Thesis "Money, Time and Information: An Austrian Approach" presents analysis on theory of money through classic view of Austrian economics which is combined with mutual dependence of system complexity, time and information. Money are considered as market emergent phenomena and therefore as its basic element. Spontaneous processes leads into origin of complex economic structures which are not static, but in constant evolution. Emerging complexity makes reduction of economic phenomena to aggregates or index numbers impossible. It is therefore important to comprehend these problems in context of structure and time in which structural change come into existence. This thesis emphasizes relation of money to informational and intertemporal role of prices and interest rate. This approach is then applied to possibility of monetary and regulatory policy to perceive all those complex interdependencies.

O Brasil possui um sistema peculiar de direito intertemporal,segundo o qual (1) em regra, a lei nova atua com efeito imediato, atingindo os fatos presentes, futuros e pendentes; todavia (2) pode o Legislador conferir efeito retroativo à lei nova, dispondo que os efeitos desta atinjam fatos passados; (3) seja qual for o efeito da lei nova, o Juiz deverá garantir que esta não atinja o direito adquirido, o ato jurídico perfeito e a coisa julgada, conferindo ultratividade aos efeitos da lei revogada. Diferentemente do que se dá com sistemas estrangeiros, no Brasil o princípio da irretroatividade limita todos os possíveis efeitos da lei nova, e não somente o retroativo. Nesse contexto, para resolver os problemas de direito intertemporal, o intérprete deverá se valer da seguinte regra: \"independentemente de seu particular efeito, aplica-se a lei nova desde que não ofenda o direito adquirido, o ato jurídico perfeito e a coisa julgada\". Para verificar se existe uma destas três figuras, deverá analisar se o direito integra o patrimônio do titular (direito adquirido), se o fato já produziu todos os seus efeitos (ato jurídico perfeito) ou se a decisão de mérito não comporta mais recursos (coisa julgada). Auxiliam nesta tarefa, por interpretação contrario sensu, as noções de expectativa de direito e de faculdade jurídica. Este sistema resolve a generalidade das questões de direito intertemporal, não devendo o intérprete importar regras alienígenas que destoam da tradição jurídica nacional, e.g. a teoria dos fatos consumados e dos níveis de retroatividade. A demonstrar esta tese, resolvemos os principais conflitos de leis no direito civil, confrontando o Código Civil de 2002 com o de 1916. A todo momento, porém, procuramos analisar o sistema jurídico como um todo, verificando se a lei nova realmente contraria direito adquirido ou se este já não poderia ser considerado um não-direito mesmo não havendo lei que o proibisse. O intérprete não pode permitir que o direito intertemporal seja utilizado para agasalhar atos imperfeitos e direitos aparentes, blindando negócios inválidos que não têm e não devem receber proteção contra o advento de lei nova que os expressamente proíba. / Il Brasile possiede un sistema peculiare di diritto intertemporale, secondo il quale (1) in genere, la legge nuova agisce con effetto immediato, raggiungendo i fattori presenti, futuri e pendenti; tuttavia (2) il Legislatore può conferire effetto retroattivo alla legge nuova, disponendo che gli effetti di questa raggiungano i fatti passati; (3) qualsiasi sia l\'effetto della legge nuova, il Giudice dovrà garantire che questa non raggiunga il diritto acquisito, l\'atto giuridico perfetto e la cosa giudicata, conferendo ultrattività agli effetti della legge revocata. Diversamente da quello che succede ai sistemi stranieri, in Brasile il principio della irretroattività limita tutti i possibili effetti della legge nuova, e non solo il retroattivo. In questo contesto, per risolvere i problemi di diritto intertemporale, l\'interprete dovrà avvalersi della seguente regola: \"indipendentemente dal suo particolare effetto, si applica la legge nuova a condizione che non offenda il diritto acquisito, l\'atto giuridico perfetto e la cosa giudicata\". Per verificare se esista una di queste tre figure, dovrà analizzare se il diritto integra il patrimonio del titolare (diritto acquisito), se il fatto ha già prodotto tutti i suoi effetti (atto giuridico peifetto) o se la decisione del merito non comporta più ricorsi (cosa giudicata). A questo compito aiutano, per interpretazione \"contrario sensu\", le nozioni di aspettativa di diritto e di facoltà giuridica. Questo sistema risolve la generalità delle questioni del diritto intertemporale, non dovendo l\'interprete importare regole estranee che escano dalla tradizione giuridica nazionale, \'e. g.\' la teoria dei fatti consumati e dei livelli di retroattività. A dimostrare questa tesi, abbiamo risolto i principali conflitti di leggi nel diritto civile, confrontando il Codice Civile del 2002 con quello del 1916. In tutti i momenti, però abbiamo cercato di analizzare il sistema giuridico come un tutto, verificando se la legge nuova realmente va contro il diritto acquisito o se questo già non potrebbe esser considerato un \"non-diritto\" anche qualora non ci siano leggi che lo proibiscano. L\'inteprete non può permettere che il diritto intertemporale sia utilizzato per abbracciare \"atti imperfetti\" e \"diritti apparenti\", bloccando negozi invalidi che non hanno e non devono ricevere protezione contro l\'apparire di legge nuova che li proibisca espressamente.

本篇論文建立一般化（與 Bond et al. (1994)比較）兩部門內生性成長模型，其中實質資本與人力資本之生產技術是固定規模報酬。利用傳統靜態國貿理論２Ｘ２模型的特性及結合跨期無套利條件，我們証明出在下列三種情形下(i) 0<α<1 (ii)α=1 (iii) α=0，均衡成長是馬鞍均衡穩定，要素密集度之大小不會影響這項推論。最後，我們仔細研究動態調整的過程並且討論時間偏好及支出比改變的長期效果。 / In this paper, we develop a "more" (compared with Bond et al. (1994)) general two-sector endogenous growth model with constant-return-to-scale production technologies governing the evolution of physical and human capital. 　　By utilizing the properties of traditional static 2x2 inter- national trade model and combining an intertemporal no-arbitrage condition which links the capital gain on human capital to the difference between the rentals on capital and wage rate, we prove that the balanced growth equilibrium is saddle-path stable in three cases (i) 0<α<1 (ii)α=1 (iii) α=0 regardless of the factor intensity ranking. 　　Finally, we provide a detail characterization of transitional dynamics and discuss the long-run effects of changes in time pre-ference and the expenditure share,α.

The theme of this dissertation is Ricardian equivalence, and its objective is to examine the effects of government debt on private consumption expenditures (Essay One), on interest rates (Essay Two), on the current account balance (Essay Three), and on individual intertemporal decision-making (Essay Four). The effects of government debt are important if debt is neutral (e.g., if “Ricardian equivalence” holds), then a stabilization program that is based on demand management policy to curtail fiscal deficits will not be operative. On the other hand, if debt is not neutral (or if Ricardian equivalence does not hold), then deficit finance may induce private consumption, boost interest rates, crowd out investment, and retard economic growth. Essay One contributes to the existing literature by taking into account the nature of liquidity constraints in a developing economy in an aggregate consumption function. Previous empirical tests on Ricardian equivalence have not considered the role of a dominant resource aspect of a country. Essay Two and Essay Three incorporate a dominant resource aspect in Indonesia by estimating the oil-macroeconomic relationship. Furthermore, Essay Three takes into account the role of capital inflows by including debt securities. Essay Four uses experimental economics methods to examine the role of distortionary taxes on Ricardian equivalence. There have been only a few studies that use an experimental approach to examine the effect of deficit spending on consumption expenditures, but these existing experimental studies ignore the role of distortionary taxes in affecting subjects’ consumption-saving decisions and focus on the presence of liquidity constraints, myopia, and uncertainty on future income. Essay Four contributes to the Ricardian equivalence literature by taking into account distortionary taxes in a Ricardian institution by levying taxes on savings in an intertemporal individual consumption-savings decision in laboratory experiments. By utilizing the aggregate consumption function and the Euler equation consumption function, Essay One shows that Indonesian consumers tend to behave in a non-Ricardian way. Public debt most likely will lead to crowding out of investment, and will retard capital accumulation and economic growth. The extent to which individuals perceive government expenditures as complements for their consumption is substantial. An increase in government expenditures will increase the marginal utility of private consumption and has an expansionary effect on aggregate demand. The complementarity between private consumption and government expenditures may be partly due to the allocation of government subsidies to basic goods and services such as electricity, fuel, fertilizer, health centers, and education. Liquidity constraints may cause consumption to have an excess sensitivity to income. The short-run and long-run aggregate consumption function estimates show that income affects consumption, indicating that consumers follow a “rule of thumb” of consuming their current income. A high ratio of public debt to gross domestic product (GDP) in Indonesia may also be the culprit of the excess sensitivity of private consumption to income. Due to low salaries in the formal sector, employees have been engaged in moonlighting activities, mostly in the form of self-employment (e.g., opening retail stores or services). This phenomenon may help to explain why private credit−which amounts to 29 percent of GDP−fails to explain consumption behavior. Most loans are made for investment rather than for consumption. Consumers’ behavior is insensitive to taxation, which perhaps is due to the fact that tax enactment is not explicitly revealed in Indonesia (e.g., price tags in the supermarket include the sales tax, and employees are only informed about their after-tax net wage instead of their gross wage). The share of tax collections to GDP averages only about 15 percent. There is still a large portion of the population who do not pay taxes or who pay far below what they should pay. The fiscal authority needs to focus more attention on alternative financing, i.e. taxation, whose system is essential to be enhanced. Essay Two shows that by excluding oil prices, deficits and debt significantly increase the real interest rate, thereby invalidating Ricardian equivalence. The evidence shows some preference for debt and deficit over government expenditures as determinants of interest rates. Inclusion of the oil price weakens the Neoclassical results, providing more support for the Ricardian paradigm. Deficits no longer increase interest rates, yet debt still significantly increases interest rates. This result reflects a loss of momentum for the Indonesian government two decades ago to decrease its dependency on debt. The government could have used the windfall oil revenue to pay off foreign debt; instead, the windfall was spent on import-intensive infrastructure development projects, in order to build domestic industry and to subsidize rice and petroleum products. The importance of oil prices in the interest rate estimation suggests that in modeling the Indonesian macroeconomy, the oil sector should be incorporated. The non-stationary nature of the stock of debt implies the failure of intertemporal budget balance to hold, indicating that the debt-financed deficit is unsustainable. Essay Three shows that around 80 percent of the estimation results provide support for the Neoclassical view, a result that is consistent with the twin deficits hypothesis. The long-run estimates indicate an almost one-to-one relationship between the government budget and the trade balance, while the short-run estimates show a smaller magnitude. When capital inflows are included, the twin deficits phenomenon is less pronounced in the short-run and disappears in the long-run. An increase in the oil price statistically and significantly improves the trade balance in the short-run and in the long-run. Essay Four shows that subjects fully anticipate an increase in future taxation by increasing the amount bequeathed in one-to-one correspondence to the increase in debt. Even under a Ricardian institution, the distorting nature of taxes on savings alters subjects’ consumption-savings decisions. The equality of the change in bequests and the change in deficit spending is not attained under the savings taxes treatment, invalidating Ricardian equivalence. In line with the results of Essays One, Two, and Three, which suggest the vital need to enhance the taxation system, the results of Essay Four entail the importance of taxes on interest income in Indonesia.

Human decision making is closely related to reward processing because many decisions rely to a certain degree on the evaluation of different outcome values. Reward-based decisions can be health-related, for example if someone has to compare the outcome value of the instant reward of smoking a cigarette to that of the long term goal of keeping well and fit. Such comparisons do not only rely on the nominal value of the alternatives but also on devaluation of rewards over time. The value of being healthy at older age might outweigh the value of smoking a cigarette but since the payoff of the health-outcome will be delayed, humans tend to decrease the value of this option. Therefore in this example one might choose the immediate reward of smoking a cigarette. The proclivity to devaluate the value of rewards over time has been widely investigated with experimental intertemporal choice tasks, in which subjects have to choose between smaller sooner rewards and larger later rewards. A stronger individual devaluation proclivity (i.e. discounting rate) has been reported to be related to addiction. Research in neuroeconomics has suggested the competing neurobehavioural decision systems (CNDS) theory, proposing that an imbalance between an executive (cortical prefrontal brain areas) and an impulsive (i.e. subcortical areas, such as ventral striatum (VS), amygdala) system in the brain leads to steeper discounting and a higher risk for addiction. Additionally, temporal discounting has been proposed as a transdisease process, i.e., “a process that occurs across a range of disorders, making findings from one disorder relevant to other disorders” (Bickel, Jarmolowicz, Mueller, Koffarnus, & Gatchalian, 2012, Abstract). Thus, the CNDS theory and temporal discounting might also have implications for other health-related behaviour than substance use. So far many factors have been shown to be associated with higher discount rates: for instance, adolescent age, lower intelligence and nicotine dependence. Further, it has been shown that adolescents are at highest risk to start smoking. On the other hand a higher education level has been shown to be associated to lower rates of smoking. Thus, it seems likely that a higher discount rate might be one reason why adolescents experiment with smoking, why lower education is associated to nicotine addiction and why dependent smokers are not successful in smoking cessation. But relatively little is known about the neural processes behind these variables, which could be also seen as exemplary risk- and protective factors regarding addiction. The 3 studies of the thesis at hand were conducted to extend the knowledge about neural processes associated to age, intelligence and smoking in their relation to intertemporal choice. The task was chosen because of its relevance for addiction and a variety of health-related behaviour. The first study was conducted to explore the neural correlates of age related differences between adolescents at age 14 and young adults during intertemporal choices. Additionally, the roles of discounting and choice consistency were investigated. Although adoles-cents discounted delayed rewards more steeply than adults, neural processing of reward value did not differ between groups, when controlling reward values for the individual discount rates. However, a higher discount rate was related to a lower responsivity in the ventral striatum to delayed rewards, independent of age. Concerning decision making, adolescents exhib-ited a lower consistency of choices and less brain activity in a parietal network than adults (i.e. posterior and inferior parietal regions). Thus, reward value processing might be more sensitive to the discount rate than to chronological age. Lower consistency of intertemporal choices might indicate ongoing maturation of parietal brain areas from adolescence to young adulthood. The second study was conducted to reveal the associations between neural processes of decision making and intelligence in adolescents. The results of study 2 revealed networks in the adolescent brain where brain activity was related to crystallised intelligence as well as to intertemporal choice behaviour. Specifically, during decision processing higher crystallised intelligence as well as more consistent decisions were associated with higher brain activity in the posterior parietal cortex. Processing of delayed rewards was also related to crystallised intelligence, i.e. more intelligent adolescents showed higher brain activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), which was in turn related to a lower discount rate. Additionally, associations between the parental education level and crys-tallised intelligence of the adolescent participants of the study and their discount rate were found, indicating that parental education as an environmental factor could be related to a low-er risk for addiction. This protective effect might be mediated by the offspring’s crystallised intelligence and discount rate which are both related to brain activity in parts of the same brain networks (i.e. the IFG). The third study was done to investigate neural processes of intertemporal decisions in smokers and non-smokers. To test whether the effects of smoking on the discount rate are due to chronic or acute nicotine intake, non-smokers were additionally assessed under acute nico-tine administration. Study 3 revealed that the effects of nicotine on intertemporal choice behaviour were related to chronic intake of nicotine in smokers rather than to acute nicotine ad-ministration in non-smokers. Regarding the neural processes, smokers compared to non-smokers showed lower brain activity in the posterior parietal cortex. Comparable but weaker effects were found under acute nicotine in non-smokers. Although acute nicotine administra-tion altered neural processes, behavioural changes might only occur after repeated nicotine intake. However, the study did not preclude that the differences are predrug characteristics. Altogether the studies revealed overlapping neural correlates of intertemporal choices which are related to the individual age, the discount rate, the choice consistency, the individual intelligence as well as acute and chronic nicotine intake. This might provide an integrative view on how inter-individual differences and behaviour during intertemporal choices are based on common neural correlates which in turn might have implications for the development and the maintenance of addiction. Specifically, hyposensitivity towards delayed rewards in the adolescent ventral striatum, which has also been found in smokers compared to non-smokers, is associated with higher discount rates and higher risk for smoking initiation. In contrast, higher activation in the IFG and the ACC in more intelligent individuals during reward value processing might enhance behavioural inhibition and control and, hence, might prevent nicotine addiction. In line with the CNDS theory responsivity in subcortical brain areas (i.e. impulsive system), such as the VS was related to the risk factor of adolescent age, whereas activity in cortical areas (IFG and ACC) was related to the protective factors of high-er crystallised intelligence. Since there was only one study beside the studies of the current thesis reporting results regarding consistency, one can only speculate about implications for health-related behaviour, such as addiction. Consistency might play a role, especially for cessation success. Thus, the findings that adolescents as well as less intelligent individuals were less consistent might point to a higher risk for maintenance of nicotine addiction. The higher brain activity in a fronto-parietal network, which has been shown in studies 1 and 2 in adults as well as in more intelligent adolescents, was related to higher consistency of choices in both studies. Thus, the finding might be a possible neural correlate for the association between the risk factor of ado-lescent age, the protective factor of higher crystallised intelligence, and more consistent deci-sion making. In conclusion the findings of the current thesis contribute to a better understanding of how inter-individual differences and environmental factors might be accompanied by neural processes which in turn might be related to individual development of addiction. Further the results might extend the CNDS theory regarding neural correlates of exemplary risk and pro-tective factors regarding adolescents’ health behaviour and smoking in adults.

La présente thèse expose, analyse et critique les positions classiques et modernes à l’égard de la nature et des causes de la faiblesse de volonté. L’identification du problème par Platon et Aristote a donné lieu à l’explicitation de principes et propositions portant sur la rationalité pratique en général et la motivation en particulier. Une discussion de ces principes et propositions est faite dans la mesure où ils ont conservé une certaine pertinence pour les théories modernes. Ce qui est devenu la conception standard de la stricte akrasie ainsi que son caractère prétendument paradoxal sont mis de l’avant. Nous argumentons qu’une position sceptique à l’égard de la stricte akrasie ne peut pas reposer sur une version ou une autre de la théorie des préférences révélées et montrons qu’une description du processus décisionnel est nécessaire pour attribuer une préférence synthétique ou un meilleur jugement. Nous abordons le débat philosophique qui oppose une conception internaliste du lien entre le meilleur jugement et la décision à une conception externaliste, et soutenons, sur la base de résultats expérimentaux en psychologie cognitive et en neuroscience, que cette dernière conception est plus robuste, bien qu’imparfaite. Ces résultats ne vont pas toutefois à l’encontre de l’hypothèse que les agents sont des maximisateurs dans la satisfaction de leur préférence, laquelle hypothèse continue de justifier une forme de scepticisme à l’égard de la stricte akrasie. Nous exposons, par contre, des arguments solides à l’encontre de cette hypothèse et montrons pourquoi la maximisation n’est pas nécessairement requise pour le choix rationnel et que nous devons, par conséquent, réviser la conception standard de la stricte akrasie. Nous discutons de l’influente théorie de Richard Holton sur la faiblesse de volonté non strictement akratique. Bien que compatible avec une conception non maximisante, sa théorie réduit trop les épisodes de faiblesse de volonté à des cas d’irrésolution. Nous exposons finalement la théorie du choix intertemporel. Cette théorie est plus puissante parce qu’elle décrit et explique, à partir d’un même schème conceptuel, autant la stricte akrasie que l’akrasie tout court. Ce schème concerne les propriétés des distributions temporelles des conséquences des décisions akratiques et les attitudes prospectives qui motivent les agents à les prendre. La structure de ces distributions, couplée à la dévaluation à l’égard du futur, permet également d’expliquer de manière simple et élégante pourquoi la faiblesse de volonté est irrationnelle. Nous discutons de l’hypothèse qu’une préférence temporelle pure est à la source d’une telle dévaluation et mentionnons quelques éléments critiques et hypothèses concurrentes plus conformes à une approche cognitiviste du problème. / This thesis explains, analyses and examines the classical and modern positions on the nature and causes of the weakness of will. Since Plato and Aristotle’s identification of the problem, many principles and propositions on the subject of practical rationality in general and motivation in particular have been examined in details. These principles and propositions are being discussed on the basis that they are still somewhat relevant to modern theories. An emphasis is made on what is now known as the standard conception of strict akrasia and its supposedly paradoxical nature. We argue that a skeptical position toward strict akrasia cannot be based on one version or another of the preference-revealed theory and we demonstrate that a description of the decision process is necessary to assign an overall preference or a better judgment. We discuss the philosophical debate on internalist and externalist conceptions of the connection between better judgment and decision. We then argue that, based on experimental results in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, the externalist conception, although imperfect, is stronger. But these experimental results are not incompatible with the hypothesis that agents are maximizers when it comes to the satisfaction of their preference. This hypothesis continues to justify a form of skepticism toward strict akrasia. However, we strongly argue against this hypothesis and we demonstrate why maximization is not absolutely necessary to rational choice; therefore, we have to revise the standard conception of strict akrasia. We then discuss Richard Holton’s influential theory on non-strictly akratic weakness of will. Although compatible with a non-maximizing conception, Holton’s theory tends to reduce episodes of weakness of will to irresolution cases. Lastly, we introduce the theory of intertemporal choice, a more potent theory that describes and explains, with the same conceptual schema, both strict and non-strict akrasia. This schema concerns the properties of temporal distribution of akratic decision’s consequences and the prospective attitudes that motivate agents to make those decisions. Also, the structure of these distributions, along with the devaluation of the future, allows us to explain, clearly and simply, why weakness of will is irrational. We discuss the hypothesis that this devaluation of the future is due to a pure temporal preference and we mention a number of critical elements and rival hypothesis more in keeping with a cognitive approach to the problem.

The financial and exchange rate crisis observed in Argentine at the end of 2001 showed the importance of understanding the factors that explain the evolution of the balance of payments and, in particular, of the current account. The objective of this work is to show recent developments in the theory of the current account and its application to the Argentine case. In the first place, short and long term correlations between national saving and domestic investment is considered through a model of a mechanism of correction of errors. Later, the paper analyzes the main shocks that affect to the current account in agreement with different theories. Finally, the paper shows the intertemporary approach of the current account. In this case, the paper considers a standard version of this approach and a model that makes flexible some of its main basic assumptions. / La crisis financiera y cambiaria que tuvo lugar en la Argentina hacia fines del año 2001 puso de relieve la importancia de entender los factores que explican la evolución de la balanza de pagos y, en particular, de la cuenta corriente. El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar algunos de los desarrollos relativamente recientes en la teoría de la cuenta corriente y su aplicación al caso argentino. En primer lugar, se estima la correlación de corto y de largo plazo entre las tasas de ahorro nacional y de inversión doméstica, a través de un modelo planteado en la forma de un mecanismo de corrección de errores. Posteriormente, se analizan los principales shocks que podrían afectar a la cuenta corriente, de acuerdo con diferentes teorías. Por último, se describe la propuesta intertemporal de la cuenta corriente. Para ello, se expone, en primer lugar, la versión estándar de esta propuesta y, posteriormente, un modelo que flexibiliza algunos de sus principales supuestos básicos.

This thesis deals with current discourse whether methods of neuroscience generate useful tools for standard economics to understand, predict and ideally guide behavior of humans, social groups and the whole economies. An initial methodological analysis concluded that the usefulness of neuroeconomics is still only potential, since this approach is not able to answer substantial questions of economics in better way than tools existing. Following sections of thesis summarized representative research in the field of decision neuroscience in the areas of intertemporal decisions, decision-making under risk and uncertainty and the strategic interactions, and social preferences respectively. It has been demonstrated that many findings of decision neuroscience offer a partial confirmation of specific economic models already or provide inspiration for creating new ones.

Les systèmes d’échange de quotas d’émission (SEQEs) sont un instrument de régulation environnementale important et ont un rôle clef à jouer dans la réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre pour l’atténuation du changement climatique. Cette thèse a une double orientation : les liaisons spatiales entre SEQEs d'une part et les échanges inter-temporels au sein d’un SEQE d'autre part.Les liaisons entre SEQEs peuvent aider à établir un futur cadre de politique climatique mondiale coût-efficient. Cependant, ces liaisons sont difficiles à mettre en place et à ce jour, peu nombreuses. Dans un premier temps, à l’aide d’un modèle simple et unifié et en se basant sur des expériences réelles de SEQEs, nous comparons différentes restrictions à l’échange comme éléments facilitants une transition vers le libre échange de quotas. Dans un deuxième temps, nous construisons un modèle qui décrit et caractérise analytiquement les effets et gains associés à des liaisons multilatérales sous incertitude. Ensuite, le modèle est calibré sur émissions historiques de différentes juridictions pour illustrer les déterminants des préférences de liaison.Les SEQEs sont sujets à de l’incertitude réglementaire, ce qui peut affaiblir leurs efficience coût dynamique et signal prix de long terme. La prévalence d’une telle incertitude peut être assimilée à une situation d’ambiguïté. Nous analysons alors les décisions inter-temporelles d’entités couvertes par un SEQE et averses à l’ambiguïté puis caractérisons les distorsions induites sur le fonctionnement du système. Nous discutons enfin de l’éclairage apportés par ces résultats en rapport aux observations faites dans les SEQEs existants. / Emissions Trading Systems (ETSs) are an important instsrument in regulating pollution and have a key role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change. This dissertation has a twin focus: spatial linkages between ETSs at a point in time and intertemporal trading within an ETS.Linkages between ETSs are crucial for cost-effectiveness of the future climate policy architecture. Complete linkages, however, are difficult to agree and to date, few and far between. Here, our contribution is twofold. First, using a simple and unified model and drawing on experiences with real-world ETSs, we compare alternative trade restrictions on bilateral linkages in facilitating the transition to an unrestricted link. Second, we provide a general model to describe and analytically characterize the effects and gains from multilateral linkages under uncertainty. The model is then calibrated to historical emissions of real-world jurisdictions to illustrate the determinants of linkage preferences.ETSs are subject to regulatory uncertainty, which can disrupt dynamic cost-effectiveness and undermine their long-term price signal. The prevalence of regulatory uncertainty can be assimilated to a situation of ambiguity. Here, our contribution is to analyze regulated entities’ intertemporal decisions under ambiguity aversion, characterize the induced distortions in market functioning, and discuss how these can help explain observations from existing ETSs.

Human decision making is closely related to reward processing because many decisions rely to a certain degree on the evaluation of different outcome values. Reward-based decisions can be health-related, for example if someone has to compare the outcome value of the instant reward of smoking a cigarette to that of the long term goal of keeping well and fit. Such comparisons do not only rely on the nominal value of the alternatives but also on devaluation of rewards over time. The value of being healthy at older age might outweigh the value of smoking a cigarette but since the payoff of the health-outcome will be delayed, humans tend to decrease the value of this option. Therefore in this example one might choose the immediate reward of smoking a cigarette. The proclivity to devaluate the value of rewards over time has been widely investigated with experimental intertemporal choice tasks, in which subjects have to choose between smaller sooner rewards and larger later rewards. A stronger individual devaluation proclivity (i.e. discounting rate) has been reported to be related to addiction. Research in neuroeconomics has suggested the competing neurobehavioural decision systems (CNDS) theory, proposing that an imbalance between an executive (cortical prefrontal brain areas) and an impulsive (i.e. subcortical areas, such as ventral striatum (VS), amygdala) system in the brain leads to steeper discounting and a higher risk for addiction. Additionally, temporal discounting has been proposed as a transdisease process, i.e., “a process that occurs across a range of disorders, making findings from one disorder relevant to other disorders” (Bickel, Jarmolowicz, Mueller, Koffarnus, & Gatchalian, 2012, Abstract). Thus, the CNDS theory and temporal discounting might also have implications for other health-related behaviour than substance use. So far many factors have been shown to be associated with higher discount rates: for instance, adolescent age, lower intelligence and nicotine dependence. Further, it has been shown that adolescents are at highest risk to start smoking. On the other hand a higher education level has been shown to be associated to lower rates of smoking. Thus, it seems likely that a higher discount rate might be one reason why adolescents experiment with smoking, why lower education is associated to nicotine addiction and why dependent smokers are not successful in smoking cessation. But relatively little is known about the neural processes behind these variables, which could be also seen as exemplary risk- and protective factors regarding addiction. The 3 studies of the thesis at hand were conducted to extend the knowledge about neural processes associated to age, intelligence and smoking in their relation to intertemporal choice. The task was chosen because of its relevance for addiction and a variety of health-related behaviour. The first study was conducted to explore the neural correlates of age related differences between adolescents at age 14 and young adults during intertemporal choices. Additionally, the roles of discounting and choice consistency were investigated. Although adoles-cents discounted delayed rewards more steeply than adults, neural processing of reward value did not differ between groups, when controlling reward values for the individual discount rates. However, a higher discount rate was related to a lower responsivity in the ventral striatum to delayed rewards, independent of age. Concerning decision making, adolescents exhib-ited a lower consistency of choices and less brain activity in a parietal network than adults (i.e. posterior and inferior parietal regions). Thus, reward value processing might be more sensitive to the discount rate than to chronological age. Lower consistency of intertemporal choices might indicate ongoing maturation of parietal brain areas from adolescence to young adulthood. The second study was conducted to reveal the associations between neural processes of decision making and intelligence in adolescents. The results of study 2 revealed networks in the adolescent brain where brain activity was related to crystallised intelligence as well as to intertemporal choice behaviour. Specifically, during decision processing higher crystallised intelligence as well as more consistent decisions were associated with higher brain activity in the posterior parietal cortex. Processing of delayed rewards was also related to crystallised intelligence, i.e. more intelligent adolescents showed higher brain activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), which was in turn related to a lower discount rate. Additionally, associations between the parental education level and crys-tallised intelligence of the adolescent participants of the study and their discount rate were found, indicating that parental education as an environmental factor could be related to a low-er risk for addiction. This protective effect might be mediated by the offspring’s crystallised intelligence and discount rate which are both related to brain activity in parts of the same brain networks (i.e. the IFG). The third study was done to investigate neural processes of intertemporal decisions in smokers and non-smokers. To test whether the effects of smoking on the discount rate are due to chronic or acute nicotine intake, non-smokers were additionally assessed under acute nico-tine administration. Study 3 revealed that the effects of nicotine on intertemporal choice behaviour were related to chronic intake of nicotine in smokers rather than to acute nicotine ad-ministration in non-smokers. Regarding the neural processes, smokers compared to non-smokers showed lower brain activity in the posterior parietal cortex. Comparable but weaker effects were found under acute nicotine in non-smokers. Although acute nicotine administra-tion altered neural processes, behavioural changes might only occur after repeated nicotine intake. However, the study did not preclude that the differences are predrug characteristics. Altogether the studies revealed overlapping neural correlates of intertemporal choices which are related to the individual age, the discount rate, the choice consistency, the individual intelligence as well as acute and chronic nicotine intake. This might provide an integrative view on how inter-individual differences and behaviour during intertemporal choices are based on common neural correlates which in turn might have implications for the development and the maintenance of addiction. Specifically, hyposensitivity towards delayed rewards in the adolescent ventral striatum, which has also been found in smokers compared to non-smokers, is associated with higher discount rates and higher risk for smoking initiation. In contrast, higher activation in the IFG and the ACC in more intelligent individuals during reward value processing might enhance behavioural inhibition and control and, hence, might prevent nicotine addiction. In line with the CNDS theory responsivity in subcortical brain areas (i.e. impulsive system), such as the VS was related to the risk factor of adolescent age, whereas activity in cortical areas (IFG and ACC) was related to the protective factors of high-er crystallised intelligence. Since there was only one study beside the studies of the current thesis reporting results regarding consistency, one can only speculate about implications for health-related behaviour, such as addiction. Consistency might play a role, especially for cessation success. Thus, the findings that adolescents as well as less intelligent individuals were less consistent might point to a higher risk for maintenance of nicotine addiction. The higher brain activity in a fronto-parietal network, which has been shown in studies 1 and 2 in adults as well as in more intelligent adolescents, was related to higher consistency of choices in both studies. Thus, the finding might be a possible neural correlate for the association between the risk factor of ado-lescent age, the protective factor of higher crystallised intelligence, and more consistent deci-sion making. In conclusion the findings of the current thesis contribute to a better understanding of how inter-individual differences and environmental factors might be accompanied by neural processes which in turn might be related to individual development of addiction. Further the results might extend the CNDS theory regarding neural correlates of exemplary risk and pro-tective factors regarding adolescents’ health behaviour and smoking in adults.