The primary aim of this study is to assess the role of institutions in the process of agricultural change. Throughout this study, the need for an institutional approach in studying contemporary change in rural areas is stressed; moreover, the structure of this institutional approach, capable of being extended to other substantive contexts, has been elaborated. The context for the study of institutions is agricultural despecialisation, an important context when related to regions in which agriculture has become specialised in products now in structural surplus. In this study, the European Community (EC) is singled out as the major institution tackling the problem of structural surpluses in agricultural production. The table wine sector provides the focus for the study of agricultural surpluses since it is characterised by large volumes of unsold surplus production and the need for winegrowers to be 'eased' into other types of agricu1tural production. Between the levels of the EC's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the viticultural holding, there are a range of institutions mediating in the process of despecialisation. The Languedoc-Roussillon, and in particular the departement of Herault, a highly specialised table wine producing region in southern France, is selected as the context for the study of these institutions and their impact upon the process of agricultural despecialisation out of vines.

Yes / The global economy has experienced considerable turbulence since 2007. The financial crisis has been viewed as the trigger for a prolonged period of economic decline. This decline remains an issue for all member states of the European Union, the eurozone and beyond. We argue genesis of this crisis lies in the integration negotiations of 1991, ratified in 1992. These produced a flawed economic model within the eurozone. Given the seeds of decay were planted at origin; we argue the solution can be found through a reconstructed eurozone via looser integration, where countries less equipped to deal with the realities of closer integration will be economically independent.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: Willoughby, Katherine; Committee Member: Eger, Robert; Committee Member: Kingsley, Gordon; Committee Member: Sjoquist, David; Committee Member: Wallace, Sally.

Bakgrund: Det råder ett alltmer hårt företagsklimat i dagens samhälle, därför är det viktigt att företag har en så god hantering av affärsprocesserna i verksamheten som möjligt. Det område som då blir meningsfullt att arbeta med är cash management. Cash management kan användas av företag för att förbättra både lönsamhet och finansiering. Inom ämnet ryms många olika delar, bland annat inbetalningar, utbetalningar, kundfordringar, och likviditetshantering. I nära samband med cash management uppkommer också riskhantering. Riskhantering har aldrig varit en lätt uppgift och särskilt inte för små företag. För att bemöta risker på ett så bra sätt som möjligt krävs det att företagen utformar och applicerar effektiva metoder. Det är av stor betydelse att förebygga risker snarare än att angripa dem när de väl uppstår. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur cash management samt risker relaterat till cash management hanteras i små företag. Teoretisk utgångspunkt: Arbetets teoretiska utgångspunkt är cash management och dess olika delar samt tillhörande risker. De identifierade olika delarna är inbetalningar, utbetalningar, kredittid, kundfordringar, likviditetsplanering, placering av likvida överskott och likviditetsreserv. De tillhörande riskerna utgörs av kreditrisk, likviditetsrisk, ränterisk och valutarisk. Metod: Studien utgår från en kvalitativ ansats eftersom tidigare forskning visat att detta är en lämplig metod för att undersöka problemområdet. Studiens empiri är insamlad genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med tio olika småföretag. Slutsatser: Studien pekar på att småföretag arbetar med cash management på olika sätt, i olika utsträckning och att det finns utrymme för förbättring. Även riskhantering i små företag ser olika ut samt att små företag är exponerade olika mycket för olika risker. Vi ser kopplingar mellan riskhantering och cash management i de små företagen och oftast går hantering av goda cash management-rutiner ihop med en minskad riskexponering. / Background: There is an increasingly rough business climate in today’s society, therefore it is important for enterprises to have a good management of the business processes as possible. What becomes meaningful to work with then is cash management. Cash management can be used by enterprises to improve both profitability and financing. The topic includes different parts such as payments, accounts receivable and liquidity management. Also risk management is often associated with cash management. Risk management has never been an easy task and especially not for small enterprises. To deal with this it is required for the enterprises to design and apply efficient methods and strategies. It is of great importance to prevent these risks than deal with them once they occur. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to research how cash management and risks related to cash management are managed in small enterprises. Theoretical starting point: The theoretical starting point of the study is cash management and its different elements and associated risks. The different identified elements are payments,credit period, accounts receivables, liquidity management, investment of liquid surpluses and liquidity reserve. The related risks are credit risk, liquidity risk, interest rate risk and currency risk. Method: The study is based on a quantitative approach since previous studies shown that this is an appropriate method in order to research the issue. The empirical data is collected by semi-structured interviews with ten different small enterprises. Conclusions: The study shows that small enterprises work with cash management differently, in different extent and there is room for improvements. Also risk management in small enterprises tends to differ and the enterprises are exposed in different extent for various risks. There is a connection between risk management and cash management in small enterprisesand good management of cash often tends to minimize risk exposure.

Unanticipated economic fluctuations exert pressure on state governments to adjust their discretionary fiscal policies to accommodate the changing fiscal situation. Even though states adjust fiscal policy as the economy fluctuates, the typical cyclical economic factors are not the sole determinant of such adjustments. State governments budgeting systems in the United States operate under a variety of budgetary institutions. The most prominent state government budgetary institutions include balanced budget rules (BBRs), tax and expenditure limits (TELs), and supermajority voting requirements for tax increases. This dissertation examines how these budgetary institutions affect state government choices of fiscal policy under different economic conditions. To better understand the effect of state level TELs, a stringency index of state level TEL is constructed considering the major structural features. The fixed-effect panel regressions are used for the analysis of impact of TEL and BBR and tax changes and the fixed-effect Tobit is adopted to test the impact of TEL and BBR on spending cuts after the budget is adopted. The result suggests that TEL plays a more important role affecting states discretionary fiscal adjustment from the tax side, while BBR plays a more important role affecting states discretionary fiscal adjustment from the expenditure side. Results of this research show that TEL exerts pressure on states that hinder state ability to deal with volatile fiscal situations, especially in the case of periods of budget crises.

No description available.