No description available.

Det krävs planering för tid, ekonomi och andra resurser när det kommer till sjukvård. För att sjukvård ska fungera behövs det olika verktyg och hjälpmedel. Dessa verktyg och hjälpmedel är till för att ta reda på vilka patienter som ska prioriteras och vilka behandlingar som ska finansieras. Detta görs genom att undersöka exempelvis hur stor skillnad det är på kvalité och kostnad mellan olika behandlingar. Kostnadseffektanalys är ett verktyg som används för att mäta de övergripande hälsofördelarna av behandlingar, med hänsyn till deras kostnader. Det finns olika mätverktyg för att ta reda på vilka behandlingar som bör finansieras och ett av de verktygen är QALY (kvalitetsjusterande levnadsår), där vi kombinerar livslängden och livskvaliteten. Många har kritiserat QALY eftersom de menar att ramverket av QALY leder till diskriminering av patienter med funktionsnedsättning. Dock anser Whitehurst och Engel att diskriminering uppkommer av frågeformuläret som används och inte av ramverket. Frågeformulär används inom forskning och sjukvård för att ta reda på hur patienter värderar sitt hälsotillstånd med hjälp av kryssfrågor om deras psykiska och fysiska mående. Utifrån det jag har läst visar det sig trots att frågeformulären behöver förbättras inom vissa avseenden att problemet ligger på QALY som ramverk. En av kritikerna, Sean Sinclair, anser att vi bör använda oss av patient preference theory om vi vill minska risken för diskriminering av patienter med funktionsnedsättning.  Enligt Sinclair diskriminerar standard QALY- ramverket dem som har funktionsnedsättningar. Detta gäller oavsett om vi använder oss av undersökningar som frågar endast/huvudsakligen personer med funktionsnedsättning eller allmänheten. Sinclair anser att problemet bäst löses genom att göra en strukturell förändring av hur vi värderar hälsotillståndet hos patienter med funktionsnedsättningar med hjälp av ett nytt, relativiserat ramverk. Jag kommer att visa att Sinclair har rätt i att diskriminering av patienter med funktionsnedsättning kan förekomma oavsett hur vi justerar frågeformulären eller vem vi frågar. Men även som Sinclair föreslår, borde sjukvården använda sig av patient preference theory och inte av standard QALY på grund av att oavsett om frågeformuläret förbättras så kommer det fortfarande uppstå diskriminering av människor med funktionsnedsättning.

Abstract The majority of young Australian women aspire to be married with at least one child and in some form of paid employment by the time they are 35 years of age. In an age of increasing female labour force participation, it seems then that young women really can have it all. However, while younger generations of women are now more likely than their male counterparts to go to university, Australian women, compared to women in other countries, have low workforce participation rates after childbearing; and many move to part-time positions characterised by lower earnings, less responsibility and less opportunity for training and promotion. Further, there continues to be significant occupational segregation in the workplace, and women continue to earn significantly less than men. Why are Australian women not utilizing their skills to their full potential? The issue of balancing paid work with family responsibilities is central to this debate; and crucial is the role of Australian work-family legislation, which has previously focussed on improving Australia’s low fertility rate through financial aids rather than recognising women’s increased attachment to the paid workforce. This underscores the need for further research on how young Australian women negotiate work and family, to contribute to the evidence base for the formation of policy that supports the needs of young Australian women. This thesis takes an innovative approach of examining the work and family aspirations of a new generation of young Australian women negotiating work and family, transitioning from their late teens/early twenties to their early 30s. A prominent theoretical model of women’s work and family preferences, Lifestyle Preference Theory, postulates that women’s work and family outcomes are primarily the result of what they had always aspired, and that all women living in contemporary society can ‘choose’ their preferred type of lifestyle. However, as argued in this thesis, this model doesn’t take into account women’s circumstances, systemic-level supports and life changes that impact upon women’s decisions. Further, compared to previous generations of women, when most of the research on women’s aspirations was conducted, there is a new development process bridging adolescence and early adulthood, termed Emerging Adulthood. Using a mixed-methods approach of quantitative and qualitative analyses, this thesis examines young Australian women’s work and family aspirations according to their life experiences and within the social and structural constraints on their lives, during this developmental period of the life course and new socio-historical context. Chapter 1 provides a historical context to women’s changing roles and increasing workforce participation over past decades, while also discussing the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes and gender differences in the workforce. Chapter 2 discusses the Australian context in more depth; including work and family trends and systemic-level work-family support. This section also introduces theoretical contributions in the area of women’s aspirations, and developmental changes likely to affect young women. Chapter 3 then provides an analysis of young Australian women’s work and family aspirations, including the consistency of their aspirations over time, using nationally representative data from the younger cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH). Chapters 4 and 5 examine the representativeness of Lifestyle Preference Theory as a model of young Australian women’s work and family aspirations. Chapter 4 investigates whether Australian women can be categorised as ‘types’ committed to pursuing a particular lifestyle while Chapter 5 investigates whether women’s aspirations are independent of context, as theorised by Lifestyle Preference Theory, or correlated to women’s circumstances and the constraints on their lives. Chapters 6 and 7 aim to give voices to the experiences of young Australian women forming their aspirations during this period of the lifespan, by analysing qualitative comments from the younger cohort of the ALSWH. Chapter 6 provides a context of what is important and happening in the lives of young Australian women, while Chapter 7 provides a more thorough discussion of women’s comments about their aspirations and with a comparative discussion of their comments to current theoretical models. Through an analysis of focus group material, Chapter 8 continues to examine the experiences of young women during this developmental period of the lifespan. This Chapter reviews young women’s thoughts on their aspirations for work and family, how they anticipate making work and family decisions, and how they perceive and experience this developmental period of the lifespan. Chapters 9 and 10 return to the quantitative data of the ALSWH to investigate why women change their aspirations over time, and specifically look at the impact of first birth and life events on women’s motherhood and employment aspirations. These Chapters discuss the role of systemic-level work-family support on women’s changing aspirations. Chapter 11 provides an integrative conclusion of findings, which show that women are forming and adjusting their aspirations as best they can within their circumstances and the constraints on their lives, and the broader context of Australia’s work and family support systems. This Chapter provides recommendations for policy and directions for future research.

This thesis consists of five articles that apply current world research on labor economics at the Czech Republic and confirms the significant differences between men and women in this market. It shows that gender has a significant influence on the preference on the labor market and, consequently, on employment and health. First, the thesis shows that preferences are relevant determinant of career and then we study the difference in preference of salary for men and women. Subsequently it shows that gender plays a significant role in explaining the relationship between homeownership, and unemployment, as well as unemployment and health. The first chapter was able to demonstrate that the preference for a career has a positive influence on the choice of career. The influence of higher education on prioritizing career proved to be positive and significant. Probability of a career choice is reduced by the presence of children, however, is not dependent on their number, which is contrary to the theory of preferences. The second chapter shows that Czech women prefer more non-monetary rewards than men. It has also been shown that people with university education are same in the preferences of non-monetary rewards regardless of the gender of the respondents, however, compared to the world's research, the Czech higher education increases this preference. It turned out that women prefer risk less than men. The third chapter demonstrates that although the housing market undermines labor mobility and employment in the Czech Republic at the regional level, therefore, that in regions with a higher rate of home ownership is higher unemployment, at the individual level, the owners of housing are unemployed are less likely. The estimates are significantly different for men and women. Men living in owner-occupied housing have a higher likelihood of employment than women. At regional level, however, this thesis shows that the high rate of home ownership increases unemployment for both men and women, in the long run only to women. The fourth chapter showed that men transition to homeownership reduces the likelihood of unemployment next year. For women, this relationship has proved to be insignificant. In addition, as insignificant showed the opposite relationship, the transition from unemployment to the newly acquired home ownership. The last chapter shows that the change in the working status to unemployment will increase in the future probability of worse health. Influence in less than two years, however, proved to be significant. An important conclusion is that men have a significantly stronger relationship between health and unemployment than women.

This thesis examines the relationship between corporate liquidity and dividend policy. The corporate liquidity is measured by proven liquidity ratios and the dividend policy is divided into cash dividends and share repurchases. In order to examine the possible relationship between corporate liquidity and dividend policy, public European firms are examined. Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the UK are selected based on the similarities in the regulation and market structure in the countries. The thesis aims at furthering the knowledge on the role played by corporate liquidity for dividend policy. In our ambition to investigate the before-mentioned relationship we use a panel data set over five years extracted from Datastream. Any newfound evidence on the subject can help investors, creditors, and other stakeholders in evaluating firms based on their liquidity.  We used a deductive quantitative method to analyse the chosen relationship. The study concluded a significant relationship between corporate liquidity and dividend, although negative as opposed to our expectations. With regards to share repurchase, no significant effect was found from corporate liquidity. Free cash flow on the other hand appears to have a positive effect on the amount of share repurchases carried through. We discuss mentioned relationships and attribute them to the mature firms in this sample and the liquidity levels of mature firms.The theories supporting these findings are Agency Theory, Pecking Order Theory, Shareholder Theory, Stakeholder Theory, Liquidity Preference Theory.

This diploma thesis deals with the problems of combining a family and working life from the point of view of a woman. The main objective set for the thesis was to determine whether women and mothers give precedence to working or family life and which means help them to harmonise their family and working life. Two research questions were determined for the diploma thesis. The first research question is interested in whether and how women manage to combine their working and family life and the second research question relates to the possibilities and obstacles which mothers experience whilst implementing their preferences in the field of family, work and their coordination. The theoretical part of the diploma thesis deals with the current situation in the field of work and family and attempts to coordinate them. Description is provided here of the preferences and ideas women have in the field of employment and the family and the problems of gender, above all gender stereotypes are also described here. The second chapter relates to family policy which currently exists in the Czech Republic. Mention is made here of the development of family policy and also the current situation and the system of social welfare benefits, where benefits are described in more detail. An important area in the problems of harmonisation of family and career is the standing of women on the job market. This chapter of the thesis is focused on the theory of human capital, the standing of women on the job market, working conditions for women, pregnant employees and mothers and last but not least, mention is also made here of discrimination, which may accompany women when they return to the job market after parental leave. Whilst harmonising their family and career, women very often make use of the offer of services relating to childcare for pre-schoolers. The last chapter in the diploma thesis concerns Catherine Hakim?s preference theory. The method chosen for the empirical part of the diploma thesis was enquiry using a semi-structured interview. Six questions were set in advance for the interview with mothers, these being focused on whether family or career is more important for women, which means women use when trying to coordinate their family and working life, whether their ideas relating to these problems correspond to the reality of the situation and whether mothers have encountered any form of discrimination when entering the job market or when returning to work after maternity leave. The last part of the prepared interview related to whether mothers use any services providing care for pre-schoolers and whether mothers have any sort of division of work in the family and whether this division suits them. The survey was participated in by women up to the age of 40 living in the Tábor district at the time of the survey. These women are either divorced, married or living with a boyfriend and have at least one child. Selection of women for participation in the survey took place using the snowball sampling method and the sample of women was thus taken in such a way as to ensure that it is representative. The results of the survey showed that women definitely give precedence to their family and children. All seven women asked agreed on this claim. Even if their preferences were different before the birth, and some wanted to have a professional career, they certainly do not regret it and are happy with their current life.

This thesis is a case study about the choices and constraints faced by women clerical workers in a labour market where they have very little autonomy in negotiating their pay and conditions of employment. On the one hand, clerical work has developed as a feminised occupation with a history of being low in status and low paid. On the other hand, it is an ideal occupation for women wanting to combine work and family across their life cycle. How these two phenomena impact upon women clerical workers ability to negotiate enterprise agreements is the subject of this thesis. From a theoretical perspective this thesis builds upon Catherine Hakim�s preference theory which explores the choices women clerical workers� make in relation to their work and family lives. Where Hakim�s preference theory focuses on the way in which women use their agency to determine their work and life style choices, this thesis gives equal weighting to the impact of agency and the constraints imposed by external structures such as the availability of part-time work and childcare, as well as the impact of organisational culture. The research data presented was based on face-to-face interviews with forty female clerical workers. The clerical workers ranged in age from 21 to 59 years of age. The respondents were made up of single or partnered women without family responsibilities, women juggling work and family, and women who no longer had dependent children and were approaching retirement. This thesis contends that these clerical workers are ill placed to optimise their conditions of employment under the new industrial regime of enterprise bargaining and individual contracts. Very few of the women were union members and generally they were uninformed about their rights and entitlements.

This thesis is a case study about the choices and constraints faced by women clerical workers in a labour market where they have very little autonomy in negotiating their pay and conditions of employment. On the one hand, clerical work has developed as a feminised occupation with a history of being low in status and low paid. On the other hand, it is an ideal occupation for women wanting to combine work and family across their life cycle. How these two phenomena impact upon women clerical workers ability to negotiate enterprise agreements is the subject of this thesis. From a theoretical perspective this thesis builds upon Catherine Hakim�s preference theory which explores the choices women clerical workers� make in relation to their work and family lives. Where Hakim�s preference theory focuses on the way in which women use their agency to determine their work and life style choices, this thesis gives equal weighting to the impact of agency and the constraints imposed by external structures such as the availability of part-time work and childcare, as well as the impact of organisational culture. The research data presented was based on face-to-face interviews with forty female clerical workers. The clerical workers ranged in age from 21 to 59 years of age. The respondents were made up of single or partnered women without family responsibilities, women juggling work and family, and women who no longer had dependent children and were approaching retirement. This thesis contends that these clerical workers are ill placed to optimise their conditions of employment under the new industrial regime of enterprise bargaining and individual contracts. Very few of the women were union members and generally they were uninformed about their rights and entitlements.

Dans cette thèse, j’explore les modèles de prise de décision basés sur des préférences multiples. Dans la première partie de la thèse, j’analyse certaines des implications de l’adoption des préférences multiples en économie et de différentes façons dont elles peuvent être conceptualisées et utilisées dans ce domaine. En particulier, je révise certaines des conséquences positives et normatives des préférences sur des préférences (chapitre 1), la distinction comportementale entre des modèles de préférences uniques et des modèles de préférences multiples (chapitre 2), et j’introduis un nouveau cadre de choix avec le temps dans lequel les modèles de préférences multiples peuvent être plus facilement caractérisés (chapitre 3). La deuxième partie de la thèse est con- sacrée à l’analyse théorique et empirique du comportement économique qui peut être représenté comme s’il résulte de la prise de décision avec des préférences multiples. En particulier, je construis un modèle pour étudier les effets des préférences multiples sur le comportement politique (chapitre 4) et je mène une étude expérimentale pour distinguer les différentes motivations derrière une potentielle valeur intrinsèque du droit de décision (chapitre 5). / In this thesis I explore decision making models based on multiple preferences. In the first part of the thesis, I analyze some of the implications of adopting multiple preferences in economics and different ways in which they can be conceptualized and used within this field. In particular, I review some of the positive and normative consequences of preferences over preferences (Chapter 1), the behavioral (in)distinguishability of the single and multiple preferences models (Chapter 2), and introduce a new framework of choice with time in which models of changing preferences can be more easily characterized (Chapter 3). The second part of the thesis is devoted to the theoretical and empirical analysis of economic meaningful behavior that can be represented as if it is the result of decision making with multiple preferences. In particular, I build a model to study the effects of multiple preferences to political behavior (Chapter 4), and run an experimental study to distinguish different motivations behind a potential intrinsic value of holding a decision right (Chapter 5).