Browsing by master's degree program "International Masters in Economy, State & Society"

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.