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Sedan riksdagen beslut om Lag om valfrihetssystem även kallat LOV har hemtjänsten varit ett omstritt ämne i samhällsdebatten. Lagen om valfrihetssystem togs i bruk första januari 2009 med syftet att genom en fungerande konkurrenssituation så kan kvalitet och effektivitet öka samt möjliggöra nytänkande och mångfald. Enligt en rikstäckande undersökning av äldres uppfattning om kvalitén i hemtjänsten genomförd av Socialstyrelsen 2015 är bilden av äldreomsorgen generellt positiv i Sverige. Resultaten varier dock mellan olika kommuner och verksamheter. I en del kommuner och verksamheter är fler än tio procent ganska eller mycket missnöjda. Syftet med den här studien var att svara på frågan: Ger ett högre konkurrenstryck en bättre upplevd kvalitet för brukare av hemtjänst i Sveriges kommuner?  Data och variabler som använts är ett kvalitetsmått som beroende variabel i form av upplevd kvalitet som är framtaget baserat på brukarundersökning inom hemtjänsten. Oberoende variabeln är konkurrenstrycket i varje kommun. Undersökningen genomfördes i två olika multipla regressionsmodeller. Först en modell för att undersöka skillnaden i effekten av egenskaperna lågt och högt konkurrenstryck mot referensgruppen inget konkurrenstryck. Det vill säga om den upplevda kvaliteten är högre i de kommuner som infört LOV och konkurrensutsatt sin hemtjänst än de som inte. Inget statistiskt signifikant resultat påvisades i regressionen. För att undersöka effekterna av konkurrenstryck, skillnaden mellan lågt och högt konkurrenstryck och vilka andra faktorer som påverkar den upplevda kvaliteten användes även en andra regressionsmodell för analys endast av de kommuner som infört LOV. Även i den analysen kunde inget statistiskt signifikant resultat påvisas att konkurrenstryck har någon signifikant effekt på den upplevda kvaliteten. Istället är det andra faktorer enligt den här studien som påverkar den upplevda kvaliteten. Av de övriga variablerna Personalomsättning, Genomförandeplan, Tätortsgrad, Medianinkomst hos 65+ befolkningen och ersättningsnivåerna för service, omvårdnad och landsbygdsersättning visar resultatet på att en högre andel genomförandeplaner, tätortsgrad och medianinkomst i kommunerna påverkar den upplevda kvaliteten negativt. Ersättningsnivån för omvårdnad har däremot en positiv effekt på den upplevda kvaliteten. För övriga variabler påvisade regressionen ingen signifikant effekt på den upplevda kvaliteten. Avslutningsvis kan inte resultaten i den här studien påvisa att ett högre konkurrenstryck leder till en högre upplevd kvalitet som ett av syftena med Lagen om valfrihet är.

In eusocial insects, the ability to discriminate nest-mates from non-nest-mates is widespread and ensures that altruistic actions are directed towards kin and agonistic actions are directed towards non-relatives. Most tests of nest-mate recognition have focused on hymenopterans, and suggest that cooperation typically evolves in tandem with strong antagonism towards non-nest-mates. Here, we present evidence from a phylogenetically and behaviourally basal termite species that workers discriminate members of foreign colonies. However, contrary to our expectations, foreign intruders were the recipients of more rather than less cooperative behaviour and were not subjected to elevated aggression. We suggest that relationships between groups may be much more peaceable in basal termites compared with eusocial hymenoptera, owing to energetic and temporal constraints on colony growth, and the reduced incentive that totipotent workers (who may inherit breeding status) have to contribute to self-sacrificial intergroup conflict.

Cette thèse s'intéresse aux effets de l'environnement concurrentiel de l'entreprise sur la rémunération incitative et sur l'effort de son dirigeant. Elle comporte trois essais, traitant chacun d'un aspect spécifique de cette problématique. En premier lieu, nous étudions, au travers d'un modèle théorique, le schéma de rémunération optimal et le niveau d'effort à l'équilibre. L'effet de la concurrence est analysé par l'entrée d'une entreprise sur un marché monopolistique. Ainsi, nous comparons les schémas de rémunération et le niveau d'effort du dirigeant entre ceux caractéristiques d'une situation de monopole et d'un duopole à la Cournot. Ce modèle est ensuite étendu à l'hypothèse d'aversion à l'inégalité. Nous montrons que l'entrée d'une entreprise affecte négativement la rémunération incitative et le niveau d'effort. Aussi, face à un dirigeant averse à l'inégalité, l'entreprise doit proposer une rémunération plus élevée afin d'implémenter le même niveau d'effort. En second lieu, nous examinons grâce à l'outil expérimental les prédictions théoriques de ces deux modèles. Nous confirmons ainsi que l'entrée d'une entreprise sur le marché réduit la rémunération incitative du dirigeant. En revanche, malgré cette réduction, le dirigeant continue à fournir le même niveau d'effort. Enfin, en troisième lieu, nous introduisons dans une nouvelle expérience la compétition entre les dirigeants en créant un différentiel de rémunération. Nous montrons que cette compétition permet à l'entreprise de réduire encore la rémunération de son dirigeant en duopole. De plus, le dirigeant compare sa rémunération avec le profit de son entreprise d'une part et avec celle de l'autre dirigeant d'autre part et cette double comparaison affecte son niveau d'effort. / This dissertation analyzes the effects of the competition on the managerial incentives and effort. The dissertation is made of three essays, each dealing with a particular aspect of the general setting. Firstly, based on a model, we focus on the compensation schemes and the effort level of the manager in equilibrium. We examine the effects of a firm entry on the monopolistic market on these schemes and on the effort level. In this model we then introduce an additional assumption that managers are averse to inequity. We show that the firm entry affects negatively both the incentive compensation and the effort level. Furthermore, the firm has to propose a high compensation so as to implement the same effort level if the manager is inequity averse. Secondly, we test the theoretical predictions of these models in the laboratory. We confirm that the firm entry reduces the incentive compensation. In return, the manager continues to supply the same effort level in spite of the reduction of the incentive compensation. Finally, we implement, in a new experiment, the competition between the managers. We show that the competition allows the firm to reduce the compensation for her manager in the duopoly environment. Furthermore, the manager compares his compensation to the firm's profit and to the other manager's compensation. These comparisons have significant effects on the manager's level of effort.

Le renouvellement des peuplements forestiers irréguliers est envisagé par la création de trouées, afin d’augmenter localement l’éclairement en sous-bois et favoriser la croissance de la régénération d’arbres.Cependant, cette augmentation de lumière favorise aussi la colonisation des trouées par des espèces herbacées et semi-ligneuses compétitrices pour les ressources. Cette thèse s’est focalisée sur les interactions pour la lumière entre de jeunes pins sylvestres (Pinus sylvestris) et une végétation interférente représentée par la callune( Calluna vulgaris), la molinie (Molinia caerulea) et la fougère (Pteridium aquilinum) dans le sous-bois de peuplements mélangés chêne sessile (Quercus petraea)-pin sylvestre.La lumière est le facteur principal limitant la croissance des semis (hauteur<0,30m) et gaules(0,30m<hauteur<6m) de pin sylvestre. Cependant, alors que les semis supportent un ombrage conséquent, les besoins en lumière augmentent avec la dimension des individus.Le développement des trois espèces interférentes a été quantifié en fonction de l’éclairement. A recouvrement égal, la fougère intercepte plus de lumière que la molinie et la callune. La fougère affecte donc plus négativement la croissance des semis de pin, notamment parce qu’elle est aussi capable de développer un couvert dense même pour de très faibles éclairements. Pour les trois espèces, des facteurs autres que la lumière sont cependant impliqués qui pourraient être des phénomènes d’allélopathie, de compétition souterraine ou d’interférence mécanique. Les différents résultats sont intégrés dans un modèle conceptuel de dynamique forestière (RReShar, Regeneration and Resource Sharing). / Irregular forest stands regeneration is considered using gap creation that provokes a light increase in the understorey. The light increase leads to the recruitment of new trees as well as the potential colonization by competitive herbaceous and shrubby species. This study focused on light interactions between Scots pine (Pinussylvestris) seedlings and saplings and competitive vegetation made up of Calluna vulgaris, Molinia caerulea andPteridium aquilinum growing in mixed sessile oak (Quercus petraea)-Scots pine stands in acidic temperateforests in France.The light was the key limiting factor controlling Scots pine seedling and sapling growth. Seedlings are able totolerate a consequent shading, whereas sapling light requirement increases with their size. The growth of C.vulgaris, M. caerulea and P. aquilinum was measured according to light availability. For a given cover,P. aquilinum intercepted more light than M. caerulea and C. vulgaris. P. aquilinum involved a more pronounceddecrease of pine seedling growth as this species was able to reach high cover even in very shaded conditions. For all the three species, processes like allelopathy, belowground competition or mechanical interference were assumed to also impede with pine seedling growth. All those results were integrated in a conceptual forest dynamics model named RReShar (Resource and Regeneration Sharing).

This doctoral dissertation examines the European Commission’s dawn raid practices in competition cases from a fundamental rights perspective. In recent years the Commission has adopted a new and more aggressive enforcement policy, which reflects the widespread understanding that cartels and abuse of market power are harmful to the economy and should be punished. Given both the considerable gains to be made through anti-competitive practices and the cartel’s nature of secrecy, effective application of the competition rules requires that competition authorities are vested with far-reaching investigatory powers. At the same time, EU fundamental rights protection has been strengthened through the Lisbon Treaty, and the Commission now has to ensure effective application of the EU competition rules while navigating through an array of fundamental rights, such as the right of the defence and the right to privacy. The doctoral dissertation explores whether it is possible to strike a balance between the interests of ensuring effective dawn raids and adequate fundamental rights protection, or whether the Commission has been handed an impossible task. As the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights requires EU fundamental rights protection to meet or exceed the standard set by the ECHR, the research is based on case-law from both the EU Courts and the European Court of Human Rights. The research demonstrates that the European Court of Human Rights has adopted a flexible approach towards inspections at business premises; it does not require an ex ante review of inspection decisions and accepts rather intrusive investigatory measures, provided that and as long as the procedural safeguards surrounding such measures are considered adequate. This way, the court manages to strike a balance between efficiency concerns and the rights of undertakings. As for the EU system, the EU Courts are not providing judicial review to the extent required by the ECHR. While inspection decisions may be challenged, the possibilities to challenge measures taken on their basis, or have those measures suspended, are limited. This discrepancy between EU and ECHR law – which is of seemingly limited nature – may affect the legitimacy of the entire dawn raid procedure as the granting of far-reaching investigatory powers must be counterbalanced by effective judicial control to ensure that measures adopted by the Commission are neither disproportionate nor arbitrary. Absent an effective judicial control of measures taken on the basis of inspection decisions, the procedural safeguards surrounding dawn raids cannot be considered adequate, and it is possible that the powers of the Commission may need to be restricted accordingly. The research also demonstrates that some of the limitations in the legal professional privilege – such as the exclusion of correspondence with non-EU lawyers or legal advice that lacks connection with the subject-matter of the investigation – do not serve the interests of a proper administration of justice and may therefore be questioned.

Japan has experienced a prolonged stagnation since bursting the asset market bubble early in the 1990's. It is very important to understand the underlying problems in order to find a remedy to escape this stagnation. This thesis aims to theoretically analyse the current Japanese economy, especially from the viewpoint of multiple equilibria. According to this view, the same fundamentals can yield a multiple outcome depending on history or expectations. This thesis argues that Japan's situation can be regarded as a bad equilibrium which has been provoked by wide-spread pessimism and a bubble collapse. Three chapters independently attempt to construct theoretical models describing the current Japanese situation. Chapter 2 demonstrates that demand externalities yield multiple equilibria. In a bad equilibrium, firms dare not participate in trade, which causes aggregate demand and welfare to decrease. A global games approach then illustrates how equilibrium is selected. Chapter 3, with the objective of seeing if Japan's depression was provoked by the misconduct of monetary policy, investigates the relation between indeterminacy and a monetary policy rule using a sticky price and firm-specific investment model. The standard Taylor principle is shown to be almost sufficient to eliminate indeterminacy, which suggests that the Bank of Japan did not exacerbate the economy while interest rate rules functioned, that is, until 1999. Chapter 4 focuses on a zero nominal interest rate bound, which has been observed since 1999. The ineffectiveness of the monetary policy yields a bad short-run outcome where real economic activity and asset prices become lower. There are long-run multiple equilibria in this story, and that is our explanation for the problem. Within this model, however, our .analysis does not justify a claim that a zero bound for the interest rate causes a long-run equilibrium to be a bad one.

The conviction that the music competition festivals should be better organized and better administered has led to the study of this topic by many serious-minded music leaders.The present study will deal with this all important phase of the contest or festival--the organization and administration of a vocal competition festival. The writer has no intention of setting down a set of rules and regulations to be followed by all directors of contests in all situations. He rather would suggest the use of a set of findings which should help contest directors to organize and administer an event which should be of great educational value both to the directors and the students.

Sex ratio theory is a focus in evolutionary biology that explores how natural selection shapes investment in males and females. It has provided some of the best quantitative evidence of evolution and could find utility in public health efforts through its application to malaria parasites. These parasites have distinct male and female forms that are produced following massive asexual replication, and they mate within the blood-feeding insects that transmit them between vertebrate hosts. A very similar population structure is assumed by local mate competition (LMC), a model from sex ratio theory that predicts female-biased sex ratios dependent on the degree of selfing within a mating patch. In this dissertation, I test a series of predictions from LMC for the lizard malaria parasite Plasmodium mexicanum. These include: (i) sex ratios have heritable variation that is not constrained by other life history traits; (ii) single-genotype infections have female-biased sex ratios that are determined by male fecundity; (iii) multiple-genotype infections have less biased sex ratios than single genotype infections; (iv) if males are limiting, sex ratios may be less biased when there are fewer parasites present (an extension of LMC called fertility insurance); and (v) less biased sex ratios may also be favored if increased female production yields diminishing returns on transmission to a new vertebrate host. To test these predictions, I combined the study of natural and experimental infections, microscopy (parasite density and sex ratio), molecular genetics (infection genetic diversity), and mathematical modeling (of how transmission patterns might affect sex ratio evolution). Overall, the results were qualitatively consistent with both LMC and my new model predictions. Sex ratios showed evidence of heritable variation that was unlinked to other life history traits measured. Sex ratios in single-genotype infections were female biased and consistent with the male fecundity observed, and were lower than sex ratios in experimental multiple-genotype infections, as predicted. Sex ratios were not less biased with lower sexual cell density, suggesting that males were not limiting. In fact, the opposite trend was sometimes observed: sex ratios were less biased with more sexual cells. This pattern has been observed previously in this and other species, and the only model that currently predicts such a trend is the new transmission model I outline. This dissertation contributes to our understanding of sex ratio evolution for malaria parasites in a number of ways. First, it adds evidence to the idea that the selective forces implicated in LMC are at work in malaria parasites and that malaria parasites are able to detect and respond to relevant cues. Second, it helps account for discrepancies in existing data, which have often reached conflicting conclusions. Third, it offers one of the first detailed studies of malaria parasite male fecundity, an essential piece of the sex ratio puzzle. Finally, it outlines a new theoretical extension of LMC that provides novel predictions and highlights areas of study that may be fruitful for future work on malaria parasites and other organisms.

Closely related species at the same trophic level are often considered to be ecologically equivalent. However, it is clear that individuals species can have unique functional roles that drive community and ecosystem processes. In this study we examine the growth responses of two Neotropical hylid tadpole species, Agalychnis callidryas and Dendropsophus ebraccatus, to intraspecific and interspecific competition. We also look at density-dependent effects of each on phytoplankton, periphyton and zooplankton, as well as their responses to a caged dragonfly predator through ontogeny. Intraspecific competition affected both species similarly, and their effects on resources were qualitatively similar but quantitatively different. Predators affected resource levels and interspecific competition. Predator effects on tadpole size varied in both magnitude and direction through ontogeny for both species. This study shows that closely related species at the same trophic level can have different ecological roles and that tadpoles are more functionally unique than previously thought.