The thesis analyzes the determinants of pharmaceutical expenditures on cardiovascular diseases with particular focus on Central Europe. We show how the pharmaceutical expenditure varies across the countries. We try to empirically verify that factors such as age, GDP, total health expenditure, education and prevalence of a particular disease cause the variation. Applying the fixed effect model on selected countries in the period 2000-2009, we find that the increase in pharmaceutical expenditures on cardiovascular diseases is explained mainly by aging population and prevalence of the diseases. Additionally, countries with higher GDP tend to also have somewhat higher pharmaceutical expenditures on cardiovascular diseases. Key words Pharmaceutical expenditures, cardiovascular diseases, GDP, health expenditure, fixed effect model, prevalence of a disease, aging of population.

This study examines the determinants of inward foreign direct investment to OECD countries. The focus is on horizontal FDI. The purpose of the research is to contribute to the ongoing research, and adding value. This is done by using a dynamic perspective of time, and controlling for country-specific characteristics. The thesis uses panel data covering all 36 OECD countries over a 23 year long time period, 1995-2017. Three regressions have been done using a linear fixed effects model, as well as four addition regressions testing the robustness of the results. Earlier studies have received spread results, as have this study. It found market size, economic stability, trade openness, and currency value as significant determinants of the inward flow of FDI to OECD countries.

<p>In this thesis, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are used to measure the effects of organized crime on young men’s experience of narcotics. The study relies on panel data for Swedish counties stretching over the period 1995-2005, using results from conscript surveys to determine young men’s experience of narcotics. When applying a fixed effect model, the results show that Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs actually have a negative effect on the experience of narcotics among 18-year-old Swedish men. However, when lagging the time of establishment for the gangs one year, positive estimates are derived for individuals ever used, or been offered to use illicit narcotics. These findings are only significant on a ten percent level, but the results could implicate that it may take some time for the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs to penetrate new markets; finding a profitable way of adapting to the new market conditions. Due to possible problems with endogeneity, it’s difficult to derive any definitive conclusions regarding the true effects of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. It’s possible that the location of a new OMG is partially determined by the use of narcotics, wherefore the results are to be taken with some caution.</p>

In this thesis, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are used to measure the effects of organized crime on young men’s experience of narcotics. The study relies on panel data for Swedish counties stretching over the period 1995-2005, using results from conscript surveys to determine young men’s experience of narcotics. When applying a fixed effect model, the results show that Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs actually have a negative effect on the experience of narcotics among 18-year-old Swedish men. However, when lagging the time of establishment for the gangs one year, positive estimates are derived for individuals ever used, or been offered to use illicit narcotics. These findings are only significant on a ten percent level, but the results could implicate that it may take some time for the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs to penetrate new markets; finding a profitable way of adapting to the new market conditions. Due to possible problems with endogeneity, it’s difficult to derive any definitive conclusions regarding the true effects of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. It’s possible that the location of a new OMG is partially determined by the use of narcotics, wherefore the results are to be taken with some caution.

I denna studie undersöks hur införandet av jobbskatteavdraget 2007 och de två utbyggnaderna 2008-2009 påverkade arbetsmarknaden i form av sysselsättning, arbetslöshet, långtidsarbetslöshet och sysselsättning i åldersgruppen 55-64 år. Med utgångspunkt från en tillämpning av konsumtionsteorin, med arbetsutbudet i fokus, så görs en difference-in-differences analys av reformens tre första år i jämförelse med tre år innan dess införande. Resultaten visar att införandet av jobbskatteavdraget har haft en positiv effekt på arbetsmarknaden i form av en större andel avbefolkningen i arbete, medan ytterliggare steg av jobbskatteavdraget ger estimat som tyder på att effekten blir en minskad aktivitet på arbetsmarknaden.

The purpose of this research is to understand and explain the TFT LCD industry phenomenon of oversupply vs. shortage and its impacts on the prices and quantities of individual TFT LCD makers. Also, to look for any fixed effects (if any exist) due to specific company and due to specific time. We employ a fixed effect model to estimate impacts of individual traded quantity on price and impacts of individual price on traded quantity. Using the panel data covering 16 makers and 24 months, our results reveal that the TFT LCD panel is highly quantity inelastic of the traded price but greatly price elastic of the traded quantity. With regard to fixed effect, the empirical result reveals there were significant time effects of price for some periods of time while there were significant time effects of quantity for some sizes of panels. Supply and demand could be one of the factors determining the time effects. As to the company fixed effect, most of company fixed effects of quantity prices were found significant whereas company fixed effects of price were not. Market shares and country of origin can be significant factors determining the company fixed effect of quantity. Keywords: Panel Data, Fixed Effect Model, Quantity Elasticity, Price Elasticity, Company Fixed Effect, Time Fixed Effect, TFT LCD

L'objectif de cette thèse consiste à étudier les liens entre les mécanismes internes de gouvernance des banques et le comportement de prise de risque. Nous montrons qu’Adam Smith avait déjà mis en évidence la défaillance des mécanismes de gouvernance dans la Banque « Ayr » comme principal facteur induisant la prise de risque excessive et, par conséquent, sa faillite. Nous développons un modèle qui illustre qu’une rémunération indexée sur les actifs risqués n’implique pas une prise de risque plus importante. Nous constatons, aussi, que pour inciter le dirigeant à réaliser la meilleure combinaison d’actifs, le conseil d’administration est tenu de lui payer la rémunération la plus élevée. La thèse porte également sur l’étude des attributs standards du CA et ceux liés à la gouvernance des risques dans les banques de l'UE durant la période 2005-2015. Les résultats de la régression panel à effet fixe indiquent que les caractéristiques du CA affectent le niveau des crédits non performants et l’insolvabilité des banques de l’UE. Les résultats de la régression quantile à effet fixe révèlent une hétérogénéité dans la relation entre le risque bancaire et les attributs étudiés. Plus précisément, nous constatons que l’effet positif de l’indépendance et la fréquence des réunions du CA sur la gestion des risques bancaires est plus important dans les banques les plus risquées. Nos résultats mettent en évidence, également, que la prévention des comportements de prise de risque excessive des banques de l’UE nécessite l’amélioration de l’efficacité des CA à travers l’établissement des comités de risque et d’audit. / The purpose of this thesis is to study the internal mechanisms of banks’ governance and their impact on the risk-taking behavior. We show that Adam Smith had already highlighted the inadequacy of the governance’ mechanisms in “Ayr” Bank as the primary factor leading to an excessive risk-taking and, consequently, to its bankruptcy. We develop a model that aims to evaluate the extent to which governance mechanisms play a moderating role on the compensation policy and the level of risk taken by the CEO. We illustrate that a remuneration indexed on risky assets does not imply a greater risk taking. We also conclude that in order to induce the CEO to achieve the best combination of assets, the board of directors (BD) is required to pay the highest compensation. The thesis also focuses on the study of standard BD attributes as well as those related to risk’ governance in EU banks from 2005 to 2015. The empirical investigation showed that certain BD features affect the level of non-performing loan and the insolvency of EU banks. The results of the fixed-effect quantile regression reveal that the effect of the standard BD and risk’ governance attributes on risk-taking is heterogeneous. More specifically, we can note that the positive effect of the independence and frequency of board meetings on bank’ risk management is more significant in the riskier banks. In addition to this, our empirical results suggests that the prevention of excessive risk taking by EU banks requires the improvement of the effectiveness of BD through the establishment of risk an audit committees.

Suicide is social tragedy that devastates families and is very costly for society. Even though suicide have been a known social problem for over a century society have yet to solve it. The purpose of this essay is to examine whether the socio-economic theory can explain the variance of suicide rate in Sweden. From previous studies and socioeconomic theories, the variables unemployment, divorce rate, fertility was picked because of their ability to explain the variance of suicides rates. Population density was also picked because of its close relation with social isolation. A two-way fixed- effect model controlling for region and time was employed on a panel of 21 counties over the years 2005-2017. The results of the regression were that all independent variables, but population density were insignificant. The study concludes that the panel employed are not enough to determine whether the socio-economic factors can explain the variance of suicide rates in Sweden. / Självmord är en social tragedi som ödelägger familjer och är en stor kostnad för samhället. Även om självmord har varit ett känt problem i århundraden så är det fortfarande ett olöst problem. Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka om socioekonomisk teori kan användas för att förklara variansen av självmord i Sverige. Från tidigare studier och socioekonomiska teorier utrönandes tre variabler som anses kunna förklara variansen av självmord. De tre variablerna var arbetslöshet, skilsmässor och fertilitet. Befolkningstäthet lades till i regressionen, eftersom den ansågs vara i relaterad till sociologiska teorier. En tvåvägs fasteffekt regression som kontrollerar för län- och tid effekter applicerades på en panel bestående av 21 län under åren 2005–2017. Resultatet av regression visade att alla variabler förutom befolkningstäthet var icke signifikanta. Studien konkluderar att panelen som analyserats inte är tillräckligt för bedöma om socioekonomiska teorier kan förklara variansen av självmord.

Economic sanctions are a tool of achieving peace and have become increasingly important in research lately, as it is a more current question than ever. With the Russian war on Ukraine, countries have been sending sanctions in the hopes of financially straining Russia. The purpose of the study is to investigate how sending sanctions to a main trading partner is associated with the economic development of the sender. The study was based on the gravity model as well as economic development determinants. We employed a panel data analysis regarding 19 countries. A Fixed Effect model was used in order to regress the relationship between sending sanctions and the economic development of the sanctioning states economy between the years 1990 and 2021. At a 5% significance level, we did not find any correlation between annual growth of Gross Domestic Product per capita and sanctioned years, however the findings showed that there was a statistically significant negative correlation between sending sanctions and the economic growth of the sender at a 10% significance level. Governmental institutions can use these findings to carefully consider sanction decisions and their potential impact on the economy in the future.

This thesis investigates whether players in the National Hockey League overperform during the last year of their contract. This phenomenon is called the contract year phenomenon and suggests that players have financial incentives to perform better during this specific season. Previous research has shown evidence of this phenomenon in the National Basketball Association and some evidence in Major League Baseball. To investigate this we have used data from 6 season in the NHL between 2016 to 2022. A linear regression was conducted to identify the relationship between points per hour and contract year. A negative relationship between the variables were identified, probably due to the fact that worse players tend to sign shorter contracts, getting a contract year more often. When fixed effect regression was conducted to compare individual players with themselves over time, no significant relationship between the variables was observed, indicating that there is no evidence of the contract year phenomenon in the NHL. The non existing effect remains when looking at specific contract statuses and position in combination with the contract year variable.