Business Commons^™

Causality And Volatility Spillover Effects On Sub-Sector Energy Portfolios, N. Alper Gormus

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

During a time of extensive crises related to energy sources, in particular fossil fuels, IPOs for alternative energy-related companies are a common occurrence. As new industries are created or old ones are revised, investors, who constantly are trying to update their portfolios for hedging their risk, face new challenges. The purpose of this study is to aid investors in market anticipation, forecasting, and portfolio diversification through shedding some light on the inner dynamics of the select asset markets versus sector-specific energy companies. Although energy companies related to fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas are previously studied, alternative …

The Impact Of Institutional Arrangements On Educational Efficiency, Trevor Collier

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Per-pupil expenditures on education in the United States have grown immensely in recent decades, yet student achievement has been stagnant. An abundance of research has sought to solve this enigma, much of it centered on the incentive structure facing administrators. Some recent papers use TIMSS data to analyze the relationship between institutional arrangements—that typically do not vary within a single country—and student achievement. Similarly, we utilize TIMSS 1999 to determine if there is an indirect relationship between institutional arrangements and student achievement, via a relationship with school efficiency. Our results show that the specified link between institutional arrangements and student …

How Did Listed Islamic And Traditional Banks Performed: Pre And Post The 2008 Financial Crisis?, Mohamed Rashwan

Business Administration

This study tests the efficiency and profitability of banks that belongs to two different sectors: a) Islamic Banks (IBs) and b) Traditional Banks (TBs). The study concentrates on the pre and post 2008 financial crisis with an aim to test if there are any significant differences in performance between the two sectors. The study applies the MANOVA techniques to analyze the financial secondary data for only publicly traded banks in the same region. The findings of the study show that there is a significant difference between the two sectors in 2007 and 2009 and there are no significant differences in …

Credit Gap In Small Businesses: Some New Evidence, Atreya Chakraborty

Accounting and Finance Faculty Publication Series

What is the magnitude of credit constraint affecting small businesses? This paper provides estimate of the credit gap – defined as the difference between the desired and actual levels of debt for credit constrained small businesses. The estimated credit gap is approximately 20 percent, i.e., credit constrained small business on the average would desire 20 percent more debt. This credit gap varies considerably across industries, with manufacturing firms facing a significantly larger gap than firms in the wholesale or service industries.

Two Essays On Behavioral Finance, Quang Viet Vu

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The first essay is entitled: "CEO Overconfidence, Corporate Governance Practices and Firm Innovation". In this study, I examine if overconfident CEOs overinvest or underinvest in innovative projects. I also investigate if overconfident CEOs pursue innovative projects to benefit personal interests or the interest of shareholders. By focusing on the effect of corporate governance in monitoring the behavior of overconfident CEOs, my results show that there is a negative relation between CEO overconfidence and firm innovation among firms with poor governance. In these cases, the finding is consistent with the implication that overconfident CEO are entrenched and invest inadequately …

The Availability And Utilization Of 401(K) Loans, John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

We document the loan provisions in 401(k) savings plans and how participants use 401(k) loans. Although only about 22% of savings plan participants who are allowed to borrow from their 401(k) have such a loan at any given point in time, almost half had used a 401(k) loan over a longer, seven-year horizon. The probability of having a loan follows a hump-shaped pattern with respect to age, job tenure, account balance, and salary, but conditional on having a loan, loan size as a fraction of 401(k) balances declines with respect to these variables. Participants are less likely to use loans …

Arma-Garch Model Applied To Exchange-Traded Funds, Rebecca Davis

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this paper, time-varying volatility of some of the leading exchange-traded funds are studied. The ARMA mean equation with GARCH errors is used to model the series correlations and the conditional heteroscadesticity in the asset

returns. The conditional distributions of the standardized residuals are assumed to be skew-generalized error distribution. The high kurtosis and fat tail of the returns, were captured in all the data by fitting an ARMA-GARCH model with the conditional distribution of, skew-generalized error distribution.

Furthermore, the sample cross-correlations of these significant exchange-traded funds and the corresponding financial indices they mimic were computed. The empirical conclusion was …

Analysis Of Intermittence And Log-Periodicity Of Foreign Exchange Rates Near A Crash, Arturo Casillas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Many believe that financial indices near a crash exhibit a type of critical point characterized by log-periodic signatures. Models have been developed based on these ideas in an attempt to mathematically characterize financial data about to crash. Few of these models consider the property of intermittency. Intermittency is a concept borrowed from fluid dynamics that essentially implies that a system alternates between a stable, or predictable, state and unstable state. One model that attempts to characterize crashes incorporates intermittency in the form of log-stationary intervals. It models the asset price as a step function that follows an underlying power law. …

Medical Identity Theft, Whitney Walters, Axton Betz

Consumer Sciences Faculty Publications

The purpose of this position paper is to provide in formation on medical identity theft. Secondary purposes of this paper are to describe signs of victimization, consequences of victimization, and how to recover from medical identity theft. An additional secondary purpose is to describe how individuals can protect themselves from becoming victims of medical identity theft. More robust public policy need to be developed. And, more educators in the fields of consumer education, business and finance along with those from economics and family services need to develop detailed lessons and programs on medical identity theft and its effects on the …

Housing Issues And Solutions For The Residents On The Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, Dana Tell, Axton Betz

Consumer Sciences Faculty Publications

This position paper details the poor housing and living conditions of American Indians in Pine Ridge Reservation and proposes some solutions to the problems. These include training for home upkeep and repair and owner education classes.

The Unjustified Subsidy: Sovereign Wealth Funds The Foreign Sovereign Tax Exemption, Jennifer Bird-Pollan

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

The taxation of Sovereign Wealth Funds in the United States is outmoded and due for reconsideration. Offering a tax exemption to the billion dollar investment funds owned by foreign governments is both unfair and ineffective. Founded in the principles of sovereign immunity, the foreign sovereign tax exemption, codified in I.R.C. § 892, fails to satisfy the Congressional goals that motivated its creation. This Article explains the current taxation of foreign sovereigns and, by extension, Sovereign Wealth Funds. It then illustrates that the current exemption is simultaneously too broad, providing a tax exemption for activities that are clearly nongovernmental activities, and …

The End Of The Internal Compliance World As We Know It, Or An Enhancement Of The Effectiveness Of Securities Law Enforcement? Bounty Hunting Under The Dodd-Frank Act's Whistleblower Provision, Justin Blount, Spencer Markel

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

In the wake of Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme and the recent economic crisis stemming largely from loosely regulated subprime lending and mortgage-backed securities, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on July 21, 2010, signaling loudly and clearly that change is coming to Wall Street. But Wall Street is not the only one receiving a message. Buried deep within the 2,319 pages of the Dodd-Frank Act, companies can find Section 922, the whistleblower provision, which provides a bounty for whistleblowers who report securities violations to the Securities and Exchange Commission.These bounty provisions and …

Application Of The Concept Of Project Finance In Iraq- A Comparative And Analytical Study, Faris K. Nesheiwat

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

Many scholars and experts have addressed the issue of project finance, but one area that remains without detailed examination is its legal treatment under the legal systems of developing countries. The legal concepts applied under project finance are Western and are not necessarily identical to or compatible with legal concepts in Middle Eastern countries in general or Iraq in particular. In that sense, project finance is a transplanted legal concept when examined in the Middle Eastern legal framework. Although this Paper tackles the legal and strategic issues arising from the use of project finance in Iraq, its analysis and comparative …

Lessons From The Flash Crash For The Regulation Of High-Frequency Traders, Edgar Ortega Barrales

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

Are equity markets vulnerable to a sudden collapse if the traders who account for about half of the volume have no regulatory obligations to stabilize prices? After the “Flash Crash” of May 6, 2010, policymakers have resoundingly answered this question in the affirmative. During the worst of the crash, some of the so-called high-frequency trading firms that dominate equity markets stopped trading and prices collapsed, momentarily wiping out almost $1 trillion in market value. In response, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is considering whether high-frequency trading firms should be required to act as the traders of last resort. This …

Burning Down The House Or Simply Rolling The Dice: A Comment On Section 621 Of The Dodd-Frank Act And Recommendation For Its Implementation, Joshua R. Rosenthal

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

Section 621 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act modifies the Securities Act of 1933 to prohibit the underwriter, placement agent, initial purchaser, or sponsor, or any affiliate or subsidiary of any such entity of an asset-backed financial product from betting against that very product for one year after the product’s initial sale. The rule prohibits anyone who structures or sells an asset-backed security or a product composed of asset-backed securities from going short, in the specified timeframe, on what they have sold, and labels such transactions as presenting material conflicts of interest. This Comment discusses traces …

Private Equity Investment In The Brics, Andreas Woeller

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

This Article investigates the legal and economic environment for private equity investments in Brazil, Russia, India and China (“BRIC”). In contrast with disappointing returns in the 1990s, private equity investment has soared in developing countries over the past decade. To explain what has led to the recent success of private equity in the BRICs, this Article will first give an overview of the challenges faced generally when investing in portfolio companies in developing markets and then analyze the legal and economic framework for each of the four BRICs. This Article finds that Brazil and China offer the best opportunities for …

Three Essays On Market Anomalies And Efficient Market Hypothesis, Ehab Yamani

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation consists of three distinct essays. The first essay investigates the risk interpretation of the investment premium by empirically examining the fundamental view versus the sentimental view. I use VAR to break the investment beta into fundamental beta reflecting news about the future marginal productivity of investment, and financial beta reflecting news about discount rates. Overall, the results show that financial factors are the dominant driver of investment returns and they control the negative relation between investment and stock return. In the second essay, I examine the impact of financial contagion resulting from four global financial crises based on …

Essays On International Corporate Dividend Policy, Bobby Alexander

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation is comprised of two essays on dividend policy. In the first part of the first essay, I ascertain whether the outcome, the substitution, or the predation model explains the relationship between dividend payouts and product market competition in each of the Group of Seven (G7) countries for the period from 1995 through 2010. I find that the substitution model explains dividend policy in Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and the outcome model describes it in Japan, while in Italy, the results are inconclusive. In the second part of the same essay, I pool …

Nonstatistical Factors Influencing Predictions Of Financial Distress And Managerial Implications In The All-Cargo Airline Industry, Robert O. Walton

Publications

All-cargo airlines carry over 50% of global airfreight, yet they are prone to bankruptcy. Many financial models are designed to predict a firms' financial health, but they do not assess many nonstatistical factors that influence the prediction capability of these models. In this study, qualitative grounded theory design was used to identify nonstatistical factors and explore how they influence bankruptcy prediction models in the all-cargo airline industry. In the first phase of the study, financial data from 2005 to 2009 for 17 all-cargo U.S. airlines were used to determine the bankruptcy prediction ability of the Kroeze financial bankruptcy model. A …

Extending The Arnold-Eisemann Algorithm For Pro Forma Circularity With A Specific Mix Of New Debt And New Equity, Tom Arnold

Finance Faculty Publications

Arnold and Eisemann (2008) developed an algorithm that calculates the value of long-term debt when long-term debt is considered the "plug" or "slack" term within a pro forma analysis. In this paper, the algorithm is presented in a slightly different form and adjusted for the use of a target mix of new debt and new stock.

Forecasting And Stress-Testing The Risk-Based Capital Requirements For Revolving Retail Exposures, Kwamie Dunbar

WCBT Working Papers

This paper presents a tractable and empirically sound technique for generating stressed probabilities of default (PDs) which are then used to derive loss rates for the provisioning of a bank’s risk-based capital. This work is in response to the recent regulatory findings attributed to the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (SCAP) stress tests of 2009 which revealed weaknesses in the existing regulatory and economic capital approaches. The SCAP projected losses of approximately $82.4 Billion in banks’ credit card portfolios for 2010, highlighting the need for better forecasting and stress testing of revolving retail exposures.

This study proposes a timely model that …

Microinvestment Disputes, Perry S. Bechky

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Salini v. Morocco sparked one of the liveliest controversies in the dynamic field of international investment disputes. Salini held that the word "investment" in the Convention establishing the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), although undefined, has an objective meaning that limits the ability of member states to submit disputes to ICSID arbitration. The Salini debate is central to this field because it shapes the nature, purpose, and volume of ICSID arbitration--and also determines who gets to decide those matters. In particular, Salini's decision to include "a contribution to development" as an element of its objective definition of …

Alternative Models Of Funding Higher Education: Past And Present Trends, Gus Gregorutti

Faculty Publications

The present study is built around the following general research question: why is Adventist higher education in a tight budget? This is approached using a comparative time frame analysis of past and present needs and characteristics affecting funding tertiary education. The main idea throughout this paper is that the different funding systems are setting up models of Adventist higher education that aren’t always the best fit for the institutional ideology and organization. Possible alternatives to shift into a more suitable funding system are provided and discusses as well. 

The Mexican Idea Of Twoyear University Degrees: A Model Of Opportunities And Challenges, Gus Gregorutti

Faculty Publications

This study had the following general goals: a) Map some of the political and social factors that prompted the establishment of two-years Technological Universities in Mexico; b) Describe the main features of the model and how it differs from other models; c) Discuss Neoliberal Human Capital Theory as one of the main theoretical backdrop for expanding this kind of institutions; and finally, d) Assess the model’s strengths and weaknesses. To accomplish these goals, the study drew data from existing policies and from a set of six interviews to human resources directors in Monterrey area, Northern Mexico. These recruiters belonged to …

The Sarbanes Oxley Act's Contribution To Curtailing Corporate Bribery, Karen Cascini, Alan Delfavero, Mario Mililli

WCBT Faculty Publications

In the wake of corporate scandals occurring in the early 2000s, a need for stricter regulation was deemed necessary by the investors of U.S. public companies. In 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SoX) was created. Accordingly, under the rules of SoX, U.S. corporations were faced with increased oversight and also needed to substantially improve their internal controls. As companies began to scrutinize their internal affairs more closely, some businesses detected other forms of criminal activity occurring internally, such as bribery. Those companies and individuals found to have committed bribery have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA). Throughout this …

Venture Capital In Ireland In Comparative Perspective, Frank Barry, Clare O'Mahony, Beata Sax

Articles

This paper assembles the most comprehensive set of data available to offer a comparative perspective on venture capital in Ireland. The paper charts the emergence of the sector and the co-evolution of the demand and supply sides of the market. On the demand side, a flow of investment opportunities emerged – particularly from the indigenous software sector – for which venture capital represented an appropriate financing vehicle. Concurrently, on the supply side, publicly provided funding and other elements of public policy dramatically enhanced its availability. State support to the demand-side has been a multiple of state support to the supply …

Ceos, Cfos, And Accounting Fraud, Douglas M. Boyle, Brian W. Carpenter, Dana Hermanson

Faculty Articles

The article focuses on fraudulent financial reporting, which has been a long-standing concern for the U.S. investors. It discusses the findings of a study that provides valuable insights into the role of chief executive officers (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO) in the prevention of such situation. Also provided are key anti-fraud resources including a fraud risk management program, the assessment of fraud risk exposure and prevention techniques.

An Examination Of Corporate Agribusiness Financial Performance: How Agribusinesses Perform Over Time And Under Various Conditions, Sierra J. Enlow

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

While several studies examine the managerial structure of privately owned agribusinesses, few studies take a comprehensive look at publically traded agribusiness firms. Our study examines the historical position of agribusiness compared to the market, and then studies the impact of the global economic and financial crisis. The objective of this study is to pinpoint effects of corporate financial management strategies, commonly researched in financial literature on agribusiness firms’ performance. Through utilizing a quantile regression we find that agribusiness position in times of financial crisis is directly related to firm performance. As we examine internal factors, several interesting impacts of managerial …

How Effective Is The International Fuel Tax Agreement As A Multistate Tax Administration Model? A View From The States, Juita-Elena Yusuf, Lenahan O'Connell

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

The International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) was established to reduce the complexities of reporting, allocating, and collecting diesel fuel taxes from interstate commercial carriers operating in multiple jurisdictions. This paper examines IFTA's effectiveness as a multistate tax administration model from the perspective of the states. We identify three criteria of effectiveness and use a survey of IFTA officials in the member states and provinces as well as additional data provided by IFTA, Inc to assess IFTA's effectiveness. We conclude that (1) IFTA promotes inter-jurisdictional cooperation and revenue transfers; (2) carriers do not locate disproportionately in low tax jurisdictions; and (3) …

Effective Popular Financial Reports: The Citizen Perspective, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Meagan M. Jordan

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

The article presents a study that investigates the views of citizens on the efficiency of financial reports in the U.S. Researchers did a survey to discern the perspectives of respondents about the effectiveness of the said reports in informing other individuals about government finances. Moreover, results reveal that 80% of respondents believed that the reports are effective. [Associates Programs Source, EbscoHost database]