This thesis traces how the drinking house was used by writers of early modern English drama to try to make sense of the period’s culture of exchange. Organised around an examination of five plays, the project focuses on the way in which playwrights engaged with and examined notions of credit, circulation, and the commercialisation of hospitality. By offering close readings through the lens of the drinking house, I make fresh interpretations of the plays. Moreover, I seek to demonstrate the wider literary tradition dealing with this space that, to some extent, has been neglected. With this in mind, I also draw on other popular texts from the period, such as ballads, jest books and rogue pamphlets, which establish certain conventions and narratives that emerge in the drama. In Shakespeare’s 1 Henry IV and 2 Henry IV, the reckoning – or tavern bill – is used as an emblem through which Hal negotiates his moral and economic redemption, in the face of Falstaff’s threat to the wider network of credit established in the tavern space. Dekker and Webster’s Westward Ho also stages credit as both a productive and unpredictable force. In the context of its Brentford location, the drinking house in that play is presented as a transformative space that allows for the possibilities of an alternative economic model. Irrepressible forces of commercialism define the Light Heart in Jonson’s The New Inn; forces that effect character transformations and champion a fluid economy in contrast with landed-estate living. In Brome’s The Demoiselle, these conventions are upended, and the commercialism of the New Ordinary is dispensed with in favour of a more settled economy. The thesis testifies to the investment writers made in the drinking house as a dramatic space and as a space to be dramatised, a space through which the possibilities and energies of exchange were staged.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

從經濟學觀點來看，由中華民國臺灣地區國民經濟動向統計季報(行政院主計處，民87，頁18)得知，臺灣國內生產毛額等於民間消費加政府消費加固定資本形成毛額加存貨增加再加上出口與進口之差額，其公式如右：Y= C+I+G+(X-M)。由此公式中的民間消費額(C)部份是與信用卡之消費金額息息相關，並從民國五十六年來臺灣國內生產毛額至逾百分之七以上年增率持續成長，民間消費額歷年則逾百分之六年增率在持續增加中(行政院主計處，民87，頁18)。而金融自動化服務機器歷年交易金額激增，其金額幾乎與民間消費金額有愈明顯接近之趨勢，如此顯示臺灣目前主要仍以現金為主要交易方式。所以，就信用卡業務而言，卻是一項業務推展的利基所在。 　　隨著資訊科技軟、硬體的進步，消費金融服務業所能提供服務商品與工具亦跟著改變，而信用卡在消費金融服務業內逐漸展露其頭角，扮演著舉足輕重角色。信用卡不但帶來消費之便利，更使金錢調度更為靈活，並由於國際通訊的普及，使信用卡可跨越國界，其不但取代現金，且比現金與其他任何支付工具，具備更多的功能。又消費金融服務業赋予信用卡有信用之功能，提供持卡人一種身分地位之表徵，促使信用卡躍身而成消費金融服務業的新寵兒。自民國七十九年，由於民營銀行及外國銀行逐漸開放設立，且國民生活水準不斷地提昇，促使信用卡漸漸成為人人必備的支付工具之一，在商業及服務性事業中金流部份扮演著極為重要角色。 　　近年來隨著臺灣金融政策的改變，自民國八十年起開始設立的商業銀行並陸續開放外國機構及銀行在本國進行信用卡業務，促使臺灣目前已有五十三家信用卡發卡機構，且進入信用卡高度競爭階段，外國發卡機構尤以新進入市場者有限公司、英商渣打銀行、香港上海滙豐銀行、美國商業銀行、美國運通國際股份有限公司到去年底才加入的荷商荷蘭銀行、馬來西亞商全球信用卡公司與已核准正在籌備階段的美商奇異信用卡公司，其中非銀行體系專業發卡機構增加，從其間更值得研究與進一步了解其如何掌握優勢進入市場。 　　從金融局統計提要 (財政部金融局統計室，民87，頁84-87)顯示，國際性五大品牌VISA CARD、MASTER CARD、JCB CARD、DINERS CARD and AMERICAN EXPRESS CARD，於民國八十三年起已齊聚臺灣。再加上臺灣自行研發之聯合信用卡與IC金融卡，共計臺灣信用卡業務，根據該統計目前已發行七大品牌，臺灣信用卡總發卡量截至民國八十六年底，已過一千三百一十三萬一千張；流通卡量已逾七百七十九萬七千張；而且簽帳金額超過37,069百萬元，歷年來成長快速，其中花旗銀行發行威士、萬事達卡與大來卡簽帳金額超過六十四億元，居臺灣之冠，給該銀行帶來不錯之利潤。再就人力資源統計月報(行政院主計處，民87，頁108)統計，至今年二月之臺灣地區十五歲以上之人口約有一千六百三十五萬人，可見距一人平均持一張信用卡有成長空間。相繼世界知名四大外國機構更挾持著其各自之資源與信用卡豐富之發卡經驗，陸續進入臺灣信用卡市場。由此可見，將有五十三家之發卡機構進入臺灣信用卡發卡之競爭激戰中。綜觀各式傳播媒體出現各個發卡機構之各式促銷活動，自送黃金、鑽石到手錶等，以及各種的紅利或回饋計畫，無不卯足勁吸引消費者持卡、增加使用頻率與簽帳金額。再看世界其他信用卡持卡情況來看，香港平均每人持卡1.8張，美國人每人約持卡四到五張之信用卡(Pawlyna 1996，p.46-48)，可確定的是臺灣信用卡市場之發卡空間仍大有可為。 再者就信用卡發卡機構而言，產品均由國際品牌(VISA、MASTER & JCB)、聯合信用卡、IC金融卡提供品牌授權，在信用卡所提供給持卡人之基本功能及優惠均相同，亦即消費者站在起跑點均等基礎上，如何突顯發卡機構本身之特色與建立相對之持久性競爭優勢地位，即成為發卡機構策略擬定之核心。然而一企業良好績效決定性因素之一，即為策略(Hill and Jones，1995： p.3)，如何能在競爭環境態勢中擬定優於主要競爭者的進入策略，成為各個外國信用卡發卡機構值得重視的課題。具體而言有下列值得探討的問題。 一、信用卡帶給消費性金融服務業豐碩之市場與利潤空間，影響消費性金融服務業之發展，甚而外國機構並非本土型企業卻能在信用卡市場佔有一席之地，值得研究與深思的課題。 二、信用卡提供便利性、信用及短期融資等功能，改變消費者消費習慣，消費者因強力促銷造成消費增加或行為改變，所以影響消費者、各種服務性事業經營之策略與績效甚鉅。 三、信用卡業務亦屬於一種消費金融服務性事業，外國發卡機構所面對持卡人亦為一般消費大眾居多，發卡機構常與特約商店、大型連鎖體系或其他產業之企業採取策略聯盟，進行聯合促銷活動，造成信用卡市場與該產業間的競爭態勢，故其進入策略亦可供其相關消費性服務事業經營者與決策者在進人市場時之參考與省思，具有重大研究價值。

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In this study, extending credit to the low-income and poor households in South Africa: a system of principles is analysed. Access to credit plays a major role in improving the living standards of the households that are plagued by financial shocks. Access to credit enables the low-income and poor households to bridge the effects of financial shocks and/or emergencies such as illness, funerals, fire and theft and to improve household conditions in general. Currently, the low-income and poor households in South Africa find it difficult to access credit from the formal financial sector. The fundamental problem underlying inaccessibility of credit is ascribed to uncertainty, which presents complications in the delivery of such credit to the households. Different theoretical aspects like fundamental uncertainty, incomplete (asymmetric) information, limits to perfect arbitrage, bounded rationality, and market microstructures, for example, give rise to the uncertainty problem which then makes it difficult for formal financial institutions (as lenders) and borrowers to conduct financial transactions and, therefore, limits the provision of credit, especially to the low-income and poor households. The uncertainty problem implies that the low-income and poor households remain deprived of need-based credit and are further marginalised. The main objective of the study is to derive a system of principles that can act as a first point of reference in dealing with the uncertainty problem, thereby assisting in improving access to credit by the low-income and poor households in South Africa. The study adopts both qualitative and quantitative methods of research which are clearly expressed and substantiated to validate the study. To overcome the problem of uncertainty, the study recommends the development of a system of principles as a strategic instrument of dealing with the problem and to improve access to credit by the low-income and poor households in South Africa. Such a system is based on the seven principles, namely, socialisation, collateral substitution, decentralisation, localisation, customisation, training and government/judicial policies as an important benchmark to initiate the transformation of the uncertainty problem associated with extending credit to the low-income and poor households. The importance of such a system is based on the fact that the principles are interrelated, for example, they use peer pressure and monitoring as substitutes for collateral in securing credit and also minimises the transaction and administrative costs of financial contracts. Lending and borrowing activities take place under perfect and certain environment. / Dr. C.H. Schoeman

This project discusses the intensity and survival probability derived from Credit Default Swaps (CDS). We utilize two models, the reduced intensity model and the Shift Square Root Diffusion (SSRD) model. In the reduced intensity model, we assume a deterministic intensity and implement a computer simulation to derive the survival probability and intensity from the CDS market quotes of the company. In the SSRD model, the interest rate and intensity are both stochastic and correlated. We discuss the impaction of correlation on the interest rate and intensity. We also conduct a Monte Carlo simulation to determine the dynamics of stochastic interest rate and intensity.