The aim of the submitted thesis "Nominal and Real Convergence of the Czech Republic to EU (selected issues)" is to analyze nominal and real convergence of the Czech Republic to EU member countries from macroeconomic point of view, by using comparison with other transition economies. It presents and discusses theoretical issues relating to convergent process. The thesis deals with analysis of convergence using these indicators: GDP per capita in purchasing power parities, comparative price level, Maastricht criteria and some other indicators.

Impact of economic crisis on fertility level in EU member states Abstract The aim of this diploma thesis is to provide a detailed development overview of the selected indicators, i.e., GDP per capita, unemployment rate and total fertility rate, in the context of the Global Economic Crisis, which, on a European scale, started in 2008, and evaluate the impact of the crisis on fertility levels across EU countries. The diploma thesis further concerns itself with various approaches to the relation between economic development and fertility, briefly with the causes of the Global Economic Crisis and with family policy measures in response to worsening economic conditions. Using cluster and regression analyses, the relationship between the economic indicators and total fertility rates in relation to the onset of the crisis has been examined. Even though total fertility rates of individual EU countries were affected differently by the change of economic conditions, the results indicate that changes in unemployment rates affect fertility levels. The decline in fertility levels during the crisis, which occurred in most of the examined countries, is certainly the result of a large number of factors affecting reproductive behaviour. Nevertheless, the results suggest that the symptoms of the crisis significantly...

De acordo com a teoria de equity market timing, as companhias tendem a emitir ações ou dívidas de modo a explorar janelas de oportunidade e esse comportamento é um determinante significativo da estrutura de capital das empresas, reflexo das decisões de financiamento. Com base nessa assertiva e nas evidências recentes, esta dissertação investiga a ocorrência de equity market timing na decisão de emissão primária de ações (IPO e Follow-on) no mercado de capitais brasileiro. Em um primeiro momento, analisaram-se os determinantes da estrutura de capital das companhias brasileiras, com base em variáveis comuns na literatura: índice market-to-book, tamanho, tangibilidade, rentabilidade e setor. Mais tarde, para averiguar a existência do comportamento de market timing na decisão de emitir ações, utilizou-se a relação dos retornos anormais, antes e após a emissão, com o volume total de capital levantado por meio da oferta desses títulos, além da quantidade de ações que a empresa emitiu e o preço inicial de negociação, medidas relativas utilizadas por Alti (2006). A amostra analisada leva em conta características setoriais e compreende 123 empresas de capital aberto que emitiram novas ações na BM&FBOVESPA entre 2004 e 2015, somando 165 emissões primárias durante esse período. Foram utilizadas análises descritivas de dados, testes de diferença de médias e regressões lineares para prover evidências da ocorrência desse fenômeno. Os resultados indicam que mais da metade das emissões de ações no Brasil ocorre nos meses que antecedem o prazo máximo de divulgação dos demonstrativos contábeis das empresas, e que 75% das emissões aconteceram depois de retornos anormais positivos. Ademais, as empresas que tiveram retornos anormais negativos depois da emissão de ações foram as que captaram mais recursos por essa via de financiamento, indo a favor da prática de equity market timing na decisão de emissão de ações no mercado brasileiro. Destaca-se, ainda, a constatação de que esse comportamento oportunista está mais claramente ligado à oferta inicial de ações (IPO), ou seja, quando a empresa utiliza essa fonte de financiamento pela primeira vez do que quando a emissão é subsequente (Follow-on), além das evidências de que o setor tem papel importante no comportamento de market timing dos gestores, indicando que as empresas de um mesmo ramo setorial tomam decisões semelhantes com a finalidade de explorar janelas de oportunidades possivelmente relacionadas aos seus respectivos setores. / According to the equity market timing theory, companies tend to issue stocks or debts in order to explore windows of opportunity, and this behavior is a significant determinant of the capital structure of companies, which reflects from financing decisions. Based on this assertion and on recent evidence, this dissertation investigates the occurrence of equity market timing in the decision of primary issuance of shares (IPO and Follow-on) in the Brazilian capital market. First, determinants of the capital structure of Brazilian companies were analyzed, based on common variables in the literature: market-to-book ratio, size, tangibility, profitability and industry. Later, in order to determine the occurrence of market timing behavior in the decision to issue shares, it was investigated the relation of abnormal returns - both before and after the issue - with the total volume of capital raised through securities\' offers and also the quantity of shares issued by the company and the initial trading price, relative measures used by Alti (2006). The analyzed sample takes into account industrial characteristics and comprises 123 public companies that issued new shares on BM&FBOVESPA between 2004 and 2015, resulting in to 165 primary issues during this period. Descriptive data analyzes, mean difference tests and linear regressions were used to provide evidence of the occurrence of this phenomenon. The results indicate that more than half of Brazil\'s equity issues occur in the months leading up to the maximum disclosure period of the companies\' financial statements, and that 75% of the issues occurred after abnormal positive returns. In addition, the companies that had negative abnormal returns after the issuance of shares were the ones that captured more resources through this financing channel, favoring the practice of equity market timing in the decision to issue shares in the Brazilian market. It should also be pointed out that this opportunistic behavior is more clearly linked to the initial public offering (IPO), that is, when the company uses this source of financing for the first time than when the issue is secondary (Follow- on). Also, there is evidence that the industry plays an important role in the manager\'s market timing behavior, indicating that the companies belonging to a same industry make similar decisions with the purpose of exploring windows of opportunities that possibly related to their respective industries.

Le paludisme et la pneumonie constituent encore des problèmes de santé publique dans les pays à faible revenu, dont Madagascar. Toutefois, si le paludisme a reçu plus d’attention et vu ses programmes de lutte renforcés depuis la création du Fonds mondial en 2002, la pneumonie quant à elle est souvent négligée. Cependant, depuis peu, l’Unicef, s’appuyant sur les résultats encourageants obtenus au niveau communautaire dans la lutte contre le paludisme, pousse à l’intégration du dépistage et de la prise en charge de la pneumonie au niveau communautaire. Pour appuyer ce plaidoyer, des études d’impact et de type coût-efficacité sont nécessaires pour vérifier que cette stratégie est bien efficace et efficiente. C’est l’objet du chapitre 4 de cette thèse qui étudie l’expérience pilote menée par l’Unicef dans le district d’Antalaha. Nous montrons que ce programme a eu un impact notable sur la prise en charge du paludisme et de la pneumonie. Toutefois, la qualité de cette prise en charge est encore remise en question. Cela indique que, avant de décider d’une mise à l’échelle, ce programme mérite d’être révisé pour l’améliorer. Outre la perte de bien-être, le paludisme et la pneumonie ont un coût financier d’abord, économique, ensuite. Un des arguments de plaidoyer est alors de montrer, s’il y en a, les effets économiques des deux maladies. C’est l’objet des chapitres 2 et 3 avec une application à Madagascar. Auparavant, le sous-bassement théorique du lien entre santé et revenu ou développement économique est présenté dans le premier chapitre. / Malaria and pneumonia remain a public health problem in low-income countries, including Madagascar. However, while malaria has received more attention and its control programs have been strengthened since the creation of the Global Fund in 2002, pneumonia is often neglected. Face on the encouraging results of malaria community case management, UNICEF wants to integrate pneumonia management at community level. To support this advocacy, the impact and the cost-effectiveness of this strategy must be known to verify that it is effective and efficient. This is the purpose of Chapter 4 of this thesis which studies the pilot experiment conducted by Unicef in the district of Antalaha. It is shown that this program has had a significant impact on the management of malaria and pneumonia. However, the quality of this care is questioned. This situation indicates that, before scaling up, this program should be revised to improve it. Besides the loss of well-being, malaria and pneumonia have a financial and economic cost. Therefore, the economic effects of the two diseases are shown in the chapters 2 and 3 concerning the case of Madagascar. Previously, the theoretical under-base of the link between health and economic development is presented in the first chapter.

De acordo com a teoria de equity market timing, as companhias tendem a emitir ações ou dívidas de modo a explorar janelas de oportunidade e esse comportamento é um determinante significativo da estrutura de capital das empresas, reflexo das decisões de financiamento. Com base nessa assertiva e nas evidências recentes, esta dissertação investiga a ocorrência de equity market timing na decisão de emissão primária de ações (IPO e Follow-on) no mercado de capitais brasileiro. Em um primeiro momento, analisaram-se os determinantes da estrutura de capital das companhias brasileiras, com base em variáveis comuns na literatura: índice market-to-book, tamanho, tangibilidade, rentabilidade e setor. Mais tarde, para averiguar a existência do comportamento de market timing na decisão de emitir ações, utilizou-se a relação dos retornos anormais, antes e após a emissão, com o volume total de capital levantado por meio da oferta desses títulos, além da quantidade de ações que a empresa emitiu e o preço inicial de negociação, medidas relativas utilizadas por Alti (2006). A amostra analisada leva em conta características setoriais e compreende 123 empresas de capital aberto que emitiram novas ações na BM&FBOVESPA entre 2004 e 2015, somando 165 emissões primárias durante esse período. Foram utilizadas análises descritivas de dados, testes de diferença de médias e regressões lineares para prover evidências da ocorrência desse fenômeno. Os resultados indicam que mais da metade das emissões de ações no Brasil ocorre nos meses que antecedem o prazo máximo de divulgação dos demonstrativos contábeis das empresas, e que 75% das emissões aconteceram depois de retornos anormais positivos. Ademais, as empresas que tiveram retornos anormais negativos depois da emissão de ações foram as que captaram mais recursos por essa via de financiamento, indo a favor da prática de equity market timing na decisão de emissão de ações no mercado brasileiro. Destaca-se, ainda, a constatação de que esse comportamento oportunista está mais claramente ligado à oferta inicial de ações (IPO), ou seja, quando a empresa utiliza essa fonte de financiamento pela primeira vez do que quando a emissão é subsequente (Follow-on), além das evidências de que o setor tem papel importante no comportamento de market timing dos gestores, indicando que as empresas de um mesmo ramo setorial tomam decisões semelhantes com a finalidade de explorar janelas de oportunidades possivelmente relacionadas aos seus respectivos setores. / According to the equity market timing theory, companies tend to issue stocks or debts in order to explore windows of opportunity, and this behavior is a significant determinant of the capital structure of companies, which reflects from financing decisions. Based on this assertion and on recent evidence, this dissertation investigates the occurrence of equity market timing in the decision of primary issuance of shares (IPO and Follow-on) in the Brazilian capital market. First, determinants of the capital structure of Brazilian companies were analyzed, based on common variables in the literature: market-to-book ratio, size, tangibility, profitability and industry. Later, in order to determine the occurrence of market timing behavior in the decision to issue shares, it was investigated the relation of abnormal returns - both before and after the issue - with the total volume of capital raised through securities\' offers and also the quantity of shares issued by the company and the initial trading price, relative measures used by Alti (2006). The analyzed sample takes into account industrial characteristics and comprises 123 public companies that issued new shares on BM&FBOVESPA between 2004 and 2015, resulting in to 165 primary issues during this period. Descriptive data analyzes, mean difference tests and linear regressions were used to provide evidence of the occurrence of this phenomenon. The results indicate that more than half of Brazil\'s equity issues occur in the months leading up to the maximum disclosure period of the companies\' financial statements, and that 75% of the issues occurred after abnormal positive returns. In addition, the companies that had negative abnormal returns after the issuance of shares were the ones that captured more resources through this financing channel, favoring the practice of equity market timing in the decision to issue shares in the Brazilian market. It should also be pointed out that this opportunistic behavior is more clearly linked to the initial public offering (IPO), that is, when the company uses this source of financing for the first time than when the issue is secondary (Follow- on). Also, there is evidence that the industry plays an important role in the manager\'s market timing behavior, indicating that the companies belonging to a same industry make similar decisions with the purpose of exploring windows of opportunities that possibly related to their respective industries.

The Environmental Kuznets Curve is an inverted U-shaped relationship which demonstrates how environmental degradation increases as countries begin to develop and lowers as they become wealthier. The classical EKC measures the effects of GDP per capita (a country’s wealth) on pollu-tion. This paper is a study of the connection of a number of factors- GDP per capita, fossil fuels, al-ternative and nuclear energy, rural population and life expectancy at birth to the Environmental Kuznets Curve. Two econometric approaches are applied in order to test whether the variables have a more pronounced linear or quadratic form. Four income groups of countries are investigated in order to check if the state of development plays a crucial role in environmental deterioration. The results of the study point out that EKC does not apply for the chosen variables. From the regression for GDP, however, it can be concluded that EKC forms in 1990s.

Over the last couple of decades, a significant amount of research has been carried out on rural water supplies in developing countries, and have identified the fact that the communal water supply model is not sustainable everywhere, especially in sparsely populated rural areas; factors obstructing sustainability include lack of spare parts, management systems and private/public capacity. Despite their enormous contribution to the water sector, the extant studies stay within the subsidized communal water supply and capacity building, post construction support or management system. In other words, very few studies have been done into household (private) level water supply. The Self Supply model is an approach which provides support to households/communities to complement their efforts and accelerate sustainable access to safe water incrementally through improvement to traditional water sources (hand dug wells) by putting in their own investment. The Self Supply model may give significant benefits for sustainable safe water supplies, especially in sparsely populated rural areas, in comparison with the communal water supply though to date there has been little monitoring and systematic analysis of what impact these changes have made at the grassroots level. The standpoint of this study is pragmatic, and herein, mixing quantitative and qualitative methods was justified in order to design the research methodologies. The research was conducted in the Luapula Province of Zambia using a concurrent triangulation strategy to offset the weakness inherent within one method with the strengths of the other. The data was collected through inventory and sanitary surveys, water quality testing, household surveys, document analyses, focus group discussions and key informant interviews to determine the most appropriate water supply model for safe, accessible, sustainable, cost-effective and acceptable water supplies for households in sparsely populated rural areas of Zambia. The principal argument of this study is that reliance only on a communal water supply model limits the achievement of increased sustainable access to a safe water supply; hence a Self Supply model is needed which does not compete with the communal models but works alongside them in sparsely populated rural areas of developing countries for the purpose of increasing access and achieving sustainability. It was strongly defended by the overall findings that a Self Supply model could significantly reduce the faecal contamination risk in water quality and deliver a higher per capita water use and better convenience of access than the communal model; however its reliability with respect to the water source drying up needs to be monitored. Further, this does not mean that the communal model is not sustainable anywhere, rather that it is important to build blocks for a sustainable environment to access safe water in a symbiotic way between the communal and Self Supply models under the condition that the government and NGOs/external support agencies overcome the temptation to provide a water supply to rural dwellers as a giveaway social service.

Poverty is a significant world wide issue. Although literature on the impact of a minimum wage in the agricultural sector is rather limited, previous empirical research shows that employment was reduced with the implementation of a minimum wage. The following questions are studied: - Does the implementation of a minimum wage have any effect on employment in the agricultural sector of the North-West province? - Is there any relation between poverty and unemployment? - Does the implementation of a minimum wage and sectoral determination have any impact on social-economic issues. The empirical study is carried out by way of a questionnaire from which responses are investigated. A random sample was used to evaluate the effect of a minimum wage on employment and social-economic factors in the North-West province. The target population includes all the affiliated members of Agri North-West. This group is negative about labour laws and experiences that the implementation of a minimum wage has a negative effect on employment. The agricultural sector provides many job opportunities in South Africa. Seeing that a minimum wage has a negative impact on employment in the North-West province, further research is recommended. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Sociology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Poverty is a significant world wide issue. Although literature on the impact of a minimum wage in the agricultural sector is rather limited, previous empirical research shows that employment was reduced with the implementation of a minimum wage. The following questions are studied: - Does the implementation of a minimum wage have any effect on employment in the agricultural sector of the North-West province? - Is there any relation between poverty and unemployment? - Does the implementation of a minimum wage and sectoral determination have any impact on social-economic issues. The empirical study is carried out by way of a questionnaire from which responses are investigated. A random sample was used to evaluate the effect of a minimum wage on employment and social-economic factors in the North-West province. The target population includes all the affiliated members of Agri North-West. This group is negative about labour laws and experiences that the implementation of a minimum wage has a negative effect on employment. The agricultural sector provides many job opportunities in South Africa. Seeing that a minimum wage has a negative impact on employment in the North-West province, further research is recommended. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Sociology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Submitted by Gustavo Gomes (gustavolascasas@gmail.com) on 2013-09-17T12:16:48Z No. of bitstreams: 2 A Nova Geografia Econ??mica tr??s ensaios para o Brasil.pdf: 1310322 bytes, checksum: 3f258950dd48382377323781b037cf47 (MD5) license_rdf: 23599 bytes, checksum: 9e2b7f6edbd693264102b96ece20428a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Roger Guedes (roger.guedes@fjp.mg.gov.br) on 2013-09-17T13:48:42Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 A Nova Geografia Econ??mica tr??s ensaios para o Brasil.pdf: 1310322 bytes, checksum: 3f258950dd48382377323781b037cf47 (MD5) license_rdf: 23599 bytes, checksum: 9e2b7f6edbd693264102b96ece20428a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-09-17T13:48:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 A Nova Geografia Econ??mica tr??s ensaios para o Brasil.pdf: 1310322 bytes, checksum: 3f258950dd48382377323781b037cf47 (MD5) license_rdf: 23599 bytes, checksum: 9e2b7f6edbd693264102b96ece20428a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Funda????o Jo??o Pinheiro / Esta tese tem como proposta analisar a desigualdade da distribui????o das atividades econ??micas e da renda per capita no Brasil, utilizando dados censit??rios para as microrregi??es do Nordeste, Sudeste e Centro-Oeste. Para isso, s??o apresentados tr??s artigos. No primeiro artigo, Acessibilidade e desigualdade regional no Brasil: uma proposta metodol??gica, prop??e-se um indicador de acessibilidade que ?? uma medida de mercado potencial, mas que considera as diferen??as de infra-estrutura existentes no Brasil. O segundo, Aglomera????es: quais seus fatores explicativos?, atrav??s de uma metodologia de an??lise de vari??ncia, procura responder quais os fatores explicativos das aglomera????es. Os resultados mostram que os principais fatores s??o os aglomerativos, corroborando com os argumentos da Nova Geografia Econ??mica. Diante disso, buscaram-se ind??cios de que o custo de transporte esteja no n??vel intermedi??rio, o que foi verificado. O terceiro artigo, Mercado potencial e crescimento econ??mico: evid??ncias para as microrregi??es do Sudeste, Nordeste e Centro-Oeste brasileiro, analisa se existem evid??ncias de que o acesso aos mercados influencia o diferencial de renda per capita existente entre as microrregi??es e se h?? heterogeneidade dos par??metros. Os resultados apontam para uma influ??ncia do acesso aos mercados sobre o diferencial de renda per capita. Essa influ??ncia ?? diferenciada entre as microrregi??es presentes no Sudeste e no Nordeste e Centro-Oeste. No Sudeste, h?? uma rela????o positiva, ou seja, quanto maior o acesso aos mercados maior o crescimento da renda per capita, enquanto para as microrregi??es do Nordeste e Centro-Oeste o resultado ?? inverso. / This thesis has three contributions: a) in the first paper, we develop a transportation cost index based on the market potential concept. b) In the second paper, we test if first or second nature causes determine agglomerations in our sample, which is composed by micro-regions of the Northeast, Southeast and Centre-West macro-regions in Brazil, in the period 1970-2000. We observe that second order causes directly or indirectly are the main determinants of agglomeration. We also collect evidence that transportation cost are at intermediate levels in these regions. c) In the third paper, we investigate if access to markets determines the (transitional) growth rate of per capita income. It does, but in a differentiated manner accordingly mainly to the macro-region from which the micro-region belongs. / Economia e Finan??as