The purpose of this thesis is to examine the financial effects of operations control for a larger organization within the dental care business. For this purpose, Folktandvården Skåne AB has been selected. The questions to be answered are how operations controlis perceived to work within Folktandvården Skåne AB, and what effect it has on the financial result. The research design that has been used is a survey, where a number of units within Folktandvården Skåne AB have been selected to get answers to the questions to be investigated. The investigation has meant that primary data has been collected through surveys based on structured questionnaires to then be expressed using numbers and compiled statistically. In addition, secondary data on the investigated units has been collected from the company's financial system. Quantitative analysis based on a hypothetical-deductive approach has been done, to compare the primary data with the financial results. The overall conclusion of the study is that operations control, in all essentials, has good conditions to function within Folktandvården Skåne AB and that it has a positive connection with the financial result. Especially in the areas of strategy and structure there is a significant and statistically proven difference in profit margin between the units which, according to the completed survey, exhibit the highest and lowest levels of operations control. The study makes an academic contribution by further deepening the knowledge within an interesting research field, where some previous research in the field is confirmed in certain parts. The developed SSKSU model for the survey is judged to be more generally useful and therefore part of the knowledge contribution of the work. This can apply both to different organizations and to possible future academic work. It can be seen as a tool to be able to examine the effects of operations control in different organizations. Investigating relationships through correlation calculations and t-tests can therefore be used widely to assess a large number of different effects of operationscontrol. The study has also contributed to Folktandvården Skåne AB getting a clear picture of the conditions for its operations control, which contributes with practical benefit and guidance in the work of evaluating how the control works. The limitations are related to the complexity of operations control. Someone else could have used an alternative survey model, which might have reflected other dimensions of operations control. Another uncertainty is the respondents' interpretations, seriousness and personal calibration of the scale. Finally, the study's limited empirical evidence means that conclusions outside the studied case must be handled with great caution. A reasonable assumption is, however, that equivalent results could be achieved when examining organizations of similar size and business focus. Key words: Management, operations management, operations control, economic effects, strategy, structure, culture, system, development, structural fit / Arbetets syfte är att undersöka verksamhetsstyrningens ekonomiska effekter för en större organisation inom tandvårdsverksamhet. För detta ändamål har Folktandvården Skåne AB valts ut. Frågeställningarna som ska besvaras är hur verksamhetsstyrningen upplevs fungera inom Folktandvården Skåne AB (1), och vilken effekt den har på det ekonomiska resultatet (2). Den forskningsdesign som har använts är survey, där ett antal enheter inom Folktandvården Skåne AB valts ut för att få svar på de frågor som ska undersökas. Undersökningen har inneburit att primärdata samlats in genom en enkätbaserad på strukturerade frågeformulär för att därefter uttryckas med hjälp av siffror och sammanställas statistiskt. Därtill har sekundärdata om de undersökta enheterna samlats in från företagets ekonomisystem. Kvantitativ analys utifrån hypotetiskt-deduktiv ansatshar gjorts, för att jämföra primärdata med de ekonomiska resultaten. Den samlade slutsatsen av studien är att verksamhetsstyrningen, i allt väsentligt, har goda förutsättningar att fungera inom Folktandvården Skåne AB (frågeställning 1), och att den har ett positivt samband med det ekonomiska resultatet (frågeställning 2).Särskilt inom områdena strategi och struktur finns en signifikant och statistiskt säkerställd skillnad i vinstmarginal mellan de enheter som, enligt genomförd enkät,uppvisar högst respektive lägst nivåer på verksamhetsstyrning. Studien lämnar ett akademiskt bidrag genom att ytterligare fördjupa kunskapen inom ett intressant forskningsfält, där en del tidigare forskning inom området bekräftas i vissa delar. Den utarbetade SSKSU-modellen för undersökningen bedöms vara mera generellt användbar och därför en del av arbetets kunskapsbidrag. Detta kan gälla både för olika organisationer och för eventuellt framtida akademiska arbeten. Den kan ses som ett verktyg för att kunna undersöka verksamhetsstyrningens effekter i olika organisationer. Att undersöka samband genom korrelationsberäkning och t-test kan därför användas brett för att bedöma ett stort antal olika effekter av verksamhetsstyrning. Studien har också bidragit till att Folktandvården Skåne AB har fått en genomlysning av förutsättningarna för sin verksamhetsstyrning, vilket bidrar med praktisk nytta och vägledning i arbetet med att utvärdera hur styrningen fungerar. Begränsningarna sammanhänger med verksamhetsstyrningens komplexitet, varför någon annan kunde ha använt en alternativ undersökningsmodell, som eventuellt hade speglat andra dimensioner av verksamhetsstyrning. En annan osäkerhet är respondenternas tolkningar, seriositet och personliga kalibrering av skalan. Slutligen medför studiens begränsade empiri att slutsatser utanför det studerade fallet måste hanteras med stor försiktighet. Ett rimligt antagande är dock att motsvarande resultat skulle kunna uppnås vid undersökning av organisationer med liknande storlek och verksamhetsinriktning. Nyckelord: Styrning, verksamhetsstyrning, ekonomiska effekter, strategi, struktur, kultur, system, utveckling

Detta kandidatexamensarbete utforskar de ekonomiska fördelarna med installation av gröna tak i Järfälla kommun, med fokus på hur dessa kan bidra till en hållbar stadsutveckling. Studiens syfte är att utveckla en kvantitativ modell för att beräkna de ekonomiska besparingar som kan uppnås genom ett antal nyttor av gröna tak. Först analyseras de gröna taken och sedan vilka nyttor som är relevanta efter Järfällas förutsättningar. Slutligen begränsades modellen till tre nyttor, nämligen reducerad dagvattenhantering, förbättrad luftkvalitet, och koldioxidbindning. Dagvattenhantering blev ett fokusämne i rapporten. För att kvantifiera detta användes klimatologiska faktorer i vattenbalansekvationen för att uppskattade de gröna takens effekt på avrinning i Järfälla kommun, således minskar dagvattenavgifterna. De klimatologiska faktorerna består av temperatur, luftfuktighet, vindhastighet och solstrålning. Under arbetets gång visade det sig att den geografiska avgränsningen av modellen var en stor utmaning, men även en resurs. Efter framtagandet av modellen utfördes en fallstudie där modellen testades för ett grönt tak på Bas Barkarby.  Resultaten från analyserna visar att gröna tak erbjuder signifikanta fördelar genom att minska kostnader för infrastruktur samt genom att förbättra miljömässiga och sociala förhållanden i stadslandskapet. Slutsatserna pekar på att ytterligare stöd från kommunala beslutsfattare kan optimera utnyttjandet av takytor och främja en bredare acceptans och implementering av gröna taklösningar. / This bachelor's thesis explores the economic benefits of installing green roofs in Järfälla Municipality, focusing on how these can contribute to sustainable urban development. The purpose of the study is to develop a quantitative model to calculate the economic savings achievable through some benefits of green roofs in Järfälla. Firsty green roofs were analyzed to understand their benefits and which of them are relevant in Järfälla municipality, namely: Reduced stormwater runoff, reduced damage costs during 100-year rainfall, improved air quality and carbon sequestration. Stormwater management was chosen as a subject to further investigate. During the latter, climatological factors were used in a water balance model to estimate runoff reduction green roofs provided in Järfälla Municipality thus calculating the benefit they provide by decreasing stormwater fees. Climatological factors included daily temperature, humidity, wind current speed and solar radiation. During the course of the study the limitation of the model was shown to be both a challenge and an advantage. The finished model was then tested on a green roof on Bas Barkarby. The results from the analyses show that green roofs offer significant advantages by providing benefits to real estate owners and communities by enhancing environmental and social conditions in urban landscapes. The conclusions suggest that additional support from municipal policymakers can optimize the utilization of roof spaces and promote a wider acceptance and implementation of green roof solutions.

With increased climate goals, higher demands are placed on the construction industry to reduce emissions, making it important to develop alternatives that are economically and environmentally sustainable. Concrete is one of the most widely used materials and has high CO2-emissions, with cement production accounting for 90% of these emissions. Therefore various types of green concrete have been developed, where one of the alternative binders approved according to Swedish standards is ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). The impact of GGBS in concrete is well documented and researched, with known advantages and disadvantages of using green concrete. The aim has been to gather relevant data of how GGBS affects the concrete performance and durability. The results show that there are tsignificant effects when using slag concrete, with GGBS providing good resistance against chemical attacks and achieving higher strength. However, there are questions regarding how sustainable GGBS actually is, especially considering how the steel industry is evolving and moving from blast furnaces to fossil free steel production in electric arc furnaces. Nevertheless, GGBS is of utmost relevance for climate improvement within the construction industry. Where the transition within the steel and construction industries opens up opportunities for the development of innovative technologies and new binders to minimize the climate footprint of cement production, thereby paving the way for a sustainable future. / Med ökade klimatmål ställs högre krav på byggindustrin att minska utsläppen, varav det är av vikt att utveckla alternativ som är ekonomiskt och miljömässigt hållbara. Betong som är ett av de mest använda materialen har höga CO2-utsläpp, där tillverkningen av cement står för 90% av utsläppen. Därför har det utvecklats olika typer av klimatförbättrad betong, där ett av de alternativa bindemedlen som är godkänt enligt svenska standarder är masugnsslagg. Slaggens inverkan på betong är väldokumenterad och undersökt, där man vet att det finns fördelar och nackdelar med att använda en klimatförbättrad betong. Syftet har varit att ta fram relevant data om hur masugnsslagg påverkar betongen prestandan och hållbarhet. Där resultatet visar att det finns påtagliga effekter med att använda slaggbetong, där slaggen ger en god beständighet mot kemiska angrepp och kan uppnå högre hållfasthet. Det existerar dock frågetecken hur hållbar masugnslaggen är, detta med avseende på hur stålindustrin utvecklar sig och kommer gå från masugnar till fossilfri ståltillverkning i ljusbågsugnar. I dagsläget är dock masugnslaggen av högsta relevans för klimatförbättringen inom byggindustrin. Där omställningen inom stål- och byggindustrin öppnar upp för utvecklingen av innovativa tekniker och nya bindemedel för att kunna minimera klimatavtrycket från cementproduktionen, och därmed bana väg för en hållbar framtid.

The background of our thesis is the fact that properties and their related industry have a big negative impact on our environment. Since the real estate business is an important part of how the society is constructed, environmental solutions and sustainable real estate development can contribute to positive climate changes globally. The last decades have shown an increasing number of green properties, however the proliferation on the Swedish market is still slow. Existing research describes different benefits and motivators that should encourage investments in environmentally certified properties among real estate companies. Benefits that are established are for example lower energy- and maintenance costs, lower vacancy rate, an improved company image and increasing market value. We believe there is a gap of information considering how the real estate companies experience that these benefits are generated from a green building, as well as how motivators have impacted on the companies’ investment decisions. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to explain how different motivators affect real estate companies to invest in environmentally certified properties. To answer the purpose of our thesis, we have created four different hypotheses based on existing research which includes an improved result, increased economic profitability, improved company image and the opportunity of incentive programs and economic contributions. The hypotheses of our study have been tested with a quantitative method, through a survey. Collected data from our study has been analysed through a multiple regression analysis, where the four motivators have been analysed against the real estate companies share of investment decisions in environmentally certified properties. The conclusion of this thesis is that none of the hypotheses reached statistical significance and therefore the collected data cannot prove any relations between the motivators and companies’ investment decisions. Although, through our study, we have been able to identify both differences and similarities between theoretical claims and the result from our study. Even though statistical relations cannot be confirmed, the survey has collected descriptive data which contributes to a general view of how Swedish real estate companies today evaluate environmentally certified properties and how they are motivated to invest in these properties.

Sammanfattning Titel Lönesättande samtal i praktiken - En kvalitativ studie om hur chefer på Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap upplever management med fokus på lönesättande samtal. Nivå                        Datum Magister                  Augusti 2018 Författare               Handledare Victor Skoglund        Jonas Axelsson Syfte Syftet med denna studie är att få kunskap och djupare förståelse av lönesättande chefers upplevelser av management med särskilt fokus på arbetet med lönesättande samtal. Metod Studien är baserad på kvalitativ metod och det empiriska materialet har tagits fram med hjälp av semistrukturerad intervjuform. Sammanlagt har 7 intervjuer genomförts och urvalet består av lönesättande chefer som arbetar på Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap. Resultat och slutsatser Undersökningen kommer fram till olika slutsatser angående lönesättande chefs arbete kring lönesättande samtal. Resultatet visar att det generella chefskapet innehåller vad bland annat Mintzberg (1973), Tengblad (2012), Kanter (1977) och Sayles (1964) kallar för managementarbete, eftersom chefskapet upplevs innehålla många och olika arbetsuppgifter, hektisk arbetsmiljö, förväntningar från berörda intressenter, långa arbetstider, anpassningsförmåga och beslut som ska främja verksamhetens intressen. Vidare visar studien att ekonomiska resurser, höga ingångslöner, omplacering till ny tjänst och allmänt formulerade lönekriterier försvårar lönesättande chefs arbete med lönesättande samtal. Studien skiljer sig något från Lysgaards (1985) teori om arbetarkollektivet då cheferna inte upplever något ”starkare” kollektiv bland medarbetarna. Däremot kan lönesättningen spegla efter hur kollektivavtalen är reglerade med fackförbundet ST, Seko och Saco. Slutligen visar studien att det råder maktfördelning till fördel cheferna enligt Korpis (1978) teori om makt och konflikt eftersom chefen, arbetsgivaren, är den beslutsfattande parten att påverka medarbetarens nya lön. Nyckelord Lönesättande samtal, Individuell lönesättning, Teknisk/ekonomiska system, Mänskligt system, Kollektivets system, Management, Arbetarkollektiv, Makt och konflikt. / Abstract Title Pay setting conversations in practice - A qualitative study on how managers at the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency experience management regarding pay setting conversations. Level                     Date Magister-level         August 2018 Author                   Supervisor Victor Skoglund       Jonas Axelsson Aim The aim of this study is to gain knowledge and a deeper understanding of pay setting managers ́ experiences of management with a particular focus on the work of pay setting conversations. Method The study is based on qualitative methodology and the empirical material has been developed using semistructured interviews. A total of 7 interviews have been conducted and the selection consists of pay setting managers who work at the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. Results and conclusions The study reveals different conclusions regarding the pay setting managers ́ work with pay setting conversations. The result shows that the general leadership includes what Mintzberg (1973), Tengblad (2012), Kanter (1977) and Sayles (1964) calling for management work, because the leadership is perceived to contain many and different tasks, hectic working environment, stakeholder expectations, long working hours, adaptability and decisions to promote the company’s interests. Furthermore, the study results that financial resources, high entrance salary, redeployement of position and generally formulated salary criteria complicating pay setting managers ́ work with pay setting conversations. The study differs somewhat from Lysgaard's (1985) theory of the labor collective, since the managers do not experience any ”stronger” collective among the employees. On the other hand, the pay setting can reflect how collective agreements are regulated with the trade union ST, Seko and Saco. Finally, the study results that there is power distribution to the advantage of the leaders according to Korpi's (1978) theory of power and conflict because the manager, the employer, is the decision-making part to influence the employees ́ new salary. Keywords Pay setting conversations, Individual pay setting, Technical/economic system, Human system, Collective system, Management, Labor collective, Power and conflict.

<p>Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka den lokala fackföreningsrörelsens politiska verksamhet i relation till dess ekonomiska och politiska bedömningar i gruvindustrin under perioden 1933-1945. Avsikten var att belysa den situation de organiserade arbetarna befann sig i där solidaritet och ideologi ställdes mot arbetstillgång och höjda löner till följd av Nazitysklands stora behov av svensk järnmalm. För att uppnå detta har i huvudsak mötesprotokoll och verksamhetsberättelser för organisationerna Gruvindustriarbetarförbundet avdelning 1 och Grängesberg LS studerats. I undersökningen utgick jag från fackföreningarna som språkrör för gruvarbetarna och undersökte dem därför som kollektiva aktörer. För att operationalisera undersökningens syfte och problem ställdes tre frågeställningar till respektive organisations källmaterial angående hur organisationerna bedömde den ekonomiska utvecklingen och den politiska situationen samt vilken politisk verksamhet som bedrevs.</p><p>När det gällde resultaten för organisationernas ekonomiska bedömningar visade dessa att den ekonomiska utvecklingen bedömdes utifrån givna variabler. Arbetstillgång, brytningsmängd och avsättningsmöjligheter var utslagsgivande för hur situationen och framtidsutsikterna i gruvindustrin återgavs. Det tydliggjordes att frågor kring ekonomiska företeelser var vanliga under de perioder konjunkturen var vikande. Under perioderna av högkonjunktur fokuserade organisationerna istället på frågor av arbetsrättslig och politisk karaktär. Denna typ av skiftning visade att organisationerna var beroende av ett gott ekonomiskt läge för att den politiska verksamheten skulle intensifieras.</p><p>I LS och Gruvettans politiska bedömningar kan en tydlig linje urskiljas. Situationen i Europa bedömdes nästan uteslutande ur ett klassperspektiv. Alltså hur olika företeelser påverkade arbetarklassen. I Gruvettan skedde emellertid en förskjutning av fokus efter krigsutbrottet. Ett nationellt perspektiv införlivades i analysen som till följd av ockupationen av de nordiska grannländerna förstärktes. Det andra världskriget påverkade tydligt organisationerna i deras bedömningar. Det skapade också motsättningar mellan och inom organisationerna hur de skulle hantera kriget och nazismen. Gränser uppdrogs därmed för hur långt organisationerna var beredda att gå för solidaritet och för att förhindra nazismens aggressioner.</p><p>Den politiska verksamheten var likartad i organisationerna men LS och Gruvettan hade olika åsikter om i vilka former den skulle bedrivas. Sett över hela perioden varierade verksamheten i ändamål och intensitet. Aktioner såsom bojkotter, blockader och demonstrationer organiserades särskilt innan krigsutbrottet och i krigets slutskede. Under perioden 1939-1943 tog istället biståndsarbete med insamlingar till välgörande ändamål överhanden. Gemensamt för verksamheten var, med undantag för aktioner riktade mot Nazityskland, att den geografiskt förlades till Sverige och dess grannländer.</p><p>Generellt visade undersökningen att organisationernas politiska verksamhet var nära förbunden med hur de uppfattade olika ekonomiska och politiska företeelser. Därtill har resultaten också visat att andra faktorer såsom klass- och organisationstillhörighet måste inkluderas för att förstå valen av verksamhet. De ekonomiska och politiska bedömningarna var emellertid inte enhetliga mellan organisationerna i vissa fall och var de direkt kontrasterande med varandra trots att bedömningarna gällde samma företeelse. När det gällde organisationernas relation till Nazityskland genom arbetet visade resultaten att de i sin verksamhet i viss mån tog hänsyn till förhållandet vilket uttrycktes i blockadförsök mot järnmalmsexporten. Resultaten har också visat att de i viss mån var beroende av sitt förhållande till Nazityskland för att överhuvudtaget bedriva sin verksamhet då intensiteten av den bestämdes av konjunkturläget.</p>

This thesis consists of four self-contained empirical essays. In the first essays "Markets for Risk and Openness to Trade: How are They Related?" (with Helena Svaleryd), we ask if there is an empirical relationship between financial development and openness to trade. Numerous theoretical papers have noted that trade policies can be used as an insurance against shocks from international markets. It follows that the development of markets for risk should reduce the incentives to rely on trade policy for insurance purposes. Feeney and Hillman (2001) explicitly demonstrate how asset-market incompleteness can affect trade policy in a model where trade policy is determined by the lobbying of interest groups. If risk can be fully diversified, special-interest groups have no incentive to lobby for protection, and free trade will prevail. Likewise, trade liberalization might increase the demand for financial services, thereby spurring the development of financial markets. Using several indicators of both openness to trade and financial development, we find an economically significant relation between the two. In particular, the relation holds when using the well known, although criticized (Rodriguez and Rodrik 1999), Sachs-Warner index, and structurally adjusted trade, as indicators of openness. For tariff levels and non-tariff barriers, the results hold only for relatively rich countries. Causality seems to be running both from openness to financial development and the other way around, depending on which indicator and methodology are used. Due to underlying technological differences, industries differ in their need for external financing (Rajan and Zingales, 1998). Since services provided by the financial sector are largely immobile across countries (Pagano et al., 2001), the pattern of specialization should be influenced by the degree of financial development. In the second essay, "Financial Markets, the Pattern of Specialization, and Comparative Advantage: Evidence from OECD Countries" (with Helena Svaleryd), we find this effect to be strong. In fact, the financial sector has an even greater impact on the pattern of specialization among OECD countries than differences in human- and physical capital. Further, the financial sector gives rise to comparative advantage in a way consistent with the Hecksher-Ohlin-Vanek model. Large and active stock markets, as well as the degree of concentration in the banking sector, produce the strongest and most consistent effects. The results also support the view that the quality accounting standards and the legal protection of creditors affect the pattern of industry specialization, while the depth of the financial system (measured by the amount of liquidity in an economy) is a source of comparative advantage. The third essay, "Who Wants Political Integration? Evidence from the Swedish EU-Membership Referendum" looks directly at the determinants of political attitudes towards regional integration and separation. More precisely, the regional voting pattern of the 1994 Swedish EU-membership referendum is analyzed. To explain this variation, an empirical investigation based on the extensive theoretical literature analyzing the determinants of regional economic and political integration is undertaken. Since enhanced possibilities of inter-regional risk sharing is one of the main gains from integration discussed in the literature (e.g Persson and Tabellini, 1996), special attention is given to this issue. The empirical results show that individuals living in labor markets exposed to a high degree of risk were more negative towards EU-membership than those living in safe ones. It is also shown that inhabitants of high-income labor markets, with a high level of schooling and small receipts of central government transfers were relatively positive towards the EU-membership. Given the restrictive regulations limiting discretionary policies within the EU, these results suggest that inhabitants of safe and rich regions voted in favor of secession from the Swedish transfer system, rather than in favor of European integration. In the final essay, "Does Labor Market Risk Increase the Size of the Public Sector? Evidence From Swedish Municipalities", I study if a high degree of private labor-market risk is related to a larger public sector in Swedish municipalities. The theoretical hypothesis is based on Rodrik (1998), who argues (and shows empirically) that countries exposed to a high degree of external risk also tend to have larger governments. The safe public sector is expanded at the expense of risky sectors and hence provides insurance against income volatility. Several problems related to data availability and comparability that apply to cross-country studies are circumvented by using data on Swedish municipalities. Further, there is no need to aggregate the public sector across different levels of governance: local risk is directly related to the size of the local public sector. The paper is not a complete parallel to Rodrik’s study, however. Several alternative insurance mechanisms that do not exist between countries are available between municipalities. For example, the central government provides insurance against individual-specific risk such as unemployment and illness, private capital markets are better integrated within than between countries, and the central government can hand out grants to municipalities. Despite these mitigating factors, local labor-market risk is found to have a substantial impact on municipal public employment. It is also found that shocks increasing the size of the public sector across all municipalities tend to generate a larger increase in risky locations. For municipal public spending and taxation the results are, however, much weaker. Hence, labor-market risk affects the labor intensity of the municipal public sector, rather than its size. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2002</p>

In the beginning of the 1990s the responsibility for the schools shifted from the government to the local authorities. This started an era with a freedom of choice for students where they themselves could choose which school to go to. The new system also opened up the possibility for independent private schools to exist side by side with local authority held schools. The overall aim of this study is to determine the factors that affect the location of these independent schools and the geographical pattern these independent schools create. The study in this paper is based on materials from statistics and interviews. The statistics is from SCB (Statistics Sweden), Skolverket (a government agency that work for the Ministry of Education) and Skolinspektionen (a government agency that supervises that schools follow laws and regulations) and the interviews are with principals and owners of independent schools and representatives from Skolverket, Skolinspektionen and Friskolornas riksförbund (The national association for independent schools). Since the 1990s the independent schools have become nearly as many as the local authority held schools, but are concentrated to 41 percent of Sweden’s municipalities. When comparing this to the local authority held schools that are in 96 percent of Sweden’s municipalities means that the independent schools are in high numbers in a few municipalities. The study shows a geographical pattern of independent schools mainly in large cities. In this paper I examine if the concentration of independent schools in a small part of Sweden’s municipalities is due to political reasons or economical reasons. In conclusion the study indicates that economical factors is the main reasons for their geographical location. The main reasons for locating in urban areas are based on the number of students, diversity, opportunity, and the closeness to universities but also the closeness to entertainment as cafés.

This study is the first to focus primarily on the Swedish parish magasins, the country’s most widespread credit institution in the last half of the 18th, and the first part of the 19th, century. During the Early Modern Period, grain price volatility was a matter of great concern. The parish magasins were conceived as a substitute for government action intended to stabilize grain prices and offer relief in case of crop failure. The thesis analyzes the problems of harvest variability and grain price fluctuations utilizing both   theory and empirical evidence. It is concluded that market integration, especially by permitting imports, was more effective than inter-harvest storage in reducing the likelihood of high prices. Initially the peasants were sceptical of the new institution. Although the establishment of the magasins was strictly speaking voluntary, substantial hierarchical pressure was applied.  Once they had come into existence, however, the magasins evolved into a type of grain bank. The parishioners found them useful as a source of communal revenue at a time of rising need for local public expenditure for education and poor relief. In addition, the failure of the grain market to meet the needs of the peasantry created a demand for loans in kind. Although by no means ideal, in the absence of any superior institutions, the magasins provided valuable services. When improvements in both municipal finance and the functioning of the grain markets occurred in the second half of the 19th century, the magasins became obsolete. Both history and geography impact the formation of institutions. This study describes one such case of institutional development and attempts to explain why the outcome deviated from the original intention. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2007</p>

This thesis consists of three distinct parts. Part I introduces the basic concepts and the notion of general quadratic term structures (GQTS) essential in some of the following chapters. Part II focuses on credit risk models and Part III studies forward price term structure models using both the classical and the geometrical approach.  Part I is organized as follows. Chapter 1 is divided in two main sections. The first section presents some of the fundamental concepts which are a pre-requisite to the papers that follow. All of the concepts and results are well known and hence the section can be regarded as an introduction to notation and the basic principles of arbitrage theory. The second part of the chapter is of a more technical nature and its purpose is to summarize some key results on point processes or differential geometry that will be used later in the thesis. For finite dimensional factor models, Chapter 2 studies GQTS. These term structures include, as special cases, the affine term structures and Gaussian quadratic term structures previously studied in the literature. We show, however, that there are other, non-Gaussian, quadratic term structures and derive sufficient conditions for the existence of these GQTS for zero-coupon bond prices. On Part II we focus on credit risk models.   In Chapter 3 we propose a reduced form model for default that allows us to derive closed-form solutions for all the key ingredients in credit risk modeling: risk-free bond prices, defaultable bond prices (with and without stochastic recovery) and survival probabilities. We show that all these quantities can be represented in general exponential quadratic forms, despite the fact that the intensity of default is allowed to jump producing shot-noise effects. In addition, we show how to price defaultable digital puts, CDSs and options on defaultable bonds. Further on, we study a model for portfolio credit risk that considers both firm-specific and systematic risk. The model generalizes the attempt of Duffie and Garleanu (2001). We find that the model produces realistic default correlation and clustering effects. Next, we show how to price CDOs, options on CDOs and how to incorporate the link to currently proposed credit indices. In Chapter 4 we start by presenting a reduced-form multiple default type of model and derive abstract results on the influence of a state variable $X$ on credit spreads when both the intensity and the loss quota distribution are driven by $X$. The aim is to apply the results to a real life situation, namely, to the influence of macroeconomic risks on the term structure of credit spreads. There is increasing support in the empirical literature for the proposition that both the probability of default (PD) and the loss given default (LGD) are correlated and driven by macroeconomic variables. Paradoxically, there has been very little effort, from the theoretical literature, to develop credit risk models that would take this into account. One explanation might be the additional complexity this leads to, even for the ``treatable'' default intensity models. The goal of this paper is to develop the theoretical framework necessary to deal with this situation and, through numerical simulation, understand the impact of macroeconomic factors on the term structure of credit spreads. In the proposed setup, periods of economic depression are both periods of higher default intensity and lower recovery, producing a business cycle effect. Furthermore, we allow for the possibility of an index volatility that depends negatively on the index level and show that, when we include this realistic feature, the impacts on the credit spread term structure are emphasized. Part III studies forward price term structure models. Forward prices differ from futures prices in stochastic interest rate settings and become an interesting object of study in their own right. Forward prices with different maturities are martingales under different forward measures. This mathematical property implies that the term structure of forward prices is always linked to the term structure of bond prices, and this dependence makes forward price term structure models relatively harder to handle. For finite dimensional factor models, Chapter 5 applies the concept of GQTS to the term structure of forward prices. We show how the forward price term structure equation depends on the term structure of bond prices. We then exploit this connection and show that even in quadratic short rate settings we can have affine term structures for forward prices. Finally, we show how the study of futures prices is naturally embedded in the study of forward prices, that the difference between the two term structures may be deterministic in some (non-trivial) stochastic interest rate settings. In Chapter 6 we study a fairly general Wiener driven model for the term structure of forward prices. The model, under a fixed martingale measure, $\Q$, is described by using two infinite dimensional stochastic differential equations (SDEs). The first system is a standard HJM model for (forward) interest rates, driven by a multidimensional Wiener process $W$. The second system is an infinite SDE for the term structure of forward prices on some specified underlying asset driven by the same $W$. Since the zero coupon bond volatilities will enter into the drift part of the SDE for these forward prices, the interest rate system is needed as input to the forward price system. Given this setup, we use the Lie algebra methodology of Bj\o rk et al. to investigate under what conditions, on the volatility structure of the forward prices and/or interest rates, the inherently (doubly) infinite dimensional SDE for forward prices can be realized by a finite dimensional Markovian state space model. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2006