Thesis is focused on regional policy of the European Union (known as cohesion policy). The goal of the regional policy is to reduce regional disparities among the member countries of the European Union. Therefore, regional policy has an important role among other policies of the European Union. In the period from 2007 to 2013, regional spending account for 36% of the EU budget. The recent enlargement to 27 Member States has dramatically increased disparity levels across the EU. The new Member States have lower levels of income per head and employment rates than other EU countries. This thesis is divided into two parts. The first part characterizes development of the regional policy, its principles and financial instruments. The second part describes enlargement of the European Union to 27 member states, its impacts, reform of the regional policy and the time period from 2007 to 2013. Different views on impacts of the regional policy together with short case study are added. The goal of this thesis is to evaluate the convergence process among the old and new Member states.

Diese Dissertation umfasst drei Aufsätzen, die sich mit Erwartungen, Entscheidungen und deren Rückwirkung auf die Umgebung beschäftigen. Der erste Aufsatz untersucht die Binnenwanderung von Ost- nach Westdeutschland. Dabei wird der Zusammenhang von Variation in ökonomischen Disparitäten zwischen der Ursprungs- und der Zielregion und Bildungsniveau, Alter und Arbeitsmarktstatus der wandernden Bevölkerung untersucht. Mit Hilfe der SOEP Daten von 1993 bis 2011 gelangt die Untersuchung zu dem Ergebnis, dass regionale Disparitäten in Verbindung mit der Selbstselektion der Wandernden stehen. Während die Wandernden im Durchschnitt jünger und besser ausgebildet als die Bleibenden sind, verringert sich dieser Unterschied, wenn die Differentiale in den Arbeitslosenquoten zwischen den Regionen steigen. Im zweiten Aufsatz entwickle ich ein Modell zur Untersuchung von prosozialem Verhalten in Begegnungen mit Fremden. Durch das Abstrahieren von Möglichkeiten der Reputationsbildung oder des Bestraftwerdens, entfallen die wesentlichen strategischen Motive für prosoziales Verhalten. Die Entscheidung prosozial zu Handeln ist dann nicht mehr strategisch vorteilhaft sondern intrinsisch motiviert durch Altruismus und einer Neigung sich an das Verhalten anderer anzupassen. In einem zweiten Schritt untersuche ich, ob die Erkenntnisse des Modells mit dem empirisch beobachteten Verhalten übereinstimmen. Der dritte Aufsatz skizziert eine (mögliche) Verhaltensstruktur und notwendige Bedingungen auf Mikroebene, die zu den beobachteten Verhaltensunterschieden in prosozialem Verhalten zwischen dem ländlichen und städtischen Raum führen. Den Rahmen des hier entwickelten Modells bildet das bekannte Gefangenen Dilemma, das wiederholt mit zufällig zugeordneten Partnern einer großen Gesellschaft gespielt wird. Das Modell bezieht Merkmale ein, die sich häufig in realen Begegnungen wiederfinden: imperfekte Information, freiwillige Teilnahme und eine Neigung sich dem Verhalten anderer anzupassen. / This thesis consists of three essays that analyze choices and beliefs to explore how both lead to adaptive behavior. The first essay examines the positive net migration flow from the eastern to western parts of Germany. The migration decision is substantially based on expectations about future developments. With economic conditions changing substantially over the past 20 years in the eastern part of Germany, the incentives to migrate have also altered, so changing the composition of the east-to-west migrant body. This essay explores variations in economic disparities between the region of origin and region of destination, relating them to changes in the skill level, age and labor force status of the migrant population. Analyzing SOEP data from 1993-2011, the findings suggest that, with falling wage differentials, older migrants are less frequent job-to-job movers and are more likely to be non-working prior to migration. Furthermore, while migrants tend to be younger and better educated than stayers, the group of movers becomes partly less distinct from the group of stayers with respect to the skill and age composition when regional disparities in employment opportunities increase. The second and the third essay of this thesis model the decision making process in social interactions between strangers. In these situations, choices are often affected by beliefs about others behavior. In the second essay of this work, I develop a simple model of prosocial behavior for encounters between strangers. By abstracting from the possibility of reputation building and punishment between anonymous partners, I remove the main strategic motives for prosocial behavior so reducing it to a simple non-strategic decision. The principal motivation to behave prosocially is then intrinsic, based on altruism, with a taste for conforming to the behavior of others. In this way, individual decisions are conditional on the behavior of others. Emerging equilibria will then explain the occurrence of prosocial or cooperative behavior within a given society. In a second step, I analyze whether the model’s predictions are consistent with the empirical evidence on the link between beliefs and prosocial behavior using data on blood donations. The third essay outline a (possible) micro-structure and conditions which lead to the observed urban-rural differences in cooperative behavior using agent-based modeling. The model presented here adapts the familiar framework of a prisoners dilemma which is played repeatedly with randomly matched members of a large population. I introduce features that are often found in real world interactions: imperfect information, voluntary participation and a taste for conforming to majority behavior. In this analysis, peoples beliefs about the level of cooperation in the population and their resulting behavior are determined endogenously. Both are governed principally by the experience that they derive from interactions. I present results of an agentbased simulation in order to study the emerging dynamic relationships, to examine how cooperative behavior evolves over time under different circumstances, and to determine how urban-rural differences in behavior emerge. The factors that give rise to rural-urban differences are heterogeneity in individual loss aversion or risk taking, and limited migration possibilities between rural and urban areas.

中國大陸自1978年改革開放後，經濟成長驚人，但是這個成長是伴隨著城鄉之間的差距與地區之間的差距。地區間絕對差距與相對差距都在逐年擴大，以1999年的資料，上海與貴州人均GDP相差16倍，絕對差距為一萬元人民幣。對於區域間發展差異的問題，有些學者從自然環境差異等天賦條件因素解釋；另有一派學者則以依賴理論說明市場自然運作的結果；亦有專家以過去計畫經濟時期的歷史發展來說明國家能力，尤其是財政能力，是消弭差異的主要關鍵；也有人以政府的傾斜政策，將資源導向被傾斜的一方流動，致使東西差異形成。本論文認為經濟事物應回歸經濟的角度來探討，再結合制度（正式與非正式）選擇對於經濟層面的干擾因素，來尋求各地區經濟發展差異的解答。在理論上，以新經濟成長理論為基礎，認為除了生產要素的增加外，資源配置是否有效率亦是經濟成長的重要關鍵，而制度決定資源配置的效率，因此，東西部的制度落差是造成東西部經濟成長差異的源頭。這樣的制度落差可以分為兩個面向來探討：第一是經濟領域上政府的退出；第二是社會關係、法律制度、中介組織等相關配套措施的建立。要使得地區發展能夠得到平衡，管制的解除以及新制度的建立是主要的關鍵，尤其是不合理戶口制度造成勞動市場的不健全以及各地方和全國法律的完善程度。本論文整合時間（1978年到1999年）和橫斷面（28個省市區）的統計數據，使用迴歸分析說明制度變數與經濟成長之間的關係。 / Since the reform in 1978, China has experienced an astonishing economic growth. However, the disparity between the coastal and inner provinces is increasing. According to the 1999 statistics, the GDP in Shanghai is sixteen times of GDP in Guizhou. More and more scholarship focuses on the uneven development in China. The reasons of regional disparity in China have focused on the geography, the operation of market, the weakening of the central government's power, or the preferential policies received by the coastal provinces. These can't fully explain China's disparity. I argue that the real reasons for China's disparity lying in the " institutions" (formal and informal) in China. Based on regression analysis of data from 1978 to 1999, my thesis intends to explain the dynamic between institutions and economic growth.

Diploma thesis analyses current state of the European Union's Regional policy in an environment of the Zlín Region. The attthesisention is aimed at current programming period 2007-2013, motives of development, defined objectives, operating principles and system of regional policy implementation in Czech Republic including the future settings of EU Structural Funds Subsidies Exploiting System. For the futher purposes of the thesis the attention is focused on the success of the Regional Operational Programmes, that serve as a basis for the second part of the thesis. Then the analysis of the Regional Operational Programme of the Central Moravia Cohesion Region and socioeconomic analysis of the Zlín Region follow. The practical part of thesis consists of analysis of the Structural Funds through the ROP Central Moravia in the Zlín Region, specifically in the microregion Uherský Brod. The output of the diploma thesis is to document the specific contribution to regional development using selected microregion

MPH / Department of Public Health / Over the past years, suicide and suicidal ideation are being increasingly recognised as important issues for public health policy, especially, among police officers. Suicidal ideation is one of the tragic issues among police officers, causing serious emotional, spiritual, medical, social and psychological distress for the individual, their families and friends, however, not much is known about it in the Vhembe District. The purpose of the study was to explore the factors contributing to suicidal ideation among police officers in Vhembe District. The study was conducted in the Thohoyandou cluster, which is situated in Limpopo Province, South Africa. A study had a qualitative phenomenological research design. The data saturation were reached at the number of 12 police officers, the target population were selected by means of convenience sampling and data was collected through a semi-structured interview. The data collected was analysed using the thematic analytical approach and conclusion were made based on the findings of the study. The study findings show the following as the factors contributing to suicidal ideation among the police officers - domestic violence, financial problems, divorce, extramarital affairs, lack of social support, health problems, contradicting the law and organisational factors that include organisational structure and working with guns. The study recommended that the South African Police Services should continue to provide support and counselling to police officers after they have attended to traumatic cases and that police officers need to be more open about their problems and avoid attempting to deal with them by themselves. / NRF

Du Protocole de Kyoto est née une série d’objectifs de réduction des émissions de GES. Le respect de ces objectifs peut entraîner des coûts très lourds pour les économies des pays développés engagés dans la lutte contre les changements climatiques. Pour minimiser les coûts imposés par ces objectifs, des instruments économiques ont été développés, avec notamment la création de marchés du carbone. Y participent les trois mécanismes de flexibilité du Protocole de Kyoto parmi lesquels figure le Mécanisme pour un Développement Propre (MDP). <p><p>Parmi les problèmes posés par ce mécanisme de compensation, il y a des disparités observées dans la répartition géographique de sa mise en œuvre, alors qu’il est censé contribuer au développement de nombreux pays non-Annexe I. Parmi ceux-ci, les Pays les Moins Avancés (PMA) en général et ceux d’Afrique en particulier restent largement sous-représentés. Pourtant, le MDP a été adopté à la fois comme une contribution innovatrice à l’atténuation des changements climatiques et comme un moteur de promotion du développement durable dans les pays en développement.<p><p>Dans ce contexte, l’objectif général de cette thèse est triple. Primo, elle vise à étudier en profondeur cet instrument en dégageant ses principales caractéristiques, y compris les disparités d’implantation d’activités de projets qui lui sont liées. Secundo, elle en examine les causes par une analyse des barrières ou freins à la mise en œuvre d’activités de projets du MDP dans ces PMA d’Afrique en général et au Burundi en particulier. Tertio, elle révèle les opportunités (avantages/bénéfices) potentielles qui restent toujours non valorisées par l’implémentation d’activités de projets éligibles au titre du MDP.<p><p>L’analyse menée montre que les disparités susmentionnées jouent essentiellement en faveur des grands pays émergents d’Asie et d’Amérique latine, ce qui va à l’encontre du principe d’équité. En effet, en décembre 2011, le Brésil, la Chine et l’Inde détenaient 72,7 % de toutes les activités de projets du MDP et 75,8 % de crédits-carbone attendus en 2012. A l’opposé, les PMA ne disposaient dans le même temps que de 1,3 % de toutes les activités de projets du MDP et 1,2 % de leurs crédits attendus d’ici 2012. Les PMA d’Afrique ne restent qu’avec des parts de l’ordre de 0,8 % et 0,9 % respectivement. Cette situation reste si drastiquement critique qu’il importe d’en déceler les raisons.<p><p>Des caractéristiques de l’instrument, des expériences menées jusqu’ici et de la situation dans des pays hôtes, il ressort que les barrières sont de deux types. D’une part, les barrières endogènes, c'est-à-dire les barrières liées à l’organisation interne des pays. D’autre part, les barrières exogènes qui sont liées essentiellement à l’organisation générale du processus du MDP. L’étude a permis ainsi de montrer que les barrières endogènes constituent le nœud du problème en termes de visibilité des pays hôtes dans le marché du MDP. Celle-ci reste largement limitée dans ce marché international du carbone. <p><p>Les barrières identifiées dans ce travail, en particulier les barrières endogènes, risquent de se révéler difficiles à lever, car elles exigent des réformes structurelles au sein de l’organisation politique, institutionnelle, économique, et juridique du pays hôte. En outre, l’intégration de ces barrières dans un système unique d’interrelations constitue un des points originaux du travail. Ces interrelations ne sont pas négligeables et complexifient l’application du mécanisme, car, dans la plupart des cas, une action amorcée pour lever une barrière peut s’avérer inefficace si d’autres barrières associées ne sont pas prises en compte.<p>L’étude s’est également attachée à évaluer les retombées potentielles liées à la mise en œuvre d’activités de projets du MDP au Burundi. Les principales opportunités perdues jusqu’ici se situent dans quelques secteurs socioéconomiques du pays, essentiellement dans la gestion des déchets et l’énergie. L’étude en a ainsi retenu des options technologiques susceptibles de contribuer à des solutions à la problématique de la gestion des déchets et de l’approvisionnement énergétique au Burundi, tout en favorisant la stabilisation d’émissions de GES. Il s’agit de technologies adaptées de compostage et de bio-méthanisation dans le secteur de la gestion des déchets et les technologies de production d’énergies à partir de sources renouvelables (hydro, solaire, biogaz) et d’amélioration de l’efficacité énergétique de la biomasse (foyers améliorés, carbonisation) dans le secteur de l’énergie. <p><p>Ces opportunités ont également été analysées suivant des critères et indicateurs de durabilité (matrice de développement durable du Gold Standard). Les résultats montrent que ces options technologiques peuvent apporter une contribution au développement durable du pays. En effet, les opportunités se rencontrent à la fois dans le développement social (création d’emplois, moyens de subsistance des pauvres, accès aux énergies propres, renforcement des capacités), le développement écologique (réduction des émissions de GES, amélioration de la qualité de l’air, de l’eau et du sol, sauvegarde de la biodiversité), et le développement économique et technologique (rémunération d’emplois créés, augmentation des investissements, transfert et autonomie technologiques).<p><p>Afin de faire bénéficier le pays des retombées des activités de projets du MDP, il est proposé des solutions qui peuvent contribuer à une levée/atténuation de ces barrières. Ces propositions forment une combinaison d’actions à mener au niveau international, régional et surtout local/national. Au niveau international, des organes habilités devraient apporter des réformes profondes au MDP. Au niveau régional, le renforcement des capacités par des actions de coopération pourrait favoriser l’échange d’expériences en la matière. Au niveau local/national, l’adoption des réformes profondes aux niveaux institutionnel, législatif et juridique, dans une logique d’améliorer les politiques de planification du développement socioéconomique et environnemental, rendrait le pays naturellement plus attractif. En particulier, la mise en place et la mise en œuvre d’une stratégie nationale du MDP pourrait contribuer à relever le défi. <p><p>Les propositions de solutions pour réduire les barrières à la mise en œuvre d’activités de projets du MDP sont susceptibles de stimuler l’investissement en général. Ainsi, toute stratégie adoptée dans cette logique peut contribuer non seulement à la participation du pays au processus du MDP, mais aussi à favoriser la mise en œuvre d’autres projets conventionnels de développement au niveau national. Finalement, la considération de ces différentes opportunités associées à la mise en œuvre d’activités de projets du MDP au niveau du pays par des instances habilitées (décideurs politiques, acteurs institutionnels et économiques) conduirait à faire de ce mécanisme une contribution utile au développement du pays/The Kyoto Protocol has established a series of targets for reducing GHG emissions. The fulfilment of these objectives may result in heavy costs for the economies of developed countries engaged in the fight against climate change. To minimize the costs imposed by these targets, economic instruments were developed, notably with the creation of carbon markets. The three flexible mechanisms of Kyoto Protocol are involved in this, one of which being the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). <p><p>Among the problems posed by this offset mechanism, disparities can be observed in regional distribution after it has been implemented, when it ought to be contributing towards the development of a number of Non-Annex I countries. Among these countries, the least developed ones (LDCs) in general and Africa ones in particular are largely under-represented. However, the CDM was adopted both as an innovative solution to mitigate climate change and as an engine to promote sustainable development in developing countries.<p><p>Within this context, the overall objective of this thesis is threefold. First of all, it aims to study this instrument in depth, by picking out its main characteristics, including the disparities in project activities implementation related to it. Secondly, it examines the causes for these disparities by analyzing the barriers or restrictions preventing implementation of CDM project activities in these African LDCs in general and in Burundi in particular. Its third purpose is to reveal the potential opportunities (advantages/benefits) which have yet to be developed by setting up eligible CDM project activities.<p><p>The analysis carried out shows that the aforementioned disparities come out in favor of the large emerging countries in Asia and Latin America primarily, which goes against the principle of equity. In fact, in December 2011, Brazil, China and India held 72.7% of all CDM project activities and 75.8% of carbon emission credits expected in 2012. On the contrary, for the same time period, the LDCs had only 1.3% of all CDM project activities and 1.2% of their carbon emission credits expected up until 2012. The African LDCs are left only with shares of 0.8% and 0.9% respectively. This situation is extremely critical. It is crucial to discover the reasons for it.<p><p>The instrument’s features, experiments carried out so far and the situation in host countries all reveal that the barriers fall into two categories. On the one hand, there are endogenous barriers, i.e. barriers related to the internal organization of countries. On the other hand, exogenous barriers are related to the general running of the CDM process especially. The study has thus revealed that the endogenous barriers are the crux of the problem where the presence of host countries is concerned in the CDM market. The visibility of host countries is rather limited in this international carbon market. <p><p>The barriers identified in this thesis, particularly endogenous ones, may be difficult to remove because they demand structural reforms in the political, institutional, economical and legal organization of the host country. In addition, the integration of these barriers into a single system of interrelationships is one of the original points of this thesis. These interrelationships are not insignificant and complicate the mechanism’s application, because in most cases, initiating an action to remove a barrier may be ineffective if other associated barriers are not taken into account.<p><p>The study has also focused on evaluating the potential impacts linked to the implementation of CDM project activities in Burundi. The main opportunities lost up to date are in some socioeconomic sectors in the country, particularly in the waste management and energy sectors. The study has therefore identified technological options that are likely to bring solutions to the question of waste management and energy supply in Burundi, while at the same time contributing to the stabilization of greenhouse gas emissions. These options are notably composting and anaerobic digestion technologies in the area of waste management, and energy generation technologies from renewable sources (hydro, solar, biogas) and improved energy efficiency of biomass (better households, carbonization) in the energy sector. <p> <p>These opportunities were also analyzed in accordance with sustainability criteria and indicators (Gold Standard sustainable development matrix). The results show that these technological options may contribute to sustainable development in the country. Indeed, the opportunities can be seen at the same time in social development (job creation, means of subsistence for the poor, clean energy access, capacity building); ecological development (reducing GHG emissions, improvement in quality of air, water and soil, preservation of biodiversity) and economic & technological development (better pay for jobs created, increased investment, technology transfer and technological autonomy).<p><p>In order to allow the country to take advantage of these opportunities through CDM project activities, it has been proposed solutions that can help raise/mitigate these barriers. These proposals are a combination of actions to be taken at international and regional levels and above all at a local/ national level. In the international arena, authorized bodies should make major reforms to the CDM. At a regional level, capacity building through joint actions could encourage the exchange of expertise in the field. Locally/nationally, adopting major reforms at institutional, legislative and legal levels, with a view to improving planning policies in socioeconomic and environmental development, would make the country naturally more attractive. In particular, establishing and implementing a national CDM strategy could also contribute towards taking up the challenge. <p><p>Proposals of solutions for mitigating barriers to implement CDM project activities are likely to stimulate investment in general. Thus, any strategy adopted along these lines can contribute not only to the country’s participation in the CDM process, but also to favoring implementation of other conventional projects for development at national level. Finally, considering these different opportunities associated with implementing CDM project activities in the country via authorized bodies (policymakers, institutional and economic actors) would lead to this mechanism being a useful contribution towards national development. <p> / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished