No description available.

No description available.

The WTO strives to advance trade liberalization and the vast majority of the future global growth is expected to occur outside of Europe. The EU's strategy to face this development is to pass free trade agreements. The purpose of these agreements is to increase trade and stimulate growth, which according to trade theory, impacts a small and trade dependent country like Sweden. Previous research on free trade agreements shows positive effects on trade flows but it is rather uncertain how individual countries and Swedish export have been affected. The purpose of this study is therefore to empirically analyze whether free trade agreements have a significant effect on the Swedish export of goods during 1998-2017. To determine the effect panel data and three econometric models are used. The gravity model constitutes the theoretical basis of the inquiries. Our final judgement based on the three model characteristics and their result is that we cannot conclude whether free trade agreements has a significant effect on the Swedish export of goods during 1998-2017.

No description available.

This thesis examines nudges that via peer comparisons of domestic electricity use aims at motivating households to conserve energy. Nudges are generally acknowledged to be cost effective and able to induce a positive behavioral change. However, some researchers argue that there is an often overlooked cost associated with nudges in terms of psychological benefits or costs for the individual. The main objective is to study if the potential utility loss, or discomfort, associated with sharing information about household consumption of electricity varies within the population. Statistical methods make it possible to explicitly estimate the compensations needed for households to provide private information regarding their energy use. A latent class analysis is used to examine taste heterogeneity, whether preferences differ between different groups of electricity consumers and how socioeconomic factors relate to possible taste heterogeneity. In general, the results are expected and overall predict that sharing information is associated with a cost for the consumer. Turning to the distribution of preferences, the results predict that there are groups within the population that are affected differently by nudges. These results pinpoint the importance of taking the cost incurred on the individual, by the nudge itself, into account and provide a key aspect for policy makers to consider when implementing nudge programs.

This study investigates the impact of the price of electricity on the number of workers in the Swedish manufacturing industry. This study also investigates the effect of a “shock” in the price of electricity on the number of workers in the manufacturing industry. This study is using economic theory and earlier literature to try to explain the results obtained in this study. This study has found that a causality exists between the price of electricity and the number of workers in the manufacturing industry. The result from this study implies that an increase inthe price of electricity predicts a short-term negative effect on the number of workers. If the price of electricity is “shocked” with one standard deviation, everything else held constant, the number of workers decreases. This study has found that a causality exists between the price of electricity and the number of workers in the manufacturing industry. The result from this study implies that an increase inthe price of electricity predicts a short-term negative effect on the number of workers. If the price of electricity is “shocked” with one standard deviation, everything else held constant, the number of workers decreases.

This essay analyses the impact of the UEFA European Championship in 2012 on the regional inflow of tourists in Poland. In this essay we use a difference-in-differences method to compare the regions who hosted the event with the regions who did not host the event. Our results show that there is a statistically significant differences between the two groups regarding the arrival of foreign tourists. The results show that the regions who hosted the event experienced a significant increase in the inflow of tourists and that was related to the tournament. The arrival of foreign tourists increased during the month of June 2012, when the event took place and in the months after. The conclusion we draw from this essay is that the UEFA European Championship had a positive impact both in the short and long run in the inflow of tourists in the regions who hosted the 2012 tournament in Poland.

<p>This thesis consists of three papers, which address different aspects of financial markets and institutions.</p><p>Equities and Inequality studies the relationship between investor protection the development of financial markets and income inequality. In the presence of market frictions, investor protection promotes financial development by raising confidence and reducing the costs of external financing. Developed financial systems spread risks among financiers and firms, allocating them to the agents bearing them the best. Therefore, financial development plays the twofold role of encouraging agents to undertake risky enterprises and providing them with insurance. By increasing the number of risky projects, it raises income inequality. By extending insurance to more agents, it reduces it. As a result, the relationship between financial development and income inequality is hump-shaped. Empirical evidence from a cross-section of sixty-nine countries, as well as a panel of fifty-two countries over the period 1976-2000, supports the predictions of the model.</p><p>How Does Financial Liberalization Affect Economic Growth? assesses the effects of international financial liberalization and banking crises on investments and productivity in a sample of 93 countries (at its largest) observed between 1975 and 1999. I provide empirical evidence that financial liberalization spurs productivity growth and marginally affects capital accumulation. Banking crises depress both investments and TFP. Both levels and growth rates of productivity respond to financial liberalization and banking crises. The paper also presents evidence of conditional convergence in productivity across countries. However, the speed of convergence is unaffected by financial liberalization. These results are robust to a number of econometric specifications.</p><p>Explaining Co-movements Between Stock Markets: US and Germany explains co-movements between stock markets by explicitly considering the distinction between interdependence and contagion. It proposes and implements a full information approach on data for US and Germany to provide answers to the following questions: (i) is there long-term interdependence between US and German stock markets? (ii) Is there short-term interdependence and contagion between US and German stock markets, i.e. do short-term fluctuations of the US share prices spill over to German share prices and is such co-movement unstable over high volatility episodes? The answers are no to the former and yes to the latter.</p>

<p>This thesis comprises three theoretical essays on the economic applications of product quality regulation in WTO Agreements:</p><p>Economic Applications of the WTO Consistency Requirement Article 5.5 (consistency) of the SPS Agreement requires countries to avoid arbitrary distinctions in health protection on goods that are associated with the same disease, if such distinctions result in discrimination or a disguised restriction on trade. For a bound tariff, a marginally binding consistency constraint improves welfare but welfare is reduced if the constraint is interpreted too strictly. When tariffs are negotiated subject to consistency, the welfare effects of consistency depend on whether trade negotiators are myopic or forward-looking.</p><p>Public Opinion, Product Quality Regulation and Trade attempts to answer the following questions. Should governments be forced to admit products that science deems healthy, but consumers do not? Are consumer fears sufficient to justify a ban on a healthy import or should the fears refect scientifically proven risk? To what extent can regulatory authorities exploit these fears for protectionist purposes? In an adverse selection model, consumers have imperfect information with regard to government type and import product quality. The government of the country exporting the product of uncertain quality has an incentive to commit to a strategy where it recognises the importing country's right to ban the unhealthy import but tariff retaliates if the importing country bans a healthy import. Under such a strategy first best is achieved; consumers learn product quality and consumption distortions associated with consumer fear are eliminated. Allowing the importing</p><p>Asymmetric Information and Country-of-Origin Labelling concerns information asymmetries as a rationale for trade policy when adverse selection is an international problem. Firms in countries North and South choose between producing high or low quality. Those choosing low quality take advantage of adverse selection problems, while those choosing high quality do so to establish reputations and earn positive profits in subsequent periods when information is perfect. Cross-country differences in the relative costs of producing high quality result in different average qualities and prices in autarky. Trade is welfare deteriorating (improving) for the North (South). Allowing the Northern government the option of origin-labelling eliminates the international externalities associated with trade when adverse selection is a transnational problem, and is unambiguously welfare improving for the North.</p>

<p>Subject / term: Economics (Nationalekonomi) / VT2008Title: The Impact of Openness on the Swedish EconomyAuthor(s): Nsiah Samuel Osei & Ojeabulu GodspowerSupervisor: Christos PaphristodoulouIntroduction:Over the decades there has been continues debate amongst economist on the relation betweenopenness and economic performance. From the comparative advantage theory of Heckscher-Ohlin, Openness can be an influencing factor in improving the economic performance of acountry. Based on Heckscher-Ohlin theory, a country will export products it has comparativeadvantage in to improve its overall economic performance.Problem:The purpose of this thesis work is to determine empirically, the type of economic growth thatoccurs as a result of the Openness of the Swedish Economy.Method: We will perform traditional Ordinary Least Square regression analysis on thevariables listed in the theoretical part of this thesis. We will also plot stationary andUnstationary time series graphs in relation with GDP, Exports and Imports.Results: The regression results shows that export has been more than import in Sweden andthat the type of growth experienced in Sweden was Pro-trade biased</p>