Several studies have investigated the relationship between different measures of innovative activity, such as patent statistics and R&D expenditures and some have looked deeper into the differences between large and small firms regarding number of patents issued per employee or per R&D dollar. In this paper, the objective is to find out if there are any indications of a barrier to entry (due to economical factors, lack of knowledge etc) for small firms to get into the field of patent handling. The approach is to first set up a hypothesis based on some simple assumptions about how firms would make decisions about whether to apply for a patent or not and thereafter use econometric methods in an empirical investigation. The data used for this study are figures on number of employees, number of patents granted and R&D expenditures for the Swedish firms in the pulp and paper industry. The main conclusion is that, based on the analysis of the data from this rather limited group of firms, no such barrier can be seen..

AbstractThis essay analyse, from a normative perspective, what can be exspected of an etical asylum policy. The theorical base is derived from Gerard Delanty´s notion of civil cosmopolitism.The ethical outlook is based on utilitarianism. The questions this essay answers are:1) Which are the basic premises for an ethical asylum policy?2) Does the Swedish asylum policy forfill these premises?The study analyses in general terms the Swedish asylum policy. It analyses both the asylum law and the work of the executive authority.The analyse also includes a brief look at two asylum cases.

The transition from a planned economy to a market economy was initiated in Russia in the beginning of the 90s. The three components: privatization, liberalization and stabilization constitute the trinity of the transition theory. This thesis has its focus on the privatization, that also can be referred to as a piratization of Russia. The purpose of the thesis is to explain what went wrong with the privatization, and also why it went wrong. A few men, called oligarchs, got their hands on great wealth which has lead to an abuse of power.

In Sweden there is scepticism if there really is a difference between the two biggest political parties, the Moderate/Conservative party and the Swedish Social Democrats. The voters feels that the arguments used by both parties are more or less the same and that it does not matter on whom you vote. Hence I am going to compare the parties? policy programs, developed by the members in each party, by an analysis of ideas to see if the two parties are so similar that they hardly are two different options, or if there is a divergence between the two. My choosing of the parties? policy programs comes from a decision to look at the members? party, they are the authors of the programs, the core. I have to admit I am not unbiased in this work.

The study begins with a historical background over the fisheries development in North America and in the Baltic Sea area in Finland and Sweden. As we can see the fisheries development depends on the interaction between ecology, state of production, politic and also social factors. In Sweden the fishery politic has changed over the period of the study. In the 1970: s the main politic focus was on the fisheries progress, expansion and rationalization. The State in Sweden took a vast part in this development and gave economic support.

Introduction: Men who have sex with men (MSM) is a vulnerable group with regard to HIVbecause of biological factors, lifestyle, discrimination and, in some parts of the world,criminalization. From a public health perspective it is important to include MSM in order to securea high-quality HIV prevention but also to safeguard human rights (HR) for this group. However, itis only recently that the Swedish development cooperation agencies have begun to integrate MSMin HIV prevention. Objective: To examine how employees of Swedish institutions responsible fordevelopment cooperation manage the vulnerable group MSM when providing support for HIVprevention programs and human rights programs. Topics relate to challenges and strategies tointegrate MSM in HIV prevention, which achievements have been obtained, and how to practicallydeal with the criminalization of the group.

This thesis deals with urban planning in connection with social and spatial integration.It´s a study of a new planning project in Malmö in southern Sweden. It´s an interesting case because this new, fashionable area will be located next to areas facing socio-economical challanges and stagnation. By using two theoretical models I analyse how the visions for planning a city are formulated and applied when policy is going to be operated. My models are ?the balanced community? and ?the dual community? .The conclusion is that the focus for Malmö and Hyllie is going towards emphasing the creation of attractive but segregated districs in a city.

Through trading with countries that have a relative aboundant supply of labor, Sweden changes it's effective supply of labor, in a Factor Content perspective. This essay does two Factor Content analyses, one for year 1995 and one for 2000. The first comparison of these analyses shows that Sweden exports about 27 600 labor-years more year 2000 than 1995. However, since Factor Content analysis arguably underestimates the imported labor, some assumptions are made in order to correct for this. This correction has great importance for the final analysis.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om ryssladsspecifik räntevolatilitet smittar av sig på de baltiska staterna. Efter den asiatiska krisen 1997 är contagion ett av det mest debatterade ämnena inom internationell finansiell ekonomi och definieras som kriser som smittar av mellan regioner. Metod: 1998 utförde Sebastian Edwards en studie baserat på en bivariat GARCH-modell där han undersökte om volatilitet i den korta räntan sprids från Mexico till Argentina och Chile. Jag följer Edwards (1998) metoder för att undersöka om Baltikums räntevolatilitet är påverkad av rysslandsspecifik volatilitetsspridning. Resultat: Med bristande tillgång till långa tidsserier för emerging markets kan jag inte påvisa någon volatilitetsspridning.

The purpose of this Bachelor thesis in Economics at Lund University is to try to establish the correlation between the value change of retail real estate buildings in Sweden and macro economic variables. The principal method is the multiple regression model and it is used to estimate the basic model. The basic model is enhanced by estimating some 30 models and the result is two good models. The difference between the basic model and the two better models are small but important. In the lagged basic model, the same variables are used as in the basic model but with different time lags.

Social work is a social phenomenon, existing in most societies, that has given rise to a multitude of special organizations and professions. For that reason social work is dealing with a complex identity. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how social workers and the scientific discourse interpret the concept of social work. In addition to that the study intends to show similarities and differencies. The research process containes two studies, one based on qualitative interviews with five social workers and the other consisting a surway of academic litterature.

Today the right of the child to participate freely in cultural life and the arts is a goal on the political agenda. As a consequence, in 2011, twenty-six government agencies and institutions of culture were assigned to formulate strategies for activities for children and young people. These strategies are the empirical basis of this thesis. The aim of the study is to elaborate and problematize three issues concerning children?s culture from the viewpoint of a social constructionist understanding of childhood as constructed in various, often political, practices.

The background for this thesis is that at the beginnings of 1980´s the National Board of Forest started an experiment of lime dressing to reduce acidification in forest soil and in ground water. The purposes of this report are to explain organization?s, government?s and private landowners viewpoint on lime dressing and vitalization fertilization, some socio-economic aspects are presented. The general conclusions are that the majority of the interested party?s are positive to vitalization fertilization but the forests owner?s in generally need much more information about this topic..

The aim of this study was to describe and scrutinise the position of the Swedish government on whether children should participate directly or through a representative in judicial proceedings.The main questions for this study were to find out (1) what position the Swedish government has on the subject, (2) how the position is justified, and (3) what view on children the position reflects.A qualitative design was used in the study and in order to describe the position a descriptive method was used. In the second part of the study a critical approach was used to examine and analyse the position.The main conclusions were that the position is ambiguous but that it mainly reflects, with a few exceptions, that it is better for children to be represented than to participate directly in judicial proceedings. The arguments that are given as basis for the position are short and lack both the objective and subjective grounds needed to decide the best interest of the child. The analysis of the position showed that it mainly reflects a view on children as objects and when the statement reflects a view on children as subjects, it relates to age and maturity in the child..

The aim of this thesis is to discuss and analyse the American cotton subsidies? effect on the world market in general and developing countries in particular. The amount of U.S. subsidies is substantial compared to most other countries, but a great deal of the effect is due to the USA?s significant share of the market.