This dissertation analyses the contribution that Amartya Sen’s idea of justice can make to inform development policies. Particularly, it examines to what extent Sen succeeds in presenting a useful theoretical framework for orienting political action towards justice-enhancing change. In The Idea of Justice (2009), Sen argues that ideal theories of justice which aim at identifying the nature of a perfectly just society—what he calls ‘transcendental’ theories—are not appropriate either for examining prevalent injustices or for rectifying them. Sen therefore proposes a ‘comparative framework’ of justice capable of providing useful practical guidance to advance justice or reduce injustice, a task for which ‘transcendental’ Rawlsian-like theories are redundant. This dissertation critically assesses these two claims advanced by Sen. Taking John Rawls’ Theory of Justice as an illustration, it argues that ideal theories are indeed essential, even if not sufficient, for the reduction of injustice. Therefore, it advances that it is necessary to complement ideal and nonideal approaches to justice. It then advocates for a ‘dual Rawlsian/Senian framework’. Yet this dissertation argues that, even if coupled with an ideal theory, Sen’s nonideal theory remains insufficient to orient injustice-reduction actions because it fails to take into account the overarching social nature of injustice and its perpetuation. In the light of this shortcoming, this dissertation stresses the need to conceptualise injustice as something different from simply the lack of justice and to understand it in a more dynamic and relational way. Ultimately, this implies further complementing a dual framework with a broader conceptualisation of injustice. The dissertation illustrates this argument with the social policy of Oportunidades in Mexico. It concludes that, in order to create a more just society, injustice-reduction policies need to go beyond the removal of capability-deprivations and address the ways in which injustice is reproduced through social interactions.

<p>The Fisher Equation suggests that the spread between nominal and real interest rates is equal to the inflation expectations. In Sweden, where both nominal and inflation linked bonds exist the fisher equation implies that the yield spread could provide investors and policymakers with important information about markets inflation expectations. The aim of this thesis is therefore to estimate whether the yield spread between Swedish nominal and real interest rates - widely referred to as the Breakeven Inflation (BEI) - is a market based measure of inflation expectations. A sample based on historical bond prices between year 2000 and 2007 is used and adjusted for 3 distortions: i) The mismatch in cash flow structure arising from different bond characteristics. ii) The inflation indexation and bond finance implications (carry). iii) The seasonality in Consumer Price Index (CPI). In the absence of “true” inflation expectations, the benchmark used for the evaluation and comparison of the unadjusted and adjusted BEI series is the survey based, Prospera Money Market Players inflationary expectations, i.e. professional forecasters. The evaluation uses two statistical measures to estimate the errors, the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) to estimate the size of the forecast error and the Mean Error (ME) to measure the bias or the tendency for the forecast error to point in a particular direction. The general conclusion of the study is that both the unadjusted and the adjusted BEI series have improved significantly throughout the sample period as predictors of inflation expectations.</p><p>Further, in the first half of the sample, the MEs show that the BEI tends to underestimate inflation expectations, while in the second part of the sample the direction of the errors are less univocal. However, the carry adjusted and in some extent the carry and seasonality adjusted BEI seem to improve the BEI somewhat, although the conclusions are not very convincing. When using BEI to measure inflation expectations the conclusions should also be balanced against the possible bias associated with survey based expectations.</p>

The Fisher Equation suggests that the spread between nominal and real interest rates is equal to the inflation expectations. In Sweden, where both nominal and inflation linked bonds exist the fisher equation implies that the yield spread could provide investors and policymakers with important information about markets inflation expectations. The aim of this thesis is therefore to estimate whether the yield spread between Swedish nominal and real interest rates - widely referred to as the Breakeven Inflation (BEI) - is a market based measure of inflation expectations. A sample based on historical bond prices between year 2000 and 2007 is used and adjusted for 3 distortions: i) The mismatch in cash flow structure arising from different bond characteristics. ii) The inflation indexation and bond finance implications (carry). iii) The seasonality in Consumer Price Index (CPI). In the absence of “true” inflation expectations, the benchmark used for the evaluation and comparison of the unadjusted and adjusted BEI series is the survey based, Prospera Money Market Players inflationary expectations, i.e. professional forecasters. The evaluation uses two statistical measures to estimate the errors, the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) to estimate the size of the forecast error and the Mean Error (ME) to measure the bias or the tendency for the forecast error to point in a particular direction. The general conclusion of the study is that both the unadjusted and the adjusted BEI series have improved significantly throughout the sample period as predictors of inflation expectations. Further, in the first half of the sample, the MEs show that the BEI tends to underestimate inflation expectations, while in the second part of the sample the direction of the errors are less univocal. However, the carry adjusted and in some extent the carry and seasonality adjusted BEI seem to improve the BEI somewhat, although the conclusions are not very convincing. When using BEI to measure inflation expectations the conclusions should also be balanced against the possible bias associated with survey based expectations.

This qualitative study is about social security system as a form of international aid, with focus on cash transfers in Tanzania. The study aims to examine social security systems as the right tool to fight poverty in the long term. It also aims to analyze how Swedish international aid organisations contributes to the establishment of social security systems in Tanzania. The study is based on literature of relevance, interviews and other existing social security systems. In this study a total of eight semi structured interviews were conducted with representatives from various Swedish international aid organisations, as well as a scientist operating at a university in Sweden. The theoretical framework in this study includes Social Progress Index as a tool to measure and analyze the well being of a country. The main findings in this study showed that social security systems in form of cash in hand is a simple and effective way to get people out of poverty. The results also include problems with international aid and the absence of a long term solution in fighting poverty. The main findings in this study contributes to a greater understanding of the importance of contextualization regarding social security systems. It also shows that Sweden as a welfare nation has an important role in international discussions concerning social protection. / Det här är en kvalitativ studie om internationella biståndsinsatser i form av sociala trygghetssystem med fokus på kontantstöd i Tanzania. Studien syftar till att undersöka om sociala trygghetssystem i den här bemärkelsen är rätt verktyg för att bekämpa extrem fattigdom ur ett långsiktigt perspektiv, samt hur svenska biståndsorganisationer bidrar till uppbyggnad av sociala trygghetssystem i Tanzania. Studien utgår från relevant litteratur, intervjuer och referenser till andra sociala trygghetssystem. Sammanlagt genomfördes åtta semistrukturerade djupintervjuer med informanter från svenska biståndsorganisationer samt en forskare som är verksam vid ett svenskt universitet. En viktig teoretisk utgångspunkt i studien är Social Progress Index (SPI) som är ett verktyg för att mäta länders välmående. Av resultatet framgår att sociala trygghetssystem är ett effektivt och enkelt sätt att lyfta människor ur fattigdom. Detta ställs i kontrast till problematiken kring bistånd och sociala trygghetssystem som endast en kortsiktig lösning. Resultatet visar också vikten av kontextualisering i biståndsinsatser och Sveriges viktiga roll i den internationella biståndsdebatten.

This thesis explores the role of Development policy as an alternative to the traditional public security focused strategies for tackling organised crime violence in Latin America and the Caribbean. To do so, it builds bridges between the academic literature of criminology and development. It examines the public experiences of insecurity in Mexico and the social impacts of a development initiative, the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme in two municipalities in Mexico. The thesis poses questions about the impacts of Development initiatives upon organised crime violence from the perspectives of those living within areas affected by violence. The CCT programmes seek to address poverty in the short and long-term and research has begun to explore the potential of these programmes to diminish violence and crime, almost exclusively from a quantitative research approach, whereas this study adopts a qualitative design. This research is based on data gathered through interviews, observations, and focus groups to examine the perspectives and experiences of current and former CCT recipients, CCT administrators, public security officials, members of the public, NGO leads, and ex-gang affiliated individuals. This micro-level qualitative methodology adopted in this research contrasts the almost exclusively macro-level, econometric evaluations which have dominated CCT and organised crime research. The findings demonstrated that respondents perceived CCTs as significant in reducing the propensity of young men participating in organised crime violence in their localities. The perspectives of participants in this study provided enough evidence to overturn a common narrative of ‘prevention doesn’t work’ and suggest that in each of the areas targeted by the study there is potential for a reduction of organised crime rooted in development initiatives according to respondents.

This dissertation explores the role of relationships with front-line officers on the subjective wellbeing of the recipients of the conditional cash transfer programme in Mexico, Oportunidades-Prospera. To do so, it builds bridges between the literatures on wellbeing, development and public policy. In recent decades, wellbeing has acquired greater significance in public policy with the interest of changing the conceptualization of progress from one driven by economic growth to one which takes quality of life as its ultimate aim. Much attention has been placed on measuring wellbeing for national policy deliberation. This dissertation, instead, is interested in understanding how taking a wellbeing approach may contribute to street-level development: to the design, practice and implementation of social policies and programmes. The value of wellbeing is that it draws attention to dimensions of experience that policy has tended to under-estimate or ignore. In this respect, one of the most consistent findings of wellbeing scholarship is the centrality of social relationships in shaping action and driving how people evaluate their lives. While the main emphasis has been on close relationships, this dissertation asks how the relationships created during the implementation of social programmes may influence wellbeing – and hence the overall impact of policies themselves. This research focuses on relationships at the health clinics which clients of Oportunidades-Prospera are required to attend as a condition for receiving a cash transfer. It follows a mixed-methods approach that reveals that relationships with health officers have a significant role on recipients’ sense of what they can do and be in different domains. It also finds that the quality of these relationships has two dimensions, positive and negative, and that these have differential effects on wellbeing. The study concludes that paying attention to the wellbeing implications of officer-recipient relationships deepens understanding of the overall effect of social programmes on their clients, highlighting unintended effects that are usually unaccounted for. In addition, the significance of relationships in implementation indicates a vital dimension of the policy process that requires direct attention if social policy and programmes are to achieve their full potential to improve people’s wellbeing.