Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Carbon Finance & Cattle Externalities In The Brazilian Amazon: Pricing Reforestation In Terms Of Restoration Ecology, Christian T. Hofer

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper evaluates land-use conflict between cattle pasture and tropical rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon and attempts to reconcile negative production externalities within the framework of carbon finance. Specifically, it analyzes the price per metric ton of CO2e that would make reforestation projects, in terms of restoration ecology, a viable land-use alternative. Regional information on opportunity, implementation, and transaction costs is used to develop a partial equilibrium cost-benefit analysis, in which carbon sequestration is the only benefit. Financing is employed through Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism and long-term certified emission reductions (lCERs) are the carbon financial instrument modeled. Results indicate that …

Hot Seats And Seat Warmers: The Hunt For Directors Of Quality, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Is it humanly possible for a person to hold more than five directorships? Why are there so few female directors in Singapore? Are we short of qualified directors? How can regulations help maintain standards? These were some of the questions that confronted a panel of seasoned directors speaking at the graduation ceremony of a certification programme for directors; issues that have seen heated debates in Singapore of late. This follows recent reports that an unusually high percentage of directors sit on many different boards, leading to questions of their ability to fully discharge their responsibilities as directors.

Where Were The Media In The Financial Crisis Of 2008, And Have We Seen This Trend Before?, Margaret Dickinson

Honors Projects in Communication

In the fall of 2008, the United States and the rest of the world experienced significant financial turmoil. The financial industry as we knew it crumbled before our eyes. After experiencing this event and the media's fragmented and inconsistent coverage of it, I felt an interesting topic to look into was the financial press' failed coverage of the finance industry, both today and in the past. In looking at this event, I will focus on both the financial press that failed to cover the happenings of the financial industry, as well as those that did recognize the issue at hand. …

Foreign Direct Investment And Macroeconomic Changes In Cee Integrating In To The Global Market, Lucyna Kornecki

Accounting, Economics, Finance, and Information Sciences - Daytona Beach

This study relates to the post communist era in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and focuses on foreign direct investment (FDI) as a factor facilitating the globalization process while stimulating economic growth in the host countries. The first part of this study describes the globalization process and inward FDI performance index (CEE vs. World). The second part reflects macroeconomic changes in the post communist CEE and examines macroeconomic indicators, including GDP per capita, economic growth rate, unemployment and inflation. The third section focuses on the association between inward FDI stock and economic growth in the CEE.

The Archway Investment Fund Semi Annual Report, Spring 2010, Bryant University, Archway Investment Fund

Archway Investment Fund

No abstract provided.

The Efficiency And Profitability Improvement Of The Rehabilitation Operations And Management Of Non Performing Loans : A Case Study Of Bank Perusahaan Kecil & Sederhana Malaysia Berhad (Sme Bank)., Ridza Ramza Ramli, Mohd Prasad Hanif

Student Works (2010-2019)

The comprehensive study on Rehabilitation Department is conducted to identify which segment within the process flow that requires improvement. The management of Non Performing Loans (NPLs) in a Bank is very crucial as these accounts are actually reflects the performance of the Banks. The Rehabilitation Department main task is to ensure proper administration of Non Performing Loans to be executed in order to maximize the recovery income to the Bank. The department also responsible to provides desirable result in term of manageable and acceptable NPLs rate for the Bank. The current process flow which has been used and practiced by …

Financial Management Practices And Conflict Management Styles Of Couples In Great Marriages, Amanda Marie Horrocks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study presents findings on the financial management practices and degrees of conflict of couples in great marriages. Qualitative data from a national sample of couples in great marriages were collected using a 31-page questionnaire. Of the 81 couples who responded, 40 fit the criteria for this study in that they discussed their level of agreement about financial issues in marriage. Their responses were coded to discover which financial topics are pervasive and whether or not couples agreed over these topics. Responses about conflict were also analyzed to determine the degree of agreement between spouses in different categories. Findings from …

Forex Market Behaviour : Application Of High Frequency Data., Tan Heng Kiat

Student Works (2010-2019)

The huge and high frequency trading in foreign exchange market creates the need for an analytical method that can provide a view on the volatility. Traditional methods such as GARCH are proven to have limitations when applied to high frequency data, such as those generated in foreign exchange market.In this thesis, wavelet method is applied to high frequency data of EURO/USD, GBP/USD and YEN/USD currency pairs and of one minute resolution. The period of this behavioral study is from one hour before 1pm GMT to one hour after 1pm GMT for every Mondays from June 2008 to Dec 2008. The …

Orange Value Fund Research Reports And Valuations, Aaron Glick

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Academic finance courses teach the underlying principles of portfolio management. Diversify your portfolio to eliminate idiosyncratic risk, match your portfolio beta to the risk appetite of your investors, invest in companies exhibiting earnings per share growth, and your fund will beat the market. More or less, this is the mindset of the herd, but following the herd never gets you ahead. Warren Buffet “attempts to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.” True investors ignore the movements in the market, and focus their energies on discovering unrecognized intrinsic value. As such, value …

Portfolio Selection Under Distributional Uncertainty: A Relative Robust Cvar In Portfolio Management, Dashan Huang, Shushang Zhu, Frank Fabozzi, Masao Fukushima

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Robust optimization, one of the most popular topics in the field of optimization and control since the late 1990s, deals with an optimization problem involving uncertain parameters. In this paper, we consider the relative robust conditional value-at-risk portfolio selection problem where the underlying probability distribution of portfolio return is only known to belong to a certain set. Our approach not only takes into account the worst-case scenarios of the uncertain distribution, but also pays attention to the best possible decision with respect to each realization of the distribution. We also illustrate how to construct a robust portfolio with multiple experts …

Collective Investments For Pension Savings: Lessons From Singapore's Central Provident Fund Scheme, Benedict S. Koh, Olivia S. Mitchell, Joelle H. Y. Fong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Singapore's mandatory national defined contribution pension system permits participants to invest their retirement savings in a wide range of investment instruments if they wish, rather than leaving their savings in Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts to earn interest rates by default. This article asks whether workers seeking to earn higher returns can expect to do better than the CPF-managed default, by moving their money into professionally managed unit trusts. We use historical data to investigate whether fund managers possess superior stock picking and market timing skills, as well as whether they exhibit persistence in performance and offer diversification benefits to …

Is Regime Switching In Stock Returns Important In Portfolio Decisions?, Jun Tu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The stock market displays regime switching between upturns and downturns. This paper provides a Bayesian framework for making portfolio decisions that takes this regime switching into account, together with asset pricing model uncertainty and parameter uncertainty. The findings reveal that the economic value of accounting for regimes is substantially independent of whether or not model and parameter uncertainties are incorporated: the certainty-equivalent losses associated with ignoring regime switching are generally above 2% per year and can be as high as 10%. These results suggest that the more realistic regime switching model is fundamentally different from the commonly used single-state model, …

Selective Intervention And Economic Re-Engineering: Lessons Form Singapore's Parks In Indonesia And India, Caroline Yeoh, Siang Yeung Wong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.

Ifrs V. U.S. Gaap: Impact On A Company's Earning And Activities, Linda Li

Honors College Theses

Should the United States (U.S.) companies use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) instead of the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP)? This paper examines the degree of deviation between the firms' earnings, under both financial reporting languages, and the causes for the change in earnings. Utilizing two methods, introduced in this paper, as well as t-testing, the sampled firms reported higher earnings under IFRS. The change in earnings was caused by: financial instruments, minority interest, pension activities, and or share-based compensation activities. Based on the analyses, the firms appear healthier under IFRS than under the U.S. GAAP in terms …

The Impact Of Transaction Duration, Volume And Direction On Price Dynamics And Volatility, Anthony S. Tay, Christopher Ting, Yiu Kuen Tse, Mitch Warachka

Business Faculty Articles and Research

We explore the role of trade volume, trade direction, and the duration between trades in explaining price dynamics and volatility using an Asymmetric Autoregressive Conditional Duration model applied to intraday transactions data. Our results suggest that volume, direction and duration are important determinants of price dynamics, while duration is also an important determinant of volatility. However, the impact of volume and direction on volatility is marginal after controlling for duration, and the impact of volume on volatility appears to be confined to periods of infrequent trading.

Watch The Vote: Avoiding Undesirable Zero-Sum Outcomes, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Luxury watches often invoke a lot of debate amongst its aficionados. After the great lengths to which people go to, to collect, study, appraise and critique these mobile mechanical clocks, it is no surprise that they feel very strongly about their picks. Decisions made by prestigious bodies, such as the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie, are hence quite delicate. People's money, ego, and pride are at stake. So picking the winner that will keep the majority satisfied is crucial, yet quite difficult to do. Drawing comparisons to political election outcomes, SMU Economics professor Massimiliano Landi explores a new voting system to address …

A New Regulatory Framework Of Financial Institutions In The Aftermath Of The Global Financial Crisis, Ingrid Zantis

WCBT Undergraduate Publications

Three years since the outbreak of the global financial and economic crisis and two years since the global markets’ turmoil following the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy and the US government’s bail-out of AIG, reforming the regulatory structure for financial institutions and platforms has achieved some visible progress. Though the new architecture is far from being finished, the main challenge is to implement what has been agreed upon in commitments and framework legislation, without losing track of the target to soundly improve global financial stability and effectively resolve future global crises on its way.

Against this background, this paper examines the emerging …

Financial Literacy: The Impact Of Financial Training In High School On The Credit Behavior Of College Students, Lisa Tenaglia

Honors Projects in Finance

Managing credit is increasingly important not only for adults, but for college students. In recent years with sky rocketing tuition and easily available credit, college students find themselves with increasing debt burdens that result in serious and lasting financial problems. In response, financial literacy programs are emerging in hopes that better educated people will make healthy financial decisions, as well as responsibly manage credit. Research suggests that financial education should begin in high school so that young adults can effectively manage credit during the college years. This study assesses both college students’ financial knowledge and their credit management practices. Specifically, …

Possible Solutions To The Rhode Island State Government’S Unfunded Pension Liability, Derek Blunt

Honors Projects in Finance

This paper examines the possible causes of the nationwide unfunded public pension liability problem in the U.S., and what solutions are being proposed to combat the issue. After examining the general problems associated with multiple states’ pension systems, a specific analysis of the Rhode Island public pension system will be conducted. Through this investigation, the factors that led to the crisis in Rhode Island will be unveiled, and possible solutions to the state-specific problem will be developed. In order to arrive at a set of final recommendations for the government, a model will be used to evaluate the effects of …

Non-Profit Organizations In A Down Economy: The Financial Performance Of Higher Education Institutions In The New England Area, Yuanjun Li

Honors Projects in Finance

An economic recession affects an entire economy, including the non-profit sector. The impact could result from changes in government support, a decrease in donations, investment income, service fees or a combination. Many private universities and colleges, which rely on tuition and endowment, have been affected by a dip in enrollments, while their endowments shrink because of the recession and declining stock values. This study will examine how an economic recession can affect non-profit organizations, focusing on private, four-year higher education institutions in New England. Different types and sizes of schools will be affected differently. Since the large, well-known schools have …