Business Commons^™

Systematic Regulation Of Systemic Risk, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

A decade after the financial crisis, regulators worry that the regulation enacted to help stabilize the financial system may be insufficient to prevent another crisis. Examining that regulation with the benefit of hindsight, this Article finds that much has been accomplished but much remains to be done. Most of the existing regulation is ad hoc, providing “tools” rather than a coherent framework. It also is unduly entity-based, largely ignoring markets and other critical elements of the financial system. Furthermore, some of that entity-based regulation is punitive and misguided, responding to the human intuition to assign blame for harm. Financial stability …

Overseas Listing Location And Cost Of Capital: Evidence From Chinese Firms Listed In Hong Kong, Singapore, And The United States, Warrington College Of Business, Frank Weikai Li, Central University Of Finance And Economics

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

As at the end of 2012, more than 600 nonstate-owned Chinese firms were listed in overseas stock markets. We find that Chinese firms listed in the US have the lowest cost of capital when compared to those listed in Hong Kong and Singapore, and these results hold when controlling for firm characteristics and the endogeneity of listing locations. Cross-sectional tests indicate that listing in the US is more beneficial to those firms which face higher information asymmetry and agency costs. Overall, our evidence supports the view that the institutional environment has a first-order impact on a firm’s cost of capital.

Sustainable Digital Finance In Asia: Creating Environmental Impact Through Bank Transformation, Ryan Knowles Merrill, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx, Sofie Blakstad

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Data is arguably the most valuable resource in the digital economy. Used effectively and responsibly it has the potential to serve as a driving force in creating a more sustainable world. The potential is especially potent in the financial sector given its central place in the financial system, and its access to and use of data.Using technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), mobile technology, internet of things (IoT), and the cloud, data can be captured by sensors in the environment and structured to integrate sustainability into existing financial products and services. These can be creatively combined into entirely new …

Trading Regularity And Fund Performance, Jeffrey Busse, Lin Tong, Qing Tong, Zhe Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We construct a new measure of trading regularity, capturing the extent to which investors trade on a regular basis. Institutional investors that regularly trade outperform those that trade less regularly. The performance of funds that regularly trade persists for at least a year. Among those who trade most regularly, larger funds perform relatively worse, because they incur higher transaction costs associated with their larger trades. Institutions that regularly trade generate superior performance, in part, by behaving as contrarians and by trading more aggressively on information. By contrast, we find no relation between trading regularity and performance among index funds.

Financial Sector In Singapore, Hwee Kwan Chow, Sai Fan Pei

Research Collection School Of Economics

This chapter reviews the financial development strategies adopted by the Singapore government as it navigates internal and external changes to build a vibrant center of finance in the Asia Pacific region. Sections 2 and 3 provide an overview of the structure of the financial system and the financial governance framework respectively. This is followed by a discussion, in Section 4, on the outward looking development strategy that underpinned the successful development of Singapore’s financial sector. Section 5 highlights the reforms undertaken in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis that led to the building of a well-diversified and thriving international …

The Nature Of Latin American Markets In The Presence Of Credit Events, Patricio Aguilar

CMC Senior Theses

In the past two decades the Latin American region has experienced a number of credit crises stemming from large sovereign debt levels and sharp currency devaluations. This study aims to discover whether or not the sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) in the Latin American region lead equity markets prior to these sovereign credit events. Through a sample of the seven largest Latin American economies and daily return data from 2001 to 2018, I try to empirically test this question through a Generalized Least Squared model. The paper finds little significant evidence of CDS leading equity markets in price discovery prior …

Are Women Executives Hurting Firm Performance? An Examination Of Gender Diversity On Firm Risk, Performance, And Executive Compensation, Krystal Diane Sung

CMC Senior Theses

In order to assess the continuing imbalance of top executives between genders, I examine the effects of gender diversity within top management teams on firm risk, performance, and executive compensation. Capitalizing on previous analysis, I apply three unique differentiators. First, I utilize current data from 2012 to 2017 from Compustat, CRSP, and ExecuComp. Second, I provide a unique subset view on a firm and individual performance of female CEOs to examine executive compensation. Third, my scope of analysis expands to S&P Composite 1500 companies. I use separate models to estimate the effect of gender diversity on firm risk by examining …

Liquidity Risk And Mutual Fund Manager’S Stock Choice, Hannah Berg

CMC Senior Theses

Liquidity risk is a large issue faced by mutual funds. Large funds typically trade in size, and these large sizes often have a significant impact on prices. My hypothesis is that large funds will not invest in illiquid assets as much as smaller funds due to the price sensitivity of illiquid assets. While this seems obvious, the results from this study are not in agreement with this hypothesis. My paper finds that as the illiquidity of a stock increases, so does the probability that a large fund invests in the stock.

The Predictive Power Of The Vix Futures Prices On Future Realized Volatility, Siran Zhang

CMC Senior Theses

Many past literatures have examined the predictive power of implied volatility versus that of historical volatility, but they have showed divergent conclusions. One of the major differences among these studies is the methods that they used to obtain implied volatility. The VIX index, introduced in 1993, provides a model-free and directly observable source of implied volatility data. The VIX futures is an actively traded VIX derivative product, and its prices are believed to contain market’s expectation about future volatility. By analyzing the relationship between the VIX futures prices and the realized volatilities of the 30-day period that these VIX futures …

Does Managerial Risk-Taking Incentive For R&D Investments Translate To Future Earnings?, Ha Yun Cho

CMC Senior Theses

The convex pay-off structure of executive stock options (ESO) incentivizes CEOs to increase their firm stock-return volatility, thereby increasing their wealth in option portfolio. In this paper, I address two research questions. I first test if this managerial incentive induces executives to take on more risky projects in R&D that increases stock- return volatility, hence, boosting their personal wealth. I derive vega to measure managerial incentive, and vega is a dollar change in ESO for a 0.01 change in stock- return volatility. I find that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between vega and R&D investment, which suggests …

Financing Method And Abnormal Returns In Corporate Mergers And Acquisitions, Patrick Thomas

CMC Senior Theses

This study analyzes the impact of merger and acquisition financing method on buyer cumulative abnormal returns. The model builds on findings in previous literature by including deal structure variables, company variables, industry variables, time variables, and post-acquisition announcement return data from 2000 to 2018. The analysis does not find a statistically significant relationship between cash plus debt/stock financing and cumulative abnormal returns. However, significant coefficients for buyer and target industry suggest that deal structure varies and ultimately effects cumulative abnormal returns within specific industries. Additionally, significant results for buyer profitability and time variables provide insight on how the financial market …

Are Cds Auctions The Tail Wagging The Dog? An Empirical Study Of Corporate Bond Return Volatility At The Time Of Default, Jennifer Mace

CMC Senior Theses

Over the past decade, numerous engineered credit events and cases of market participants manipulating bond prices to influence Credit Default Swap (CDS) auction payouts have occurred. These cases have become increasingly common, and the CFTC has stated they may constitute market manipulation and undermine not only the CDS market but also the credit derivative and default markets. Although there is a plethora of news and media coverage on publicized cases, there is no previous empirical research on evidence of these practices. This paper is motivated by the desire to determine if there is indirect evidence of bond price manipulation around …

Deal Or No Deal: The Relationship Between Firm Determinants & Venture-Capital Financing Decisions, Raghav Prasad

CMC Senior Theses

In this paper, I analyze how firm attributes such as their age, industry, nature of industry, spinoff status and debt ratio influence venture-capital financing decision. I look at a sample of 280 firms that went public in the United States between 2015- 2019. This paper finds that firm age and debt are negatively related to the likelihood of being venture-capital backed. It also finds that firms in technology and biotechnology industries are more likely to be backed by a venture-capitalist.

The Relative Financial Cost And Benefit Of An Ophthalmology Resident Compared To An Advanced Practice Provider, Optometrist, Or Faculty Ophthalmologist, Daniel B. Moore, William Barr

Ophthalmology and Visual Science Faculty Publications

Objective The main objective of the article is to determine the relative direct financial cost and benefit of an advanced practice provider (APP), optometrist, and faculty ophthalmologist compared with an ophthalmology resident.

Design Single center cost–benefit financial analysis.

Methods The direct total expenses, including mean salary and benefits; the cost/week, based upon calculated hours worked; and net revenue, based upon technical collections subtracted from total expenses were collected for all APPs, optometrists, faculty ophthalmologists, and ophthalmology residents at the University of Kentucky for the 2016 to 2017 academic year. Optometry and ophthalmology faculty collections were adjusted for clinical full-time equivalents. …

Uganda Invest In Foreign Markets: Uganda As A Case Study, Morgan T. Lynch

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

No abstract provided.

"Flaw-Backs:" Executive Compensation Clawbacks And Their Costly Flaw, Connor Douglas Maag

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

Saving money should not be expensive. Compensation “clawbacks” are a legal mechanism for companies to reclaim employee compensation, but the legislative framework is complex and disorganized. There are four primary federal claw-back provisions: Sarbanes-Oxley § 304, Dodd-Frank § 954, 12 U.S.C.A. § 5221(TARP), and Dodd-Frank § 956—as well as voluntary contractual clawback policies. This comment untangles the web of clawback legislation by overlaying each clawback mechanism to extract a single, clear, and concise description of executive compensation clawbacks, called the “Comprehensive Clawback Coverage.” The Comprehensive Clawback Coverage reveals a major flaw in the legal and regulatory framework: clawbacks increase agency …

Failed Anti-Activist Legislation: The Curious Case Of The Brokaw Act, Alon Brav, J.B. Heaton, Jonathan Zandberg

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

The Brokaw Act was proposed legislation aimed at “financial abuses being carried out by activist hedge funds who promote short-term gains at the expense of long-term growth . . . .” Sponsoring Senators named it after a small town in Wisconsin that, according to the Act’s sponsors, was decimated by the actions of a hedge fund activist in shutting down the local paper mill with a loss of hundreds of jobs. The Brokaw Act represented the first attempt at federal legislation aimed at restricting hedge fund activism. Since then, new and similar bipartisan proposals have appeared as have threats of …

Recent Developments Concerning The Purchase Of Consumer Debt; Defining Potential Problems And Proposals For Suggested Solutions, Gerald A. Williams

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

No abstract provided.

How America Permitted The Great Recession, Robert A. Moss Iii

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Many people have thrown out many ideas as to how the Great Recession happened. Some blame the banks, some blame the system, and others blame the lawmakers. The truth is much more complicated, and many different events lined up to make it happen. The essential fact is that there would likely have been a recession in the 2000s as a result of the commodities price recession of the 90s. What made the recession bad enough to be called the Great Recession was the gradual de-regulation that occurred after Glass-Steagal. Primarily, this paper will deal with the laws surrounding the banking …

The Effectiveness Of Government Mandated Disclosure Reform, Sakshi Raj

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The higher the level of information asymmetry between a firm and its investors, the higher is the firm’s reluctance to raise money externally, potentially leading to investment distortions. An improved disclosure system reduces information asymmetry and therefore, lessens the adverse selection effects of external financing, thereby moderating investment inefficiencies. In this paper, we examine the impact of potentially improved transparency stemming from stricter disclosure requirements (Clause 49) on financing and investment decisions of Indian firms. The results show that reliance of Indian firms on internal financing in the pre-reform period gives way to greater use of external financing …

Ford Motor Company's Financial Analysis, Azbayar Enkhbayar

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The goals and objectives of this financial report are to value the common stock of Ford Motor Company and provide a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold. Quantitative and qualitative data about Ford Motor Company, its competitors, and the markets it operates in were analyzed for this report. A discounted cash flow model was used to forecast future free cash flows. The model estimated Ford’s common stock to be fairly valued at USD 9.81 per share. This is slightly higher than the current price of $9.41 and a hold recommendation is made.

Innovation, Ownership And Ipo Underpricing, Roman Bohdan

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two empirical essays. The first chapter titled: “Hedge Fund Activism and Dual Ownership of U.S. Multinationals”. Harford, Wang & Zhang (2017) conclude that holding high cash balances abroad to avoid US taxes causes internal capital markets and investments distortions. We posit that hedge funds target MNCs with more severe internal capital and agency problems. We demonstrate that upon acquiring dual ownership in these firms, hedge funds reduce internal capital problems and improve investment, especially innovation, efficiencies. To further reduce agency costs of foreign cash holdings, hedge funds engage dual firms in focused acquisitions. These improvements are …

The Impact Of Taxes On Foreign Direct Investments, James Mohs, Robert Wnek, Arthur Galloway

Finance Faculty Publications

The role of taxation in the area of foreign direct investment and economic growth has been the topic of many studies. With the effect of newly enacted corporate tax reform in the United States the impact will become the topic of many future studies. This paper will review the common factors used to correlate the impact of corporate taxation on Foreign Direct Investment decision making. The purpose of this research is to review and outline the sensitivity to taxation based on a multiplicity of economic factors that will include taxation on the return on investment and global profits. For the …

Essays On The Information Role Of Credit Default Swaps, Hao Cheng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Chapter 1: Credit Default Swaps Pricing Errors and Related Stock Returns

This article investigates the impacts of Credit Default Swaps (CDS) pricing errors on related stock returns. Using a parsimonious CDS valuation model, which produces an above average adjusted R2 of 90%, I find that its pricing errors significantly predict cross-section stock returns. Further investigation reveals that the cross-market return predictability channels via Merton (1974)'s structural prediction and primary dealers' capital risk. This paper provides a novel view of the complex interactions of capital markets and offers insights on the relative market efficiencies.

Chapter 2: CDS Markets Informativeness and Related …

Discussion Of The Potential Of Blockchain In Finance, Andrew Kincaid

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper analyzes the current application of blockchain technology to demonstrate its disruptive potential has across different financial industries. This paper analyzes the potential difficulties that blockchain technology must face and overcome to realize this potential. Blockchain is currently in a stage in its development where there has not been enough research done to provide empirical answers to its benefits or added costs; however, there have been many early innovations that have helped propel blockchain forward. Blockchain in corporate finance is primarily used in corporate governance where blockchain has the ability to increase transparency and reduce possible corruption. Blockchain has …

State's Fiscal Dependency And Implications On Monetary Management In Nigeria, Akinboyo O. Lawrence, Apinran O. Martins

Bullion

This study examines fiscal management by States in Nigeria and its potential to sustain growth and development. The study used secondary data from the Bank's Statistical Bulletin and the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics. Information on monthly allocations to States, internally Generated Revenue, Debt stock, total Revenue, and Total expenditure were used to examine fiscal imbalance in the States. Data were collected on statutory allocations to States by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), States' debt stock, capital and recurrent expenditure from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Descriptive statistics …

Financial Outcomes From Selection Of Insurance Intervals, Shana Anderson Stewart

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the potential value of enrolling in rainfall-index for pasture, rangeland, and forage insurance for Utah producers. A stochastic optimization model is used to identify the optimal selection of insurance intervals that will provide the maximum indemnity payments less premiums. Four Utah counties were selected for analysis. Results indicate that positive returns will occur greater than 60% of the time in all counties with the selected insurance intervals. The optimal months to insure varied in each county.

A Global Analysis Of Corporate Litigation Risk And Costs, Matteo P. Arena, Stephen P. Ferris

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

We analyze a unique hand-collected international sample of 475 corporate lawsuits involving 361 publicly-traded defendant firms headquartered in 16 developed countries to explore how country factors influence litigation risk, equity market value, lawsuit outcomes, and settlement costs. Unlike U.S.-focused studies, we do not find a significant relation between stock turnover, equity performance, and the probability of litigation. Defendant firms headquartered in civil law countries or countries with less efficient judiciary systems face lower litigation risk and costs as well as less share price decline at filing. Countries whose courts are less independent demonstrate a significant bias against foreign defendant firms.

Potential Consequences Of U.S. Securities And Exchange Commission’S Replacement Of The Quarterly Reporting Requirement For Semi-Annual Reporting, Mengchen Zhou

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study extends the discussion of potential consequences of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s replacement of the quarterly reporting requirement for semi-annual reporting. This research summarizes the perspectives about quarterly and semi-annual reporting from reporters, critics, business executives and academic researchers, analyzes the influential parties from changing reporting regulation, and provides detailed explanation about potential impacts. Five parties are related to the replacement of the quarterly reporting requirement, including corporations, investors, analysts, auditors and Trump Administration. This research concludes that the auditor will be the least influential party and corporations will be the most impacted party.

Performance Of The Vidya Indicator Using Bootstrap, Lucas Priskos

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This paper analyses the performance of the Volatility Index Dynamic Average Indicator (VIDYA) as a method for technical trading. The question was whether or not the buy and sell signals generated by VIDYA could allow a trader to outperform the benchmark rate of return. The strategy is implemented in a similar way to a standard moving average crossover where two lines are charted: a short period VIDYA and a long period VIDYA. The four combinations of VIDYA were used were as follows: 6 with 21 periods, 9 with 21 periods, 12 with 21 periods, and 21 with 50 periods. When …