In standard models of informed trading, they implicitly assume that all informed traders receive their information at the same time and then trade on their private information immediately, whether competitive or imperfect competitive¡]strategic¡^rational expectations model, differing on the speed of information revelation. In reality, the informed traders may quietly and skillfully perform noninformational trading to accumulate their ¡§line¡¨ cheaply. In this paper, we develop the multiperiod competitive rational expectations model with asymmetric information to show, under some conditions, delaying their informed trades is in the interests of informed traders; then we explore the implications of our model for the behavior of stock price, especially we find that, delaying the informed trades may increase price volatility and display the momentum effect, consistent with the empirical results.

The three essays of this thesis cover two sets of topics: search in auction platforms in the first two papers, and political campaigning in the last. In platform settings, search cost reductions are often regarded as beneficial because they improve match quality. But is this in fact true? And if it is true in an aggregate sense, what are the consequences to individual platform participants? Do individual buyers and sellers win or lose? The first paper develops a novel model of search in platforms and applies it to auction platforms to test the popular hypothesis that lower search costs are always beneficial to sellers. Under certain assumptions, we find that while lower search costs is welfare improving, its distributional consequences are less predictable. In general, lower search costs intesify buyer-side competition. On the one hand, this tends to improve seller revenues due to better matches; on the other hand, this may also thin out markets for certain sellers, since lower search costs make it easier for buyers to search out of certain markets. Generally, some sellers gain and some lose; most surprisingly, however, we find that overall seller revenue can decrease with lower search costs. Our second paper extends the model to endogenize buyer participation - so some buyers may leave the platform completely - and considers optimal platform search policy in such settings. Under stricter assumptions, we find that a platform that taxes the seller side generally benefits from lower search costs; a platform that charges buyers, however, may maximize search costs, since the gains from easier search are unevenly distributed among buyers, and may be inefficiently extracted with a fee. The final essay provides a novel model of political campaigning as argumentation, which brings together two different strands of the campaign spending literature: spending has direct effects on electoral outcomes, but also provide a "signal" of candidate quality. The model parsimoniously resolves many pre-existing campaign spending "paradoxes" while delivering new results on the effects and desirability of spending caps. / Economics

Entrepreneurship is a key factor for economic growth and has been a famous and controversial subject for long. However, the creation of innovations for small and medium sized businesses is limited when there is a finance gap in the market, based on the difference between the observed and desired debt. In recent years, it has emerged an alternative financing; crowdfunding, which can help and reduce the problems of the current finance gap. This qualitative study aims to describe the term, crowdfunding, and explore opportunities for crowdfunding in the future development as an alternative financing. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 15 interviews were conducted. This has provided the study with the necessary depth of knowledge to answer the research questions; How can the future of crowdfunding become on the Swedish market? When can crowdfunding be preferable over other forms of financing? How can crowdfunding help to reduce the financing gap? The theoretical framework was created before the empirical data collection and became the basis for the study's development. The chapter includes a description of the crowdfunding other financing options, the financial gap and previous empirical studies. Further analyzed the empirical data collected by connecting to the theoretical framework, which led the researchers to the following conclusions; the future prospects of crowdfunding is good when the financing form provides benefits that can not be achieved at other financing options. The factor that should decide a company's choice of financing is not the specific options. The company should instead consider which stage they find themselves in and take decisions based on that. Crowdfunding contributes to an increased supply of financing, which reduces the financing gap. The study shows, however, that action similar to increasing public awareness of crowdfunding and tax benefits may increase the contribution further. / Entreprenörskap är en viktig faktor för den ekonomiska tillväxten och har länge varit ett känt och omdiskuterat ämne. Dock är små och medelstora företags skapande av innovationer begränsad då det råder ett finansieringsgap på marknaden, vilket grundar sig på skillnaden mellan observerad och önskad skuldsättning. Under de senaste åren har det dock växt fram en alternativ finansieringsform; crowdfunding, som kan bidra till att minska problematiken över det rådande finansieringsgapet. Den här kvalitativa studie syftar till att beskriva begreppet crowdfunding samt se till möjligheterna för crowdfundingens framtida utveckling som en alternativ finansieringsform. För att uppfylla studiens syfte genomfördes 15 intervjuer. Det här gav den kunskapsbredd som krävdes för att besvara de frågeställningar som låg till grund för studien; Hur kan framtiden för crowdfunding se ut på den svenska marknaden? När kan crowdfunding vara att föredra framför andra finansieringsformer? På vilket sätt kan crowdfunding bidra till att minska finansieringsgapet? Den teoretiska referensramen skapades inför den empiriska insamlingen av data och utgjorde därav grunden till studiens uppbyggnad. Kapitlet omfattar en beskrivning av crowdfunding, andra finansieringsalternativ, det finansiella gapet samt tidigare empiriska undersökningar. Vidare analyserades den empiriska data som samlats in genom att återkoppla till den teoretiska referensramen, vilket ledde författarna fram till följande slutsatser; framtidsutsikterna för crowdfunding är god då finansieringsformen innebär fördelar som inte kan uppnås vid andra finansieringsalternativ. Den faktor som skall styra ett företags val av finansieringsform är inte de specifika alternativen utan i vilket stadie företaget befinner sig i. Crowdfunding bidrar till ett ökat utbud av finansiering, vilket minskar finansieringsgapet. Studien visar dock på att åtgärder liknande allmän höjd medvetenhet gällande crowdfunding samt skattefördelar kan öka crowdfundingens bidrag ytterligare.

This study examines if three hypothesized variables affect the extent of corporate strategic information, i.e. voluntary information, in corporate annual reports, specifically in Sweden in the year of 2012. The variables deemed appropriate to the Swedish environment, i.e. firm size, ownership dispersion and performance, were retrieved from previous disclosure research conducted in a Swedish context (Cook, 1989; Adrem, 1999), as well as relevant theoretical consideration. The statistical analysis conducted in this thesis suggests that firm size is significantly positively related to the extent of strategic corporate information in Swedish listed firms’ corporate annual reports. The result hence confirms the expectation that larger listed firms to a larger extent disclose strategic corporate information, i.e. voluntary information, in their corporate annual reports. No positive relation was found between the variables performance or ownership dispersion and the extent of strategic corporate information. The results of this thesis are interpreted to suggest that asymmetric information and agency costs are important determinants of the extent of strategic corporate information, i.e. voluntary information, in Swedish corporate annual reports. Larger firms seem to reduce agency costs and narrow the information asymmetry by increasing the level of information disclosed.

Syftet med denna avhandling är att öka kunskapen om varför villkorade tillstånd inte leder till att en lag fullt ut implementeras. Den lagstiftning som reglerar industriella verksamheter innehåller ofta generella principer. Dessa ska vägleda myndigheten i att balansera verksamhetens nytta mot eventuella negativa effekter. Tillstånd att bedriva en viss verksamhet är en värdefull rättighet för verksamhetsutövaren, men samtidigt är tillstånd villkorade och förenade med kostnader för denne, t.ex. för att begränsa utsläpp. Studier av exempelvis miljölagstiftning visar att villkorade tillstånd har bidragit till att uppfylla lagstiftningens huvudsakliga intention, men att genomförandet ofta kännetecknas av att lagstiftningens krav modifieras. I praktiken är villkorade tillstånd ett resultat av förhandlingar mellan myndigheten och verksamheten. Ett skäl till att myndigheten inleder förhandlingar är att tillämpning av lagen kräver kompletterande information om verksamheten. Ett annat skäl är att det är kostsamt för myndigheten att kontrollera tillstånds efterlevnad samt att beivra deras överträdelser. Den analytiska ansatsen är analogin mellan ett villkorat tillstånd och ett kontrakt i principal-agent teorin. Ett huvudresultat är att denna teori är lämplig för att studera villkorade tillstånd. I avhandlingen studeras olika svårigheter för myndigheten att genomföra lagstiftningen. Fokus riktas mot asymmetrisk information, men dessutom behandlas förhandlingsstyrka, politiska påtryckningar samt möjligheten att överträda tillståndsvillkor. Studierna visar att dessa förhållanden kan förklara brister vid lagstiftningens genomförande. Myndigheten kan dock begränsa konsekvenserna av dessa genom att jämka på tillståndet, dvs. att inte helt följa lagens bokstav. Anpassning till asymmetrisk information gör att myndigheten får tillgång till verksamhetsspecifik information. Anpassning till villkorsöverträdelser gör att nyttan med regleringar kan vägas mot kostnader för kontrollåtgärder. Villkorade tillstånd har även andra fördelar. Utvägen att neka ett tillstånd ger myndigheten en viss förhandlingsstyrka. Möjligheten att bestraffa verksamheten genom att dra in dess tillstånd medför att myndigheten kan spara kontrollresurser alternativt skärpa villkoren.

Denna studie är av kvalitativ art och syftar till att undersöka huruvida crowdfunding kan överbrygga ett eventuellt finansiellt gap för svenska företag och entreprenörer. Undersökningen fokuserar på tre typer av respondenter, vilka är representerade av företag som brukar crowdfunding som finansieringsform, bolag som fungerar likt ombud för att förmedla kapital med hjälp av finansieringsformen samt respondenter vilka opererar likt investerare i projekten. Studien teoretiska referensram är uppdelad i två sektioner, varav den första avser att beskriva crowdfunding utifrån generiska teorier, vilka utgörs av the Pecking Order Theory samt the Agency Principal Theory. Den andra sektionen ämnar mer specifikt beskriva crowdfunding samt belysa dess revenyer och brister och utgörs av tidigare forskning inom området. Studien mynnar ut i en slutsats att crowdfunding, genom dess tre former, kan utgöra en lösning i form av att metoden kan fungera likt ett komplement för att åter balansera det finansiella vakuum nyföretagare upplever i samband med erhållande av kapital. / This is a qualitative study which aims to investigate whether crowdfunding can fill up a financial gap for Swedish companies. The survey focuses on three types of respondents, which are represented by companies who uses crowdfunding as financing, companies that acts like an agent for providing capital through crowdfunding and respondents which operates as investors in crowdfunding projects. The study’s theoretical framework is divided into two sections, the first of which relates to describe crowdfunding based on generic theories, which consists of the Pecking Order Theory and the Agency Principal Theory. The second section intends to, more specifically, describe crowdfunding and highlight its shortcomings as well as its advantages and consists of previous research within the field. The study culminates in a conclusion that crowdfunding, through its three forms, can be a solution in sense that the method can be used as a complement to rebalance the financial vacuum new enterprises experience in relation to obtaining capital.

Finansmarknaden har visat sig ha stor effekt på länders ekonomier. I den globaliserade värld vi idag lever i innebär det att en kris i ett land kan sprida sig till resten av världen. Detta var vad som hände under finanskrisen 2008–2009. Då uppstod en kris i USA med grund i ett flertal faktorer. Bidragande faktorer var bland annat en generös utlåningspolitik och en tickande bostadsbubbla. Sveriges bostadsmarknad har under en lång tid präglats av stigande bostadspriser och historiskt låga räntor. Detta har, tillsammans med amorteringskravet, skapat spekulationer kring ökade räntor och fallande bostadspriser. Trots spekulationer och förändringar på marknaden, finner vi ingen tydlig förklaring till hur dessa händelser skulle påverka bolånetagare i Sverige. Några menar att bolånetagare i Sverige är väl rustade för en finansiell förändring, medan några hävdar att det skulle påverka vissa bolånetagare i högre utsträckning. Studiens teoretiska grund är huvudsakligen tre teorier, dessa är flockbeteende (herd behavior), finansiell förståelse (financial literacy) samt asymmetrisk information (asymmetric information). Studiens syfte uppfylldes genom att vi med stöd från dessa teorier undersökte hur bolånehandläggare i jämförelse med andra låntagare i Sverige påverkas vid finansiella förändringar. Studiens hypoteser testades utifrån insamlad primärdata från respektive grupp. Datat analyserades sedan genom MWU-tester, Multipla regressioner samt Chi2-tester. Vi finner utifrån resultatet att bolånehandläggarna är den grupp som skulle kunna hantera en finansiell förändring i form av en räntehöjning bättre. Det påvisades dock ingen signifikant skillnad mellan hur en bolånehandläggare, i jämförelse med andra låntagare skulle påverkas vid ett prisfall på bostadsmarknaden. Det kunde dock påträffas stöd för att bolånetagare generellt är högt belånade i Sverige. Vilket kan leda till att de skulle påverkas om ett framtida fall i bostadspriserna sker. Skillnaden vid påverkan av en räntehöjning mellan grupperna kunde förklaras med stöd från studiens teorier. Det visade sig att bolånehandläggarna är den grupp som inte följer flockbeteendet i samma utsträckning, har en bättre finansiell förståelse samt ett informationsövertag gentemot andra låntagare. Dessa resultat ger en insikt i vad som avgör hur bolånetagare i Sverige påverkas av finansiella förändringar på bostadsmarknaden. Det redogörs även för vad bolånetagarna kan göra för att minska denna påverkan. Då studien jämför två grupper av bolånetagare visar resultatet tydligt vad som skiljer grupperna åt i beteende, finansiell kunskap samt informationsinhämtning. Dessa resultat är därför viktiga i vägledande syfte för bolånetagare i Sverige.

As negociações na fase pré-contratual permitem às partes determinarem de que forma certa operação econômica será concretizada e cumprida por cada um dos particulares, materializando-se como importante ferramenta para as partes estabelecerem, consensual e racionalmente, as melhores alternativas em termos de eficiência que estão à disposição. Inexistem rigidez e regramento específico no processo negocial, estando seu desenvolvimento submetido aos interesses e às pretensões de cada um dos negociantes, e o seu resultado varia de acordo com o tipo de negociação, as estratégias adotadas e o poder de barganha individual. Não obstante, há outros fatores que também condicionam o desenrolar e o desfecho deste processo, mas em geral impedindo a obtenção de resultados tão benéficos quanto os que poderiam ser alcançados em um paralelo livre de ineficiências. Em um mundo factual as partes precisam lidar com as adversidades existentes nas negociações se desejarem concluir o contrato e dele se beneficiar, seja por meio de medidas particulares ou por intermédio de soluções regulatórias, as quais têm a missão de fornecerem adequados incentivos para sua aplicação tornar-se socialmente desejável. Além disso, em virtude de as negociações serem norteadas pela autonomia de vontade e liberdade contratual, sem deveres de vinculação, os atos de exercício destes direitos devem ser medidos para que não produzam lesões ao patrimônio jurídico dos demais envolvidos nas tratativas. Tal controle é exercido pela incidência da boa-fé objetiva na fase pré-contratual, a qual impõe deveres de conduta aos particulares durante as negociações. Também é a regra da boa-fé o supedâneo da responsabilidade civil para recomposição dos prejuízos advindos de situações que malfiram a confiança gerada ao longo das tratativas, daí que o conteúdo da indenização nestas hipóteses deve considerar as justas expectativas criadas pelas partes e ser balizado para que o lesado não acabe em situação melhor do que estaria se o eventual contrato tivesse sido concluído e integralmente cumprido. / Negotiations in the pre-contractual stage allow the parties to determine how a certain economic operation will be carried out and fulfilled by each of the individuals, and is an important tool for the parties to establish, in a consensual and rational manner, the best alternatives available in terms of efficiency. There is no rigidity or specific regulation in the negotiation process, in such way that its development is submitted to the interests and the pretensions of each one of the traders, and its result varies according to the type of negotiation, strategies adopted and individual bargaining power. There are other factors that also condition the unfolding and outcome of this process, but generally preventing the achievement of results as beneficial as those that could be achieved in an inefficiency-free parallel. In a factual world, the parties need to deal with the adversities in the negotiations if they wish to conclude the contract and benefit from it, either through particular measures or through regulatory solutions, which have the task of providing adequate incentives so that their implementation is socially desirable. Moreover, because the negotiations are guided by the autonomy of will and contractual freedom, without binding obligations, the exercise of these rights must be measured so that they do not produce damages to the legal patrimony of others involved in the negotiations. Such control is exercised by the incidence of objective good faith in the pre-contractual phase, which imposes conduct duties on individuals during the negotiations. It is also the rule of good faith the foundation of civil liability for the recovery of damages arising from situations that mislead the confidence generated during the negotiations, hence the content of compensation in these cases must consider the fair expectations created by the parties and be restricted so that the injured party does not end up in a better situation than it would have been if the contract had been completed and fully complied with.

O mercado de crédito brasileiro oferta uma quantidade reduzida de crédito a preços elevados, denotando sinais de um resultado não eficiente. Uma das explicações para esse fato é a existência de altos custos de transação no mercado, que acabam por restringir sua dimensão e elevar o custo total. Um estudo que identifique os custos de transação e seus componentes pode auxiliar na avaliação desse resultado, bem como pode contribuir para o entendimento dos aspectos necessários para o seu aprimoramento. O referencial teórico da Economia dos Custos de Transação fornece uma série de ferramentas analíticas que permitem essa avaliação, focando a existência de custos de transação não-nulos. O objetivo deste estudo é justamente analisar os determinantes dos custos de transação e seus efeitos no mercado de crédito brasileiro. Para tanto, é realizada uma revisão da literatura da Economia dos Custos de Transação, de forma a apresentar o instrumental analítico. Além disso, é feita uma caracterização dos mercados de crédito, apontando para as possíveis fontes de custos de transação. Logo após, analisa-se o mercado de crédito brasileiro sob a ótica Economia dos Custos de Transação e realiza-se um exercício econométrico para avaliar qual o impacto dos custos de transação sobre o a oferta de crédito pessoal no Brasil. Como resultado, destaca-se duas fontes principais de custos de transação. A primeira é a elevada assimetria informacional presente nas transações de crédito, que é fruto de sistemas de compartilhamento de informações pouco desenvolvidos. A segunda é a ineficiência do enforcement, por suas características de lentidão, custos elevados e imprevisibilidade. Essas duas fontes apresentam-se como os principais determinantes dos custos de transação que influenciam negativamente a oferta de crédito no Brasil, e, mais especificamente, o nível de concessões de crédito pessoal. Essa hipótese é ratificada pelos resultados do exercício econométrico realizado no estudo. / The Brazilian credit market supplies little volume of credit at elevated prices, which signals nonefficient market results. The existence of high transaction costs in the credit market is one of the issues that are raised to explain these results because they restrain the credit market dimensions and elevate its costs. Therefore their correct identification could help to evaluate the market results and could also to contribute for the comprehension of the aspects which are necessary for its improvement. The Economic of Transaction Costs offers a theoretical referential that allows for this evaluation to take place by focusing on the existence of non-null transaction costs. This study analyses the transaction-cost determinants of the Brazilian credit market. To do so, the Economics of Transaction Cost literature is briefly presented and it is followed by a credit market description. Subsequently the Brazilian credit market is analyzed and an econometric exercise is offered. As a result, two main sources of transaction costs are identified in the market. The first one is the asymmetric information that is current at credit transactions and has its roots at the underdeveloped information sharing systems. The second one is the inefficient enforcement which is said to be slow, costly and unpredictable. Therefore, those two sources are pointed to be the transaction-cost determinants that adversely impact the credit supply in Brazil and, more specifically, the personal credit market. This hypothesis is reaffirmed by the econometric results presented in the study.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T21:00:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 4 Duilio Augusto Zulini da Costa.pdf.jpg: 2241 bytes, checksum: 21e725fb115eff878283aee55bf7663c (MD5) Duilio Augusto Zulini da Costa.pdf.txt: 93519 bytes, checksum: 27e4506751eead422e681f97052f0f73 (MD5) license.txt: 4712 bytes, checksum: 4dea6f7333914d9740702a2deb2db217 (MD5) Duilio Augusto Zulini da Costa.pdf: 366086 bytes, checksum: a6fda8bb84e5dd314dd0368145e8d31d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-08-12T00:00:00Z / In this thesis we analyzed the determinants of the spread and the rating of corporate bonds issued in Brazil between 2003 and 2008. In addition to the issues analyzed in previously published papers, we try to understand if asymmetric information, which occurs more frequently in unregulated sectors of the economy, is a major determinant of the spread and rating of corporate bonds. The following industries were considered: power, home construction, toll roads, telecommunications, steel and metals, and oil and gas. Corporate bonds were attached to DI (Brazilian interbank offered rate) or inflation (Brazilian inflation indexes IGP-M or IPCA). Asymmetric information plays a key role on ratings. The rating is also, higher for companies with more assets and/or from regulated sectors and for bonds with higher duration. However, we found a positive relation between the EMBI-Brazil and the spread. It appears that the lower the rating, the higher the spread asked by the investors. There is evidence of nonlinearity in this relation. / Este trabalho verificou quais são os fatores que influenciam o spread e o rating das emissões de debêntures no Brasil. A principal contribuição em relação aos trabalhos publicados anteriormente está relacionada com a assimetria de informações. Testamos se esta variável, presente em maior escala nos setores não regulados da economia, explicam o spread e o rating das debêntures. A base de dados utilizada consiste de emissões realizadas entre 2003 e 2008 por empresas dos setores de energia, construção civil, telecomunicações, siderurgia e metalurgia, concessões rodoviárias e petróleo e gás. As debêntures são indexadas à Taxa DI, ao IGP-M ou ao IPCA. Os resultados encontrados indicam que a assimetria de informações é importante na determinação do rating das emissões. O rating também é mais alto para empresas maiores e/ou que atuam em setores regulados da economia e para emissões com maior duration. Encontramos relação positiva em média entre risco-país e spread. Os parâmetros estimados indicam também que, em média, quanto maior o rating menor é o spread pago, havendo evidências de não linearidade nesta relação.