate the mentionedrelationship for three times of economic distress: the early 2000s recession, the GreatRecession, and the European sovereign debt crisis. Separate cross-sectional data sets arecreated and analysed with a linear regression approach. The results show a significant andpositive relationship only for the early 2000s recession period and thereby do not provide clearevidence of an increased BERD resilience as result of higher pre-existing tax incentives.Thereby, these findings indicate the need for different policy measures to be applied for anautomatic or short-term stabilization of BERD in times of economic distress.

This thesis explores the causal relationship between economic distress and the demand for gender equality policies using survey data from Sweden and the EU. By employing Bartik instru- ments to address endogeneity concerns, the study estimates the effect of economic distress on the demand for gender equality policies. The findings indicate that negative economic shocks have no significant effect on the demand for gender equality policies in Sweden, while in the EU, the effect is statistically insignificant and slightly positive. Additionally, the analysis suggests that individuals’ political preferences might not only be shaped during individuals’ formative years but can also evolve beyond impressionable ages. These results contribute to the existing literature by shedding light on the intricate dynamics between economic circumstances, political preferences, and gender equality policies. Further research is needed to fully understand the variation in the relationship across different political and geographical contexts.

A review of research on family economic distress and its association with teen well-being shows a clear need to expand our knowledge about the connections between economic distress and key teen outcomes. Economic distress can act as an unexpected negative shock to the family system and can influence parent relationship quality, functioning, and involvement in children's lives. In turn, changes in systemic quality, functioning, and involvement can impact adolescents positively or negatively. Using observational coding and questionnaire self-report, this study examined the relationship between economic distress and negative marital interaction and the impact this has on parental involvement as a predictor of child school engagement while controlling for gender of the child. A structural equation model analysis was fit to data from 323 two-parent families. The average age of children for the study was 14.31 years of age. Results showed that economic distress is associated with marital relationship interactions, as well as parental involvement, which also impacts school engagement. Therapists should be mindful of and address current economic distress which their clients are experiencing and be aware of the possible associations with all parts of the family system. Possible interventions in the parent-couple system and increasing both mother and father involvement are suggested.

The banking sector is experiencing an increasing interest in evaluating environmental performance, social responsibility, and corporate governance (ESG), since the internationalcontext aroused discussions on advantages of incorporating ESG-related policies. Therefore,significant relationships between ESG engagement and financial performance and stabilityare expected. This study aims to analyse the impact of ESG engagement on financial stabilityin the banking sector including the period of economic distress. A sample size of 72 listedEuropean banks is studied during the period 2017-2022, using regression analysis. Z-score,Non-performing loan ratio and Tobin’s Q are proxies used to measure banks’ financialstability. Combined ESG score and individual Social, Environmental, and Governance pillarsfrom Refinitiv Eikon database are the target variables. Contrary to expectations, the findingsreveal that ESG engagement does not have a significant positive impact on financial stabilitywithin the banking sector. However, interestingly, among the three ESG pillars the social oneseems to decrease financial stability of banks in some estimations. It is also notable that theregression coefficients for target variables are quite low, especially in comparison withfinancial performance variables ROA and ROE, which indicates that ESG engagement maynot be the most influential factor in banks’ financial stability.

The gradually changing behavior of the population, towards urbanization, ledto an increased shortage of available housing. This development has resultedin a serious issue in Sweden, where too few firms are providing solutions formulti-family houses in wood. Potential firms that could fill this increasingdemand are those in the single-family house industry. Yet, these firms mightface considerable problems with productivity, predominately derived fromincreasing production costs and inadequate production development.Developing these firms are associated with long-term investments, whichis investigated by evaluating the industry structure for sellers, highlightingthe financial and market situation within their industry. These factors aregrowing in importance due to the current market concentration, where morefirms are required to focus on product development driven by the demand toprefabricate wooden elements, volumes or modules in an industrialized way.This thesis studies Swedish firms producing wooden single-familyhouses, with the aim to investigate their possibilities to enter the woodenmulti-family house industry in Sweden.Investigations will be conducted by applying Altman’s Z’ value, riskposition model, the Herfindahl-Hirschman index, the Herfindahl-Hirschmannumber equivalent, productivity ratio model for profitability and finally amodel measuring market Concentration Ratio.Results show that the industry tends towards perfect competition with toomany firms involved, i.e. firms mainly have to compete by prices. Further,firms are grouped into three zones; risk, grey or safe zone. The levels withinthese zone show a reduction of firms in the red zone over time. Related to thecurrent risks, many firms have promising positions to invest in productdevelopment towards wooden multi-family houses, in addition to theircurrent products, even though firm productivity has declined during thestudied time frame. The results that the investigated firms have goodpossibilities gaining a competitive advantage by diversifying into thegrowing wooden multi-family house industry.