Over-consumption in developed economies undoubtedly puts a large strain on the environment, and many would argue that the damage is irreversible. Current uses and rates of consumption of freshwater resources are also deemed to be unsustainable. A large contributor to the high demand for water is the shift in consumer preferences from tap to bottled water. In the last few decades, bottled water companies have set unprecedented records, surpassing all other types of non-alcoholic beverages to become the second largest beverage market next to soda. Bottled water has been on the rise due to its supposed safety, purity and convenience. Municipal tap water companies have little to no incentive for disproving these theories since tap water continues to be used for non-drinking purposes. Meanwhile, bottled water companies are spending millions of dollars in appealing advertisements, which further fuels distrust of tap water providers. The purpose of this thesis was to determine how consumers understand the differences between bottled and tap water, and how such understandings were linked to individual socioeconomic characteristics, properties of bottled water, knowledge of its environmental costs and advertising and marketing. Since the city of Pensacola in Florida was recently determined to have some of the worst tap water in the country, it presented an interesting case study for the discussion of bottled water consumption. Two separate neighborhoods, chosen based on average income, were surveyed in Pensacola, and residents were asked about their bottled water consumption and preferences. Topics of inquiry included frequency of consumption, reasons for and against bottled water consumption, and opinions and knowledge surrounding bottled water. The majority of respondents of this study regularly drank bottled water regardless of income. Convenience was the most popular reason cited for drinking bottled water, and taste also emerged as an important property. Respondents did not consider themselves to be influenced by advertising and marketing by bottled water companies. Concerns regarding tap water were related to the safety and taste of water supply. Participants were to some extent aware of the environmental implications of drinking bottled water, yet this knowledge did not keep them from drinking bottled water. This thesis thus shows that making people aware of the environmental and economic costs of bottled water is not sufficient to regaining tap water trustworthiness. Instead, the habits of consumerism which make it convenient to purchase bottled water seem to be implicated in the popularity of bottled water.

Urban forests provide environmental, social, and economic benefits to urban residents. These benefits are often overlooked when making spatial and financial distributive decisions in urban areas. The City of Tampa has demonstrated interest in its urban forest resource and estimated its extent and some of the benefits provided. Estimating economic values for benefits that have not been quantified can help to ensure that resources are distributed more efficiently. Five methods to estimate urban forest benefits in the City of Tampa are reviewed, with contingent valuation being the method chosen out of this review process. A mailed, dichotomous choice contingent valuation survey was executed with two points of contact, yielding 107 responses for a 21.4 percent response rate. Despite positively rating the City’s urban forest, the majority of respondents (62.6 percent) were willing to pay for it to increase. The Turnbull distribution-free estimator was used to estimate a lower bound of $3.23 for willingness to pay to increase Tampa’s urban forest resource by 250,000 trees. Willingness to pay was positively associated with income and education. The survey responses also yielded important attitudinal and behavioral information that can help local decision makers increase the efficiency of urban forest distribution, maintenance, and promotion.

Overweight and obesity are influenced by many factors, however, food and beverage advertising and its influence on the dietary preferences and choices of youth is important. Models providing explanations for the association between advertising and youth outcomes have been proposed, yet few have been tested. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how objective measures of attention to food and beverage advertising were associated with the (1) unhealthy food and beverage preferences (2) unhealthy food and beverage choices and (3) overweight/obesity status of youth, and how susceptibility to food and beverage advertising moderated these associations. Participants included 102 youth (m age = 11.6; 56.4% Caucasian; 43.1% female) who viewed 40 food and beverage advertisements on a computer and had their eye movements recorded. Attention measures included total time, total unhealthy time, fixation length (animated characters/branded logos, unhealthy food and beverage items), and fixation count (animated characters/branded logos, unhealthy food and beverage items). Participants self-reported susceptibility to food and beverage advertising, unhealthy food and beverage preferences, unhealthy food and beverage choices, and overweight/obesity. Regression models, controlling for gender, and moderation analyses were conducted. Fixation length and count for unhealthy food and beverage items were each positively and significantly associated with unhealthy food and beverage preferences. Fixation count for unhealthy food and beverage items was positively and marginally associated with unhealthy food and beverage choices. Findings indicate that individuals who look longer and more frequently at unhealthy food and beverage items appear to prefer them, and may also choose them. Susceptibility to food and beverage advertising moderated the association between fixation count for animated characters/branded logos and BMI z-score, suggesting that under conditions of high susceptibility to food and beverage advertising, those with a higher fixation count for animated characters/branded logos had a lower BMI z-score. Future research should include longitudinal studies, as well as work which examines the role of other potential moderating variables. Findings may have important implications for use in intervention programs, in the development of advertising messages for healthy food and beverage items, and/or policy initiatives aimed at changing the landscape of food and beverage advertising. / text

This dissertation explores the application of the techniques of mathematical finance to the achievement of investment targets and financial stability. It contains three self-contained but broadly related essays. Sharpe et al. proposed the idea of having an expected utility maximizer choose a probability distribution for future wealth as an input to her investment problem rather than a utility function. They developed the Distribution Builder as one way to elicit such a distribution. In a single-period model, they then showed how this desired distribution for terminal wealth can be used to infer the investor's risk preferences. In the first essay, we adapt their idea, namely that a desired distribution for future wealth is an alternative input attribute for investment decisions, to continuous time. In a variety of scenarios, we show how the investor's desired distribution, combined with her initial wealth and market-related input, can be used to determine the feasibility of her distribution, her implied risk preferences, and her optimal policies throughout her investment horizon. We then provide several examples. In the second essay, we consider an investor who must a priori liquidate a large position in a primary risky asset whose price is influenced by the investor's liquidation strategy. Liquidation must be complete by a terminal time T, and the investor can hedge the market risk involved with liquidation over time by investing in a liquid proxy asset that is correlated with the primary asset. We show that the optimal strategies for an investor with constant absolute risk aversion are deterministic and we find them explicitly using calculus of variations. We then analyze the strategies and determine the investor's indifference price. In the third essay, we use contingent claims analysis to study several aggregate distance-to-default measures of the S&P Financial Select Sector Index during the years leading up to and including the recent financial crisis of 2007-2009. We uncover mathematical errors in the literature concerning one of these measures, portfolio distance-to-default, and propose an alternative measure that we show has similar conceptual and in-sample econometric properties. We then compare the performance of the aggregate distance-to-default measures to other common risk indicators. / text

Bakgrund: För att ge vägledning till hur samhället skall värdera nutida effekter gentemotframtida, exempelvis att rädda liv eller fördela samhälleliga investeringar, har ekonomergenomfört stated preference-studier med syfte att undersöka individers samhälleligatidspreferenser. Studiernas resultat har producerat en stor variation kring hur individervärderar framtida utfall jämfört med nutida. Resultaten har dock tolkats som att individer,även om tidspreferenserna varierar i storlek, värderar framtida utfall lägre än nutida. ShaneFrederick genomförde 1999 en studie, som Frederick benämnde som ett ”robusthetstest” avden dittills använda metodiken, där han i motsats till tidigare studier inte bara erbjödrespondenterna ett nutida utfall jämfört med ett framtida, utan även erbjöd respondenternaolika sekventiella fördelningar över tid. Resultaten kontrasterade tydligt tidigare studiersresultat, respondenterna föredrog exempelvis att rädda liv fördelat på tre generationer iställetför endast i deras egen – vilket indikerade att respondenterna hade negativa tidspreferenser!Inga uppföljningsstudier har därefter genomförts.Syfte: Att undersöka individers samhälleliga tidspreferenser när de erbjuds sekventiellafördelningar över tid.Metod: Två enkätundersökningar genomfördes vid Linköpings universitet. Respondenternaställdes inför olika sekventiella fördelningar för räddandet av liv och samhälleligaupprustningar, såväl i ett intra- som ett intergenerationsperspektiv.Slutsats: Vi finner ej stöd för att en majoritet av individerna värderar framtida samhälleligaupprustningar eller att rädda framtida liv, lägre än nutida. Vi finner heller ej stöd för attindividers tidspreferenser endast innefattar en preferens för den tidshorisontella absolutafördelningen (nutid gentemot framtid). I både ett intra- och ett intergenerationsperspektivföredrog den största andelen av respondenterna en jämn fördelning över tid. I ettintragenerationsperspektiv, där vi erbjöd individerna olika sekventiella fördelningar över tid,påverkades respondenternas val av den relativa fördelningen över tid. Alla resultatuppvisades för både räddandet av liv och samhälleliga upprustningar. / Background: To give guidance for societal policy decisions on how to value future effectscompared to present, economists have used stated preference methodology to measureindividuals’ societal time preferences. The results have produced a great variety in the size ofindividuals’ time preferences, but have in general at least concluded that individuals valuefuture effects less then present. Shane Frederick performed in 1999 what he called a “test ofrobustness” of the methodology used in previous studies. Instead of just offering individualsto choose from an outcome today towards an outcome x years from now, he also offeredrespondents outcomes sequentially spread out across time. The results contradicted those ofprevious studies. For example 80% of the respondents preferred to save 300 lives across 3generations instead of 300 in their own – which implied negative time preferences! Nofurther follow up studies have been performed.Objective: Investigate individuals’ societal time preferences, when they are offeredsequential outcomes over time.Methodology: Two questionnaires where handed out at Linköpings university. Therespondents where offered different sequential outcomes over time for saving lives and whenpublic investments should occur, in as well an intra- as an intergenerational perspective.Conclusion: Our findings do not indicate that a majority of the individuals value savingfuture lives less then present lives, or that they value future public investments less thenfuture investments. Neither do they indicate that individuals’ societal time preferences onlyincorporate the absolute time horizontal aspect. In both an intra- and an intergenerationalperspective the largest fraction of the individuals preferred an equal distribution over time. Inan intragenerational perspective, where we offered individuals different sequentialdistributions, the individuals choice where affected by the relative distribution over time. Allfindings where present both for saving lives and public investments.

This dissertation investigates the dynamics of mass attitudes toward redistributive social policies in post-industrial democracies: How have these attitudes changed over time? What factors and mechanisms drive these changes? According to workhorse models in political economy, as inequality increases, support for redistributive social policies should also increase, especially among those most likely to benefit from them. Yet, despite a sharp growth in income inequality in the United States and the United Kingdom since the 1970's, there is no evidence that attitudinal trends match these predictions. Drawing from findings in the behavioral sciences on mental processes of attitude formation and on the role of other-oriented concerns, I argue that political economy's workhorse models perform well only under specific scope conditions. Once these conditions are accounted for, observed trends become less puzzling. First, workhorse models only capture one component of demand for redistribution, namely support for redistribution conceived as taking from the "rich" (redistribution from), and ignore a separate component, support for redistribution conceived as giving to the "poor" (redistribution to). These two facets of redistribution, I argue, prime different individual motives: self-interested income maximization on the one hand, and other-oriented social affinity with welfare beneficiaries on the other, which is shaped by social ranking and non-economic moral dispositions. Second, attitudinal change that matches these models' predictions is conditional on whether elites politicize redistributive issues. The nature and structure of the options available in one's political environment impact the kind of choices citizens make, i.e. the motives that guide attitude formation. I show how elite competition over distinct redistributive agendas increases the likelihood that individuals will translate their economic circumstances into support for, or opposition to, redistribution. Through a context-sensitive analysis of longitudinal survey data, I show how most of the action in the UK and the US has happened through other-oriented motives. The decline in the predictive power of income in these countries, has been mirrored in both countries by an increase in the predictive power of moral values. Differences in the choice sets provided by elite-level electoral competition help explain how this plays out differently on each side of the Atlantic.

Globally operating business organizations tend to use a global strategy by using a standardized strategy as a fixed format. However, this has developed to be very ineffective for the ability to compete in the different markets worldwide. The adaptation of local preferences hence, seems to be crucial but also very complex for multinational retailers. This study therefore, determines the complexity of considerations that a shift from a global to a transnational strategy includes. The decision making of which strategy is appropriate for multinational retailers to compete on a global market can be quite puzzling, as is can be seen in the bed textile segment. Therefore this research paper investigates, within a case study of IKEA’s bed textile department, if a shift from a global to a transnational strategy is of advantage for a multinational retailer like IKEA and to what extend cultural awareness has to be considered. The methods that were used for this study include a literature review in the mentioned focus area and a collection of primary data through a qualitative research design with an open questionnaire sent to the Sales Leaders of IKEA. The research has shown that market research is an important factor when it comes to cultural related differences between the countries. Also, when dealing with the concern of adaptation of the market relevant bed textile sizes to the product range, the Sales Leaders of IKEA have perceived different concerns. Therewith a full adaptation may not be the solution for all businesses, since this depends on the product and market preferences. The cultural preferences in each country and the right degree of standardization and local preferences are a big issue for the global bed textile industry and are hence perceived as the main challenges in this concern. Possible paths for future investigations are shown by the results of this study. Thus, an inclusion of other cases could enable the possibility of a generalization of the study’s findings. Also, the same case study could be expanded by including customers input in the individual markets; this would lead to a better understanding of the customer’s preferences and a higher validity of the study. Last but not least this study has shown that there is no simple answer given whether a shift from a global towards a transnational strategy is of advantage for multinational retailers; however interesting factors concerning the shift could be identified.

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

In the paper we examine the childbearing trends in Iceland during 1982-2013 by analyzing theprogression to parities one, two and three, as well as changes in the birth spacing patterns over theperiod. Emphasis are placed on the years after the turn of the century. In the first decade of the 21stcentury two potentially influential events took place in Iceland in relation to subsequent fertilityoutcomes; a reform was made to the parental leave scheme between 2001 and 2003 and a deepeconomic crisis came ashore in late 2008. Special attention is given to the trends following thesetwo critical junctures. As well as looking at the parity progressions over time we also investigate theevidence of sex preferences for children among Icelandic parents. In three of the other four Nordiccountries a preference for daughters has been found. As Iceland shares the same egalitarianemphasis within a universal welfare regime it is interesting to investigate if the same applies toIceland. Individual longitudinal register data are used in the calculations; the dataset consists of thetotal female population born in Iceland between 1941 and 1997. The data are of high quality and arestored and processed at Statistics Iceland. The findings are presented in the form of relative risksand are derived from piecewise constant exponential models. In terms of findings, the first birthtrends are characterized by postponement of motherhood at the younger ages and trends ofrecuperation at the older ages. The second and third birth rates indicate that the reform in theparental leave had positive influence on continued childbearing but the elevation in the rates mayalso be associated with the upswing in the business cycle at the same time. The second and thirdbirth rates did not fall at the onset of the economic crisis but three years into the recession. Finally,estimations indicate that Icelandic parents have a preference for having daughters.

Despite growing concerns for environmental crisis and the recent economic downturns, worldwide appetite for luxury goods has remained stable and has even grown dramatically in some countries. Luxury goods implicitly convey certain meanings and norms. What are psychological and behavioural consequences of exposure to luxuries? In this proposal, I argue that exposure to luxury goods increases cognitive accessibility of constructs relate to self-interest and subsequently affects social judgments and behaviour. I aim to establish a theoretical conjunction between (a) anthropology’s study of material culture, which focuses on material evidence in attributing human cultures, and (b) psychology’s priming technique, which examines the effects of activated cognitive representations on psychological responding. Accordingly, three studies were conducted to investigate the implicit link of luxury and self-interest. The results showed that exposure to luxury primes automatically activated mental associations relate to self-interest and subsequently increased one’s propensity to allocate more resources to oneself relative to another person (study 1), caused some harvesters to defect in a multi-stage N-person commons dilemma (study 2), but did not necessarily induce unethical behaviour aimed to harm others (study 3). Research about the psychological effects of luxury goods are important because luxuries are implicitly embedded in institutional settings and organizational environments in which negotiations are typically conducted and resource allocation decisions are made. / Graduate / 0621 / 0623 / 0451 / angelch@uvic.ca