Denna studie utförs med bakgrund i det demokratiska styrelseskickets dominanta status i världen och avser att blottlägga orsakerna bakom demokratiska regimers fortlevnad. Syftet med uppsatsen är att pröva trovärdigheten av instrumentella demokratiargument. I studien tillämpas en statistisk analys, i form av OLS-regression, för undersöka huruvida tillfredställelsen med demokratiskt styre kan förklaras utifrån individens välmående. Analysen är mestadels baserad på intervjudata från World Values Survey 2017–2020: Wave 7 och avser att generalisera till en global kontext. Resultaten finner stöd för sambandet och därmed även för instrumentella demokratiargument, då individens välmående förknippas med praktiska resultat och måluppfyllelse. Till skillnad från tidigare forskning analyseras dessutom effekterna av nationell stolthet, likaså effekterna av medborgliga rättigheters konsolidering. Nationell stolthet visar sig ha en positiv effekt på tillfredställelsen med demokratiskt styre och bör därför undersökas närmare vid framtida studier.

In the COVID-19 stock market industries reacted and were affected in different ways. This paper will use Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes to look at how sectors and selected industries fared after a whole year in a pandemic. This will be accomplished by comparing 2019 stock returns to 2020 stock returns with a t-test and estimating the effect of COVID-19 positive case and death increases using a pooled OLS regression. All SIC sectors A-J were analyzed as well as 18 selected industries such as food stores, real estate, oil and gas extraction, health services, and communications. Results show a significant variation in the monthly returns of 2019 and 2020. Regression results show that there is a small but positive correlation of sector and industry returns to COVID-19 positive case and death increases. This contrary result can confirm the short influential window of COVID-19 outcomes on the stock market as shown in related research. This also confirms that regardless of the continued escalation of the pandemic, the stock market follows sentiment, not substance. This paper will contribute to the existing literature by conducting a yearlong event study of the United States' sectors and industries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The level of labor productivity differs among the European Union countries, especially when you compare a developing country to a more developed country in the EU. This is an issue because the achievement of high labor productivity is a necessary stipulation for a developing economy to realize economic growth and more economic development. On the other hand, the more individuals in an economy with access to the internet (internet connectivity) depicts how developed the economy is in terms of information and communication technology (ICT). Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether there is a positive relationship between countries having high internet connectivity and labor productivity in the EU. In doing so, Political and entrepreneurial decision-makers can use these findings to decide how much attention or budget to put on the ICT sector to improve labor productivity. To understand the factors that affect labor productivity, Adam Smith and Karl Marx’s theory on labor productivity is used to gain a better understanding. A panel data analysis using a fixed-effect model and pooled OLS regression model is applied in the study to predict the relationship. The result of the study indicates that internet connectivity does not have a significant impact on Labour productivity, or there was not enough evidence showing that they are positively correlated with each other.

In 2022, food prices increased rapidly, prompting this investigation into how the price shock has impacted consumer behavior. Previous studies have found that price shocks affect low- income households with children the most. A switch to more calorie-dense food and a decreased consumption of snacks. This study aims to estimate the price elasticity of various food products and to identify how the elasticities differ among various types of households. The elasticities are calculated using OLS regression on receipt data from Coop. Results show that household variables, including income level, presence of children, shopping location, and organic product preferences, significantly impact the price elasticity of food products. Low-income households without children, living outside major cities and their suburbs, have a higher price elasticity, meaning these shoppers are more sensitive to price changes. The same tendencies were observed for all products even though the exact parameters could only be proven for a third of the products. The findings have important implications for understanding how price changes affect consumer behavior and can inform food policy decisions. / Under 2022 ökade livsmedelspriserna kraftigt, vilket inspirerade denna undersökning av hur prischocken har påverkat konsumenternas beteende. Tidigare studier visar att prischocker har störst påverkan på låginkomsthushåll med barn. Även en övergång till mer kaloririk mat och en minskad konsumption av snacks har observerats. Syftet med denna studie är att uppskatta priselasticiteten för olika livsmedel och identifiera hur elasticiteten skiljer sig åt mellan olika typer av hushåll. Elasticiteterna beräknas med hjälp av en OLS-regression på kvittodata från Coop. Resultaten visar att hushållsvariabler, inklusive inkomstnivå, barn i hushållet, varans inköpsplats och val av ekologiska produkter, påverkar priselasticiteten för livsmedel markant. Hushåll med låg inkomst utan barn, som bor utanför större städer och deras förorter, har en högre priselasticitet, vilket innebär att dessa kunder är mer priskänsliga. Samma tendenser observerades för alla produkter även om de exakta parametrarna endast kunde bevisas för en tredjedel av produkterna. Resultaten har viktiga implikationer för förståelsen av hur prisförändringar påverkar konsumentbeteenden och kan även informera livsmedelspolitiska beslut.

This paper examines the effect of governance on inequality, specifically if improvements in the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators affect inequality as measured by two Gini coefficients: Market Gini, before taxes and redistribution, and Net Gini, after taxes and redistribution. The data for the Gini measurements was taken from the Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID) and the data for the Worldwide Governance Indicators was taken from the World Bank. Data for fifteen (15) years, from the start of the Worldwide Governance Indicators until 2013, was combined with data from SWIID for the same years. In all, data from one hundred fifty-six (156) countries with a full set of six (6) indicators for the years that had at least one corresponding Gini measurements were used in this study: in total one thousand seven hundred and forty-seven (1747) observations. In a pooled OLS regression, controlling for growth with the variable GDP per Capita expressed as a per cent (%) change on an annual basis, the individual indicators gave the following results, where a positive sign indicates increased inequality and vice versa: Control of Corruption and Regulatory Quality showed a positive sign for both Gini measurements. Rule of Law, Government Effectiveness, Political Stability and the Absence of Violence/Terrorism, gave a negative sign for both Gini measurements. Voice and Accountability showed a positive sign for Market Gini and a negative sign for Net Gini. The fact that an improvement in Control of Corruption increased inequality both before and after taxes and redistribution was unexpected and should be further researched.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the role of financial markets and institutions on the economical growth of a developing country. The IRS (interest rate spread) is used as the main tool, to examine Chile and Taiwan regarding their economical growth between 1988 and 2007. The reason Taiwan and Chile have been chosen is due to vast differences in the geographical location, and even divergence in political and economical system of these countries. The research method that has been chosen for this thesis is a quantitative method. The economic theory is mainly based on secondary data. The method of data presentation and analysis are manly descriptive even though the layout of the thesis is more of an explanation research. The carculations are made with the statictical computer program SPSS. The results of the study are expressed mathematically and in sets of tables. In order to determinate the correlation between IRS and macroeconomic factors and the correlation between IRS and Economy growth, the magnitude and trend of the IRS is analysed from 1988 to 2007. To test the hypothesis, the OLS regression and panel data model is used. The theoretical part is the base of the empirical part. The theoretical part is needed in order to understand and later on analyze the results from research on Chile and Taiwan. Different aspects of economical growth are defined to make it easier to understand and follow the thesis thoroughly. The financial markets and institutions are discussed very shortly. To understand the growth theory, Solow growth model is discussed, which is one of the most important models concerning the economical growth. The empirical part of the thesis is dealing with the test of IRS against some macro economical factors such as; costumer price index (CPI), Exchange Rate (EX), Export Volume (EXP) and Money Supply (MO) of two different countries; Taiwan and Chile. The study provides evidence of the correlation between interest rate spread and the macroeconomical factors. The result shows that the correlation between interest rate spread and the macroeconomics factors vary from country to country. This mainly depends on the difference in political situation, the different economic and political policies of various goverments, the high inflation rates and the market structure of the countries. The value of the coefficients gives the magnitude of adjustment in the event that the systems move out of equilibrium. It also provides some evidence that there is a significant relationship between interst rate spread and economical growth. The test results show clearly that in order to gain a sustainable development and economical growth the financial markets must perform well.

Religion is a deeply important tradition in many people's lives, especially for those forced to leave abruptly their homes and loved ones and resettle in a foreign land. Religion not only provides spiritual guidance but also social networks, comfort, and moral standards, among many others things. I chose to study the beliefs and practices of Vietnamese American Buddhists and Catholics as well as the relationship between those two groups in the U.S. The Vietnamese present an interesting case because of their collective status as a well-publicized immigrant, formerly refugee, population that is now well-established in this country. With my research, I was able to test five hypotheses. I wanted to determine the degree of transnationality, tension between the religious groups, conversion, and ancestor worship. Secondarily, I assessed any differences regionally. In order to test my hypotheses, I conducted 60 quantitative surveys. I sampled from the Houston and Minneapolis-St. Paul Vietnamese communities. Transnationality, or ties to the homeland, was more prevalent for Buddhists than Catholics as I had hypothesized. There was a minute degree of tension present, however, generally with older members of the first generation cohort. Traditional Vietnamese ancestor worship was not more prevalent with Buddhists than with Catholics. I was unable to sample enough religious converts in order to test my conversion hypothesis. In terms of differences across regions, all variables other than national identity as well as an indicator of transnationality were statistically insignificant. This data helps fill a nearly 30-year gap in the research in this area and focuses specifically on the Vietnamese population which many studies have been unable to do. In addition to my quantitative study, I also conducted qualitative fieldwork at four primary research and three secondary research sites in the Minneapolis-St. Paul and Houston metropolitan areas. Twenty-five to thirty hours were spent at each primary location observing the members, volunteers, dress, interactions, normative and deviant behaviors during services, socialization, languages spoken, attentiveness, racial diversity, and additional activities provided by the religious organization to the membership. This fieldwork gave me a better understanding of this community in a religious context.

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to examine the role of financial markets and institutions on the economical growth of a developing country. The IRS (interest rate spread) is used as the main tool, to examine Chile and Taiwan regarding their economical growth between 1988 and 2007. The reason Taiwan and Chile have been chosen is due to vast differences in the geographical location, and even divergence in political and economical system of these countries.</p><p>The research method that has been chosen for this thesis is a quantitative method. The economic theory is mainly based on secondary data. The method of data presentation and analysis are manly descriptive even though the layout of the thesis is more of an explanation research. The carculations are made with the statictical computer program SPSS. The results of the study are expressed mathematically and in sets of tables. In order to determinate the correlation between IRS and macroeconomic factors and the correlation between IRS and Economy growth, the magnitude and trend of the IRS is analysed from 1988 to 2007. To test the hypothesis, the OLS regression and panel data model is used.</p><p>The theoretical part is the base of the empirical part. The theoretical part is needed in order to understand and later on analyze the results from research on Chile and Taiwan. Different aspects of economical growth are defined to make it easier to understand and follow the thesis thoroughly. The financial markets and institutions are discussed very shortly. To understand the growth theory, Solow growth model is discussed, which is one of the most important models concerning the economical growth.</p><p>The empirical part of the thesis is dealing with the test of IRS against some macro economical factors such as; costumer price index (CPI), Exchange Rate (EX), Export Volume (EXP) and Money Supply (MO) of two different countries; Taiwan and Chile. The study provides evidence of the correlation between interest rate spread and the macroeconomical factors. The result shows that the correlation between interest rate spread and the macroeconomics factors vary from country to country. This mainly depends on the difference in political situation, the different economic and political policies of various goverments, the high inflation rates and the market structure of the countries. The value of the coefficients gives the magnitude of adjustment in the event that the systems move out of equilibrium. It also provides some evidence that there is a significant relationship between interst rate spread and economical growth. The test results show clearly that in order to gain a sustainable development and economical growth the financial markets must perform well.</p>

The empirical paper studies the relationship between property value and hedonic attributes. To indentify the determinant characteristics the influent the private real estate price, their degrees of significance and help with the valuation procedure, 8870 private residential property transactions with caveats lodged across country are selected from Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore. 40 models are tested and RMSE, R-Square, Adjusted R-Square, F-Value tests are performed to discover the overall fitness of the models. Breusch-Pagan F-Test is performed to test the existence of heteroskedasticity and VIF test to check multicolinearity. Z score is performed to check the spatial autocorrelation. Three founding are discovered. Firstly, size, age, floor level, population density level, latitude and construction status are core attributes resulting from the regression. Secondly, new district zones classified by functions are detected instead of 28 administrative districts. Thirdly, government policies and local customs (Feng Shui) are proven to be determinant variables as well. Two suggestions are given to regulate the market in the end of this article.

Closed-end funds’ (CEF) discount and discount fluctuations have been puzzling researchers for decades. Up to date, there are no multidimensional or cross-sectional variables that have been proved to influence CEFs simultaneously. Fact is that, earlier research and theories on the subject are contradictious and several suggestions on the origin of the CEF’s discount and its fluctuations have been proposed. To mention a few, investor sentiments, taxation issues, dividend policies, agency costs and agency problems are considered to influence these discounts. The purpose of this report is to examine the relationship between micro- and macroeconomic variables fluctuations, and how these can explain the discount fluctuation of the Swedish CEFs. This report focuses upon the CEFs traded at NASDAQ OMX Stockholm, which have been selected through a comprehensive multistage selection process. 10 CEFs were selected. Monthly data for calculating micro- and macroeconomic variables was collected for the period March 2003 – February 2013, which resulted in approximately 1 200 observations. OLS regression analysis, Fixed- and Random Effect Models and Hausman tests were conducted. The findings conclude that some of this report’s chosen micro- and macro variables influence on the Swedish CEFs’ discount fluctuation, although these findings are conditioned. The CEFs’ individual characteristics or traits result in a significant impact on the fluctuation of CEFs’ discount. Hence, only by controlling these characteristics, multidimensional or cross-sectional micro- and macroeconomic variables can be proved to affect the CEFs’ discount fluctuation.