隨著知識經濟時代來臨，知識在組織經營中扮演日益重要的角色，知識擁有者對於組織而言即為人力資本。組織應瞭解知識擁有者能為組織創造多少效益，從而進行人力資源管理，以求長期競爭優勢。因此人力資本在組織中益顯重要，故本研究擬探討人力資本對組織市場價值與財務績效之影響情況。 本研究以我國上市及上櫃公司為研究對象，包含資訊電子（光電、半導體、資訊通訊服務、資訊家電）、生物科技、食品、化學材料、紡織等產業進行探討。研究期間為2001年至2003年，以複迴歸方式從事實證模型分析。 本研究主要探討議題共分為兩部分： 一、人力資本對組織市場價值之影響：本研究以市場價值及M/B Ratio當為應變數，研發人數、員工向心力為自變數。 二、人力資本對組織財務績效之影響：以每人營業收入、每人營業毛利、每人稅前營業利益為應變數，自變數為：研發人數、員工向心力等。 本研究之實證結果發現：研發人數對組織市場價值與組織財務績效有正向影響，而員工向心力對組織M/B Ratio也有正向影響。另外，智慧資本的投資通常會為企業帶來數年的效益，人力資本也不例外，因此本研究另外針對遞延一期之組織市值及財務績效進行分析，實證結果研究也發現：研發人數對組織財務績效具有部分遞延效益。 根據實證結果，本研究建議組織應加強對人力資本之重視，俾提升其市場價值及財務績效。另外，對於後續研究者而言，由於人力資本之指標因各文獻採用不一，故未來學者應再針對不同指標進行探討，並加以彙整，或許對組織市場價值與財務績效影響因子可能會有更深入及明確之瞭解。 / With the coming of the age of knowledge economy, knowledge plays a very important role in organizations. Knowledge-owners are regarded as “Human Capital” in organizations. Managers should understand how many benefits the knowledge-owners will bring to the organizations, and use their Human Resource Management (HRM) policies effectively to retain the long-term competition advantages. Human capital becomes more and more important, so this study is intent to examine the effect of human capital upon the market value and financial performance of the organizations. The two main themes of this study are: 1. The effect of human capital on market value of the organizations. The dependent variable are: market value and M/B Ratio; and the independent variable are: number of R&D workers and employee loyalty. 2. The effect of human capital on financial performance of the organizations. The dependent variable are: revenue per employee, gross profit per employee, and operating income per employee; and the independent variable are: number of R&D workers and employee loyalty. The results show that “R&D workers” has both positive effect on market value and financial performance of the organizations; “employee loyalty” has positive effect on M/B Ratio, too. In addition, human capital has partial lagged effects. According to the results, this study suggests that the organizations should pay more attention to their human capital to promote their market value and financial performance. Moreover, for future researchers, they could examine different human capital indexes. It may allow us to have a thorough understanding about the influence of human capital on market value and financial performance of the organizations.

20世紀60年代以降，在強調自然環境護與觀光地區永續利用理念的潮流之下，世界上許多關注於生態保育的學者與民間團體，紛紛提出並推廣了兼顧自然保育與遊憩發展目的—生態旅遊(ecotourism)。 台灣地狹人稠且都市擴張迅速，使得許多自然環境資源已逐漸成為都市的一部分，加上近年來國人休閒意識的覺醒與親近自然環境的需求增加，更讓自然環境地區成為都市人們不可或缺的紓壓與渡假場所。位於台北市文山區南端的貓空地區，便是在過去20～30年間休閒遊憩發展蓬勃的景點，以鄰近都會區、特色茶產與宗教聖地—指南宮為名。貓空地區大多屬於農業保護區。海拔在七百公尺以下，雖不甚陡峭但地貌複雜多變、雨量豐沛，植物林相及生物資源豐富。加上貓空地區規劃完善之登山步道系統、遠近馳名的宗教聖地指南宮以及著名的茶產文化，提供了發展生態旅遊的生態動植物資源、休閒遊憩資源、宗教文化資源以及產業文化資源，且因為位於台北市都會區，與近年國際興起的「都市型生態旅遊」之型態不謀而合。 都市型生態旅遊地區除了提供與一般遊憩區皆有的遊憩、休閒、教育等使用價值外，尚有生態環境保育效益的非使用價值存在，為評估都市生態旅遊地區所具有的完整環境價值，本研究運用條件評估法（Contingent Valuation Method, CVM），以支付卡法(payment card method)之詢價方式獲得遊客的願付價格(willing to pay, WTP)，並採用負二元名義(negative binomial)模式建立迴歸模型，獲得主要結果為：存在價值每年約3,693,065,610元，遺贈價值約每年5,368,737,520元，非市場價值高達約每年9,061,803,130元。 / From 1960s, due to the rise of environment protecting concepts and sustainable use of tourist spots, there are more and more non-government organizations and scholars, who care about ecological conversation, propose the importance of ecotourism, which aim at both the conversation of natural and recreation development. Taiwan is densely populated and has rapidly urban expansion, which has caused natural environmental resources gradually becoming a important part of city. Moreover, the awareness of leisure consciousness and increasing need for accessing to the natural have made it an indispensable relaxing and vacation location for Taipei people. Maokong, located at the south of Wen-Shan district in Taipei, is a famous spot with burgeoning creation activities over the past twenty-five years. It is well-known for its convenience, characteristic tea industry and the sacred place-Zhinan Temple. Mostly parts of Maokong belong to agricultural reservation. The altitude is 700 meters below, although not as steep as others, it has a diversity of terrain features, abundant in rainfall, botanical life-form and organism resources. Those plentiful ecological resources above, the great location near the urban, old-line religious history and culture, plus perfect planning of mountain climbing trail. With all the inborn conditions make Maokong perfect for developing the international-popular leisure style - urban ecotourism. Urban ecotourism place provides not only the use value of recreation, leisure and education, but also the non-use value of preservation benefits. In order to evaluate the total value, I used Contingent Valuation Method with Payment Card Method to get the Willing to Pay of tourists, and further I used the Negative Binomial to establish the model. The main result: the Existence Value is about $3,693,065,610(TWD) per year, the Bequest Value is about $5,368,737,520(TWD) per year, finally the Non-market value is about $9,061,803,130 (TWD).

Linbana som kollektivt transportmedel i tätbebyggt område är i Sverige ett nytt fenomen. Med hänsyn till samhällets urbanisering och ambition att tillgodose bostadsbehovet genom förtätning, framstår linbana som ett lämpligt komplement till att förstärka befintlig infrastruktur. Framförallt på grund av det marginella "fotavtryck" anläggningen utgör på miljön. Linbanor är energieffektiva och miljövänliga transportalternativ som även ger framkomlighet i miljöer där andra transportsätt är för svåra eller för dyra att anlägga. I studien har frågor kring ersättning av markintrång och störningar som en linbana kan medföra granskats. Studien redogör för de generella ersättnings- och värderingsprinciper som berör detta område, samt hur dessa kan appliceras på linbanor i tätbebyggt område. Studien har genomförts med en juridisk metod, som innebär en fördjupning i lagtext, förarbeten och doktrin. För att kunna bedöma inverkan av störningarna har även vägledande rättsfall och praxis använts. Intervjuer har gjorts med en förrättningslantmätare samt ett tekniskt råd på avdelning 6, Svea hovrätt (mark- och miljööverdomstolen) för att vidga studiens referensramar av de tolkningar som gjorts. Av studien framgår att regler för intrångsersättning i expropriationslagen ska tillämpas, oavsett vilket lagrum som används för markåtkomsten. Avgörande där är den marknadsvärdeförändring intrånget medför. Effekten på marknadsvärdet av markintrång som utgörs av enbart vajer mellan stationer och pelarstöd, är svårare att bedöma än det intrång som görs för stationer och pelarstöd. Svårigheten ligger i bedömningen av hur marknadsvärdet förändras när fastigheten "urholkas" för linbanan. En linbana kan anläggas på höga höjder, vilket innebär att fastighetens möjlighet att nyttja utrymmet under vajern i de fallen inte begränsas i någon större utsträckning. Bedömning måste dock göras i det enskilda fallet. Gällande störningar framkommer problem kring hur olika störningar kan uppfattas samt hur dess sammantagna effekt ska bedömas. Då linbana som kollektivt transportmedel i tätbebyggt område är nytt inom Sverige har ännu inga rättsfall kring markintrång eller störningar prövats. För att kunna göra en bedömning av störningar har en rättsfallsanalys gjorts av rättsfall med verksamheter vars störning liknar de som kan uppkomma från linbanor. Resultatet visar att ämnet är svårbedömt. Att pröva linbanan i detaljplan kan därför vara en nödvändig åtgärd. Linbanan blir då prövad i sin helhet, och inom ramen för detaljplan främjas en bra dialog med berörda sakägare och medborgare i allmänhet. / A gondola lift as a means of public transportation system is a new phenomenon in Sweden. In view of the urbanization and society’s ambition to accommodate the urgent need of housing through a concentration of the city, a gondola lift stands out as a suitable compliment for the existing infrastructure. Above all because of the small "footprint" the structure makes on the environment. As a transportation system, gondola lifts are energy efficient, environmentally friendly and provides accessibility where other transportation systems are too difficult or too expensive to build. The study has looked at questions of compensation for the property encroachments and environmental disturbances a gondola lift might cause. The study gives further details about the general principles of compensation and valuation regarding this area, and also how these principles can be applied to gondola lifts in urban areas. The study has been done using a legal methodology, which involves a deeper understanding of the law, government bills and doctrine. Guiding- and precedent court cases has been analyzed in order to make an assessment about the influence of the environmental disturbances. Interviews has been done with a cadastral surveyor at the Gothenburg municipality office and with a technical adviser at the environmental court of appeal, in order to broaden the perspectives of the interpretations made in the study. The study infers that the compensation rules of encroachment in the law of expropriation should be applied, no matter which law is used to expropriate for the gondola lift. Decisive when determining the compensation is the change in market value caused by the encroachment. It´s harder to estimate the effect on market value caused by encroachment of the cable only, than for encroachment of the station buildings and pillars. The difficulty lies in the estimation of the change in market value when the expropriated property is "hollowed" in favor of the gondola cable. A gondola lift can be built very high, which means that a property in those cases aren´t restricted in any large extent regarding the use of the property directly below the cable. Although, assessments must be done for each individual case. Regarding the different disturbances, problems occur around the way they are perceived and how the overall effect of different disturbances should be assessed. Because gondola lifts as a public transportation is so new, there hasn´t been any legal cases tried about its encroachment or disturbances. In order to make an assessment about disturbances, a court case analysis has been done using cases about activities which disturbances are comparably similar to the once caused by a gondola lift. The result of the study shows that this assessment is hard to do. A necessary proceeding might be to try out the gondola lift in a detailed zoning plan. The gondola lift is then tested as a whole, including the effects of disturbances and encroachment. The framework of a detailed zoning plan also promotes the dialog with the parties concerned as well as with the other citizens.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att utreda om det finns något samband mellan företags finansiella prestation och hur företagen betygsätts utifrån deras engagemang i aktiviteter som rör företagens sociala ansvarstaganden. Metod: Denna studie har utifrån en positivistisk forskningsfilosofi antagit en deduktiv ansats med hypoteser samt en kvantitativ forskningsdesign med en paneldatametod i form av tvärsnittsdesign. Denna typ av forskningsdesign användes för att samla in sekundärdata från flera år. Studiens population uppgår till 171 företag och urvalet till 130 börsnoterade företag på Stockholmsbörsen. Sekundärdata för CSP för år 2009 till 2013 hämtades från Folksam Index för ansvarsfullt företagande. Sekundärdata för finansiell prestation hämtades från årsredovisningar från Retriever och Datastream. Analysering av all sekundärdata gjordes utifrån deskriptiv statistik och multipla regressionsanalyser i statistikprogrammet SPSS. Resultat och slutsats: Studiens resultat indikerar på att sambandet mellan CSP och CFP är signifikant negativt när Tobin´s Q avser CFP. Detta innebär att företagens marknadsvärde tenderar till att minska när deras sociala prestation ökar. Vidare gällande ROA finner studien inget signifikant samband mellan CSP och CFP. En antydan på ett svagt positivt samband ges dock, om än utan någon signifikans. Resultaten kan förklaras med hjälp av teorier såsom intressentteorin samt den institutionella teorin. Förslag till vidare forskning: Efter det nya EU-direktivet trätt i kraft och applicerats under en period är ett förslag att undersöka effekterna av detta direktiv. Vidare vore det intressant att utföra en undersökning som analyserar och jämför förändringar över de enskilda åren då denna studie endast använt sig av ett genomsnittsvärde för alla variabler under åren 2009 till 2013. Det vore även intressant att undersöka om de branscher som enligt Folksam (2013) löper de största verksamhetsriskerna angående hållbarheten också ökar sin sociala prestation över åren. Vidare bör dessa branscher även undersökas för att se varför vissa branscher uppvisar ett signifikant samband där andra branscher saknar detta samband. Uppsatsens bidrag: Utifrån denna studie får berörda parter ett teoretiskt bidrag som visar en ny mätmetod och ett annat perspektiv på sambandet mellan social- och finansiell prestation, jämfört med tidigare forskning. Studien öppnar även upp ett forskningsområde för undersökning av branscher och varför vissa branscher uppvisar ett signifikant samband där andra branscher saknar detta samband. Det praktiska bidraget i denna studie ger en fingervisning om hur det finansiella resultatet kan komma att påverkas med en högre grad av hållbarhetsarbete för att möta det nya EU-direktivet. / Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between companies’ financial performance and how the companies are rated on their involvement in Corporate Social Responsibility-activities. Method: This study, based on a positivist research philosophy, adopted a deductive approach with hypothesis testing and a quantitative research design with a panel-data method in the form of a cross-sectional design. This type of research design was used to collect secondary data from several years. The study population amounts to 171 companies while the sample amounts up to 130 listed companies on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Secondary data for CSP for the year 2009 until 2013 was retrieved from Folksam Corporate responsibility index for each year. Secondary data for the financial performance was retrieved from Retriever and Datastream databases. In addition, analysis of all the collected secondary data was based on descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis in SPSS. Results and Conclusions: The study’s results indicate that the relationship between CSP and CFP are significantly negative when Tobin’s Q refers to CFP. This means that the companies’ market value tends to decrease as their social performance increases. Furthermore, this study doesn’t find any significant relationship between CSP and ROA as CFP. An indication of a weak positive relationship is provided, however, albeit with no significance. The result can be explained by theories as stakeholder theory and institutional theory. Suggestions for further research: A suggestion is to examine the effects of the relationship of CSP and CFP after the EU directive comes into force. Furthermore, it would be interesting to conduct a study which analyzes and compares the changes over the individual years since this study only adopted an average value for all the variables during the years 2009 until 2013. It would also be interesting to investigate whether the industries according to Folksam (2013) runs the biggest business risks relating to sustainability is also increasing its social performance over the years. Furthermore, these industries should also be examined to see why some industries show a significant correlation where other industries lack this connection. Contributions of the thesis: Based on this study, concerned parties receives a theoretical contribution that shows a new measuring method and another perspective on the relationship of social- and financial performance, compared to previous research. This study also opens a field of research for the study of industries and why some industries show a significant correlation where other industries lack this correlation. The practical contribution in this study gives an indication of how the financial result may be affected by a higher degree of sustainability efforts to meet the new EU directive.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T19:14:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 29 / Nenhuma / Este estudo teve como pressuposto investigar a ocorrência da teoria de equity market timing na formação da estrutura de capital das companhias abertas brasileiras. Equity market timing, ou janela de oportunidades de mercado, pode ser definido como o momento apropriado para a emissão de ações, que ocorre quando o quociente entre o valor de mercado e o valor contábil das empresas – market-to-book ratio (MB) − é alto, indicando que a firma está sobrevalorizada e que, respectivamente, seu custo de capital está baixo. Baker e Wurgler (2002) foram os expoentes dessa teoria e desenvolveram um modelo para testar a existência e a persistência de equity market timing na formação da estrutura de capital das companhias abertas americanas. Ao aplicarem o modelo no mercado norte-americano, nele constataram a existência de market timing, bem como sua persistência por cerca de uma década, a contar da data da oferta pública inicial de ações (IPO) das respectivas empresas, comprovando que as empresas norte-americanas se / This study examines the implications of the theory of equity market timing on the capital structure in the Brazilian public companies. Equity market timing, or windows of opportunities, can be defined as the right moment to issue equity when the market value is high, relative to book value, indicating that the firm is overvalued and the cost of capital is low. Baker and Wurgler (2002) developed a model to test the equity market timing theory in the American capital market. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that market timing has large and persistent effects on capital structure. Furthermore, they found out that the impacts persist for a decade after the IPO of the firms, proving that companies in United States take advantage of the windows of opportunities to form their capital structures. Assuming the Baker and Wurgler’s propositions, the equity market timing theory was tested in Brazilian capital market for a group of companies that went public between 1997 and 2007. Both market and book lever

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T18:40:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Denis Securato.pdf: 1988201 bytes, checksum: 3c55c8195fa78e40dcf255b301d90360 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-26 / The main goal of this paper is to analyze the Corporate Governance practices on the market value ratios of non-financial companies in the Construction industry, which are listed in the stock market of São Paulo BM&F BOVESPA, within the period of 2010 and 2013. It verifies whether or not companies that adopted differentiated level of Corporate Governance of Bovespa standards have reached higher levels of value creation to the shareholder, in other words, if the shareholders are willing to pay more for the shares of these companies based on the outcomes reached and consequently expected in the future. According to Silveira (2002: 02) the common sense indicates that companies with adequate structure of Corporate Governance practices recommended by Market agents have obtained better results and evaluation in the market for their share prices than companies with inadequate Corporate Governance structure, ceteris paribus . To Ross (2002: 46) adding to financial indexes: the financial statements are not capable to bring an answer to ( ) performance areas ( ). However, the business administration must continuing assesses the company s performance and the financial statements provide useful information . The financial statements and indexes were removed from the already calculated Economatica system, with exception of Tobin s Q Index, which was calculated by the author. It uses the statistic method of logic regression to verify if the variables (value creation indexes) can distinguish the companies listed in the special layer of Corporate Governance New Market. Hence, if the companies are listed in the special layer of Corporate Governance New Market, can add more value to the shareholders. As a result we can distinguish the companies in the New Market by significant variables P/E, P/B, P/Sales and P/EBITDA. Where the lower the P/E and P/B are, the higher is the chance for a company to meet the New Market level of 95% of trustworthiness rate, additionally the higher the P/Sales and P/EBITDA are, higher is the chance of a company in real estate industry been in the New Market layer of 95% of trustworthiness rate. It is concluded from this study that, for the companies that joined the differentiated levels of corporate governance practices and therefore are classified in the New Market, there was a higher value creation as it relates to the share price with EBITDA and the share price with sales. So there is evidence that investors focused their attention to value creation in operational indicators such as EBITDA and Sales / O objetivo principal deste trabalho é avaliar o reflexo das práticas de Governança Corporativa sobre os indicadores de valor de mercado das empresas não financeiras do setor de Construção com ações negociadas na Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo BM&F BOVESPA, no período de 2010 à 2013. Verifica-se se as empresas que aderiram aos níveis diferenciados de governança corporativa da Bovespa atingiram maiores níveis de criação de valor para o acionista, ou seja, se os investidores estão dispostos a pagar mais pelas ações destas empresas em função de resultados atingidos e consequentemente esperados para o futuro. Segundo Silveira (2002: 02) o senso comum indica que empresas com uma estrutura de governança corporativa mais adequada às práticas recomendadas pelos agentes de mercado obtenham melhores resultados e também sejam melhor avaliadas pelo mercado no preço de suas ações do que empresas com uma estrutura de governança não tão adequada, ceteris paribus . Já para Ross (2002: 46) complementa sobre índices financeiros: as demonstrações financeiras não são capazes de dar respostas para (...) áreas de desempenho (...). Entretanto, a administração precisa avaliar continuamente o desempenho da empresa, e as demonstrações financeiras fornecem informações úteis . As demonstrações financeiras e os índices foram retirados do sistema economática já calculados, com exceção do índice Q de Tobin que foi calculado pelo autor. Utiliza-se o método estatístico da regressão logística para verificar se as variáveis (índices de criação de valor) podem discriminar as empresas listadas no segmento especial de governança corporativa Novo Mercado. Ou seja, se as empresas listadas no segmento especial de governança corporativa Novo Mercado, podem agregar maior valor para seus acionistas. Como resultado temos que pode-se discriminar as empresas que estão no Novo Mercado pelas variáveis significativas P/L, P/VP, P/Vendas e P/EBITDA. Onde quanto menor o P/L e o P/VP, maior é a chance de uma empresa se encontrar no novo Mercado ao nível de 95% de confiança e quanto maior o P/Vendas e o P/EBITDA maior é a chance de uma empresa do setor imobiliário estar no novo Mercado com 95% de confiança. Conclui-se neste estudo que, para as empresas que aderiram a níveis diferenciados de práticas de governança corporativa e que por isso estão classificadas no Novo Mercado, houve maior criação de valor quando se relaciona o preço da ação com EBITDA e o preço da ação com as vendas. Portanto existem evidências de que os investidores concentraram sua atenção para criação de valor em indicadores operacionais como EBITDA e Vendas

Sverige genomförde vid årsskiftet 2012/2013 ytterligare en sänkning av bolagsskatten. Denna gång från 26,3 till 22 procent. Målet med sänkningen var att hamna under EU’s genomsnittliga bolagsskattenivå vilket skulle minska företags incitament till att fly Sverige för lågskatteländer. Samtidigt ville regeringen minska företagens skuldsättningsgrad. I teorin sjunker värdet på skatteskölden vid en bolagsskattesänkning och därmed också värdet på företagen. Från företagens och ägarnas perspektiv innebär sänkt skatt högre nettovinst och således en högre utdelning. Hur reagerar marknaden? Ett försök att besvara frågan görs genom att gruppera företagen efter skuldsättningsgrad och undersöka vad som händer med aktierna under den dag nyheten om bolagsskattesänkningen publiceras. Detta undersöks genom en eventstudie vilken avgränsas till Norden och andra marknader med liknande finansiellt system samt liknande lagstiftning. Till grund för undersökningen ligger aktier representerade på Stockholm OMX Large Cap. Studien finner en signifikant positivt reaktion sett till hela marknaden när nyheten om bolagsskattesänkningen blir offentlig. Vid indelning efter skuldsättningsgrad visar företagen med lägst skuldsättning den högsta positiva reaktionen, medan företagen med högst skuldsättning visar en negativ reaktion, dock inte signifikant. / At the end of 2012 Sweden implemented a further reduction in corporation tax, this time from 26.3 to 22 percent. The goal of the reduction was to reach a lower corporate tax level then the EU’s average. This would reduce the company’s incentive to flee Sweden for low-tax countries. At the same time, the Swedish Government wanted to reduce the debt ratio. In theory, the value of the tax shield is lowered and hence the value of the companies. From corporate and shareholder perspective this reduced tax means higher net income and thus a higher dividend. How does the market react? An attempt to answer this question is made by splitting the companies by leverage and examine what happened to the shares on the day the news of the company tax cut was published. This is examined through an event study, which is bounded to the Nordic countries and to other markets with similar financial systems and similar legislation. The study is based on shares represented at the Stockholm OMX Large Cap. The study finds a significant positive reaction over the entire market when the news about the corporate tax becomes public. On account of the debt-equity ratio, the firms with the lowest leverage show the highest positive response, while the companies with the highest debt show a negative reaction, however not a significant one.

El objetivo de esta tesis doctoral es analizar las repercusiones que, sobre el valor de mercado, tiene la orientación de la legislación concursal, así como su influencia sobre el reparto de ese valor entre los distintos agentes. Además se tratan de delimitar las características concretas que afectan al valor de la empresa, a través del estudio de la eficiencia de la legislación, para finalizar estudiando la evolución del riesgo de los títulos y la importancia relativa del componente sistemático y específico del mismo. A través de un análisis empírico internacional se obtiene evidencia de la relación entra la orientación de la legislación concursal y el valor de mercado, de la valoración que éste hace de los diferentes tipos de eficiencia de la normativa y de la relevancia del riesgo específico como factor principalmente afectado por los problemas de insolvencia. / The aim of this Thesis is to analyse the implications of the orientation of the bankruptcy law over the market value, and its influence in the share of this value between the stakeholders of the firm. We try to specify the characteristics that affect the value of the firm by the efficiency of the law. Finally, we study the risk and the importance of the systematic and specific component. With an international empirical analysis, we get evidence about the relationship between the orientation of the bankruptcy law and the market value of insolvent firms, about he valuation of the different types of efficiency of the bankruptcy law and the relevance of the specific risk, which appears specially affected by the insolvency problems.

This thesis investigates the impact of fragmentation in the ownership of complementary patents or patent thickets on firms' market value. This question is motivated by the increase in the patent ownership fragmentation following the pro-patent shifts in the US since 1982. The first chapter uses panel data on patenting US manufacturing firms from 1979 to 1996, and estimates the impact of patent thickets on firms' market value. I find that patent thickets lower firms' market value, and firms with a large patent portfolio size experience a smaller negative effect from their thickets. Moreover, no systematic difference exists in the impact of patent thickets on firms' market value over time. The second chapter extends this analysis to account for the indirect impacts of patent thickets on firms' market value. These indirect effects arise through the effects of patent thickets on firms' R\&D and patenting activities. Using panel data on US manufacturing firms from 1979 to 1996, I estimate the impact of patent thickets on market value, R\&D, and patenting as well as the impacts of R\&D and patenting on market value. Employing these estimates, I determine the direct, indirect, and total impacts of patent thickets on market value. I find that patent thickets decrease firms' market value, while I hold the firms’ R\&D and patenting activities constant. I find no evidence of a change in R\&D due to patent thickets. However, there is evidence of defensive patenting (an increase in patenting attributed to thickets), which helps to reduce the direct negative impact of patent thickets on market value. The data sets used in Chapters 1 and 2 have a number of missing observations on regressors. The commonly used methods to manage missing observations are the listwise deletion (complete case) and the indicator methods. Studies on the statistical properties of these methods suggest a smaller bias using the listwise deletion method. Employing Monte Carlo simulations, Chapter 3 examines the properties of these methods, and finds that in some cases the listwise deletion estimates have larger biases than indicator estimates. This finding suggests that interpreting estimates arrived at with either approach requires caution.

Syftet med den här studien är att beskriva och analysera hur ett småhus ålder kan påverka marknadsvärdet och taxeringsvärdet för en småhusfastighet samt hur den svenska taxeringsmodellen tar hänsyn till hur ett småhus ålder påverkar värdet. Målet är att ge förslag på hur ett småhus ålder kan behandlas vid fastighetstaxering i Sverige. Ett småhus definieras som en byggnad inrättad till bostad för en till två familjer och en småhusfastighet utgörs av ett småhus plus dess tomtmark. Vid fastighetstaxering av småhusfastigheter i Sverige bestäms ett byggnads- och ett tomtmarksvärde som sedan slås ihop till ett taxeringsvärde för småhusfastigheten, taxeringsvärdet ska motsvara 75 % av marknadsvärdet två år före taxeringsåret. Byggnadsvärdet respektive tomtmarksvärdet bestäms utifrån olika värdefaktorer, en av dem är värdefaktorn ålder vilket anges som ett värdeår ämnat att uttrycka en byggnads återstående ekonomiska livslängd. Metoder som har använts i studien är en litteraturstudie som granskat tidigare forskning inom ämnet samt lagstiftning och facklitteratur. En kvantitativ undersökning av småhus och köp i Gävle kommun har genomförts för att skapa en generell bild av hur ett småhus ålder påverkar småhusfastigheters taxeringsvärde samt en generell bild av när taxeringsvärdet är svårbedömt på grund av ett småhus ålder. För att erhålla en djupare förståelse för hur ett småhus ålder kan påverka småhusfastigheters marknadsvärde genomfördes en kvalitativ undersökning av ett fåtal småhus. Resultatet av litteraturstudien visar att de åldersrelaterade variabler som kan påverka ett småhus marknadsvärde är: depreciering, läge, byggnadskonstruktion, underhåll samt vintage-effekt. De åldersrelaterade variabler som den svenska taxeringsmodellen tar hänsyn till är: depreciering, åldersinverkan i förhållande till läge samt jämkning av värdeår. Litteraturstudien samt den kvantitativa och den kvalitativa undersökningen tyder på att det finns vissa brister i hur åldersfaktorn hanteras vid fastighetstaxering i Sverige, främst när det gäller äldre byggnader. Eftersom de båda undersökningarna genomfördes endast med småhusfastigheter i Gävle kommun är dock resultatet inte direkt applicerbart på hela Sveriges småhusbestånd. Ändock drogs slutsatsen att det anses motiverat att ge förslag på hur den svenska taxeringsmodellen kan behandla åldersfaktorn vid fastighetstaxering av småhus. Förslaget innefattade de åldersrelaterade variablerna: depreciering, läge, underhåll, köparpreferenser samt byggnadskonstruktion.