Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan

This thesis analyzes the connection between monetary policies and belief-driven fluctuation, and discusses the effects of monetary policies in a small open economy. We construct an endogenous growth model that introduces the role of money into the production function and allows elastic labor supply. In departing from the findings proposed by Benhabib and Farmer (1994), we find that belief-driven fluctuation can be easily encouraged, as long as there is lower increasing return to scale under money growth rate targeting. However, if there is a higher level of increasing return to scale, the increase of the growth rate of nominal money supply will only increase the economic growth rate temporarily, and money is super-neutral in the long run. More importantly, we show that under inflation rate targeting, the central bank will eliminate possibilities of belief-driven fluctuation in the small open economy, but lose the efficacy of monetary policy on the short-term economic growth at the same time.

Population models are very often used and considered useful in the policy-making process and for planning purposes. In this research I have tried to illuminate the problem of analysing population evolution in space by using three models which cover a wide spectrum of complementary methodologies: a The Hotell.ing-Puu model b A multiregional demographic model c A synergetic model Hotelling's work and Puu's later generalization have produced theoretical continuous models treating population growth and dispersal in a combined logistic growth and diffusion equation. The multiregional model is a discrete model based on the Markovian assumption which simulates the population evolution disaggregated by age and region. It is further assumed that this population is governed by a given pattern of growth and interregional mobility. The synergetic model is also a discrete model based on the Markovian assumption incorporating a probabilistic framework with causal structure. The quantitative description of the population dynamics is treated in terms of trend parameters, which are correlated in turn with demo-economic factors. / <p>Diss. Umeå : Umeå universitet, 1988</p> / Digitalisering@umu

This thesis deals with problems of cost and profitability of farms producing the selected crop and livestock commodities. For the structure of the work is divided into 3 parts - theoretical part and practical part of the methodology. The theoretical part is devoted to the use of cost and production functions and the degree of cost-effectiveness. Complementing the analysis of systems of indicators, which is defined logarithmic metoda.V practical part of the theoretical findings are applied to a set of 76 farms, which are divided according to production areas in the period 2006 - 2010.

O propósito desta tese é analisar as contribuições da gestão de recursos humanos ao longo dos estágios evolutivos da gestão ambiental empresarial. Para tanto, realizou-se uma fundamentação teórica sobre a evolução da gestão ambiental nas empresas e sobre como as principais dimensões funcionais e competitivas da gestão de recursos humanos podem contribuir com os objetivos de gestão ambiental. Esta fundamentação teórica apoiou o desenvolvimento de uma triangulação da pesquisa empírica, pautada em duas fases complementares. Na primeira delas, dados foram coletados junto a 94 empresas possuidoras de certificação ISO 14001, para posterior análise e processamento, por meio de técnicas estatísticas descritivas, de correlação e de análise fatorial, gerando diretrizes analíticas relevantes para subsidiar a segunda fase da pesquisa empírica. Essa segunda fase constou da realização de um estudo de múltiplos casos junto a quatro empresas para a análise em profundidade das contribuições da gestão de recursos humanos para a gestão ambiental empresarial. Os resultados permitem constatar que a evolução da gestão ambiental empresarial requer o apoio de diferentes dimensões da gestão de recursos humanos, em termos de quantidade e intensidade das interações estabelecidas. / The purpose of this research is to analyze the contributions of human resources management along the evolution stages of environmental management in companies. Thus a theoretical framework about environmental management and its evolution and the greening of the functional and competitive dimensions of human resource management was elaborated. This revision of literature supports the development of a triangular empirical research which is developed in two complimentary phases. In the first phase, data was collected from 94 brazilian companies with ISO 14001 certification, for further analysis and processing through statically descriptive techniques, Spearman correlation and factor analysis. These statistical methods provide relevant analytical directions to support the second phase of this empirical research. The second phase consists of a study of multiple cases in four brazilian companies to further understand the contributions of human resources management to environmental management mainly in the context of production function. The results give evidence that the evolution of environmental management requires support from the various dimensions of human resource management in terms of variety and intensity of the relationship established.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / Estudar os fatores determinantes do crescimento econÃmico à fundamental para compreender por que hà tanta desigualdade de renda entre as regiÃes. A elevaÃÃo contÃnua da produtividade total dos fatores à imprescindÃvel para o crescimento sustentado e hà uma relaÃÃo intrÃnseca entre produtividade e inovaÃÃo tecnolÃgica. à relevante, por isso, investigar a forma como as economias acumulam ideias e conhecimento. O objetivo deste trabalho à estimar a funÃÃo de produÃÃo de ideias das regiÃes brasileiras, a fim de testar a importÃncia da inovaÃÃo tecnolÃgica no desempenho regional e investigar a existÃncia de spillovers de ideias na dimensÃo espacial. Para tanto, considerando as proposiÃÃes teÃricas de Romer (1990) e Jones (1995), estima-se a funÃÃo de produÃÃo de ideias do Brasil e de suas cinco regiÃes pelo mÃtodo dos mÃnimos quadrados agrupados e por efeitos fixos, ambos com erros robustos para contornar heterogeneidades comuns em painel de dados. Os resultados apontam para retornos marginais decrescentes em cada um dos fatores da funÃÃo de produÃÃo de ideias, estoque de conhecimento e capital humano; retornos decrescentes de escala da funÃÃo de produÃÃo de ideias; e nÃo significÃncia de spillovers regionais. Sendo assim, os resultados parecem validar as restriÃÃes paramÃtricas do modelo de Jones (1995) contra as suposiÃÃes de Romer (1990), implicando que polÃticas que pretendam estimular a produÃÃo de conhecimento conseguirÃo modificar o nÃvel de produtividade, mas nÃo surtirÃo efeito sobre a taxa de crescimento de longo prazo. / Studying the determinants of economic growth is the key to understanding why there is so much income inequality between regions. The total factor productivity growth is essential for sustained growth and there is a close relationship between productivity and technological innovation. Therefore, it is important to investigate how the economies accumulate ideas and knowledge. This paper estimates the parameters of the ideas production function of the Brazilian regions, in order to test the importance of technological innovation in regional performance and investigate the existence of spillovers of ideas in the spatial dimension. Based on theoretical propositions Romer (1990) and Jones (1995), we estimate the ideas production function of Brazil and of its five regions by the method of least squares pooled and fixed effects, both with robust errors to overcome common heterogeneities in data panel. We provide evidence for two main findings. First, we find evidence of marginal decreasing returns in each of the factors of ideas production function, knowledge stock and human capital; and decreasing returns to scale in ideas production function. Second, there are no significant regional spillovers. Thus, the findings sound to validate the Jones (1995) parametric restrictions, implying that policies intending to stimulate knowledge production will be able to modify the level of productivity, but have no effect on the rate of long-term growth.

O objetivo desse trabalho é analisar a relação entre o desempenho escolar e os salários dos jovens brasileiros. Examinamos se a qualidade do ensino, mensurada pelas notas obtidas por uma geração nos exames de proficiência realizados pelo Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Anísio Teixeira, o INEP, em seu Estado ao término do ensino médio, afeta os salários a serem recebidos por esta geração quando ela estiver no mercado de trabalho, cinco e seis anos depois, respectivamente com dados do Censo Demográfico de 2000 e da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios, a PNAD, de 2001. A partir de um modelo de pseudo-painel, corrigimos os problemas de viés de seleção gerados pelas migrações e pelo alto nível educacional da amostra selecionada, através do modelo de Roy (1951) aplicado em Dahl (2001). Os determinantes da proficiência escolar, tais como “background” familiar, a infra-estrutura escolar e o perfil de docentes e diretores também foram analisados. A partir da estimação do modelo em dois estágios, os resultados do primeiro estágio mostram que o desempenho dos alunos em exames de proficiência é positivamente relacionado aos investimentos em educação, como melhor remuneração a professores e diretores, critérios mais rigorosos de seleção desses profissionais, assim como investimentos em infra-estrutura, que melhoram a qualidade da escola. Isso aponta para a existência de uma relação entre os recursos destinados à educação e a qualidade da mesma no Brasil. Adicionalmente, os resultados do segundo estágio do modelo mostram que as notas obtidas por uma geração nos testes de proficiência são significantes para explicar os salários futuros da mesma. Dessa forma o estudo confirma a importância de políticas públicas que invistam na qualidade da escola ao invés de políticas destinadas apenas a aumentar os anos de estudo da população. / The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between the school performance and the wages of young Brazilians workers. We examine if school quality, measured by test scores of a generation in SAEB at the end of high school, affect the earnings of this generation when they enter the labor force, five and six years later, with sample of Censo (2000) and PNAD (2001). We use a pseudo-panel model to correct the problems of selection bias, created by migrations and by the high education level of the selected sample, through a Roy model (1951) applied in Dahl (2001). The determinants of school performance, like familiar background, school structure, teacher and director profiles also were analyzed. We conclude that school characteristics are responsible for a good performance of students in tests scores, and that the school performance explains the differences of the earnings of young Brazilians workers.

The main objective of the study was to estimate non-market value of irrigation water as an input in sugar cane production in the Lowveld of Swaziland. This study used two independent approaches to non-market valuation, the residual value and production function approaches, to calculate the value that sugar cane farmers in the Lowveld region of Swaziland attach to irrigation water. The former estimated the average value of water, while the latter estimated the marginal value. The study also estimated the output elasticity of irrigation water, identified factors determining irrigation water values, and used stochastic frontier analysis to estimate farmers’ technical efficiency (TE) scores, and investigated the relationship hypothesised between irrigation water values and TE. Irrigated sugar cane production was specifically selected for this study on account of its socio-economic importance in Swaziland. Using data obtained from 78 sugar cane farms, the mean estimated value of irrigation water, measured in Emalangeni per metre cubed, was E1.60/m3 using the residual value approach, and E1.51/m3 using the production function approach. A t-test showed that the observed differences between the values estimated from the two independent approaches were not statistically significant, suggesting that either method can be used to value irrigation water employed in sugar cane production in Swaziland. The results from the t-test, in conjunction with the economic theory of duality, also allow us to conclude that the production technology employed by irrigation sugar cane farmers exhibits constant returns to scale. Irrigation water was output inelastic (0.711), lending additional credence to the constant returns technology conclusion. The value calculated for irrigation water was negatively related to irrigation water quantity, suggesting that price can be used as an instrument to directly regulate the quantity of irrigation water the farmer employs. The value calculated for irrigation water was negatively related to quantities of labour, quantity of irrigation water used, fertilizer and chemicals employed, suggesting that price can be used as an instrument to indirectly regulate the quantity of irrigation water the farmer employs. The value imputed for irrigation water was positively related to farm size and total revenue, suggesting that the more resourceendowed farmers can potentially pay higher for irrigation water. It is thus conceivable to design irrigation water pricing policies with equity considerations. TE scores ranged from 0.397 to 0.955, with a mean of 0.840. Farmers with higher TE scores also had higher implicit values for irrigation water, suggesting that irrigation water pricing can be used as a tool for motivating resource use efficiency. The key policy implication derived from this study is that price-based instruments have a potential in the management of scarce irrigation water resources in Swaziland. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

This diploma thesis deals with the stochastic frontier approach -- a tool for the analysis of technical efficiency. First, general outline, basic terms and approaches to efficiency analysis are overviewed. Also the theoretical background of production functions is involved, focused on the Cobb-Douglas production function. Furthermore, the frontier approach and the stochastic frontier approach for cross-sections data is covered. Based on this, stochastic frontier model with time-varying technical efficiency for panel data is introduced with respect to maximum likelihood estimation. The second part offers an application of the model to assess technical efficiency of ice hockey teams in the NHL for the 1997-2013 period. Output of the production is measured by the winning percentage, inputs are salaries of three categories -- goaltender, defenseman and centers/wingers.

This Master’s thesis is concerned with analysis of production function and analysis of Break Even Point in the company called XY s.r.o. On the basis of BEP analysis in relation with production function I will compose the improvement suggestion of economic situation in the company. Implementation of whole the improvement suggestion will take effect in expansion of profit of the company.