Internet is viewed as the most vital digital technology in the globe. Eastern Africa has the least penetration of ICT per capita in the world. Internet is a valuable resource that has propelled enormous economic growth in many developed countries. In order for Eastern African governments to narrow the socio-economic divide between developed countries and themselves, there is need to overcome this digital handicap. Enormous investments in ICT infrastructure are essential. The governments must participate in making crucial decisions to wisely allocate the limited resources to improve the current infrastructure.This thesis investigates Internet use, access and penetration in Eastern Africa. Theoretical research has been carried out to elaborate on the subject matter. Through empirical study, we will come up with a fresh way to verify and understand the Internet situation in the region. / Program: Magisterutbildning i informatik

Este trabalho tem como objetivos analisar as semelhanças das respostas dos países da Zona do Euro aos choques na política monetária e no câmbio (identificados através de restrições de sinais nas funções impulso-resposta) e investigar a simetria das flutuações na taxa de crescimento do nível de atividade na região através da análise da importância relativa da resposta do crescimento do PIB destes países aos choques comum e específico identificados pelo modelo FAVAR utilizado, que foi estimado através de um método Bayesiano desenvolvido para incorporar prioris de Litterman (1986). A importância do choque comum (relativamente ao específico) nos diversos países, fornece uma medida do grau de integração dos diversos membros da Zona do Euro. O trabalho contribui para a análise do grau de integração dos países da Zona do Euro ao utilizar uma metodologia que permite o uso de um amplo conjunto de variáveis e ao identificar o grau de simetria das flutuações na taxa de crescimento do nível de atividade dos membros da região através da identificação dos choques comuns e específicos. Foram utilizados dados trimestrais de 1999.I a 2013.I para os 17 países da região. Os resultados encontrados apontam para a existência de uma maior integração entre as grandes economias da Zona do Euro ( com exceção da França) e uma integração menor para as menores economias (com exceção da Finlândia). / This dissertation aims at analyzing the similarities of the responses of countries in the Eurozone to shocks in the monetary policy and exchange rate policy (identified through restrictions on the signs in the impulse-response functions) and to investigate the symmetry of fluctuations in the rate of growth of the level of activity in the region by analyzing the relative importance of the response of GDP growth in these countries to common and specific shocks identified by the FAVAR model used in the paper, which was estimated using a Bayesian method developed to incorporate priors of Litterman (1986). The importance of the common shocks (in the particular) in many countries provides a measure of the degree of integration of several members of the Eurozone. The dissertation contributes to the analysis of the degree of integration of the countries of the Eurozone by using a methodology that allows the use of a big set of variables and to identify the degree of symmetry of the fluctuations in the growth rate of the activity level of members region through the identification of common and specific shocks. Using quarterly data from 1999.I to 2013.I for 17 countries in the region, the results show the existence of greater integration among the major economies of the Eurozone (except France) and lesser integration among the small economies (with the exception of Finland).

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T14:00:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Daiane Rodrigues dos Santos.pdf: 1209451 bytes, checksum: 736d71d938399ee86b65daeabf745b1b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-06 / O presente trabalho pretende discutir a relação entre o spread, diferença entre a taxa de juros de longo e curto prazos, e a dinâmica econômica. Especificamente, estudar como o spread influencia a taxa real de crescimento do PIB, ressaltado por autores como Harvey (1988), Sims (1972), Bernand e Gerlach (1996) e Estella (2004), entre outros. Verificou-se nas saídas do modelo VAR(6) que a Produção Industrial brasileira é apenas fracamente influenciada pelo spread. No entanto, verificou-se que o spread é fortemente influenciado pela Produção Industrial, relação esta não realçada pelos autores do referencial teórico. Apurou-se também que o spread é fortemente influenciado pelo IPCA, que por sua vez ´e influenciado fortemente pelo spread, confirmando a relação dinâmica ressaltada por Sims (1972), Shousha (2006), Nielsen (2006), entre outros. Nas saídas do modelo dinâmico, VAR(6), também se verificou que o IPCA é fortemente influenciado pela Produção Industrial, que, por sua, vez é fracamente influenciada pela série composta pelo IPCA. / The work aims at identifying the relationship between the spread, difference of the long term interest rate in relation to the short term interest rate, and the economic dynamic. Specifically, it studies how the spread has impacted on the gross domestic product real growth rate, phenomenon pointed out by authors such as Harvey (1988), Sims (1972), Bernard & Gerlach (1996) and Estrella (2004), among others. It was verified, in the model VAR (6), that the Brazilian industrial production is weakly influenced by the spread. However, it was observed that the last one is strongly determined through the industrial production. This result is not found in the adopted theoretic approach. Additionally, it was verified that the spread is highly determined from the IPCA, which is, in its turn, strongly influenced through the spread, confirming the relations showed in Sims (1972), Shousha (2006), Nielsen (2006), among others. In the statistics of the dynamic model, VAR (6), it also presented an expressive effect from the industrial production on the IPCA, which, by contrast, is not significantly determining the industrial activity in the sample period

The aim of the thesis is to quantify the impact of the 2008 financial crisis to U.S. economic growth and also identify potential scenarios for future development. For this purpose, there was selected a sample of historical cases of financial crisis where followed the process of deleveraging. Identified impacts were applied to estimate the future GDP growth. In the period 0-5 years after the crisis GDP typically slowed by 40-45%, in 0-7 year horizon by 28-35%, and in the 10 year horizon by 17-20%. In a case of deducting export effect, slowdown of GDP growth is even higher. For the next 8 years average U.S. GDP growth is estimated to 2.26-2.6%. Compared with the pre-crisis period, slowdown reaches 14-25%. Process of deleveraging is now in the one third of the expected duration. The financial sector and household sector remains vulnerable to return the economy into recession and will deleverage further. Non-financial firms are sound. The greatest risk is hidden in the public sector which is experiencing high deficits and uncontrolled growth of debt. Debt is starting to approach level that may reduce long-term dynamics of GDP growth. The future path is in the hands of government officials. Fiscal consolidation treat the root of the problem, but it is painful and hard to approve. Delays in solving the problem is less painful way, but it can result in massive government debt, as it is now in Japan. Repeating Japan scenario is unlikely. The magnitude of balance sheet recession in Japan was much larger. The measures taken have not been so quick and strong.

Inflationen har i många länder varit låg sedan finanskrisen 2008. I försök öka inflationstakten har centralbanker sänkt sina räntor till rekordlåga nivåer. I Danmark, Schweiz och Sverige har styrräntorna varit negativa. John B Taylor föreslog 1993 en makroekonomisk regel med syfte att kunna ge en prognos för styrräntan. Enligt Taylorregeln kan styrräntan förklaras av tidigare perioders inflationstakt och bruttonationalprodukt. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka Taylorregelns empiriska relevans i Danmark, Schweiz och Sverige under perioden 2000 till 2018. Två tester genomförs. Det första är att, med en linjär regressionsmodell, undersöka sambandet mellan styrränta, inflationsgap och BNP-gap. Det andra är ett Granger-kausalitetstest för att se om den implicerade kausaliteten i Taylorregeln stämmer. Granger-testet bygger på resultaten från en vektor autoregression. Resultaten i denna uppsats visar att det finns ett samband mellan inflationstakt och styrränta, men inte mellan BNP-gap och styrränta i de valda länderna under undersökningsperioden. Vidare visar resultaten att kausaliteten går från inflationsgap och BNP-gap mot styrränta, som Taylorregeln föreslår. Resultatet lyckas inte påvisa att negativa styrräntor skulle påverka Taylorregelns relevans. / The rate of inflation has been low in many countries since the financial crisis in 2008. In attempts to increase the inflation rate, central banks have lowered their interest rates to historically low levels. In Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden, the central banks key interest rates have been negative. In 1993, John B Taylor proposed a macroeconomic rule with the aim of providing a forecast for the key interest rate. According to the Taylor rule, the policy rate can be explained by the inflation rate and gross domestic product of previous periods. This paper aims to investigate the empirical relevance of the Taylor rule in Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden during the period 2000 to 2018. To do this, two tests are performed. The first is that, with a linear regression model, investigate the relationship between the key interest rate, the inflation gap and the GDP gap. The second is a Granger causality test to see if the implicit causality of the Taylor rule is correct. The Granger test is based on the results of a vector autoregression. The results of this paper show that there is a correlation between the rate of inflation and the key interest rate, but not between the GDP gap and the key interest rate in the selected countries during the investigation period. Furthermore, the results show that causality goes from the inflation gap and the GDP gap towards the key interest rate, as the Taylor rule suggests. The result does not suggest that negative key interest rates would affect the relevance of the Taylor rule.

Les petites protéines G sont des protéines capables de fixer du GDP ou du GTP, ce qui va induire des changements de conformation au sein de la protéine qui lui permettront d'interagir avec des partenaires cellulaires distincts, et ainsi de jouer un rôle "d'interrupteur moléculaire". Le cycle GDP/GTP des petites protéines G ne fonctionne pas seul, il est régulé par un facteur d'échange GDP/GTP (GEF) et une protéine activatrice de la GTPase (GAP). Les petites protéines G sont impliquées dans des processus cellulaires fondamentaux et divers, comme la différentiation et la prolifération cellulaire, l'organisation et la dynamique du cytosquelette, et les transports intracellulaires. Un certain nombre de structures de petite protéine G sont maintenant connues, et ont permis de définir le repliement général des petites protéines G et les changements de conformation au cours du cycle GDP/GTP. Le premier projet porte sur l'étude structurale par diffraction des rayons X de la petite protéine G Rap2A, homologue de l'oncogène Ras dans un complexe non catalytique avec le GTP. Cette étude a permis de mettre en évidence la présence d'une nouvelle interaction au niveau du site nucléotidique entre la tyrosine 32 et le phosphate gamma du GTP. Et, nous avons montré que les changements de conformation de Rap2A au cours de son cycle GDP/GTP sont caractérisés par deux transitions désordre/ordre. Le second projet porte sur l'étude structurale par diffraction des rayons X de la petite protéine G Arf6 en complexe avec du GDP. Cette étude a montré que deux protéines qui possèdent une forte homologie de séquence peuvent avoir des structures assez différentes pour être distinguées. Les principaux partenaires des formes GDP des petites protéines G sont les GEF, ce qui suggère une base structurale pour la spécificité des GEF. En conclusion, nous discutons des bases structurales qui permettent aux petites protéines G d'être distinguées les unes des autres.

This dissertation has two main objectives. The first one is to construct historical macroeconomic series for Sweden using a consistent method throughout the relevant periods, and which rely on modern methods of national accounting. The second objective is to investigate patterns of economic growth, accumulation and crisis in Sweden 1800-2000, based on the constructed data series. New annual data series of Gross Domestic Product and its division into activities (type of production) and expenditures (consumption, investment and foreign trade), Net Domestic Product, stocks of produced assets and consumption of fixed assets are constructed for the period 1800-2000; series of employment, wages, imputed labour income of self employed and surplus for the period 1850-2000; and series of worked hours for the period 1950-2000. Summary tables of the main aggregate variables are presented at the end of the dissertation. The intent is to make the data material available online (also at a more disaggregated level) at: http://www.historia.se. Although the present study criticises the somewhat deterministic vision of many long cycle theories, it also demonstrates that the concept of long cycle can be applied when studying long-term fluctuations in GDP per capita, provided that the notion of a fixed periodicity of long cycles is abandoned. Long-term economic fluctuations are irregular, but so is also the short-term business cycle. Different historical tendencies and trends are investigated. The decline of the relative size of industrial activities in the last half of 20th century was not as dramatic, if unpaid household labour is considered and that many services are industry-related. The Marxist theory of a Tendency for the Rate of Profit to Fall is partly confirmed as a secular process up to the 1970s, but profitability has rebounded in the last two decades of the 20th century. During the 1990s, the investment ratio declined to historically low levels and the volume value of the net stock of buildings and structures fell for the first time since the 1830s. A comparison is also made of depressions in Sweden since 1850. During the 19th century, depressions were largely induced by the agricultural sector, and during the 20th century by industrial activities. However, the transition to the modern business cycle was not sudden but rather protracted. Another finding is that the 1990s depression was somewhat deeper than the 1930s depression in terms of GDP contraction.

Globally, injury is a major public health problem. The extent of the problem varies considerably by demographic subgroups, regions and national income. The overall objective of this thesis is to examine the relationship between injury mortality and economic development, and to discuss its role in the changing patterns of mortality as described in health transition theory. By cross-sectional analysis between cause-specific injury-related mortality and income per capita, studies included in this thesis indicated that while unintentional injury mortality (UIM) and homicide rates correlated negatively with GNP per capita for total populations with varying patterns for age-specific mortality, suicide rates increased slightly by nations’ income per capita, especially among women. In age- and cause-specific injury mortality differentials between low-income, middle-income and high-income countries, ageing and injury interplay mutually with regard to health transition; declining rates in child UIM by income level contributes to the ageing process, while increasing UIM among the elderly, in combination with ageing populations boosts the absolute number of injury deaths in this segment. Between the income-based country groups, both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses show that injury mortality for all three major causes (i.e. unintentional injury, suicide and homicide) first increase and then decrease with rising income per capita, following an inverted U-shaped curve. These results illustrate that injury is not a homogeneous public health phenomenon from a health transition perspective. While child unintentional mortality clearly agrees with ‘diseases of poverty’, unintentional injury in the elderly agrees with ‘diseases of affluence’. Patterns for homicide and suicide are more complex and uncertain. Generally, the strength and direction of injury mortality by economic development vary considerably by age, sex and type of injury. Further research on causations, mechanisms, broader indicators and data quality, as well as theoretical developments on health transition taking new findings and parallel frameworks into account, is needed to fully understand the complex relationship between economic development and injury mortality.

The Environmental Kuznets Curve is an inverted U-shaped relationship which demonstrates how environmental degradation increases as countries begin to develop and lowers as they become wealthier. The classical EKC measures the effects of GDP per capita (a country’s wealth) on pollu-tion. This paper is a study of the connection of a number of factors- GDP per capita, fossil fuels, al-ternative and nuclear energy, rural population and life expectancy at birth to the Environmental Kuznets Curve. Two econometric approaches are applied in order to test whether the variables have a more pronounced linear or quadratic form. Four income groups of countries are investigated in order to check if the state of development plays a crucial role in environmental deterioration. The results of the study point out that EKC does not apply for the chosen variables. From the regression for GDP, however, it can be concluded that EKC forms in 1990s.

This thesis is analyzing the development of debt and deficit situation in the Czech Republic and France. Our main research questions are: why the Czech Republic and France have different debt and deficit? What are the effects and causes of debt and deficit? How Czech Republic and France wants to reduce the level of debt and deficit? These are the central questions we try to answer in this thesis. To pursue a systematic analysis, we start with a theoretical section on we described different theories of debt/deficit and budgetary rules effects on the economy in order to understand characteristics of debt issues. From these findings, we have resulted causes and differences of debt situations in our countries, which is part of empirical analysis. This is done by evolution of debt/deficit and factors that affect level of debt/deficit. We analyzed three mains factors and due to this factors that influence debt/deficit we can clearly see why our countries have different levels in debt problem. Regarding this we can say our countries are different in many respects. The major difference is monetary policy due to French member of Eurozone. Also the way how to get from debt issue and find a compromise between government reforms and interests of citizens will vary in the future.