Browsing by master's degree program "International Masters in Economy, State & Society"
Now showing items 1-20 of 30
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(2023)Gender inequalities persist in today's world and women face problems in many areas. One view is that the first thing to guarantee women's rights is to guarantee their political rights. By increasing women's political participation and their influence at the decision-making and leadership levels in the legislature and the executive, more female-friendly policies can be implemented and the gender gap can be narrowed. Finland was chosen for this thesis because of the relatively active political participation of Finnish women and because Finland has a high international index of female equality. The research materials are mainly UN documents and Finnish government reports. The Finnish material is drawn from Finland's follow-up reports to the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, which are more continuous and reflect Finland's work on advancing gender equality over the last fifteen years. In addition, the thesis attempts to define women-friendly policies. Finally, this thesis discusses the contribution of women's political participation to the promotion of women-friendly policies, acknowledging its role and feasibility while pointing out some shortcomings and limitations.
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(2022)In the past 10 year, the inequality discourse has been greatly shaped by Piketty’s capital accumulation theory presented in Capital in the 21st Century. Although it has popularized the capital-income dichotomy in inequality research, the missing role of institution has severely restricted the model’s explanatory power. Illuminated by the concept of factor concentration and the decomposition analysis in recent literature, this thesis will analyze the role of one special form of capital -housing- in inequality formation. The omnipresent influence of government (or institution) in housing welfare allocation will be explained. Moreover, it will pay extra attention to the Nordic countries who are arguably featured with high degree of equality and deep state intervention. It will be shown the inequality measured by some indices is surprisingly high in those societies. However, after taking into consideration their welfare regimes the measuring methodologies, the results do not seem so gloomy. The universalistic embodied in their system and a relatively stronger macro level welfare state are not reflected in the data but are effective in defending housing-related welfare. The thesis aims at incorporating welfare states theory and housing economics literature into inequality discourse. It will be demonstrated that the welfare institution in a society has strong effect on shaping wealth and ultimately welfare distribution. Through this empirical discussion, the importance of including qualitative literature in interpretating quantitative results will be emphasized.
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(2020)This thesis explores how national identification is represented in nineteenth-century Finnish artworks. More specifically, it focuses on the paintings of Akseli Gallén-Kallela. Akseli Gallén-Kallela was an active artist who devoted himself to constructing and disseminating the notions of a “Finnish” and “Finnish nation”. The main objective of this study is to understand how Gallén-Kallela managed to construct and circulate the ideas of nation and national identification in his paintings. My theoretical framework is based on Anthony D. Smith’s ethno-symbolistic approach and W.J.T. Mitchell’s notion of “landscape as a cultural medium”. The former insists that each nation has an ethnic core that not only provides cultural conformity but also a lasting sense of continuity. It advocates a study of ethnie and nation from a visual analytic perspective. The latter claims that landscape also serves as a cultural practice that helps the formation of social subjects. The main finding of this study is that Gallén-Kallela managed to create a Finnish ethnoscape, that is, a landscape attached with Finnish physical characters and spiritual qualities. Moreover, by authenticating his experience of nature and rural life, Gallén-Kallela attempted to represent and promote what he believed to be nationally unique and valuable for Finnish people. He attempted to translate the abstract notion of nation and identity into something tangible and accessible to common people. Gallén-Kallela’s love for his homeland and his rural friends became the initial inspiration of his artistry. His work is a complex of ethnos and wilderness. They contain power to raise one’s sentiment and sympathy. The artist himself, as an artist and cultural communicator, managed to paint down and promote Finnish ethnic distinctiveness with his profound love and loyalty to his homeland.
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(2023)Finland has gained significant recognition as a key participant in the worldwide economy, renowned for its technological innovations, elevated quality of life, and extensive social welfare infrastructure. To explain, this thesis paper will discuss the trajectory of the Finnish economy since the 1990s which was characterised by a sequence of obstacles and prospects. In 1990s, some external impact such as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the internal impact including the failure of bank system both influenced the Finnish economy, which resulted in the severe downturn, the rise of unemployment, and a significant drop in economic outcome. However, through a series of economic policies and structural reforms, the Finnish economy began to recover gradually after the autumn of 1993. Furthermore, the integration with the European Union further expanded market access and economic prospects. However, Finland faced new challenges during the 2008 global financial crisis, as a reliance on exports exposed it to decreased global demand. Contractions in exports and investments led to reduced economic growth, higher unemployment rates, and fiscal pressures. To mitigate these challenges, the Finnish government implemented measures to promote stability, growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Combined with the country's economic structure and skilled workforce, Finland gradually regained momentum. This study aims to analyze and compare the impacts of the 1990s economic crisis and the 2008 financial crisis on Finland's economy mostly based on literature review. Moreover, by examining key economic indicators and development trends, it seeks to unveil the resilience and adaptability of the Finnish economy in different crisis contexts.
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(2020)Abstract Introduction. International migration is one popular and challenging issue in Central Europe for decades, especially after the collapse of the communist bloc. This thesis explores, how international migration correlates with the level of economic development in six Central European countries (Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) during the years 1995-2019. In this context international migration is divided into two types: immigration and emigration. This thesis aims to help policymakers to determine the international migration policy by understanding the correlation between international migration and economic development better. Methods. This study explores the correlation between international migration and economic development in Central European states and reflects it against the historical, political, and economic context. National-level migration and macroeconomic data related to Central European states were collected from the World Bank, Eurostat, OECD, UNCTADstat, WIID, UIS, UNHCR and ETH Zurich databases in the period 1995-2019. The endogeneity issues in panel data analysis were noted. Macro-econometric models and spatial autoregressive models were conducted through Stata. Results. The empirical analysis confirmed the following hypotheses: (1) an increase in immigration correlates with a higher level of economic development in receiving countries. (2) An increase in emigration correlates with a lower level of economic development in sending countries. As expected, the empirical results further displayed a positive (negative) correlation between female immigrants (emigrants) and the economic development of receiving countries (sending countries). Conclusion. This thesis presents that (1) an increase in immigration strongly correlates with a higher level of economic development in receiving countries; (2) an increase in emigration significantly correlates with a lower level of economic development in sending countries. This study also emphasises the correlation between female migration and economic development in Central Europe.
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(2023)This research aims to present a systematic literature review (SLR) on the challenges of global governance concerning the global crises surrounding the debates on the Great Recession 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic. The research focuses on achieving three primary objectives. First, to understand the concept of global governance while reviewing the contemporary literature from 2008 to 2022. Second, to summarize and analyze the critical challenges of global governance in light of global crises, especially the Great Recession 2008 and COVID-19. Third, to explore how contemporary literature offers suggestions to overcome the challenges of global governance during global crises. This research employs the SLR method to collect data under a predefined set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The research is conducted using two databases, the Scopus website, and Google Scholar, for 15 years, from 2008 to 2022. Fifty-three journal articles were selected and reviewed to address the research question. Four significant themes are utilized to collect and analyze secondary data: institutions of global governance and problems with global governance institutions during crisis times, the Global recession of 2008 and challenges of global governance, the COVID-19 crisis and challenges of global governance, and overcoming challenges of global governance in the 21st century. These themes are taken into account for presenting the findings of the current research.
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(2023)The efficient market hypothesis EMH (efficient market hypothesis) has long been a cornerstone theory in finance, serving as the basis for understanding the behaviour and efficiency of financial markets. This thesis tests the market efficiency in the Nordic stock market by the momentum and the short-term reversal strategies and finds strong evidence against the EMH. By comparing the trading strategies’ excess returns over the benchmark in different market conditions, this thesis found that the market stocks of smaller sizes, lower valuation, and lower liquidity are less efficient. Besides, the results of this thesis are also consistent with the traits of the Nordic stock market, such as its focus on technology stocks, and dominance of a small number of highly liquid stocks.
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(2023)This thesis examines the current situation of highly educated Chinese people moving to the UK between 2019 and 2023 and analyses the motivations and factors that influence their migration. Using qualitative research methods, the study examines the motivations of Chinese highly educated individuals with a propensity to migrate through interviews. Through the interviews, the paper analyses several factors that influence migration, including migrants' perceptions of themselves, the Chinese social climate, the traditional Chinese family climate, the influence of Covid and factors such as visas and racial discrimination, to obtain their own perceptions of migration. By answering these questions relevant to their settlement, overseas studies and social integration, this thesis will provide a better understanding of some of the key trends in the current immigration flows, especially the growing trend of highly educated Chinese immigrants to the UK.
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(2023)China, as a rising power, has transformed the global aviation market. Since the 1990s, China has flexibly used "aviation diplomacy" to bring its political ties with Europe closer. Is the $37 billion aircraft order between China and Airbus in 2022 a continuation of China's “aviation diplomac” with Europe? This thesis aims to analyse the political and diplomatic behaviour of Chinese and European Airbus in civil aviation through a historical comparison, especially in official documents and leaders' statements. It also examines the birth and development of 'aviation diplomacy', focusing on how China has used this diplomatic strategy. Another point is the analysis of Airbus as a product of European political and economic alliances. The paper argues that understanding China's 'aviation diplomacy' strategy is essential for studying China-Europe relations.
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(2022)Corruption, which affects the development of human society nowadays, has been called the “cancer” of international politics. Currently, countries worldwide are faced with corruption to varying degrees, which diverts funds for development to private individuals or power groups, makes the poor poorer, affects the rule of law in the entire country and traps the country in an “inequality trap”. This dissertation attempts to interpret, through a comparative study, why corruption rates remain high in China. The starting point is examined in this dissertation is why the corruption rate in Finland is much lower than in China. This study compares and analyses the anti-corruption ecology and mechanisms of the two countries, including the definition of corruption, the current state of corruption, the causes of corruption, the legal framework, the institutional set-up of anti-corruption, and the set-up of prevention mechanisms and the differences in social supervision. The comparative approach allows for quick identification of institutional and legal differences between the two countries. The results show that there is rarely a motive for Finnish officials to be involved in corruption, that the Ministry of Justice has collaborated to build an anti-corruption network that allows all departments to participate, and that the existence of an Ombudsman and Chancellor of Justice system allows for oversight of government operations. The transparent and open government allows the public to participate in social supervision. China is more diverse in terms of the causes of corruption, with incomplete legal constructs and over-powered anti-corruption agencies, leading to the involvement of anti-corruption officials in corruption. Mechanisms to prevent corruption lack national-level guidance, and the government is not transparent enough, resulting in the public’s right to know not being guaranteed and making it difficult for social oversight to function. This is why the corruption rate in China is higher than that in Finland.
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(2023)This research paper conducts a comparative analysis of the carbon emissions trading schemes (ETS) in the European Union (EU) and China. The study reviews the literature on the EU ETS and China's regional pilot ETS programs, highlighting key indicators and stages of development. By examining similarities and differences in design, monitoring, and development processes, the paper provides insights into the two mechanisms. The findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of ETS and offer recommendations for the development of China's carbon trading mechanism.This study addresses a research gap by providing a comprehensive comparative analysis of the EU and China's carbon emissions trading schemes, offering valuable insights and recommendations for the development and operation of China's carbon trading mechanism.
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(2022)This thesis is aimed to investigate the long-run and short-run relationship between renewable, nuclear energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in Finland. The historic development and current situations of the energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions are discussed. Then Johansen cointegration test and Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) are applied in the empirical analysis to further exploit the causal relationships between the variables. There are four variable employed in this thesis: renewable energy consumption (REC), nuclear energy consumption (NUC), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and CO2 emissions (COE). The data of the variables span from 1977 to 2020 and mainly come from official databases and reports from the Finnish government and international organizations, such as Statistics Finland, Our World in Data, World Bank, etc. The results indicate that there is the positive bidirectional long-run relationships between NUC, REC and GDP. Also, the unidirectional long-run relationships of GDP, REC, NUC with COE are estimated. The increase in GDP and NUC are estimated to increase COE in the long run, while REC is estimated to decrease COE. Furthermore, the negative short-run relationships between REC, NUC and COE are found, which shows that, in the short run, renewable and nuclear energy consumption in Finland is estimated to reduce the CO2 emissions. The findings from the thesis indicate renewable energy consumption is both economic and environmental-friendly. Nuclear energy is also good for economic growth in the long run and environment in the short run, but needs to be cautiously treated with regard to environmental protection in the long-run strategies. Also, there has been the trend of impact decoupling in Finland in the short term. However, further research is needed to test the EKC hypothesis and its turning point.
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(2023)This thesis explores the intersections of gender equality, parenthood, and the Nordic welfare state with an aim to investigate the equality paradox embedded within the Nordic welfare model. The gender equality paradox refers to the contradictory situation in egalitarian Nordic countries where women still face persistent inequality while state-driven initiatives unintentionally create new challenges for them. This thesis conduct a case study on the Finnish childcare regime after the 2022 reform. This regime embodies an aggregate framework encompassing all aspects of childcare policies, including the paid parental leave system, Home Care Allowance, and Early Childhood Education and Services. Through the lens of Nancy Fraser's care-work models, this thesis questions how the Finnish childcare regime recognises and potentially resolves the gender equality paradox by a contextual analysis of the regime’s development and current policy design data. The main finding indicates that the newly reformed Finnish childcare regime presents an “equality within difference” scenario rather than pursuing shared care and breadwinning as in Fraser’s universal caregiver model. Firstly, the latest reform shows the ambition towards gender equality, yet there is a split between political ambition and the private sphere. Secondly, while the principle of freedom of choice embedded in the Finnish childcare policy ostensibly empowers parents to make individual decisions autonomously, parental choices seem to be influenced more by necessity than freedom. This thesis identifies a tension in the Finnish childcare regime between promoting gender equality and preserving freedom of choice, revealing a contradicting political logic. Although providing an ostensibly gender-equal policy structure, the childcare regime in Finland falls short of adequately addressing the persistent equality dilemmas faced by women.
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(2022)Since the 1990s, the international capital flow between countries has shown a sharp rise. Most of the transition economies such as Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have adopted new measures to reform their financial systems, which not only brought important sources of overseas capital for their own economic development, but also guided their financial systems to develop in a more rational direction. However, such a model that relies heavily on the foreign capital has also brought serious financial hidden dangers. The declining trend of international capital flows after the financial crisis further confirms the existence of the "Lucas Paradox". Based on the sorting and research of previous literature, this dissertation takes CEE and CIS countries with unique background and status in transition economies as research objects. After summarizing the transition background and characteristics of these two types of transition economies, each aspect of financial development and transition is analyzed (banking, securities, financial regulation). Then, it analyzes the situation of international capital inflow in different stages in detail. In addition, the international capital flow data and financial development data of 19 transition economies from 1995 to 2019 were selected, and macro-control variables were considered. Meanwhile, this dissertation establishes a panel data model rely on FGLS estimation and systematic GMM method to discover the quantitative relationship between financial development and international capital flow. The empirical results show that with the improvement of the level of financial development, direct investment and international loans show a positive inflow, while indirect investment has a reverse outflow phenomenon. At the macroeconomic level, real economic growth rates and real interest rates affect total capital inflows, and the quality of national institutions affects direct and indirect investment inflows. In addition, increased financial development can significantly boost indirect investment and debt-based capital inflows in EU-acceded countries (CEE), but non-EU-acceded countries (CIS) are somewhat unattractive for international indirect investment.
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(2020)This paper investigates the economic implications of the 2018 US-China trade war on the EU, and measures the trade restrictiveness of non-tariff barriers by applying the Trade Restrictiveness Index methodology under the framework of Kee et al. (2009). A cross-sectional OLS regression was applied to estimate the ad-valorem equivalent of NTBs in 2017 and 2018, which were then used to construct the TRIs and deadweight loss. The paper depicts empirical evidences that NTBs tend to play a more crucial role than tariffs in the EU countries, as their NTBs make, on average, an additional contribution of more than 83% to the overall protection level measured solely by tariffs. Besides, the results suggest that both the restrictive level of NTBs and the overall protection level imposed by the EU fell from 2017 to 2018. In addition, a more-developed EU country tends to impose a lower restrictive level of NTBs than a relatively less-developed EU country during the US-China trade war. Moreover, the decreasing TRI, OTRI, MA-OTRI and DWL during this period reveals that the US and China have both held out the olive branches to the EU, while the EU also seized the opportunity to strengthen bilateral trade and cooperation with them. Especially, the reason for the decreasing DWL can be resulted from the backspin that the positive benefits brought by strengthening relationships and seeking deeper cooperation with alternative trading partners in 2018 outweigh the negative impacts caused by the US-China trade war and broken-down confidence of global investors in 2017. From a sectional level, there is evidence supporting the advice that the EU should try to avoid export products that with the highest AVEs imposed by the US and China to these two countries respectively, such as miscellaneous manufactured articles, rubber and plastics in my case.
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(2022)Obtaining advanced technology through FDI technology spillover is generally regarded as a crucial channel for transition economies to achieve technological progress. However, in the actual research, the efficiency of technological progress and the intensity of FDI technology spillover in Central and Eastern Europe exhibit noticeable spatial differences, closely related to different countries’ different innovation capacities. Existing literature has proved the existence of FDI technology spillovers and theoretically discussed the implications of innovation capacities on FDI technology spillovers. Nevertheless, this moderating effect’s nonlinear characteristics and threshold effects have not yet been sufficiently explored in transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Therefore, this study utilises the macroeconomic data of 11 transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe from 2005 to 2019 to construct a threshold regression model to analyse the moderating effect of innovation capacities on FDI technology spillovers. According to the empirical findings, the country-level innovation capacity of transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe has a significantly and positively moderating effect on FDI technology spillovers, with an apparent single threshold characteristic. This moderating power diminishes when the innovation capacity crosses the threshold. A striking finding is that the threshold effect of the innovation capacities’ moderating effects on FDI technology spillovers disappears when differences in resource endowments between countries are considered.
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Intergeneration Mobility in the Soviet Union : Evidence from Soviet Emigrants to the United States (2023)This study provides an empirical examination of intergenerational mobility patterns in the Soviet Union, a topic underexplored due to limited micro-level data availability. Utilising the Soviet Interview Project (SIP) dataset, this study investigates the intergenerational relationships regarding income, educational attainment and occupational status within the Soviet context. The results reveal a diminishing trend of intergenerational income persistence in Soviet society and suggest an increasing dependence of income on factors beyond family background, as one progresses in career. Conversely, the parental occupational status remains influential on children’s occupation class over time. In addition, statistically significant divergences of intergenerational income persistence are found across genders during the later stage of careers. The study also highlights the disparities in the intergenerational transmission of occupational status among different classes. The results reveal that the elder generation of Soviet intelligentsia is more likely to transmit their occupations to their children than leaders or managerial personnel. By evaluating the educational levels of the two groups and considering the role of informal practices, this study proposes a mechanism behind the differentials building on the theory of cultural capital. The nuances of the findings within the now-defunct Soviet context might imply the importance of evaluation of socioeconomic norms and non-monetary factors in modern social mobility studies, especially in societies undergoing drastic changes.
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(2023)This research investigates the intricate relationship between labour market institutions, in-come inequality, and welfare state typologies. Employing regression analysis, the study examines the influence of employment protection regulation (EPR), the tax wedge, and the unemployment rate on income inequality. The findings demonstrate a significant negative correlation between EPR and income divergence, suggesting that stricter labour protection is associated with reduced income inequality. However, the impact of EPR on inequality is contingent upon the employment rate and specific economic conditions. Surprisingly, a higher tax wedge is found to be linked to lower income inequality, contrary to previous research. The effect of the tax wedge on labour market outcomes varies depending on la-bour market conditions, and progressive taxation can contribute to decreasing income ine-quality. Additionally, the study reveals that the unemployment rate affects income inequali-ty through its interaction with labour market institutions. Countries with high unemploy-ment tend to benefit from stronger labour protection regulations, leading to higher labour market participation rates. Furthermore, the analysis compares different welfare state ty-pologies and their association with income inequality. The findings highlight that social democratic welfare states exhibit relatively low levels of income inequality, while con-servative and liberal welfare states display varying degrees of inequality. This study en-hances our understanding of the complex relationship between labour market institutions, income inequality, and welfare state typologies, underscoring the importance of consider-ing specific economic contexts and employment dynamics when designing labour market policies.
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(2021)This thesis concerns the Polish institution of the dom kultury (house of culture). A dom kultury is an arts centre housing activity ranging from music clubs to film screenings. Under Poland’s state socialist regime, it was envisioned as a space for the implementation of socialist ideals, although such goals were not always realised in practice. Since the end of state socialism, houses of culture have been less defined by such programmatic socialising content; nonetheless they continue to occupy a key part in Poland’s cultural landscape. This thesis explores local people’s memories and perceptions of the institution, tracing the different frameworks people use to make sense of the world around them. It also uses the theoretical frameworks of culture, temporality and postsocialism to explore people’s opinions. The study utilises an oral history methodology, with the source material consisting of ten interviews conducted with inhabitants of one town in Poland, Chodzież. The research builds on the growing interest in narrations of the everyday rather than trauma in the oral history of ex-socialist countries. A thematic analysis of the material was conducted according to the research focus of ideal roles and lived experiences of the house of culture. Remote methods had to be adopted due to the ongoing pandemic, which impacted on the data collection process by slowing down participant recruitment, while also enabling greater flexibility in the research process. The first main finding of the study pertains to the role played by the house of culture over time. While the dispersion of cultural activity since socialism means that it no longer provides the novelty that it once did, the house of culture plays a growing role in the community in accommodating local organisations’ activity. Secondly, the study found that while reference to socialism has its place in people’s narrations of the past, it is not necessarily the dominant framework, with reminiscences about individual life biographies intersecting with macro-level periodisations. Finally, the importance of the local community that houses of culture are situated in was underscored in participant’s narrations, surfacing in the themes of cultural loyalty and rivalry. The study supports the findings in previous studies of houses of culture concerning the normative ideal of culture. Discussions surrounding cultural authenticity defined perceptions about degrees to which culture is performed ‘correctly’, whether it concerns the institution’s role as provider or people’s role as consumers (and co-creators). Even for those who engage with the institution sporadically, it remains an important part of the Polish cultural landscape, providing locals with access to artistic culture and beyond. This underscores the main theme that runs throughout the findings, concerning the interplay between importance for the individual and the collective.
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(2022)The EU has undergone three eastern enlargements since 2004, resulting in a significant increase in the total population of the member states. Citizens of new member states are then allowed to move freely within the EU territory, and we can see a rise in migration from the East to West Europe. High-skilled workers are important component of human capital and are typically considered positively correlated to the productivity. Countries all want the higher skilled workers and they adopt skill-biased immigration policies. In this dissertation, I use matching model of skills to tasks to interpret how regional economic disparities can influence the mobility of workers of different skill levels, especially the high-skilled workers, and how the distribution of skills then influence the regional economic development and the changes in wages of workers. Skills matching is important as the mismatch of skills can be detrimental to the self-development of individuals and economic development due to brain waste. The implication of matching model to real-world European Union case can partially explain socio-economic phenomenons, such as overqualification, brain drain and offshoring. Even if EU has made great achievements in promoting the mobility of people, the matching model can only be used in an ideal senario that free movement of workers are allowed. In reality, there are still barriers that negatively influence the mobility of EU citizens. Therefore, in the next chapter, I will analysis the factors that hinders the people’s movements.
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