<p> </p><p>This thesis examines the subprime crisis in a Kindleberger framework as well as how the major banks in Sweden were affected. The thesis ties different events to the framework of Kindleberger and follows the stages he sees in a financial crisis, from the origination of the crisis due to speculation to suggested structural changes in the financial market. The effects upon Swedish banks are followed through the crisis and the effects upon the banks. Conclusions drawn are that the Kindleberger model is applicable to the subprime crisis in terms of components and not always chronologically. Swedish banks have regarding the magnitude of the crisis faired well, the problems causing the crisis are related to Moral hazard problems, regulators and rating institution.</p><p> </p>

This thesis examines the subprime crisis in a Kindleberger framework as well as how the major banks in Sweden were affected. The thesis ties different events to the framework of Kindleberger and follows the stages he sees in a financial crisis, from the origination of the crisis due to speculation to suggested structural changes in the financial market. The effects upon Swedish banks are followed through the crisis and the effects upon the banks. Conclusions drawn are that the Kindleberger model is applicable to the subprime crisis in terms of components and not always chronologically. Swedish banks have regarding the magnitude of the crisis faired well, the problems causing the crisis are related to Moral hazard problems, regulators and rating institution.

The prices of technological equipment have seen significant declines in recent decades. In Chapter 2 of this thesis, we examine the evidence and causes of these price declines. Among several factors, we focus on the learning curve effect where the cost of producing technological equipment declines as the cumulative number of produced units increases. In Chapter 3 we review the literature on technology adoption and the timing decisions of such adoptions. We aim to contribute to the literature by examining the timing of technology adoption under price declines. Furthermore, we consider the effect of human capital on such adoption decisions. We begin in Chapter 4 by developing a model of the timing of technology adoption under an exogenous price decline. Section 1 considers a single price drop in followed by multiple price drops in section 2. From the analytical results developed in these sections, we examine the effect of human capital on the adoption decision. Chapter 5 considers the price of the technological equipment to be endogenous to the model. We run computational experiments to demonstrate the declining price as a function of time. We examine the effect of the distribution of human capital on the price decline and adoption decision of the individuals of the population. We conclude with insights on the relationship between human capital inequality and technology adoption decisions.

This paper analyses options/warrants price behavior around an ex-dividend day of underlying shares. Both equity options as financial instruments traded on options exchanges, and warrants/certificates as OTC financial instruments are analyzed. First, the paper analyzes the ex-dividend day share price drop. Findings of this part are further used to analyze the impact of unexpected share price decline on options prices. Further, the paper focuses on volumes of traded options contracts and changes in options prices around the ex-dividend day. The paper focuses on European shares and related options and warrants. The options data was collected from the options exchange EUREX and also from several OTC sources -- Vontobel, Lang & Schwarz, Erste, and xMarkets by Deutsche Börse. The main aim of the paper is to identify market inefficiencies in trading in and valuation of equity options. There are two main conclusions that around the ex-dividend day there is a significantly increased trading activity and the call options depreciate whereas put options appreciate between the cum-dividend and the ex-dividend day. This shows insufficient implementation of the share price drops into options valuation models of options dealers or investors / speculators. Further an impact of unexpected share price behavior was analyzed but no particular pattern has been identified. The impact of the unexpected share price drop (either too high or too low) has ambiguous implications on the options prices. Finally, ways how to utilize on knowledge of inefficient trading in options around the ex-dividend day were suggested. The suggestions were done both from the perspective of an investor / speculator and of an options dealer.

This thesis is a collection of three essays on inflation expectations, forecasting uncertainty, and the role of uncertainty in sequential auctions, all using experimental approach. Chapter 1 studies how individuals forecast inflation in fictitious macroeconomic setup and analyzes the effect of monetary policy rules on their decisions. Results display heterogeneity in inflation forecasting rules and demonstrate the importance of adaptive learning forecasting if model switching is assumed. Chapter 2 extends the analysis from Chapter 1 by analyzing individual inflation forecasting uncertainty. Results show that confidence intervals depend on inflation variance and business cycle phase, have a strong inertia, and are often asymmetric. Finally, Chapter 3 analyzes the role of uncertainty about the number of bidders for the behavior of subjects in a sequential auction experiment. Uncertainty does not aggravate price decline, but it changes individual bidding strategies and auction efficiency. / Esta tesis consta de tres ensayos sobre las expectativas de inflación, la incertidumbre de la predicción, y la importancia de la incertidumbre en subastas secuenciales. Todos ellos utilizan un método experimental. El capítulo 1 estudia cómo los individuos predicen la inflación en la economía ficticia y analiza el efecto de las reglas de política monetaria en sus decisiones. Los resultados revelan la heterogeneidad en las reglas de predicción de la inflación y demuestran la importancia del mecanismo de aprendizaje adaptivo si el cambio entre los modelos se supone. Capítulo 2 continúa el análisis del capítulo 1, analiza la incertidumbre individual de las expectativas de inflación. Los resultados muestran que los intervalos de confianza dependen de varianza de la inflación y la fase del ciclo económico, tienen una fuerte inercia, y son frecuentemente asimétricos. Por último, el capítulo 3 analiza la influencia de la incertidumbre sobre el número de oferentes en el comportamiento de los individuos en un experimento de la subasta secuencial. La incertidumbre no agrava la caída de los precios, pero cambia las estrategias de los oferentes y la eficiencia de la subasta.