Using ordered probit techniques this thesis examines how subjective well-being among different agents in Sweden are effected by absolute and relative income. In other words this thesis examines the importance of absolute and relative income among different types of agents where agents are identified depending on: Age, Population-density, Highest level of education, Different levels of income, Country of birth, Unemployment and Partnership. The result suggests that relative income is on average more important to SWB among agents that are; ‘middle-aged’ (30-65 years of age), female, born in Sweden,  has a lower education level, lives in an area with high population density are employed and lives with a partner. Absolute income was found to be on average more important to SWB among agents that are; ‘middle-aged’ (30-65 years of age), not born in Sweden, single, male, unemployed, has a lower education level and lives in an area with high population density.

The rise of youth unemployment in Sweden has highlighted the need for more research investigating the effects of unemployment on future earnings. Earlier research suggests that youth unemployment will leave labor market scares on a person’s future income. Therefore, in this thesis I investigate the question if migration can increase an individual’s future earnings and hence work as a cure for scared individuals. My theoretical argument is that migration is an investment in human capital which will lead to higher future income and may heal scars. To test my argument, I use Swedish panel data from the ASTRID database, examining unemployed individuals born 1979-1983 after finishing their education in Sweden. A nearest-neighbor propensity score matching method is applied to estimate the casual effects. However, the results show only few significant results over time and age cohorts in the data. Therefore, my conclusion is that migration barley increases income of young unemployed individuals.

Today’s energy revolution proposes a pathway from conventional energy sources to more alternative and renewable energy sources in order to sustain energy supply, slow down climate change and promote political independence. As a result of this revolution most countries have to implement new technologies and ways to generate green energy and therefore ensure future energy supply. Since the late 20th century, the United Kingdom focuses on the energy source wind due to its perfect wind conditions on the Island. My study provides statistical tests to examine significant determinants that might influence the permission process for new windmill construction sites. I use the probit model to calculate the effects caused by changes in the installed capacities, employment rates, energy consumption levels, income levels and population density on the probability of attaining construction permission for new wind farms. My analysis shows that only capacity levels might play a significant role regarding the permission for new wind farm projects. The other variables play minor roles, meaning that employment rates, energy consumption levels, income levels and population density do affect the permission process of windmills but their impacts are not great enough to cause substantial changes.

No description available.

Inflation affects many economic processes, and it is therefor crucial for economic agents to have reliable forecasts of it. In this thesis, single hidden layer feedforward artificial neural networks were used to predict the year-on-year consumer price index inflation rate in Sweden for the period 2013-01-01 – 2016-06-30. Separate networks were estimated for each prediction horizon, ranging from 1 to 24 months. The root mean square errors were computed for each horizon, which were then compared with the predictions issued by the Riksbank and two linear models (Autoregressive Moving Average and Autore- gressive) for the same period. The results show that the networks outperform the Riksbank’s predictions on 1–5 and 11–24 months, the ARMA model on 1–5 and 9–24 months, and the AR model on 1, 3, 5 and 20 – 23 months. The main conclusion is that artificial neural networks do have potential in forecasting the Swedish consumer price index inflation rate. There are, how- ever, several limitations in this thesis that need to be addressed and potential improvements to be investigated before a clear verdict can be made. / Prisinflation påverkar många ekonomiska processer, och det är därför av största vikt för ekonomiska aktörer att ha tillförlitliga prognoser för denna. I denna kandidatuppsats implementerades framkopplade artificiella neurala nätverk med ett gömt lager för att prognostisera den årliga konsumentprisinflationstakten i Sverige för perioden 2013-01-01 – 2016-06-30. Separata nätverk passades för varje prediktionshorisont mellan en och 24 månader. Roten ur medelkvadratfelet beräknades för varje horisont, och jämfördes sedan med prognoser utfärdade av Riksbanken samt två linjära modeller (ARMA och AR) för samma period. Resultaten visar att nätverken presterar bättre än Riksbankens prognoser på horisonter mellan en och fem månader, samt på horisonter mellan elva och 24 månader, och presterar bättre än ARMA-modellen på intervallen en till fem månader och nio till 24 månader, samt bättre än AR-modellen på en, tre och fem samt 20 till 23 månader. Den huvudsakliga slutsatsen från arbetet är att artificiella neurala nätverk har potential som verktyg för att prognostisera den svenska konsumentprisinflationstakten. I uppsatsen görs emellertid flera antaganden och förenklingar som bör undersökas närmre, och författarna identifierar potentiella förbättringar som också bör utforskas i framtida arbeten innan någon klar dom kan utfärdas.

This dissertation provides an economic analysis of families as owners of large listed firms. The essential research question is whether family ownership provides an efficient form of governance. Family ownership and control is evaluated from different angles; how ownership, control, management, and board structure affects firm performance, and executive compensation. Chapter two “A Contractual Perspective of the Firm with an Application to the Maritime Industry” is a conceptual paper analyzing the contractual structure of a firm. The chapter conceptualizes the relations between firms, and markets, and gives a transaction cost perspective of why firms are organized the way they are. The third chapter “The Impact of Vote Differentiation on Investment Performance in Listed Family Firms” investigates ownership and control in Swedish family controlled firms. The analysis shows that family control is beneficial, but only if voting rights and cash-flow rights are aligned. The fourth chapter “Family Control and Executive Compensation” analyses whether families use remuneration as a way to expropriate minority shareholders. The study shows that managers in family-controlled firms have alower share of variable compensation than managers in non-family controlled firms. The analysis shows further that family control has a reducing effect on the total level of CEO-compensation. The last chapter “Board of Directors, Dependency, and Returns on Investment” investigates if there is a relationship between ownership structure, board of directors, and firm performance. The marginal q analysis indicate that firm dependent directors have a negative impact on firms’ investment performance. Owner-dependent and employee elected directors do not affect firm investment performance. To sum up, the empirical results show that family ownership and control affects remuneration in listed firms, and the firm investment performance. The analysis further shows that there are clear differences in the ownership and governance structure between family and non-family controlled firms.

The aim with this thesis is to investigate various variables that are pre-assumed to be of importance of the electricity price. With econometric analysis estimation on their influence of the electricity price are made. This is important when consider the electricity market and its future challenges towards renewable energy that are intermittent energy. The market and supply primarily need to consider the competitiveness, the environmental impact from the production of the electricity and delivery. These three consideration depend on which energy that are evaluated which means that instruments to achieve different goals are needed. The results from the econometric analysis is that the included variables have a significant impact of the electricity price. Rainfall and nuclear power produce about 80 percent of the electricity. Temperature and fossil fuel are of importance as well, during periods with stricter weather conditions it is demanded more electricity for our households and the continuously match of supply and demand at the market sometimes requires coal as input good for production of electricity. The increased renewable energy, also give some explanation towards increased fossil fuel combustion when supply becomes insufficient. But increased wind and solar also increase the supply of electricity with a lower cost of production compared to coal and nuclear power. Earlier studies have estimated that a decreased electricity supply from nuclear power will affect the price negative which means that the price of electricity will increase. In this thesis that assumption is a strong assumption and the suggestion is that it depend on the development of new hydro, wind and solar power proceed.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.