Titel: Googles sökmotor på lokal nivå – En kvalitativ studie om hur fem mäklar- och fastighetsbyråer i Halmstad förhåller sig till Googles sökmotor i deras digitala kommunikation. Författare: Emma Holmberg och Andreas Good Handledare: Linus Andersson Examinator: Malin Hallén Typ av arbete: Kandidatuppsats Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur anställda på fem mäklar- och fastighetsbyråer i Halmstad upplever att de använder Googles sökmotor i deras digitala kommunikation. Syftet är vidare att bidra till en bättre förståelse för Googles makt på en mikronivå. Frågeställningar: - Vilka möjligheter och utmaningar med Googles sökmotor upplever de anställda på de undersökta mäklar- och fastighetsbyråerna i deras digitala kommunikation? - Hur kan mäklar- och fastighetsbyråernas relation till Googles sökmotor förstås utifrån teorier om nätverksmakt och gatekeeping på internet? Antal ord: 16351 Metod och material: Studien bygger på kvalitativ metod där fem individuella samtalsintervjuer har genomförts. Slutsatser: Studiens huvudsakliga slutsatser visar att informanterna upplever Googles sökmotor som en stor och viktig aktör i deras digitala kommunikation. Vidare visar slutsatserna att Google styr mäklar- och fastighetsbyråerna genom att diktera och bestämma villkoren på sökmotorn. Nyckelord: Google, Googles sökmotor, nätverksmakt, gatekeeping, political economy.

Cotton has over the past years become a less profitable crop to grow. This has affected millions of people cultivating it. In India the struggles of cotton farmers become clear when looking at the high suicide rates amongst them with economic reasons being the most common cause. In this thesis the aim is to investigate the situation of small cotton farmers in India and define the important factors in deciding their profitability. To be able to achieve this, a qualitative multiple case study in Maharashtra district, India was conducted with farmer interviews as the backbone of the study. Our contribution through this thesis is to provide an improved understanding of the cotton farmers’ situation and the factors that affect their yield. We found that for the farmers in this study insufficient access to water was the most pressing issue. Water is an important factor in deciding the yield of cotton and thus important for the farmers’ economy. This finding may not be representative for other cotton growing areas as the issues can vary greatly geographically.

This thesis focuses on the Russian market, economy, business environment a seeks investment and business opportunities for exporters. It includes a description of the economic policy, customs, taxes and investment environment. Furthermore it finds out a mentality and conditions for the business. In the end it analyzes particular industries of the Russian economy.

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Thesis (M.M. (Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2013. / With the growth of developing nations there has also been a growth in the need to recognize entrepreneurship and market-driven solutions as tools that can be used to bring the people in these developing nations out of poverty. If technology is widely adopted and accepted in a society, the long-term impact on that society can be more effective than any other social force. A great example of this phenomenon is the explosive growth of mobile devices technology that has infiltrated every part of the world and in all levels of the economic pyramid as they can play a large and critical role in social transformations in developed and developing economies (Lee et al 2010). Since the introduction of the mobile phone in Zimbabwe in 1996, there are 9,527,520 users of mobile phones. .A mobile banking platform, Eco-Cash, was launched by Econet Wireless, a cellular phone network provider at the end of 2011. This platform was launched in order to take advantage of a large identified gap in the Zimbabwean economy (Makunike 2013). At the end of 2012 there were 270 000 active users and 1.5 million registered users of the Eco-Cash MPP (Kabweza 2012). This study is of the perceptions and adoption of Mobile Payment Platforms (MPP) by informal entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe and employs the use of an adapted version of the Technology Acceptance Model, developed by F. Davis in his doctoral thesis in 1985, as the research framework. The model has been modified by different researchers over the years. Data collection for this study was administered telephonically to the informal entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe and this study only used primary data sources. This data was extracted from the respondents answering the telephonic surveys. This research found that although informal entrepreneurs, who are either personal or business users or non-users of the MPP are positively disposed, in terms of perceived usefulness, perceived cost, perceived support, perceived social influence, overall trust and perceived overall risk, this disposition may not necessarily lead to the increased usage of the MPP by informal entrepreneurs iv in Zimbabwe. However, perceived ease of use proved to be the exception, as the research study showed that the more informal entrepreneurs perceived the MPP to be simple and easy to use, this perception may lead to the increase in the perceptions and adoption of MPP. As this is one of few studies that to look into the adoption of MPP in Zimbabwe, this study serves as the foundation for future research in Zimbabwe that pertains to the adoption of MPP by entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe‟s formal and informal economy.

Les nations développées contemporaines sont souvent décrites comme des économies de services. Dans la majorité des pays de l’OCDE (Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques), plus des deux tiers de l’emploi et de la valeur ajoutée sont issus du secteur des services. Les services occupent une place extrêmement importante dans les nations tournées vers l’économie du savoir. Ils sont également un des principaux moteurs de la croissance économique, et participent activement à la compétitivité du secteur industriel (Nordås and Kim, 2013). La figure IV.9 illustre l’importance croissante des services dans l’emploi et la valeur ajoutée de l’économie française entre 1970 et 2007. Les valeurs utilisées sont prises en référence à l’année de base (1970), et renseignent donc sur le taux de croissance de chaque secteur en terme de valeur ajoutée et d’emploi. Le message est clair sans ambiguïté. Les services professionnels (immobilier, location, services aux entreprises et intermédiation financière) contribuent le plus à la croissance de l’économie française. Ces services, aussi appelés “services complémentaires” par Katouzian (1970) car ils complémentent les activités industrielles, ont connu une croissance de leur valeur ajoutée beaucoup plus forte que le secteur industriel et que les autres secteurs de services (grossistes/détaillants, hôtels et restaurants par exemple). En 2007, le secteur des services professionnels comptait pour un tiers de la valeur ajoutée générée en France, soit deux fois plus que le secteur industriel. Du côté de l’emploi, le constat est encore plus frappant. Les services professionnels contribuent encore une fois fortement à la croissance de l’emploi (avec également les secteurs de l’hôtellerie et de la restauration) alors que le secteur industriel n’a cessé de perdre des emplois sur cette période. En 2007, les services professionnels regroupaient 20% de l’emploi, contre 14% pour le secteur industriel. [...] / Today’s developed economies are often described as service economies. More than two thirds of employment and value added is generated by the service sector in OECD countries. Services are increasingly important in today’s knowledge based economies, are a crucial component of economic growth and contribute to the competitiveness of the industrial sector (Nord ås and Kim, 2013). Figure IV.9 plots the evolution of value added and employment in France between 1970 and 2007. It shows that the professional service industries (Real estate/renting/business services and financial intermediation) are the main contributors to the growth of the French economy. These services (also called “complementary services” by Katouzian (1970)), have been growing much faster than the manufacturing sector, and much faster than the other service sectors (wholesale/retail, hotels and restaurant services). These fast growing services accounted for 33% of the total value added in 2007 (twice as much as the manufacturing sector) and 20% of the overall employment (14% for the manufacturing sector). [...]

Thesis advisor: David A. Deese / Cross-national differences in regulation have become the most significant barrier to international trade. My dissertation attempts to explain why states sometimes choose to reduce these regulatory trade barriers but at other times choose to maintain or increase them. To do this, I examine the international negotiation over regulatory trade barriers in three in-depth case studies, one from each of the three main areas of the international trade in goods: manufacturing, agriculture, and high-technology. The first investigates consumer safety, labor-related domestic content, and environmental regulations in the trade in automobiles in North America and the European Union. The second analyzes mad-cow safety regulations and the trade in beef between the United States and Japan. The third examines intellectual property regulations and the trade in pharmaceuticals between the United States and India. I contend that the best way to explain this variation is by examining the motivations of three sets of actors (businesses, activists, and government officials) and the political bargaining between those three groups. Businesses seek to reduce regulatory barriers when those barriers raise production costs or inhibit market access. They may however choose to end that pursuit if those regulations are cheap to comply with or pursuing their reduction carries major reputational risk. Activists defend regulatory barriers when they perceive those regulations to be the sole effective means to address a societal problem they are concerned about. They may accept a reduction in regulatory barriers if those barriers have low salience or their opposition is bought out through private standards, corporate social responsibility, or some other arrangement in which businesses are not directly regulated by government. Government officials choose whether to side with businesses or activist groups based on their relative prioritization of trade and regulatory independence, their staffing, and whom they identify as their core constituency. Businesses are likely to succeed at reducing a regulatory trade barrier when they can link their desire for that reduction with broader concerns about economic competitiveness while activist organizations are likely to succeed at defending regulatory trade barriers when they can link their desire for maintaining or increasing that barrier with preventing needless death. This dissertation thus adds to the current understanding of international political economy by demonstrating that multinational corporations have less political power than is commonly assumed and by augmenting traditional explanations of trade politics based on economic cleavages through analyzing activists’ engagement in trade politics now that trade politics significantly affects regulations. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science.

Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2014. / Mozambique is currently moving from an aid dependent country to mineral dependent given the mining boom happening there thanks to the discoveries of huge reserves of coal, mineral sands and natural gas. The country is set to become one of the world's twenty top producers of natural gas and top ten largest producers of coal. This research is a case study focusing on coal-based linkages that can foster broad economic growth and development in Mozambique. Using a political economy perspective, the research investigates the question about how the country can optimise the mining boom through coalbased economic linkages to foster broader socio-economic development. The research finds that under the combination of its current fiscal and mineral regime with infrastructure problems plus the inexistence of a coal-based linkage policy, Mozambique will get negligible benefit from the exploitation of its finite coal resources. A major overhaul of these regimes is needed for it to make use of its coal to catalyse wider growth and development, before it is left with little other than large holes in the ground.

This study aims to shed light on several vexing questions surrounding marijuana at various levels of analysis. Why have some states adopted medical laws when others have not, and what are the implications of these adoptions for elites at the federal level? Why are certain areas within states hotbeds of marijuana use and production? Why, in the face of serious penalties, do certain individuals continue to use, produce, and sell this particular drug? How is the marijuana market structured and how much economic impact does it have? Possible sociopolitical factors responsible for passage (or failure) of marijuana-related voter initiatives and legislation in states are examined and the process of policy diffusion occurring between states that adopt such measures is detailed. An analysis of geographic variations in medical cardholder rates in Oregon is conducted using longitudinal data. Using a Respondent-Driven Sample and a detailed survey of legal and illegal marijuana users in Oregon, I identify differences between the two groups, elucidate differences between marijuana users and the general population, and estimate the economic impact of marijuana on Oregon's informal economy. Overall, the study finds that innovative, Democratically dominated states tend to pass medical marijuana laws and are the most at risk of doing so in the future. Within Oregon, county-level participation in the medical marijuana program is associated with Democratic party members, unemployment rates, and timber harvest levels. The Oregon marijuana market consists of a robust network of small producers, with individual users primarily managing distribution of the drug. Economic estimates indicate that the legalization of marijuana could generate between $37 million and $153 million per year in taxes for the state. Finally, historical evidence suggests that legalization of this drug could lead to its control; however, doing so could structurally transition the market from a robust network of small producers into tight oligopolic control by a limited number of producers, thereby disenfranchising small, artisan growers, communities traditionally reliant on marijuana for revenue, consumers who seek variety, and the plant's genetic diversity.

This dissertation includes three essays on the Thai economy. The first two chapters focus on the impact of the insurgency in Southern Thailand, and the third paper analyses the effect of the government's rice pledging scheme. The insurgency in the southern region of Thailand, including Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat, and some parts of Songkhla province, began in 2004. As the end of 2017, the total number of deaths was 6,686 persons, including military, government officials, insurgents, and civilians. The conflict has run for more than a decade and is likely to continue in the near future. However, few studies focus on the effect of this insurgency. In particular, none of the economic literature has considered this issue yet, although the study of the economics of terrorism has been a very active field since the September 11 attack. Therefore, this research is among the first that analyses the economic effect of the insurgency in Southern Thailand. In the first chapter, I employ a synthetic control analysis to examine the economic impact of this insurgency. I use the Thai Socio-Economic Survey to construct panel data at the provincial level. The result shows that households in the affected provinces had real expenditure per capita lower than its predicted level about by about an average 16.21 percent per annum. Furthermore, I divide households into subgroups based on their characteristics and estimate the treatment effects separately. First, I divide the observations by urban and rural areas. The results indicate that the insurgency had an impact on urban households more than rural households. I next divide the sample by age of household head. The estimates exhibit that the most affected group was the youngest group, those 20 to 34 years old. On the contrary, the oldest group, whose older than 50 years, were the least affected. While the first chapter indicates the macroeconomic effect, and the affected area is treated as a single treatment unit, the second chapter examines the impact of the insurgency at the district level by exploiting the variation in violent incidents and deaths among districts from 2004 to 2017. The empirical results suggest that areas with a high insurgency intensity experienced migration outflows and hence negative net migration. Over the long-term, I also find that districts with high numbers of incidents and deaths had lower average growth in population and lights at night as compared to more peaceful districts. For the labour market, the results do not show any effect of the insurgency on monthly wages and working hours of local employees. This research contributes to the literature on the economics of terrorism, and the results are consistent with most studies that indicate the negative impact of insurgency on the economy and outflow migration. However, my study is among the first to illustrate the heterogeneous effect of the insurgency. In fact, the results suggest that the magnitude of the impact depends on the characteristics of households and the local-level intensity of the insurgency. In the third chapter, I examine the impact of the Thai rice pledging scheme. This policy aimed to resolve the rice over-supply problem during the harvest season. The program allowed farmers to use their products as collateral. Consequently, farmers could store their products during the low-price harvest season and redeem them back to sell when prices increased. Generally, the pledging price was set close to the market price, and a limited amount of rice was eligible for pledging for each household and each area. However, the rice pledging scheme during 2011 to 2014 allowed for an unlimited amount of rice to be pledged at a high price. Hence, rice farmers experienced temporary increases in sales prices during this period. This chapter aims to examine the impact of this program on revenues of rice farmers by using annual household panel data from 2009 to 2015. The results indicate that the policy did increase the nominal revenues of rice farmers by approximately 35 percent annually. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis indicates that only the middle 50 percent rice farmers by income level benefited from the program, while the top and bottom 25 percent of rice farmers did not gain from the policy.