本研究以2002至2013年11個球季NBA聯盟的球隊，來探討球隊內薪資不平均化程度，分別與球隊的例行賽及季後賽戰績的關聯性如何?以及球隊總薪資超越豪華稅門檻多寡，分別與例行賽及季後賽戰績的關聯性如何? 實證結果發現在控制球員人數、觀眾人數、總教練因素以及球隊過去的戰績，薪資不平均程度與例行賽勝率、晉級季後賽有著顯著的正相關，但與季後賽的戰績則沒有顯著的關聯，且將球隊以薪資不平均程度(以HHI作為衡量指標)分為高低中三個群組，在最高的群組，付出的豪華稅越多，越能幫助球隊晉級季後賽。同時根據logistic 廻歸研究結果發現HHI指標及GINI係數每增加1%，打進季後賽的機率分別會增加1.152%及1.049%的機率打進季後賽，另外就HHI就最不平均組別而言，球隊總薪資超過豪華稅門檻時，每多支付100萬美元的薪資可增加1.002%機率打入季後賽。本研究認為決定球賽的勝負，薪資策略固然重要，但只運用薪資策略本身來提升球隊例行賽勝率有限，必須考慮球隊本身特質、有效利用相關資源才能增加球隊勝率。 / This research uses NBA’s past 11 seasons (2002 to 2013 season) to explore the association with NBA team's salary structure and its performance. The research also tries to analysis the association between luxury tax and NBA team’s performance. The empirical results show that after control the number of players, audience, coach, and the last season’s winning percentage, the regular season’s performance has positive highly corrected with salary’s HHI and GINI index. However, the playoff’s performance does not associate with salary’s HHI and GINI index. The logistic regression model predicts that when a team increases 1 percent of HHI and GINI index, then the team increases 1.152% and 1.049% opportunity to make in the NBA playoff. The highest HHI group’s logistic model predicts that when a team increases 100 million salaries over luxury tax cap, the team can increase 1.002% opportunity to make in the NBA playoff. We believe that although the strategy of NBA’s salary is important, however, the salary strategy itself is not enough to dramatic increase team’s performance. In order to improve the performance of a team, the characteristic of a team, the coach, audience and the team winning history maybe play the more important role in increasing winning percentage.

Growth induced export has become a major concern for policy makers to transform and upgrade the export composition to achieve economic growth objectives; in this respect, export diversification become at the heart of growth induced export narrative. Nevertheless, this study attempts to find relationship between export diversification and economic growth. To investigate this relationship, a cross-section method is used with averaged data from the period 1991 to 2009 of 41 sub Saharan Africa countries; moreover, diagnostic tests were conducted to ensure the robustness of the model. The empirical result of this study shows positive correlation between export diversification and economic growth which can be concluded that export diversification promotes economic growth.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation examines the measurement of business concentration by the Herfindahl- Hirschman Index (HHI). In the course of the examination, a modification to this method of measurement of business concentration is proposed, in terms of which the accuracy of the conventional depiction of the HHI can be enhanced by a formulation involving the Gini index. Computational advantages in the use of this new method are identified, which reveal the Ginibased HHI to be an effective substitute for its regular counterpart. It is found that theoretically and in practice, the proposed new method has strengths that favour its usage. The practical advantages of employing this method are considered with a view to encouraging the measurement of business concentration using the Gini-based index of the HHI. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verhandeling ondersoek die meting van sakekonsentrasie deur middel van die Herfindahl- Hirschman-indeks (HHI). ‘n Wysiging aan hierdie metode word voorgestel, deur middel waarvan die akkuraatheid van die konvensionele voorstelling van die HHI verhoog word, deur ‘n formulering wat die Gini-indeks betrek. Die berekeningsvoordele van hierdie nuwe metode word geïdentifiseer en dit word aangetoon dat die Gini-gebaseerde HHI ’n doeltreffende plaasvervanger vir sy meer bekende teenvoeter is. Daar word bevind dat die voorgestelde nuwe metode teoretiese en praktiese sterkpunte het wat die gebruik daarvan ondersteun. Die praktiese voordele van die voorgestelde metode word oorweeg met die oog op die aanmoediging van die gebruik van die Gini-gebaseerde HHI-indeks as maatstaf van sakekonsentrasie.

Submitted by Antonio Lot (antonio.lot@uol.com.br) on 2013-06-21T18:06:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 versao final LOT.pdf: 962135 bytes, checksum: cb292bf6076c8fe3b4e332c33c200f69 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzinei Teles Garcia Garcia (suzinei.garcia@fgv.br) on 2013-06-21T19:13:40Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 versao final LOT.pdf: 962135 bytes, checksum: cb292bf6076c8fe3b4e332c33c200f69 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-06-21T19:15:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 versao final LOT.pdf: 962135 bytes, checksum: cb292bf6076c8fe3b4e332c33c200f69 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-05-24 / Intellectual production and technological development is being dominated by just a few countries, and appear to be highly correlated with social and economic strength. Brazil, better known for its raw materials production than technology, has been developing unique capabilities to produce fuel ethanol for decades, and has become a technological differentiator, which is helping the country gain new recognition as an innovator. The continuous focus on vertical specialization of the Sugar & Ethanol sector could bring Brazil to a privileged position in the world market. It is affording the country to move beyond being a mere supplier to becoming a real value-add player for bioethanol produced out of lignocellulosic biomass. The objective of this study is, among others, to analyze the R&D efforts that resulted in Application and Publishing of patents by official organizations, such as: The United States Patent and Trademark Office - USPTO; The European Patent Office - EPO, and the Instituto Nacional (Brazilian) de Propriedade Industrial - INPI, on 'Second Generation Ethanol'. In addition, it will validate whether these efforts are impacting the competitive power among countries and patent applicant firms. After having searched and analyzed data from the aforementioned bureaux, calculations were made both on the application and publishing of patents about lignocellulosic bioethanol using the Herfindahl Hirschman Index - HHI and the Concentration Ratio - CR4, which are traditionally applied by regulating authorities to test antitrust risk for merger and acquisitions between parties in a certain market. This method allows evaluators to measure their competitiveness level / market concentration between enterprises during mergers, ramp-up, asset-buying or asset-selling processes. Mainly, if there is a risk that patent applicants have the possibility of controlling a market in the short-term, or if there is a risk of racing to negotiate royalties of the event in inventive new technologies which improve efficiency in the production of advanced ethanol. According to data published in the U.S. only a handful of companies are responsible for a high concentration of research efforts measured by the number of patent applications related to lignocellulosic bioethanol in North American enterprises. The success of those efforts, considering the total published patents, does not show concentration either in the USA or in the European Union. In Brazil there are not yet published patents shown on Lignocellulosic Bioethanol, and only one Brazilian firm has a published patent in the USA (USPTO). These results suggest that scientific research investments in Brazil is only producing scientific articles, papers, and academic / scientific degrees rather than publishing patents in specialized bureaux which would enable firms to capitalize on their inventions of methods, processes and formulations, abroad or domestically. This may mean either low research effort of this type of ethanol origination, or an asset loss by author / firm by not having the due compensation including human, intellectual and financial resources. The results of this study contribute to the discussion on the growing demand for production and consolidated supply chain of renewable energy sources, such as advanced ethanol based upon sugarcane by-product (bagasse), under marketable costs as an incremental raw material in the near future. The conclusions of this study will indicate the need of improvement on the production of applied knowledge and in focused efforts to guarantee intellectual property that contemplates asset return with royalties / Produção intelectual e desenvolvimento tecnológico podem diferenciar países e regiões no processo de desenvolvimento socioeconômico. No caso do Brasil, observa-se o papel energético do etanol combustível para veículos motorizados leves como um resultado importante do avanço tecnológico do país, que vai além da aptidão agroclimática. A contínua busca pela especialização tecnológica verticalizada do setor sucroenergético poderia levar o Brasil a uma posição, se não autônoma, mais confortável, não só de produtor de matéria-prima, mas de processos agregadores de valor no que diz respeito aos processos de produção de etanol de segunda geração, produzido a partir de biomassa lignocelulósica. O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar os esforços de P&D que resultaram em Depósitos e Publicações de patentes em órgãos oficiais como o United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), o European Patent Office (EPO), e o Instituto Nacional de Propriedade Industrial (INPI), no tema etanol de segunda geração. Ainda, verifica-se se esses esforços impactam no poder concorrencial de países e firmas depositantes de patentes. Além das coletas e observações dos dados dos órgãos acima mencionados, foram calculados para os dados de depósitos e publicações de patentes no tema bioetanol lignocelulósico os índices de Herfindahl Hirschman (HHI) e a razão de concentração (Concentration Ratio) CR4, tradicionalmente utilizados para que órgãos reguladores de defesa do consumidor autorizem fusões e aquisições entre participantes de um determinado mercado. Esse método permite a observação do grau de competitividade entre as firmas depositantes de patentes no tema e a possível tendência sobre a detenção do controle em futuro próximo e a corrida para venda de royalties dos processos desenvolvidos em diferentes áreas tecnológicas para incrementar a produção industrial de etanol avançado. Os resultados indicam uma concentração elevada dos esforços de pesquisa, medidos pelos depósitos de patentes, referentes a etanol de segunda geração, em um número muito reduzido de empresas norte-americanas, quando analisada a base de dados dos EUA. O sucesso desses esforços, mensurados pela publicação de patentes, contudo, não se mostra concentrado nem nos EUA nem na União Europeia. No caso do Brasil, ainda não são encontradas publicações de patentes no tema Lignocellulosic Bioethanol, bem como apenas uma empresa brasileira possui uma patente publicada nos Estados Unidos. Esses resultados sugerem que investimentos em pesquisa científica no Brasil podem produzir mais artigos publicados e titulação acadêmica/científica que propriamente o registro de patentes em órgãos especializados em qualificar a invenção de métodos, processos ou fórmulas, dentro e fora do país. Isso pode significar tanto baixo esforço em pesquisa no assunto quanto à perda pelo autor e/ou sua instituição da oportunidade de ter seu esforço de pesquisa recompensado por meio de royalties, como compensação pela criatividade, dedicação intelectual e de recursos econômicos. Os resultados deste estudo contribuem para o debate a respeito da crescente necessidade de produção e abastecimento de fontes renováveis de energia, como o biocombustível etanol avançado à base do derivado bagaço de cana-de-açúcar, a custos mais competitivos como matéria-prima adicional e para produção incremental de etanol em futuro próximo. As conclusões do estudo indicam a necessidade do aumento na produção de conhecimento aplicado e em esforços para garantir sua propriedade intelectual, permitindo o retorno patrimonial com royalties.

som sjuksköterska är det oundvikligt under ens yrkesverksamma liv att inte komma i kontakt med döden och döendet. Kunskap om hur patienternas förmåga till att kunna känna hopp och hur detta kan stödjas av sjuksköterskan ter sig viktigt för att kunna erbjuda en hög kvalitativ vård i livets slutskede. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka: Hur hopp kan inges/upplevas i livets slutskede samt syftade studien vidare till att undersöka om patienters upplevelser av hopp överensstämmer med frågorna i instrumentet Herth Hope Index (HHI-S)? Metod: tio kvalitativa artiklar granskades. Resultat: Fem kategorier tolkades kunna representera patienternas upplevelse av hopp: socialt stöd, mål, andlighet, syn på livet samt kommunikation. Fyra kategorier visade sig kunna representera hur sjuksköterskan kunde inge hopp: kommunikation, mål, syn på livet samt tid. Frågorna i den Svenska versionen av Herth Hope Index (HHI-S)jämfördes med de funna kategorierna i föreliggande litteraturstudie. Slutsats: Det ter sig viktigt att som sjuksköterska känna till vilka källor som kan bidra till hopp. Sådan kunskap kan bidra till en kvalitativ omvårdnad och en hoppfull patient. HHI-S tolkades kunna fånga övervägande del av de funna kategorierna med undantag av kommunikation. / As a nurse it´s unavoidable during one´s professional career not to get in touch with death and dying. Knowledge about patient´s ability to feel hopeful and how this can be supported by the nurse seems important to be able to offer a high quality care at the end of life. The purpose of this literature review was to answer the questions: How can hope be given/be experienced by patient´s at the end of life? The purpose was also to investigate if the patient´s experiences of hope are congruent with the questions in the instrument Herth Hope Index (HHI-S) and the patient´s experiences of hope. Method: This literature review is based on 10 articles with a qualitative design. Results: Five categories where found from the patient´s perspective which all can increase the experience of hope. These where: social support, goals, spirituality, view of life and communication. The following four categories where found from the nursing perspective: communication, goals, view of life and time. The questions in the Swedish version of the Herth Hope Index (HHI-S)were compaired to the categories found in this literature review. Conclusion: It seems important as a nurse to know which sources that can contribute to hope. That kind of knowledge can contribute to a high quality care and a hopeful patient. The HHI-S seemed to capture most of the found categories except for communication.

Studien går ut på att analysera marknadsstrukturen för två industriföretag(Holmen och SCA) under antagandet att båda konkurrerar mot varandragenom att köpa rå material samt genom att sälja förädlade produkter.Produktmarknaden som undersöks är pappersmarknaden och antas varakoncentrerad. Rå materialmknaden som undersöks ärmassavedmarknaden och antas karaktäriseras som en duopsony. Detvisade sig att Holmen och SCA köper massaved från en stor mängdskogsägare. Varje företag skapar varje månad en prislista där de bestämmerbud priset föassaved. Priset varierar beroende på region. Både SCA ochHolmen väljer mellan två strategiska beslut, antigen att buda högt pris ellerlågt pris. Genom spelteori så visade det sig att båda industriföretagenanvänder mixade strategier då de i vissa tillfällen budar högt och i andratillfällen budar lågt. Nash jämviktslägen för mixade strategier räknades utmatematiskt och analyserades genom dynamisk spelteori.Marknadskoncentrationen för pappersmarknaden undersöktes viaHerfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI). Porters femkraftsmodell användes föratt analysera industri konkurrensen. Resultatet visade attproduktmarknaden är koncentrerad då HHI testerna gav höga indexvärdenmellan 3100 och 1700. Det existerade dessutom ett Nash jämviktsläge fö mixade strategier som gav SCA förväntad lönsamhet 1651 miljoner kronoroch Holmen 1295 miljoner kronor. Dynamisk spelteori visade att SCA ochHolmens budgivning följer ett mönster och att högt/lågt bud beror påavvikelser från Nash jämviktslägets sannolikhetsdistribution. Nashjämviktslägets råder ifall sannolikhetsdistributionerna vid låg budgivningär 68,6 procent för SCA och 66,7 procent för Holmen. Detta gav indikatore för icke samarbetsvilliga spel. Slutsatsen är att om två spelare (kvarnar) når / The research aims to analyze the market structure of two companies in th forest industry (Holmen and SCA) with the assumption that thes companies compete at buying raw materials and selling products. Theproduct market in this study is the paper market under the assumption thatboth companies operate in a concentrated product market. The rawmatial market that one investigates in this study is the pulpwood marketunder the assumption that it is a duopsony. What this study has concludedis that Holmen and SCA buy pulpwood from lots of different self-managingforest owners. Each company creates a monthly pricelist where they decidethe bid price of pulpwood. The amount varies depending on the region. Bot SCA and Holmen chooses between two strategic decisions, either to bid highor to bid low. Through game theory, it has been clear that each company usesmixed strategies as they sometimes give high bids and sometimes give lowbids. The Nash equilibrium for mixed strategies have been calculatedmathematically and analyzed through the dynamics of game theory. As fore market concentration, the product market has been investigatedthrough the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI). Porter's five-force modelwas used to analyze the industry competition. The results showed that theproduct market is concentrated as the HHI tests gave High index scoresbetween 3100 and 1700. In addition, there existed a Nash equilibrium in amixed strategy that gave SCA expected payoff 1651 million SEK and Holmen1295 million SEK. The dynamic game theory showed that SCA and Holmen'sbidding follows a repeating trajectory and that the high/low bidding is dueto deviations from Nash equilibrium probability distribution. The Nashequilibrium situation prevails if the probability distribution at low biddingis 68.6 percent for SCA and 66,7 percent for Holmen. This providedindicators for a non-cooperative game. The conclusion is that if two players

No description available.

My dissertation consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, I analyze theeffect of the merger between American Airlines (AA) & US Airways (US) on market price and product quality. I use two complementary methodologies: difference-in-differences (DID) and merger simulation. Contrary to other results in the airline literature, the DID analysis shows that, overall, price has decreased as a result of themerger. While divestitures required as part of the merger had a strong price-reducing effect, the overall decrease involves non-divestiture markets as well. Interestingly, the decrease appears only in large airport-pair markets, whereas prices rose considerably in smaller ones. Effects on quality are mixed. The DID analysis shows that the merger reduced flight cancellations, increased flight delays, and had no effect on flight frequency or capacity overall. Using merger simulation, I find that the change in ownership leads to a 3% increase in price. The structural model performs betterin predicting the post-merger price if I allow the model to deviate from the Bertrand-Nash conduct. A 10% cost reduction due to the merger is able to predict the post-merger price quite well. When I incorporate a conduct parameter into the model, the required percentage of cost savings is lower. Given the divestiture and the subsequententry of low-cost carriers (LCCs), tacit collusion may break down. Thus both cost savings and reduced cooperation could explain a reduction in the price in the post-merger period.<div><br></div><div>In my second chapter, I analyze possible reasons why airline prices are higher inthe smaller markets compared to larger markets. In the literature, most of the studies ignore the fact that the smaller markets are different compared to larger markets in terms of the nature of competition. I find that a combination of lower competition, and lack of entry from low cost carriers (LCCs) are the reasons behind higher prices in the smaller city-pair markets. I show that price is substantially higher in a market with a fewer number of firms controlling for several other factors. My paper estimates the modified critical number of firms to be 5 and the critical value of the HHI to be .6.<br><div><br></div><div>In my third chapter, I study the effect of announcement of investment in research & development (R&D) on the value of a firm in the pharmaceutical industry. Three types of R&D by the pharmaceutical firms are considered for the analysis: acquisition of other smaller firms, internal investment in R&D, and collaborative investment in R&D. This chapter finds that few target specific characteristics and financial charac-teristics of the acquiring firm are important drivers of the abnormal returns around the announcement period.<br></div><div><br></div></div>

This thesis presents an econometric methodology for analyzing the impact of market concentration (HHI) on the day rate prices paid by E&P operators for the lease of drilling rigs. It is an extension of the work of Lee (2008), ‘Measuring the Impact of Concentration in the Drilling Rig Market’. Specifically, the work entailed using a more detailed time series data than was initially used (quarterly), analyzing impact of concentration on day rate prices by water depth specification of drilling rigs, and accounting for the impact of autocorrelation on the analysis. The results for jack-ups, without adjustment for autocorrelation, supported the results of the prior study i.e. showing that increase in HHI causes rig day rate price increase. However, the results for semi-submersibles was inconclusive as it varied from region to region and also was contrary to the assumptions of positive relationships between HHI and day rate prices made in this study. These results imply that market concentration caused both price increase and decrease within the industry depending on whether it increased market power or increased cost efficiency and technological ability. / text

In the thesis, we examine the bank lending channel and the effect of banking market structure on the transmission of monetary policy in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. We employ bank-level data for the period of 2011-2017 to detect if banks with different characteristics react differently to monetary policy shocks. Banking market structure is proxied by three measures-CR5, HHI, and Lerner Index. We estimate two types of models: dynamic (with system GMM) and static (with FE) models. We also consider the effect of dollarization on bank loan supply as well as on monetary policy. We do not find consistent evidence that banks react differently to monetary policy shocks depending on bank characteristics (size, capitalization, and liquidity). Hence the existence of the lending channel is not conclusive. Nevertheless, the results show that monetary policy is less effective in more concentrated markets. This finding is robust in all specifications with both types of models. In this sense, competition is not significant. The results also suggest that dollarization weakens the effect of domestic monetary policy. Keywords bank lending channel, CR5, HHI, Lerner Index, system GMM, dollarization Author's e-mail t.jvarize@yahoo.com Supervisor's e-mail janxmares@gmail.com