<p>This licentiate thesis is about the provision of transportinfrastructure and the regional impacts of such provision.Three different techniques have been investigated that can beused for the assessment and forecasting of the effects ofinfrastructure: transport demand models and parametric andnon-parametric econometric estimation techniques. The maininterest is focused around the regional effects of theÖresund fixed link, which was opened on July 1, 2000.</p><p>The thesis is a collection of three papers plus a generalintroduction: papers 1 and 2 are concerned with the effect ofaccessibility in the transport networks on productivity on anindividual firm level. In paper 1, a translog cost function,extended with an accessibility variable, is estimated for 24business aggregates using panel data techniques and tests on adataset covering single workplaces in Scania over the years1990–98. The results are not conclusive, and cannot beused for forecasting of the after-situation. In paper 2, anon-parametric method, propensity score matching, is applied onthe same dataset to test if productivity differs in highaccessibiliby areas compared to those with low accessibility,while controlling for other differences between firms. Theresult here is the same as in the first paper: for no businessthere is a significant difference in productivity that can berelated to accessibility. In paper 3, a framework for theexternal validation of models of transport, landuse andenvironment is developed, with a focus on transport forecastmodels. The scenario assumptions and forecast results ofearlier models are presented and compared. A before-and-afterdatabase under construction for the Öresund region is alsopresented, to be used for validation of such models.</p><p><b>Key words:</b>infrastructure assessment, validation,Öresund, transport demand models, regionalconsequences.</p>

This study assesses effects of contextual and personal characteristics on the migration propensities of individuals, with primary focus on several measurements of individual poverty status and the poverty level of the residential areas. The restricted opportunity perspective on poverty, the human capital perspective and the microeconomic perspective on migration, are the major frameworks guiding the study. Logistic regression analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of the Youth Cohort and from the 1983 County and City Data Book is employed to investigate differences in the Migration behavior between the poor and nonpoor, and significant main and interactive effects of the macrolevel and microlevel factors on the migration behavior of American youth. The major findings are: (1) youth living in areas with less employment opportunities are more migratory; (2) poor youth are less migratory than the nonpoor; and (3) the poor living in areas with less employment opportunities are least migratory. These findings are consistent when migration is classified into primary and repeat migration, but are not consistent across the ethnic groups.

This licentiate thesis is about the provision of transportinfrastructure and the regional impacts of such provision.Three different techniques have been investigated that can beused for the assessment and forecasting of the effects ofinfrastructure: transport demand models and parametric andnon-parametric econometric estimation techniques. The maininterest is focused around the regional effects of theÖresund fixed link, which was opened on July 1, 2000. The thesis is a collection of three papers plus a generalintroduction: papers 1 and 2 are concerned with the effect ofaccessibility in the transport networks on productivity on anindividual firm level. In paper 1, a translog cost function,extended with an accessibility variable, is estimated for 24business aggregates using panel data techniques and tests on adataset covering single workplaces in Scania over the years1990–98. The results are not conclusive, and cannot beused for forecasting of the after-situation. In paper 2, anon-parametric method, propensity score matching, is applied onthe same dataset to test if productivity differs in highaccessibiliby areas compared to those with low accessibility,while controlling for other differences between firms. Theresult here is the same as in the first paper: for no businessthere is a significant difference in productivity that can berelated to accessibility. In paper 3, a framework for theexternal validation of models of transport, landuse andenvironment is developed, with a focus on transport forecastmodels. The scenario assumptions and forecast results ofearlier models are presented and compared. A before-and-afterdatabase under construction for the Öresund region is alsopresented, to be used for validation of such models. Key words:infrastructure assessment, validation,Öresund, transport demand models, regionalconsequences.

Sustainability has been identified as a fluffy idea containing conflicting logics that may make it problematic for individual employees to work with in practice. The aim of this thesis was to contribute to the literature of translating ideas by looking at the microlevel perspective of how the idea of sustainability has been translated within Nordic Choice Hotels. This was done by conducting an in-depth case study and collecting data primarily from qualitative interviews with individual employees at different hotels and the Manager of Sustainable Operations at the headquarters. The results show that sustainability within Nordic Choice Hotels has been translated into (1) the own label ‘WeCare’ containing different initiatives that has enabled the organization to concretize the fluffy idea of sustainability; (2) a culture built around sustainability which is based on a community logic; and (3) individual employees becoming sustainability ambassadors that can be seen as bilingual in using different arguments and reasonings in different situations. Our main contribution in relation to previous research is the fact that a third logic, namely a community logic, was used to bridge the conflicting logics of sustainability.