A great number of empirical researches show that hedging is associated with higher firm value, particularly hedging interest rate and exchange rate. However, there is no clear support for value-added risk management hypothesis in the case of producers of commodities. Moreover, according to Shrand and Unal (1997), there are two types of risks, core business risks (or core risk) and homogeneous risks (or non core risks), which are based on a firm's comparative advantages with respects to the source of risk. Firm can earn economic profits for bearing core risks in which it has a comparative information advantage. Firm earn a zero economic rents for bearing non-core risks, where it has no advantage information than its competitors.

Arbetsförmedlingen is the Swedish national authority responsible for the work politics, and its main purpose is to create and build a solid and sustainable job market.Economic crises together with changes in the society and in the organization over the past few years mean that the unemployed individuals that come in contact with Arbetsförmedlingen are no longer a homogenous group. A lot of effort is put into helping those who may find it difficult to enter the work environment, such as youths (19 ? 26 years old), people who have been unemployed or on sick leave for a long period of time, people with disabilities or immigrants who are newly arrived in Sweden.A harder social and economic climate can lead to frustration among the unemployed which mean that security measures at the offices has had to become adjusted. Local offices now have a public area where they have meetings with their clients and a locked open plan office space to which the public have no access. Working within an open plan office environment can cause health problems, mostly due to the constant background noise that comes from people having conversations on the phone, or with each other.

This essay deals with risk management and social risks, which have received increased attentionin recent years. Methods for dealing with social risks, for example within local Risk andvulnerability assessment (RSA), are currently under development. The purpose of this paper is toexamine if and how social risk can be quantitatively assessed and mapped using GeographicInformation Systems (GIS). The definition of social risk that the essay is based on states: "Theprobability of unwanted events, behaviors or conditions originating in the social conditions thathave a negative impact on the objects that are worth to preserve.? A number of social riskindicators that can be used for a spatial analysis have been operationalized based on thisdefinition.

Sammanfattning/Abstract Världens energisystem är huvudsakligen baserade på fossila bränslen. Förbränning av fossila bränslen medför olika konsekvenser för miljön såsom ökad växthuseffekt och försurning. Kostnaderna för dessa miljökonsekvenser är vanligen externa och därmed sällan inkluderade i priserna på marknaden. Mot denna bakgrund är det samhällsekonomiskt intressant att analysera hur resursanvändning och energi-produktion påverkas ifall dessa kostnader internaliserades i priserna på världens energi- och råvarumarknader. Som teoretisk bakgrund för analysen presenteras en ekonomisk teori för optimal resursanvändning.

During the recent financial crisis there has been an intense debate regarding small enterprise?s possibilities to borrow money. Statements from interest groups and results from surveys among Swedish non-financial companies indicate that their situation has worsened. Credit worthy enterprises that under normal circumstances would not have any problems getting financing are now facing financial difficulties. In contrast, an economic report from the Bank of Sweden concludes that Sweden does not suffer from a severe credit rationing due to the financial crisis.

The well-being of employees has become a key concept in the rhetoric of the company boards and business literature of today. There is however not much statistic evidence of a connection between economic results and the perceived working climate. This thesis sets out to investigate whether there is a positive correlation between economic results and working climate on a work group level. It also aims to study which specific working climate factors influence the results. In order to meet its purpose this thesis analyzes employee satisfaction questionnaire data and economic results from more than 300 work groups.

This report summarizes the development of a calculation program estimating the profitability of converting a peak-load oil-fired boiler to pellets. To convert an oil-fired boiler to pellets a new fuel handling system must be designed. Changes also have to be made to some other components. Since there are many different techniques for transportation, storage and treatment of the fuel only the most interesting techniques from Swecos experience and interest were included in the study.The capacity of the different parts in the system was dimensioned based on the power of the boiler after conversion. To estimate prices, installed power and dimensions manufacturers and distributers were contacted.

The purpose of this report is to investigate and compare the difference between stand-thinning machines and strip-road thinning machines, and how they affect the stand on behalf of future growth, theoretical economic result, wind impact, snow pressure and density of stand. The investigation is regarding the first commercial thinning of pine stands, after pre-commercial thinning that was well conducted. The investigation area was located near Katrineholm, Sweden. The measurements that were measured were strength of thinning and amounts of wind throws, snow-breaks and hauling damages. The results that emerged, was that thinning with strip-road machines had a significantly higher strength of thinning over all, as compared with the stand- thinning machines (45 percent versus 30 percent). Comparisons between wind-throws, snow-breaks and hauling damages of the stand could not establish any significant differences between the two methods that were investigated. Conclusions, over all, were that if forest owners want to have more timber volume left for second thinning and final cut of the stand, the forest owners should choose the method with stand-thinning machines. From the point of view of gentle treatment of the stand and ground damages the choice should be the same. However, the method with strip-road thinning machines is the most common and accessible method in Sweden. Most likely it is the most economical way to manage the stand for forest owners in present time. If the method with stand-thinning machines is becoming more common in Sweden, it is suggested for forest owners to consider the stand-thinning method as a candidate for treatment due to economic aspects..

Under våren 2008 tog riksdagen beslut om att fr.o.m. den 1 juli införa ett kommunalt vårdnadsbidrag. Bidraget uppgår till maximalt 3000 kronor och kan betalas ut till dem som inte utnyttjar kommunalt finansierad barnomsorg på heltid utan istället ordnar barnomsorgen på annat sätt, t.ex. genom att en förälder stannar hemma. Vårdnadsbidraget har av dess anhängare hyllats som en valfrihetsreform men har av kritikerna anklagats för att vara en kvinnofälla.

Title: The life is too soft to accord in to tariffs: an essay about youth and families with children who are recipients of economic support, their experience of their financial situation and the reception towards the social welfare.Author: Ana Becovic & Kerstin Olsson         Supervisor: Erik WesserInstitution: Humanvetenskapliga institutionen, Högskolan i KalmarType of Essay: Degree project, 15 ECTS                     Date: December 2008The aim for our study has been to examine how youth and families who are recipients of economic support on long term basis experience their contact with social welfare. The starting point for the question at issue has been the client's experience of their financial situation the reception and expectations towards the social welfare.In our B-level study we carried out qualitative interviews with social welfare officers to find out how they applied the "child perspective" in granting financial support and to what extent they felt that they succeeded in meeting the need of the client. The conclusion was that there is still room for improvement in this field and particularly a wish to focus more on the child's situation and development. The officers told us that they tried to pay closer attention to the child's situation through asking about the children and by visiting the families at home.They expressed awareness of the importance to a child's well being the financial situation of their family. They also expressed the need for the child to be able to take part in leisure time activities and having an active social life.In this study our research method is based on qualitative interviews.

Many studies have shown that unethical acting can affect the share price of the company negatively. However, this is not always the case. The aim of this thesis is therefore to examine what it is that can cause the share price to be affected negatively by unethical acting exposed in media. This qualitative study is primarily based on interviews with institutional investors, but also with economic journalists and investor relations managers. Our conclusion is that there are three main reasons why the share price can be affected by unethical acting, namely economic consequences, the management's behaviour and psychological factors.

Income support is granted to those who are not by themselves or in any other way able toachieve a decent standard of living. Assessment of entitlement to income support is based onan individual evaluation and equal treatment (Kjellbom, 2009). Administrators of economicaid should therefore not judge clients differently depending on, for example, gender. The aimof this study was to commence from a gender perspective in understanding howadministrators of economic aid think of equality and inequality between the sexes whenheterosexual couples apply for income support. Based on this objective we arrived at twomain formulations of questions; how administrators of economic aid deliberate aroundequality and inequality between sexes in connection to applications for financial support, aswell as which variables in organisations sustain or discourage inequalities between genders inaid management.

In the current situation in the housing market and in particular the inner city much attention is directed towards achieved prices per square meter in sales. The indicator is as a principle an appropriate measure of the housing market?s health and development, and can to some extent be used to make approximations of the general economic health status of municipalities and counties. It occurs occasionally that questions about whether prices are based on fundamentals at all times.The thesis questions that very issue, not from a macro accompanying financial perspective but rather from a microeconomic perspective, where each tenant ownership in the study is a micro-object. Are the observed prices per square meter rational relative to housing cooperative?s assets or is there a lack in the observed prices anchoring the respective association's finances.

In this thesis, I enquire into how the USA ? our world?s wealthiest and most powerful nation ?  and its federal government has dealt with two of its most severe natural disasters: the drought and dust storms that plagued the Great Plains during the 1930?s, i.e. the Dust Bowl, and Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in late August 2005. I attempt to identify differences and similarities and analyze if and, in that case, how the hegemonic politico-economic paradigm affected the federal management of these crises. This comparison is made relevant by the fact that two differing paradigms were at play during these events. In the thirties, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched his ?New Deal?, a series of counter cyclical measures in line with the Keynesian school of economics, as a response to the overwhelming economic depression as well as the raging drought.

Alzheimers sjukdom är den vanligaste av demenssjukdomar och omfattas av cirka 80 000 diagnosticerade fall i Sverige. Alzheimers sjukdom kallas ofta för ?de anhörigas sjukdom?, vilket syftar på att den drabbade i takt med insjuknandet förlorar insikten om sjukdomstillståndet samtidigt som det blir mer och mer uppenbart och även krävande för de anhöriga. Vårdbehovet för demenspatienter är stort och ökar i takt med sjukdomsgrad. En stor del av vården av dessa patienter utgörs av så kallad informell vård då patientens anhöriga, utan ersättning, fungerar som vårdproducenter.