In this dissertation, I develop theoretical models and an empirical study of the role of social interactions, the evolution of social norms, and their impact on individual behavior. Although my models are consistent with individual utility maximization, they generally emphasize social factors that channel individual decisions and/or shape individuals' preferences. I apply this approach to three different issues: labor supply, fertility decisions, and intergenerational transfers, generating predictions that are more consistent with observed empirical patterns of behavior than standard neoclassical approaches that assume independent preferences, perfect information, and efficient markets. In the first essay, I explain the long-run evolution of working hours during the 20th century in developed countries: the substantial decline for the first three quarters of the 20th century and the deceleration or even reversal of the fall in working hours in the last quarter. I develop a model of the determination of working hours and how this process is affected by both the conflict between employers and employees and the employees' desire to emulate the consumption standards of the rich reference group. The model also explores the effects of direct and indirect policies to limit hours advocated by political representations of workers such as trade unions or leftist parties. In the second essay, I study the coevolution of gender norms and fertility regimes. Since the 1990s, a new pattern of positive correlation between fertility rates and female labor force participation emerged in developed countries. This recent trend seems inconsistent with conventional economic approaches that explain fertility decline as a result of the increasing opportunity costs of childrearing, predicting a negative correlation between fertility and women's labor force participation. To address this puzzle, I develop a model of the evolution of gender norms and fertility in various economic environments influenced by the level of women's wages. Randomly matched spouses make choices related to fertility - labor supply and the division of household labor - based on their preferences shaped by gender norms. In the model, norm updating is influenced by both within-family payoffs and conformism payoffs from social interactions among the same sex. The model shows how changes in economic environments and the degree of conformism toward norms can alter fertility outcomes. The results suggest that the asymmetric evolution of gender norms between men and women could contribute to very low fertility, explaining the positive correlation between fertility and women's labor force participation. Finally, I estimate the effect of exogenously introduced public pensions for the elderly on the amount of private transfers they receive. There has been a long debate whether public transfers crowd out private transfers. Previous empirical studies on this issue suffer from the endogeneity of income that contaminates estimates. I use an exogenously introduced public transfer, the Basic Old Age Pension in Korea, to test the crowding out hypothesis. A considerable proportion of the elderly population, especially women living without a spouse, do not experience the crowding out effect and moreover, among those who do, the size of the effect is relatively small. The results support the redistribution effect of the Basic Old Age Pension targeting the poor elderly in Korea.

Politics has often been conceptualized as a conflict between political parties that represent the economic interests of different groups in society. This conception of politics has, however, been considerably weakened by the economic and social transformations of the last decades and by the rise of post-materialist values among newer generations of electors. Indeed, the vote of manual workers for left-wing parties has declined significantly in recent decades as did the impact of left-wing parties on social spending. At the same time, the issue of low-wage work has become prominent in the partisan debates of several countries such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom following the mobilization of low-paid workers, unions and community associations. Low-wage workers who mainly work in the service sector have often precarious work and living conditions following decades of labor markets deregulation and are highly dependent on governmental policies to insure decent living and work conditions. One of these policies, the minimum wage, has been at the center of the electoral campaigns of many left-wing parties in recent years. However, the issue of low-wage work has rarely been studied in political science. This thesis seeks to explain the partisan dynamics surrounding the issue of low-wage work. My main argument is that low-wage workers tend to vote for left-wing parties in accordance with their economic interests, especially in countries with a weak degree of corporatism such as the United States and the United Kingdom. In those countries, left-wing parties have strong incentives to make pledges related to low-wage work like increasing the minimum wage in their electoral manifesto, because unions are unable to negotiate decent working conditions for the majority of workers. Indeed, in countries with weak corporatism, low-wage workers are very dependent on governmental interventions to ensure minimum working standards and improve their living conditions. In countries with strong corporatism, however, unions negotiate collective agreements that ensure minimum working conditions for the majority of workers, workers with weaker bargaining power are thus less dependent on government policies to insure decent working conditions. Therefore, left-wing parties should be able to consolidate their vote among low-wage workers in countries with a weak degree of corporatism. Once in power, left-wing parties should also increase the minimum wage and the direct cash transfers to low-income families more than governments led by right-wing parties, especially when corporatism is weak. The emphasis on policies targeted to low-wage workers by left-wing parties in countries with a weak degree of corporatism could also limit the capacity of radical parties to attract the vote of low-wage workers. This thesis is composed of 4 articles, one on electoral pledges related to low-wage work, one on the vote of low-wage workers, one on the impact of left-wing parties on minimum wages and one on the impact of left-wing parties on direct cash transfers received by low-income families. These four articles demonstrate the relevance of a materialist conception of politics and the role of institutions regulating the labor market on partisan dynamics.

No / This book focuses on the use of small arms in violence and attempts by the state to govern the use and acquisition of these weapons. It is likely that hundreds of thousands of people are killed every year as a result of armed violence ¿ in contexts ranging from war zones to domestic violence. This edited volume examines why these deaths occur, the role of guns and other weapons, and how governance can be used to reduce and prevent those deaths. Drawing on a variety of disciplines, ranging from anthropology through economics to peace and security studies, the book¿s main concern throughout is that of human security ¿ the causes and means of prevention of armed violence. The first part of the book concerns warfare, the second armed violence and crime, and the last governance of arms and their (mis)-use. The concluding chapter builds on the contributors¿ key findings and suggests priorities for future research, with the aim of forming a coherent narrative which examines what we know, why armed violence occurs, and what can be done to reduce it.

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The goal of this dissertation was to model and test whether political parties once in power skew the federal budget in favor of their base. The theory includes the formation of a comprehensive theoretical model, which divided the budgetary instruments into two categories: monetary and political transfers. Using statistical tools, the dissertation examines the budgetary bias itself, the timing of its usage across the electoral cycle, and the substitutability of the instruments. The results found that political parties do bias budgetary funds towards their base. However, they tend to use tools, which are less visible to the opposition party and more evident to their base. The results confirmed that when parties use more of one type of transfer, they use less of the other. Finally, parties use alterations in total transfers to influence their base early in the election cycle, and move on to other means, such as platform alterations, as the next election draws closer. / Economics

This contribution discusses a new control concept (compare Boden et al., 2021) that allows transport load exchange in hybrid AMHS. It focuses on vehicles able to perform load exchange dynamically by splitting transport requests into sub-tasks determined ad-hoc depending on the current system status. Unlike conventional control approaches for hybrid AMHS, our dispatching approach does not rely on high-level control rules which statically split transport tasks in advance.

Trajectory modeling is one of the most important aspects of any mission design. The trajectory should be able to propagate the S/C to the final destination while optimizing the flight duration, the total change in velocity and also the total launch mass. The Spacecraft Trajectory Optimizer (STO) tool described in this report first solves the Gauss Lambert problem and generates initial departure and arrival conditions which can also be expressed as porkchop plots. These initial conditions are then used as input to optimize the flight steps which are based on a patched conic approximation with the elliptical transfer with respect to the Sun and the hyperbolic transfers at the departure and arrival planet's sphere of influence. The tool is completely based on MATLAB 2007 or later and uses ODE45 for trajectory propagation and FMINCON with Active-set algorithm for optimization. The results obtained in house were compared with four Mars Sample return orbits calculated at ESOC and there is a very good correlation between the required change in velocities and transfer duration for e.g. Orbit case: O22S, ESOC values: total Delta V = 3.946 - 4.119 [km/s], TOF = 329 - 342 [days] &amp; STO values: Delta V = 3:986 [km/s] &amp; TOF = 335 [days]. The in house data was also used as an input in the System Tool Kit (a professional trajectory calculation software) for modeling an interplanetary trajectory to Mars and the S/C arrived at Mars without any optimization. Therefore, even though the STO does not have all the capabilities of a professional software it can be used for preliminary mission analysis as it offers quite accurate results for interplanetary transfers. / <p>Validerat; 20131127 (global_studentproject_submitter)</p>

No / The illegal proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) is a global problem, and one consequence of this illicit trade is that regions can become flooded with these guns before, during and following a violent conflict. Effective tracing of these arms requires adequate marking and record-keeping systems as well as improved international co-operation by relevant authorities. This publication argues that the main obstacles to progress in this area are political in nature, rather than technological. Other issues discussed include: the selection of categories and types of SALWs for inclusion in a tracing mechanism; and the structures and institutions required for an effective firearms tracing system.

This dissertation focuses on identifying the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the potential of social assistance programs to address their condition. Each essay is related to one particular key step of the poverty alleviation agenda: poverty definition and measurement in Zimbabwe; targeting poor households in Cameroon; and impact evaluation of anti-poverty interventions in Niger. The first essay explores changes in poverty across multiple dimensions in a period of dramatic economic crisis and recovery in Zimbabwe. The essay analyzes changes in household well-being between 2001, 2007 and 2011/12, using an Alkire-Foster multidimensional poverty index. Results indicate a large increase in multidimensional poverty across between 2001 and 2007, followed by a (smaller) decrease in poverty between 2007 and 2011/12 (recovery period after the hyperinflation peak in 2008). However, decomposition of the index shows significantly different trends in poverty dimensions over time, as for instance health related dimensions continued to deteriorate after 2007. The second essay contributes to the policy debate on targeting by studying the ex-post efficiency of two targeting mechanisms employed in a cash transfer project in rural Cameroon: Proxy Means Testing (PMT) and community targeting. Results show a poor performance of community targeting in selecting households with low per capita consumption, compared to PMT targeting—whose errors remain high nonetheless. Communities tend to select small, isolated households with low physical and human capital, regardless of their actual consumption level, but produce variable outcomes. Overall results suggest that a higher coverage contributes to reducing targeting errors, and that better guidance should be provided to communities if the policy objective is to select low per capita consumption individuals. The third essay investigate whether cash transfers induce investments in assets and productive activities that survive the termination of program payments using data from an unconditional cash transfer project in Niger 18 months after its termination. Based on quasi-experimental methods, results indicate that local saving/credit systems (tontines) participation and livestock ownership significantly increased among project participants. There is also evidence of improvement in private assets, micro-enterprises and agriculture. The findings imply that cash transfer programs can have long-term sustainable impacts in rural SSA. / Ph. D.

Text in Afrikaans, abstract in Afrikaans and English / The development of sophisticated computer technology and the consequent computerisation of the payment system has had a far-reaching effect on fund transfer systems all over the world. The most important purpose of this thesis is to indicate the nature of an electronic fund transfer; to set out the relationships of the parties involved in an electronic funds transfer and to show by comparison with other legal systems where our law may be deficient in the regulation of the computerised payment system. At the outset, the nature and functions of money are compared to electronic fund transfers and a distinction drawn between paper-based transactions and electronic fund transfers. In this regard, electronic fund transfers as method of payment is also discussed. Automatic computer processing also gave rise to a variety of new kinds of financial services. A distinction is made between customer-initiated systems (A TM' s, EFTPOS and home-banking services) and systems used by the banks to effect electronic funds transfers between banks and to send financial messages. In this regard, the settlement function of clearing houses and the legal nature thereof are examined. A description of a local clearing house, the ACB, is included as well as a discussion of the clearing of cheques, the moment of payment of cheques and the status of the ACB. Other relevant legal aspects of the computerisation of the payment system which are examined and discussed are the following: the use of the so-called electronic signature; the regulation of risks in electronic payments and the creation of sufficient security measures; the criminal liability of an accused in the case of an unauthorised withdrawal or transfer; questions and problems surrounding evidential matters; the putting into operation of procedures to correct errors and the creation of an ombudsman to settle and resolve disputes; cheque truncation and the right of an individual to privacy in the milieu of electronic payments. Finally, the legal relationships between the parties involved in a credit transfer and the moment of payment is examined. Regulation in this regard is also considered. / Die ontwikkeling van gesofistikeerde rekenaartegnologie en die gevolglike rekenarisering van die betalingstelsel het 'n verreikende effek op die fondsoordragstelsels van banke regoor die wereld gehad. Die belangrikste doelstellings van hierdie proefskrif is gevolglik om die aard van 'n elektroniese fondsoordrag aan te dui; om die verhoudinge tussen die partye betrokke by 'n elektroniese fondsoordrag nader te omskryf en om by wyse van 'n regsvergelykende ondersoek aan te toon waar daar leemtes in ons reg ten opsigte van die regulering van die gerekenariseerde betalingstelsel bestaan. Die aard en funksies van geld is ter aanvang met elektroniese fondsoordrag vergelyk en 'n onderskeid is tussen papierbasistransaksies en elektroniese fondsoordragte getref. In hierdie verband is elektroniese fondsoordrag as betalingsmetode ook bespreek. Outomatiese rekenaarverwerking het ook tot 'n verskeidenheid van nuwe soorte finansiele dienste aanleiding gegee. Daar is onderskei tussen klient-geaktiveerde stelsels (OTM'e, EFTPOS en tuisbankdienste) en fondsoordragstelsels wat deur die banke aangewend word om elektroniese fondsoordragte tussen banke te bewerkstellig en om finansiele boodskappe te versend. In die verband is die verrekeningsfunksie van klaringshuise en die regsaard daarvan ondersoek. 'n Beskrywing van die werksaamhede van die ACB, as plaaslike klaringshuis, is hierby ingesluit asook 'n bespreking van die verrekening van tjeks, die tydstip van betaling van tjeks en die status van die ACB. Ander relevante regsaspekte van die rekenarisering van die betalingstelsel wat ondersoek en bespreek is, is die gebruik van die sogenaamde elektroniese handtekening; die risikoreeling in die elektroniese betalingsverkeer en die daarstelling van voldoende sekuriteitsprosedures; die strafregtelike aanspreeklikheid van 'n beskuldigde in die geval van 'n ongemagtigde onttrekking of oordrag; vrae en probleme rondom bewysregtelike aangeleenthede; die inwerkingstelling van foutoplossingsprosedures en die daarstelling van 'n ombudsman om geskille te voorkom en te besleg; tjekretensie en die reg van die individu op sy privaatheid in die milieu van die elektroniese betalingsverkeer. Laastens is die regsverhoudinge tussen die deelnemende partye en die tydstip van betaling in die geval van 'n kredietoordrag ondersoek, en oorweging is aan regulering in die verband geskenk. / Private law / LL. D.