This thesis investigates whether players in the National Hockey League overperform during the last year of their contract. This phenomenon is called the contract year phenomenon and suggests that players have financial incentives to perform better during this specific season. Previous research has shown evidence of this phenomenon in the National Basketball Association and some evidence in Major League Baseball. To investigate this we have used data from 6 season in the NHL between 2016 to 2022. A linear regression was conducted to identify the relationship between points per hour and contract year. A negative relationship between the variables were identified, probably due to the fact that worse players tend to sign shorter contracts, getting a contract year more often. When fixed effect regression was conducted to compare individual players with themselves over time, no significant relationship between the variables was observed, indicating that there is no evidence of the contract year phenomenon in the NHL. The non existing effect remains when looking at specific contract statuses and position in combination with the contract year variable.

The level of labor productivity differs among the European Union countries, especially when you compare a developing country to a more developed country in the EU. This is an issue because the achievement of high labor productivity is a necessary stipulation for a developing economy to realize economic growth and more economic development. On the other hand, the more individuals in an economy with access to the internet (internet connectivity) depicts how developed the economy is in terms of information and communication technology (ICT). Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether there is a positive relationship between countries having high internet connectivity and labor productivity in the EU. In doing so, Political and entrepreneurial decision-makers can use these findings to decide how much attention or budget to put on the ICT sector to improve labor productivity. To understand the factors that affect labor productivity, Adam Smith and Karl Marx’s theory on labor productivity is used to gain a better understanding. A panel data analysis using a fixed-effect model and pooled OLS regression model is applied in the study to predict the relationship. The result of the study indicates that internet connectivity does not have a significant impact on Labour productivity, or there was not enough evidence showing that they are positively correlated with each other.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of environmental regulations for water-borne emissions in the Swedish pulp and paper industry. Furthermore, the study intends to analyze if there are differences in the effectiveness before and after the restructuring of the Swedish regulatory procedures in 1999. It also addresses the impact of compliance periods in the regulatory process. The method is econometric and based on the use of a fixed-effect panel data regression model. The data comprise 1 698 unique observation from 21 Swedish pulp and paper mills during the time period 1980-2013 regarding emissions, emission standards and production levels. The results display that the environmental regulation in the industry has been effective in the sense that emissions have decreased with the implementation of performance standards. Furthermore, the period before 1999 shows a greater reduction of emissions than the period after 1999. Finally, the results indicate that the use of compliance periods appears to have contributedto a greater reduction in emissions compared to cases where no such periods are granted. / Syftet med denna studie är att analysera effektiviteten av miljöregleringen av vattenbaserade utsläpp inom den svenska massa- och pappersindustrin. Dessutom avser denna studie att analysera om det finns några effektivitetsskillnader före och efter omstruktureringen av den svenska regleringsprocessen år 1999. Studien behandlar även effekten av anpassningsperioder i regleringsprocessen. Metoden är ekonometrisk och baseras på en "fixed-effect" panel datamodell. Datamaterialet består av 1 689 unika observationer från 21 svenska massa- och pappersbruk under åren 1980 - 2013 avseende utsläpp, gränsvärden och produktionsnivåer. Resultatet visar att miljöregleringen har varit effektiv i den meningen att utsläppen har minskat med införandet av gränsvärden. Dessutom, perioden innan 1999 visar en större utsläppsreduktion än perioden efter 1999. Till sist, resultaten indikerar att användandet av anpassningsperioder verkar ha bidragit till större utsläppsreduceringar i jämförelse till de fall där dessa perioder inte beviljades.

This thesis investigates which factors affecting savings behavior by using a fixed effect regression model. To see what affects the household savings rate the following independent variables is considered: Natural logarithm of trend per capita income, natural logarithm of deviation from trend per capita income, growth of disposable income, real interest rate, inflation, wealth in relation to household disposable income, foreign savings in relation to disposable income, dependency ratio and human development index. To see whether changes of human development within a county impacts the household´s savings ratio this variables was included in a separate regression. To avoid possible biasedness from ordinary least square, a panel data technique called fixed effect regression model is used. The investigated time period is between year 1999 and 2016 and to make a restriction, variables from 25 developed countries were studied. The involved economic theories in this work are Keynesianism, permanent income hypothesis and the savings theory behind Maslow´s behavioral pyramid. The result made by using this study is that growth in income and foreign savings in relation to disposable income is insignificant and can´t be used in explaining the differences between household´s savings. Human development index within a country has a negative effect on the savings ratio but a conclusion regarding whether changes in HDI´s does affect savings can´t be made and more research within that field is needed.

Στη παρούσα μελέτη, αρχικά παρουσιάζονται από θεωρητική πλευρά θέματα που αφορούν το ρυθμιστικό πλαίσιο, τον πιστωτικό κίνδυνο, τα μη εξυπηρετούμενα δάνεια και οι έννοιες Ευρωζώνη και Ευρωσύστημα. Ακολούθως, με τη χρήση ενός οικονομετρικού μοντέλου επιχειρήθηκε ο προσδιορισμός των παραγόντων εκείνων που επηρεάζουν τον δείκτη μη εξυπηρετούμενων δανείων στην Ευρωζώνη. Ο δείκτης των μη εξυπηρετούμενων δανείων ουσιαστικά συνιστάται ως προσεγγιστική μεταβλητή του πιστωτικού κινδύνου και την περίοδο αυτή της παρατεταμένης ύφεσης αποτελεί ενδεχομένως τη μεγαλύτερη απειλή που αντιμετωπίζουν τα διάφορα τραπεζικά συστήματα όλου του κόσμου. Χρησιμοποιώντας συγκεντρωτικά δεδομένα (aggregate data) σε ένα πάνελ 13 χωρών της Ευρωζώνης για την περίοδο 2000-2008 και με την βοήθεια της fixed effect προσέγγισης, εντοπίστηκαν ισχυρές συσχετίσεις μεταξύ του NPL και διαφόρων μακροοικονομικών και τραπεζικών (banκ specific) παραγόντων. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, τα ευρήματα της εμπειρικής διερεύνησης, επιβεβαιώνουν τη διεθνή βιβλιογραφία καθώς από πλευράς τραπεζικών μεταβλητών ισχυρή επίδραση στο δείκτη μη εξυπηρετούμενων δάνειων εμφανίζει ο δείκτης κεφαλαιακής επάρκειας, ο δείκτης δάνεια προς καταθέσεις και ο δείκτης των μη εξυπηρετούμενων της προηγούμενης χρονιάς. Τέλος, από μακροοικονομικής πλευράς το δημόσιο χρέος και η ανεργία φαίνεται να είναι δυο επιπλέον παράγοντες που επιδρούν στη διαμόρφωση του δείκτη, αποτυπώνοντας ότι η κατάσταση της οικονομίας των χωρών της ευρωζώνης συνδέεται άρρηκτα με τον δείκτη NPL. / In this study, from the theoretical point of you, issues regarding regulation, credit risk, non-performing loans, Eurozone and Eurosystem are presented. Then, implementing an econometric model it was examined which factors influence the ratio of nonperforming loans in the Eurozone. It is worthwhile to mention that the ratio of NPLs can be used as a proxy of credit risk. Nowadays, credit risk seems to be the greatest risk, which banking systems are facing all over the world. Particularly, Using aggregate data on a panel of 13 countries for the period 2000-2008 and applying the fixed effect approach, strong correlations between the NPL and various macroeconomic and bank specific factors are confirmed. Our findings largely agree with the literature as, in terms of bank-specific variables, the capital ratio, the loans to deposits ratio and the rate of non-performing loans of the previous year appear to exert a powerful influence on the non-performing loans rate. At the same time, from a macroeconomic perspective, the public debt and unemployment seem to be two additional factors that affect the index, revealing that the state of the economy of Eurozone countries is clearly linked to the NPL index.

Income inequalities have become a matter of major concern following reports that the working class and lower middle class of developed economies have income levels that are falling behind. Few studies have been conducted on the regional level even though this perspective might better capture the development of income inequalities, since national averages might hide local differences. This study uses panel data for 286 Swedish municipalities in between 1991-2017 and fixed effect regressions, to examine if the theory of a skill-biased technological change could be used to explain resent developments. We find an labor income divergence for Swedish municipalities within the studied time period. The share of high skilled workers is found to be a good predictor of the growth in regional labor income inequalities, while an ageing population of the regions falling behind counteracts the growth of inequality, possibly leading to an underestimation of the size of regional labor income divergence. These results are in support of a skill-biased technological change at work and a job polarization transforming regional labor markets and regional societies. We conclude that adopting a regional perspective in the analysis and development of future economic growth policies is necessary to ensure long term economic growth, equality of opportunity and social cohesion.