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Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

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Full-Text Articles in Finance and Financial Management

The Opaqueness Of Fair Value Assets And Systematic Risk In The Banking Industry, Jody Wayne Bland Jan 2011

The Opaqueness Of Fair Value Assets And Systematic Risk In The Banking Industry, Jody Wayne Bland

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Opacity has economy-wide implications. A lack of information, whether from non-disclosure or complexity of business, creates uncertainty that even the most sophisticated of investors must face. In this paper, I analyze the relationship between opacity and the systematic risk of bank holding companies. Specifically, I find that investments in opaque assets required to be reported at fair value significantly affect the levels of financial institutions’ systematic risk. Furthermore, I provide evidence that firm investments in opaque assets contribute to systematic risk to an even greater degree during times of financial crisis.


Procrastination Does Pay Sometimes: How The Delay In Implementing Basel Ii Reduced The Effect Of The Subprime Financial Crisis, Raymond Bart Simmons Jan 2010

Procrastination Does Pay Sometimes: How The Delay In Implementing Basel Ii Reduced The Effect Of The Subprime Financial Crisis, Raymond Bart Simmons

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Basel II, a major international regulatory capital revision, was supposed to have been implemented in the U.S. by 2004, but delays pushed it back more than five years. Basel II could have lowered minimum capital standards and made the largest banks even more vulnerable to the subprime financial crisis and economic downturn had it been adopted before its onset in 2007. Consequently, the procrastination in implementing Basel II made the banking industry more stable as it entered the financial crisis. In this study, the assets of the 11 largest bank holding companies at year-end 2006 were separated into broad asset …


Market Volatility Asymmetries: The Effects Of Stock Market Returns On Realized And Implied Volatilities, Matthew M. Chestnut Jan 2009

Market Volatility Asymmetries: The Effects Of Stock Market Returns On Realized And Implied Volatilities, Matthew M. Chestnut

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Volatility is an integral and inescapable variable of financial engineering, modeling, and finance theory itself Classical financial economics proxies volatility for risk itself, as it becomes difficult to predict future price realizations of a given asset when that asset exhibits significant price volatility over a given time. However, the nature of volatility as it is explained by classical financial economics has been extensively questioned in the previous three decades, since it is characterized as a function of uncertainty aggregate market psychology-that is, as a function of fear, greed, exuberance, and other fundamental human instincts and emotions. While previous research has …


Accounting Conservatism In International Financial Reporting Standards And U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, Hang Minh Pham Jan 2009

Accounting Conservatism In International Financial Reporting Standards And U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, Hang Minh Pham

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

During the past five years, the number of US. citizens who own foreign securities has increased by thirty percent. This trend has led to the need for a uniform accounting system that would increase the comparability and consistency of financial statements across countries in the world. Today, over 100 countries have adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as their primary accounting system. The European Union required the use of IFRS in 2005. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering the adoption of IFRS in 2014. IFRS and U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) are different in many …


Outcomes Of The Transition Process In Central And Eastern Europe: The Roles Of Culture And Society In Adopting Democratic Capitalism, Brian Lee Jan 2008

Outcomes Of The Transition Process In Central And Eastern Europe: The Roles Of Culture And Society In Adopting Democratic Capitalism, Brian Lee

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

In this paper, the author explores the reasons why some states have achieved higher levels of progress in transitioning from a communist system to a system rooted in democratic capitalism. Unlike the majority of scholars, though, he does not fault any one government's policies or the reform path chosen for a country's success or supposed failure along the way. Instead, the author concludes that the outcome of the transition process is dependent upon the interaction between the new formal institutions being adopted and the prevailing informal societal institutions and rules found throughout the region. If the formal institutions are in …


Flights-To-Quality: The Effects Of Market Volatility On Short Term U.S. Treasury Yields, Craig Michael Cox Jan 2008

Flights-To-Quality: The Effects Of Market Volatility On Short Term U.S. Treasury Yields, Craig Michael Cox

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Flights-to-quality are the sudden, and sometimes irrational, rebalancing of investment portfolios to include more liquid and safer investments during times of uncertainty, high market volatility, or other unusual stock market environments. While previous research has explained flights-to-quality in terms of liquidity needs and credit risk premiums, this paper examines the significant statistical relationship between the VIX Index of implied market volatility and yields on U.S. Treasury bills. I found that the VIX Index explains a significant portion of U.S. Treasury yield variability and that the models become more significant and accurate as the maturity of the Treasuries increases. In terms …


Semi-Strong Form Market Hypothesis: Evidence From Cnbc's Jim Cramer's Mad Money Stock Recommendations, Elizabeth Dodson Jan 2006

Semi-Strong Form Market Hypothesis: Evidence From Cnbc's Jim Cramer's Mad Money Stock Recommendations, Elizabeth Dodson

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Mad Money has become one of the most popular shows on CNBC. The host, Jim Cramer, has an outlandish style and personality that viewers find intoxicating. Cramer's goal for the show is to make people money. Does he succeed? This paper finds that investors can expect to gain above-average, risk adjusted returns by following Cramer's stock recommendations and trading accordingly. These findings challenge the semi-strong form market hypothesis. According to this hypothesis investors should not recognize gains trading on public information since it states that the market has already adjusted prices for that information. It also contributes to current literature …