This thesis consists of three essays concerned with endogenous fiscal policy and its interaction with political economy constraints. The first essay presented in Chapter 2 examines the cyclical behavior of endogenous government consumption over the business cycle absent a commitment mechanism in a neoclassical economy with Total Factor Productivity (TFP) shocks and investment shocks. Tax rates that finance public consumption are chosen in a time consistent way in a dynamic game between the government and a representative agent that values public goods in his utility. It is found that government consumption set without commitment behaves procyclical in response to the mentioned shocks. The government-consumption-output ratio is mildly procyclical or countercyclical depending on the selected calibration. Particularly, the elasticity of substitution between private and public goods plays an important role. The second essay showed in Chapter 3 extends the model studied in Chapter 2 adding agent heterogeneity in wealth and labor productivity. The aim of this study is to identify how policy outcomes are affected by inequality of households, particularly the median voter's choice of tax rates that finance public goods. For a standard RBC calibration to the U.S. economy the result is a strong procyclical comovement of public consumption with output, and a relatively weak procyclical comovement of the output share of public consumption with output, that becomes stronger with rising inequality. The politico-economic channel induces causality from output to lagged tax rates, therefore after a Hicks neutral productivity shock the median voter tries to delay the increase in the tax rate, such that the increment will take place just after the accumulation of more capital. In the case of equal agents the response is to decrease the tax rate in the first year after the shock. Additionally, the model predicts that the size of government consumption decreases with inequality. The last essay in Chapter 4 presents a stylized model of external sovereign debt that incorporates corruption in the form of rent-seeking groups by which the choice to cooperate or non-cooperate in providing public goods, in extracting rents and in issuing debt, is endogenized. More than one rent-seeking group originates a "tragedy of the commons" over fiscal resources that make the borrower economy to show collective fiscal impatience. External creditors envision that impatience and require higher interest rates for buying bonds, exacerbating the problem of high debt. The high level of interest rates decreases the wealth of the country and endangers its ability to repay the debt. We show that bailout plans, defined as temporary loans with lower than market level interest rates, are not effective in such economies.

Evolutionary Psychology (EP) tends to be associated with a Massively Modular (MM) cognitive architecture. I argue that EP favors a non-MM cognitive architecture. The main point of dispute is whether central cognition, such as abstract reasoning, exhibits domain-general properties. Partisans of EP argue that domain-specific modules govern central cognition, for it is unclear how the cognitive mind could have evolved domain-generality. In response, I defend a distinction between exogenous and endogenous selection pressures, according to which exogenous pressures tend to select for domain-specificity, whereas the latter, endogenous pressures, select in favor of domain-generality. I draw on models from brain network theory to motivate this distinction, and also to establish that a domain-general, non-MM cognitive architecture is the more parsimonious adaptive solution to endogenous pressures.

The opioid receptors and their endogenous ligands have long been implicated in a variety of traits including addiction, impulsive behaviors and substance dependence. Using phenotypic measurements collected from the IASPSAD, data from a latent class analysis and data from a SNP array and additional genotyping assays, association and regression tests were performed to determine the effects of common SNPs encoded in the genes of the opioid receptors and ligands on various traits relating to alcohol dependence. Although only one SNP can be reported as significant for substance dependence within alcoholics, there were a few results approaching significance that may offer some insight into variation within alcoholism.

While the classical function of myelin is to facilitate saltatory conduction, this membrane and the myelin-making oligodendrocytes (OLGs) are now recognized as regulators of plasticity and remodeling in the central nervous system (CNS). Thus, OLG maturation and myelination are highly vulnerable processes along CNS development. We previously showed that rat brain myelination is altered by perinatal exposure to buprenorphine, an opioid analogue in clinical trials for the treatment of pregnant opioid addicts. We now found that the in vivo effects on myelination could result from direct alteration in the balance between μ-opioid receptor (MOR) and nociceptin/orphanin FQ receptor (NOPR) activities in the OLGs. Furthermore, we found that myelination could also be affected by the FDA-approved methadone. A delicate balance between MOR and NOPR signaling may play a crucial role timing OLG maturation and myelin formation and exogenous opioids may disrupt this interplay, altering the developmental pattern of brain myelination.

Master's thesis focuses on stability of local elites and their influence on the development of municipalities in Czech Republic. The stability of local elites is for the purposes of this thesis defined as the number of election of the same representatives in communal elections in between 1994 and 2010. There are three main objectives in the thesis. Firstly, to prove a dependence between stability of local elites and population of the municipality. Secondly, to find if there is statistically significant dependence between stability of local elites and selected development factors. Thirdly to identify spatial patterns of high and low stability of local elites in the Czech Republic. To complete this objectives required to design methodology and calculate stability of local elites for the municipalities of Czech Republic and then to categorize it according to its level of stability (low, medium, high). On behalf of several quantitative analyses the indirect dependence between stability of local elites and the municipality population has been proven as well as the dependence between the selected development factors (intensity of flat construction, unemployment and percentage of undergraduates). Significant clusters with high and low stability of local elites were identified by the method of spatial...

Chez un patient épileptique, aucun examen ne permet la délimitation exacte de la zone épileptogène (ZE) qui est définie par la zone corticale nécessaire à la genèse des crises. Dans les épilepsies du lobe temporal (ELT), près d’un tiers des patients ne sont pas libres de crises après la chirurgie en dépit d’un bilan préopératoire concluant. La tomographie par émission de positons (TEP) au [18F]MPPF permet la mise en évidence de zones d’hypofixation qui sont, à l’échelle du groupe, corrélées à l’épileptogénicité du parenchyme cérébral. Afin d’évaluer la validité de la TEP au [18F]MPPF pour identifier la ZE au plan individuel, tout d'abord nous avons comparé l’analyse visuelle et statistique par SPM de la TEP au [18F]FDG à la TEP au [18F]MPPF en termes de sensibilité et de spécificité chez 42 patients souffrant d’une ELT en cours de bilan préchirurgical. Dans une seconde étude nous avons développé une méthode d’analyse statistique d’un index d’asymétrie (IA) de la fixation du [18F]MPPF [BPND] et comparé les rendements de cette nouvelle approche à l’analyse standard SPM des images TEP en utilisant deux seuils statistiques différents (p< 0,05, corrigé au niveau du voxel et p< 0,05, corrigé au niveau du cluster) chez 24 patients opérés et guéris de leur ELT. Dans une troisième étude nous avons évalué, au niveau du groupe, l’influence d’un état dépressif sur le BPND du [18F]MPPF chez 24 patients souffrant d’une ELT. Ces trois études ont permis les conclusions suivantes : i) dans des conditions d’analyse identiques, La TEP au [18F]MPPF est supérieure au [18F]FDG pour identifier le lobe épileptogène chez des patients souffrant d’une ELT, ii) L’analyse de l’IA, avec un seuil à p< 0,05 corrigé au niveau du cluster, est la meilleure technique d’analyse de la TEP au [18F]MPPF et permet l’identification de la ZE avec une sensibilité de 96% et une spécificité de 88% dans l’ELT, iii) A l’échelle du groupe, un état dépressif est responsable d’une augmentation du BPND du [18F]MPPF dans les noyaux du raphé et l’insula controlatérale à la ZE. / In patients suffering from epilepsy, no neuroimaging method has proved able to delineate the epileptogenic zone (EZ), which is defined by the area of cortex required to generate the epileptic seizures. About one third of patient suffering from temporal lobe epilepsies (TLE) are not seizure free after surgery after removal of the cortical area supposed to included the EZ according to the presurgical evaluation. Data from previous studies carried out in our departement suggested that decreases of the [18F]MPPF binding potential (BPND) correlated, at the group level, with cortical epileptogenicity. Our aim was to validate the relevance of [18F]MPPF PET at the individual level for identifying the EZ in TLE. In a first study, the [18F]MPPF PET of 42 patients suffering from TLE were visually and statistically analyzed and compared with [18F]FDG PET, which were performed in the same group of patients during their presurgical evaluation. In a second study, we developed a voxel based analysis of asymmetry index (AI) of [18F]MPPF binding and compared the sensibility and specificity of this method to those of conventional SPM analysis of [18F]MPPF PET data. This second study was carried out in 24 patients, who have been operated and remained seizure-free after surgery. Two statistical thresholds (p< 0.05 corrected at the voxel level and p< 0.05 corrected at the cluster level) were used for each method. In a last study, the correlation between the depressive symptoms and the BPND of [18F]MPPF was studied in 24 patients suffering from TLE. These three studies lead to the following conclusions: i) [18F]MPPF PET is more performant than [18F]FDG PET for identifying the epileptogenic lobe in patients suffering from TLE, ii) AI analysis with a statistical threshold of p< 0.05 corrected at the cluster is the method of analysis of [18F]MPPF PET that allowed EZ identification with the best sensitivity [96%] and specificity [88%] in TLE, iii) at the group level, depressive symptoms positively correlate with an increase of the BPND of [18F]MPPF BPND within the raphe nuclei and the insula controlateral to the EZ.

The diploma thesis analyses the influence of money on the economic instability by the view of Post Keynesian economic theory. The paper answers the question, what creates the economic instability and if it's possible to eliminate or least reduce the instability. The money is here always seen as credit, which is made by institutions on the financial market. We need trust to create money. However the confidence is based on long-term expectations, which are not rational. The result of the analysis is that the trust growth in economy leads to growth of creation of money, whereby more money based on irrational, by psychology influenced expectations, is made. The economy becomes less stable, because there is more money in it, than people will have in the future to pay for its extinction. As the irrational expectation is an exogenous variable, which basically cannot be influenced, the economic instability is ineliminable and therefore allied to economy. We can only reduce instability by focusing on limiting factors in the creation of money, or on areas, where the irrational action can vent itself. Into consideration comes regulation of the financial institutions size, or regulation of international capital flow.

Les pays de la région Mena ont un point commun, la recrudescence du chômage de masse des jeunes diplômés. Ce problème lié à la dynamique et à la qualité de la croissance, à une carence chronique en démocratie, cause des déséquilibres socio-économiques qui menacent la stabilité et le développement dans la région. Les PM doivent transformer leur modèle de croissance actuel peu différencié, en un modèle à productivité globale des facteurs, où l’innovation améliore de façon continue la qualité et la combinaison des facteurs et permet d’emprunter un régime de croissance endogène fondé sur le progrès technologique. Après une introduction générale, le chapitre II présente les systèmes d’innovation des PM et leurs effets sur l’emploi dans une analyse en composantes principales, et une étude en panel des déterminants de la croissance. Dans les chapitres III et IV, les effets de l'économie de la connaissance sur l'emploi des jeunes sont soigneusement étudiés par une analyse en séries chronologiques en panel pour la région MENA, d'une part, et pour l’étude du cas tunisien, de l'autre. Le chapitre V donne les principales conclusions de l’étude. / Countries in the MENA region have been recently characterized by a common feature mainly the upsurge in the unemployment of young graduates. This is due to the dynamics and quality of economic growth, a chronic democracy deficiency, and socio-economic imbalances that threaten the stability and development wihtin the region. The PM must alter their current growth framework into a total factor productivity model, whereby innovation continuously improves, allowing for an endogenous growth regime based on technology progress to take over. After a general introduction, Chapter (II) highlightst the PM’s innovation systems and their effects on employment generation in a principal component analysis, and a panel study of the determinants of economic growth. In chapter (III) and (IV), the effects of the knowledge economy on youth employment are carefully studied though a time series analysis for the MENA region as a panel on one hand and for Tunisia a single case study on the other. Chapter (V) gives the mains conclusions of the study

Within a panel data context with fixed effects method, using data on a sample of 40 lower- middle income economies, this paper investigates whether and to what extent FDI stimulates economic growth over the period 2007-2017. The main finding of this paper highlights the complementary effects between FDI and education, suggesting that a certain level of education must be reached in order for FDI to contribute positively on economic growth. Further, the level of education in this sample set is below the level that is considered as adequate in order to spur economic growth and thus this affects the absorptive capacity. This paper can only confirm that there is a certain association between FDI and economic growth and cannot confirm the widespread belief that FDI stimulates economic growth due to that the estimated models more often than not provided insignificant results.

[pt] Este trabalho desenvolve e estabelece a existência de equilíbrio para um modelo sequencial com dois estágios, mercados financeiros incompletos, risco de crédito e colateral endógeno. No primeiro estágio, ao escolherem o colateral, de acordo com uma regra exogenamente determinada, os agentes emitem ativos personalizados que serão transacionados no segundo estágio, em uma economia Walrasiana com dois períodos. A nossa estrutura permite o surgimento de modelos nos quais os próprios agentes escolhem suas garantias, de forma similar aos modelos já existentes de colateral endógeno. Tais modelos exibem o que podemos chamar de A Maldição do Vencedor, situação na qual o agente escolhe, racionalmente, oferecer colateral nulo, inviabilizando, em equilíbrio, a transação de ativos. Com isso, a economia é jogada para um equilíbrio Pareto inferior no qual não existem mercados financeiros. Ao introduzir uma sequencialidade nas escolhas, conseguimos resolver esse problema, pois os agentes antecipam o efeito da escolha de colateral sobre os payoffs de equilíbrio, escolhendo, racionalmente, colaterais positivos. Assim, conseguimos não somente solucionar uma limitação dos modelos existentes, como ainda, permitir o surgimento de inúmeros sub-modelos através das diversas possibilidades para a regra de escolha na determinação do colateral. / [en] This paper develops and establishes the existence of equilibrium for a sequential model with two stages, incomplete financial markets, credit risk and endogenous collateral. In the first stage, by choosing the collateral, according to a predetermined and exogenously given rule, the agents issue personalized securities that will be traded in the second stage in aWalrasian economy with two periods. Our structure allows for models in which the agents choose their own collateral, similar to the existing endogenous collateral models. Those models exhibit what we might call, The Winner s Curse, a situation in which the agent choose, rationally, to offer no collateral, making asset trading impossible, in equilibrium. The economy is then thrown in a Paretoinferior equilibria in which there are no financial markets. By introducing the agent s choice in a sequential fashion, we avoid such a problem, because the agents anticipate the effects of their collateral choice over the equilibrium payoffs, therefore choosing rationally, positive collateral. That way, we are able, not only to solve a shortcoming of the existing models, but also to allow for a variety of sub-models through the several possible choices for the collateral determining rule.