This dissertation consists of two essays on housing, the first on estimation strategies for the valuation of a local disamenity and the second on the structure of the market for the services of real estate brokers. The purpose of the first essay is to apply hedonic and quasi-experimental methods to measure the value of any disamenity caused by communication antennas. Crucial to unbiased estimates is accounting for both endogenous antenna location and changes in unobservable housing and neighborhood characteristics. Spatial fixed effects are used to control for unobservable characteristics that can influence the location decisions of residents and the location of antennas. Panel data techniques are used to address both time invariant and time varying unobservables and to account for possible changes in the hedonic price function after construction of a nearby antenna. The estimates indicate that houses near communication antennas sell less than comparable houses not located near a communication antenna, and also highlight a shortcoming of applying the difference-in-differences technique to value a local disamenity when houses are affected by the presence of multiple sites. The second essay compares the performance of brand name franchised and independent real estate brokers with respect to list price, sales price, time on the market, and prevalence in areas with more out-of-state buyers using techniques that control for the different types of agents that choose to affiliate with franchised real estate brokerage firms. The results indicate that most of the difference in the sales price and the time it takes to locate a buyer can be explained by the types of agents that choose to affiliate with franchised brokerage firms, and that on average weaker agents choose to affiliate with franchised real estate firms. In addition, there is an indication that properties in areas with larger shares of out-of-state residents are more likely to be sold by a franchised broker. This result is consistent with the industrial organization literature on franchising that says franchising should be more prevalent in areas where consumers are less familiar with the local market.

In family firms, CEO successions are key events for firms’ sustainable development, and different types of successors may influence firm behaviors in significantly different ways. To respond to the mixed results of extant studies and unveil the underlying effects, this study adopted a socioemotional wealth perspective. The hypothesis was that family firms with internal succession are more likely to be involved in behaviors that could increase the socioemotional wealth of the family, including corporate innovation, diversification strategies, and corporate philanthropy. Using data on Chinese publiclylisted family firms from 2008 to 2017, the above hypotheses were tested. Results largely showed support for the hypotheses. Multiple methods were employed to mitigate endogeneity problems and enhance robustness. Overall, this study contributes to the current research on family leadership by proving that internal family succession has a positive influence on preserving the socioemotional wealth of the family. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

Social capital resources for the firm can be conceptualized as those executive-to-executive connections held by a firm’s top management team, as well as firm-to-firm relationships that exist fairly independently of particular individuals. This type of resource can compose an important portion of any firm’s overall resource portfolio. The potential benefits associated with social capital include enhanced economic exchange opportunities, improved innovation capabilities and increased firm survival rates, among others. This study adds to the literature stream focusing on the positive consequences of social capital by demonstrating the cross-level influence of social capital on the development of reciprocity within a joint venture network. It also highlights the link between social capital resources and the quality of knowledge available to a firm via its joint venture partnerships. More importantly, though, we specifically investigate the conditions under which a firm’s social capital (firm-to-firm relationships or the social capital held by key executives) can contribute to undesirable firm-level behaviors. One often mentioned, yet rarely explored dimension of social capital is the phenomenon frequently called the ‘dark side’ of social capital. This dark side of social capital is argued to exist whenever the behavioral expectations accompanying social capital limit contribute to undesirable outcomes for the firm. Several hypotheses are tested in the context of joint ventures among S&P 500 firms. The likelihood of a firm having legal action taken against it by federal regulatory agencies or other firms is demonstrated herein to be related to the number and strength of social capital relationships. In general this research supports the view that having a large number of weak ties is beneficial for firms. More specifically, we found that in the wake of the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, an inverse relationship exists between the likelihood of firms engaging in the undesirable behaviors investigated and the number of Boards of Directors on which the firms’ respective executives held seats. Conversely, firms were more likely to engage in these undesirable behaviors whenever the firm-to-firm ties within their network of joint ventures were strongest. Furthermore, executive discretion was highly related to the likelihood of firms engaging in undesirable behaviors.

Social capital resources for the firm can be conceptualized as those executive-to-executive connections held by a firm’s top management team, as well as firm-to-firm relationships that exist fairly independently of particular individuals. This type of resource can compose an important portion of any firm’s overall resource portfolio. The potential benefits associated with social capital include enhanced economic exchange opportunities, improved innovation capabilities and increased firm survival rates, among others. This study adds to the literature stream focusing on the positive consequences of social capital by demonstrating the cross-level influence of social capital on the development of reciprocity within a joint venture network. It also highlights the link between social capital resources and the quality of knowledge available to a firm via its joint venture partnerships. More importantly, though, we specifically investigate the conditions under which a firm’s social capital (firm-to-firm relationships or the social capital held by key executives) can contribute to undesirable firm-level behaviors. One often mentioned, yet rarely explored dimension of social capital is the phenomenon frequently called the ‘dark side’ of social capital. This dark side of social capital is argued to exist whenever the behavioral expectations accompanying social capital limit contribute to undesirable outcomes for the firm. Several hypotheses are tested in the context of joint ventures among S&P 500 firms. The likelihood of a firm having legal action taken against it by federal regulatory agencies or other firms is demonstrated herein to be related to the number and strength of social capital relationships. In general this research supports the view that having a large number of weak ties is beneficial for firms. More specifically, we found that in the wake of the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, an inverse relationship exists between the likelihood of firms engaging in the undesirable behaviors investigated and the number of Boards of Directors on which the firms’ respective executives held seats. Conversely, firms were more likely to engage in these undesirable behaviors whenever the firm-to-firm ties within their network of joint ventures were strongest. Furthermore, executive discretion was highly related to the likelihood of firms engaging in undesirable behaviors.

Even before the current economic meltdown, waves of downsizing, starting in the late 1970s, had swept corporate America, eroding workers’ expectations of economic security. But not only did downsizing become more prevalent during this period; its basic nature changed. Previously, firms had cut jobs temporarily, to adjust the size of their workforce during a downturn. Since the late 70s, firms have increasingly cut jobs in both good and bad times, in order to boost stock price. My dissertation examines the inter-group power dynamics underlying the transformation of workforce downsizing as a shareholder-value strategy. Examining both downsizing announcements from more than 700 leading U.S. corporations between 1981 and 2006, and actual implementation of the announced downsizing plans, I find at work in the process a shift in ideology, from an emphasis on corporate growth and conglomeration to an emphasis on profitability and shareholder value, an ideology that both reflects and intensifies the growing influence of shareholders over firms and the declining role of labor. My first empirical chapter examines the role of institutional investors and shareholder-value-oriented managers in the transformation. The second empirical chapter examines the potential resistance from labor unions and shows how the anti-union stance of the public policy regime in the 1980s weakened unions’ power to resist. The last empirical chapter examines the role of investors, unions, and executives in the implementation of announced downsizing plans and demonstrates the contested nature of the implementation process. Together, these three chapters illustrate the class politics simmering under the surface of the acceptance of downsizing for shareholder-value maximization, and emphasize the role of agency and power, as constructed by particular institutional logics, not only in promoting but also resisting the process of institutional change. / Sociology

The main focus of this thesis is the employment decisions of firms. The thesis consists of three self-contained but closely related essays, all enlightening employment dynamics in different ways. The thesis is mainly empirical but there are also some theoretical developments when existing theory is insufficient to explain the empirical findings. The impact on employment of product market conditions and labor market conditions facing firms are investigated. The results suggest that product demand has a robust impact on firms’ employment dynamics, but also the market price, the wage costs, and the matching between vacancies and unemployed workers seem to matter. The empirical evidence of the relevance of imperfect competition in the product market is important, particularly since most research on labor market dynamics has assumed perfect competition. The results with respect to matching of vacancies and unemployed workers contradict the standard search and matching model as well as simple efficiency-wage or bargaining models with wage rigidity and excess supply but no frictions in the labor market. A richer model of the labor market is needed to explain the results, including on-the-job search and perhaps more heterogeneity between employed and unemployed workers. Essay I, “What are the Determinants of Hiring? - The Role of Demand and Supply Factors”, studies the importance of demand and supply factors for hiring in local labor markets. Essay II, “Vacancy Matching and Labor Market Conditions”, studies the probability of filling a vacancy, how it varies with the number of unemployed and the number of vacancies in the local labor market, and what impact it has on firms’ employment dynamics. Essay III, “The Dynamics of Firms’ Factor Demand”, studies firm-level adjustments of employment, the capital stock, and inventories in response to exogenous shocks theoretically and empirically. These three decisions have typically been studied one at the time, but here they are studied together in a way which allows for interactions and a better understanding of firm behavior.

The question of business cycles is one of the most interesting topics of the economic policy. The period of economic recession influences most of the subjects in the economy. One of these subjects is a firm. In this thesis I discuss the question how economic depression impacts the value of a firm and how firms react to the recession, what are the consequences of their reactions and the results of these consequences at the macroeconomic level. To demonstrate the impact of the crisis I have evaluated the firm ACTIVA with Discounted Cash Flow Entity method in two different time frames, first evaluation was done before the crisis occurred and the second was done during the crisis. I conclude that the crisis causes a slowdown of the growth of the relevant market and therefore also of the revenues of the firm, it causes a fall in the economic results and not least the profit margin. As a result the value of the firm decreases to less than a half of its pre-crisis value. This proves that the view of a firm's value has significantly changed as a result of the crisis. The firm's behaviour has changed as well and whence it follows that the business cycle is a consequence of a changed behaviour of the economic subjects, which operate their behaviour according to the prices.

In September 2017, Luleå Energi introduced a new price model on district heating for their enterprise customers with the intention to create stronger incentives for energy efficiency measures, and provide price signals that better correspond to the underlying production costs. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether the intentions of Luleå Energi has been fulfilled, not the least in the form of improved energy efficiency among the affected enterprises. This thesis also provides a theoretical assessment of the new price model through conducting a literature review. The empirical analysis builds on theories addressing issues such as bounded rationality, profit maximizing firms, uncertainty, and imperfect information. The results show that the new price model may have been hindered by bounded rationality amongst the enterprise customers, and the overall low price level of district heating services in Luleå. Results also show that even if the new price model is fairly good at creating incentives, it could probably become more effective if the effect price component were based on enterprise customers current effect usage rather than the enterprise customers effect usage during the previous winter season. / I september 2017 introducerade Luleå Energi en ny prismodell för deras fjärrvärme tjänster gentemot företagskunder med intentionen att skapa starkare incitament för energieffektiviseringsåtgärder och förse marknaden med prissignaler som motsvarar de underliggande produktionskostnaderna. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka huruvida Luleå Energi’s intentioner har blivit uppfyllda, inte minst i form av energieffektiviseringsåtgärder. Studien kommer också att, med hjälp av en litteraturstudie, genomföra en teoretisk bedömning av den nya prismodellen. Studien applicerar teorier som begränsad rationalitet, vinstmaximerande företag, osäkerhet och ofullständig information. Resultaten visar att den nya prismodellen eventuellt hindras av begränsad rationalitet hos kunderna, och den överlag låga prisnivån på fjärrvärme i Luleå kommun. Resultaten visar också att även om den nya prismodellen är någorlunda bra på att skapa incitament så skulle den troligen kunna bli effektivare genom att basera effektpriskomponenten på företagskundernas nuvarande effektanvändning istället för företagskundernas effektanvändning under den föregående vintersäsongen.

Cette thèse construit un modèle théorique qui renouvelle l’approche traditionnelle de l’équilibre du marché. En introduisant dans le paradigme néo-classique le principe de préférence pour la quantité, il génère de façon optimale des stocks dans un marché concurrentiel. Les résultats sont très importants, car ils expliquent à la fois l’émergence des invendus et l’existence de cycles économiques. En outre, il étudie le comportement optimal du monopole dont la puissance de marché dépend non seulement de la quantité de biens étalés, mais aussi de celle de biens achetés. Contrairement à l’hypothèse traditionnelle selon laquelle le monopoleur choisit le prix ou la quantité qui maximise son profit, il attire, via un indice de Lerner généralisé la demande à la fois par le prix et la quantité de biens exposés. Quelle que soit la structure du marché, le phénomène d’accumulation des stocks de biens apparaît dans l’économie. De plus, il a l’avantage d’expliquer explicitement les achats impulsifs non encore traités par la théorie économique. Pour vérifier la robustesse des résultats du modèle théorique, ils sont testés sur des données américaines. En raison de leur non-linéarité, la méthode de Gauss-Newton est appropriée pour analyser l’impact de la préférence pour la quantité sur la production et l’accumulation de biens, et par conséquent sur les prévisions de PIB. Enfin, cette thèse construit un modèle à générations imbriquées à deux pays qui étend l’équilibre dynamique à un gamma-équilibre dynamique sans friction. Sur la base de la contrainte de détention préalable d’encaisse, il ressort les conditions de sur-accumulation du capital et les conséquences de la mobilité du capital sur le bien-être dans un contexte d’accumulation du stock d’invendus / This thesis constructs a theoretical model that renews the traditional approach of the market equilibrium. By introducing into the neoclassical paradigm the principle of preference for quantity, it optimally generates inventories within a competitive market. The results are very important since they explain both the emergence of unsold goods and the existence of economic cycles. In addition, it studies the optimal behavior of a monopolist whose the market power depends not only on the quantity of displayed goods but also that of goods that the main consumer is willing to buy. Contrary to the traditional assumption that the monopolist chooses price or quantity that maximizes its profit, through a generalized Lerner index (GLI) it attracts customers’ demand by both the price and the quantity of displayed goods. Whatever the market structure, the phenomenon of inventory accumulation appears in the economy. Furthermore, it has the advantage of explicitly explaining impulse purchases untreated by economics. To check the robustness of the results,the theoretical model is fitted to U.S. data. Due to its nonlinearity, the Gauss-Newtonmethod is appropriate to highlight the impact of consumers’ preference for quantity on production and accumulation of goods and consequently GDP forecast. Finally, this thesis builds a two-country overlapping generations (OLG) model which extends the dynamic OLG equilibrium to a frictionless dynamic OLG gamma-equilibrium. Based on the cash-inadvance constraint, it highlights the conditions of over-accumulation of capital and welfare implications of capital mobility in a context of accumulation of stock of unsold goods.