Cette thèse comprend trois essais empiriques portant sur certains aspects des modèles de décision des ménages, qui font l'objet de recherches intensives. Le premier essai de cette thèse porte sur l'identification jointe de la règle de partage des ressources entre les époux et leurs courbes d'Engel individuelles de certains biens assignables et non assignables. Nous avons récupéré les courbes d'Engel individuelles relatives aux dépenses alimentaires en utilisant la demande des ménages d'une part et la part des aliments consommés individuellement d'autre part. Les résultats empiriques indiquent que les femmes sont plus susceptibles que les hommes d'accroître leur demande de nourriture pour le ménage, suite à une augmentation de leur part de revenu. Toutefois la consommation alimentaire propre aux femmes s'accroît moindrement par rapport à la hausse de leur part de revenu que dans le cas des hommes. Quant aux enfants, leur consommation alimentaire réagit plus à une hausse de la part budgétaire des femmes qu'elle ne réagit à celle des hommes. Ce résultat suggère que non seulement les femmes ont tendance à dépenser plus sur les enfants mais aussi qu'elles le font au détriment de leur propre consommation. La contribution de cet essai découle de la mise en évidence de cette observation qui n'est possible que grâce au fait que nous disposons d'informations sur les consommations individuelles. De plus, nous utilisons un mécanisme résultant des travaux de Bourguignon et al. (2009) qui permet de récupérer les courbes d'Engel individuelles à partir de la demande des ménages. Le deuxième essai de cette thèse porte sur l'estimation empirique d'une forme réduite de la part des dépenses consacrées aux besoins de chaque enfant au sein des ménages. Cette identification nous a permis d'effectuer des analyses de pauvreté au niveau individuel et au niveau des ménages. Bien qu'il soit connu qu'assimiler la pauvreté des enfants à celle de leur ménage d'appartenance peut déboucher sur des erreurs d'appréciation, le manque d'information sur l'affectation précise des biens dans le ménage quant à lui, rend difficile une analyse de la pauvreté au niveau des enfants. Dans cet essai nous avons surmonté partiellement ce problème grâce à une enquête novatrice qui a recueilli des renseignements sur la distribution d'une fraction importante des dépenses des ménages. Les résultats empiriques indiquent que la contribution respective des femmes et des enfants au revenu du ménage, le niveau d'éducation relative de l'enfant par rapport à celui du chef de ménage et l'âge de l'enfant, affectent de manière significative la part des dépenses du ménage consacrées aux besoins de l'enfant. Nous avons ensuite utilisé les dépenses prédites de chaque enfant pour calculer les indicateurs de pauvreté et les comparer aux mêmes indicateurs calculés avec les données des ménages. Les résultats de cette analyse indiquent que, lorsqu'elle est évaluée au niveau individuel, la pauvreté semble toucher plus d'enfants que lorsqu'elle est évaluée au niveau des ménages. Le troisième essai de cette thèse vise à comprendre l'impact potentiel du risque de VIH/SIDA sur les interactions entre les conjoints. L'analyse empirique est basée sur l'effet du test de dépistage du VIH avant le mariage sur la propension des hommes à commettre la violence physique ou sexuelle envers leurs conjointes. Nous pensons que les conseils qui précèdent ou suivent le dépistage, rendent les hommes plus conscients d'une part du risque d'infection et d'autre part, de la rareté des femmes en bonne santé. Cette conscientisation va pousser les hommes à éviter les comportements à risque tels que les relations extraconjugales mais également à prendre soin de leurs femmes. Les violences domestiques vont donc baisser du fait de l'élimination des causes potentielles de conflits que sont les relations extraconjugales mais aussi du fait de l'attitude conciliatoire et protective des hommes envers leurs femmes. Nos résultats empiriques basés sur des données du Rwanda révèlent l'existence d'effets causaux significatifs et négatifs des dépistages prénuptiaux sur les deux formes de violence domestique considérées. Ces résultats suggèrent que la promotion des tests de dépistage avant le mariage peut être utilisée comme un moyen de lutte contre la violence domestique.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T16:02:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Lucimeire.pdf: 347668 bytes, checksum: 1994a286b451a5d4bd05254e9a5299d8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-04-25 / Let P be a locally finite group of prime exponent p, admitting a finite soluble automorphism group G of order n coprime to p. In this work we study the influence of the centralizers of the automorphisms in G on the structure of P. In this sense we show that if CP(G), the subgroup of fixed points is soluble of derived length d, then P is nilpotent of class bounded in terms of p, n and d. It will be also shown that if a (p-1)-Engel Lie algebra L of characteristic p (or 0) admits a finite soluble automorphism group G of order n coprime to the characteristic of L, such that CL(G), the subalgebra of fixed points, is soluble of derived length d, then the Lie algebra L is nilpotent of class bounded in terms of p, n and d. / Seja P um grupo localmente finito de expoente primo p, admitindo um grupo G de automorfismos solúvel finito de ordem n coprima com p. Neste trabalho estudaremos a influência dos centralizadores dos automorfismos em G sobre a estrutura de P. Nesse sentido, mostraremos que se CP(G), o subgrupo de pontos fixos, é solúvel de comprimento derivado d, então P é nilpotente de classe limitada em termos de p;n e d. Será demonstrado também que se uma álgebra de Lie (p-1)-Engel L, de característica p (ou 0) admite um grupo de automorfismos G solúvel finito de ordem n coprima com a característica de L, tal que CL(G), a subálgebra de pontos fixos, é solúvel de comprimento derivado d, então a álgebra de Lie L é nilpotente de classe limitada em termos de p;n e d.

Essay I: This essay provides an overview of the history of the Swedish pension system. Starting with the implementation of the public pension system in 1913, it outlines the key components of each major pension reform up until today along with a discussion of the main trade-offs and concerns that policy makers have faced. It also describes the historical background of the four largest occupational pension plans in Sweden and the mutual influence between these plans and the public pension system.        Essay II: Despite the fact that the increasing involvement of the private sector in pension provision has brought more flexibility to the pay-out phase of retirement, little is known about the characteristics of those who choose to annuitize their pension wealth and those who do not. I combine unique micro-data from a large Swedish occupational pension plan with rich national administrative data to study the choice between life annuities and fixed-term payouts with a minimum payout length of 5 years for 183,000 retiring white-collar workers. I find that low accumulation of assets is strongly associated with the choice of the 5-year payout. Consistent with individuals selecting payout length based on private information about their mortality prospects, individuals who choose the 5-year payout are in worse health, exhibit higher ex-post mortality rates and have shorter-lived parents than annuitants. Individuals also seem to respond to large, tax-induced changes in annuity prices.            Essay III: This essay estimates the causal effect of postponing retirement on a wide range of health outcomes using Swedish administrative data on cause-specific mortality, hospitalizations and drug prescriptions. Exogenous variation in retirement timing comes from a reform which raised the age at which broad categories of Swedish local government workers were entitled to retire with full pension benefits from 63 to 65. The reform caused a remarkable shift in the retirement distribution of the affected workers, increasing the actual retirement age by more than 4.5 months. Instrumental variable estimation results show no effect of postponing retirement on the overall consumption of health care, nor on the risk of dying early. There is evidence, however, of a reduction in diabetes-related hospitalizations and in the consumption of drugs that treat anxiety. Essay IV (with Per Engström): The consumption based method to estimate underreporting among self-employed, introduced by Pissarides and Weber (1989), is one of the workhorses in the empirical literature on tax evasion/avoidance. We show that failure to account for transitory income fluctuations in current income may overestimate the degree of underreporting by around 40 percent. Previous studies typically use instrumental variable methods to address the issue. In contrast, our access to registry based longitudinal income measures allows a direct approach based on more permanent income measures. This also allows us to evaluate the performance of a list of instruments widely used in the previous literature. Our analysis shows that capital income is the most suitable instrument in our application, while education and housing related measures do not seem to satisfy the exclusion restrictions.

<p>This thesis consists of four papers: two of them deal with the relationship between consumption, energy taxation, and emissions on macro level, and two of them focuses on the effects of changes in consumption and income on the environmental quality on a micro level.</p><p>The main objective of paper [I] is to examine how exogenous technological progress, in terms of an increase in energy efficiency, affects consumption choice by Swedish households and thereby emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx). The aim of the paper is closely related to the discussion of what is known as the “rebound effect”. To neutralise the rebound effect, we estimate the necessary change in CO2 tax, i.e. the CO2 tax that keeps CO2 emissions at their initial level. In addition, we estimate how this will affect emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The results indicate that an increase in energy efficiency of 20 percent will increase emissions of CO2 by approximately 5 percent. To reduce the CO2 emissions to their initial level, CO2 tax must be raised by 130 percent. This tax increase will reduce the emissions of sulphur dioxide to below their initial level, but will leave the emissions of nitrogen oxides at a higher level than initially.</p><p>One of the premises implied in paper [II] is that the changes in consumer prices, as a result of changes in environmental taxes, may send a different signal to the consumer compared with other changes in consumer prices, such as changes in producer price. In addition, this assumed difference in the signaling effect of the changes in environmental taxes, compared to changes in the producer price, may also differ between different commodities. To achieve the objectives a system of demand functions for Swedish households is estimated. To test for the signalling effect of environmental taxes the consumer price for energy goods is partitioned into a producer price part and a tax part.</p><p>In Paper [III], we estimate the income elasticity of demand for recreational services and other traditional groups of goods in Sweden and we test for potential changes in such estimates over the twentieth century. The paper uses Swedish household surveys for the years 1913, 1984, 1988, and 1996. Because of the difficulty of directly observing the demand for recreational services, we employ an indirect methodology by using the demand for some outdoor goods as proxies for the recreational services demand.</p><p>In paper [IV], we investigate the relationship between pollution and income at the household level. Here we want to investigate, and hence contribute to the existing literature, under what conditions concerning individual preferences and the link between consumption and pollution a linear relationship are to be expected, but also to empirically assess the relationship. To achieve our objective we formulate a model determining different type of households’ choice of consumption for goods. Furthermore we link the demand model to emission functions for the various goods. The results from the empirical analysis show that, at least in a close neighbourhood of observed income/pollution, we can reject linearity for all three types of pollutions, CO2, SO2, and NOx. According to our results the pollution/income relationships are all strictly concave. Thus the implication is that the income distribution seems to matter in the sense that equalization of income will lead to higher emissions. Furthermore it is shown that the slope as well as the curvature differs between different types of households, which means that preferences differ across households.</p>

This thesis consists of four papers: two of them deal with the relationship between consumption, energy taxation, and emissions on macro level, and two of them focuses on the effects of changes in consumption and income on the environmental quality on a micro level. The main objective of paper [I] is to examine how exogenous technological progress, in terms of an increase in energy efficiency, affects consumption choice by Swedish households and thereby emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx). The aim of the paper is closely related to the discussion of what is known as the “rebound effect”. To neutralise the rebound effect, we estimate the necessary change in CO2 tax, i.e. the CO2 tax that keeps CO2 emissions at their initial level. In addition, we estimate how this will affect emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The results indicate that an increase in energy efficiency of 20 percent will increase emissions of CO2 by approximately 5 percent. To reduce the CO2 emissions to their initial level, CO2 tax must be raised by 130 percent. This tax increase will reduce the emissions of sulphur dioxide to below their initial level, but will leave the emissions of nitrogen oxides at a higher level than initially. One of the premises implied in paper [II] is that the changes in consumer prices, as a result of changes in environmental taxes, may send a different signal to the consumer compared with other changes in consumer prices, such as changes in producer price. In addition, this assumed difference in the signaling effect of the changes in environmental taxes, compared to changes in the producer price, may also differ between different commodities. To achieve the objectives a system of demand functions for Swedish households is estimated. To test for the signalling effect of environmental taxes the consumer price for energy goods is partitioned into a producer price part and a tax part. In Paper [III], we estimate the income elasticity of demand for recreational services and other traditional groups of goods in Sweden and we test for potential changes in such estimates over the twentieth century. The paper uses Swedish household surveys for the years 1913, 1984, 1988, and 1996. Because of the difficulty of directly observing the demand for recreational services, we employ an indirect methodology by using the demand for some outdoor goods as proxies for the recreational services demand. In paper [IV], we investigate the relationship between pollution and income at the household level. Here we want to investigate, and hence contribute to the existing literature, under what conditions concerning individual preferences and the link between consumption and pollution a linear relationship are to be expected, but also to empirically assess the relationship. To achieve our objective we formulate a model determining different type of households’ choice of consumption for goods. Furthermore we link the demand model to emission functions for the various goods. The results from the empirical analysis show that, at least in a close neighbourhood of observed income/pollution, we can reject linearity for all three types of pollutions, CO2, SO2, and NOx. According to our results the pollution/income relationships are all strictly concave. Thus the implication is that the income distribution seems to matter in the sense that equalization of income will lead to higher emissions. Furthermore it is shown that the slope as well as the curvature differs between different types of households, which means that preferences differ across households.

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The thesis is entitled "The Image of the Burgher from Prague Johanna Barbora Englová, Born Zimmerová through the Family correspondence in the 19 th century" and it presents J. B. Englova´s destiny (18101874) on the basis of both correspondence and some ego-documents analysis. She was Emanuel Engl´s mother (18441907) who was an early Czech politician. Thanks to her, even the Prague civic society can be observed. The thesis is divided into five main chapters. At first, the life within the House of Habsburg monarchy in the 19 th century is described. Afterwards, the thesis is being focused on the situation in Prague, the civic society and its possibilities as for the social life. The second chapter pursues Johanna Englova´s family life. The third chapter is the crucial one it presents social connections which Johanna Barbora Englová made throughout her life and which can be observed within the well-preserved correspondence. The last chapter presents the salon, balls and the society as a part of Johanna Englova´s life. The thesis is trying to present contacts, relationships and social situation on the given example of both former and new family of Johanna Barbora Englová. The part of the thesis consists of an all round analysis of chosen sources. Moreover, the thesis reflects a social upswing of Johanna Barbora Englová and the process of becoming a part of the civic smart set in Prague. The thesis is followed by the list of sources, bibliography and online sources. The diagram, table, genealogy and the part with visual materials are listed in the annexe.

Essay I: This essay provides an overview of the history of the Swedish pension system. Starting with the implementation of the public pension system in 1913, it outlines the key components of each major pension reform up until today along with a discussion of the main trade-offs and concerns that policy makers have faced. It also describes the historical background of the four largest occupational pension plans in Sweden and the mutual influence between these plans and the public pension system.        Essay II: Despite the fact that the increasing involvement of the private sector in pension provision has brought more flexibility to the pay-out phase of retirement, little is known about the characteristics of those who choose to annuitize their pension wealth and those who do not. I combine unique micro-data from a large Swedish occupational pension plan with rich national administrative data to study the choice between life annuities and fixed-term payouts with a minimum payout length of 5 years for 183,000 retiring white-collar workers. I find that low accumulation of assets is strongly associated with the choice of the 5-year payout. Consistent with individuals selecting payout length based on private information about their mortality prospects, individuals who choose the 5-year payout are in worse health, exhibit higher ex-post mortality rates and have shorter-lived parents than annuitants. Individuals also seem to respond to large, tax-induced changes in annuity prices.            Essay III: This essay estimates the causal effect of postponing retirement on a wide range of health outcomes using Swedish administrative data on cause-specific mortality, hospitalizations and drug prescriptions. Exogenous variation in retirement timing comes from a reform which raised the age at which broad categories of Swedish local government workers were entitled to retire with full pension benefits from 63 to 65. The reform caused a remarkable shift in the retirement distribution of the affected workers, increasing the actual retirement age by more than 4.5 months. Instrumental variable estimation results show no effect of postponing retirement on the overall consumption of health care, nor on the risk of dying early. There is evidence, however, of a reduction in diabetes-related hospitalizations and in the consumption of drugs that treat anxiety. Essay IV (with Per Engström): The consumption based method to estimate underreporting among self-employed, introduced by Pissarides and Weber (1989), is one of the workhorses in the empirical literature on tax evasion/avoidance. We show that failure to account for transitory income fluctuations in current income may overestimate the degree of underreporting by around 40 percent. Previous studies typically use instrumental variable methods to address the issue. In contrast, our access to registry based longitudinal income measures allows a direct approach based on more permanent income measures. This also allows us to evaluate the performance of a list of instruments widely used in the previous literature. Our analysis shows that capital income is the most suitable instrument in our application, while education and housing related measures do not seem to satisfy the exclusion restrictions.

Engel definieren sich vor allem durch ihre Undefinierbarkeit, ihre Zwischenwesenhaftigkeit. Das Spannungsfeld unvereinbarer Bereiche ermöglicht den Engeln die Existenz. Um ihre Aufgaben – besonders die des Mittlers bzw. Boten – zu erfüllen, können sie fliegen. Jeder Engel, schreibt Rilke, sei schrecklich. Als besonders schrecklich mögen diejenigen Engel sein, die gefallen sind. Ausgewählte Fall-Studien zu ihnen stehen im Zentrum dieser Arbeit. Engel büßen bei ihrem Fall die Fähigkeit zu fliegen und ihre privilegierte Position ein. Auf sich gestellt, zeigen gefallene Engel zwei Reaktionsmuster: Macht und Melancholie. Mächtigen gefallenen Engel gelingt es – oder: sie beabsichtigen es –, die Beziehungsrelation zur göttlichen Autorität nach ihrem Fall aufrechtzuerhalten bzw. neu zu definieren: Durch Errichtung neuer Reiche, rebellischer und sinnlicher, führen sie die Versuchung fort. Aber sie sind keine Mittler mehr, weil sie keine Mitteilungen mehr empfangen, sondern Botschafter eigener Botschaften. Melancholische gefallene Engel lassen dagegen die nutzlos gewordenen Flügel hängen. Auch sie haben vor ihrem Fall in einem Beziehungsverhältnis existiert. Fällt das Gegenüber weg, sinkt ihre Erscheinung in sich zusammen, erlischt ihre Botenfunktion, senden und empfangen sie nicht bzw. nichts Neues mehr. Macht und Melancholie sind in aber auch Aktionsfelder. Der Künstler reflektiert in der objektiv – für sein künstlerisches Schaffen – wie subjektiv – für sein künstlerisches Selbstverständnis – genutzten Identifikationsfigur des gefallenen Engels beide Positionen. So greifen Macht und Melancholie, Rebellion und Resignation, Schöpfen und Scheitern ineinander. Gefallene Engel sind eigentlich ihres Botenstatus’ beraubt. Doch haben sie eine einzige letzte Botschaft – sie sind selbst die Botschaft vom Ursprung ihres Falls und haben darin ihr Ziel. / Angels are defined above all by their indefinability, their mutable essence. The conflict zone between irreconcilable areas makes the existence of angels possible. To fulfill their function – in particular that of medium or messenger – they can fly. Every angel, Rilke wrote, is terrifying. Most terrifying among the angels are, perhaps, those that have fallen. Selected case studies of those form the core of this dissertation. When angels are cast out of heaven, they forfeit their capacity for flight and their privileged position. Left to their own defenses, fallen angels display one of two reaction modes – might or melancholy. Mighty fallen angels are able – or they aim – to maintain their relationship with divine authority, or to redefine it, after the fall. By erecting new realms, more rebellious and sensual, they carry on with temptation. But they are no longer media, because they no longer receive communications. Rather they are the messengers of their own message. Melancholy fallen angels, on the other hand, let their now-useless wings droop. They too existed in a relationship before the fall. When their vis-à-vis disappears, their apparition caves in; their messenger function extinguished, they send and receive nothing or at least nothing new. Yet might and melancholy are not only reaction modes, but also fields of action. The artist, in using the identification figure of the fallen angel both objectively – for his or her artistic creation – and subjectively – for his or her sense of artistic self, reflects both positions. So might and melancholy, rebellion and resignation, creation and collapse mesh. Fallen angels are in fact robbed of their messenger status because, unable to fly, they are no longer a medium. But they do have just one last message – they are themselves the message of the origins of their fall, and that is their goal.