Using a global sample of multinational corporations (MNCs) and their foreign subsidiaries, we find that repatriation taxes impair subsidiary-level investment efficiency. Consistent with internal agency conflicts between the central management of the MNC and the manager of the foreign subsidiary being the driver, we find that this effect is prevalent in subsidiaries with high information asymmetry, in subsidiaries that are weakly monitored, and subsidiaries of cash-rich MNCs. Natural experiments in the UK and Japan establish a causal relationship for our findings and suggest that a repeal of repatriation taxes increases subsidiary-level investment efficiency while reducing the level of investment. Our paper provides timely empirical evidence to inform expectations for the effects of a recent change to the U.S. international tax law which eliminated repatriation taxes from most of the future foreign earnings of U.S. MNCs. / Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Series

Thesis advisor: Ce Shen / Civic engagement, involving people in public processes to achieve common goals, has received increased attention in the past several decades. This renewed interest was triggered by the seeming decline in civic engagement, particularly in the context of Western societies including the U.S. In addition, its potentially positive effects, such as psychological well-being at the individual level, have recently received much attention. Low-income people in developing countries suffer from double discrimination: first, the lack of opportunities to participate in civic matters due to their low socio-economic status (SES) and second, the lack of civil society culture in developing countries. However, less attention has been paid to civic engagement in the context of developing countries and low-income people, in spite of the importance of civic engagement to them. Given the significance of civic engagement for low-income populations in developing countries, this dissertation intends to fill the gaps left by previous scholarship. The following are specific objectives for the study: 1) Paper 1 aims to investigate the construct validity of an instrument to measure civic engagement among low-income populations in developing countries; 2) Paper 2 aims to examine the associations between country-level political and economic determinants and civic engagement among low-income people in developing countries; and 3) Paper 3 aims to examine the effect of civic engagement on subjective well-being through the mediating effect of sense of agency. Using the cross-national data set, the World Values Survey Wave 6 (2010-2014), this study first found that civic engagement among low-income individuals in low- and middle-income countries is defined in three dimensions: electoral behaviors, membership in civic organizations, and cognitive engagement. This result contributes to measurement development of civic engagement, especially among the low-income individuals in the context of developing countries, who have been neglected in policy-making processes. In Paper 2, I found that civic engagement increases in economically disadvantaged environments (low GNI per capita and high Gini coefficient). This finding may reveal the strength that low-income populations have. Lastly, the results of Paper 3 showed that electoral engagement and membership in civic organizations were directly related to well-being, but cognitive engagement had an indirect effect on well-being through a sense of agency. Also, the result of a non-recursive model showed that engagement in electoral behaviors leads to a sense of well-being, not in the reverse direction. The results from Paper 3 may demonstrate the mechanism by which civic engagement is related to well-being. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

The development of the next generation of researchers is a priority if South Africa is to make a significant contribution to the international knowledge economy and establish itself as a force to be reckoned with in international research circles. In the context of this knowledge economy, researchers are increasingly being recognised as agents of economic growth. In order to be competitive, therefore, an extensive pool of active researchers needs to be cultivated. One way of doing this is to promote and develop doctoral capacity at the country’s universities. This entails, among other things, a move away from the traditional focus on what the supervisor does, to a more student-centred understanding of how the doctoral candidate experiences the process, and by implication, how this impacts on their research contribution. In this qualitative study, thirty doctoral candidates from the Faculties of Science and Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, were interviewed in order to establish firstly, how they had experienced their supervision at this level, and secondly, whether or not these experiences had influenced the successful completion of their doctorates. One of the principal findings of the research was that the role of the supervisor was not central to the achievement of their degree; rather, many of the doctoral candidates asserted a significant level of agency in both identifying and making contact with experts beyond their university-appointed supervisors in order to supplement their access to relevant knowledge. In the majority of cases, this was encouraged by the supervisors. Such enterprises represent a marked departure from the traditional models of supervision in the Science and Humanities faculties. In the case of the former, the customary co-supervision arrangement is increasingly being augmented by student-initiated collaboration with authorities located outside the formal boundaries of the institution. The traditional Humanities model of supervision is also transforming from a one-on-one relationship to a style characterised by multiple supervisors, each from separate but cognate disciplines. The research suggested that these emergent models are eclipsing their predecessors as doctoral candidates increasingly recognise the value of extending the breadth of their disciplinary exposure beyond the confines of the university.

Abstract This research report attempts to examine how the story of gold, and gold mining, is told, and is being retold, at both the Victorian- themed Gold Reef City theme park and in within the Main Street mining precinct in the Johannesburg Central Business District (CBD). The report will therefore look at how imbued ideologies have resulted in a particular formation of the mining heritage shown in both themed spaces. Works by de Certeau (1988) and Eco (1990), for example, form a framework for academic discourse around practiced space within the ‘city’, and the nature of hyperreality. Overall, and including results from participant observation at the theme park, and sample surveys undertaken in the Main Street precinct, one is able to better attempt an understanding of how the story of gold at both sites has been created by certain ideologies, and examine them in light Johannesburg’s changing persona in light of global influences.

À travers l’étude de trois types de mobilisations autour de la reconnaissance de l’islam en France, notre thèse de doctorat questionne la puissance d’agir (agency) de sujets musulmans intégralistes. Insérés dans une société régie par des ensembles de normes complexes et variables, dans laquelle la norme religieuse n’est qu’une norme parmi d’autres, ces sujets désirent vivre par et à l’intérieur des normes musulmanes. Ce désir leur étant fortement dénié, il les pousse à « travailler » autant les normes majoritaires que l’idéalité des normes musulmanes. Dans une perspective butlérienne, nous allons nous attacher à l’étude de la puissance d’agir de ces sujets musulmans et à l’analyse des diverses manières de réaménager les normes qui les constituent. Les demandes de reconnaissance formulées par les enquêtés constituent leurs puissances d’agir. Elles se développent à des degrés fort variés, en combinant des normes religieuses et des normes relatives au cadre national, et par ce processus, ces sujets de l’islam redéfinissent les conceptions normatives du sujet croyant, du sujet politique et protestataire et enfin du sujet genré. / By studying three types of mobilizations aiming at the recognition of Islam in France, our thesis examines the agency of Integralists Muslim subjects. These subjects live in a society governed by sets of complex and varying standards in which the religious norm is just a norm among others. They want to live in and within the Muslim norms but this desire being strongly denied, they are encouraged to "work" the majority norms as well as the ideality of Muslim norms. Using J. Butler’s approach, I studied the agency of Muslim subjects and analyses the various ways to redevelop the standards that constitute them. The demands for recognition made ​​by our respondents constitute their agency. This agency develops in varying degrees combining religious norms and norms relating to the national framework. By this process the subjects of Islam redefine the normative conceptions of the believing subject, of the political and protesting subject, and finally of the gendered subject.

I denna kvalitativa studie undersöks värdegrundsdokument från fem svenska statliga myndigheter. Studien syftar till att bidra med kunskap om maktrelationen och förväntan gentemot den statligt anställde genom textanalys ur ett kritiskt perspektiv. Det empiriska materialet analyserades utifrån critical discourse analysis (CDA) och kompletterades med Hellspong och Ledins (1997) mall av den ideationella strukturen. Den kritiska diskursanalysen är till för att ge svar på vilka värderingar som myndigheterna uttrycker. I den ideationella analysen undersöks värdegrundsdokumentens teman, propositioner och perspektiv. I analysen klargörs olika värdeord och rubriceringar som fanns i värdegrundsdokumenten samt dess innebörd och betydelse för den anställde. Resultatet visade att de önskade värderingarna är att myndigheterna och dess anställda ska vara kompetenta, handlingskraftiga, effektiva, flexibla med mera. Resultatet visade även att förväntningar som läggs hos den statligt anställde samt maktrelationen mellan myndigheterna och den anställde oftast uttrycks som påståenden med uttryckta krav, löften och förväntningar i värdegrundsdokumenten. / In this qualitative study, basic documents from five Swedish state agencies are examined. This study aims to contribute knowledge about the power relationship and expectation towards the state employee through a textual analysis from a critical perspective. The empirical material was analyzed on the basis of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and supplemented with Hellspong and Ledin's (1997) template of the ideational structure. The critical discourse analysis is intended to provide answers to which values the authorities express. In the ideational analysis, the themes, propositions and perspectives of the values documents are examined. The analysis clarifies different value words and headings that existed in the values documents, as well as the respective meanings and significance for employees. Results indicate that the desired values of state agencies and their employees include: compentency, actionable, effectiveness, flexibility among others. Results also demonstrated that expectations of the state employee as well as the power relationship between state agencies and the employee, are usually expressed as claims with expressed requirements, promises and expectations in the values documents.

This thesis examines short- and long-term decision making, CEO-remuneration and its effects on company performance measured as return on assets during a time-period containing market up- and downturns with regards to company resilience. We examined this in a Swedish context by looking at listed companies on the Stockholm stock exchange during the period 2004 to 2014. The research was conducted using a multiple regression analysis to capture relationships between the dependent variable, the independent- and control variables over the observed time-period. We measure short-term action as decreases in R&D-spending, CapEx and number of employees, that can create short-term profits, whilst long-term actions is the opposite which are expected to generate a high level of company performance in the long run. In our observed population we find that companies who balance short- and long-term actions have a higher company performance, thus deviating from previous research. We also find that an increase in CEO-remuneration will not yield higher company performance when regarding firm size. The results of the study indicate that the companies in our sample have a goal alignment between the CEO and owners, although it shows tendencies of risk adversity in decision making. We find there is a more complex relationship between decision making, the CEO, and company performance than first expected.

The issues surrounding sustainability continues to be at the forefront of the human agenda and firms are increasingly being held accountable by their stakeholders to assist in bringing about sustainability. Despite this, there is a tension surrounding the role of firms and the benefits implementing sustainability practices and policies has for these actors. On the one hand, being sustainable underpinned by a strong CSR-oriented governance board with the right compositional factors results in superior firm performance. On the other hand, sustainability is suggested to increase costs and reduced competitiveness thereby reducing firm performance. These contrasting results supported by mixed scholarly findings concerning different mediating factors influencing the overarching relationship creates a confusion gap that warrants this current study. As such, the study’s purpose is to investigate the relationship between two distinct yet interrelated relationships, the impact of board of directors’ composition on CSR performance measured by ESG scores and the impact of CSR performance on firm performance so as to contribute to the debate on these notion that continues to plague academia and the pragmatic world. This study is realized through a quantitative archival-longitudinal study design underpinned by metaphysical assumptions. Regression analyses using panel data on a sample of 123 listed companies headquartered in the Nordic Countries for the period 2010-2018 is undertaken to analyze the potential relation between CSR performance and five board composition factors, specially the gender diversity, independence, size, frequency of meetings and the presence of CSR committee. The association between CSR performance and firm performance is investigated in a similar way. Under rigorous statistical testing and analysis, the results indicate that there potentially is a relation between board composition and firms’ ESG performance. The results derived from the relationship between CSR and firm performance is inconsistent and cannot be fully accepted. This study contributes theoretically to CSR, corporate governance and finance literature by expanding upon how these three notions are linked in light of the sustainability trend that is gripping modern society. Socially, this research is useful for providing empirical evidence on the value of strong governance structures so as to foster sustainability and encourage debate on its value. Pragmatically, our study suggests what board composition factors are most conducive for supporting CSR that may assist firms’ corporate governance structuring and focus.

This study investigates the relationship between corporate sustainability and dividend policy in the Nordic countries. In the field of finance, the importance of corporate sustainability is growing, particularly in the Nordic countries, which excel in global sustainability rankings. In response to this occurrence many firms are increasingly incorporating sustainability into their operations, which in turn might affect the strategic decisions of these firms. One of these is the dividend policy decision. Dividend policy in the form of cash dividends is a central concept in finance and is affected by conservation of capital and time value of money. The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between sustainability and dividend policy, which the authors have done by including different theoretical arguments. These are grounded in the agency theory, the signaling theory and the stakeholder theory. Previous research such as Benlemlih (2019) has examined the relationship between sustainability and dividends, but not in the same regional setting. ESG is used as a proxy for sustainability, while two proxies are used for dividend policy; dividend payout ratio and dividend yield. Through a quantitative approach information is collected on the ESG score and dividend data using the Thomson Reuters Eikon database and then analyzed using regression analysis. The data spans over 10 years (2008-2018) and covers 117 firms with available ESG and dividend payout data.  The findings indicate that there is a significant relationship between the ESG score and the dividend payout ratio of Nordic firms, while the dividend yield has no relationship with the ESG score. As both measurements had positive coefficients, the authors determined that there is a positive relationship between sustainability and dividend policy. Based on the findings, the excess liquidity hypothesis was dismissed, while the authors concluded that there was support for and against the overinvesting hypothesis and the signaling hypothesis. The authors believe one possible explanation for these mixed results could be due to the regional setting, as it differs from the settings of previous studies. By illustrating the relationship between corporate sustainability and dividend policy, this study could be of interest to large and medium sized firms in the Nordic countries that use business strategies involving ESG practices or consider implementing such strategies. Similarly, it could be used by investors that use ESG-screening as a decision criterion when investing.

Dado o recente cenário econômico brasileiro, caracterizado por incertezas políticas e instabilidades econômicas, é essencial que as empresas engajem uma política de hedge, como parte de sua política financeira, com o objetivo de evitar que seus resultados sejam afetados por fricções de mercado. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo verificar o impacto da política de hedge sobre os custos de agência das empresas brasileiras. Os resultados obtidos foram de encontro com a literatura sobre hedge e custos de agência, foi encontrado que quanto maior a utilização do hedge, menor são os custos de agência enfrentados pelos acionistas. Essa relação demonstra que ao engajar a utilização do hedge na política financeira da empresa, o gestor passa a minimizar os impactos das fricções de mercado, e reduz as perdas residuais que os acionistas sofreriam em suas riquezas, caso o gestor não engajasse a política. Ainda, conforme sugerido por Dadalt, Gay e Nam (2002), outro benefício encontrado nesse resultado, é que ao reduzir os impactos das fricções de mercado nos lucros da empresa, o gestor informa aos stakeholders, um lucro que demonstra melhor a performance da companhia, assim credores e investidores podem tomar melhores decisões referentes aos contratos com a empresa, com base em um lucro que contém menor informação assimétrica. Dessa forma, a utilização da política de hedge pode aliviar problemas relacionadas a seleção adversa entre a empresa e seus stakeholders / Given the recent Brazilian economic scenario, characterized by political uncertainties and economic instabilities, it is essential that companies engage in a hedge policy as part of their financial policy, in order to prevent their results from being affected by market frictions. In this context, the present study aimed to verify the impact of the hedge policy on the agency costs of Brazilian companies. The results obtained were in agreement with the literature on hedge and agency costs, it was found that the greater the use of hedge, the lower the agency costs faced by the shareholders. This relationship demonstrates that by engaging the use of hedge in the company\'s financial policy, the manager starts to minimize the impacts of market frictions and reduces the residual losses that shareholders would suffer in their wealth if the manager did not engage the policy. As suggested by Dadalt, Gay and Nam (2002), another benefit found in this result is that by reducing the impacts of market frictions on company profits, the manager informs stakeholders of a profit that best demonstrates the performance of the company, so creditors and investors can make better decisions regarding contracts with the company, based on a profit that contains less asymmetric information. In this way, the use of the hedge policy can alleviate problems related to adverse selection between the company and its stakeholders.