The purpose of this thesis is see if national policies regarding aimed at combating climate change could work even if international ones, such as the Kyoto Protocol, are considered to fail. The question was if environmental policies could be included as an explanatory variable for the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). The environmental polices of interest were the market-based instrument, environmental taxes.   First, the hypothesis whether or not Sweden fit the EKC theory is tested, and this proves to be the case when looking at the years 1800-1996. Second, a hypothesis was tested to see if environmental taxes can help decreasing carbon emission intensity further once a country has reached its turning point. Comparing Sweden to six other countries from the European Union show that this is the case, although environmental taxes must be one of many tools and cannot work alone.   The study shows that the role of taxes were significant, thus showing their importance for the work on climate change. It is also observed that national policies do work, while regional, or international, ones are harder to conduct. The importance of national policies is enhanced since they will be guiding countries when deciding whether or not to commit to international policies.

<p> </p><p>The purpose of this dissertation would be to find the relationship between CO₂ emission and GDP. We found that in case of the majority of countries the CO₂emission is related to national income and follows an inverted-U shaped curve. In our analysis we used the regression technique on 139 countries within the time period 1985-2004 to model and analyze the mentioned relationship and define the variables, that describe it. As it will be proved, Environmental Kuznets Curve validate the model and our hypothesis confirm other researches, therefore the inverse-u relationship proves to be correct.</p><p> </p>

<p>This thesis investigates the determinants of Taiwan’s import changes and the underlying factors of the decreasing Swedish export to Taiwan between 1994 and 2005.</p><p>The empirical study includes 36 countries from both the Pacific Rim and OECD. Based on a modified gravity model of trade, the regression model aims to examine how GDP growth in the exporting country, exchange rate changes, common language, and membership in APEC affect Taiwan’s import volume. The result shows estimates with expected signs, with 49.8 percent of the vari-ance in Taiwan’s changed import volume explained by the exogenous variables. Exchange rate change and language are statistically significant.</p><p>Data on commodity groups of importance for Sweden and Taiwan are also ex-amined, and they show that Taiwan has changed its import demand and has started to import goods other than those Sweden in previous years strongly exported to Taiwan. Taiwan’s regional trading partners have also gained export shares at the expense of Swedish exports.</p><p>The results are in line with theory and it will be hard for Sweden in the future to compete with the increasing regional trade of East Asia where common lan-guage and culture are of big importance.</p>

<p>The remote sensing technology is increasingly being used to study land use and vegetation cover changes and identify changes that has occur through different land use activities which may have negative impact on the sustainability of the environment, biodiversity protection and conservation. With increase in population growth rate in Sudan, there has been an increase for food crop production with agriculture playing a prominent role in livelihood security for the increasing population.</p><p> </p><p>The increase use of irrigation and mechanisation has brought about an increase in demand for agricultural land use in Sudan with the conversion of other land use types and vegetation for agricultural land use. This does have effect and impact on the vegetation and environment with the country highly exposed to the incidence of environmental and social hazards and disasters including drought and desertification, deforestations, floods, loss of biodiversity, ethnic conflicts and poverty.</p><p> </p><p>The research study work focused on agricultural land use changes in the country with the aim of investigating the agricultural land use changes that has occurred in the country from 1986 to 2002 using the remote sensing technique. This is important for agricultural land use planning and sustainability monitoring to reduce the negative impact of agricultural land use for crop production and increase long term resource use and environmental sustainability. Two remote sensing methods were used for the classification analysis to identify the land use changes namely the NDVI and the parallelepiped classification techniques. The NDVI method was used to identify the changes in the agricultural land use vegetation cover classes and determine the magnitude of changes in land area use that has occurred from 1986 to 2002 when the former and latter remote sensing images were acquired. The parallelepiped classification technique was however used to identify the aggregate agricultural land use changes in the area of study and conversion to and from other categories of land use. A qualitative analytic technique was also used to identify the possible causes of the changes that have occurred in Sudan in the study period using empirical materials.</p><p> </p><p>The research study result gives information on the role the remote sensing technology can play in analyzing land use cover changes for agricultural land use sustainability monitoring.</p>

The topic of this Master’s thesis is the Lithuanian real estate market and its influence on the country’s economy. The paper elaborates problematic issues of the real estate market: sudden changes, price and demand surges and decrease in supply; as well as influence of such factors as artificial inflation of prices on the future of the economy and potential threats to the welfare of the citizens. The author also advises on making investments and engaging in the real estate market or choosing a personal housing in the context of current sudden changes of the market and prices. A lot of attention is paid to the housing loans, as improvement of conditions for receiving such a loan increases the number of people taking loans and, therefore, increases the demand for real estate, consumer goods and household appliances; increased consumption stimulates growth of the GDP and general economic development.

Euroregionai Europoje egzistuoja jau nuo šeštojo XX a. dešimtmečio. Tačiau universalios euroregiono sampratos dar nėra. Pateikiamuose euroregiono apibrėžimuose aiškiai pabrėžiama, kad tai struktūros, turinčios teritorinį apibrėžtumą. Svarbus aspektas – euroregioną sudarančių narių lygybė bei teisinis pamatas, reglamentuojantis veiklą. Euroregionų skirtingumui įtakos turi įkūrimo tikslų bei uždavinių įvairumas, veiklos prioritetų nevienodumas. Magistro darbe siekiama supažindinti su euroregionų veikla bei vystymuisi nuo 2000 iki 2008 metų. Pagrindinis tyrimo aspektas – makroekonominių rodiklių kaitos dinamika ir išsivystymo skirtumai skirtingose teritorijose esančiuose euroregionuose. Analizuojam bendrosios pridėtinės vertės (BPV), bendrojo vidaus produkto (BVP), materialinių investicijų, tiesioginių užsienio investicijų, ir eksporto rodikliai euroregionuose. Tyrimu siekiama statistiškai pagrįsti objekto (šiuo atveju euroregiono) esminius požymius, jo funkcionavimo veiksnius. Euroregionas pateikiamas kaip vientisa sudėtinga sistema turinti begalę trūkumų, kurių pagrindinis – daugiamatiškumas. Darbe siekiama kuo labiau atsiriboti nuo istorinio ir socialinio konteksto ir rezultatus pateikti tik ekonominiame kontekste. Magistro darbas parašytas naudojantis aprašomaisiais, statistinių ir kitų šaltinių analizės bei grafiniu metodais. / Euregions in Europe there is already the sixth of the twentieth century decade. However, the universal concept of the Euroregion yet. Submissions Euroregion definition clearly states that this structure, a spatial predictability. An important aspect - making up the Euroregion equality and legal basis regulating the activities. Euroregions the difference is affected by the establishment of diversity goals and objectives, operational priorities of inequality. Master work to make the Euroregion activities and development from 2000 to 2008. The main aspect of the study - macroeconomic dynamics of change and development in the different territories of the Euroregion. Analyzed the gross value added (GVA), gross domestic product (GDP), capital investment, foreign direct investment and export performance of the Euroregion. The study seeks to statistically justify the object (in this case, the Euroregion) the essential features of the functioning of factors. Euroregion presented as an integrated complex system with myriad shortcomings, the principal - daugiamatiškumas. The paper aims to maximize distance from the historical and social context, and results only in an economic context. Master thesis is written using descriptive, statistical and other sources for analysis and graphical methods.

The research problem of this dissertation is the use of securitization in a small open economy. During the process of securitization bank’s illiquid assets are replaced by liquid assets – asset-backed securities, what allows increasing and diversifying bank’s financial resources. Having in mind the relevance of the economic situation in Lithuania, the utility of securitisation for Lithuania is analyzed in this dissertation. Dissertation also analyses positive and negative aspects of the experience of other countries in using securitization. Research showed that there is a strong correlation between GDP and credit resources in Lithuania. This fact means that country's economic growth could be promoted by finding ways to supplement the financial resources available to the banks and by encouraging them to lend out these resources. Thus, the use of the funds received after issuing asset-backed securities for further lending by banks would have a direct positive impact on the level of GDP in Lithuania. In order to successfully develop asset securitization in the country Lithuanian banks should concentrate their resources and expertise. This would help to achieve the necessary economies of scale and acceptable transaction costs. Analysis showed that Lithuanian legal framework for securitization should be also improved considering best practices from other countries in order to create greater legal certainty, reduce the administrative burden and ensure investor protection. / Disertacijoje nagrinėjama mokslinė problema yra sekiuritizacijos panaudojimas mažoje atviroje ekonomikoje. Sekiuritizacijos metu nelikvidus turtas yra pakeičiamas likvidžiu turtu – turtu padengtais vertybiniais popieriais, kuris leidžia padidinti ir diversifikuoti bankų turimus kreditinius išteklius. Atsižvelgus į darbo aktualumą Lietuvos ekonominei situacijai, darbe vertinamas sekiuritizacijos panaudojimo Lietuvoje naudingumas, analizuojami sekiuritizacijos teigiami ir neigiami aspektai, kitų šalių patirtis ir praktika. Atliktas tyrimas parodė, kad Lietuvoje egzistuoja stiprus ryšys tarp BVP ir kreditinių išteklių, kas reiškia, kad suradus būdų kaip papildyti bankų turimus finansinius išteklius ir taip paskatinus juos skolinti, atitinkamai paspartėtų šalies ekonomikos atsigavimas bei tolesnis augimas. Tad bankams pritaikius sekiuritizaciją ir išleidus turtu padengtus vertybinius popierius, o gautas lėšas panaudojus tolesniam kreditavimui, tai turėtų tiesioginės teigiamos įtakos BVP dydžiui Lietuvoje. Siekiant sėkmingai vystyti sekiuritizaciją Lietuvoje bankams vertėtų kooperuotis sutelkiant savo išteklius bei kompetenciją, kas leistų pasiekti reikiamą masto ekonomiją ir priimtinus sekiuritizacijos sandorių kaštus. Taip pat reikėtų tobulinti Lietuvos teisinę bazę sekiuritizacijos srityje pasiremiant geriausia sekiuritizacijos reguliavimo praktika: kurti didesnį teisinį tikrumą, mažinti administracinę naštą ir užtikrinti investuotojų apsaugą.

<p>The study draws on secondary data from the Bureau of Statistics in Lesotho. Simple and multiple linear regression models techniques are used to analyze the relationship between the GDP of Lesotho and the GDP of manufacturing. The secondary data is analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Excel. The major finding is that there exists a strong positive linear relationship ( r = 0.986) between the GDP of Lesotho and the GDP of manufacturing. This means that every time the GDP of manufacturing increases the GDP of Lesotho does the same. Based on this finding, the study recommends that in order to improve, sustain and maintain the economic growth and to avoid further deterioration in the manufacturing industry, the manufacturing capacity must be strengthened for it to effectively deal with growing competition and rapid economic changes.</p>

Economic growth is a goal for countries around the world in order to improve living standards, and the effect of foreign direct investments (FDI) has long been studied. There are today many theories and empirical studies regarding FDI. Many questions being studied but finding a straight answer to these have showed to be anything but easy. The results and conclusions go in different directions and much disagreement on whether or not FDI actually contributes to growth. One of the core triggers to the Chinese high economic growth pattern is attributed to FDI, this thesis investigates the same FDI impact on economic growth but with focus on sub-Sahara Africa. With the help of different theories and empirical studies we have selected our variables believing they will have a significant impact on this question. With the data collected from the World Bank database about the countries and seven different variables, a regression is created. The results show that FDI plays a part when it comes to GDP per-capita growth and also that corruption has a significant negative effect on growth rates. FDI in sub-Saharan Africa is hypothesized to mainly consist of brownfield investments as a potential explanation. The data this study uses is between 2005 and 2013, meaning the results are probably not applicable to be interpreted long-term.

This research paper investigates the causality issue between economic growth rate (GDP) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investment in Sweden by applying modern time series techniques. It mainly covers time series analyses of 30 years of Sweden data (1980-2009). During that period, development in Information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure of Sweden was an evolutionary process based on innovation and technological knowledge. Telecommunication revolution which occurred and developed on the basic idea that economic change can be explained as co-evolution of technologies, institutions and development blocks (such as investment). The other way of describing it as an analysis of a long wave based on telecommunication technological revolution and key factor involved the share of investment in it. Standard tests of Unit roots, Cointegration and Granger Causality tests are presented. The main reason of such study is the assessment of ICT investment influence directly on economic growth. The results provide an interesting aspect that ICT investment share can possibly be a contributing factor to telecommunications infrastructure development but it cannot be as a whole sufficient enough for stimulating economic growth (GDP).It is found that one way causality running from ICT investment to economic growth (GDP) but only at one year lagged values not at other higher lagged values. The lack of long run relationship may be due to the inadequacy in reflecting the full effect of ICT investment in other complementary segments. The other complementary factors of ICT 's infrastructure are quite essential as well in describing economic growth and development level.