This study investigates the magnitude of credit contraction encountered by Canadian Small-and-Medium-Sized-Enterprises (SMEs) during the recent financial crisis of 2007-2008. These firms account for an important source of job creation and economic welfare (Haltiwanger et al., 2010); therefore, to ensure the creation and growth of SMEs through a smooth flow of capital is crucial for a healthy economic recovery from the crisis. The empirical observation obtained in this study is contrary to what the theory suggests, as well as what many of the existing studies witnessed (i.e., a financial crisis has a negative impact on SME loan circulations). Using binary probit regression and structural break testing, this work finds that Canadian SME loan approval and application rates were higher during the crisis period. This somewhat counterintuitive result prompts the researcher to search for the possible factors enabling SME credit lending in Canada to retain its health during the time of financial distress, which include: (1) the stability of Canadian banks evidenced by the relatively constant Capital Tier I ratio during the crisis; (2) initiatives the Canadian government implemented as a response to the crisis. This result also raises a question whether the five billion dollars the federal government injected in the SME lending market under the Business Capital Availability Program (BCAP), a measure designed to insulate Canadian SMEs from the liquidity shock, could be justified. This research question will be investigated as a future area of research.

Local air pollution significantly affects human health. Among its major polluters are households which are, however, difficult to regulate. This essay describes the tools of regulation of small pollution resources already implemented in existing legislation and also the instruments under consideration by the Ministry of the Environment, focusing on subsidies. The questionnaire survey monitored the feedback of households towards subsidies for heating change and consequently three hypotheses were specified. The first one assumes that the subsidies will be utilized just by households with lower incomes. The second one assumes that the subsidy will be chozen by elderly people. According to the last hypothesis this choice will be preffered by households with higher heating costs. Any of the hypotheses was not rejected. Subsidies will stimulate households to use more environmentally friendly methods of heating.

Magister Commercii - MCom / The private market, if left to its own devices, often fails to achieve economic and social efficiency. Some of the problems relate to the existence of externalities, the inability to provide public _..goodsand services, lack of information and failure to achieve other objectives such as greater equality, sustainable economic growth, higher levels of employment and stable. prices. It is these instances of market failure that provide the major justification for government intervention in the market.

The recent U.S. subprime mortgage crisis rapidly spread throughout the world and put the global financial system under extraordinary pressure. The main implication of the recent crisis is that complex banking regulations failed to adequately identify and limit riskiness of banking systems at both domestic and international levels. In spite of a large empirical literature on the causes and remedies of the recent crisis, there remains substantial uncertainty on (i) how risk measuring models performed during crisis, (ii) how systematic factors such as house prices affected the financial system, and (iii) how effectively government policy responses resolved the financial crisis. This thesis seeks to narrow this gap in the literature by offering three empirical essays. The first essay investigates the performance of alternative parametric VaR models in forecasting riskiness of international equity portfolios. Notably, alternative univariate VaR models are compared to multivariate conditional volatility models with special focus given to conditional correlation models. Conditional correlation models include the constant conditional correlation (CCC), dynamic conditional correlation (DCC), and asymmetric DCC (ADCC) models. Various criteria are then applied for backtesting VaR models and to evaluate their one-day-ahead forecasting ability in a wide range of countries and during different global financial conditions. It is found that most VaR models have satisfactory performance with small number of violations during pre-crisis period. However, the number of violations, mean deviation of violations, and maximum deviation of violations dramatically increase during crisis period. Furthermore, portfolio models incur lower number of violations compared to univariate models while DCC and ADCC models perform better than CCC models during crisis period. From risk management perspective, most single index models fail to pass Basel criteria for internal VaR models during crisis period, whereas empirical evidence on the choice between CCC, DCC, and ADCC models is mixed. The recent crisis also raised serious concerns about factors that can systematically destabilise the whole banking system. In particular, the collapse of house prices in the United States triggered the recent subprime mortgage crisis, which was associated with a sharp increase in the number of nonperforming loans and bank failures. This in turn demonstrates the key role that house prices play in systematically undermining the whole banking system. The second essay investigates the determinants of nonperforming loans (NPL) with a special focus on house price fluctuations as a key systematic factor. Using a panel of U.S. banking institutions from 1999 to 2012, the analysis is carried out across different loan categories, different types of banks, and different bank size. It is found that house price fluctuations have a significant impact on the evolution of nonperforming loans, while the magnitude of their impact varies across loan categories, institution types, and between large and small banks. Also, the impact of house price fluctuations on nonperforming loans is more pronounced during crisis period. The last essay of this thesis investigates the effectiveness of the U.S. government strategy to combat the crisis. As a comprehensive response to the recent financial crisis, the US government created the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The Capital Purchase Program (CPP) was launched as an initial program under the TARP. The CPP was designed to purchase preferred stocks or equity warrants from viable financial institutions. Using a large panel of the U.S. commercial banks over the period 2007Q1 to 2012Q4, survival analysis is used to investigate the impact of TARP funds on the likelihood of survival in the recipient banks. It is found that larger recipient banks are more likely to avoid regulatory closure, while receiving capital assistance does not effectively help banks to avoid technical failure. This implies that governmental capital assistance serves larger banks much better than their smaller counterparts. In addition, TARP recipients are more likely to be acquired, regardless of their size and financial health. In summary, the empirical findings reveal that capital infusions do not enhance the survival likelihood of the recipient banking institutions.

As jazidas minerais do território brasileiro são bens da União. Isto posto, seu aproveitamento se dá pela iniciativa privada, a qual deve royalties pela exploração a que procede de forma compensatória. Este arranjo institucional, entretanto, somente veio a lume com a Constituição Federal de 1988 e é síntese de um movimento de entendimento legal da relação do Estado para com as jazidas minerais, na origem do qual as jazidas pertenciam ao superficiário. O movimento institucional remanesce, contudo, inconcluso, e o momento, autocontraditório, posto que o regime de aproveitamento das jazidas e os termos que determinam a destinação de royalties ao poder público, respectivamente, obsta a autonomia deste de dispor de seus bens e sub-remuneram o Estado. Propõem-se diferentes interpretações à Compensação Financeira pela Exploração de Recursos Minerais (CFEM) de sorte a demonstrar a sub-remuneração que ela proporciona. Enquanto renda destinada ao proprietário de fator natural, a CFEM se mostra ineficiente na captação de rendas diferencial e absoluta, fazendo-o apenas marginalmente. Enquanto preço de proteção ao patrimônio público, entendendo-se advir da exploração deste externalidade negativa na exata medida em que esta desrespeita o critério de sustentabilidade, a CFEM igualmente falha. Por fim, mostra-se que a práxis do mercado de commodities leva à incompreensão da fonte do valor de seus produtos, negando-o às jazidas minerais, o que a legislação atual convalida. Propõe-se, portanto, a superação do arranjo atual, quer num movimento brusco, quer por meio de paulatinas alterações que elevem a participação do Estado na renda mineira e lhe deem a primazia no dispor das jazidas. / Brazilian’s territory mineral deposits are public goods. Its exploitation it’s taken by private capitals, which pays the state royalties in compensation. This institutional arrangement, however, was founded by 1988’s Constitution and it is a synthesis of an evolution on the state-mineral deposits relation as it is understood by the Law, in whose origins the deposits used to belong to the territorial private owner. This legal understanding remains, however, incomplete, and, so far, self-contradictory, since the mineral deposits exploitation and the terms that regulate royalties payment prevent state autonomy in the face of its goods and underestimate the value of its compensation. This text purposes different kind of interpretations to the Financial Compensation by the Exploitation of Mineral Resources (CFEM) in order to demonstrate state’s undervalued royalties. As ground-rent, CFEM fails to capture differential and absolute rents, providing them in a minor portion. As a public property protection price, which exploitation provides negative externalities in disrespect to the sustainability criterion, CFEM, again, fails. At last, this text demonstrates that the commodities market mystifies its original root of value. It is proposed the institutional arrangement to be overcomed in a sudden movement or by smaller legal changes that provides the state a bigger income and exploitation primacy.

A indústria de cartões de pagamento é definida pela literatura acadêmica como um mercado de dois lados. Um dos lados é o mercado de emissão, que realiza a comercialização de cartões para os portadores. O outro lado é o mercado de credenciamento, que efetua a afiliação de estabelecimentos comerciais para que estes aceitem pagamentos com cartões. O foco deste trabalho é o mercado de credenciamento no Brasil. O objetivo do estudo foi analisar a concentração do mercado brasileiro de credenciamento no período entre 2010, quando houve o início da intervenção governamental na indústria de cartões, e 2016. Com a imposição do fim do monopólio no credenciamento das principais marcas mundiais, Visa e Mastercard, os órgãos reguladores buscavam estimular a entrada de novos concorrentes, a fim de obter uma melhor eficiência econômica e maior bem-estar social. Os resultados deste trabalho evidenciaram redução na concentração do mercado com a entrada de novos concorrentes, embora os índices permaneçam elevados. O trabalho buscou analisar, também, a variação das taxas cobradas dos estabelecimentos comerciais neste período. Neste aspecto, os resultados mostram que as taxas médias anunciadas pelas credenciadoras, cobradas normalmente de pequenos estabelecimentos, aumentaram para as transações de débito, ao contrário do que se esperava para um mercado com mais concorrentes, e se mantiveram estáveis para transações de crédito. As elevadas taxas de intercâmbio, a falta de interoperabilidade dos sistemas de captura das transações e a continuidade de contratos de exclusividade para aceitação de cartões entre emissores e credenciadores representaram dificuldades para que os objetivos dos órgãos reguladores fossem plenamente alcançados no período analisado. / The payment cards industry is a two-sided market, as defined by the academic literature. In one side there is the card issuing market that accomplishes the commercialization of cards for the cardholders. The other side is the acquiring market that makes the affiliation of merchants to accept payments with cards. The focus of this work is the acquiring market in Brazil. The objective of the study is to analyze the concentration of the Brazilian acquiring market in the period between 2010, when there was the beginning of the government intervention in the card industry, to 2016. With the mandate to end the acquiring monopoly of the main world brands, Visa and Mastercard, the regulatory agencies sought to stimulate the entrance of new competitors, in order to obtain a better economic efficiency and greater social welfare. The study results showed a reduction in market concentration with the entry of new competitors, although the concentration remains high. The work also aimed to analyze the variation of prices charged to merchants in this period. In this respect, the results show that the average rates announced by the acquirers, applied normally to small businesses, increased for debit transactions, contrary to what was expected for a market with more competitors and remained stable for credit transactions. The high interchange rates, the lack of interoperability of transaction capture systems and the continuation of exclusivity agreements for the acceptance of cards between issuers and acquirers represented difficul,ties for the objectives of the regulatory bodies to be fully achieved in the period under review.

This thesis looks at the internal community processes set in motion by intervention in the context of the current community forestry policy of Nepal which has embarked on handing over local forest resources to local user groups. The overall aim of the thesis is to explore the question : How does intervention lead to certain types of effects through dynamics within the community? These processes have been something of a 'black box' so far. This research is based on fieldwork in adjoining forest user groups in the western hills of Nepal for nearly eight months starting from August 1994. The research examined the outcome of earlier interventions in these adjoining forest communities. An important finding of this study is that the nature of use rights is evolving and contestable rather than fixed. It is further argued that there may be inequitable outcomes in terms of cost and benefit sharing amongst households after forests are officially handed over. This is attributed to differing perceptions about the nature of equity. The poor do not necessarily get fair treatment despite provisions for equality of opportunity in Operational Plans. It is argued that inequitable outcomes do not, however, necessarily lead to non-compliance partly because the system, though inequitable, is based on at least a pseudo-democratic model rather than direct coercion. Intervention has a role. However, it is argued that effective intervention has to pay proper attention to attaining better use rights and better equity. The key to attaining better use rights is the need to appreciate the fact that use rights are contestable and dynamic by nature / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis builds a public goods case for government intervention in the academic journal market. Synthesizing information from interviews with the existing quantitative and qualitative literature accomplishes this goal. The cost of doing business in the academic publishing market has steadily risen over time. In response, an “open access” (OA) movement has formed. Members of the movement argue that making academic research freely accessible to anyone with an Internet connection is the ideal way to control these costs. Others, however, are satisfied with the status quo. Determining who pays what price to allow free access has become increasingly important. National open access initiatives could be implemented without government aid if universities and academic libraries worked together; however, a collective action problem prevents cooperation. The government has tools that could be used to help these stakeholders transition to an open access status quo.

As jazidas minerais do território brasileiro são bens da União. Isto posto, seu aproveitamento se dá pela iniciativa privada, a qual deve royalties pela exploração a que procede de forma compensatória. Este arranjo institucional, entretanto, somente veio a lume com a Constituição Federal de 1988 e é síntese de um movimento de entendimento legal da relação do Estado para com as jazidas minerais, na origem do qual as jazidas pertenciam ao superficiário. O movimento institucional remanesce, contudo, inconcluso, e o momento, autocontraditório, posto que o regime de aproveitamento das jazidas e os termos que determinam a destinação de royalties ao poder público, respectivamente, obsta a autonomia deste de dispor de seus bens e sub-remuneram o Estado. Propõem-se diferentes interpretações à Compensação Financeira pela Exploração de Recursos Minerais (CFEM) de sorte a demonstrar a sub-remuneração que ela proporciona. Enquanto renda destinada ao proprietário de fator natural, a CFEM se mostra ineficiente na captação de rendas diferencial e absoluta, fazendo-o apenas marginalmente. Enquanto preço de proteção ao patrimônio público, entendendo-se advir da exploração deste externalidade negativa na exata medida em que esta desrespeita o critério de sustentabilidade, a CFEM igualmente falha. Por fim, mostra-se que a práxis do mercado de commodities leva à incompreensão da fonte do valor de seus produtos, negando-o às jazidas minerais, o que a legislação atual convalida. Propõe-se, portanto, a superação do arranjo atual, quer num movimento brusco, quer por meio de paulatinas alterações que elevem a participação do Estado na renda mineira e lhe deem a primazia no dispor das jazidas. / Brazilian’s territory mineral deposits are public goods. Its exploitation it’s taken by private capitals, which pays the state royalties in compensation. This institutional arrangement, however, was founded by 1988’s Constitution and it is a synthesis of an evolution on the state-mineral deposits relation as it is understood by the Law, in whose origins the deposits used to belong to the territorial private owner. This legal understanding remains, however, incomplete, and, so far, self-contradictory, since the mineral deposits exploitation and the terms that regulate royalties payment prevent state autonomy in the face of its goods and underestimate the value of its compensation. This text purposes different kind of interpretations to the Financial Compensation by the Exploitation of Mineral Resources (CFEM) in order to demonstrate state’s undervalued royalties. As ground-rent, CFEM fails to capture differential and absolute rents, providing them in a minor portion. As a public property protection price, which exploitation provides negative externalities in disrespect to the sustainability criterion, CFEM, again, fails. At last, this text demonstrates that the commodities market mystifies its original root of value. It is proposed the institutional arrangement to be overcomed in a sudden movement or by smaller legal changes that provides the state a bigger income and exploitation primacy.

A indústria de cartões de pagamento é definida pela literatura acadêmica como um mercado de dois lados. Um dos lados é o mercado de emissão, que realiza a comercialização de cartões para os portadores. O outro lado é o mercado de credenciamento, que efetua a afiliação de estabelecimentos comerciais para que estes aceitem pagamentos com cartões. O foco deste trabalho é o mercado de credenciamento no Brasil. O objetivo do estudo foi analisar a concentração do mercado brasileiro de credenciamento no período entre 2010, quando houve o início da intervenção governamental na indústria de cartões, e 2016. Com a imposição do fim do monopólio no credenciamento das principais marcas mundiais, Visa e Mastercard, os órgãos reguladores buscavam estimular a entrada de novos concorrentes, a fim de obter uma melhor eficiência econômica e maior bem-estar social. Os resultados deste trabalho evidenciaram redução na concentração do mercado com a entrada de novos concorrentes, embora os índices permaneçam elevados. O trabalho buscou analisar, também, a variação das taxas cobradas dos estabelecimentos comerciais neste período. Neste aspecto, os resultados mostram que as taxas médias anunciadas pelas credenciadoras, cobradas normalmente de pequenos estabelecimentos, aumentaram para as transações de débito, ao contrário do que se esperava para um mercado com mais concorrentes, e se mantiveram estáveis para transações de crédito. As elevadas taxas de intercâmbio, a falta de interoperabilidade dos sistemas de captura das transações e a continuidade de contratos de exclusividade para aceitação de cartões entre emissores e credenciadores representaram dificuldades para que os objetivos dos órgãos reguladores fossem plenamente alcançados no período analisado. / The payment cards industry is a two-sided market, as defined by the academic literature. In one side there is the card issuing market that accomplishes the commercialization of cards for the cardholders. The other side is the acquiring market that makes the affiliation of merchants to accept payments with cards. The focus of this work is the acquiring market in Brazil. The objective of the study is to analyze the concentration of the Brazilian acquiring market in the period between 2010, when there was the beginning of the government intervention in the card industry, to 2016. With the mandate to end the acquiring monopoly of the main world brands, Visa and Mastercard, the regulatory agencies sought to stimulate the entrance of new competitors, in order to obtain a better economic efficiency and greater social welfare. The study results showed a reduction in market concentration with the entry of new competitors, although the concentration remains high. The work also aimed to analyze the variation of prices charged to merchants in this period. In this respect, the results show that the average rates announced by the acquirers, applied normally to small businesses, increased for debit transactions, contrary to what was expected for a market with more competitors and remained stable for credit transactions. The high interchange rates, the lack of interoperability of transaction capture systems and the continuation of exclusivity agreements for the acceptance of cards between issuers and acquirers represented difficul,ties for the objectives of the regulatory bodies to be fully achieved in the period under review.