The Master Thesis is part of the Smart Grid Gotlandproject. This project aims at implementing smart grid solutionson the island of Gotland in order to be able to efficientlyintegrate large quantities of renewable energy production.In situations of high wind power production and lowconsumption, energy export problems may occur betweenGotland and the mainland. A novel approach to manageanticipated congestions, compared to traditional gridreinforcements, consists of using flexibility from demandresponse(DR) resources. However, such an approach presentschallenges as it requires both technical and economic considerations.This Master Thesis proposes and analyses twomarket-based strategies applied to detached houses for dayaheadcongestion management. The strategies are implementedin an Ancillary Service toolbox developed in theMATLAB programming environment.The first strategy involves using a dynamic network tariffwhile the second uses spot price optimization. Simulationsare performed for seasonal worst-case congestion scenarioswhile satisfying comfort and economic constraints ofthe DR participants. A sensitivity analysis is carried out toassess the impact of different spot price profiles and windpower production prognosis errors on the results.Results show that congestions are managed with a feasiblenumber of participants, but that their savings are negligiblefor both strategies (between 2 and 40 SEK/participant).Moreover, using a dynamic network tariff strategy impliesa DSO cost in the range of 1700-89000 SEK. These resultsapply for a 3-days congestion period, which is estimated tooccur 5-6 times a year if the maximum hosting capacity isincreased by 5 MW.To conclude, an AS toolbox with economic constraintsis feasible for Gotland conditions with a reasonable numberof DR participants. However, the simple cost-benefitanalysis that was carried out showed that the AS toolboxapproach was still much more costly than traditional gridreinforcement.

When designing financial incentives for voluntary conservation of threatened habitats and ecosystems, we are faced with the problem that there is no single indicator for "biodiversity value". The value of a habitat depends on multiple factors such as habitat type, area, and spatial and temporal connectivity. Moreover, not only are there local trade-offs between these indicators, but land use changes at one location may also change the value of sites in the vicinity. This doctoral thesis analyzes the consequences of including trade-offs and interactions between sites in market-based conservation schemes. We ask the following questions: How can trade-offs between the survival of different species be quantified? How can spatial processes and temporal processes be included in market-based conservation, in particular the value of spatial and temporal connectivity? And how do underlying economic dynamics relate to the spatio-temporal allocation of conservation measures in market-based conservation schemes?

Swedish housing policy and its design is a current issue. The demand doesn't match the supply and too few homes are built, based on the need that exists today. Above all, too few rental properties are being built and the demand for rental properties in particular is high, especially in the larger cities. Swedish politicians agree that a change needs to take place in order to solve the housing shortage. What changes and the consequences that these changes bring, from a justice perspective, is a big part of this essay’s topic. In this essay, Swedish housing policy will be studied based on Harvey and Rawls two different theories of justice. They both have different ideological backgrounds and our hope is to be able to answer whether the existing housing policy is fair. We will mainly focus on rental properties within the Swedish housing policy. In order to solve the housing shortage, there is an ongoing debate of market-based rent for newly built apartments and market rent. This is meant to provide additional incentives for construction companies to build more rental properties. These two suggestions have been made without scientific evidence that they will actually work. Instead, it relies on liberal key notes such as the free market and freedom of choice. The effects are believed to be that this could lead to more movement in the housing market. Market-based rent could also lead to an increased freedom of choice and greater welfare gains. However, it is not made clear that these solutions help those living with an already strained economy.

No description available.

South Africa‟s current energy sector places undue reliance on fossil fuels to fulfil the country‟s energy requirements. The use of these non-renewable energy resources are unsustainable, as millions of tonnes of harmful emissions are released and estimates are made that these resources will be depleted within the next 100 years. Therefore the country has to source alternative energy resources. Renewable energy resources (for example solar energy) are considered to release little or no harmful by-products and have an infinite supply. Therefore the South African government has to promote the use of renewable energy as part of its commitments to address climate change and to ensure sustainable energy resources. Some of the most popular regulatory tools that a state uses to control human behaviour, is through command-and-control instruments and fiscal instruments. The latter promotes behavioural changes by rewarding desired behaviour which ultimately advances the user‟s own best interest. Because of the nature of renewable energy governance, energy users can not be forced or compelled through commandand- control instruments to use renewable energy. They should rather be encouraged or persuaded to use this form of energy through market-based instruments. This is also the central hypothesis of this dissertation. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which the South African legal regime makes provision to promote the use of renewable energy resources through fiscal instruments. Therefore the various energy-related white papers, policy papers and legislation will be analysed. This study found that South Africa‟s legal regime only partly makes provision to promote the use of renewable energy resources through fiscal instruments. The policy part of the legal regime is fairly well developed, but the statutory regime lacks detail and in its current form, environmental/energyrelated legislation does not fully correspond with the lofty objectives of the policy framework. / LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

South Africa‟s current energy sector places undue reliance on fossil fuels to fulfil the country‟s energy requirements. The use of these non-renewable energy resources are unsustainable, as millions of tonnes of harmful emissions are released and estimates are made that these resources will be depleted within the next 100 years. Therefore the country has to source alternative energy resources. Renewable energy resources (for example solar energy) are considered to release little or no harmful by-products and have an infinite supply. Therefore the South African government has to promote the use of renewable energy as part of its commitments to address climate change and to ensure sustainable energy resources. Some of the most popular regulatory tools that a state uses to control human behaviour, is through command-and-control instruments and fiscal instruments. The latter promotes behavioural changes by rewarding desired behaviour which ultimately advances the user‟s own best interest. Because of the nature of renewable energy governance, energy users can not be forced or compelled through commandand- control instruments to use renewable energy. They should rather be encouraged or persuaded to use this form of energy through market-based instruments. This is also the central hypothesis of this dissertation. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which the South African legal regime makes provision to promote the use of renewable energy resources through fiscal instruments. Therefore the various energy-related white papers, policy papers and legislation will be analysed. This study found that South Africa‟s legal regime only partly makes provision to promote the use of renewable energy resources through fiscal instruments. The policy part of the legal regime is fairly well developed, but the statutory regime lacks detail and in its current form, environmental/energyrelated legislation does not fully correspond with the lofty objectives of the policy framework. / LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

美國食品藥物管理局2008年六月初提出正式警告，認為牙醫使用之汞齊將導致懷孕、哺乳中的婦女、六歲以下的兒童、免疫力不全的民眾身體產生病變，蛀牙時最好避免使用汞齊補牙，FDA也將在 2009年七月討論是否禁用汞齊。在此之前，北歐國家挪威、瑞典已相繼在今年立法通過，禁止製造、輸入、販賣與使用汞齊合金。本文以牙醫使用汞齊補綴病患牙齒所可能造成的環境汙染為研究個案，希望能瞭解長期以來汞齊所存在的爭議？政府為何需要且如何制定管制政策？以及在制定合宜管制政策的過程中，需要考慮哪些影響因素？本文採用深度訪談、文獻分析與參與觀察等方式，藉由政策管制理論和市場機制為分析架構，以擬定管制政策的最適方案。並利用專家學者、利害團體、政府官員與牙醫師的意見，瞭解管制機構本身的運作能力、被管制者的態度意向和政策環境的其它干擾因素。研究發現，汞齊管制政策的制訂有賴管制理論與市場機制的互補，而政府已具備管制的經驗與能力，唯管制的共識與危機意識仍需要政府與業者的持續教育與養成。在汞齊長期處於爭議的情況下，步驟性的管制汞齊將可避免嚴重的社會衝擊，師法先進國家的管制政策並因地制宜可為政策制定的第一步，最重要的仍是政府必須具有政策創新與整合的魄力和決心。而針對台灣現存牙醫診所與環境汙染的問題，相關的改善方案與配套措施，以及政策制定前的前導計劃，也值得政府後續的重視與研究。 / According to the warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2008, the amalgam (mercury containing) filling used in dentistry may pose risk to pregnant, breast feeding women, children under 6 years old, and those persons who have suppressed immunity. FDA will be holding a discussion forum to determine whether to ban amalgams in July, 2009. By this time, amalgams have been prohibited to be produced, imported, exported, sold and used in Norway and Sweden. The current study is aimed to assess the environmental hazard posed by dental amalgams. In addition, the study aims to understand why there is a long dispute with regard to amalgam safety issue. This research wishes to find grounds for the government to establish regulative policies, and identify what factors should be taken into account in establishing regulative policies. The study is based on in-depth interviews, literature review and participant observation by using the regulative theory and market-based theory as framework to develop a sound regulative policy proposal. This research discovered the development of a regulative policy on amalgams is hinged on the combination or balance between the regulative theory and the market-based theory. Most important thing is that the government and the dentists need to provide continuous public education to build up the consensus for implementing amalgam regulative policies and become aware of the potential environmental crisis. In the due course, adopting step-wise regulative process may avoid unforeseen severe social impact. The government should also take reference of the existing policies of western countries, pay more attention to the current environmental pollution posed by dental practice, and provide improvement plans and supplementary measures to establish the relevant policies.

Submitted by Cristiane Oliveira (cristiane.oliveira@fgv.br) on 2011-06-03T15:32:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100256.pdf: 1176091 bytes, checksum: fcc0a2692cf5fd1eb1a05eb610c446c2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-06-03T16:43:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100256.pdf: 1176091 bytes, checksum: fcc0a2692cf5fd1eb1a05eb610c446c2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-06-03T16:57:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100256.pdf: 1176091 bytes, checksum: fcc0a2692cf5fd1eb1a05eb610c446c2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-06-03T17:04:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100256.pdf: 1176091 bytes, checksum: fcc0a2692cf5fd1eb1a05eb610c446c2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-01-14 / After the deep financial crisis in 2008, there has been an increasing questioning of the Firm’s objectives and its relationship with the financial markets. There is a paradox between the current practice of maximizing financial short-term performance of organizations, demanded by financial agents to corporate executives, and the financial concept of valuation of the Firm, which considers Firm value as the present value of discounted future cash flows. Therefore, according to the maximizing value proposition the Firm's objective is to increase its long-term total value (Jensen, 2000). The primary function of marketing strategies, innovations (R&D investments) included, is to generate both growth and consistent long-term business, i.e. the expansion of intangible assets to generate tangible assets. Based on the conceptual framework of Market-based Assets (Srivastava, Shervani and Fahey 1998), this paper seeks to contribute to the subject by proposing simple metrics, the adjusted performance indexes of retail sector, the Customer Average Ticket (TMC) and the Customer Average Ticket Earnings (LTMC). These metrics could relate investments in marketing to the value of the Firm (shareholder value) through the variation in quality of the company's customer base, which is the source of revenue generation and part of the intangible assets. For empirical tests, this study used data from the following publicly companies listed in Bovespa (São Paulo Stock Exchange): Sadia and Perdigao, belonging to the food processing sector, in the period of 1999 to 2010, and also the air line companies TAM and Gol in the period of 2004 to 2010. The tests were inconclusive, due to certain data limitations, not allowing proving or ruling out the tested hypotheses. But the logical line and simplicity of the method should be explored by future studies. If the method could be confirmed and proven, it would provide all agents (marketing executives, CEOs and CFOs, market analysts and investors) with a simple and objective tool for analysis and way of communication about the value creation of Marketbased Assets (intangible assets) that impact the total Firm value. / Após a profunda crise financeira de 2008, houve um aumento do questionamento sobre os objetivos da Firma e a sua relação com os mercados financeiros. Existe um paradoxo entre a prática corrente de maximização da performance financeira de curto-prazo da organização, demandada pelos agentes financeiros aos executivos das empresas, e o próprio conceito financeiro de valoração da Firma., que considera como valor da Firma o valor presente dos fluxos de caixa futuros descontados. Portanto, segundo a proposição de maximização de valor, o objetivo da Firma é aumentar o seu valor total de longo prazo (JENSEN, 2000). É função primordial das estratégias de marketing, aí incluídos os investimentos em inovação (P&D), o objetivo de gerar crescimento e consistência de longo prazo do negócio, isto é, a ampliação dos ativos intangíveis para gerar ativos tangíveis. Norteado pela estrutura conceitual de Ativos base Mercado (SRIVASTAVA; SHERVANI; FAHEY, 1998), o presente trabalho busca contribuir para o tema, com uma proposição de métricas simples, adaptadas de índices de desempenho do setor varejo, o Ticket Médio Cliente (TMC) e o Lucro Ticket Médio Cliente (LTMC), que possam relacionar os investimentos em marketing e o valor da Firma através da variação da qualidade da base de clientes da empresa, que é a fonte de geração de receitas e parte dos ativos intangíveis. O estudo utilizou para os testes empíricos dados das seguintes empresas, com ações negociadas na Bovespa: Sadia e Perdigão, pertencentes ao setor de alimentos processados, de 1999 a 2010, e também as companhias aéreas TAM e Gol no período de 2004 a 2010. Os testes não foram conclusivos, devido a determinadas limitações dos dados, não permitindo provar ou descartar as hipóteses testadas. Porém a linha lógica e a simplicidade do método deveriam ser exploradas por estudos futuros, pois se confirmado e provado, forneceria uma ferramenta simples e objetiva de análise e comunicação por parte de todos os agentes envolvidos (executivos de marketing, diretores financeiros e presidentes, analistas de mercado e investidores), com relação à criação de valor de Ativos base Mercado (ativos intangíveis) que impactam o valor da Firma.

Le développement bancaire et financier au Vietnam fait face à de nouvelles conjonctures économiques. Il serait utile d'analyser ce développement dans de nouvelles conditions d'intégration imposées par les normes internationales. La thèse vise à soutenir deux idées : (1) le développement de la relation entre les banques commerciales et les entreprises non publiques, particulièrement les PME, qui résulte des changements de la structure économique du Vietnam - un pays en transition vers l'économie de marché et (2) la micro-finance qui est une innovation permettant une plus grande performance des institutions bancaires et financières vis-à-vis des imperfections du marché ainsi que la réduction de la pauvreté et la pratique de l'usure, dans les zones rurales en particulier.Les grilles théoriques se réfèrent principalement à la théorie néo-institutionnaliste de D.North, à celle du développement financier de King et Lévine, aussi bien qu'à la théorie des complémentarités institutionnelles de Hall & Soskice, et à celle des conventions de Boyer &Orléan. Parmi les principaux résultats que nous avons obtenus, le premier réside dans le résultat positif de la relation entre banques commerciales et les entreprises non-publiques, les PME en particulier. Les banques commerciales contribuent à dynamiser le secteur privé en allouant des crédits et sélectionnant des projets d'investissement et, par conséquent,deviennent un acteur économique important capable de réduire le chômage, promouvoir les affaires et dans une certaine mesure, orienter le développement industriel. A leur tour, les entreprises non-publiques deviennent des clients cibles des banques commerciales et contribuent à créer une nouvelle forme de demande de crédit, de projets d'investissement, du marché du travail, de changements de stratégies d'entreprise et d'évolution des cadres juridiques allant dans le sens facilitant les activités du secteur privé.Le second résultat confirme la corrélation entre le développement économique et le développement bancaire et financier. Le résultat est soutenu par une recherche empirique basée sur une analyse factorielle à partir des données de CEPII 2012. Nous avons réussi à dessiner une carte globale des systèmes bancaires et financiers et localiser la position du Vietnam. Nous observons que le Vietnam se situe dans la zone des pays en émergence, mais à la périphérie, loin des pays développés. Ceci implique qu'il serait utile de se déplacer vers la zone des pays à développement bancaire et financier avancé. Le troisième se trouve dans le résultat positif du rôle de la micro-finance. Cette pratique s'avère efficace dans la réduction de la pauvreté et l'empêchement de l'usure, en particulier dans les régions rurales. Cependant, l'accès au crédit n'est pas facile pour les populations défavorisées à cause de la communication, des spécificités culturelles, du niveau d'éducation,de l'expansion des réseaux ... La micro-finance constitue une innovation permettant de résoudre les problèmes d'asymétrie d'information et d'aléa moral, grâce au contrôle croisé des informations et à la responsabilité réciproque. Cette pratique apporte des preuves du mécanisme d'auto-renforcement prévu par la théorie des conventions, dans le cas de la micro-finance pour les pauvres. En conclusion, le Vietnam, en transition vers une économie de marché, se caractérise par un double changement institutionnel. D'une part, le changement de relation entre les banques commerciales et les entreprises non-publiques, en particulier les PME. Le pays s'oriente vers un secteur privé dont le rôle devient de plus en plus important pour s'adapter à la nouvelle structure économique. D'autre part, l'invasion de la micro-finance devient une alternative efficace pour répondre aux imperfections du marché du système bancaire et financier formel. / The financial and banking development in Vietnam has recently known new challenging economic circumstances. It is useful to analyze this matter to deal with new conditions imposed by the integration process in international norms. This dissertation is devoted to defend two ideas: (1) the development of the relationship between commercial banks and NSOEs, especially SMEs, is a result of change of economic structure of Vietnam, a country intransition, on its way towards a fully market-based economy and (2) micro-finance is a form of innovation making financial-banking institutions more performing in response to market failures as well as in impeding usury and poverty alleviation, especially in rural areas.With different theoretical frameworks mainly based on new-institutionalist vision of D. North, financial development of King and Levine, institutional complementaries of Hall & Soskice, convention theory of Boyer & Orléan, we have had some key findings as following. The first key finding resides in the positive result of the relationship between commercial banks and NSOEs, especially SMEs, in the way that commercial banks contribute to dynamize the private sector by allocating loans and investment selection. Therefore, commercial banks become an important economic agent being able to reduce unemployment, promote businesses and orientate somehow industry development. In its turns, NSOEs, while become target customers of banks, contribute to shape credit demand, project investment, labor market, business strategy changes and legal evolution in the way of facilitating the privatesector.The second finding confirms that the correlation between economic development and financial-banking development does exist. It was proved by empirical study based on a factor analysis from CEPII 2012 databse. We was successful to draw a map and localize precisely the position of Vietnam in the financial-banking world map. And, we saw that Vietnam was located in areas of emerging countries, but merely in peripheral zone far away from developed countries. This suggests an implication that it would be useful to move closer to highly developed countries in the financial and banking sector.The third key finding resides in the positive result that microfinance is proved efficient in poverty alleviation and impeding usury, especially in rural areas; but the accessibility to credit is not easy for poor people due to communication, cultural characteristics, education level, extension of network ... Microfinance is a form of innovation in the way that information asymmetry and moral hazard are well resolved thanks to cross-screening and joint-liability. Micro-finance in Vietnam shows evidence of the process of self-reinforcing mechanism of the convention theory, for the case of micro-finance for the poor. We conclude that on its way to a fully market-based economy, Vietnam in transition is characterized by a double institutional move: on the one hand, the change in relationship between commercial banks and NSOEs, especially SMEs, is moving towards a more important role of the private sector in response to new economic structure; on the other hand, micro-finance invasion becomes an efficient alternative to remedy to market failures of theformal financial and banking system.

The purpose of this study is to develop an indebtedness framework that explains the effects of financialisation and household indebtedness on economic development. For this purpose, the study empirically examines annual South African data covering the years 1990-2017 to look at the effect of financialisation before and after the 2007/08 financial crisis. South Africa adopted an inflation targeting monetary policy regime in the 1990s before the global economic crisis in response to the global financial crisis of 2007-08. Examining data from 1990-2017 made it possible to look at the effects of financial deregulation policies that were introduced post the 2007-08 financial meltdown. The study addressed three objectives. The first objective sought to establish the extent of financialisation in the South African economy pre and post the 2008 financial crisis. To achieve this objective, annual time series data from 1990-2017 on financialisation variables was split into two, before and after the financial crisis. Graphical presentations of the four financialisation variables (financial deregulation, foreign financial inflows, asset price volatility, and shift to market-based finance) showed that there was a difference in financialisation before and after the 2008 financial crisis. Analysis of variance showed that there is a statistically significant difference between the foreign financial inflows’ series before and after the financial meltdown of 2008 (t-test value -6.527, p ≤ 0.0001). (1990-2008). The findings also showed that there was no statistically significant difference between asset price volatility before and after the financial meltdown of 2008. Interestingly, there is a statistically significant difference between stock market value traded in the period from 1990-2008 and 20092017 after the financial crisis (t = -4.295, p ≤0.001). The second objective sought to examine the causal direction between financialisation and household indebtedness. Contrary to a priori expectations, the findings showed that financial deregulation, foreign financial inflows and shift to market-based finance do not Granger cause indebtedness. However, the findings showed that the null hypothesis that asset price does not Granger cause household indebtedness was rejected. This implies that there is a causal direction between asset price volatility and household indebtedness Lastly, the third objective of this study was to explain the effects of financialisation and indebtedness on economic development to inform the indebtedness framework that this study set out to develop. Using annual data for the period of 1990 to 2017, the third objective was addressed by examining the effect of household indebtedness and financialisation on economic development. These effects were tested using OLS regression and error correction modelling technique (ECM) for each of the four financialisation variable: (1) financial deregulation measured using the financial reform index; (2) foreign financial inflows measured using stock of foreign liabilities as percentage of GDP; (3) asset price volatility; and (4) shift to market-based finance, measured using stock market value traded as percentage of GDP. The findings showed that foreign financial inflows and asset price index when regressed with household indebtedness showed a statistically significant effect on economic development in a long-run model. The indebtedness framework was duly presented showing that economic development is likely to be negatively and strongly affected by financialisation as experienced in asset price volatility and foreign financial inflows. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / D.B.L.