Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pittsburgh, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-185).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ekonomsko-komercijalna visoka škola, Zagreb, 1943. / In Serbo-Croatian (roman). Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation consists of three research studies on capital flows to South Asian countries, estimation of interest rate pass through in Pakistan and the relative city price convergence in Pakistan. The study has used panel data techniques for empirical estimations. The first study attempts to estimate capital mobility in South Asia using saving investment relationship technique and real interest rate differentials methods as suggested by Frankel (1992). The study finds that real interest rate differentials of South Asian countries are stationary and mean reverting with North American, European and Asian countries. Although the RIDS are stationary showing strong evidence of capital mobility, the savings investment correlation is significant. The correlation of savings and investment decreased after 1990s, the post liberalization period implying increased capital mobility afterwards. The RIDs technique provided stronger evidence of than savings and investment correlation technique. The second study is on the estimation of interest rate pass through in Pakistan using two types of data sets i.e. aggregate bank type and retail bank data. The study finds that both lending, deposit and Treasury Bill (TB) rates are non stationary using aggregate data. The lending and TB rate are found to be cointegrated but deposit rate is not found to be cointegrated. The IRPT of four types of banks is found to be less than 1 but three banks showed the IRPT to be higher than 0.5. The highest IRPT is 0.72 in the case of nationalized banks followed by o.70 by privatized banks. The foreign banks IRPT are 0.60. The lowest IRPT is estimated at 0.3. The error correction model estimates overall IRPT to be 0.6 and the convergence parameter is 0.05. It is low and implies that convergence takes time. The study does not find change in 2005 after January 2005 but the speed of adjustment increased when the lending rate is below equilibrium. The retail data provides evidence that lending and deposit rates both are non stationary and cointegrated with TB rate. I found evidence of complete lending rate pass through with Spatial GLS but Phillips Loretain (1991) model shows incomplete pass through. The deposit rate is found to be incomplete and sticky with both the techniques. The third essay provides evidence on relative city price convergence in 35 Pakistani cities with 2 numeraire cities of Lahore and Karachi. The study estimates the autocorrelation coefficient with 2 techniques i.e. OLS and Spatial GLS. Furthermore city wise half life of price shock is also estimated. The empirical evidence supports the hypothesis of convergence in Pakistani cities with both the numeraire cities. The overall half life is estimated to be less than 6 months but there is found heterogeneity in the city wise half life estimates. The half life estimates from Spatial GLS are found to be lower than OLS. The convergence has been found even in the case of distant bordering cities. The overall results support that domestic Purchasing Power Parity holds in Pakistan.

The U.S. social security system faces funding pressure due to the aging of the population. This dissertation examines the welfare cost of social security reform and social security policy uncertainty under rational expectations and under learning. I provide an overview of the U.S. social security system in Chapter I. In Chapter II, I construct an analytically tractable two-period OLG model with capital, social security, and endogenous government debt. I demonstrate the existence of steady states depends on social security parameters. I demonstrate a saddle-node bifurcation of steady states numerically, and demonstrate a transcritical bifurcation analytically. I show that if a proposed social security reform is large enough, or if the probability of reform is high enough, the economy will converge to a steady state. In Chapter III, I develop a three-period lifecycle model. The model is inherently forward looking, which allows for more interesting policy analysis. With three periods, the young worker's saving-consumption decision depends on her expectation of future capital. This forward looking allows analysis of multi-period uncertainty. Analysis in the three-period model suggests that policy uncertainty may have lasting consequences, even after reform is enacted. In Chapter IV, I develop two theories of bounded rationality called life-cycle horizon learning and finite horizon life-cycle learning. In both models, agents use adaptive expectations to forecast future aggregates, such as wages and interest rates. This adaptive learning feature introduces cyclical dynamics along a transition path, which magnify the welfare cost of changes in policy and policy uncertainty. I model policy uncertainty as a stochastic process in which reform takes place in one of two periods as either a benefit cut or a tax increase. I find the welfare cost of this policy uncertainty is less than 0.25% of period consumption in a standard, rational expectations framework. The welfare cost of policy uncertainty is larger in the learning models; the worst-off cohort in the life-cycle horizon learning model would be willing to give up 1.98% of period consumption to avoid policy uncertainty.

BAKGRUND: Robotrådgivning kan något förenklat definieras som en digital plattform som förser kunder med en automatiserad finansiell rådgivning. Många nya aktörer har börjat tillhandahålla robotrådgivningstjänster och robotrådgivning anses ha potential att förbättra marknaden för finansiell rådgivning. Ur ett konsumentperspektiv leder robotrådgivningen till bland annat sänkta direkta kostnader i form av lägre förvaltningsavgifter. Trots sänkta direkta kostnader och övriga konsumentfördelar har kapitalinflödet till robotrådgivningstjänster inte varit omfattande. Enligt ekonomiska teorier om transaktionskostnader, väljer köpare att inte genomföra köpet av en tjänst om uppfattade transaktionskostnader förenade med själva transaktionen upplevs för höga. Därmed är det av intresse att undersöka hur konsumenter uppfattar transaktionskostnader förenade med robotrådgivningen samt hur detta påverkar intention att använda tjänsten. SYFTE: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur direkta kostnader respektive indirekta transaktionskostnader påverkar konsumenters intention att använda sig av robotrådgivning. Vidare är syftet att undersöka huruvida respondenter med en liknande intention att använda robotrådgivningstjänster delar några gemensamma drag. GENOMFÖRANDE: Data till studien har samlats in med hjälp av enkätundersökning. Enkäten har besvarats av 77 personer. För att analysera statistiska samband mellan de olika oberoende variablerna och den beroende variabeln intention har vi genomfört en multipel regressionsanalys. För att vidare analysera den insamlade datan och få ännu djupare insikter i hur respondenterna ställer sig i förhållande till robotrådgivningen har vi genomfört klusteranalys. SLUTSATS: Enligt vår studie har variablerna förtroende och mänsklig kontakt ett statistiskt signifikant samband med intentionen att använda robotrådgivning. Enligt klusteranalysen kan dessutom två konsumentprofiler urskiljas med utgångspunkt i intention att använda robotrådgivning. Direkta kostnader, vilka har undersökts med hjälp av variabeln kostnad, har inte visats ha något större inverkan på konsumenternas inställning till robotrådgivning, varför hybridlösningar enligt vår mening skulle kunna vara en möjlig lösning för att minska konsumenternas uppfattade transaktionskostnader och på det sättet öka intentionen att använda robotrådgivningstjänster. / BACKGROUND: Robo-advisory can be defined as a platform which provides customers with an automated financial advisory. A large number of new and already existing financial institutions have started providing robo-advisory services and robo-advisors are considered to have the potential to improve the market of financial services. Among other things, robo- advisory leads to decreased direct costs for consumers in terms of lower management fees. Despite the reduced direct costs and other consumer benefits, the capital inflow to robo- adivosory services has not been substantial yet. According to the economic theories in the field of transaction costs, a buyer is not going to conduct a purchase of a service if perceived transaction costs associated with the transaction itself are too high. Thus, it is essential to examine how consumers perceive transaction costs associated with robo-advisory and how that affects consumers intention to use robo-advisory-services. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to examine how direct costs and indirect transaction costs affect consumers intention to use robo-advisory. Furthermore, the purpose of this study is to examine whether consumers with a similar intention to use robo-advisory services, share any other characteristics. IMPLEMENTATION: Data for our study has been collected via survey. The survey has been answered by 77 people. To analyze possible statistical relationships between the dependent variables and the independent variable intention, we have conducted a multiple regression analysis. In order to further analyze the collected data and gain even deeper insights into how respondents stand in relation to robo-advisory, cluster analysis has been conducted. CONCLUSION: According to our results, only variables trust and human contact have a significant statistic relationship with the intention to use robo-advisory. Furthermore, by means of cluster analysis we have been able to distinguish two consumer profiles based on the dependent variable intention. Direct costs, in terms of the variable cost, have not been shown to have any substantial impact on consumers attitude towards robo-advisory. Hence, hybrid- solutions could, in our opinion, be a possible solution in order to reduce consumers perceived transaction costs, and further increase the intention to use robo-advisory.

Program "Green savings" was initiated in April 2009. It was developed by the Czech Republic's Ministry of Environmental Affairs. The main governing body is the state fund for environmental affairs. The main objective of the program was the reduction of CO2 emmissions, encouragement of the use of renewable energy sources and the increase in energy efficiency. The program also supports the use of renewable energy sources for the purpose of heating and hot water production, as well as providing subsidies for partial or complete insulation of apartments or family homes. The program is divided into three parts which encompass Part A energy saving for the purpose of heating, Part B development in the passive energy standard and Part C the use of renewable energy sources for heating and hot water production. Subsidies are provided only to citizens of Czech Republic. By October 31st 2010, the program "Green savings" had documented 78 643 applications worth 22,53 billion Krowns. To this day, 64 136 applications have been approved, which represent 16.6 billion Krowns. Within different phases of completion were a further 14 507 applications representing 5,9 billion Krowns. The program has become very popular, and has had to be prematurely closed because the number of approved applications exceeded the program's designated financial budget. In the town of Milevsko, the program "Green savings" was most effective in Part A, primarily within the area of applications for family homes. The second most successful area was Part C. For Part B, there were no applications from the town of Milevsko. The level of financial support paid for all types of applications from Milevsko reached 38 134 708 Krowns , which is 8,27% of the total amount paid out in Czech Republic. Just as this example shows the effectiveness of the program ?Green savings? in Milevsko, this project can also help improve the overall consciousness with regard to energy saving, the use of renewable energy sources and the overall consciousness regarding the protection of the environment. If we want to improve our environment, it is important that not only do citizens change their way of thinking and their actions, but also that the State supports this new mentality with a positive momentum, for instance, such as supporting programs like "Green savings".

After expiration of fixing period, not only amount of interest rate, but also other opening costs and fees figure prominently in making decisions about next steps and practices. There are many products of not only mortgage banks, but also of building societies on the market currently. Both institutions compete each other and still try to attract new clients. The aim of my thesis was to inform in general about problems of mortgage credits and building savings. In this thesis I described basic aspects of financial market products and differences between them.

Esta tese avalia os benefícios e desafios associados com a operação em uma ampla faixa de frequências e tensões próximas ao limiar do transistor. A diminuição da tensão de alimentação em circuitos digitais CMOS apresenta grandes vantagens em termos de potência consumida pelo circuito. Esta diminuição da potência é acompanhada por uma redução da performance, reflexo da diminuição na tensão de alimentação. A operação de circuitos digitais no ponto de energia mínima é comumente associada ao regime de operação abaixo do limiar do transistor, trazendo enormes penalidades em performance e variabilidade. Esta dissertação mostra que é possível obter 8X mais eficiência energética com uma ampla faixa dinâmica de tensão e frequência, da tensão nominal até o limite inferior da operação próximo ao limiar do transistor. Como parte deste estudo, uma biblioteca de células digitais CMOS para esta ampla faixa de frequências foi desenvolvida. A biblioteca de células lógicas foi exercitada em um PDK comercial de 65nm para operação próximo ao limiar do transistor, reduzindo os efeitos da variabilidade sem comprometer o projeto em termos de área e energia quando operando em inversão forte. Para operar próximo e abaixo do limiar do transistor as células devem ser desenvolvidas com um número limitado de transistores em série. Nosso estudo mostra que uma performance aceitável em termos de margens de ruído estático é obtida para um conjunto restrito de células, onde são empregados no máximo dois transistores em série. Reportamos resultados para projetos de média complexidade que incluem um filtro notch de 25kgates, um microcontrolador 8051 de 20kgates, e 4 circuitos combinacionais/ sequenciais do conjunto de avaliação ISCAS. Neste trabalho, é estudada a máxima frequência atingida em cada tensão de alimentação, desde 0.15V até 1.2V. O ponto de mínima energia é demonstrado em operação abaixo do limiar do transistor, aproximadamente 0.29V, oque representa um ganho de 2X em eficiência energética comparado ao regime de operação próximo ao limiar do transistor. Embora o pico de eficiência energética ocorra abaixo do limiar do transistor para os circuitos estudados, nós também demonstramos que nesta tensão de alimentação ultra-baixa o atraso e a potência sofrem um impacto substancial devido ao aumento na variabilidade, atigindo uma degradação em performance de 30X, com respeito à operação próxima ao limiar do transistor. / This thesis assesses the benefits and drawbacks associated with a very wide range of frequency when operation at near-threshold is considered. Scaling down the supply voltage in digital CMOS circuits presents great benefits in terms of power reduction. Such scaling comes with a performance penalty, hence in digital synchronous circuits the reduction in frequency of operation follows, for a given circuit layout, the VDD reduction. Minimum-energy operation of digital CMOS circuits is commonly associated to the sub-VT regime, carrying huge performance and variability penalties. This thesis shows that it is possible to achieve 8X higher energy-efficiency with a very-wide range of dynamic voltage-frequency scaling, from nominal voltages down to the lower boundary of near-VT operation. As part of this study, a CMOS digital cell-library for such wide range of frequencies was developed. The cell-library is exercised in a 65nm commercial PDK and targets near-VT operation, mitigating the variability effects without compromising the design in terms of area and energy at strong inversion. For near-VT or sub-VT operation the cells have to be designed with few stacked transistors. Our study shows that acceptable performance in terms of static-noise margins is obtained for a constrained set of cells, for which a maximum of 2-stacked transistors are allowed. In this set we include master-slave registers. We report results for medium complexity designs which include a 25kgates notch filter, a 20kgates 8051 compatible core, and 4-combinational/4-sequential ISCAS benchmark circuits. In this work the maximum frequency attainable at each supply for a wide variation of voltage is studied from 150mV up to nominal voltage (1.2V). The sub-VT operation is shown to hold the minimum energy-point at roughly 0.29V, which represents a 2X energy-saving compared to the near-VT regime. Although energy-efficiency peaks in sub-VT for the circuits studied, we also show that in this ultra-low VDD the circuit timing and power suffer from substantially increased variability impact and a 30X performance drawback, with respect to near-VT.

Cette thèse est une étude socioéconomique qui analyse la dynamique de pénétration et de socialisation des instituts de micro-finance (IMF) en Moyenne Guinée (république de Guinée), à travers les logiques d’acteurs et les transformations sociales associées à cette forme nouvelle de bancarisation qui cible les pauvres. La première partie présente le cadre de la recherche et indique que, pour l’État, la législation et les investisseurs, les IMF sont nés pour affaiblir l’économie informelle. La deuxième partie montre que pratiques et ressorts de légitimation des IMF assurent la pénétration sociale du monopole idéologique de la gouvernance globale de la pauvreté (OMD, DSRP, PPTE), constituant au passage une aubaine pour des entrepreneurs des réseaux parfois affiliés au pouvoir. Néanmoins, l’enquête de terrain montre que les clients de la Moyen Guinée sont abonnés autant aux IMF qu’aux régimes d’endettement et d’épargne très anciens qui résistent au changement et permettent de tenir dans la crise, d’assumer sa position sociale ou d’entreprendre son émancipation (cas des femmes). Dans la troisième partie, nous verrons que l’importance des IMF en Moyenne Guinée n’est pas tant dans la réduction de la pauvreté qu’ils aggravent parfois par le surendettement des ménages, que dans le renouvellement de la problématique du « développement » et des politiques publiques, ou l’introduction de la question sociale / This thesis is a sociological and economic study which analyzes the dynamic of penetration and socialization of Microloans Institutes (MLI) in Middle Guinea (region in republic of Guinea). Focalizing on actors logics and social transformations associated to this new form of entrance in bank system dedicated to poor people, the study presents, in a 1st part, the framework (context and concepts of study), noting that for state, legislation and entrepreneurs, the aim of MFI presence in Guinea is to break informal economy. In the 2nd part, practices and legitimating strategies of MLI assures a social penetration to the monopolistic ideology of “global governance of poverty” (MDG, PRSP, HIPC), constituting an opportunity for business men probably affiliated to governmental network. However, the reality of the ground reveals that in Middle Guinea, people are MLI costumers as much as members of old ant informal microloans groups, which resist to the change and help to hold in times of crisis, to assume social position or to engage a social emancipation process (case of women). In the 3rd part we will see that the importance of microloans institutions in Middle Guinea is not to reduce poverty-they contribute in some cases to accelerate household indebtedness-but to renew the problematic of “development”, public policies, introducing poverty as social issue.

Esse trabalho tem como objetivo verificar se o sistema bancário brasileiro protege indivíduos contra os choques transitivos de renda. Por meio de experimentos e avaliação empírica, em pequenas regiões, a literatura tenta explicar como arranjos informais podem contornar os problemas de crédito causados por falhas informacionais e de comprometimento limitado. No entanto, falha em avaliar choques que afetam uma região geográfica ampla já que esses são comportados apenas por bancos. Através de um modelo de dois estágios com variação de renda instrumentalizada por variáveis climáticas, analisamos se existe um efeito significante entre os choques e as contas de crédito das instituições formais. Verificamos que os agentes usam poupança como meio principal de suavizar seu risco intertemporal. As contas de crédito, entretanto possuem um efeito distinto em municípios com mais desenvolvimento financeiro do que aqueles com menos. Isso indica que possuímos uma restrição de crédito para parte da população, deixando-a exposta ao seu risco. / This work aims to verify whether the Brazilian banking system protects individuals against transitive income shocks. Through experiments and empirical evaluation in small regions, literature tries to explain how informal arrangements can overcome credit problems caused by informational failures and limited commitment. But they fail to evaluate shocks that affect a broad geographic region that can only be dealt with banks. Through a two-stage model with varying income instrumentalized by climatic variables, we analyze whether there is a significant effect between shocks and credit accounts of formal institutions. We verify that agents use savings as the primary means of smoothing their intertemporal risk. The credit accounts however have a distinct effect in counties with more financial development than the ones with the least. This indicates that we have a credit crunch for a portion of the population, leaving it exposed to their risk.