Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Stochastic Modeling Of Earthquakes And Option Pricing Using Bns-Gamma-Ou Model, Mandela Bright Quashie

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

High frequency data are becoming increasingly popular these days. They are fundamental in basically every facet of people’s lives. They are the determining factors in hedging in the field of finance. In geology, they help in the accurate prediction of earthquakes’ magnitude which goes along way to help save lives and properties.

High frequency data are also used more and more frequently for speculations. For this reason, it is important not only for scientists to apply models allowing correct quantification of these data, but also to improve the eciency of these models.

The Black-Scholes model, which is widely used because …

Lévy Processes: Characterizing Volcanic And Financial Time Series, Peter Kwadwo Asante

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this work, we use the Diffusion Entropy Analysis (DEA) to analyze and detect the scaling properties of time series from both emerging and well established markets as well as volcanic eruptions recorded by a seismic station, both financial and volcanic time series data are known to have high frequencies (i.e they are collected at an extremely fine scale). The objective is to determine the characterization i.e whether they follow a Gaussian or Lévy distribution. If they do follow a Lévy distribution we are then interested in finding if they are characterized by a Lévy walk which has a finite …

Essays On The Spillover Effects Of Whistleblowing On Peer Firms, Emmanuel Joseph Sequeira

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation examines the spillover effects of media reported corporate whistleblowing on industry peer firms in two essays. The first essay examines peer firm risk-taking and firm efficiency following a whistleblowing allegation. I find that peers significantly reduce their risk-taking following the allegation. They also increase their efficiency following the allegation and increase their market share at the expense of the whistleblowing firms, leading to increased profitability. My second essay examines peer firms' earnings management choices following a whistleblowing allegation. I find that peer firms significantly reduce their manipulation of real activities and reduce their use of accruals-based earnings management …

Managerial Entrenchment And Financial Reporting Comparability, Qifeng Wu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study examines whether managerial entrenchment has an association with firms' financial statement comparability. I find that managerial entrenchment has a significant negative association with financial statement comparability, providing a new notion about the management influence on financial reporting quality. Moreover, by using the business segment as a proxy for business complexity, I find that the variation of accounting comparability with its peer firms mainly stems from managers' investment choice. This finding supports FASB's assertion that financial statement comparability is a reporting quality that should be enhanced among firms with similar economic events. Lastly, I test if managerial entrenchment mitigates …

Market Effects Of Local Media Employment Reductions On The Idiosyncratic Risk Of Nearby Firms; Returns, Valuation, And Debt; And Firm Meet-Beat Behavior And Ceo Turnover And Compensation, C. Kyle Jones

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research examines the effects of reductions in local and regional media employment on firms' information environment. A reduction in the number of local media employees available to provide coverage of firms is associated with persistent levels of increased idiosyncratic risk. The source of that firm-level risk appears to be increased estimation risk among investors, rather than decreased awareness about the investment opportunities or real effects on firms' product market competition. I also demonstrate that overall levels of local media coverage are associated with differences in returns similar to those associated with coverage in national outlets. While a reduction in …

Two Essays On Executive Compensation, Michael Abrokwah

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This doctoral dissertation examines the effect of an exogenous event on Executive compensation and the relationship between executive compensation and earnings management undertaken by the firm.

My first essay presents evidence that natural disasters have an effect on CEO compensation. Our main findings are that option compensation is lower for CEOs in counties where a natural disaster occurred. Furthermore, in the year of the disaster, stock compensation is higher among CEOs in natural disaster counties when compared to those in non-disaster counties. When considering liquidity, option compensation levels are lower for firms with below average liquidity levels but stock compensation …