Tourism, Barbados's primary industry, declined substantially from the outset of the 2008 global recession, triggering an economic slump in the local economy. The purpose of this exploratory study was to explore the views of 20 Barbadian tourism executives regarding the ability of community-based tourism (CBT) to resuscitate Barbados's tourism industry. The participants included 10 from the government and 10 from the business sector; all possessed knowledge of CBT and worked with tourism for at least 10 years. Arnstein's ladder of citizen participation constituted the conceptual framework of this study. Participants were recruited by snowball and purposive sampling. Data were collected using an interview guide with semistructured interview questions, an audio recorder, and interview notes. The collected data were coded and analyzed using thematic analysis, which involved collating the most cited codes into potential themes and developing thematic maps. The major themes that emerged from the data analysis of the private sector included the use of CBT as a means to solidify social relationships among locals and tourists and its ability to encourage repeat vacations. The major themes that materialized from interviewing the government workers included the need for the education of residents regarding the importance of their roles as stakeholder participants and the obligation by the relevant officials to stem any potential for criminal activity that could occur through CBT implementation. Repeated vacations through CBT could give rise to positive social change in the island by generating increased foreign currency injections and improving the social well-being of Barbadians and the Barbados economy.

This dissertation has two main objectives. The first one is to construct historical macroeconomic series for Sweden using a consistent method throughout the relevant periods, and which rely on modern methods of national accounting. The second objective is to investigate patterns of economic growth, accumulation and crisis in Sweden 1800-2000, based on the constructed data series. New annual data series of Gross Domestic Product and its division into activities (type of production) and expenditures (consumption, investment and foreign trade), Net Domestic Product, stocks of produced assets and consumption of fixed assets are constructed for the period 1800-2000; series of employment, wages, imputed labour income of self employed and surplus for the period 1850-2000; and series of worked hours for the period 1950-2000. Summary tables of the main aggregate variables are presented at the end of the dissertation. The intent is to make the data material available online (also at a more disaggregated level) at: http://www.historia.se. Although the present study criticises the somewhat deterministic vision of many long cycle theories, it also demonstrates that the concept of long cycle can be applied when studying long-term fluctuations in GDP per capita, provided that the notion of a fixed periodicity of long cycles is abandoned. Long-term economic fluctuations are irregular, but so is also the short-term business cycle. Different historical tendencies and trends are investigated. The decline of the relative size of industrial activities in the last half of 20th century was not as dramatic, if unpaid household labour is considered and that many services are industry-related. The Marxist theory of a Tendency for the Rate of Profit to Fall is partly confirmed as a secular process up to the 1970s, but profitability has rebounded in the last two decades of the 20th century. During the 1990s, the investment ratio declined to historically low levels and the volume value of the net stock of buildings and structures fell for the first time since the 1830s. A comparison is also made of depressions in Sweden since 1850. During the 19th century, depressions were largely induced by the agricultural sector, and during the 20th century by industrial activities. However, the transition to the modern business cycle was not sudden but rather protracted. Another finding is that the 1990s depression was somewhat deeper than the 1930s depression in terms of GDP contraction.

It has been a lot of talking about who’s president’s fault has been for the crisis that Started in the United States and how it spread around the world. Is it really a specific group of people’s fault? Our leaders’ responsibility to prevent all this? Or is it all of our fault for living in the illusions leaders created for us in order to keep being elected? I am not here to point fingers but, rather, analyzing what has happened by researching legislations that passed and did not pass, and who lobbied and why they lobbied on specific legislations that could have made a difference in the economic situation but were never given the chance. The research are mainly on the years right before the 2007- 2008 recession and specifically from 2004 to 2006. I conclude with analyzing the types of leadership styles that I feel have influenced the current situation and what is the follower’s responsibility in letting it happen, why, and how they could change the situation.

Entre los siglos II-III d.C. la ciudad de Carthago Noua (Cartagena, España) conoce una serie de transformaciones que alteran su paisaje urbano, su extensión se reduce a la mitad y numerosos edificios públicos y privados son abandonados. En este trabajo se estudia la evolución de la ciudad entre el Alto y el Bajo Imperio a través del análisis de la cultura material cerámica. Siete contextos de la colonia y su entorno son estudiados de manera total, incluyendo todas las producciones (cerámicas finas, ánforas, cerámica común, lucernas...) desde época tardo Antonina hasta el gobierno del emperador Diocleciano. / Between the second and third centuries A.D. the city of Carthago Noua (Cartagena, Spain) meets a series of changes that alter the urban landscape, reducing its size in half and drop-populating numerous public and private buildings. In this work we studied the evolution of the city between Early and Late Empire through the analysis of ceramic material culture. Seven contexts of the colony and its hinterland are studied in whole, including all productions (fine wares, amphorae, coarse wares, lamps ...) from the time of the last Antonine emperors until the reign of Diocletian.

In this study we provide novel results on the extent of international trade synchronization during periods of trade collapses and US recessions. Based on monthly data for the G7 economies over the period 1961-2011, our results suggest rather idiosyncratic patterns of international trade synchronization during trade collapses and US recessions. During the great recession of 2007-2009, however, international trade experienced the most sudden, severe and globally synchronized collapse. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

SAMMANFATTNING   Under en pågående lågkonjunktur och i en värld med ett antal företagsskandaler färskt i minnet, väcks intresset för hur revisorerna bemästrar sin uppgift som bedömare av företags fortlevnad. Tidigare studier om revisorers träffsäkerhet vid bedömning av going concern visar att träffsäkerheten i Sverige är låg, jämfört med studier ifrån andra länder. Vårt resultat ger ytterligare belägg för en låg träffsäkerhet i Sverige. För att besvara vårt syfte har vår studie föregåtts av både ett kvantitativt och ett kvalitativt angreppssätt, då vi dels har genomfört en datainsamling och en informantintervju. Materialet som vi har utgått ifrån är 2075 respektive 1528 undersökningsenheter, där alla enheter är aktiebolag som gått i konkurs under perioden1 januari - 30 juni 2010. En del av vår undersökning var att kartlägga om det finns någon skillnad i träffsäkerheten vid bedömning av going concern när revisorerna är medvetna om en pågående lågkonjunktur. Jämför vi vårt resultat med resultatet från en liknande studie utförd 2009, när lågkonjunkturen var i sin linda, finner vi en skillnad mellan studierna. Träffsäkerheten är högre i vår studie, 18,3 %, än i den tidigare studien, 12,2 %. En ytterligare del i vår undersökning var att kartlägga möjliga förklaringar till den låga träffsäkerheten vid bedömningen av going concern. Studien indikerar att kompetens, oberoende, rädsla för skadestånd och redovisningens uppbyggnad kan påverka revisorernas träffsäkerhet vid bedömning av going concern i mer eller mindre utsträckning. Vidare kan redovisningens uppbyggnad ses som en anledning till den låga träffsäkerheten vid revisorers bedömningar av going concern. / SUMMARY     During a recession and in a world with a number of major corporate scandals in fresh memory, the interest in how auditors have mastered their role as assessor of corporate survival is raised. Previous studies on auditors' accuracy in assessing the going concern shows that the accuracy of it in Sweden is low compared to studies made in other countries. Our result gives further evidence of a low success rate in Sweden. To answer our purpose, our study has been preceded by both a quantitative and a qualitative approach as we have implemented a data collection as well as an informant. The material we have used to obtain our results is 2075 and 1528 investigation units, where all units are Limited Companies that have gone bankrupt during the period January 1:st to  June 30:th 2010. A part of our study was to investigate if there were any differences in the accuracy in the assessment of going concern when the auditors were aware of a pending recession. Comparing our results in this study with a similar study conducted in 2009, when the recession was in its infancy, we find a difference between the studies. Accuracy is higher in our study, 18.3%, than in the earlier study, 12.2%. A further aspect of our study was to identify possible explanations to why there is such a low accuracy in the assessment of going concern. The study indicates that competence, independence, fear of damages and accounts structure could affect auditors' accuracy in assessing going concern in a greater or lesser extent. Furthermore, the accounts structure is seen as a reason for the low accuracy of auditors' assessment of going concern

This paper offers an empirical analysis of net job creation patterns at the firm level for the Austrian economy between 1993 and 2013 focusing on the impact of firm size and age. We propose a new estimation strategy based on a two-part model. This allows to identify the structural parameters of interest and to decompose behavioral differences between exiting and surviving firms. Our findings suggest that conditional on survival, young Austrian firms experience the largest net job creation rates. Differences in firm size are not able to explain variation in net job creation rates among the group of continuing enterprises. Job destruction induced by market exit, however, is largest among the young and small firms with this effect being even more pronounced during the times of the Great Recession. In order to formulate sensible policy recommendations, a separate treatment of continuing versus exiting firms as proposed by the new two-part model estimation approach seems crucial.(authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and the World Bank, I examine the effect of the Great Recession on total early-stage entrepreneurship rates in nineteen European countries relative to the United States, as well as on male and female entrepreneurship independently. I find that the Great Recession has led to increased entrepreneurship rates overall and that there is little variation across European countries relative to the United States. Further, I find that female entrepreneurship rates increased more than male entrepreneurship rates following the Great Recession. This suggests that women have not only experienced greater job recovery overall after the recession, but that they have also turned more towards self-employment relative to their male counterparts.

This thesis investigates the relationship between labour market statuses and well-being in the UK working age population, and the moderating role of the Great Recession. Research on the relationship between labour market statuses and well-being outcomes identifies negative associations with unemployment and economic inactivity. These findings are typically presented as independent of macroeconomic conditions, but to what extent does this assumption hold? The central proposition of this thesis, is that economic crises moderate the way in which labour market statuses affect well-being, thereby changing the value of statuses, not just their prevalence. The main research question addressed is ‘for the UK working age population, to what extent did labour market and employment statuses contribute to the greater or lesser effects of the economic crisis (2007/8–2011) on well-being, compared to the pre-recession ‘boom’ period (2003/4–2006/7)?’I make use of a national panel data series from the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society. Firstly, after critiquing the reliance on subjective well-being (SWB) measures, confirmatory factor analysis is used to develop a measure of positive psychological health, representing a single dimension of well-being. This is then compared to a measure of SWB in a series of latent growth models to investigate individual trajectories over the study period. Secondly, multilevel models are used to estimate the relationship between five labour market and employment statuses and positive psychological health, comparing the pre-recession and recession periods. Finally, a dynamic structural equation modelling approach is used to investigate selection and causation in the relationship between labour market status and positive psychological health. Aggregate positive psychological health was associated with a recession period decline, in contrast to SWB which remained stable. Labour market statuses were found to moderate the impact of recession. People who were economically inactive were associated with the largest declines in positive psychological health during the recession period, compared to the pre-recession period, followed by those in standard employment. In contrast, the relationship between non-standard employment and unemployment and positive psychological health remained constant over time. Finally, despite evidence of selection into labour market statuses, the findings show a strong causal impact of statuses on positive psychological health. The findings provide a different take on those hardest hit by recession, showing that some of the most vulnerable to low psychological health were most exposed to the impact of recession by virtue of their labour market status. The protective value of standard employment was also diminished relatively. Evidence in favour of a causal interpretation suggests policy makers should use employment and welfare policy to prevent an accumulation of welfare issues.

Submitted by Cristiane Oliveira (cristiane.oliveira@fgv.br) on 2011-05-24T14:44:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 71070100737.pdf: 3317074 bytes, checksum: dced51577a123bcfc1da740398cda353 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Gisele Isaura Hannickel(gisele.hannickel@fgv.br) on 2011-05-24T15:00:00Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 71070100737.pdf: 3317074 bytes, checksum: dced51577a123bcfc1da740398cda353 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Gisele Isaura Hannickel(gisele.hannickel@fgv.br) on 2011-05-24T15:03:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 71070100737.pdf: 3317074 bytes, checksum: dced51577a123bcfc1da740398cda353 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-24T15:11:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 71070100737.pdf: 3317074 bytes, checksum: dced51577a123bcfc1da740398cda353 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-12-07 / This thesis was aimed at studying the determinants of the impact of recessions on the performance of firms. More specifically, it addressed the U.S. recession of 2001. The sample of companies analyzed, taken from Compustat, included annual data between the years 1998 and 2004 from 510 firms operating in 55 different manufacturing industries. Performance was operationalized by three different accounting indicators. A multilevel growth curve model allowed the analysis of the impact of the crisis on company performance. The decomposition of the variability of the recession impact on performance indicated that firm effects are predominant, ie, the variation in performance during the crisis is largely determined by idiosyncratic characteristics of firms and not by attributes of the sectors in which they operate. However, industry effects were more important during a recession than during times of economic growth. The findings concerning the correlation between the impact of the crisis and the past performance of companies indicated that a recession does not amplify performance differences between firms extant before the crisis, but changes their performance relative position. These results suggest that the characteristics of firms which provide competitive advantage in times of economic growth do not necessarily make them less susceptible to the effects of a recession. Available organizational slack, which has as one of its main components cash reserves, was examined as an explanatory variable of the recession's impact on performance at the firm level. The hypothesis of an inverted "U" relationship was tested and not confirmed. A significant negative linear relationship was found, ie companies with high cash levels suffered the most during the recession. These results are justified, theoretically, by managerial complacency caused by excess slack which may lead executives not to adapt to a new economic context, but to use available liquid assets to “pay the price” of the firm's lack of fit to its external environment. This finding proved to be robust in the three different operationalizations of performance and in two measures of available organizational slack. Company growth during the recession was also 8 controlled for, so that this result does not just represent a trade-off between growth and profitability; ie, it is not derived from a company's decision of using the crisis as an opportunity to expand its market share at the expense of shortterm profitability. The managerial implications of these findings suggest that economic crises deserve special attention and that good performance in times of stability does not ensure success during a recession. The mere stockpiling of cash does not appear to be an appropriate preventive measure and the tendency by firms of accumulating reserves of liquid assets as a precaution against macroeconomic fluctuations should be taken with caution. Despite the breadth of the study, the sample used included only manufacturing firms which remained active between 1998 and 2000, reducing the range of application of the results obtained. / Este trabalho teve como objetivo estudar o comportamento do desempenho das firmas durante um período de contração da atividade econômica. Mais especificamente, abordou-se a recessão norte-americana de 2001. A amostra de empresas analisada, proveniente da Compustat, incluía observações anuais entre 1998 e 2004 de 510 firmas atuantes em 55 diferentes indústrias de manufatura. O desempenho foi operacionalizado por três indicadores de natureza contábil. Um modelo multinível de curva de crescimento permitiu a análise do impacto da crise sobre o desempenho das empresas. A decomposição da variabilidade do impacto da recessão sobre o desempenho indicou que o efeito firma é predominante, ou seja, a variação da performance na crise é determinada principalmente por características idiossincráticas das firmas e não por atributos dos setores em que estas atuam. No entanto, o efeito setor mostrou-se mais relevante durante a recessão do que em momentos de estabilidade econômica. Os achados relativos à correlação entre o impacto da crise e o desempenho anterior das empresas indicaram que a recessão não amplificou as diferenças de desempenho existentes entre as firmas antes da crise, mas alterou a posição relativa de suas performances. Esses resultados sugerem que características das firmas que oferecem vantagem competitiva em momentos de crescimento econômico não as tornam necessariamente menos sensíveis ao efeito de uma recessão. A folga organizacional disponível, que tem como componente fundamental as reservas de caixa, foi analisada como variável explicativa do impacto da recessão sobre o desempenho no nível das firmas. A hipótese de uma relação em forma de “U” invertido foi testada e não confirmada. Uma relação linear negativa e significante foi identificada, ou seja, empresas com elevados níveis de caixa sofreram mais durante a recessão. Esse resultado é justificado, em termos teóricos, pela complacência gerada nos gestores pelo excesso de folga, que pode levá-los a não se adaptar ao novo contexto econômico, mas apenas a utilizar os recursos líquidos para pagar o preço do descompasso das firmas com o ambiente externo. Esse achado mostrou-se robusto nas três diferentes operacionalizações de desempenho e em duas medidas de folga organizacional disponível. O crescimento das firmas durante a recessão também foi controlado, de maneira que esse resultado não representou apenas um trade-off entre crescimento e rentabilidade; ou seja, não derivou da escolha das firmas de utilizarem a crise como oportunidade para expandir sua participação no mercado, mesmo que em detrimento da rentabilidade de curto prazo. Em termos de implicações gerenciais, esses achados sugerem que as crises econômicas merecem atenção especial das firmas, e que um bom desempenho em momentos de estabilidade não assegura o sucesso durante a recessão. O simples acúmulo de caixa, no entanto, não se mostra como uma medida preventiva adequada, e a tendência de acúmulo de reservas de recursos líquidos das firmas como precaução frente a flutuações macroeconômicas deve ser tomada com cautela. Apesar da amplitude do estudo, a amostra utilizada incluiu apenas firmas que se mantiveram ativas entre 1998 e 2000, reduzindo o espectro de aplicações dos resultados auferidos.