abstract: In two independent and thematically connected chapters, I investigate consumers' willingness to pay a price premium in response to product development that entails prosocial attributes (PATs), those that allude to the reduction of negative externalities to benefit society, and to an innovative participatory pricing design called 'Pay-What-You-Want' (PWYW) pricing, a mechanism that relinquishes the determination of payments in exchange for private goods to the consumers themselves partly relying on their prosocial preferences to drive positive payments. First, I propose a novel statistical approach built on the choice based contingent valuation technique to estimate incremental willingness to pay (IWTP) for PATs that accounts for consumer heterogeneity, dependence in the decision making processes, and incentive compatibility. I validate the approach by estimating IWTP for a variety of PATs and contrast the theoretical and managerial benefits of using the proposed approach over extant techniques used in the literature for this purpose. Second, I propose a general and flexible statistical modeling framework for estimating PWYW payments that exceed zero. It relies on the joint estimation of three types of consumer decision processes namely, the consumer propensity to default to an explicit price recommendation, the propensity to pay a least legitimate price, and the payment of a freely-chosen non-zero payment. Of particular interest is the model's ability to account for a wide variety of design constraints such as the setting of price bounds, explicit price recommendations, and the provision of a menu of discrete prices to choose from. I validate the approach by estimating PWYW payments for a variety of products such as music licenses, snacks, and sports tickets. I specifically examine and report the differential impact of three managerially controllable variables namely, 'payment anonymity', 'information on payment recipients' and 'information of product value/quality'. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2016

In this article, the authors explain the type of treatment the Call Spread options should be given. They argue that these should be treated as a unique derivative and not as one compound by two independent elements. Likewise, they outline the premium as an inherent element in the determination of any gains or losses from the financial options that it is decided to adopt. As an important point, they claim that adopting one specific side about the treatment of the Call Spread options and the premium implies having a viewpoint about their determination in the Income Tax. / En el presente artículo, los autores explican el tipo de tratamiento que se debería dar a las opciones Call Spread. Sostienen que debería ser tratado como un derivado único y no como uno compuesto por dos elementos independientes. Asimismo, señalan a la prima como un elemento inherente a la determinación de las eventuales ganancias o pérdidas definitivas generadas por las opciones financieras que se decida adoptar. Como punto importante, indican que adoptar una posición específica sobre el tratamiento de las opciones Call Spread y de las primas supone una posición sobre su determinación en el Impuesto a la Renta.

Este trabalho buscou entender o prêmio de exportação da soja em grão no porto de Paranaguá, seu mecanismo de formação, padrão sazonal, as principais variáveis responsáveis pelas oscilações diárias e mensais, bem como determinar qual contrato futuro da bolsa de Chicago e prêmio (preços FOB) estão mais relacionados com os preços internos. Para tanto, foram levantadas através da literatura e entrevistas as variáveis potencialmente significativas para explicar as variações do prêmio de exportação da soja em grão. Adicionalmente foram calculadas séries de preços FOB, que foram posteriormente relacionadas com os preços da soja no mercado interno. Através de testes de causalidade foram definidas as principais variáveis explicativas do prêmio. Estas variáveis foram relacionadas ao prêmio através de regressões lineares, utilizando-se dados diários e mensais. O mesmo procedimento foi utilizado para definir a série de preço de exportação mais relacionada com o preço doméstico da soja. Para cada série foi realizado o teste de raiz unitária, objetivando-se verificar a estacionariedade das séries. As variáveis que apresentaram relação causal com o prêmio da soja em grão são: o prêmio do grão defasado, o prêmio do óleo, o prêmio do farelo e o percentual exportado através do porto de Paranaguá para a Europa e Ásia. Estas variáveis apresentaram-se positivamente relacionadas com o prêmio, isto é, uma elevação nas variáveis explicativas tende a elevar a variável dependente (prêmio do grão). Por outro lado, o preço interno do farelo, chuva no porto, estoques no Brasil, na Argentina e nos Estados Unidos são negativamente relacionados ao prêmio, isto é, a elevação dessas variáveis tende a reduzir o prêmio. Os fretes internacionais, tendo como proxy o preço internacional do petróleo, a taxa de câmbio e as cotações da bolsa de Chicago não apresentaram relação causal com o prêmio de exportação da soja em grão. Os resultados mostram também que a relação entre as séries de preços de exportação (FOB) e o preço interno da soja é unicausal, com sentido do preço de exportação para o preço interno. Os preços FOB referenciados nos contratos para o primeiro vencimento da bolsa de Chicago apresentaram a maior elasticidade de transmissão de preços, sendo estes os preços de exportação mais bem relacionados com o preço interno da soja. / This research analyzed the formation process of the Brazilian soybeans export premiums at Paranaguá port, Paraná, including its seasonal behavior and effects of the main related variables. This study determined which future contract in the Chicago Board of Trade and export premium (which results in the price received by exporters - Free on Board Price) is closest to domestic prices. The analysis was accomplished with daily data from 1996 to 2002 and monthly data from 1993 to 2002. Variables potentially relevant were raised through literature review and interviews with exporters, importers and brokers. The effects of these variables were submitted to causality tests, being related to export premiums through linear regression models, using daily and monthly data. The same procedure was used to determine the FOB price most related to internal ones. In order to verify whether the variables are stationary, the series were submitted to Unit Root Tests. The variables that presented causal relationship with the export premium are: soybeans premiums lags, soy-oil premiums, soy-meal premiums and the percentage of exports to Europe and Asia through Paranaguá Port. These variables are positively related to the soybeans premiums, that is, an increase in these independent variables led the premium to rise. Soy-meal domestic price, rain intensity in Paranaguá port, inventories in Brazil, Argentina and United States are all negatively related to the soybeans premiums. On the other hand, international petroleum prices (as a proxy to international freights), exchange rate and CBOT prices did not present causal relationships with soybeans premiums. Results show that export (FOB) prices cause domestics prices. FOB prices referred to first contracts at CBOT showed the largest elasticity of price transmission and, therefore, the strongest relationship with soybeans Brazilian prices.

My dissertation investigates the financial linkages and transmission of economic shocks between the US and the smallest emerging markets (frontier markets). The first chapter sets up an empirical model that examines the impact of US market returns and conditional volatility on the returns and conditional volatilities of twenty-one frontier markets. The model is estimated via maximum likelihood; utilizes the GARCH model of errors, and is applied to daily country data from the MSCI Barra. We find limited, but statistically significant exposure of Frontier markets to shocks from the US. Our results suggest that it is not the lagged US market returns that have impact; rather it is the expected US market returns that influence frontier market returns The second chapter sets up an empirical time-varying parameter (TVP) model to explore the time-variation in the impact of mean US returns on mean Frontier market returns. The model utilizes the Kalman filter algorithm as well as the GARCH model of errors and is applied to daily country data from the MSCI Barra. The TVP model detects statistically significant time-variation in the impact of US returns and low, but statistically and quantitatively important impact of US market conditional volatility. The third chapter studies the risk-return relationship in twenty Frontier country stock markets by setting up an international version of the intertemporal capital asset pricing model. The systematic risk in this model comes from covariance of Frontier market stock index returns with world returns. Both the systematic risk and risk premium are time-varying in our model. We also incorporate own country variances as additional determinants of Frontier country returns. Our results suggest statistically significant impact of both world and own country risk in explaining Frontier country returns. Time-variation in the world risk premium is also found to be statistically significant for most Frontier market returns. However, own country risk is found to be quantitatively more important.

Cette thèse est consacrée aux systèmes d'assurance maladie mixtes où la couverture publique obligatoire peut être améliorée par une complémentaire santé. Les questions abordées portent sur l'effet inflationniste de la complémentaire sur le prix des soins et sur l'impact de la tarification à l'âge sur les solidarités entre malades et bien portants et entre catégories de revenu. Les analyses empiriques sont réalisées sur données françaises. Cette base de données originale regroupe les consommations de soins de 99,878 affiliés à la MGEN sur la période 2010-2012. Le chapitre 1 estime l'effet causal d'une meilleure couverture sur la consommation de dépassements d'honoraires et démontre l'effet inflationniste de la complémentaire sur le prix des soins. Le chapitre 2 considère l’hétérogénéité de l'impact d'une meilleure couverture sur les dépassements et sa corrélation avec la demande d'assurance. De fait, l’effet inflationniste de la complémentaire est accentué par des effets de sélection. Le chapitre 3 montre que la tarification à l'âge permet de maximiser les transferts entre malades et bien portants au détriment de la solidarité entre hauts et bas revenus. / This thesis deals with two questions relative to efficiency and fairness in mixed health insurance systems with partial mandatory coverage and voluntary supplementary health insurance (SHI): (i) the inflationary effect of SHI on medical prices; (ii) the fairness of SHI premiums. We set the analysis in the French context and perform empirical analyses on original individual-level data, collected from the administrative claims of a French insurer (MGEN). The sample is made of 99,878 individuals observed from 2010 to 2012. In Chapter 1, we estimate the causal impact of a generous SHI on patients' decisions to consult physicians who balance bill their patients. We find evidence that better coverage contributes to the rise in medical prices. In Chapter 2, we specify individual heterogeneity in moral hazard and consider its possible correlation with coverage choices. We find evidence of selection on moral hazard: individuals who are more likely to ask for coverage exhibit stronger moral hazard. In Chapter 3, results show that when SHI is voluntary, age-based premiums maximize transfers between low and high healthcare users but do not guarantee vertical equity.

Bakgrund: Analytikerhus och banker har i dagsläget en betydande roll för värderingen av företag och allmänhetens investeringsbeslut som följer dessa aktörers råd. Oavsett värderingsmetod så har analytikern en stor frihet i värderingsprocessen och det finns mycket möjligheter för subjektiva bedömningar och antaganden. Varför är detta viktigt? Jo, analytikernas ändamål skiljer sig mellan företag. Vissa aktieanalytiker arbetar med uppdragsanalyser, där ett företag begär en publik analys för att marknadsföra både sitt bolag och sin aktie, fokus kan ofta befinna sig på möjligheter för företaget i fråga snarare än hot. Vissa aktieanalytiker jobbar med M&A transaktioner, där det istället kan vara fördelaktigt för köparens team att komma fram till en låg värdering för att köpa ett bolag billigt men för säljaren gäller motsatsen. Olika ändamål kan skapa utrymme för missvisande värderingar. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att analysera hur svenska analytikerhus och banker jobbar med företagsspecifika riskpremier för att sedan kunna analysera hur de skiljer sig åt och belysa hur och när riskpremierna används av de olika analytikerna. Metod: Studien grundar sig i en kvalitativ undersökning i form av intervjuer med svenska analytiker från analytikerhus och banker, vars dagliga verksamhet består av företagsvärdering och/eller rådgivning. Efter empiriska data presenterats har denna ställts mot befintliga teorier och annan forskning för att skapa en redogörelse över hur analytikerna skiljer sig åt gällande riskpremierna Slutsats: En justerad CAPM används av nästan alla respondenter. De främsta riskerna som identifierades hos analytikerna vissa sig vara branschrisk, vinstvolatilitet, överlevnadsrisk, ledning, kund- och leverantörsberoende. Största skillnad var vilka risker analytikerna väljer att inkludera i prognos och i riskpremier. Författarna har identifierat att en storlekspremie används endast vid arbete med onoterade bolag av revisionsbyrå. Erfarenhet har visat sig vara avgörande vid skattningen av avkastningskravet, författarna menar att det kan finnas en koppling till bias i detta sammanhang. / Background: Analyst firms and banks currently play a significant role in the valuation of companies and the public's investment decisions that follow the advice of these players. Regardless of the valuation method, the analyst has a great deal of freedom in the valuation process and there are many opportunities for subjective assessments and assumptions. Why is this important? Well, the purpose of the analysts differs between companies. Some stock analysts work with commissioned analyzes, where a company requests a public analysis to market both its company and its stock, the focus can often be on opportunities for the company in question rather than threats. Some equity analysts work with M&A transactions, where it may instead be advantageous for the buyer's team to arrive at a low valuation to buy a company cheaply, but for the seller the opposite applies. Different purposes can create room for misleading valuations. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to analyze how Swedish analyst firms and banks work with firm-specific risk premiums in order to then be able to analyze how they differ and shed light on how and when the risk premiums are used by the various analysts.  Methodology: The study is based on a qualitative study in the form of interviews with Swedish analysts from analyst firms and banks, whose daily operations consist of company valuation and / or financial advice. After empirical data has been presented, this has been set against existing theories and previous research to create a description of how analysts differ regarding current risk premiums.  Conclusion: An adjusted CAPM is used by almost all respondents. The main risks identified by the analysts turned out to be industry risk, profit volatility, survival risk, management, customer and supplier dependence. The biggest difference was which risks the analysts choose to include in the forecast and in risk premiums. The authors have identified that a size premium is only used when working with unlisted companies by an auditing firm. Experience has proven to be crucial in estimating the required rate of return, the authors believe that there may be a connection to bias in this context.

Global warming is becoming an increasingly pressured problem for the climate and worldeconomy. The trend and importance of sustainability is growing and is a heavily researchedarea. Real estate accounts for approximately 40% of global energy consumption and 33% ofcarbon emissions. Naturally, the potential and significance of sustainability is an increasinglyimportant topic within the sector.On the foundation of global climate change, this thesis aims to uncover the financial benefitsof active sustainability work for listed real estate companies on the Stockholm StockExchange. Previous research within the field has focused heavily on tangible sustainabilitywork and the effects on the property level rather than the company level by primarily usingquantitative research methods. This paper combines a quantitative and qualitative researchmethod to dig deeper into the market's view of financial effects given to real estate companiesworking actively with sustainability.The study commenced with a panel data regression model analysis where a dummy for activesustainability work in the form of membership in the organisation GRESB was used todetermine the financial effects of active sustainability work on the daily total return index.GRESB guides members in their work with sustainability where membership indicates a willto improve. Results landed in a random effects model which showed that GRESB is positiveand significant for daily total return index, explaining 3% of development. Results from thequantitative study were used in the qualitative research method when designing an interviewguide for semi-structured interviews.It can be concluded that active sustainability work has positive effects on the total return oflisted real estate companies in Sweden. Sustainability work differs in its effectiveness andsuitability depending on the real estate companies size and core business area. GRESB islikely to be an umbrella for other sustainability-related factors and future research shouldexpand the number of sustainability variables used for analysis. There is no universal workmodel for sustainability and every organisation needs to design their sustainability strategywith regards to their business. Organisations seeking sustainability rewards should aim to domore than the minimum needed; real estate companies at the top of sustainability brackets arethe ones receiving the highest portion of the rewards. / Den globala uppvärmningen är ett alltmer pressande problem för klimatet ochvärldsekonomin. Trenden och vikten av hållbarhet växer och är ett stort forskningsområde.Fastigheter står för cirka 40% av den globala energiförbrukningen och 33% avkoldioxidutsläppen. Potentiallen och betydelsen av hållbarhet är ett fortsatt viktigt ämne inombranschen.På grunden av globala klimatförändringar syftar denna uppsats till att utvärdera deekonomiska belöningarna av aktivt hållbarhetsarbete för börsnoterade fastighetsbolag påstockholmsbörsen. Tidigare forskning inom området har fokuserat på reellt hållbarhetsarbeteoch dess effekter på fastighetsnivå snarare än företagsnivå genom att främst utnyttjakvantitativa forskningsmetoder. I denna studie kombineras en kvantitativ och kvalitativforskningsmetod för att gå djupare in i marknadens syn på de finansiella belöningar som gestill fastighetsbolag som arbetar aktivt med hållbarhet.Studien inleddes med en panel data regressionsanalys där en dummy för aktiv hållbarhet iform av medlemskap i organisationen GRESB användes för att bestämma de ekonomiskaeffekterna av aktivt hållbarhetsarbete på dagligt avkastningsindex. GRESB guidarmedlemmar i sitt arbete med hållbarhet där medlemskap i organisationen indikerar en vilja attförbättras. Resultaten landade i en random effects model som visade att GRESB är positivtoch signifikant för dagligt avkastningsindex med en förklaringsgrad om 3% av utvecklingen.Resultatet från den kvantitativa forskningsmetoden användes i den kvalitativaforskningsmetoden för att utforma intervjuguiden som användes vid semistruktureradeintervjuer.Slutsatsen kan dras att aktivt hållbarhetsarbete har positiva effekter på dagligtavkastningsindex för börsnoterade fastighetsbolag i Sverige. Hållbarhetsarbete skiljer sig åt isin effektivitet och lämplighet beroende på fastighetsbolags storlek och affärsområden.GRESB är sannolikt ett paraply för andra hållbarhetsrelaterade faktorer och framtidaforskning bör utöka antalet hållbarhetsvariabler som används vid analys. Det finns ingenuniversell arbetsmodell för hållbarhet, varje organisation bör utforma sina hållbarhetstrategimed hänsyn till sin verksamhet. Organisationer som söker hållbarhetspremier bör syfta till attgöra mer än minimumkraven, fastighetsbolag på toppen av hållbarhetssfären är de som fården största delen av premierna.

Вопросы оптимизации затрат, формирующих себестоимость, имеют приоритетное значение для организаций различных видов экономической деятельности. Наиболее сложными из них по составу и методам оценки являются затраты, связанные с трудовыми ресурсами, к которым помимо заработной платы относятся отчисления на социальное страхование и обеспечение, расходы на охрану труда, повышение квалификации и переобучение работников, и другие социальные пакеты. Для повышения эффективности управления затратами на персонал, включаемыми в себестоимость, важно использовать также и международный опыт. В последние годы Китайская экономика стремительно расширяет свои позиции на международном рынке, включая Россию. Если ранее срана позиционировалась в большей степени как производитель товаров широкого потребления, то в настоящий момент значительно увеличивается доля торговых операций внутреннего и внешнего характера. Сотрудничество Китая и России имеет давние традиции, которые в настоящее время усилены международными санкциями. / Optimization of costs that form the cost price is a priority for organizations of various types of economic activity. The most complex of them in terms of composition and methods of assessment are the costs associated with labor resources, which in addition to wages include social insurance and security contributions, labor protection costs, professional development and retraining of employees, and other social packages. It is also important to use international experience to improve the management of personnel costs included in the cost price. In recent years, the Chinese economy has been rapidly expanding its position in the international market, including Russia. If earlier srana was positioned more as a producer of consumer goods, at the moment the share of internal and external trade operations is significantly increasing. Cooperation between China and Russia has a long tradition, which is currently reinforced by international sanctions.

Структура магистерской диссертации включает в себя введение, три главы, заключение, список использованных источников и приложения. В первой главе рассмотрены теоретические положения управления затратами на персонал, проведен сравнительный анализ нормативных требований к их учету в организациях России и Китая. Сделаны выводы о сходстве и специфических для каждой страны аспектах управления трудовыми ресурсами и связанными с этим производственными затратами. Во второй главе проведен анализ ключевых показателей деятельности крупнейших кредитных организаций КНР, включая структуру затрат в целом и затрат на персонал в частности. Наиболее подробно рассмотрен China Construction Bank. В третьей главе проведен анализ основных проблем управления затратами на персонал в кредитных организациях КНР и разработаны направления их оптимизации, позволяющие повышать конкурентные преимущества в банковской сфере. В заключении сформированы основные выводы. / The structure of the master's thesis includes an introduction, three chapters, conclusion, list of references and appendices. In the first chapter, the theoretical provisions of personnel cost management are considered, a comparative analysis of regulatory requirements for their accounting in organizations in Russia and China is carried out. Conclusions are drawn about the similarity and country-specific aspects of human resource management and related production costs. The second chapter analyzes the key performance indicators of the largest credit institutions of China, including the structure of costs in general and personnel costs in particular. China Construction Bank is considered in the most detail. The third chapter analyzes the main problems of personnel cost management in credit institutions of the People's Republic of China and develops ways to optimize them, allowing to increase competitive advantages in the banking sector. In conclusion, the main conclusions are formed.

In this project, the problem concerns predicting insurance premiums and particularly vehicle insurance premiums. These predictions were made with the help of Bayesian Neural Networks (BNNs), a type of Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The central concept of BNNs is that the parameters of the network follow distributions, which is beneficial. The modeling was done with the help of TensorFlow's Probability API, where a few models were built and tested on the data provided. The results conclude the possibility of predicting insurance premiums. However, the output distributions in this report were too wide to use. More data, both in volume and in the number of features, and better-structured data are needed. With better data, there is potential in building BNN and other machine learning (ML) models that could be useful for production purposes. / Detta projekt grundar sig i möjligheten till att predikera försäkringspremier, mer specifikt fordonsförsäkringspremier. Prediktioner har gjorts med hjälp av Bayesianska neurala nätverk, vilket är en typ av artificiella neurala nätverk. Det huvudsakliga konceptet med Bayesianska neurala nätverk är att parametrarna i nätverket följer distributioner vilket har vissa fördelar och inte är fallet för vanliga artificiella neurala nätverk. Ett antal modeller har konstruerats med hjälp av TensorFlow Probability API:t som tränats och testats på given data. Resultatet visar att det finns potential att prediktera premier med hjälp av de egenskapspunkter\footnote[2]{\say{Features} på engelska} som finns tillgängliga, men att resultaten inte är tillräckligt bra för att kunna användas i produktion. Med mer data, både till mängd och egenskapspunkter samt bättre strukturerad data finns potential att skapa bättre modeller av intresse för produktion.