Dans cette thèse, nous avons essayé d'apporter une contribution à l'étude de la concurrence imparfaite. L'objectif de ce travail étant d'apporter des réponses pertinentes à des situations d'interaction stratégique entre les agents économiques. Autrement dit, nous avons traité de point de vue stratégique, les différents jeux stratégiques qui engagent les agents économiques, et avons caractérisé la situation d'équilibre pour chaque type de jeu. La première partie de ce travail est consacrée à l'analyse de l'effet de l'ouverture du dimanche, sur les entreprises, les consommateurs et le surplus global. Dans la deuxième partie de cette thèse, nous étudions la fusion horizontale, nous abordons tout d’abord une question clé en recherchant les conditions nécessaires afin de garantir la profitabilité d'une fusion dans le cadre d'un duopole mixte. Finalement, nous essayons de développer une fusion séquentielle qui peut être profitable de façon endogène. / In this thesis, we have tried to make a contribution to the study of imperfect competition. The objective of this work is to provide relevant answers to situations of strategic interaction between economic agents. In other words, we have dealt with the strategic point of view, the different strategic games that engage the economic agents, and characterized the situation of balance for each type of game. The first part of this work is dedicated to the analysis of the effect of Sunday’s opening, on companies, consumers and global surplus. In the second part of this thesis, we study the horizontal merger. First, we looking for the necessary conditions to guarantee the profitability of a merger in the context of a mixed duopoly. Finally, we try to develop a sequential merger which can be profitable in an endogenous way.

The EU has embarked on a resource efficiency trajectory in order to solve resource scarcity and general sustainability issues. The conversion of food waste into fuel is considered resource efficient as it makes use of resources that would otherwise be discarded. On the other hand, the food sector affects the environment substantially as it is inherently resource intensive and excessive. The purpose of the study was to assess how resource efficient the food waste substrate (feedstock for energy production) is from a life-cycle perspective. The study also aimed to determine if associated Swedish incentives and current market signals promote resource efficiency in Sweden. The food waste substrate has a complex life-cycle and current analyses neglect crucial life-cycle impacts. This makes resource efficiency difficult to determine in absolute terms. The first resource efficiency principle, that promotes the use of fewer inputs, becomes questionable as the food waste substrate has twice as many input stages in comparison to the food crop substrate. The second principle, stating that the food waste substrate should contribute to a low-carbon economy, also falls short due to a calculation method that neglects crucial emission stages. Due to the absent life-cycle perspective, crucial environmental impacts associated with food production are neglected. This affects the achievement of the Swedish Generation Goal and environmental quality objectives. The study concludes that the food waste substrate should undergo a thorough life-cycle analysis. Furthermore, it should be compared to other biofuel options in order to determine degree of resource efficiency. Only then can an appropriate set of EU and national policy measures be instated to safeguard scarce resources and promote a sustainable agriculture and energy sector.

This project aimed to investigate the existence of thermal surplus energy from the ice rinks at Gränby Sports Field, Uppsala. Furthermore, a secondary goal was to suggest a distribution system for sharing the potential surplus energy. To fulfil the purpose, each ice rink was modelled in the software IDA ICE. The following ice rinks were considered: buildings A and B, building C and the bandy arena. Data regarding the total heat and cold consumption for each building was collected from the owner, Uppsala kommun Sport- och rekreationsfastigheter AB, and was used to validate the simulation results from the building models. The results from IDA ICE were presented in graphs that illustrate each ice rink’s total heat and cold consumption, surplus energy and energy balance. However, the results from the models in IDA ICE were not validated within a deviation of a maximum of 10% when compared to the data from Uppsala kommun Sport- och rekreationsfastigheter AB. Hence, the results were analyzed on a general level, which showed that there was a greater need for heating during wintertime, with certain peaks during the coldest months, whereas the cooling is maintained at a relatively stable level throughout the year, but with a slightly greater need in the summer. Further on, there was an identified surplus energy from the ice rinks, in terms of waste heat from the refrigeration systems. During the summer there was a greater amount of surplus heat generated, caused by the greater cooling demand. Due to not being able to validate the models, complementary calculations of the yearly surplus heat were made with data from Uppsala kommun Sport- och rekreationsfastigheter AB. The surplus heat was 1 200 MWh for buildings A and B, 497 MWh for building C and 1 492 MWh for the bandy arena. No surplus cold was identified within the ice rinks. The suggested solution for sharing the surplus energy is to implement seasonal thermal storage, due to the similar characteristics in heating and cooling demand for the ice rinks. The stored surplus energy could cover the ice rink’s peaks in heating demand during winter, which is an energy-efficient way would reduce purchased heat from the district heating grid. For further studies, it is of great interest to identify the possibilities of implementing a distribution system similar to the fifth generation district heating as well as seasonal storage, to possibly enable a direct share of energy between all the buildings within the sports field.

Food waste has become a global environmental concern in recent years with food waste prevention being the optimal solution. In Sweden, initiatives to reduce food waste, focus on re-using methods like selling or donating food. The purpose of this study is to analyze the environmental savings, in terms of CO2 eq. savings, of re-using food compared to incineration and anaerobic digestion in Sweden. The study aims to map out the processes of the food waste management system and investigate the parameters that effect the performance of each method using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The research is conducted by using a case study, “Save food at KTH” which is an initiative at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, to reduce food waste through a mobile application for sharing information on the available edible food waste around campus and options to purchase it through the app.   The results showed that re-using food waste has more CO2 savings compared to the other two energy recovery methods. Avoided emissions from food production when food waste is sold, were the most important factors that framed this result. However, the types of foods are also critical on the choice of food waste management method when the focus is on the CO2 emissions of the system. Foods with high water content or plant-based protein sources can be energy efficient in anaerobic digestion processes as well. In this case, selling food waste can be used as a complementary method. / Livsmedelsavfall har under senare år fått ett ökat intresse ur miljösynpunkt med förhindrande av livsmedelsavfall som den optimala lösningen för denna fråga. I Sverige är termiska behandlingsmetoder och biologiska processer för behandling av livsmedelsavfall de vanligaste metoderna för hantering av livsmedelsavfall. Båda metoderna producerar energi som kan användas för fjärrvärme, el och biobränsle för fordon. Å andra sidan, producerar dessa metoder utsläpp av växthusgaser (GHG) och många studier har erkänt deras miljöpåverkan och har jämfört dessa metoder för att identifiera alternativet med minst miljökostnad. Alternativet att sälja överbliven mat i plastlådor har potential att minska utsläppen av växthusgaser från livsmedelsavfallshanteringssystemet genom cirkulär ekonomi. Emellertid måste utsläppen av växthusgaser från de specifika livsmedelstypen samt effekten av plastlådors egenskaper och deras inverkan på plastlådors totala växthusgasutsläpp undersökas för att säkerställa effektiviteten av den försäljning av överbliven mat. Syftet med denna studie är att genomföra en livscykelanalys (LCA) om livsmedelsavfallshanteringsmetoder i Sverige för att identifiera metoden som har mest koldioxidbesparingar. Studiens mål är att kartlägga processerna i matavfallssystemet och undersöka de parametrar som påverkar prestandan för varje metod. Projektet innehåller en jämförande bedömning av klimatpåverkan (CF) av en värmebehandlingsmetod, förbränning med energiåtervinning, en biologisk metod som är anaerob uppslutning med biogasproduktion och en förebyggande metod som säljer överbliven mat i en plastlådor. En LCA utfördes för tre avfallshanteringsscenarier med två måltider (köttbaserad och vegan) som exempel när de behandlades som enskilda avfallsströmmar. Den största potentialen för att minska koldioxidutsläppen är att "sälja en måltid i ett 85% r-pet " scenario. Den undvikna köttproduktionen från att sälja matavfall kombinerat med den stora mängden återvunnet innehåll i plastlådor ger betydande koldioxidbesparingar och når den högsta nivån på avfallshierarkin som är förebyggande. Å andra sidan har förbränningen av en vegansk måltid med energiåtervinning den lägsta CO2-besparingen jämfört med de andra metoderna på grund av högvattenhalten i måltiden vilket gör den till en icke-effektiv energiomvandlare när den förbränns för att producera energi. Matavfallshanteringsmetoder bör därför fokusera på livsmedelsprodukterna och deras lämplighet för varje metod. Resultaten från denna jämförelse kommer att användas av en forskargrupp vid KTH Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan i Stockholm, Sverige, i SEED avdelningen. Gruppen bygger för närvarande en mobilapplikation för att dela / sälja matavfall runt KTH campus med ett samarbete från restaurangerna på campus.

<p>This thesis employs Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of architectonics to examine the poetry of Nima Yushij, the father of “New Persian Poetry.” The architectonic structure of Nima’s poems presupposes an authorial position situated outside the whole of the work. Outsideness provides the author with the distance that is necessary for consummating the hero and all other elements inside the work’s environment in determinate spatial and temporal boundaries. As Bakhtin puts it, only in this way can the author acquire a surplus of seeing that is required for adopting a valuational stance in relation the hero and the work as a whole. To Bakhtin, the author’s valuational stance toward the hero is the essence of the aesthetic product. This valuational position vis-à-vis the other, which generates what Michael Holquist calls the “structure of authoring,” is enacted on multiple levels in Nima’s poems as the hero, and sometimes the narrator, also perform the authorial function vis-à-vis other characters inside the poem, i.e., fixing them in determinate spatial and temporal boundaries. Of course, from the author’s perspective, the hero and the narrator are also situated inside the poem and occupy specific horizons in its environment. In this sense, their authoring activity is not a precisely aesthetic activity. Nevertheless, Nima utilizes the hero and the narrator’ activity to foreground the structure of authoring inside the poem, to make its dynamics “viewable.” This is a point that I will try to elucidate fully in the course of this study.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Ubiquitous access to the Internet and supporting technologies gave birth to online labor markets (Malone and Laubacher 1998). Online labor markets enable employers (employers) to contract with professionals (service providers) from anywhere in the world. Firms now are able to greatly expand their workforce and bring a large arsenal of labor to bear on IT jobs, such as software or web development using Internet-enabled procurement platforms such as Freelancer. These markets serve as intermediaries for IT services (outsourcers post Call for Bids (CFBs) for services and providers offer bids for IT services) that help match employers with service providers across the globe. In my dissertation, I try to comprehensively study this Internet-enabled phenomenon from the perspectives of these three entities on global online markets with three separate yet related essays. The first essay focuses on the "global" nature of the market, and assess the effect of global frictions and global labor arbitrage on both provider bidding and employer selection. The second essay focuses on the effect of auction mechanism - sealed versus open bid auction - on providers' bidding dynamics, and the market performance. The third essay focuses on estimating true consumer (employer) surplus of online labor markets with a quality-adjusted measure. I also test its robustness by comparing its effects on consumers' subsequent transactions. I also find that market immaturity, consumers' lack of experience in the market, and consumers' lack of familiarity with IT service providers lead to the difference between the traditional measure and the quality-adjusted consumer surplus. / Business Administration/Management Information Systems

Biotechnologies potentially have significant benefits for developing countries but many countries lack complete regulatory processes to allow their release. In evaluating the potential benefits of genetically modified crops, one must be able to measure the true cost of regulations in addition to the other costs associated with bringing the crop to market. The objectives of this paper are to (1) identify the direct costs of the regulation of Bt eggplant, Bt rice, ringspot virus resistant (PRSV) papaya and virus resistant tomatoes in the Philippines, and (2) estimate the opportunity cost of time lost in the regulatory process. The study compares the cost of regulations as they differ by factors such as the existence of previous studies on the product or the intention for export or domestic use. It is hypothesized that the costs are greater for products that are intended for export or human consumption or are produced by the private sector. It is also hypothesized that these factors increase the time to complete the regulatory process, therefore increasing the opportunity cost of time. This study evaluates the economic impact of the GMO regulatory process on the change in producer surplus, the net present value and the internal rate return using an economic surplus model. Scientists and other experts in the field of GMOs and regulation were interviewed to obtain the necessary data on the regulatory process. The evaluation was carried out for four different commodities in the Philippines, Bt Rice, Bt Eggplant, PRSV Papaya and MVR Tomato. The results for the open economy model revealed a change in producer surplus, as a result of the GMO research, of $418.3 million for Bt Rice and $353.7 million for PRSV Papaya. The closed economy model of Bt Eggplant has a change in producer surplus of $25.1 million and a change in total surplus of $40.8 million while the result for the change in producer surplus for MVR Tomato is $19.3 million and the change in total surplus is $51.6 million. A sensitivity analysis of the results was then carried out in which the elasticity of supply, the cost of regulation, and the release date were each varied in order to show the welfare impact of such changes. The sensitivity analysis revealed limited changes in surplus when elasticity and regulatory costs were changed. However, changing the date of release or commercialization resulted in monumental changes in surplus. / Master of Science

Cooperation-88 (C88) is a late blight resistant potato variety that was formally released in China in 2001 and has become popular in China's Yunnan Province. The International Potato Center (CIP) and Yunnan Normal University collaborated to produce the variety, which is one of CIP's most successful varieties. C88 is popular due to its high quality and taste, and it is used commonly in China's expanding potato chip processing market. The purpose of this study is to examine adoption of C88 in the Yunnan Province, its value chain, and economic impacts. The analysis indicates that C88 is still popular with 16.8% of the potato area in Yunnan devoted to this variety in late spring 2015. To examine factors affecting household decisions to adopt and the intensity of their adoption, village adoption, household adoption, and household intensity of adoption were assessed. A village's proximity to a metropolitan county was the most important factor explaining adoption and intensity of adoption. Households in villages closer to a metropolitan county disadopted at higher rates than those farther away. To quantify the economic benefits of C88 adoption, an economic surplus analysis was conducted. Total surplus changes ranged from $2 to 3 billion indicating significant economic benefits to consumers and producers in Yunnan. / Master of Science

Abiotic stresses such as salinity and phosphorous (P) deficiency are major yield-limiting factors for rice, particularly on marginal lands. Marker-aided backcrossing (MAB), enabled by advances in genomics and molecular mapping in recent years, is said to be a more precise, time-saving, and cost-effective way to develop rice varieties that can withstand these abiotic stresses than conventional breeding. The study employs the economic surplus approach to measure the benefits of MAB for salinity tolerance in rice for Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Philippines, and for rice with tolerance to P-deficient soils in Indonesia. At a 5% discount rate, the benefits over 15 years of planting salt-tolerant varieties amount to $226.9 million in the Philippines, $3.666 billion in Bangladesh, $4.848 billion in India, and $895.7 million in Indonesia. The gains from growing varieties that can withstand P deficient soils in Indonesia amount to $2.070 billion. The incremental benefits from completing the salt-tolerant and P-deficient tolerant breeding cycles 2 years earlier are $340.5 million in Bangladesh and $192.1 in Indonesia, respectively. In India, $227.0 million is gained even if MAB develops salt-tolerant varieties just a year earlier. The additional gains from completing the salt-tolerant rice breeding cycle 4 years earlier are $40.3 million in the Philippines and $158.9 in Indonesia. In general, the gains from saline- (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines) and P-deficient (Indonesia) tolerant rice are reduced by 5%, 9%, 14%, and 18% when MAB breeding cycle is delayed by one, two, three, and four years, respectively. In India, there is 3%, 7%, 10%, and 13% loss in benefits from salt-tolerant rice for every additional year of delay in the MAB breeding cycle. / Master of Science

Dispossession has been playing a central role in capitalist accumulation over the last four-hundred-year history of modern capitalism. This dissertation theorizes how dispossession contributes to producing and reproducing the capitalist mode of production in Bangladesh. To do so, the dissertation empirically examines three interrelated aspects of dispossession in its three analytical chapters. First, it explores how the state and the market work in tandem to organize and control dispossession while grabbing land and expelling peasants from their places. Next, it investigates how dispossession contributes to providing 'potential capitals,' such as grabbed land and dispossessed peasants, to the production sites to be converted into 'constant capital' and 'variable capital' and to creating antagonistic class relations. Finally, it explores how market and non-market actors control those dispossessed peasants-turned-workers inside and outside factories to produce surplus values in order to reproduce the capitalist system locally and globally. These three interactive components of dispossession show three successive phases of capitalist accumulation: land-grabbing by divorcing independent producers from their livelihoods (the initial phase), converting land into capital, peasants into wage workers, and non-capitalists into capitalists (the intermediate phase), and controlling and exploiting those wage workers to produce surpluses or a cycle of new capital (the final phase). This dissertation accordingly advances a full-scale theory of dispossession in its concluding chapter by examining how the starting, intermediate, and ending points of dispossession contribute to capitalist accumulation. The dissertation draws on a wide range of empirical evidence collected from Panthapath, Dhaka, Bangladesh. These include 77 life histories, 50 interviews, a land-use survey of 1,007 structures, and a short survey of 147 slums. It also uses various historical records and archival documents. The three major findings of this dissertation are as follows. First, the dissertation shows that the state acts as a class to organize land grabs, often working in tandem with the private sector, but also in direct competition with the market. Not only does the state monopolize extra-economic means to grab land, but the market also often gains access to extra-economic means. Next, the dissertation shows that dispossession works to privatize the commons, proletarianize subsistence labor, create antagonistic class relations, and redistribute wealth upward. Finally, the dissertation identifies a new regime of labor control, called social despotism, that dominates and exploits workers in factories to produce surpluses. I conclude this study with policy recommendations designed to address the various dimensions of structural injustice described in this dissertation. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation theorizes how dispossession contributes to producing and reproducing the capitalist mode of production in Bangladesh. In its three analytical chapters, the dissertation empirically examines three interrelated aspects of dispossession. First, it explores how the state and the market work in tandem to organize and control dispossession while grabbing land and expelling peasants from their places. Next, it investigates how dispossession contributes to providing grabbed land and dispossessed peasants to the production sites and to creating various class hierarchies. Finally, it explores how market and non-market actors control peasants-turned-workers inside and outside factories to produce surplus values in order to reproduce the capitalist system. These three interactive components of dispossession show three successive phases of capitalist accumulation: land-grabbing by evicting peasants from their places (phase 1), converting land into capital, peasants into wage workers, and non-capitalists into capitalists (phase 2), and exploiting wage workers to produce surpluses (phase 3). This dissertation accordingly advances a full-scale theory of dispossession in its concluding chapter by examining how the starting, intermediate, and ending points of dispossession contribute to capitalist accumulation. The dissertation draws on a wide range of empirical evidence collected from Panthapath, Dhaka, Bangladesh. These include 77 life histories, 50 interviews, a land-use survey of 1,007 structures, and a short survey of 147 slums. It also uses various historical records and archival documents. Some of the major findings of this dissertation are as follows. First, the dissertation shows that the state acts as a class to organize land grabs, often working in tandem with the private sector, but also in direct competition with the market. Not only does the state monopolize extra-economic means to grab land, but the market also often gains access to extra-economic means. Next, the dissertation shows that dispossession works to privatize the commons, proletarianize subsistence labor, create exploitative class relations, and redistribute wealth upward. Finally, the dissertation identifies a new regime of labor control, called social despotism, that oppresses and exploits workers in factories to produce surpluses.