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Design, Development and Evaluation of a Visual Analytics Tool for Computational Set Analysis of Big Social Data
Full text linkThis dissertation presents the design, development and evaluation of the Social Set
Visualizer, an innovative Visual Analytics software tool, that expands upon a novel
set-based approach to Big Social Data Analytics for large-scale datasets from social
media platforms such as Facebook. Over the course of five peer-reviewed publications,
three different versions of the Visual Analytics software tool are iteratively
designed and developed, and several contributions to the visualization of sets and
set intersections are highlighted.
In seven case studies with the Social Set Visualizer software tool the generation
of meaningful facts and actionable insights from Big Social Data are empirically
demonstrated, and a pre-existing research gap with regard to the Visual Analytics of
large-scale Facebook datasets vs. other social media platforms is closed. Based on
these studies, the dissertation puts forward a generalized conceptual model for interactions
within Big Social Data termed the Social Interaction Model, which provides
a simplification and extension of previous theoretical and formal models
Empirical Evidence and Methodological Contributions
Full text linkThis thesis consists of four chapters, all of which are related to credit risk and particularly
modeling of default risk. The chapters can be read independently, and the intended audience
differs somewhat among them.
The first chapter is methodical; the intended audience consists of statisticians and practitioners
who are end users of the software described in the chapter. In particular, the first chapter
is written for biostatisticians, statisticians, or practitioners with some prior experience with survival
analysis. The chapter shows fast approximate methods to estimate a class hazard models
implemented in an open source R package.
The second chapter focuses on default risk models for a broad group of public and private firms.
These models are particularly interesting for regulators and banks that wants to evaluate the risk
of a corporate debt portfolio with varying exposure. The intended audience consists of academics,
particularly those working within finance with default models, as well as practitioners, either on
the regulatory or private side. The main question of the chapter is whether the typically observed
excess clustering of defaults is due to a misspecification of the dependence between observable
variables and the probability of entering into default. While we do find improvements on the firmlevel
after relaxing standard assumptions, the improvements are substantially smaller than stated
previously in the literature. Moreover, we find limited evidence that the more general models fit
better on an aggregate scale. Thus, we show an easily implemented random effect model that
involves similar relaxations, achieves comparable firm-level performance, and performs better on
the aggregate scale
Essays in Empirical Studies Based on Administrative Labour Market Data
Full text linkThis PhD thesis, entitled "Essays in Empirical Studies Based on Administrative Labour
Market Data", is composed of three independent chapters, a general introduction for all three
chapters at the beginning, and a brief conclusion in the end. While all three chapters are
independent research papers and can be read as such, each chapter applies and compares
different econometric frameworks by using individual-level administrative labour market data,
addressing important topics within the field of labour economics
Essays on Clientelism in New Democracies
Full text linkDuring electoral campaigns in new democracies, parties and candidates often employ clientelist
strategies such as vote buying to mobilize electoral support. The academic consensus is that when
voters are offered gifts or money in exchange for their votes, it has detrimental consequences for
democratic and economic development. Therefore, it is imperative to explore to what extent, why, and
how does clientelism occur in new democracies? A framing paper and four articles address this question using
new survey data from South Africa and cross-country data from Africa and Latin America.
The framing paper develops a conceptual framework of vote buying as a four-step process,
validates why South Africa is a relevant setting for the study of clientelism and outlines the extensive
data collection conducted for this dissertation. Using an unobtrusive measurement technique
called the list experiment, the first article explores the level of vote buying during the 2016 municipal
election campaign in South Africa. Furthermore, the first article provides a methodological contribution
to the literature by conducting an experimental test of an augmented version of the list
experiment against the classic list experiment and showing that the augmented procedure produces
biased results. The second article examines why candidates employ vote buying as a strategy to mobilize
electoral support when the ballot is nominally secret, which enables voters to renege on their
vote bargain commitments and vote as they please. The third article explores why voters vote for
corrupt candidates, which enhances our understanding of how clientelism can mitigate voters’ willingness
to punish corrupt politicians. The fourth article examines how the character of the electoral
system affects the relationship between poverty and vote buying in Africa and Latin America.
Overall, this dissertation increases our theoretical understanding and empirical knowledge of
how widespread clientelism is in the developing world and why and under what conditions it flourishes.
This dissertation contributes conceptually, methodologically, empirically, and substantially to
the literature on clientelism and vote buying and has important implications for policy makers seeking
to reduce the prevalence of clientelism in new democracies
A Time to Print, a Time to Reform
Full text linkThe public mechanical clock and the movable type printing press were two of the most important and complex general purpose technologies of the late medieval period. We document two of their most important, yet unforeseeable, consequences. First, an instrumental variables analysis indicates that towns that were early adopters of clocks were more likely to also be early adopters of presses. We posit
that towns with clocks became upper-tail human capital hubs—both technologies required extensive technical know-how that had many points of overlap. Second, a three-stage instrumental variables analysis indicates that the press influenced the adoption of Lutheranism and Calvinism, while the clock’s effect on the Reformation was indirect (via the press)
Determinants and Strategies for Reducing Clothing Consumption
Full text linkThis dissertation examines the psychological determinants for reduced clothing consumption,
which is understood as one example of urgently needed behavioural change to mitigate climate
change. It investigates how these determinants can be addressed with an intervention strategy to
achieve a reduction in clothing items purchased by consumers. The overarching theoretical
framework for this thesis is the comprehensive action determination model (CADM), and the
dissertation comprises three articles, which successively contribute to the overall aim of
identifying successful strategies for behavioural change. Paper I explores the normative part of
the CADM in more depth and extends it with the role that identification with all humanity
(IWAH) plays for the development of personal norms in a globalised consumption context.
Paper II examines the applicability of the full CADM across different countries and reveals the
relationship between the intention to reduce consumption and the actual number of items
purchased. Paper III reports on an intervention strategy, which was developed based on the
insight from Papers I and II and is aimed at encouraging reduced clothing consumption.
The main findings of this thesis relate to insight about behavioural change and about intentions
and personal norms, which in turn are hypothesised to influence behaviour. We find that it is
possible to reduce the number of items purchased but that strategies aimed at increasing
intention alone are not sufficient to induce such a behavioural change. In our study, goal setting,
feedback, and commitment helped consumers reduce their clothing consumption. Moreover,
personal norms were shown to be the strongest determinant for reduction intentions. Personal
norms are strongly influenced by social norms (i.e. what relevant others are doing and expect
one to do). They are related to problem awareness regarding environmental issues and the belief
that one is able to alleviate these problems with one’s behaviour.
In multiple ways, the thesis contributes to the existing literature and delivers valuable insight for
practitioners. First, a theory-driven intervention is tested in practice to identify successful
avenues for reducing the consumption of clothing. Second, behaviour is measured in addition to
measuring the intention to reduce clothing consumption, elucidating the intention-behaviour
relationship and underlining the importance of strategies that help consumers translate their
intentions into actions. Third, the role that IWAH plays for personal norm formation is
examined. The existing norm activation model (NAM) is extended, which improves the understanding of personal norms in a context characterised by spatial and temporal
psychological distance. Finally, previous cross-cultural studies are advanced by applying
measurement invariance tests, and previous behaviour measurements are improved through the
collection of diary data
An Investigation of Consumer Information Processing and Behavior via the Application of Eye-tracking Methodology
No full textConsiderazioni inter- ed intralinguistiche
Full text link“L’italiano è una lingua complessa e difficile”. Sicuramente non sono l’unico docente di lin-gua italiana in Scandinavia ad aver sentito questo giudizio da parte dei suoi studenti, e par-lando di testi settoriali, per esempio giuridici, tecnici o economici, le difficoltà e i problemi possono sembrare ancora più grandi.
Una lunga carriera di insegnante di lingua italiana in Danimarca mi ha insegnato, inoltre, che fra i livelli linguistici più problematici per uno scandinavo, in ultima analisi troviamo la te-stualità: cioè tutte le caratteristiche e condizioni inerenti alla strutturazione, forma e inter-pretazione del livello testuale, del livello transfrastico
