The thesis analyses the external economic balance of the Czech Republic from 2000 till 2011 based on the balance of payments, investment positions and the external debt statistics. in conjunction with the exchange rate development. The main evaluation indicators used in the thesis are the current account balance, the basic balance and external debt. The thesis explains the causes of the development of these indicators and their consequences, considers the trend and then assess whether we can speak about a sustainable form of the external economic balance in the case of the Czech Republic.

O presente projeto de pesquisa tem como objetivo a construção de um Guia para a implementação de um programa de Pagamento por Serviços Ambientais (PSA) em nível local, visando à melhoria da saúde ambiental, para tanto foi necessário: a) identificação dos Serviços Ambientais prestados pela região, demanda por esses serviços, oportunidades de PSA e seleção daqueles cujo resultado promova melhoria da saúde ambiental da região; b) identificação de associações ou organizações de moradores com potencial para participar do programa de PSA; c) seleção das metodologias para avaliação (valoração) e monitoramento de serviços ambientais; d) identificação e avaliação de custos para a viabilização do programa de PSA; e) identificação de entraves para a implementação do programa; f) avaliação de mecanismos financeiros existentes para a viabilização da remuneração necessária ao PSA; g) construção do Guia de implementação de PSA visando à melhoria da saúde ambiental. Trata-se de um levantamento bibliográfico e documental de estudos e experiências sobre PSA no Brasil e no mundo e de um levantamento de informações documentais pertinentes sobre o município de Rio Grande da Serra. Como resultado dessa pesquisa apresenta-se o Guia de implementação de PSA. / This research project aims to develop a Guide to the local implementation of a program of Payment for Environmental Services (PES) in order to improve the Environmental Health. Thus it was necessary: a) identification of the environmental services provided by the region, the demand for these services, the PES opportunities and selecting those whose results would promote the improvement of the environmental health in the region, b) identification of associations or organizations of residents with potential to participate in the PES program, c) selection of methodologies for assessment (valuation) and monitoring of environmental services; d) costs identification and assessment of the PES program viability, e) identify barriers to program implementation; f) evaluation of existing financial mechanisms to enable the necessary remuneration to the PES program; g) development of the Implementation Guide of the PES in order to contribute to improving the environmental health in the region. This is a bibliographic and documentary research about studies and experiments on PES in Brazil and abroad as well as documentary information relevant survey to the municipality of Rio Grande da Serra. As a result of this research is presented the Guide to the local implementation of Payment for Environmental Services Program.

Financial inclusion is a public policy objective that fosters development through access to financial services for all. Financial inclusion can be defined as access, usage and quality of financial services. Inclusion of individuals and small enterprises has made considerable progress but it has also reached excesses in some situations. Regulatory changes and technological innovation have helped the expansion of financial services. Our contribution to the literature is threefold. First, we expand the large body of research that focuses on financial inclusion based on access to credit, through our analysis of payments. We provide an unique analysis of the quality dimension of payments, which we define as a catalyst between the access and usage dimensions. Second, we provide a detailed analysis of the Brazilian payment market, which transacts close to $400bn per year, in the scarce literature on developing countries. Third, we isolate the determinants of electronic payments through statistical methods, including a principal component analysis and auto regressive models (SARIMA, SARIMAX), which have not yet been used by researchers. We find that four macro characteristicshave a strong explanatory power: bank credit card lending, active population, retail sales and cash-in-circulation. Suprisingly, we find that cash-in-circulation presents a positive relationship with electronic payments, suggesting a possible distrust of citizens towards the banking system, high levels of informality, and shedding a new light on the precautionary principle described by Keynes. Our analysis is based on monthly deflated card payment data for Brazil from January 2007 to March 2017. / A Inclusão financeira é um objetivo de política pública que procura desenvolvimento através do acesso de todos aos serviços financeiros. Esse conceito pode ser definido com as suas três dimensões de acesso, uso e qualidade dos serviços. A inclusão de indivíduos e empresas conheceu uma melhora significativa, e em algum casos, apresentou excessos. Adaptações regulatórias e inovação tecnológica serviram de pano de fundo para a inclusão. Apresentamos as três contribuições da nossa pesquisa. Primeiro, existe ampla literatura sobre inclusão financeira com foco em crédito, e apresentamos um estudo original sobre pagamentos e sua dimensão de qualidade, definida como o catalisador entre acesso e uso. Segundo: nossa pesquisa apresenta uma análise única do setor de pagamentos no Brasil, um setor com faturamento de mais de R$1.2 trilhões de reais anuais, no âmbito da escassa literatura sobre economias em desenvolvimento. A terceira contribuição apresenta os determinantes dos meios de pagamentos eletrônicos, usando modelos estatísticos originais, como componentes principais e modelos auto regressivos (SARIMA, SARIMAX), que não tinham sido usados na literatura de inclusão financeira. Identificamos quatro características com significância para explicar meios eletrônicos: crédito bancário, população ativa, vendas do varejo e dinheiro em posse das famílias. De maneira surpreendente, dinheiro em posse das famílias apresentou correlação positiva com meios eletrônicos, sinalizando uma desconfiança dos consumidores com o setor bancário ou um maior grau de informalidade da economia brasileira, e trazendo uma interpretação original ao princípio de precaução descrito por Keynes. Nossa pesquisa se baseou em dados agregados e deflacionados de pagamentos para o Brasil entre Janeiro de 2007 e Março de 2017.

A incessante busca do homem pela eficiência e sofisticação dos processos por ele manejados em todas as áreas do conhecimento, aliada aos grandes avanços tecnológicos das últimas décadas, tem gerado importantes alterações nos meios de pagamento e na sistemática de liquidação financeira de obrigações. Com o surgimento de mecanismos mais robustos de liquidação, estamos observando a substituição dos meios de pagamento em papel e das transações isoladas entre os indivíduos pela informatização da negociação e o aumento do raio de abrangência das caixas de liquidação. Este trabalho levanta o panorama histórico das câmaras de liquidação, traçando o estado da arte dessa figura no Brasil e suas principais questões jurídicas, também verificando sua aderência às melhores práticas experimentadas em mercados desenvolvidos / Mankinds endless quest for efficiency and sophistication of the processes managed by the men in all areas of knowledge, coupled with major technological advances of recent decades, has generated important changes in payment methods and the clearing of financial obligations. With the emergence of more robust mechanisms of settlement, we are watching the replacement of paper-based payment methods and transactions between isolated individuals by the computerization of trading and the increase of the radius of coverage of the settlement institutions. This work traces the historical view of the clearing houses, outlining the state of the art of this figure in Brazil and its main legal issues, and checking if it complies with the best practices already experienced in developed markets.

This dissertation consists of three essays on private landowners' response to incentives for carbon sequestration in forests. The first essay examines private landowner response to incentives for carbon sequestration through various combinations of intermediate management practices. The second essay focuses on agricultural landowners' willingness to participate in an incentive program for carbon sequestration through afforestation, and estimates the potential for carbon sequestration from afforestation, as well as its cost. The third study examines relative performances of incentive targeting strategies for forest carbon sequestration under asymmetric information given spatially heterogeneous land types. The first essay uses an econometric approach to analyze the factors affecting non-industrial private forest landowners' choice of forest management practices, and examines how these choices might change in response to the use of incentives for carbon sequestration. I use estimated parameters to simulate the carbon sequestration potential for different combinations of management practices, and compare the effectiveness and costs of performance-based and practice-based incentive payment schemes in the Western U.S. The results suggest that incentive payments can increase the probability that desirable combinations of management practices are adopted, and particularly that incentives targeting increased fertilization yield the highest carbon sequestration potential. I also find that a performance-based payment scheme produces higher carbon sequestration than a practice-based payments scheme. However, the annual sequestration potential of intermediate forest management in response to incentive payment is not as large as the sequestration potential of afforestation. The second essay uses a survey-based stated preference approach to predict landowners' willingness to participate in a tree planting program for carbon sequestration as a function of various factors affecting landowners' decision making and different levels of incentive payments. The estimation results show that the annual payment for carbon sequestration significantly and positively affects landowners' stated level of enrollment in a tree planting program. I use the estimated parameters to conduct regional level simulations of carbon sequestration in response to incentive payments. These simulations show that the carbon supply function in the Pacific Northwest region is steeper than in the Southeast region because of the lower adoption rate and less available lands. The national level carbon supply functions derived from this study are steeper than those obtained from bottom-up engineering approaches and optimization models, and are in the same range as those from revealed preference approach studies. The third essay uses both a conceptual analysis and a numerical analysis to examine the relative performances of incentive programs for carbon sequestration using alternative targeting criteria in the presence of asymmetric information and heterogeneity in costs and benefits. The results show that in the presence of asymmetric information, the combination of high cost-high benefit variability and negative correlation, which is the combination that achieves the greatest benefit gains under perfect information, can result in the greatest benefit losses. Additionally, a comparison of two targeting schemes shows that if cost variability is greater than benefit variability with negative correlation, the benefit achieved under benefit-cost ratio targeting can be lower than that under acreage targeting, so that an optimal targeting strategy under perfect information may no longer be optimal under asymmetric information. / Graduation date: 2013

<p>This paper is inspired by the ills borne out of the internet. The internet has become a modern day tool for criminals seeking to conceal the proceeds derived from their crime, hence the&nbsp / problematic notion of cyberlaundering. This paper journeys through the world of cyberlaundering by looking into the structure of the crime in great depth. It explores various possibilities, and tries to hatch out viable solutions to the dilemma.</p>

Financial inclusion is a measure of the ability of a population to make use of financial services. High rates of financial inclusion in a country are empirically correlated with high levels of economic development in that country; low rates of financial inclusion are correlated with low levels of development. Thus, policy makers are generally agreed that one method to increase economic development is to increase the level of financial inclusion. Not all attempts to increase financial inclusion are successful. Initiatives to improve financial inclusion can fail when policy makers or financial service providers have incorrect perceptions about financial inclusion. They may have incorrect perceptions about the purposes and beneficiaries of financial inclusion, or incorrect perceptions about how technology can encourage financial inclusion. This thesis investigates the perceptions of Pakistani bankers about financial inclusion in Pakistan. A survey of 125 Pakistani bankers was conducted. The results of the survey show that while bankers want to improve financial inclusion, they have perceptions that limit their effectiveness in reaching this goal. First, bankers’ perceptions of the actual financial inclusion levels in the country are higher than generally accepted empirical measures. Second, their perceptions about the reasons for financial exclusion are limited to socio-economic factors like low income and education of people. Finally, they have limited appreciation of the role that technology can play in elevating the level of financial inclusion. Bankers show more interest in customer-facing technology than in back-end technical infrastructure, thus limiting the scalability and interoperability of their systems. Our guidance to policy makers is to address these perceptual problems through education and through government-backed technical infrastructure programs, thus better enabling the banking industry to improve financial inclusion in Pakistan.

In this thesis, the terms of trade changes in Turkey since 1970 are analyzed. In the 1970s, Turkey faced strong terms of trade declines mainly due to two oil price shocks. Rapid diversification of Turkish exports into manufactures was instrumental in avoiding further declines in its terms of trade in the 1980s. However, the slow pace of the diversification into more skill- and technology-intensive manufactures in Turkey combined with the fallacy of composition problem in low-tech, labourintensive manufactures may pose a real danger to the prices of its exports. To the extent that in the long-term, the changes in terms of trade of a country are determined by the level of technology embodied in its exports, the concentration of Turkish exports in low-tech, labour-intensive manufactures may highlight the need for upgrading exports and establishing backward- and forward-linkages between industries to escape from the trap of terms of trade deterioration in the long-term.

Syftet med vår studie är att kartlägga och förklara hur transparenta svenska börsbolag är vid redovisningen av utfallet samt bakgrunden till kortsiktig rörlig ersättning för den verkställande direktören, samt att identifiera potentiella förklaringar och bakomliggande orsaker till transparensen. Vi har valt att studera de 29 bolag som representerar de 30 mest omsatta aktierna på Stockholmsbörsens Large Cap lista (OMXS30). Metodmässigt kan studien delas in i två huvudsakliga delar. I den ena delen av studien använder vi en kvantitativ ansats och tillämpar ett positivistiskt synsätt. I den andra delen av studien använder vi en kvalitativ ansats och tillämpar ett hermeneutiskt synsätt. Vid insamlingen av datamaterialet har vi inspirerats av en tvärsnittsdesign där huvudsakliga syftet har varit att samla in relevant information för att kunna bedöma transparensen utifrån en egen framtagen modell. Modellen utgörs av fem kriterier inspirerade av Ersättningsakademiens riktlinjer för rapportering av ersättning och syftar till att ge en samlad bedömning av de studerade bolagens transparens. Vi har även identifierat ett antal potentiella förklarande variabler utifrån vilka vi har studerat orsakssamband till transparensen. Vi har dessutom analyserat kommunikationen utifrån ett legitimitetsperspektiv med avsikt att få en förståelse för bolagens val av rapportering. Utifrån resultatet av vår studie kan vi finna stöd till den kritik som riktats mot en bristande transparens vid rapportering av rörlig ersättning till verkställande direktören. Vi kan även se tendenser till att det orsakssamband som tidigare studier belyst mellan transparens och styrelsens oberoende, kan gälla även för svenska börsnoterade bolag. / The purpose of this study is to describe and explain the transparency of Swedish public companies when it comes to the reporting of short term bonus payment to the chief executive officer. Furthermore we intend to identify possible explanations and underlying causes regarding the transparency. We have selected the 29 companies that represent the 30 most traded stocks on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (OMXS30). Methodology, the study can be divided into two primary parts. In the first part of the study we use a quantitative approach and apply a positivistic view. In the second part of the study we use a qualitative approach and apply a hermeneutic view. When it comes to collecting data we have been inspired by a cross section design and the primary focus has been to collect relevant information to allow an assessment of the transparency with a model we have developed. This model consists of five criteria inspired by the Ersättningsakademiens (Compensation Academy) guidelines regarding the reporting of compensation and is designed to provide an overall assessment of the studied company’s transparency. We have also identified a number of possible explanatory variables from which we have studied underlying causes to the transparency. Furthermore we have analyzed the communication from a perspective of legitimacy with the intent to obtain an understanding regarding the company’s choice of reporting. From the result of the study we find support to previous criticism regarding lacking transparency on the matter of the reporting of short term bonus payments to the CEO. We can also see tendencies to the fact that the causation that previous studies pointed out between transparency and the independence of the board, may exist in Swedish publicly traded companies as well.

Zahlungen für Ökosystemdienstleistungen (Payments for Ecosystem Services – PES) und auktionsbasierte Vergabeverfahren sind ein wichtiges und innovatives Instrument im Kampf gegen den fortwährenden Verlust von biologischer Vielfalt. Basierend auf einem Vertrag zwischen einem Leistungserbringer und einem öffentlichen oder privaten Leistungsempfänger, der die Naturschutzleistung entlohnt, können bestimmte Vorgaben der Landschaftspflege oder der agrarwirtschaftlichen Bearbeitung verbindlich festgelegt werden. Die Vorteile von PES liegen in dem direkten monetären Anreiz zur Bereitstellung von Naturschutzleistungen und zudem in der Möglichkeit, ein Niveau an Umweltschutz und –qualität jenseits des von der Umweltgesetzgebung sichergestellten Mindestniveaus zu implementieren. Der Nachteil liegt in der hohen Informationsasymmetrie in der Vertragsbeziehung, welche einerseits dem Umweltgut als Vertragsgegenstand und andererseits der Natur ökonomischen Handelns geschuldet ist. Thema dieser Dissertation ist die Analyse der interdependenten Beziehung von Kompetitivität und Vertragserfüllung und das Aufzeigen der Relevanz von Vertrauen und Reziprozität in Verträgen über Umweltgüter. Auf diese Weise leistet sie einen Beitrag zu der umfangreichen und multidisziplinären Literatur über Zahlungen für Ökosystemdienstleistungen und Naturschutzauktionen. Während der vergangenen 25 Jahre habe Praktiker und Wissenschaftler unser Verständnis der Funktionsweise von Ausschreibungen zur Allokation von Zahlungen für Ökosystemdienstleistungen konstant verbessert und erweitert. Ein Großteil der Forschungsaktivität war jedoch auf die Auktionsmetrik und das Bieterverhalten gerichtet, wohingegen die resultierende Vertragsbeziehung zwischen Programmverwaltern (den Käufern) und Landbesitzern (den Ausführenden) weitgehend unbeachtet blieb. Wie in dieser Dissertation bewiesen wird, ist jedoch genau diese Beziehung der Schlüssel für ein erfolgreiches marktbasiertes Naturschutzprogramm. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird in drei Artikeln argumentiert, dass Vertrauen und Reziprozität für die Überwindung von asymmetrischer Information in kompetitiv alloziierten PES-Verträgen von herausragender Bedeutung sind. Anhand eines für diese Arbeit entwickelten, zweistufigen experimentellen Testszenarios wird der Entscheidungsprozess in der inversen Auktion und in der anschließenden Vertragserfüllung in der kontrollierten Laborumgebung simuliert. In einem ersten Experiment kann auf Basis dieses Untersuchungsdesigns gezeigt werden, dass die Informations- und Anreizkonstellation in Naturschutzauktionen ein erhöhtes Risiko für vorvertragliche adverse Selektion, opportunistisches Verhalten bei Vertragserfüllung und somit suboptimale Ergebnisse birgt. Das Marktversagen kann jedoch durch eine vertrauensstiftende Institution, wie zum Beispiel Kommunikation zwischen Käufern und Verkäufern, verhindert werden. Persönliche Interaktion veranlasst Marktteilnehmer ihr individuell-rationales Verhalten zugunsten einer sozial-verträglicheren Verhaltensweise zu ändern. Dabei entsteht ein erhebliches Potential für die Bilateralisierung der Vertragsbeziehungen. Ein zweites Experiment verdeutlicht jedoch, wie wichtig vertrauensbasierte Vertragsbeziehungen insbesondere in Bereitstellungsumgebungen sind, die stark von externen, stochastischen Einflüssen verzerrt werden können. Ohne das nötige Vertrauen bricht die Kooperation in einem derartigen Szenario fast vollständig zusammen. Schließlich lässt der systematische Vergleich der Ergebnisse aus beiden Experimenten in einem dritten Aufsatz keinen Zweifel daran, dass stabile Langzeitvertragsbeziehungen in auktionsbasierten Vertragsnaturschutzprogrammen gefördert und nicht verhindert werden sollten. Langzeitverträge sind randomisierten Kurzzeitverträgen aus der Perspektive des Naturschutzes aber auch hinsichtlich der Kosteneffektivität überlegen. Daher liegt eine wesentliche Herausforderung für Programmentwickler darin, einerseits die Bildung von ausreichend Sozialkapital zu ermöglichen und andererseits faire Markt- und Vergabestrukturen zu erhalten.