The present master thesis deals with non-banking microfinance institutions and examines its abilities and role in the poverty alleviation process. It is more than necessary to pay attention to the rural sector and its development as any successful transition of the economy requires transition of the rural sector as well. In many transition economies people in the rural areas continue to live on the edge of poverty, engaged in subsistence agriculture and remain susceptible to wide range of shocks. In such countries rural population unlike urban one did not benefit to the same extend from transition and need special attention and supporting policy measures. Due to low penetration rate of microfinance institutions into rural areas, lacking or insufficient size of collateral, financial illiteracy many poor but active man face problems to obtaining finance for the development of new income opportunities. In this context the master thesis emphasizes the role of savings and credit associations, which unlike the commercial banks operate mainly in rural sector, have the most significant effect on poverty alleviation. Finally, the author analyses the activity of 3 non-banking microfinance institutions of the Republic of Moldova and uses publicly available data to calculate the outreach, efficiency and...

The purpose of this study was to examine the financial portfolios of near-retiree women and compare their assets to near-retiree men. This study also investigated how economic and demographic factors were associated with the probability of holding aggressive assets and the level of savings. Socioeconomic variables were used to create a profile of the investment behaviors and to examine the level of savings among near-retiree women and men. Specific variables key to the study included household income, age, marital status, education, race, and self-reported health of near-retiree women and men. The descriptive statistics indicated that overall, average levels of all asset categories for the female group were much lower than they were for the male group among near-retirees. According to the findings of this study, women tended to invest in safer assets such as CDs, savings bonds, and T-bills rather than in more aggressive assets such as stocks, business assets, and real estate assets. The results from both the logistic regression and Ordinary least squares regression analyses indicated that gender had no statistically significant impact on the investment and savings behavior among near-retirees aged 51 - 64. However, household income, age, marital status, education, race, and the self-reported health status of near-retirees were all significant determinants of the investment and saving behavior among near-retirees aged 51 - 64. For example, near-retirees, with higher income, older, married, higher education, Whites, and in good health, were more likely to own aggressive assets and reported higher level of savings as compared to other near-retirees. This study also explored socioeconomic factors associated with the level of savings among near-retiree women aged 51 - 64. The findings of this study indicated that household income, age, education, and race were significant determinants of the level of savings among near-retiree women aged 51 - 64. The results of the OLS regression analysis showed that women with lower income, younger, less education, and non-Whites reported lower levels of savings than did other women. Implications of the findings, limitations of the current study, and suggestions for future study were presented in the final section. (88 pages)

<p>The analyzed building in this project is located in Valbo, 9016 Stiftelsev 6. This house is a property of Gavlegårdarna, and it is being used as a house for disabled people. The building consists on five apartments, with one patient in each apartment. Some social workers help those patients in everything they need, making their living in the house as easy as possible.</p><p>The aim of this project is to find out the best option of reducing the energy consumption in this house. There are some alternatives to reduce the energy or the energy costs as; efficiency measures, load management and energy conversion.</p><p>This project is focused on the energy conversion for reducing the energy consumption. As it is the best option for obtaining a considerable reduction in the annual costs.</p><p>First of all the energy balance of the house is analyzed. By studying the energy balance it is possible to find out how the energy consumption of the house is divided. On one hand there is the heat supplied and on the other hand the heat losses.</p><p>As it was said before this project is focused in the reduction of the energy consumption by means of converting to another energy supplying method. Two alternatives have been studied: the installation of a heat pump and the connection to the district heating of Gävle.</p>

<p>The object of analysis in the present document is a residential house in Sätra. This building has a hydronic space heating system with radiators spread around the house and a heating recovery system ventilation which also use water for reheating. Water for space heating, ventilation and hot tap water is nowadays heated in an electric boiler.The aim of this project is to make a diagnosis of the current situation, evaluate different alternatives for supplying hot water to the house, and to study costs and possible savings by comparing the actual facilities with the proposals done.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet. Also issued online.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how individual retirement savings are made tangible for potential customers. As case companies we have studied the marketing strategies of Handelsbanken and Swedbank. We use Miller and Foust’s classification of services by intangibility based on attributes and benefits and Tarn’s four strategy marketing-based model in order to find out how the retirement savings are made tangible. We find that the attributes and benefits that are used to define retirement savings depend on how the service is affiliated to life-insurance or banking services. Intangibility is coped by simplifying the products by lifting forward salient features. Complexity is overcome by explanation. Putting emphasis on flexibility is a mean to cope with the uncertainty of future income.

<p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2010. Felaktigt angivet år på spikbladet</p>

Simulation is one of the best Analytical tools for Building Research .Energy Efficient Buildings are of great concern which is gaining importance steeply in this energy scarcity’s world. Selected for the thesis work is a small Office building (Mariannelund), located in Jönköping. The building is single-storied with 26 rooms. The study motive involves Energy Survey and to provide, investigate Energy conservation measures. The Energy simulation software used is the IDA indoor climate and energy 3.0. (ICE).Data included was from the provided (Specifications) and with the review of architectural drawings. Energy saving measures was analyzed, documented with respect to their feasibility and practical operational strategies. Measures concerning the modifications in the building envelope; retrofit insulation, shading devices and other improvements leading to savings of energy have been tested and are supplemented with results. The Proposed Model which is with the combined Energy saving measures yields annual energy savings of about 70% and also working efficiency is increased by 37% compared to the existing building’s Baseline model.Considering the economic aspects together with the thermal response of employees the analyzed energy saving measures are highly recommended.

In December 2010 the Treasury Department presented a proposal contain-ing change in regard of current endowment assurance laws and an alterna-tive way of saving financial instruments called Investment Savings Account. The purpose of the proposal is to make investing in financial instruments easier for private investors and to prevent reigning tax evasion regarding endowment assurances. The objective of this thesis is to determine if the proposal will have the desired effect of making investments in financial in-struments easier for private investors. The purpose is also to determine whether the changes imposed by the proposal are relevant and adequate. The proposal suggests that the Investment Savings Account should be sub-jected to flat-rate tax instead of taxation on capital profit upon divestment of financial instruments, which is the case today. By doing this the investor does not have to calculate expenditure costs of investments making declar-ing tax return to the Tax Agency easier. The proposal also includes change regarding endowment assurance laws stating that deposits and withdrawals should affect the capital base of the assurance preventing tax evasion. Fur-thermore the proposal suggests an elevation of tax on endowment assur-ances conform to the tax-rate of the Investment Savings Account. The proposal shows good intentions since the Treasury Department has ac-knowledged that something has to be done concerning taxation on capital. However, the execution is in some areas quite poor. Excessive measures are taken in comparison to what is achieved. Calculations are complicated, mak-ing capital profit and taxation unpredictable for private investors. Elevating taxation on endowment assurances within a Swedish tax system which is al-ready high might impede the financial market.

Title: The Investment Savings Account – Standard Taxation – Right in TimeAuthors: Gustav Mårtensson and Erica Nordström LöfSupervisor: Göran HäggBackground: In order to facilitate and stimulate financial investments among privateinvestors the organization Aktiespararna made a proposal for a standard-taxed account. As aresult of this, the Swedish government decided to implement the Investment Savings Accountin January of 2012. The introduction of the Investment Savings Account implies that there arenow three different types of accounts for financial investments that are differently taxed onthe Swedish Market. Private investors can improve their after-tax results by combining AssetAllocation and Asset Location, according to earlier studies. This makes it interesting toinvestigate if earlier studies can be applied on the Swedish market and how the different typesof accounts would perform.Aim: This study aims to map the tax-effects of different accounts by backtesting of historicaldata. Further, the study aims to analyze the after-tax performance of different investmentstrategies in different types of accounts and how the introduction of the Investment SavingsAccount can affect investor behavior.Completion: The study uses a quantitative method to backtest the performance of differentinvestment strategies in the three different types of accounts; Investment Savings Account,Endowment Assurance and conventional brokerage account. The results of the backtest havebeen analyzed by applying modern finance theory, behavioral finance and Swedishshareholder statistics.Results: The study identifies moderate tax volatility in the standard-taxed accounts and thatinvestment strategies that yields high dividends should be placed in these accounts as long asthe government borrowing rate is low. Passive investment strategies that yield low dividendsshould preferably be placed in conventional brokerage accounts. The study also indicated thatthe Investment Savings Account is flexible and suitable for a wide range of private investors.It is also possible that the implementation of the Investment Savings Account will increase thenumber of transactions made by private investors. / Titel: Investeringssparkontot – För schablonbeskattning - i tidenFörfattare: Gustav Mårtensson och Erica Nordström LöfHandledare: Göran HäggBakgrund: För att förenkla och stimulera sparandet i finansiella instrument gavAktiespararna förslag på en schablonbeskattad sparandeform för privata investerare. Dettaresulterade i att regeringen beslutade om att investeringssparkontot skulle lanseras den förstajanuari 2012. Införandet av investeringssparkontot innebär att det nu finns tre olikasparandeformer för finansiella tillgångar som alla beskattas olika. Tidigare forskning visar attprivata investerare kan förbättra sin nettoavkastning genom att tillämpa en kombination avtillgångsallokering och tillgångsplacering. Detta öppnar upp för att undersöka hur tidigareforskning kan tillämpas på den svenska marknaden, och hur de olika sparandeformernapresterar.Syfte: Syftet med studien är att via historisk simulering kartlägga skatteeffekterna för de olikasparandeformerna depå, investeringssparkonto och kapitalförsäkring. Utifrån dennakartläggning syftar studien vidare till att analysera hur olika investeringsstrategier påverkas avsparandeform och hur införandet av investeringssparkontot kan påverka privata investerareshandelsbeteende.Genomförande: Studien har genomförts med en kvantitativ metod med fokus på att simuleraolika investeringsstrategiers utfall för de olika sparandeformerna depå, investeringssparkontooch kapitalförsäkring med hjälp av historiska data. Resultaten av simuleringarna haranalyserats med hjälp av modern finansteori, behavioral finance och aktieägarstatistik.Slutsats: Studien identifierar en dämpad skattevolatilitet i de schablonbeskattadesparandeformerna och att aktiva investeringsstrategier med hög direktavkastning gynnas avatt placeras i dessa så länge statslåneräntan är låg. Passiva strategier med låg direktavkastningplaceras med fördel i depå. Studien finner att investeringssparkontot är en flexibelsparandeform som kan passa en bred massa. Det är även tänkbart att införandet avinvesteringssparkontot kan öka privatpersoners transaktioner.Nyckelord: investeringssparkonto, schablonbeskattning, tillgångsplacering.