Undersökningens syfte är att undersöka huruvida det finns ett samband mellan traditionella könsnormer samt inställningen till det egna landets familjepolitik, och landets totala fertilitetsnivå. Uppsatsen har en kvantitativ ansats med analyser baserade på data från European Social Survey samt Eurostat och undersöker 26 europeiska länder. Den teoretiska bakgrunden belyser hur mönstret i de totala fertilitetsnivåerna har förändrats till de nivåer som uppvisas i Europa idag. Vidare beskrivs hur könsrollsattityder och familjepolicys kan kopplas till födelsetal. Av den teoretiska bakgrunden framkommer vikten av att kunna kombinera barn med förvärvsarbete som en nyckelaspekt. Framförallt ses barnomsorg som något som minskar kvinnors alternativkostnader avsevärt vad gäller att kunna kombinera dessa två. För att göra resultatet överskådligt organiseras resultatet efter välfärdstypologier. Resultatet visar att det finns ett negativt samband mellan traditionella könsrollsattityder och totala fertilitetsnivåer. Detta innebär att det i länder där individer i högre grad anser att kvinnor bär huvudansvar för barn och familj och där män ses som huvudförsörjare, finns en lägre total fertilitetsnivå.  Vidare framkommer även ett positivt samband mellan att vara nöjd med familjerelaterade sociala förmåner samt befintlig barnomsorg och totala fertilitetsnivåer. Resultatet tyder således på att länder där individer är nöjda med befintliga sociala förmåner och där individer är nöjda med den tillgängliga barnomsorgen, har en högre total fertilitetsnivå.

Consumers often fail to consider the alternative ways to spend money when making decisions to buy consumer goods, this is called opportunity cost neglect. In this experimental study, our objective was to replicate the previous research of Frederick et al. (2009) showing that reminding individuals about the opportunity cost affects their decisions. Furthermore, we also wanted to extend the knowledge about this behavior by investigating whether individuals neglect the opportunity cost when making financial decisions or decisions about time allocation. In addition, we hypothesized that individuals who conduct mental budgeting (i.e., they categorize-, budget-, and track expenditures to mental accounts), are more likely to neglect the opportunity cost since they do not treat money as fungible. In an online experiment, we measured how being reminded about the opportunity cost would affect the probability of an individual buying a cheap and an expensive consumer goods, of investing money, and of watching a movie. Furthermore, we measured how being reminded about the opportunity cost affects the decision of those who conduct mental budgeting and those who do not. Our results showed that individuals neglect opportunity cost of the expensive consumer good and time (p=0.1). We found a positive relation between conducting mental budgeting and opportunity cost neglect for the expensive consumer good (p=0.1) and the deposit account (p=0.05), but no such effect in the other three scenarios. Our results imply that, due to opportunity cost neglect of time, people might be even further from optimal decision making than previously suggested since it extends to decisions about time allocation, and perhaps to investments; and people who conduct mental budgeting sometimes spend less/save more when reminded about the opportunity cost.

This essay deals with the topic options costs and whether such costs would arise for smaller companies now when they have the opportunity to choose not to have an auditor. Small companies are defined as companies that fulfill at least two of the following three criteria’s: less than 1,5 million SEK in balance sheet, less than three employees and turnover less than 3 million SEK.   The decision regarding internal revision does not only affect the company itself but also other parties such as the taxation authority, banks and others that can be influenced by the decision. This essays main focus is on the influenced parties, especially the taxation authority and the banks as these have been highlighted in debates in media and because the small companies themselves may have difficulties to foresee the consequences of the new changes. The opinions from accounting companies will be considered in the essay as they can be considered as experts regarding the different aspect within this area. The basis and as a point of comparison when analyzing the agency theory, the theory about economical efficiency in communities and the theory regarding transaction cost will be used.   The conclusion that can be drawn from this essay is that it may arise option cost for the smaller companies that have the opportunity to choose not to have an auditor.