This thesis contains three chapters exploring the implications of strategically biased information on political outcomes. The first chapter studies how a politically motivated media outlet misreports information in order to endorse its preferred candidate during an election. The task of identifying the reporting strategy through which an interested outlet can influence the decision of voters is non-trivial as there are many ways in which this can be done. I show that there is only one plausible equilibrium, where the media outlet ``pools'' information in a way that sways the decision of the median voter -- and therefore of a majority of electors. The second chapter investigates how media bias skews electoral competition and produces distortions in the process of policy formation. I develop a model of communication with endogenous policy-making. Candidates running for office know that information passes through the lens of an interested media outlet before reaching the electorate. This generates tension between pandering to the voter with a populist policy, or pleasing the outlet with a biased policy. I show that the implications of media bias are not confined to distortions of the voters' choice at the ballot box, but they propagate back to the process of policy-making. In the third chapter, I study to what extent competing forces in the market for news are beneficial for voters. I explore a model where (i) media outlets compete for influence by providing alternative views of the same stories, and (ii) relevant information spreads quickly, and eventually voters listen to all viewpoints. In equilibrium, both media outlets reveal their private information with positive probability, and misreport otherwise. I find that even though competition triggers more news distortions, it always outperforms monopoly: ``diversity of opinion'' has a value independently of the additional media outlet's bias -- even if it is extremely biased.

This PhD analyses the factors that affect the existence or absence of coordination in the field of labour market policy for the long-term unemployed in three cities in Great Britain (Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Newcastle). The interest in coordination in public service provision has become more relevant since the state's previously dominant role in services provision gave way to a decentralised and multi-actor landscape. The complexity of social issues also fostered the involvement of multiple organisations. Furthermore, the recent move toward activation in labour market policy has renewed the interest in localised and personalised services, which require coordination. The implications for individuals of the shift toward activation is the main driver for this thesis. Activation has changed the relationship between the state and its citizens, has redefined social exclusion, has individualised responsibility for unemployment, and has increased individuals' obligations to become employed and employable. Also, a greater number of individuals—often with multiple, complex, and overlapping problems—are now required to take part in paid employment. If activation is to effectively support unemployed individuals, its governance would have to facilitate coordination. Even though networks and partnership-working have been buzz-terms in relation to public service planning and delivery for some years, empirically, there is still a question over whether this discourse has resulted in coordination on the ground. Studies of coordination in the field of labour market policies have often focused on the link between social assistance and labour market policy. This research examines instead the coordination between labour market and other related policy areas, as well as the coordination between administrative levels and various service providers. Drawing upon document analysis and semi-structure interviews, this thesis shows that coordination is still elusive in practice and develops a framework of governance that might help to better achieve coordination in service provision.

This thesis investigates the EU policy-making process concerning the external dimension of migration focusing on the EU's eastern neighbourhood. In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on integrating a comprehensive migration dimension into the broader external policies of the EU. In 2004, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was developed as an overarching foreign policy tool integrating the EU's existing policies towards its southern and eastern neighbourhood under a single framework with the objective of ensuring security and stability in the EU's neighbourhood. The management of cross-border movements along the EU's new eastern frontiers in particular has moved up on the EU agenda with the eastern shift of the EU borders following the 2004/2007 eastern enlargements. With the increasing integration of migration policy objectives into the EU's broader neighbourhood policy, the EU has progressively established a more streamlined form of cooperation with its immediate eastern neighbours concerning different dimensions of migration policy. The thesis examines the EU policy-making process with the aim of answering the question of how the EU policy has been shaped in the view of diverging national preferences and institutional roles and influence concerning the external dimension of migration policy. As a salient policy area central to national sovereignty and interest, the EU member states traditionally seek to control the impact of institutional constraints in the area of migration policy and support mechanisms by which they could exert national control over the policy outcomes. On the other hand, the increasing ‘communitarisation' of the policy area since the Amsterdam Treaty has enhanced the role of the EU institutions. Drawing on the new-institututionalist approaches to EU policy-making, the thesis questions a purely intergovernmental understanding of policy-making dominated by the preferences of the member states in the external dimension of EU migration policy.

This thesis explores the construction of identity amongst the second generation of South- Korean migrants to Germany in Frankfurt am Main, focussing mainly on women. Overwhelmingly, when talking about migrants the German media focus on the Turkish minority. Literature follows a similar pattern. However, West Germany recruited South Korean nurses and miners during the 1970s as labour migrants. Today, they and their children constitute the largest South Korean minority in Europe. In this thesis I examine the second generation of the Korean minority in relation to broader discourses on migrants and integration in Germany, and trace the dynamics of identification and self-understanding. Central to these are narratives of shared experiences, of having Korean parents and of living in German society, particularly in relation to discourses in which they are identified as foreigners. Korean parents impart a sense of “Korea” as a source of timeless tradition and practices; whereas “Germany” is a setting for their everyday lives. These shared experiences are mobilised as a framework for negotiating identities. In contrast to the essentialist understanding of identity invoked by Germany society, the second generation describe themselves as kyopo, a Korean term meaning “Korean living in a foreign country” and which, in the German context, means “Second-generation German-Korean living in Germany”. This thesis looks at the ways Korean-Germans articulate the possibilities and limits of kyopo identity in relation to narratives and discourses on ‘Koreanness' and ‘Germanness', and in the context of social interactions. I focus especially on the ways in which this occurs for women, whose experiences are often marginalised in the process of kyopo identity negotiation. They are caught between the need to expose the problems of male privilege and the desire to unite with Korean-German men to contest the German discourse on integration and foreigners that confines them both.

This thesis develops a conceptual and methodological approach to understanding how future climate change is likely to affect migration, and then applies this approach to explore the likely effects of climate change on different migration flows in and from Mexico. Scientific and policy interest in the climate change-migration nexus has been growing over the last decade, yet empirical results remain inconclusive. Existing approaches are often conceptually and methodologically unconvincing as they assume a linear relationship between climate change and migration, or try to separate climate stressors from other factors involved in migration decisions. Furthermore, most current research into the climate-migration nexus has focused on a relatively simple framing of localised environmental pressures forcing people to migrate. In contrast, this thesis acknowledges the complexity of migration and suggests that climate change is likely to affect factors involved in migration decisions at the local and the global level. It develops a more realistic understanding of the potential effect of climate change on migration by examining the impact of the local and global consequences of climate change on livelihood stressors and other factors involved in migration decisions. This thesis adopts a qualitative and comparative approach to illustrate this concept, based on fieldwork in Zacatecas and Veracruz, two Mexican states with different migration profiles and different local climate stressors. It analyses the factors involved in migration decisions, which include livelihood stressors but also networks, recruiters and individual agency. A risk matrix is then developed to explore the climate sensitivity of the various factors that influence internal and international migration flows. It analyses the extent to which each factor is likely to be affected by climate change in combination with the relevance of this factor for the migration decision-making process. This approach allows identifying those factors that, affected by future climate change, have the highest potential to impact on existing migration patterns. It also allows a comparison between different migration flows. Results suggest that climate change is likely to have moderate effects on migration, mainly on internal rural flows. Alarmist predictions of large numbers of 'climate change refugees' are thus inappropriate and policies should instead focus on the factors projected to impact most on migration under scenarios of future climate change. Policies should also aim at mitigating the negative effects of climate change on people's livelihoods and at protecting migrants and non-migrants.

The study of the integration of the children of migrants—the so-called ‗second generation‘—is a recent trend in migration literature. Their integration is thought to be an important indicator of the degree of integration of immigrants in general into a specific society. This thesis is the first full-length comparative study of the Albanian second generation. Using a variety of field methods, it compares the ethnic identities, transnational ties and integration pathways of Albanian-origin teenagers in three European cities—London, Thessaloniki and Florence—by focusing on intergenerational transmission between the first and the second generation. Greece, Italy and the UK are, in that order, the three main European countries where Albanian migrants have settled during their short but intense migration experience of the past two decades. My study shifts the focus partly to the situation and developments in Southern Europe, where the awareness and interest in issues of the integration of the second generation are still at an initial phase. The research involved fieldwork in each of the above-named cities, where quota samples of three categories of informants were interviewed: parents, their second-generation teenage children, and teachers and other key informants within the host society. Findings show significant differences in the integration patterns of both generations, affected by sharp differences between the three contexts and the history of immigration in each context. They also point to important within- and inter-group differences, based on various socio-economic indicators. Intergenerational transmission appears as a dynamic process affected not only by context and the parents‘ socio-economic background, but also by parents‘ stage of integration. By studying a settling immigrant group and their descendants, the thesis takes a proactive approach towards the integration of ethnic minorities.

The treatment of irregular migrants in Malta is problematic from a human rights perspective, for it contravenes the principle of universalism that is intrinsic to human rights philosophy. This study investigates this treatment. Crucially, it identifies four elements of political practice in the absence of which it is contended a human rights culture cannot flourish, as well as underlying patterns in Maltese political culture which contravene these four elements. Its ultimate aim is to propose meaningful, effective and long-lasting human-rights-compliant solutions to the treatment of irregular immigrants in Malta. Based on a reading of foundational documents of the modern human rights movement, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the thesis posits that human rights should be ‘located' between the political and the cultural. The four basic principles of human rights identified as framing the optimal political conditions for the nurturing of a human rights culture are related to dignity, a cosmopolitan orientation, democratic practice and a commitment to equality. This concept of a human rights culture is innovatively used as an analytical tool for examining Maltese responses to irregular migration. This is done in a two-way manner, with the examination of practice enriching the identified theoretical framework, and the theoretical framework then guiding the search for possible new human-rights-consistent policy directions which Malta could take. Drawing on a range of ethnographic methods, including in-depth interviews and participant observation, this study brings to light the difficulties of putting into practice human rights principles within an already established local culture grappling with its own ghosts like occupations and colonial experiences. Although resistance to change is often difficult to identify since it is shrouded in ‘modern' language, hidden under security arguments or bureaucratic explanations. Interviews and a range of documents illustrate the multi-layered misconceptions, stereotypes and fear that play out among the Maltese.

In order to make an informed decision on the optimal reduction in greenhouse gas emissions it is necessary to understand fully the damage costs of climate change. However, current modelling techniques fail to provide adequate emphasis on important components of the costs and benefits of avoided climate change. This approach risks over or underestimating true damage costs. Disregard for the amenity value that climate may hold and assumptions that restrict geographic mobility and determine the rate of social discounting may all contribute to significant error. Using spatial variations as an analogue for future climate change, this thesis finds that climate is important in determining the desirability of migration destinations and holds substantial amenity value. It also concludes that more work is required to be confident in assuming an elasticity of marginal utility equal to unity. Alternative techniques, including subjective wellbeing and hypothetical equivalence scales, are utilised to avoid having to make potentially restrictive assumptions on preferences for climate. Finally, this thesis stresses the importance of accounting for measurement error in cross-sectional survey data on household income. It seeks to inform how an econometrician can seek to implement appropriate instrumental variables to overcome this error.

This thesis presents a comparative computational study of the performance of two different pricing mechanisms in a day-ahead wholesale electricity market, where performance is measured as the average level of payments made by the system operator to the generators. It focusses on two key pricing mechanisms: a uniform price based buy-back pricing model, defined as a short run approximation to the market design in Great Britain, and a nodal pricing model based on Locational Marginal Pricing rules. The research uses a game theory based approach for modelling themarket, allowing multiple rounds of the game to be played and statistically reliable results to be obtained. The research develops an agent based simulation of the day ahead markets for both of the pricing mechanisms, and is simulated on a constrained electricity grid. The agents developed for the simulation each represent a generator and are designed to be profit maximising with respect to a parent generation company. Agents employ an evolutionary algorithm in order to create optimised bids for the generation of electricity based on the current market state. Simulations of the market are performed using a styalised 29-Node transmission grid. A series of experiments are performed comparing the performance of the nodal and buy-back pricing mechanisms, under a series of different operating conditions. It is seen in all of the observed cases that the nodal market design averages a higher level of payments to its participants, and the indication is that the agents in a nodal market are able to explore the higher risk strategies more profitably than their buy-back counterparts. This work also highlights the value of creating evolutionary agents that are robust and flexible in analysing market designs. This research demonstrates that the greater the level of competition in a market the more efficiently market participants act. In addition to this the agents competing with a uniform based Buy Back pricing system appears far more restricted by higher levels of competition than their Nodal counterparts.

The development of information technologies and the reduction of trade barriers have fostered the international fragmentation of production and the expansion of knowledge networks. Globalization has stimulated an unprecedented economic growth across the globe, shifting the balance in the world economy, with a decline of developed countries and the rise of emerging economies. The response of rms in mature economies to global competition is an increased engagement in internationalization and innovation strategies. In this thesis we investigate rst how trade protectionism might not be an e cient instrument to prevent the negative e ects of international competition, nding mixed e ect of EU anti-dumping measures on Chinese products, with temporary bene t for domestic producers, but a negative impact on importers and long-run perverse e ect on productivity. Second, we analyse the role of innovation in fostering the international performance of rms. Our results show that R&D investment, innovation and outsourced R&D improve the export performance of European rms, exporting more products and accessing new and more di cult foreign markets. Only by investing in innovation European rms will be able to positively internalise the externalities linked to globalization, increasing human capital and the stock of knowledge, boosting productivity and creating new value-added jobs.