Making accurate predictions of private consumption expenditures is a difficult task. This thesis examines if consumer confidence can be used to forecast consumption. Using regression analysis, the link between consumer confidence and private consumption expenditures is analyzed for Sweden between the years 1994 and 2005. Two different models are estimated. In the first model consumption is regressed only on consumer confidence, while model two is extended to contain more variables.

As well as other politic fields, the cultural politics adapt to changes in society. The development in society has brought attention to the interaction between the cultural field and the economic field. One of the main goals within Swedish Cultural Policies today is the development of cultural and creative economics. Politicians and researchers claim that culture can be a significant part in economic growth in cities and making a place attractive to live in.I became interested in the discussion around the cultural experience as a factor of economic growth when I participated in a seminar at Karlstad CCC during Kulturparlamentet 2012. When I then started working at the music festival Putte i Parken during the spring of 2013 I thought about making this study.The main aim is to investigate in which way Putte i Parken can be a factor of growth and a factor of making Karlstad an attractive place to live in by analyzing documents, reports and literature in a qualitative way of working.

Det humanitärrättsliga skyddet för civila i konflikter har sedan dess tillkomst främst reglerat internationella konflikter, något som inte förändrats i takt med att konfliktbilden skiftat från att ha dominerats av internationella konflikter till att istället präglas av mer svårdefinierade, interna sådana. Först 1993 togs ett avgörande steg mot en breddning av skyddet då säkerhetsrådet instiftade International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY. Tribunalen vilken inte var avsedd att fungera lagstiftande kom detta till trots att skapa prejudikat i form av domen mot Tadic´, ett prejudikat, vilket kom att få två viktiga konsekvenser. Det gav upphov till en ny definition av begreppet ?väpnad konflikt? och det ledde till att sedvanerätten tillskrevs större vikt.

The increasing road traffic in Sweden will require investments in the infrastructure that the tax withdrawal of today will not allow according to a new government report, SOU 2006:33. An existing willingness to pay for those investments has therefore become an alternative to increases in taxation to be able to cover the costs. A proposal to let the willingness to pay, alternatively increases in taxation that act proportional, decide how a cost is distributed can be said to be related, but not fully correspond, with different theories of justice described by Robert Nozick and John Rawls. It can therefore be interesting to see how the two different theories of justice are edified and how they distribute a joint cost. The aim of the first part of the thesis is to present and criticize Rawls' and Nozick's theories of justice in a common formulated economic model.

Denna uppsats analyserar matchningseffektiviteten mellan lediga jobb (vakanser) och arbetslösa. Det faktum att den svenska Beveridgekurvan skiftat utåt under 1990-talet är en indikation på att de arbetslösa inte lika effektivt ?matchas? ihop med de lediga jobb som skapas. I uppsatsen identifieras två faktorer som påverkar matchningseffektiviteten; sökbeteendet hos arbetsgivarna och de arbetslösa, samt regionala obalanser mellan utbud och efterfrågan på arbetskraft. Sammanfattningsvis kan sägas att båda faktorerna tycks bidragit till sämre matchningseffektivitet under 1990-talet..

This thesis investigates the 200 year old phenomena of savings banks and if they increase the economic growth (GDP) in the local region they act in. That is being done by testing three hypotheses; the savings banks increase the attractiveness of the region they act in; the savings banks increase the entrepreneurship in the region they act in; and the savings banks increase the economic growth in region they act in. This quantitative cross-sectional study with data from the year 2010, finds that the savings banks increase the attractiveness of the local region, most likely through the efforts and financials they put into different local projects. A positive result is also found for increased entrepreneurship in the regions that have a local savings bank. The result is explained by the savings banks relationship lending, which increase the likeliness for a company to get the credit they need to start and develop.

This essay aims to explore the philosophical meaning of the expression ?present and real? in Clara ? or, On Nature?s Connection to the Spirit World by F. W. J. Schelling.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka huruvida BNP-gap kan förutspåinflationen bättre jämfört med arbetslöshetsgap. Svensk kvartalsdata från1993 till och med 2005 har använts. Gapmåtten skapas med två olika metoder,en linjärregression och ett HP-filter. En direkt prognosmodell används föralla prognoser med out of sample metodik. Prognoshorisonterna somanvänds är ett kvartal, fyra kvartal samt åtta kvartal.

This thesis aims to describe how a fashion designer should balance art and commerce in order to succeed in the fashion industry. We aim to define the Swedish term KRÄDD, and sort out how a designer or CEO in the fashion business should relate to the term, as well as the balance between cultural and economic capital. We present theories of the origins and fluctuations of fashion, as well as social studies on cultural capital, and brand building. The study is made in a qualitative manner where the empirics consist of interviews with 13 respondents that have different positions in, and experience from the fashion industry, including designers, journalists, buyers, a CEO and a PR-professional. In our conclusion, we emphasize the need for a balance between cultural and economic capital in order to succeed as a fashion designer.

Syftet med denna studie är att, med hjälp av ett urval tillväxtvariabler, analysera hur det kommer sig att länder rika på naturresurser generellt uppvisar lägre tillväxt än länder som saknar naturtillgångar. Fenomenet brukar benämnas ?the Resource Curse?, eller ?resursfällan? som det här kommer kallas. Utmärkande för denna studie är att jag valt att analysera hur variablen statlig konsumtion interagerar med naturresurstillgången i landet och hur denna interaktion kan leda till att länderna i analysen fastnar i resursfällan..

Uppsatsen är en kvantitativ studie som undersöker vilka faktorer som har kunnat förklara den svenska swapspreaden under tidsperioden 2001-12-31 till 2008-10-31. Resultatet är en linjär regressions modell som påvisar att swapspreaden är kointegrerad med svenska statens upplåningsbehov samt räntespreaden för europeiska kommersiella obligationer. På kort sikt förklaras swapspreaden av bland annat att den är mean reverting kring ett långsiktigt samband med tidigare nämnda variablerna, basis risken, den historiska volatiliteten på aktiemarknaden, bankaktiers utveckling i förhållande till övriga aktiemarknaden samt lutningen på Money Market kurvan..

I denna studie undersöker vi vad som påverkar oljeaktier och oljeservice aktier. Vi har valt ut fem aktier med varierad storlek från varje bransch, på den amerikanska börsen.Vi använde oss av en multipel regressionsanalys för att komma fram till vilket av oljepriset och Dow Jones index som påverkade aktierna mest. Vi analyserade effekterna både på kort och på lång sikt.Studiens resultat visade att på kort sikt påverkade oljepriset och Dow Jones index aktierna ungefär lika mycket, men på lång sikt var det bara oljepriset som hade en inverkan..

The overarching goal of this paper is to explain the intensive occurrence of partnerships ? regarded as a specific organizational structure ? in the formulation and implementation of Regional Growth Programs.By using theoretical concepts from new institutionalism, the paper tries to examine the explanatory capacity of this theory in the specific case of partnerships. The basis is a skeptical stance towards the conventional interpretation that views partnerships as rational organizational tools. Hence, the purpose of the paper is also to compare our own institutional explanation with the conventional.The paper finds that the occurrence of partnerships can be understood as the effect of an intensive institutional pressure. The government has, in what we regard as the institution for regional development, prescribed the partnership as a rational solution ? a rationalized myth - to the regional growth problem.

The forecast ability of four well-known exchange rate models for theSwedish krona is tested in this thesis. The models that are tested arethe purchase power parity, the real interest differential model, thesticky-price model and a productivity model. In addition to thebenchmark, the random walk, they are also compared to each other.They are all tested on three different horizons one quarter, two quartersand four quarters. The mean squared forecast error criteria and thedirection of change criteria are used for evaluation of the forecastability. Only in a couple of cases are the forecast ability of thetheoretical based models significant better than the random walk..

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study the causal relationship between bank sector development and economic growth in four Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway).Method: Our thesis is based on a quantitative method. The study consists of a compilation and analysis of key financial indicators that represent economic growth and bank sector development. A Granger causality test has been conducted on the time series in order to measure the causal link between economic growth and bank sector development.Theoretical framework: The study is based on the theory of endogenous growth and the causal relationship between bank sector development and economic growth also known as the demand following and supply leading hypothesis. Results: The results of the four countries are ambiguous. Except for Denmark, that follows the supply leading hypothesis, the remaining countries do not show a unanimous result..