This thesis explores the effects of institutions on macroeconomic performance. It does so in two main chapters, a summary of each of which is given below. In the first main chapter of the thesis, the interactions between government spending, government borrowing, political corruption and political turnover were examined. Incorporating these factors in a sovereign default model, we show how sovereign default decisions and business cycle fluctuations are affected by the level of corruption. In particular, we show that when there is turnover, corruption can generate higher risks of default and higher credit spreads when there is enough stability. Intuitively, we establish that a change in power from a less corrupt to a more corrupt government is more likely to cause default than the reverse. The results also shows that households suffer welfare losses as a result of corruption. As regards business cycles, the general effect of corruption is to alter business cycle statistics. Further, we estimate an empirical model using data on sovereign default, corruption, political stability and other macroeconomic variables for a sample of emerging economies. The results of this provide strong evidence of a positive relationship between both corruption and political stability and sovereign default. The second main chapter of the thesis looks at the effects of limited financial contract enforcement in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium framework where firms have access to both internal and external means of finance. The results shows how limited enforceability affects fluctuations in key macroeconomic variables (e.g., output, employment and price) through its impact on key financial variables (e.g., interest rates, risk premium, default risk and leverage). In particular, we find that weaker enforcement tends to amplify the effects of shocks, creating greater volatility, as well as lowering small firm funding. We provide some empirical evidence to support our results. Using cross-country data on measures of financial market imperfections, we find that limited enforcement has a negative effect on output and that this effect is exacerbated by poor credit information. We also find that weaker contract enforcement is associated with higher output volatility.

No description available.

<p>Abstract</p><p>The research investigates the sustainability and effectiveness of the projects that are funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) in Kenya. SIDA is the Swedish central state agency responsible for planning, implementing and managing Aid. The research applies both the absorptive capacity and the institutional theory to explain the phenomenon of Aid projects failures in Kenya. The research has used a qualitative research method, a literature study that blend with structured open-ended interview questions which we have formulated.</p><p>By studying the various Actors involved in Swedish foreign Aid, their operations and deliverance, it will facilitate our study to establish the major causes and origins of development projects failures in Kenya. The main and current Swedish development goals are “improving the standard of living for poor people”, the sub goals are Economic growth, Economic and social equality, Economic and Political Independence, Democratic Development and Protection of human rights, Sustainable use of natural resources, protection of Environment Conflict management and Security. The reason why Aid projects are not producing the intended results could be divided into two parts; the planning problem that emanate from the donors side. The irony is that development partners are viewed to be aiming at alleviating poverty without proper planning and even their priorities are not always right. The other major reason is attributed to the recipients’ side and could be summarized as lack of democracy, corruption, weak institutions, lack of absorptive capacity and mismanagement.</p>

Abstract The research investigates the sustainability and effectiveness of the projects that are funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) in Kenya. SIDA is the Swedish central state agency responsible for planning, implementing and managing Aid. The research applies both the absorptive capacity and the institutional theory to explain the phenomenon of Aid projects failures in Kenya. The research has used a qualitative research method, a literature study that blend with structured open-ended interview questions which we have formulated. By studying the various Actors involved in Swedish foreign Aid, their operations and deliverance, it will facilitate our study to establish the major causes and origins of development projects failures in Kenya. The main and current Swedish development goals are “improving the standard of living for poor people”, the sub goals are Economic growth, Economic and social equality, Economic and Political Independence, Democratic Development and Protection of human rights, Sustainable use of natural resources, protection of Environment Conflict management and Security. The reason why Aid projects are not producing the intended results could be divided into two parts; the planning problem that emanate from the donors side. The irony is that development partners are viewed to be aiming at alleviating poverty without proper planning and even their priorities are not always right. The other major reason is attributed to the recipients’ side and could be summarized as lack of democracy, corruption, weak institutions, lack of absorptive capacity and mismanagement.

Magister Legum - LLM

International Business research overwhelmingly tends to focus on firms that are perceived as rising international stars. This study, on the other hand, is motivated by the desire to examine other types of business organizations as they navigate the globalization process. In particular, a holistic view of family business groups (FBGs) and mainstream internationalization models governed by the concept of firm-specific advantages (FSAs) are con­fronted with the empirical findings of actual business expansion via personal connections. This serves as the conceptual framework of the study when investigating the nature of competitiveness of FBGs. Thailand is chosen as the research setting because of its both distinct and relevant economic and cultural background. The analysis begins by quantitatively exploring the population of the 139 largest Thai FBGs. Then, more fine­grained explanations are developed as a series of comparative case studies are carried out. Overall, the findings shed light on the study of emerging multinational corporations (EMNCs) in general by detailing and probing the evolution of Thai FBGs. Focus is on the internationalization process(es) and the subsequent need for organiza­tional adjustments; the latter involving imposing a measure of discipline on family affairs as well as modernizing business operations. This adds to the hitherto established notion of latecoming EMNCs simply scaling the techno­logical ladder. In essence, the tension between the "easy" path of relying on connections (i.e., what here is termed "the bamboo network") and the more "difficult" path of building competitiveness (i.e., going beyond the bamboo network) is exposed and explained. This study thus contributes to our understanding of the firm internationalization process. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2011

La dialectique pluralisme religieux/incertitude religieuse, sur laquelle porte cette thèse, se révèle être un thème majeur dans la pensée de Peter L. Berger, en sociologie des religions et en théologie protestante. Une analyse systématique et détaillée des concepts-clés qui la constituent débouche sur la question des rapports entre sociologie et théologie à laquelle Berger lui-même s’est confronté. Abordée sous l’angle de l’idée du principe protestant, cette question s’est résolue, dès la fin des années 1960, en un certain « mariage » entre son approche de la sociologie de la connaissance et son approche théologique libérale. Les concepts de foi et théologie « inductives », de « voie médiane entre le fondamentalisme et le relativisme », semblent jaillir de cette dialectique et de ce « mariage ». Si néanmoins cette dialectique se retrace dans la pensée de Berger dès ses premières œuvres, la défense d’une via media théologique appliquée à toutes les religions se révèle être la conséquence de l’abandon (dès 1967), de sa posture théologique néo-orthodoxe. Dans cette posture, la dialectique bergérienne s’appliquait à toutes les religions mais laissait la foi chrétienne intouchée et pensée en termes de certitude. Or, une analyse critique de sa pensée permet de situer au moins à trois niveaux un certain nombre de problèmes : le niveau de sa conception de la religion manifestant une ambiguïté; le niveau des rapports entre sociologie et théologie révélant un biais libéral et une absence de contenu religieux concret pour le principe protestant; enfin le niveau de sa critique des quêtes contemporaines de certitudes religieuses, critique dont le fondement sur sa dialectique peut être questionné par des exemples de conception différente de la religion et de la certitude religieuse. Pour ces trois niveaux, l’exemple de la conception de la certitude religieuse par les protestants évangéliques permet au moins une ébauche d’un tel questionnement. Cette conception, surtout dans son idée de l’« assurance du salut», se fonde, dans son approche surnaturelle de la certitude religieuse, sur une adhésion et une confiance fortes quant aux contenus traditionnels de la foi chrétienne. Si les arguments avancés dans cette perspective demeurent discutables, ils semblent assez pertinents puisque la vitalité contemporaine de la religion à l’ère du pluralisme religieux (voir notamment le protestantisme évangélique aux États-Unis) constitue une indication que la validité empirique de la dialectique bergérienne, et la critique qu’elle fonde, sont largement problématiques si l’on tient compte de l’auto-compréhension des groupes religieux eux-mêmes. / The dialectic religious pluralism/religious uncertainty, with which deals this dissertation, reveals itself as a major theme in Peter L. Berger’s thought, in sociology of religion and in protestant theology. A systematic and detailed analysis of the key concepts which constitute that dialectic leads to the question of the relationship between sociology and theology, which has been confronted by Berger himself. It is at the time Berger studied that question from the point of view of the idea of the protestant principle, during the late sixties, that he solved it by a kind of ‘wedding’ between his approach in the sociology of knowledge and his liberal theological approach. Concepts as ‘inductive faith and theology’, ‘middle position between fundamentalism and relativism’, seem to emerge both from that dialectic and from that ‘wedding’. Nevertheless, while that dialectic can be retraced in Berger’s thought since his earlier works, the defence of a theological via media applied to all religions, appears to be the consequence of his rejection (since 1967), of his earlier theological stance deployed from the neo-orthodox approach. In that stance, the bergerian dialectic was applied to all religions but not to the Christian faith, thought in terms of certainty. But, a critical analysis of Berger’s thought allows one to identify some problems at least at three levels: the level of his concept of religion which evidentiates an ambiguity ; the level of the relationship between sociology and theology which reveals a liberal bias and a lack of specific religious content for the protestant principle; and finally, the level of his critique of the contemporary religious certainty impulses; a critique whose base on his dialectic can be questioned by some examples of different conceptions of religion and of religious certainty. About those three levels, the example of the conception of religious certainty by the Evangelical Protestants allows at least a draft of that questioning. It deploys a supernatural conception of the religious certainty, especially by the notion of « assurance of salvation », based on strong adherence and confidence in the traditional contents of the Christian faith. While the arguments of that conception can be subjected to questions, they seem enough relevant since the contemporary vitality of religion at the pluralistic era (cf. Evangelical Protestantism in U.S.A for example) constitutes an indication that the empirical validity of the bergerian dialectic, and of the critique based on it, is largely problematic if one takes into account the self-understanding of the religious groups themselves.

No description available.