Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) has been seen as a strategy to reduce poverty while maintaining and increasing the supply of ecosystem services. Vietnam is the first country in Southeast Asia to implement PES as a law for forest protection. Several studies of PES in Vietnam have been done, where the positive results tend to come from provinces with higher payments. This also seem to correlate with the level of environmental awareness and engagement among local communities. In this study, interviews with NGOs and institutions were conducted with the purpose to investigate their perception of the understanding of PES on a local level, and how they are working for improvements. All interviewees recognized that there are problems with the top-down design of the policy and raised issues such as lack of communication, low and risky payments and low rates of engagement within local communities. The interviewees are working for improvements from different angles and levels. The effectivity approach has led to an overall higher understanding of PES in Vietnam, whilst a more fair approach might be needed to achieve a long-term change of behaviour.

Who supports social policy in the developing world? Most of what we know about micro-level preferences for social policy comes from well-developed, wealthy countries of the OECD, where governments can credibly commit to policy enforcement and implementation. This dissertation explores preferences for social policy in post-communist countries, where weak constraints on the state challenge the welfare state. In doing so, it provides novel insights both into social policy debates in these countries and the coalitions which support (or oppose) social policy. I argue that support for social policy depends on how institutions shape the expectations of actors about the costs they pay into social policy programs versus future benefits. I draw on existing theories of political economy to propose four mechanisms -- misappropriation, contract enforcement, free-riding, and macro-economic risk -- that alter the distribution of winners and losers from social policy. Misappropriation stems from officials' ability to divert funding away from intended uses. While for most this imposes dead-weight costs on social policy, where institutions are poor. the politically well-connected can benefit from diverted funds to decrease social policy costs. The contract enforcement mechanism emerges due to the inability of weakly constrained states to enforce contracts. Predictions are similar to misappropriation, but actors also cannot trust other private actors with control of social policy. Free-riding emerges when bureaucrats are unwilling to expend effort to ensure tax compliance. Again, this imposes dead-weight costs on most, but garners support from tax evaders, who can free-ride. Finally, the macro-economic risk mechanism suggests that macro-economic volatility is heightened in settings with weak institutions, which increases both individual risk and support for social policy. The empirical portion of the dissertation tests the observable implications of each of these mechanisms. Chapter 2 provides a first-cut, cross-national test of part of the argument using micro-level data from a cross-national survey of 28 post-communist countries. I draw on work on informality in the post-communist world to identify individual characteristics associated with tax evasion to test the free-rider mechanism. Consistent with it, I show that those associated with evasion support social policy more where institutions are weaker. Chapter 3 posits that if the mechanisms I propose matter, actors will appeal to the logic of my theory during concrete reform debates. I test this using evidence from the 2001 pension reforms in Russia. I combine analysis of the legislative debates surrounding reform with in-depth content analysis of the Russian media, which draws on an original dataset of all mentions of reform in 352 Russian newspapers, journals, and trade magazines. I show that all four mechanisms were indeed major concerns. Chapter 4 tests the theory at the firm level, using a survey of 666 Russian firms to look at preferences where institutional quality is weak. I test whether firms that I predict support the welfare state in such settings -- those with political connections and a comparative advantage in hiding from the authorities -- actually do so. In addition to providing some support for the misappropriation and free-riding mechanisms, this chapter is a contribution in its own right: it is among the first to use surveys to study firms' preferences for social policy. Finally, chapter 5 uses a survey experiment conducted on 1600 respondents to attempt to understand the ceteris paribus effect of institutions on the average individual. Using a simple framing experiment, I provide three different treatment groups with information about bribery, tax evasion, and the extent to which private pension funds commit fraud to test the misappropriation, free-riding, and contract enforcement mechanisms, respectively. The chapter offers mixed evidence. The dissertation makes contributions to both the study of the welfare state and the political economy of institutions and investment. First, the dissertation explores preferences for social policy in the developing world and introduces institutional quality concerns to this literature. My work particularly focuses attention on the ways certain groups can abuse social policy to pass costs onto others, adding nuance to existing understandings of who benefits from social policy. Second, it advances our understanding of how institutional quality shapes economic decision making and provides evidence as to how different pathologies of poor institutions shape economic decisions.

Utifrån de globala utmaningarna och dystra framtidsprognoserna vi möter idag så utforskas hållbara lösningar. Andelsjordbruk är ett koncept för ett hållbart, gemenskapsbaserat jordbruk som rör sig i ett gränsland mellan att vara företagsmodell och utopisk framtidsvision, och som får allt större spridning i Sverige. Kärnan i konceptet är att återskapa lokala band och minska avstånd mellan konsument och producent. Syftet med denna studie är att få en ökad förståelse för hur andelsjordbrukens lokalisering ger förutsättningarna för verksamhetens upplägg och marknadsföring, med särskild fokus på dynamiken mellan jordbrukare och andelsägare som en central komponent i andelsjordbruks-modellen. Denna undersökning genomfördes som intervjustudie med ett urval andelsjordbrukare i Sverige. Resultaten visar att graden av fysiska interaktioner mellan jordbruken och konsumenterna oavsett fysiskt avstånd inte överstiger en viss nivå då konsumenternas intresse men framför allt tid är begränsad. Det framkommer i resultaten att lokaliseringen däremot är viktig ur ett marknadsföringsperspektiv med hänsyn till kundunderlaget. Förutsättningarna för att starta ett andelsjordbruk skiljer således mellan platser och verksamheter måste hitta strategier för att anpassa sig till dem lokala förutsättningarna.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T15:14:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertacaoAnaCCabral.pdf: 2042742 bytes, checksum: 9e6dfc8aadfde5b276218ee51d1b6b5c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-09 / Environmental sanitation includes some actions to society and the environment, among some of these actions may be cited the potable water supply, sanitary waste disposal, urban drainage and even the control of diseases arising vectors (insects or animals that are used as vehicles by diseases for infection) in a population. Given the great importance of environmental sanitation, new tools were created to assist in data collect and perform the related activities, finally, as one of these tools, there is the environmental health indicator (EHI). The EHI is calculated using some data related to environmental sanitation practices, these factors should be analyzed separately, for this it is necessary to conduct investigations into each of the factors, for the implementation of the EHI, each of the activities within the environmental sanitation is called first-order indicators, to facilitate the surveys are divided into second-order indicators. The data used for the calculation of the EHI were acquired through surveys and research in databases, and the results obtained from these calculations represent the environmental health of each of the studied areas. One of the uses proposed for these results is the possibility of using it to guide management plans for studied areas, which may improve the quality of life of the local population. Simultaneously to the EHI calculation, this study raised the average consumption of electricity and water in the municipalities belonging to the studied area, and performed an analysis to see if there is a relation between the amount spent and one of the sub-indicators present in the EHI, with regard to social and economic characteristics of the studied population. By comparing the studied areas, the paper also proposes to check the influence of royalties (monetary value paid by Itaipu, as a form of mitigation through flooded areas to the cities surrounding the lake of Itaipu) on the environmental health of the municipalities belonging to Paraná III watershed. / O saneamento ambiental contempla algumas ações para a sociedade e meio ambiente, dentre algumas destas ações podem ser citadas o abastecimento de água potável, coleta e disposição sanitária de resíduos, drenagem urbana e até mesmo o controle de doenças oriundas de vetores (insetos ou animais que são utilizados como veículos para infecção de uma população por uma doença) em uma população. Em face à grande importância do saneamento ambiental, surgiram algumas ferramentas para auxiliar no levantamento e execução das atividades correlatas, surge então o indicador de salubridade ambiental (ISA) como uma destas ferramentas. O ISA é calculado utilizando dados sobre alguns fatores, todos relacionados às práticas do saneamento ambiental, estes fatores, para que haja um embasamento real, devem ser analisados isoladamente, para tal, é necessário realizar investigações sobre cada um dos fatores, para a execução do ISA, cada uma das atividades dentro do saneamento ambiental é denominada indicadores de primeira ordem, que para facilitação dos levantamentos são divididos em alguns sub-indicadores. Os dados utilizados para o cálculo do ISA foram adquiridos por meio de levantamento a campo e pesquisas em bancos de dados, e os resultados obtidos através destes cálculos representam a salubridade da cada uma das áreas estudadas. Uma das utilidades propostas para estes resultados é a possibilidade de utilizá-los para direcionar planos de gerenciamento, no caso deste trabalho, para os municípios estudados, podendo assim melhorar as condições de vida da população local. Simultaneamente ao cálculo do ISA, o presente estudo levantou o consumo médio de energia elétrica e água dos municípios pertencentes à área de estudo, e com eles fez uma análise para constatar se existe uma relação entre a quantidade gasta destes insumos e um dos sub-indicadores presentes no ISA, que diz respeito às características socioeconômicas da população estudada, logo, verificou como as características sociais e econômicas de uma população podem influenciar em seu consumo de água e energia elétrica. Através da comparação entre as áreas estudados, o trabalho propõe também a verificação da influência dos royalties (valor monetário pago pela Itaipu Binacional, como forma de mitigação por áreas inundadas, para os municípios lindeiros ao lago de Itaipu) na salubridade ambiental dos municípios pertencentes a bacia hidrográfica do Paraná III.

<p>In the context of democratisation in the early 1990s, the governments in Central and East Europe (CEE) had to decide how to deal with property that had been confiscated under state socialism. Nationalised housing and collectivised land were to a varying extent returned to former owners and their heirs by means of restitution, as well as being distributed to other citizens who were in possession of the users’ rights to such properties.</p><p>This thesis examines the spatial impacts, in terms of ownership patterns, of the way the redistribution of nationalised housing and collectivised land has been dealt with politically and at the local level in post-socialist Romania. It also locates the Romanian property reforms in relation to those of the rest of CEE. The impact of political directives on the property redistribution is analysed in relation to both structural influences, such as democratisation and antecedent property regimes, and implementation patterns in varied place-contexts. The thesis demonstrates that restitution was stifled due to disagreements between leftist and rightist political blocs, with the latter arguing for restitution whilst their opponents wrote the first restitution laws. A re-privatisation law allowed for the public sale of nationalised housing to tenants and thereby blocked the implementation of a restitution law, thus constituting a dilemma for constitutional democracy. In liberal place-contexts in West Romania, these obstacles to housing restitution were in part avoided. By contrast, land restitution was most widespread in the east, a stronghold of the left. This was because the legislation gives priority to restitution in areas of this kind, where smaller land-holdings dominated prior to 1945. The left-wing government pursued an electoral strategy of distributing small properties to a large number of citizens, and to current users in particular. This resulted in a fragmentation of historical property. </p>

<p>The thesis aims at understanding mechanisms behind knowledge generation and learning in a mature cluster by analysing firms in south-east Sweden engaged in the development and manufacturing of aluminium products. The point of departure is in concepts and assumptions related to spatially concen-trated systems of similar and related firms and industries, such as agglomera-tions, clusters or innovation systems.</p><p>Three sets of empirical analyses have been conducted: a mail survey, a series of in-depth interviews and a register-based analysis. The analyses focus on three themes: inter-firm relations, the embeddedness of the clustered firms in the region, and the role of labour and labour mobility in cluster development. </p><p>It is shown that also in a rather mature and low-tech cluster, firm competi-tiveness rests on continuous knowledge upgrading and innovation. In general terms, firms in this cluster do have business relations with other firms at all different spatial scales. While there are manifold buyer-supplier relations within the cluster, most firms have their most important linkages outside the region. The firms regard themselves as part of a cluster and various mecha-nisms contribute to this. There is a strong sense of trust and loyalty, and this applies in particular to those engaged either in some of the more organized supplier networks or the regional cluster initiative Aluminiumriket. Finally, the cluster does not seem to constitute a very fluid labour market for special-ised skills. Labour mobility between firms in this particular cluster seems to be fairly low.</p>

<p>In fashion, as in the rest of the economy, the globalisation of taste, power and production now plays a major role. The industry is dominated by fashion capitals like Paris, London or New York, populated by star designers like Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfeld or Jean-Paul Gaultier and controlled through MNC giants like Prada, Gucci, DKNY and Dior, who together influence consumer preferences on a global scale. However, there are numerous smaller actors that compete successfully in the fashion industry. Sweden is one such example, where fashion is a growing. </p><p>In this thesis, there is a focus on group of small and medium sized Swedish fashion firms with a brand focused business strategy. Their products are design intensive, but their main competitive advantage rests on the brand and brand management. This group of firms are proficient at ‘putting fashion into clothes’ (Weller 2004). In other words, their main competitive advantage rests neither on price, nor on the most experimental design. More exactly, they produce clothes for a fashion conscious but not too adventurous consumer group. In the thesis it is argued that they are better described as trend forerunners than as trend setters. The subject of this thesis is this group of firms within the Swedish fashion industry and the aim is to improve understanding of their innovation processes, competitiveness, and the systemic character of the business they are a part of. </p><p>As with most other fashion firms in high cost countries, Swedish companies has outsourced the garment production. They secure their competitive edge through high value added activities like design, marketing and retail. This points to the fact that fashion has both material and immaterial dimensions: it relates to clothing, design, textile and quality, but also to consumers’ subjective feelings and attitudes towards the clothes and their brands. This is a study of the interface between these dimensions, with a focal point on the production of immaterial and symbolic value. The systemic nature of fashion can hardly be overestimated. This goes for both the practical part of clothes production, but also for the production of a belief system created not only by fashion producers but by a whole set of institutional actors. This thesis has an analysis of fashion firms’ relations to business partners, competitors, media, and consumers. It is argued that the nature of these relations is critical for competition and success.</p><p>The thesis is a collection of papers, which illuminates different parts of innovation, competition and business strategies in the fashion industry. The papers cover the central activity areas for fashion firms: how branding is affecting industrial structure and innovation, how symbolic is value created, and how ‘cool’ is used as a strategic resource. </p>

The thesis aims at understanding mechanisms behind knowledge generation and learning in a mature cluster by analysing firms in south-east Sweden engaged in the development and manufacturing of aluminium products. The point of departure is in concepts and assumptions related to spatially concen-trated systems of similar and related firms and industries, such as agglomera-tions, clusters or innovation systems. Three sets of empirical analyses have been conducted: a mail survey, a series of in-depth interviews and a register-based analysis. The analyses focus on three themes: inter-firm relations, the embeddedness of the clustered firms in the region, and the role of labour and labour mobility in cluster development. It is shown that also in a rather mature and low-tech cluster, firm competi-tiveness rests on continuous knowledge upgrading and innovation. In general terms, firms in this cluster do have business relations with other firms at all different spatial scales. While there are manifold buyer-supplier relations within the cluster, most firms have their most important linkages outside the region. The firms regard themselves as part of a cluster and various mecha-nisms contribute to this. There is a strong sense of trust and loyalty, and this applies in particular to those engaged either in some of the more organized supplier networks or the regional cluster initiative Aluminiumriket. Finally, the cluster does not seem to constitute a very fluid labour market for special-ised skills. Labour mobility between firms in this particular cluster seems to be fairly low.

In fashion, as in the rest of the economy, the globalisation of taste, power and production now plays a major role. The industry is dominated by fashion capitals like Paris, London or New York, populated by star designers like Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfeld or Jean-Paul Gaultier and controlled through MNC giants like Prada, Gucci, DKNY and Dior, who together influence consumer preferences on a global scale. However, there are numerous smaller actors that compete successfully in the fashion industry. Sweden is one such example, where fashion is a growing. In this thesis, there is a focus on group of small and medium sized Swedish fashion firms with a brand focused business strategy. Their products are design intensive, but their main competitive advantage rests on the brand and brand management. This group of firms are proficient at ‘putting fashion into clothes’ (Weller 2004). In other words, their main competitive advantage rests neither on price, nor on the most experimental design. More exactly, they produce clothes for a fashion conscious but not too adventurous consumer group. In the thesis it is argued that they are better described as trend forerunners than as trend setters. The subject of this thesis is this group of firms within the Swedish fashion industry and the aim is to improve understanding of their innovation processes, competitiveness, and the systemic character of the business they are a part of. As with most other fashion firms in high cost countries, Swedish companies has outsourced the garment production. They secure their competitive edge through high value added activities like design, marketing and retail. This points to the fact that fashion has both material and immaterial dimensions: it relates to clothing, design, textile and quality, but also to consumers’ subjective feelings and attitudes towards the clothes and their brands. This is a study of the interface between these dimensions, with a focal point on the production of immaterial and symbolic value. The systemic nature of fashion can hardly be overestimated. This goes for both the practical part of clothes production, but also for the production of a belief system created not only by fashion producers but by a whole set of institutional actors. This thesis has an analysis of fashion firms’ relations to business partners, competitors, media, and consumers. It is argued that the nature of these relations is critical for competition and success. The thesis is a collection of papers, which illuminates different parts of innovation, competition and business strategies in the fashion industry. The papers cover the central activity areas for fashion firms: how branding is affecting industrial structure and innovation, how symbolic is value created, and how ‘cool’ is used as a strategic resource.

The overall aim of this thesis is to survey and analyse young peoples’ geographical movements, and illustrate the similarities and differences that exist between different individuals.. The aim of the thesis is also to examine and discuss youth’s attitudes and motivation for different forms of geographical mobility. The youth focused on in this project reside in Norrland. The first phase, Mapping of the Geographical Movement of Youth, was carried out through the use of a questionnaire, sent to graduating students in upper secondary school. The second phase, Umeå  Students Abroad, was carried out by interviewing Umeå students who had either completed or were about to begin a period of foreign exchange. The third phase, Emigrants from Sweden, is based on statistics acquired from Sweden Statistics’ (SCB) and from the TOPSWING database. Home: The starting point of this thesis is the conception of “home”. The choice of path to take in life, and where students wanted to live in the future had significance for how they examined the choice between moving and staying; and the role of the home town in a longer perspective as to how the students viewed Umeå. Away: It is not just the place that a person comes from that says something about who she is, but also the place where she is going and the way in which she takes herself there. Many of the upper secondary school students that took part in the questionnaire had been abroad one or more times. Furthermore, many of the students would like to travel abroad again. At the same time, it can be said that there are also young people that do not have extensive experiences in travelling to other countries. Somewhere between home and away: The study shows that students may have very different views of their time abroad. The Tourist Student is one who chooses his/her destination in order to fulfil certain criteria and then mainly stays in the university town, “taking one day at a time.” He or she does not have a thought-out strategy for how the stay abroad should be carried out. The Travelling Student is the student who searches for a particular destination and later also has the ambition to get to know the country and the people that live there. The travelling student can be said to have a thought-out strategy for how to make the most out of his or her time in a foreign country. When away becomes home – or when home becomes home again: The interview study shows that to live abroad or to live in Sweden acquired a different meaning if you had a family. To have a family gives rise to a reason why one may choose to move back to Sweden. On the other hand there were also students for whom the home country was not important. A large portion of those who emigrated from Sweden during the study period moved back again. For those with a college or university education, a few years abroad can be a part of their choice of life path. It is something that one wants and from a career prospective, possibly should do. Rooted, rootless or restless young? The rooted are those who mainly live their entire lives in one place. The rootless represent a mobile life, where there is no home base, instead they create new ones as life passes. I would like to characterise most of the young people that in one way or another is featured in my study as restless. The restless combine, in different ways, the characteristics of both the rooted and the rootless. They are not unwilling to move, within the country, as well as to other countries, but they are at the same time rooted in their home town or in their home country.