Business Commons^™

Credit Supply, Price And Financial Stability In Markets And Institutions, Austin J. Dejan

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In Chapter 1, the staggered nature of the adoption of interstate bank branching deregulation in the United States is utilized as an exogeneous shock to investigate the managerial incentives involved in corporate socially responsible (CSR) activities. Using Kinder, Lydenberg, and Domini Research & Analytics, Inc. for our CSR measures, we find a significant negative relation between the extent of deregulation and CSR practices, which implies that deregulation-led rising competition in product market makes the non-financial firms more concerned about protecting interests of shareholders than other stakeholders. Specifically, firms with low pricing power tend to significantly reduce their CSR activities. Our …

Regulatory Repercussions In Finance, Jennifer L. Brodmann

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the impact of regulation and public policies on firm performance. Chapter 1, entitled “Political Contributions, Insider Trading, and CEO Compensation”, determines why CEOs from politically-connected firms receive higher pay compared to their non-politically connected peers. We investigate whether insider trading can explain high CEO pay. Using hand-collected firm-level lobbying data, we examine whether politically-connected CEOs engage in insider trading after sponsored bills are introduced and passed in the U.S. legislative bodies. Our results show that politically-connected CEOs commit insider trading, which yields higher compensation packages. In addition, we also find that lobbying benefits firm performance. Politically-connected firms …

Technological Diversity In Finance, Blake K. Rayfield

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation consists of two chapters on measuring firms technological profile. Patent data can be grouped into two primary generations. The first generation lead by the work of Schmookler (1966), Scherer (1982), and Griliches (1984), and the second generation led by Trajtenberg, Jaffe, and Henderson (1997) and Kogan et al. (2016). When combined, both generations data spans from nearly 1926-2010 and has made a meaningful impact on innovation research. In the first chapter, I propose a third generation of patent data. The third generation of patent data has two distinct contributions. First, it extends patent-firm ownership information beyond 2010 to …

The Impact Of Governance Mechanism On Performance And Survival Of Entrepreneurial Firms, Noura S. Metawa

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation consists of two essays.

The first essay studies governance structures and their effectiveness for start-up companies and their survival. We utilize data from the Kauffman Survey, which tracks a sample of firms from their inceptions through their first eight years of existence. We hypothesize and find evidence that a startup's governance system affects its survivability as well as its performance. We show that controlling for the firm size and the industry, cross-sectional variations in the performance of the start-up firms can be explained by governance variables; the presence of one or more independent board member on the board, …

A Swot Analysis Of The Lodging And Tourism Industry In New Orleans, Kristyn Williams

Senior Honors Theses

The objective of this paper is to analyze the resiliency of the New Orleans lodging and tourism industry by conducting a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is composed of four key parts: the internal influences that are the strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) and the external influences that are the opportunities (O) and threats (T). New Orleans is characterized by the ability to use its internal strengths to drive growth in its lodging and tourism market. The main internal strengths I identified were the city’s strong cultural identity, and destination attractiveness in both the convention and leisure markets.

However, New …

Teaching Organizational Leaders: Application Of Title Vii Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1964 To Hiring Practices And Harassment Prevention In New Orleans, Angela Glaviano

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Social Norms And Stock Trading, Asem Alhomaidi

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation consists of two essays. In the first essay we compare the performance of Islamic and conventional stock returns in Saudi Arabia in order to determine whether the Saudi market exhibits characteristics that are consistent with segmented markets and investor recognition effects. We sample the daily stock returns of all Saudi firms from September 2002 to 2015 and calculate important measures, including idiosyncratic volatility (Ang et al, 2006), market integration (Pukthuanthong and Roll, 2009), systematic turnover (Loughran and Schultz, 2005), and stock turnover and liquidity (Amihud, 2002). Integration tests report that Islamic stocks are more sensitive to changes in …

Dividend Policy In A Frontier Market And Sector Equity Traded Funds In The United States, Abdulrahman Alharbi

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In chapter 1, we examine the nature and scale of the relationship between returns on sector Equity Traded Funds (ETFs) and their volatility. We discuss the source and direction of the effect between returns and risk and whether behavioral biases are prominent among sector ETFs. The study has implications for financial sector practitioners and investors, as it provides more information about the risk in sector ETF and whether that risk differs from that of other investment instruments. To this end, we test three hypotheses based on the relevant literature on volatility and returns: the leverage effect hypothesis, feedback hypothesis, and …

Global Market Liquidity And Corporate Investments, Abdulrahman Alhassan

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation consists of two essays. The first essay investigates how oil market factors impact on liquidity commonality in global equity markets. I identify two transmitting channels of the effect on liquidity commonality, namely oil price return and volatility. Using a sample of firms drawn from 50 countries spanning from Jan 1995 to Dec 2015, I find that both effects in oil explain the liquidity commonality in countries with higher integration to oil market. In addition, I show that oil volatility effect is more pronounced in net oil exporters compared to net oil importers after controlling for oil sensitivity. My …

Financial Crises And Investment Behavior: The Impact Of Institutional Investors, Kathleen Lindsay

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The following dissertation contains two related essays. The first essay explores how institutional investor presence impacts investments during the global financial crisis. Using OLS, industry fixed effects, and Heckman 2SLS regression approaches, I explore two ways through which institutional investors could impact investments: liquidity and monitoring. My findings best support monitoring theory. I find that institutional investors monitor capital and R&D levels to maximize crisis period firm value.

The second essay is a direct fallout from my first essay. In it, I investigate how institutional investor types influence investments. I ask, do certain types of investors improve liquidity or monitor …

Political Contributions And Firm Performance: Evidence From Lobbying And Campaign Donations, Omer Unsal

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The following dissertation contains two distinct empirical essays which contribute to the overall field of Financial Economics. Chapter 1 titles as “Corporate Lobbying, CEO Political Ideology and Firm Performance”. We investigate the influence of CEO political orientation on corporate lobbying efforts. Specifically, we study whether CEO political ideology, in terms of manager-level campaign donations, determines the choice and amount of firm lobbying involvement and the impact of lobbying on firm value. We find a generous engagement in lobbying efforts by firms with Republican leaning-managers, which lobby a larger number of bills and have higher lobbying expenditures. However, the cost of …

A Dual-Role Analysis Of Game Form Misconception And Cognitive Bias In Financial And Economic Decision Making, Chinedum D. Nwadiora

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The endowment and the framing effect are widely examined cognitive biases. The experimental economics literature, using choice data gathered through an elicitation device, commonly finds evidence of these biases. Recent work by Cason & Plott (2014) shows that the interpretation of choice data as consistent with biases related non-standard preference theory could also be consistent with confusion or misconception of the game type used to elucidate preferences. I use the Cason and Plott card auction framework to analyze offers of buyers and sellers in an experimental setting with subjects from the University of New Orleans simulating 97 sellers and 90 …

Banking And Microfinance Performance: Market Power, Efficiency, Performance, Outreach And Sustainability Perspectives, Nazar S. Mustapha

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two empirical papers that explore recent phenomena in Banking and Microfinance Performance. Chapter 1, “Market Power and Bank Performance in MENA Countries,” examines the determinants of market power in 12 Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), specifically within six Gulf Cooperation Countries and six non-Gulf countries. We examine the dynamics of bank competition in MENA countries, provide an up-to-date assessment of market power, investigate the factors impacting bank competition, and explore the evolution of market power during the financial crisis. Our results show an overall increase …

Effects Of Negative Online Word-Of-Mouth On Consumer Evaluations Of An Underdog Brand, Anja P. Luethi

Senior Honors Theses

Research on underdogs has suggested that consumers feel sympathy for and a desire to support the underdog. However, it is unclear how their evaluations of the underdog will change if they receive negative information about it. The current research aims to explore the role of negative word-of-mouth of the underdog, compared to the top dog, in consumers’ brand attitude, brand value, and purchase intention. Specifically, drawing on two streams of research, two competing hypotheses are proposed and tested. An experiment was conducted with online consumer panel members. Consistent with confirmation bias and familiarity principle, the results supported a hypothesis that …

Two Essays In Corporate Finance, Youngha Ki

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

For more than a decade, to reduce the agency problem, various ways have been examined on how to align the interest of manager with shareholders. Evidence and empirical findings are conflicting on the agency problem. Recently, deferred compensation as one incentive compensation draws the attention as a means to incentivize CEOs to make them work for the firm. However, it is still not evident if deferred compensation has effect on aligning CEOs with the firm’s goal possibly due to the issue on data. Therefore, the first essay investigates if deferred compensation has the effect on the agency problem and on …

Feats And Failures Of Corporate Credit Risk, Stock Returns, And The Interdependencies Of Sovereign Credit Risk, Uche C. Isiugo

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation comprises two essays; the first of which investigates sovereign credit risk interdependencies, while the second examines the reaction of corporate credit risk to sovereign credit risk events. The first essay titled, Characterizing Sovereign Credit Risk Interdependencies: Evidence from the Credit Default Swap Market, investigates the relationships that exist among disparate sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) and the implications on sovereign creditworthiness. We exploit emerging market sovereign CDS spreads to examine the reaction of sovereign credit risk to changes in country-specific and global financial factors. Utilizing aVAR model fitted with DCC GARCH, we find that comovements of spreads …

The 30th Anniversary Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival: An Internship Academic Report, Maria Plotkina

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This report presents a reflection and analysis of my internship with the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, where I completed 480 hours of work in pursuit of the M.A. in Arts Administration. I worked primarily with Tracy Ferrington Cunningham, Director of Communications & Special Events, in preparing and organizing the 2016 Festival, which represented the organization’s 30th anniversary. In this report, I will deliver an organizational overview of the Festival, describe my internship duties and responsibilities, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, and provide best practices and recommendations in festival management.

Greater New Orleans Educational Television Foundation (Wyes-Tv): An Internship Academic Report, Courtney Rowan

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This report provides a detailed account of an internship with the Greater New Orleans Educational Television Foundation’s development department. For the purposes of this paper, I will be referring to the non-profit as WYES-TV. The internship began in January of 2016 and continued through April of 2016. Throughout this paper, I will provide an overview of the organization’s history, mission, budget, special events and program services, as well as a description of my internship and experience. This report will also include an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organization. It will discuss best practices for addressing …

Two Essays In Corporate Finance: The Effects Of Ownership And Governance On A Firm's Innovation And Capital Structure Decisions, Zhengyi Zhang

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the first chapter, we assess the effect of changes of government ownership on corporate innovation activities. Across 58 non-US countries, treatment firms’ innovation, both in quantity and quality, decrease after a governmental acquisition by using a difference-in-difference regressions and propensity score matching. We show that there is conflict of interest between major shareholders and minor shareholders. The corporate innovation efficiency also decline after the government acquisition. We find that this negative relationship is more severe for the group with higher government ownership of banks, better creditor rights and worse stock market development.

For second chapter, if the optimal capital …

Faux/Real Festival Of Arts, Zoe Cuneo

Arts Administration Master's Reports

The purpose of this internship report is to analyze the Faux/Real Festival of Arts in regards to my Arts Administration learning experiences. In addition, I will describe my internship involvement with Faux/Real and examine the success of its first year. This report also contains my S.W.O.T. analysis of the festival, highlighting its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Finally, I assert best practices for festival management and programming, and offer recommendations to Faux/Real on how they could incorporate those practices that they have not already implemented to strengthen the festival.

Jamalar Agency: Building Awareness For New Music Through Radio Promotions, Lawanda J. Smith

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This report documents the internship of LaWanda J. Smith with Jamalar Agency. Jamalar is a booking agency which specializes in selling the music and culture of New Orleans to the world. LaWanda’s main task was radio promotion for the 2015 spring release of We’ve Got a River to Cross, a CD by the gospel group Joyful. LaWanda was also exposed to record label management by working with Jamalar’s sister company, Rampart Street Music. This report provides an overview of Jamalar Agency, analysis of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, an examination of best practices in music promotions performed …

The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts: Production Department, Jamie Doyle

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This academic report is the written analysis of my experience as a production intern at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. My internship specifically involved production and this report discusses production management across the performing arts disciplines, as experienced during my 480 hour internship experience. I describe the organizational history of the Kennedy Center and the internship process. I create a SWOT analysis pertaining to factors affecting the Production Department, discuss production management best practices, and make recommendations for the Center’s improvement.

New Orleans Auction Galleries: Sustaining Vitality In Shifting Auction Markets, Natalie Domingue

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This report examines an internship experience as the Auction and Fine Art Department Assistant at New Orleans Auction Galleries with discussion of the Company’s history, operating structure, and role in the auction market. In addition, an evaluation of the Company’s strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats and a discussion of the auction industry’s best practices used by international auction houses as they related to New Orleans Auction Galleries is also found. The report concludes with recommendations made by the intern, for the Company’s future sustainability in the auction market.

Contemporary Arts Center: A Time Of Transition, Samantha Naring

Arts Administration Master's Reports

The following report documents my 480-hour internship from August 17th, 2015 to January 29th, 2016 in the Education and Public Programs Department at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC). I worked closely with the Marketing and Visual Art Departments. I chose the organization to experience an environment that commits itself to presenting high quality performing and visual arts. This paper assesses the CAC’s history, present day status, and future outlook. It also offers suggestions on how certain aspects can be improved in order to extend the organization’s longevity. Over the course of five months I observed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats …

Kid Smart & Any Given Child – New Orleans, Némesis K. Zambrano

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This internship report is an overview of KID smART and the fiduciary responsibility it provides to the citywide arts education initiative Any Given Child - New Orleans (AGCNO). I began my 480-hour internship with KID smART in February 2015 to work on getting AGCNO off the ground. The following report combines on-site observational research, expertise I developed from my educational training, and independent research to provide an analysis of KID smART and AGCNO’s current position, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Additionally, this report provides recommendations on how to address specific issues with operational management in order for AGCNO to establish …

An Applied Credit Scoring Model And Christian Mutual Funds Performance, Esther E. Castro

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation comprises two different financial essays. Essay 1, “An Applied Credit Score Model,” uses data from local credit union to predict the probability of default. Due to recent financial crisis regulation has been enacted that makes it essential to develop a probability of default model that will mitigate charge-off losses. Using discriminant analysis and logistic regression this paper will attempt to see how well credit score can predict probability of default. While credit score does an adequate job at classifying loans, misclassification of loans can be costly. Thus while credit score is a predictor, there is danger in relying …

Retirement Planning Decisions Using The 2013 Survey Of Consumer Finances, Yun Doo Lee

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This dissertation consists of two essays. The first essay analyzes financial preparation for retirement of American men and women, using the 2013 Survey of Finances. Specifically, for retirement plan, income is an important factor for men and women aged 35-45 because of their insufficient income, health (excellent) for men and women aged 46-59 because of continuing work, number of weeks worked per year for men and women aged 60-67 because they have already retired or will retire and many of them are participating in a part time job. Also, health has significantly positive effects on the share of the …

Predictability Of International Stock Returns With Sum Of The Parts And Equity Premiums Under Regime Shifts, Mahtab Athari

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research consists of two essays. The first essay entitled” Stock Return Forecasting with Sum-of-the-Parts Methodology: Evidence from Around the World”, examines forecasting ability of stock returns by employing the sum-of-the-parts (SOP) modeling technique introduced by Ferreira and Santa-Clara (2011).This approach decomposes return into three components of growth in price-earnings ratio, earnings growth, and dividend-price ratio. Each component is forecasted separately and fitted values are used in forecast model to predict stock return. We conduct a series of one-step ahead recursive forecasts for a wide range of developed and emerging markets over the period February 1995 through November 2014. Decomposed …

Two Essays In Finance And Economics: “Investment Opportunities In Commodity And Stock Markets For G7 Countries” And “Global And Local Factors Affecting Sovereign Yield Spreads”, Selma Izadi

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In chapter 1, I investigate the return links and dynamic conditional correlations between the equity and commodity returns for G7 countries from 2000:01 to 2014:10. The commodity futures include BCOM Index which contains the futures and spot price of 22 commodities, Brent and Crude oil futures, gold and silver futures, Wheat, Corn and Soybean futures and CRB index. The finding indicates that during the full sample period GOLD, WHEAT and CORN have the smallest dynamic conditional correlations with all the Equity indexes. In addition, the correlations between the GOLD/Equity pairs are negative during the financial crisis. This fact indicates the …

New Orleans Opera Association: An Internship Report, Sarah Mccall

Arts Administration Master's Reports

As one of the requirements to complete a Master of Arts in Arts Administration, this internship report presents a thorough discussion and analysis of my experience as an intern with the New Orleans Opera Association between May 2015 and August 2015. The focus of the internship was production, and the report reflects this emphasis. In addition, the report presents an overview of the organization, a SWOT analysis, and a discussion of best practices with recommendations for the organization’s improvement.