This article describes a method to analyse retail trade flows among competing retail centres. A case study of three nearby communities in the Southeastern United States is used to demonstrate the application of the technique. Results of the case study and their implications are discussed.

The growth in the global tourism market place presents many countries with great opportunities to capitalize on their natural competitive advantages. However, achieving the economic potential of global tourism remains elusive for many countries despite their natural advantages. In this context, Portugal is a case in point. The Portuguese tourism industry is facing some serious challenges that are limiting its potential. This study utilizes the shift-share technique in order to offer Portuguese policy-makers systematic and practical insights into the characteristics of the Portuguese tourism industry in the context of the challenges and opportunities of the global tourism market place. Understanding the dynamics and characteristics of the Portuguese tourism industry in a comparative context is a crucial first step toward formulating a strategy aimed at improving Portuguese competitive standing in the growing tourism market.

Selling state-owned enterprises to the private sector has become a popular policy for governments all around the world. Chapter 1 provides an historical perspective on privatization, and it describes the objectives and the privatization techniques that have been adopted by many governments since the late 70s. The chapter then focuses on two important issues in the privatization debate, the underpricing of shares and the effect of ownership on performance. It reviews the most significant theoretical and empirical contributions to the analysis of these two issues, and it introduces the questions addressed in the remaining chapters of this dissertation. In Chapter 2 I consider a government that first privatizes a company and then competes for votes against a political opponent. The government's objective is to choose the price of shares and the level of promotional effort to maximize its total net revenues. After the sale of the company to the public there is an election and the two parties announce what expropriation rate they would implement if they win the political competition. I show that in this context it is optimal for the party in power in the first period to actively promote the sale and to underprice the stock with respect to its true value, in order to increase the size of the shareholders' interest group that will vote for the party announcing a low expropriation rate. In Chapter 3 I estimate the long-term impact of the British privatization program of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, on the government's finances. For a large sample of British companies that were privatized in the years 1979 to 1994, regression analysis shows no effect of change in ownership on company's gross profitability. This information is then combined with estimates of all relevant costs (implicit and explicit) and revenues for each sale, to assess the long-term effect of the privatization policies on the government's net worth. The results show that "Selling the State" generated considerable losses for the British Government. / Ph. D.

This analyses the impact of unexpected changes in monetary policy on the South African equity market over the period 2005 -2018. In an attempt to understand this relationship, two main views have emerged. The wealth effect suggests that monetary policy changes have an indirect effect on the stock market, via changes in the value of private portfolios. On the other hand, it has been argued that the stock market is an independent source of macroeconomic volatility to which policy makers may wish to consider. This paper applies an event study approach to examine the stock market reaction to monetary policy. Furthermore, to understand the economic sources underpinning that reaction a Vector autoregressive model is estimated. The results suggest that on average, a surprise rate hike of 100 basis points causes short term JSE All Share index total returns to decline by 2.71%. We also find that the stock market reacts positively (negatively) to expansionary (contractionary) unexpected monetary policy actions due to revised market expectations about future dividends, excess premiums and the discount rate. The findings are crucial for central bank policy makers and JSE stock market investors.

Diploma thesis deals with quality of life and well-being of senior citizens in Czech Republic from economic perspective. Secondary quantitative research was conducted based on data from SHARE project database. Using regression analysis and nonparametric tests was researched, which factors have impact on well-being of senior citizens. Well-being is represented via index of quality of life CASP. Further was conducted analysis of interviews with senior citizen, which were sup-posed to give more detailed view what affects their quality of life. Combining results of both parts of research was discovered what affects well-being of senior citizens in Czech Republic the most. According to the results are proposed recommendations which would help to improve quality of life of senior citizens in Czech Republic.

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Thesis advisor: Mary Ellen Carter / Thesis advisor: Amy Hutton / Managerial share pledging (using shares as collateral for personal loans) is controversial. Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), highly publicized anecdotes, and international research suggest that share pledging increases the risk of stock price crashes. Nevertheless, U.S. boards continue to allow the practice, suggesting that share pledging benefits shareholders or some boards are beholden to controlling managers who enjoy the private benefits of share pledging. Using a hand-collected dataset of share pledging by executives and directors of S&P 1500 firms from 2007-2020, I document three benefits-greater incentive alignment, reduced executive pay and lower voluntary executive turnover-while finding little evidence of increased crash risk. Interestingly, these benefits do not exist for firms with high managerial control. However ISS's 2012 policy denouncing share pledging did little to reduce share pledging among these firms. Instead the ISS policy increased negative shareholder votes at firms with both high and low managerial control with any share pledging, coinciding with a reduction in share pledging at firms with low managerial control, despite these firms enjoying benefits from share pledging. Overall my findings suggest that, for well-governed firms, managerial share pledging facilitates incentive alignment and lowers executive turnover and pay while not increasing stock price crash risk, calling into question efforts by ISS and others to curb the practice for all firms. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Accounting.

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