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Doktoritöös „„Kas ikka veel oleme ebanormaalsed?!“ Uurimus Eesti normivälise soolisuse ja seksuaalsuse kohta käivate diskursuste ajaloost“ uurin, kuidas on möödunud saja aasta jooksul Eestis kujutatud seksuaalseid ja soolisi norme. Uurisin, kuidas kujutati avalikkuses (meedias, seadustes ja seksuaalkasvatuses) seksuaal- ja soovähemusrühmi. Lisaks avalikes materjalides levinud kujutamisviisile uurisin inimeste isiklikke kogemusi, mis on talletatud mitmesugustesse arhiivimaterjalidesse, intervjuudesse, memuaaridesse ja osalusvaatluste märkmetesse. Iga artiklit raamistab üks uuritav periood, kus keskendun domineerivate diskursuste välja joonistamisele, vastavalt sellele, kuidas on kujutatud seksuaalsete ja sooliste normidega vastuolus olevaid inimesi sõdadevahelises Eesti Vabariigis, Nõukogude Eestis, taasiseseisvusajal ning 21. sajandil. Toetudes feministliku teoreetiku Karen Baradi agentse realismi analüüsisüsteemile, pakun doktoritöös välja analüüsimudeli, mille abil kõrvutada avalikke diskursuseid ja isiklikke lugusid, neid üksteise kaudu lugeda ja tähenduste võrgustikuna seostada. Analüüsist selgub, et igal uuritud perioodil on normivälist seksuaalsust ja soolisust mõtestatud erimoodi, mis omakorda on loonud erinevaid kogemusi ja subjektsuseid. Domineerivat diskursust on omakorda kujundanud seadused, mis reguleerivad soolist väljendust ja seksuaalset käitumist, ja teadus, mis just 20. sajandil seksuaalsuse ja soolisusega seotud norme korduvalt ümber mõtestas. Kõige tugevamat mõju avaldas seksuaal- ja soovähemuste kuvandile Nõukogude aeg, kui meeste homoseksuaalsed suhted olid kriminaliseeritud ja seostatud seksuaalse ärakasutamisega, samas kui naiste homoseksuaalsus ja sooline mitmekesisus olid üldiselt maha vaikitud. Trans-inimesed, kes leidsid võimaluse sooliseks üleminekuks, pidid seda varjama. Nõukogude võimu püüe seksuaal- ja soovähemused kui nähtus ühiskonnast kaotada, vaigistas – nagu muudegi teemade puhul – pikaks ajaks ka sõdadevahelise perioodi vähemuste lood ning mõjutab veel 21. sajandil paljude inimeste arusaama normatiivsusest seksuaalsuse ja soolisuse küsimustes. Samas on Eestis levinud arusaamasid seksuaalsusest ja soolisusest kujundanud uuritava saja aasta vältel rahvusvahelised suundumused ja poliitika, nagu selgub iga perioodi analüüsist. Dissertation ““Why are we still abnormal?!” History of discourses on non-normative sex-gender subjects in Estonia” analyses how notions of homosexuality and transgender identities have been conceptualised and changed over the past one hundred years. I study the representations of sex-gender minorities in public discourse (print media, laws and sexual education handbooks). In addition to public materials I studied individual accounts, which I found through a diverse set of archival sources, interviews, memoirs and participant observations. Each article focuses on a distinct period – interwar Estonia, Soviet Estonia, during the transition period of independence and in the twenty-first century – in the case of which I outline and examine dominant discourses on non-normative sex-gender subjects. Drawing on feminist theorist Karen Barad's agential realism, I propose an analytic model for diffractive reading of public discourses and personal stories, by juxtaposing and reading them through one another to study their entangled meanings. The analysis shows that in each studied period, the non-normative sex-gender subject has been constructed in a particular way, which in turn has created different experiences and subjectivities. The dominant discourse is mostly shaped by the laws and science regulating gender expression and sexual behaviour, which repeatedly reinterpreted the norms of sexuality and sexuality over the twentieth century. The Soviet era had a most extensive impact on the representation of non-normative sex-gender subjects. In Soviet Estonia male homosexuality was criminalised and conflated with sexual abuse, while female homosexuality and gender diversity were generally silenced. Trans-people who found ways to transition were required to hide it. The Soviet regime attempted to erase non-normative sex-gender subjects from its society, similarly to several other topics, and it succeeded in marginalising the history of sex-gender minorities’ lives from the interwar period, and continues to shape the twenty-first century discourses on sex-gender normativity for many. At the same time, the analysis shows that the discourses on non-normative sex-gender subjects have been shaped by international developments and politics throughout the 1920s–2020s. Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone https://www.ester.ee/record=b5645396

The thesis is the first attempt to systematically approach the extraordinary rise of Riga schillings (1582-1621) in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth monetary market. The subject had been highlighted four decades ago by the Polish numismatist Andrzej Mikołajczyk on the basis of Polish coin hoard analysis and expanding its geographical scope in the analysis of Lithuanian and Ukrainian hoards. In order to trace the dynamics and volumes of schilling expansion within the historical Commonwealth territory, this study introduces hoarding data from Latvia and Estonia to the research field. Both territories once formed the Duchy of Livonia (1561-1629), in which the Riga mint executed exclusive minting rights. Additionally, the thesis presents major findings from schilling collection of the Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation, and the uniquely well-preserved mint archive. Principal quantitative and qualitative indicators - emission rates, minting standards, revenue, silver and copper consumption are plotted in data series and cross-examined within the monetary history contexts of the Commonwealth, Duchy of Livonia and the mint itself. Hence, the thesis addresses general ’Polish period’ monetary history. The analysis of calculated emission rates and hoard studies allows to conclude that more than 300 million schillings were minted in the period and as much as half of the production could have left provincial borders of the duchy in several waves. While the circulation of domestic coins was unrestricted in the common monetary area, Riga schilling success is explained by their relative cheapness, dearth of small change in the Commonwealth and increasing speculative prospects in the final years of their coinage. Doktoritöö on esmakordne katse käsitleda süstemaatiliselt Riia killingi erakordselt jõulist esiletõusu Poola-Leedu rahaturul aastatel 1582–1621. Seda teemat uuris nelja aastakümne eest Poola numismaatik Andrzej Mikołajczyk Poola mündiaarete põhjal, laiendades analüüsi geograafilist ulatust ka Leedu ja Ukraina mündiaaretele. Vaadeldes killingi jõudsa leviku dünaamikat ja mahtu ajaloolisel Poola-Leedu territooriumil, täiendab käesolev töö uurimisvaldkonda aardeleidude andmetega Läti ja Eesti aladelt, mis aastatel 1561–1629 moodustasid Liivimaa hertsogkonna, kus Riia rahapajal oli müntimise ainuõigus. Lisaks sellele esitatakse doktoritöös Riia Ajaloo- ja Laevandusmuuseumi killingikogu ja Riia rahapaja erakordselt hästi säilinud arhiivi analüüsil põhinevaid peamised uurimistulemused. Kvantitatiivsed ja kvalitatiivsed põhinäitajad – müntimismahud, mündialused, müntimistulu, hõbeda- ja vasekulu – on süstematiseeritud ja esitatud aegridadena, mida on võrdlevalt analüüsitud Poola-Leedu riigi, Liivimaa hertsogkonna rahaajaloo ja rahapaja enda ajaloo kontekstis. Seega käsitleb doktoritöö nn Poola aja rahaajalugu ka üldisemalt. Arvestuslike müntimismahtude ja mündiaardeandmete andmete analüüs lubab järeldada, et vaatlusalusel perioodil löödi üle 300 miljonit killingit ja lausa pool toodangust võis mitmes laines jõuda väljapoole Liivimaa hertsogkonna piire. Ühises rahapiirkonnas ringlesid kohalikud mündid piiranguteta; Riia killingi edu selgitab selle suhteline odavus, peenraha nappus Poola-Leedu rahaturul ja killingite vermimise lõpuaastatel ka suurenevad spekuleerimise väljavaated. https://www.ester.ee/record=b5568200

This dissertation describes the development of the historical phenomenon of the explicit deification of the Mesopotamian kings during their lifetime. The study discusses the official narratives reflected in the royal inscriptions and poetic compositions (hymns) written during the reigns of the respective kings and representing these rulers as divine beings in an explicit manner. The term “explicit deification” refers to the usages of certain direct markers of divinity (e.g. determinatives in front of the royal names, titles, and epithets) and the indirect markers indicating sacred status of the kings (mostly epithets). This dissertation focusses on the period of ca. 500 years (2250–1750 BCE), when such markers were abundant in the available sources. Two different approaches are used to analyze the assembled data. The first approach is qualitative, which engages into detailed analysis of selected sources (mostly poetic compositions and important segments of royal inscriptions) with attention to the texts’ structure, usage of divinity markers, and the context of these references. The second approach is quantitative, which employs statistical analysis of the divinity markers according to thematic variety of texts. All conclusions are drawn based on the combined results of these two approaches. Through the analyses of the thematic variety of the sources and the usage of divinity markers, this dissertation offers a reconstruction of the circumstances that led to the first explicit deification of kings in ancient Mesopotamia; it also discusses how the image of a deified king developed through the period under scrutiny and the possible reasons for kings to avoid claiming explicit divinity to themselves from the 18th century BCE onwards in their royal writings. See väitekiri kirjeldab Mesopotaamia kuningate jumalikustamist nende eluajal ja selle nähtuse ajaloolist arengut. Uurimus analüüsib ametlikke narratiive, mis pandi kirja kuninglikesse raidkirjadesse ja poeetilistesse tekstidesse (nn. “kuninglikud hümnid”) nende valitsejate endi eluajal ja esitasid neid kuningaid jumalike olenditena otsesel viisil. Termin “otsene jumalikustamine” viitab teatavate jumalikustamise markerite kasutamisele (nt determinatiivid kuningate nimede ees, tiitlid, epiteedid) ja ka kaudsetele markeritele, mis vihjavad kuninga pühaduse staatusele (peamiselt epiteedid). Käesolev dissertatsioon keskendub u 500-aastasele perioodile (2250–1750 e.m.a.) kui selliseid markereid leidub rohkesti säilinud allikates. Kogutud andmete analüüsiks kasutatakse kahte üksteist täiendavat lähenemist. Esimene lähenemine on kvalitatiivne, mis detailselt analüüsib valitud allikaid (peamiselt luuleteoseid ja kuninglike raidkirjade olulisemaid osi), pöörates tähelepanu tekstide struktuurile, jumalikkuse markerite kasutusele ja nende viidete kontekstidele. Teine lähenemine on kvantitatiivne, mis kasutab jumalikkuse markerite statistilist analüüsi lähtudes tekstide temaatilisest varieeruvusest. Kõik järeldused on tehtud nende kahe lähenemise tulemusi kokku võttes. Allikate temaatilist variatsiooni ja jumalikkuse markerite kasutust analüüsides pakub väitekiri asjaolude rekonstruktsiooni, mis viis kuningate otsese jumalikustamisele muistses Mesopotaamias, samuti arutleb see kuidas jumalikustatud valitseja kuvand arenes uuritava perioodi vältel ja võimalike põhjuste üle, miks kuningad hakkasid vältima enesele otsese jumalikkuse omistamist alates 18. sajandist e.m.a. oma kuninglikes kirjutistes. https://www.ester.ee/record=b5551893

Anyone that has studied Estonian history has at least some sort of a perception of both the Baltic German nobility and the time period when the territory of modern-day Estonia was a part of the Swedish empire. The expression “good old Swedish time” is well known to most Estonians, even if one is not entirely certain of what is meant by the expression. Similarly, the stereotype of a cruel and greedy landlord who only seeks personal gain is a familiar one. The goal of my dissertation was to offer additional interpretations about the aspirations and attitudes of the Swedish state authorities and the Baltic German nobility. I focused on Swedish Livland (an administrative unit on the territory of modern-day Southern-Estonia and Northern-Latvia) in the years 1634 to 1680. During this time there was a significant increase in the influence of the Livonian nobility and a network of institutions run by the local nobility developed in Livland, which in many respects formed a parallel governance structure to that of the state. Among other things, I wanted to find out why the Swedish state authorities allowed these developments to occur and what was the Livonian nobility trying to achieve with the help of their strengthened position. I reached the conclusion that the aforementioned developments were largely influenced by the expectation of mutual benefits. Swedish state authorities hoped that in return for certain favours, they could acquire additional resources from the Livonian nobility and affirm their allegiance to the Swedish crown. It became evident that besides collecting taxes and protecting the province, the state had very limited capacities to deal with other issues. Although there were problems with public violence, conditions of roads and bridges, efficiency of the courts and many other issues, the representatives of the state showed little initiative to deal with them. Here, the local nobility stepped in. In return for giving up resources, the Livonian nobility sought the permission of the state to deal with the issues troubling the land. For this end, proposals were made to state officials for the issuing of regulations and the founding of new institutions, the offices of which were in most cases without any kind of remuneration. To conclude, it can be said that the expectation of mutual benefits was largely met for both sides – the nobility generally acceded to the demands of the state and in return had the opportunity to influence local governance in a way that was suitable to them. Igaühel, kes on õppinud Eesti ajalugu, on vähemalt mingisugune ettekujutus nii baltisaksa aadlist kui ka ajast, mil tänapäevase Eesti territoorium kuulus Rootsi riigi koosseisu. Väljend „vana hea Rootsi aeg“ on enamikele tuttav, isegi kui ei olda päris kindlad, et milles siis ikkagi see Rootsi aja headus seisnes. Samamoodi kangastub hõlpsasti kujutelm julmast ja ahnest mõisnikust, kes üksnes enda kitsaste erahuvide eest seisis. Seadsin enda doktoritöös eesmärgiks pakkuda täiendavaid tõlgendusi Rootsi riigivõimu ja baltisaksa aadli püüdlustele ja hoiakutele. Keskendusin Rootsi riigi koosseisu kuulunud Liivimaale (tänapäevase Lõuna-Eesti ja Põhja-Läti aladel asunud haldusüksus) aastatel 1634—1680. Kõnealusel ajavahemikul kasvas Liivimaal märgatavalt kohaliku aadli mõjuvõim ning kujunes välja aadli hallatud institutsioonide võrgustik, mis moodustas mitmes mõttes paralleelse haldusstruktuuri riikliku oma kõrval. Soovisin töös muu hulgas teada saada, miks lasi Rootsi riigivõim sellisel olukorral tekkida ning mida üritasid Liivimaa aadlikud tugevnenud positsiooni abil saavutada. Jõudsin järeldusele, et kirjeldatud arenguid tõukas suuresti tagant vastastikuse kasu ootus. Rootsi riigivõim lootis Liivimaa aadlile järeleandmisi tehes hankida neilt vastutasuks täiendavaid ressursse ning kindlustada kohaliku aadli lojaalsus Rootsi riigi ees. Töös ilmnes, et peale maksude kogumise ja Liivimaa kaitsmise jagus riigivõimul vähe võimekust muude teemadega tegelemiseks. Olgugi et probleeme oli maal lokkava vägivalla, teede seisukorra, kohtute efektiivsuse ja palju muuga, näitasid riigivõimu esindajad üles vähest initsiatiivi nendega tegelemiseks. Siin astus mängu kohalik aadel, kes soovis vastutasuks ressursside loovutamise eest riigivõimu luba maad vaevanud probleeme lahendada. Selleks tehti riigivõimule ettepanekuid kõikvõimalike korralduste väljaandmiseks ning uute institutsioonide asutamiseks, kusjuures loodud ametikohad olid enamasti tasustamata. Kokkuvõtteks võib öelda, et kirjeldatud vastastikuse kasu ootus suuresti realiseerus – aadel üldjuhul nõustus riigivõimu nõudmistega ning sai vastutasuks kujundada kohalikku haldust neile sobivas suunas. https://www.ester.ee/record=b5553406

For software design tasks involving natural language, the results of a causal investigation provide valuable and robust semantic information, especially for identifying key variables during product (software) design and product optimization. As the interest in analytical data science shifts from correlations to a better understanding of causality, there is an equal task focused on the accuracy of extracting causality from textual artifacts to aid requirement engineering (RE) based decisions. This thesis focuses on identifying, extracting, and classifying causal phrases using word and sentence labeling based on the Bi-directional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) deep learning language model and five machine learning models. The aim is to understand the form and degree of causality based on their impact and prevalence in RE practice. Methodologically, our analysis is centered around RE practice, and we considered 12,438 sentences extracted from 50 requirement engineering manuscripts (REM) for training our machine models. Our research reports that causal expressions constitute about 32% of sentences from REM. We applied four evaluation metrics, namely recall, accuracy, precision, and F1, to assess our machine models’ performance and accuracy to ensure the results’ conformity with our study goal. Further, we computed the highest model accuracy to be 85%, attributed to Naive Bayes. Finally, we noted that the applicability and relevance of our causal analytic framework is relevant to practitioners for different functionalities, such as generating test cases for requirement engineers and software developers and product performance auditing for management stakeholders.

This paper investigates which of the core types of innovation can be best predicted based on the website data of firms. In particular, we focus on four distinct key standard types of innovation – product, process, organisational, and marketing innovation in firms. Web-mining of textual data on the websites of firms from Estonia combined with the application of artificial intelligence (AI) methods turned out to be a suitable approach to predict firm-level innovation indicators. The key novel addition to the existing literature is the finding that web-mining is more applicable to predicting marketing innovation than predicting the other three core types of innovation. As AI based models are often black-box in nature, for transparency, we use an explainable AI approach (SHAP - SHapley Additive exPlanations), where we look at the most important words predicting a particular type of innovation. Our models confirm that the marketing innovation indicator from survey data was clearly related to marketing-related terms on the firms' websites. In contrast, the results on the relevant words on websites for other innovation indicators were much less clear. Our analysis concludes that the effectiveness of web-scraping and web-text-based AI approaches in predicting cost-effective, granular and timely firm-level innovation indicators varies according to the type of innovation considered.

Doktoritöö vaatleb mälupoliitika arenguid Poolas ja Ukrainas alates 1989./1990. aasta demokraatlikest siiretest, seda eeskätt läbi seadusandliku prisma. Neid kahte juhtumit võib käsitleda esinduslikena mälupoliitiliste debattide intensiivsuse osas regioonis ning doktoritöö seadiski eesmärgiks selgitada „mäluseaduste“ arengu üldisi mustreid ning selgitada lähemalt nn karistusõiguslikul tasemel vastu võetud seadusandlike aktide spetsiifilisi protsesse Poola ja Ukraina parlamentides. Dissertatsioonis uurisin süstemaatiliselt kahe juhtumiriigi ühismälu reguleerimise protsessiga seonduvaid poliitilisi arenguid. Doktoritööga panustan teadusala arengusse kolmel viisil. Kontseptuaalsel tasandil eristab väitekiri ühismälu reguleerimise valdkonna üleminekuõigluse poliitikatest. Käsitlesin kriitiliselt „mäluseadusi“ kontseptualiseerivaid töid näitamaks, kuidas kontseptuaalset kategooriat saab kasutada kollektiivse mälu reguleerimise mustrite analüüsimisel. Iseäranis olulisena uuendasin Eric Heinze tööst lähtudes mäluseaduste kontseptualiseerimist, suhestades selle omakorda teiste temaatiliste käsitlustega. Empiiriliselt toetub doktoritöö kahe juhtumiriigi parlamentides vastu võetud mälupoliitikaga seotud aktide ammendavale ja süstemaatilisele uurimisele. Doktoritöö analüüs põhines unikaalsel, maksimaalselt ammendaval seadusandlike aktide kogumil, mis koosnes vastavalt 447 Ukraina ning 719 Poola parlamendi alamkojas ning Senatis vastu võetud aktist. Analüütiliselt selgitab väitekiri erinevuste põhjuseid mälu ja mäletamist reguleeriva seadusloome komposiitmustrites Poolas ja Ukrainas (uurimus 1) ning karistusõiguslikul tasemel vastu võetud seadusandlike aktidega seotud spetsiifilisi protsesse (uurimus 2). Kahe uurimuse kaasamine väitekirja tulenes soovist illustreerida „mäluseaduse“ kontseptsiooni operatsionaliseerimise võimalusi juhtumiriikide mälupoliitiliste protsesside empiirilisel uurimisel. Uurimus 1 formuleeris kaks hüpoteesi parlamenditaseme mäluprotsesside regulatsiooni ajastuse kohta. Doktoritöö empiiriline analüüs vaidlustas olemasolevaid teoreetilisi vaatenurki, mille kohaselt peaksid mälupoliitilised protsessid algama varakult pärast siirdeprotsessi toimumist (üleminekuõigluse hüpotees). Selle asemel leidis uurimuses 1 toetust teine hüpotees (mälupoliitika hüpotees), mida tutvutatakse väitekirja sissejuhatuses. Uurimus 1 argumenteeris, et mälupoliitilise võimuvõitluse struktuur rahvusparlamentides tõi kaasa mäluseaduste profiilide hilisema intensiivistumise nii Poolas kui Ukrainas. Uurimus 2 keskendus Poola ja Ukraina parlamentides karistusõigluslikul tasemel vastu võetud seadusandlike aktide esilekerkimise protsessi analüüsile. Keskseks küsimuseks oli, miks erinesid Poolas ja Ukrainas teatud mälu- või ajaloopoliitilisi seisukohtade avaldamist keelustavad seadused oma karistusliku iseloomu poolest? Kuigi mõlemas riigis keelustati teatud riigi minevikku puudutavatest teemadest rääkimine, erines vastavates seadustes oluliselt karistuslike meetmete ulatus. Uurimus 2 leidsin, et Poola Seimis ja Ukraina Ülemraadas välja kujunenud lähenemine rahvuslikule ajalookirjutusele ennustas variatiivsust karistuslikes meetmetes ajaloost kõnelemist puudutavas seadusandluses. The dissertation investigates the politics of memory laws in Poland and Ukraine since the democratizing moments of 1989/1990. Considering two cases emblematic of the intensity of the politics of memory in the region, the thesis aimed to explain the overall patterns of memory legislation evolution and explicate the specific processes of punitive memory law-making in the parliaments of Poland and Ukraine. It systematically investigated the political dynamics behind collective memory regulation in two country-cases. I contribute to the state of the field in three ways. On a conceptual level, the thesis distinguishes the domain of collective memory regulation from transitional justice politics. It critically revisited the works over the concept of ‘memory law’ in order to show how this conceptual category can be used to analyze the patterns of collective memory regulation. In particular, I introduced a novelty with regard to the conceptualization of memory law originally formulated by Eric Heinze against the backdrop of other works in the field. Empirically, the dissertation provided an exhaustive and systematic investigation of commemorative lawmaking in the parliaments of two country-cases. The dissertation advanced its analysis based on a unique set of legislation consisting of 447 and 719 parliamentary acts issued by Ukrainian and Polish legislatures, respectively. Analytically, the dissertation explicated the reasons behind the patterns of collective memory regulation (Study 1) and the specific processes of the emergence of punitive memory laws (Study 2) in Poland and Ukraine. The rationale for dividing the dissertation into Study 1 and Study 2 was to illustrate the potential of operationalizing the concept of memory law into the empirical investigation of the politics of memory of country-cases. Study 1 examined the patterns of commemorative lawmaking in the parliaments of Poland and Ukraine, asking why there was a variation in intensity and propensity of commemorative lawmaking occurring in the politics of Polish Sejm and Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada. Study 1 formulated two hypotheses regarding the politics of memorialisation. It set an aim to verify these hypotheses through an empirical investigation of the politics of memory laws in two countries. Furthermore, Study 2 engaged in process analysis of the emergence of punitive memory laws in the national parliaments of Poland and Ukraine. It asked why there was a variation in criminal punishment functions between Polish and Ukrainian laws on historical denialism. While each country-case outlawed certain instances of historical speech over the national past, the severity of prohibitions found in the relevant laws was different. As an analytical added value of the investigation, Study 2 argued that the types of orientation towards national historiographies taken in the politics of the Sejm and the Verkhovna Rada predicted the variation in the formulation of punitive provisions between Polish and Ukrainian laws on historical speech. https://www.ester.ee/record=b5507839

The paper studies the effects of technology shocks on the creation and destruction of firms. Using US data and a VAR model the paper finds Schumpeterian creative destruction for investment-specific technology shocks. A positive investment-specific technology shock increases the number of firms opening, but also leads to a higher number of firms closing. In contrast, labour-neutral technology shocks also benefit old firms. An increase in overall productivity leads to an increase in the number of new firms and a drop in the number of failures. Both margins contribute to an increase in the number of firms in the economy. A medium-scale DSGE model with endogenous entry and exit that is that is augmented with additional features is able to capture these stylised facts.

Energy efficiency is an important issue for developing countries like Vietnam, where the economy is thriving, but energy efficiency is still low. Firms should invest in energy efficiency measures, but the desired level is not reached. While the economic determinants of firms’ investments in energy efficiency have been researched, the role of the institutional setting has not gained so much attention. By employing data from Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises that has been administered in 2015, this article investigates how corruption, as a sign of institutional dysfunctionality, is associated with the energy efficiency in firms. Results of a bivariate binary probit estimation revealed that bribery increases the likelihood of energy efficiency environmentally friendly investments. However, findings from instrumental variable two stage least squares estimations demonstrate that bribery increases the cost of the investments. Hence, in the long run, corruption might have a deterring effect on energy efficiency investments by firms.

The paper aims to estimate the effects of the European Central Bank communications on the sectoral returns of STOXX Europe 600 from 2013 to 2021. Previous literature has investigated the effects of communications of central banks and checked their effects on macroeconomics and financial data. New opportunities offered by text mining analysis allow us to find new insights into these aspects. However, studies focusing on how text mining indices derived from central banks’ communications can affect different financial sectors are more limited. In this paper, we use different sentiment and topic indices derived from the European Central Bank’s speeches. The paper shows how these different topics and sentiment indices affect the returns on different financial sectors. Our results indicate that the topic of communications is more influential on returns of sectoral indices than the type of communications. Moreover, we find that monetary policy and financial stability topics are the most relevant. We also find that during the COVID-19 time, the number of negative speeches is relevant for almost all the sectoral index returns.