Merger reviews are institutionalized and customized analyses of mergers and acquisitions by antitrust authorities which result in approvals or disapprovals of the strategic intents of firms. In view of the wide variety of agents whose lives may be changed by a merger review, the fact that different stakeholders might induce a government intervention on a particular deal, and the central role of antitrust commissioners in this context, the general aim of this thesis is to examine the determinants of merger review decisions, but particularly those related to commissioners\' personal attributes, values and interests. Additionally, some structural and procedural issues contained in the antitrust regulatory sphere as well as control variables related to other perspectives of analysis are included as part of this empirical analysis. To achieve the mentioned general objective and other specific goals, a unique dataset was built that covers a fourteen-year period of competition regulation in Brazil. The sample of this study comprises 30,543 votes by 36 different panel members on 5,091 transactions examined through ordered probit models. This thesis, mainly, reveals that \'political ideology\', \'prior work experience in the public service\' and \'human capital\' of antitrust commissioners, in addition to the size of commissions\' voting panels, affect consistently merger review verdicts. In short, under the PSDB presidential administration, for example, transactions were less challenged in Brazil. Regarding the \'public service experience\', commissioners who have predominant prior job or professional association in Education, Health and Social areas, inversely to \'political ideology\', increase the likelihood of high levels of intervention in private deals. Additionally, commissioners\' accumulated skills and knowledge - the \'human capital\' - also affect positively law enforcement on merger reviews. The implications of this particular contribution to public administration follow the same path of \'public service experience\': if societies do not pressure politicians to improve public service, considering not only a remarkable knowledge in Law or Economics to appoint a commissioner, but having a broader view of individuals\' motivations and claims, interferences between \'concepts, principles and norms\' stated in laws, and law enforcement will continuously occur. The last consistent result shows that the likelihood of the Brazilian authority to impose significant changes to firms decreases the greater the voting panel. Thus, this thesis suggests to antitrust policymakers that wide ranges of minimum and maximum quorum in voting panels must be avoided. To the best knowledge of this thesis author, there is not any past research that found such results. It means a unique contribution to the antitrust and management literatures. / Atos de concentração são processos de análise institucionalizados e customizados de fusões e aquisições, realizados por autoridades antitrustes, que resultam na aprovação ou bloqueio dos intentos estratégicos das firmas. Em vista da grande variadade de agentes cujas vidas podem ser afetadas pelos atos de concentração, do fato de que diferentes agentes podem induzir uma intervenção do governo em uma transação específica e o papel central dos conselheiros antitruste neste contexto, o objetivo geral desta tese é examinar os determinantes das decisões de uma autoridade antitruste sobre atos de concentração, mas particularmente os determinantes relacionados aos atributos pessoais, valores e interesses dos conselheiros. Adicionalmente, alguns fatores contidos na esfera regulatória antitruste são considerados nesta análise empírica. Para que o objetivo geral mencionado e outros específicos sejam alcançados, um banco de dados único foi construído e cobre um período de catorze anos de regulacão no Brasil. A amostra deste estudo, então, contém 30,543 votos de 36 diferentes membros do CADE sobre 5,091 transações. Modelos probit ordenados são usados para a análise dos dados. Esta tese, principalmente, revela que \'ideologia política\', \'experiencia prévia de trabalho no setor público\' e \'capital humano\' dos conselheiros antitruste, somando-se ao tamanho do plenário votante, afetam consistentemente os veriditos de atos de concentração. Em resumo, sob a administração federal do PSDB, por exemplo, as transações foram menos alteradas no Brasil. Quanto à experiencia no serviço público, os conselheiros que tiveram atuação profissional predominante nas áreas de Educação, Saúde e Assistencia Social, inversamente à \'ideologia polítical, aumentam a probabilidade de altos níveis de intervenção estatal em acordos privados. Adicionalmente, habilidades e conhecimento acumulados dos conselheiros, o chamado \'capital humano\', também afetam positivamente o nível de emprego da lei em atos de concentração. As implicações destes achados para a administração pública seguem um mesmo caminho: se a sociedade não pressionar os politicos a aperfeiçoarem o serviço público, considerando-se não somente o notável saber jurídico ou econômico para a nomeação de um conselheiro, mas tendo uma visão mais ampla das motivações e pretensões dos indivíduos, interferências continuarão a existir entre \'conceitos, principios e normas\' anunciados pela lei e a lei aplicada. Por fim, como último resultado consistente, a probabilidade de que a autoridade antitruste Brasileira imponha mudanças significativas às firmas decresce à medida que os conselheiros habilitados para votar são mais numerosos. Portanto, esta tese sugere aos formuladores de políticas que sejam evitados intervalos largos entre o mínimo e o máximo de votantes.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / John A. Fox / Mail surveys are used to gather information in order to make inferences about populations. This study examines cost effective methods to maximize response rates to a mail survey. A consumer mail survey was developed and used to study consumer demand for safer foods. In addition, the study will verify if additional responses from follow-up mailings changes econometric analysis results, thus validating follow-up mailing costs. A test was created to maximize response rates and incentives were used in both mailings. An Ordinary Least Square (OLS) model was developed to analyze response rates and mail survey costs while a willingness to pay model and an ordered probit were used for the consumer demand analysis. Results showed that when a consumer survey was sent to a city within the school's state no incentive should be included while if sent to a city outside the school's state an incentive should be included. Moreover, if the outcome from the first mailing resulted in a low response rate a monetary incentive should be included in the follow-up mailing to increase response rates. Results from the consumer willingness to pay for irradiated salad greens showed that consumers are willing to pay higher prices for irradiated salad greens. Furthermore, results showed that there is no statistical difference between the coefficients, in both the willingness to pay and the ordered probit, from the model using additional observations from follow-up mailing and the model that included only observations from the first mailing. Even though coefficients were not statistically different in the ordered probit, significance of the marginal effects for some variables were different between models.

The overall goal of this study was to analyse the welfare effect of improved wastewater treatment with the view of making policy recommendations for sustainable urban and peri-urban irrigation agriculture in Kenya. This goal was achieved by investigating three specific objectives. The first objective was to assess the farmers’ awareness of health risks in urban and peri-urban wastewater irrigation. Second objective was to analyse the factors that affect the choice of low-risk adaptations in reuse of untreated wastewater for irrigation. The third objective was to estimate the value that urban and peri-urban farmers who practice wastewater irrigation impute to improvements in specific characteristics of the wastewater input in agriculture. In order to achieve the first objective, an ordered probit model was used to identify the factors that influence farmers’ awareness of health risks in untreated wastewater irrigation. The model was fitted to data collected from a cross-sectional survey of 317 urban farm households in the Kibera informal settlement of Kenya. Results of this study show that gender of household head, household size, education level of household head, farm size, ownership of the farm, membership to farmers’ group, and market access for the fresh produce significantly affect awareness of farmers about health risks in wastewater irrigation. Therefore, there is need for awareness programs to promote public education through regular training and local workshops on wastewater reuse in order to improve the human capital of the urban and peri-urban farmers. To achieve the second objective, the study used a multinomial logit model to analyse the farmers’ choice of low-risk adaptations in untreated wastewater irrigation. A survey of 317 urban and peri-urban farmers was conducted and measures for risk-reduction in wastewater reuse were analysed. The urban and peri-urban farmers were found to have adopted low-risk wastewater irrigation techniques such as cessation of irrigation before harvesting, crop restriction and safer application methods. Results of the study show that adoption of risk-reduction measures is significantly influenced by the following factors: household size, age of the household head, education of household head, access to extension, access to media, access to credit, farmers’ group membership, and risk awareness. Also, marginal analysis of the coefficients confirmed the socio-economic characteristics are key determinants in adoption of low-risk measures in wastewater reuse. The study recommends that policies in support of low-risk urban and peri-urban irrigation agriculture should disaggregate farmers according to their socio-economic and institutional characteristics in order to achieve their intended objectives. To achieve the third objective, the study employed the discrete choice experiment approach to estimate the benefits farmers impute to improvements in attributes of the wastewater irrigation input, whose aim is to reduce the health risks associated with untreated wastewater irrigation. Urban and peri-urban farmers who practice wastewater irrigation drawn from Motoine-Ngong River in Nairobi were randomly selected for the study. A total of 241 farmers completed the presented choice cards for the choice model estimation. A random parameter logit model was used to estimate the individual level willingness to pay for wastewater treatment. The results show that urban and peri-urban farmers are willing to pay significant monthly municipality taxes for treatment of wastewater. Conclusion of this study was that, quality of treated wastewater, quantity of treated wastewater and the riverine ecosystem restoration are significant factors of preference over policy alternative designs in wastewater treatment and reuse. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

在金融海嘯之後, 信用風險的重要性益發為銀行金融業所重視。 為深入探索此議題, 本文以 CreditMetrics(TM) 模型為基底, 設定台灣 458 間上市櫃公司為虛擬資產組合, 做出其資產組合價值分配與資產組合損失分配, 以估量信用風險的大小, 提供銀行業計提資本時一個適當的方向。 在模型上, 本文採納 CreditMetrics(TM) 考量交易對手資產報酬率相關性的優點, 此點使我們交易對手評等的移轉產生相關性, 不致低估信用風險; 並修正其以外部評等機構所提供的無條件移轉矩陣為模型參數的設定, 使用排序普羅比模型 (Ordered Probit Model) 在移轉矩陣上引入總體因子, 搭配 Svensson 四因子模型所估計的放款殖利率, 做出條件情境的的經濟資本, 增加資本計提的準確度。 此外, 為了解總體因子的重要性, 本文將之與評等因子做比較。 實證結果發現, 加入總體因子會對信用風險造成一定程度的衝擊, 銀行業實不宜再以無條件情境做為計提資本的標準。 而在評等與曝險額呈現正相關的條件下, 評等因子的重要性比起總體因子有過之而無不及。 銀行業在計提資本時, 與其費盡心思在模型中納入總體因子, 也許應該先看看評等是否已經納入考量。

Contemporary research indicates that the era of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is not only inevitable but may be reached sooner than expected; however, not enough research has been done to address road infrastructure readiness for supporting AV operations. Highway agencies at all levels of governments seek to identify the needed infrastructure changes to facilitate the successful integration of AVs into the existing roadway system. Given multiple sources of uncertainty particularly the market penetration of AVs, agencies find it difficult to justify the substantial investments needed to make these infrastructure changes using traditional value engineering approaches. It is needed to account for these uncertainties by doing a phased retrofitting of road infrastructure to keep up with the AV market penetration. This way, the agency can expand, defer, or scale back the investments at a future time. This dissertation develops a real options analysis (ROA) framework to address these issues while capturing the monetary value of investment timing flexibility. Using key stakeholder feedback, an extensive literature review, and discussions with experts, the needed AV-motivated changes in road infrastructure were identified across two stages of AV operations; the transition phase and the fully-autonomous phase. For a project-level case study of a 66-mile stretch of Indiana’s four-six lane Interstate corridor, two potential scenarios of infrastructure retrofitting were established and evaluated using the net present value (NPV) and ROA approaches. The results show that the NPV approach can lead to decisions at the start of the evaluation period but does not address the uncertainty associated with AV market penetration. In contrast, ROA was found to address uncertainty by incorporating investment timing flexibility and capturing its monetary value. Using the dissertation’s framework, agencies can identify and analyze a wide range of possible scenarios of AV-oriented infrastructure retrofitting to enhance readiness, at both the project and network levels.

nÃo hà / Segundo Jensen (1968), a indÃstria de fundos mÃtuos de investimento, cuja expansÃo està prevista teoricamente pelo Teorema da SeparaÃÃo enunciado em Sharpe (1964), teria limitaÃÃes no sentido de bater o mercado em termos de performance risco-retorno mensurada pelo alfa de Jensen. Nesta ampla discussÃo, esta dissertaÃÃo se posiciona em sugerir um exercÃcio empÃrico aplicado a um cross-section contendo 243 fundos de investimentos em aÃÃes, categoria Ibovespa Ativo, o qual visa identificar que variÃveis financeiras, contÃbeis e administrativas se mostram capazes de prever no ano seguinte o sinal e a significÃncia do alfa de Jensen. Foram extraÃdos retornos diÃrios para todos os fundos nos anos de 2011 e 2012, e calculadas mÃtricas clÃssicas de retorno, risco e performance, bem como os 24 balancetes mensais e informaÃÃes administrativas do perÃodo em questÃo. Metodologicamente, as variÃveis explicativas consistem em estatÃsticas descritivas obtidas a partir de dados financeiros diÃrios e contÃbeis mensais, enquanto as performances a serem modeladas sÃo estimadas por meio do Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). Dessa maneira, foi possÃvel ordenar os fundos em trÃs grupos, composto por Loosers, Draw e Winners, de acordo com suas performances em relaÃÃo ao Ãndice Ibovespa. Sendo assim, foi identificado que apenas 71 dos fundos foram capazes de performar melhor que o Ãndice Ibovespa durante o ano de 2012. Os resultados obtidos com a estimaÃÃo do arcabouÃo de Probit ordenado sugerem que fundos com maiores performances mensuradas pelos alfa de Jensen e Ãndices de Calmar e Sortino, associados a menores taxas de administraÃÃo, tendem a bater o mercado no ano seguinte. Entretanto, mÃtricas clÃssicas como desvio-padrÃo, taxa de performance e Ãndice de Sharpe (1964) nÃo se mostraram significantes. O modelo sugere, tambÃm, que a variÃvel Drawdown seja apresentada como mÃtrica eficiente de mensuraÃÃo de risco. / According to Jensen (1968), the mutual funds industry expansion is theoretically predicted by the Separation Theorem stated by Sharpe (1964), however with limitations in order to exceed the market in terms of risk-return performance measured by Jensen's alpha. In this broad discussion, this dissertation suggest an empirical exercise applied to a cross-section containing 243 stock funds, within the Ibovespa Active category, which aims to identify which financial, accounting and administrative variables are capable to predict the next year's value and the significance of the Jensen's alpha. Daily returns were extracted for all funds in 2011 and 2012, and were calculated classic metrics such as return, risk and performance. There were also extracted 24 monthly accounting balances and administrative informations for the period in question. Methodologically, the explanatory variables consist of descriptive statistics obtained from daily financial data and monthly accounting data, while the performances to be modeled are estimated using the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). Using this technic it was possible divide the funds into three groups, consisting of Loosers, Draw and Winners, according to their performances in relation to the Ibovespa index. Thus, it was discovered that only 71 funds were able to perform better than the Ibovespa Index during the year 2012. The estimation results of the ordered probit framework suggests that funds with higher performances measured by the Jensen's Alpha and with higher Sortino and Calmar ratios, associated with lower management fees tend to surpass the market in the next year. However, classical metrics like standard deviation, performance fees and Sharpe ratio (1964) were not significant. The model also suggests that the drawdown variable should be used as an efficient risk metric.

La presente tesi raggruppa tre contributi che analizzano la partecipazione dei minori ad attività lavorative e scolastiche in Marocco, le variabili correlate con il benessere individuale e le differenze nei livelli salariali in Albania. I tre saggi tentano di fornire analisi empiriche basate sulla letteratura più recente e di contribuire allo sviluppo della metodologia quantitativa più comunemente utilizzata. / The present thesis is a collection of three contributions which investigate children’s schooling and labour participation in Morocco, the correlates of subjective well being and the differences in wage levels in Albania. The papers try to carry out empirical analyses of these issues based on the most recent developments in the relevant literature and to contribute to the empirical methodology commonly used.

Les TIC sont un facteur clé de performance dans les pays développés. Cette thèse s’intéresse à l’adoption des TIC et leur impact sur la performance des PME manufacturières d’un pays en développement. A la suite d’une première partie qui présente le cadre théorique et conceptuel, le reste de la thèse est organisé en trois études empiriques. La première étude propose une modélisation Probit afin d’identifier les déterminants d’adoption des TIC. Le capital humain est la variable explicative la plus significative. Se basant sur la régression linéaire à variables muettes, la causalité de Granger, le test de Kruskal-Wallis et le test de l’ANOVA de Welch, suivis des tests post-hoc correspondants, la deuxième étude met en évidence l’existence d’un fort lien statistique significatif entre le niveau d’adoption des TIC et la rentabilité. Dans une troisième étude, plusieurs modélisations Probit (simple, ordonné et multivarié) ont été testées sur différentes mesures de performance. Nous montrons, premièrement, que les TIC ont un impact positif sur la productivité, la rentabilité et la compétitivité. Deuxièmement, les TIC, le capital humain et la formation sont les déterminants de la performance globale. Enfin, la contribution des TIC à la performance globale est forte lorsqu’elles sont combinées au capital humain qualifié. En définitive, nos résultats empiriques ont montré un effet positif des TIC, du capital humain et du changement organisationnel sur la performance des PME. / ICT is a key performance factor in developed countries. This PhD thesis focuses on the adoption of ICTs and their impact on the performance of manufacturing SMEs in a developing country. Following a first part covering the theoretical and conceptual framework, the rest of the thesis is organized in three empirical studies. The first study uses a Probit model in order to identify the determinants of ICT adoption. Human capital seems to be the most significant explanatory variable. Based on linear regression of dummy variables, Granger causality, Kruskal-Wallis test, ANOVA test of Welch, followed by corresponding post-hoc tests, the second study highlights the existence of a strong statistically significant relationship between the level of ICT adoption and profitability. In a third study, many Probit models (simple, ordered and multivariate) were tested on different measures of performance. Firstly, we show that ICT have a positive impact on productivity, profitability and competitiveness of SMEs. Secondly, ICT, human capital and training are determinants of firm overall performance. Thirdly, when combined together, ICT and highly skilled human resources have an important contribution to the global performance. In conclusion, our empirical results demonstrate a positive impact of ICT, human capital and organizational change on firm performance.

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