Business Commons^™

The Greek Sovereign Debt Crisis And Potential Implications For Other Sovereign Nations, Gregory Gambill

Honors Scholar Theses

At least four countries in the Eurozone are in poor economic shape, and Greece has already defaulted on its loans, sending the country into a state of disarray while it works on implementing fiscal austerity measures. Meanwhile, Portugal, Ireland, and Spain are next in line for a possible default. Using Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain as examples of countries that are on the verge of economic collapse, this paper contains an analysis of what other countries need to do in order to avoid this situation.

Examining Capm In Today's Markets, David R. Knox

Honors Scholar Theses

The purpose of this work is to empirically assess the validity of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) in terms of how can it model an equity’s return. The goal of this work is not to challenge the theory behind CAPM, nor compare it to alternatives, but simply to test whether or not it is applicable in the real world. This is an exploratory research study: rather than testing a specific hypothesis, my goal is to let the data speak for itself.

The main difficulty with assessing CAPM is that there is no consensus on how much data we ought …

Nutritional Labeling, Emily J. Williams

Honors Scholar Theses

The purpose of this study is to research consumers' food purchasing behavior, including consumers' perceptions of nutrition labels on food packages and the effects of such nutrition labels on consumers' food purchasing decisions. The objective is to better understand consumers' attitudes toward food purchases in relation to their understanding of food labels

Motivation To Train For Creativity, Nina Sacco

Honors Scholar Theses

Creativity among Unites States citizens is on a steady decline despite the overwhelming evidence that creativity is a crucial skill in the professional world (Zacko-Smith, Puccio, Mance, 2010). Educational organizations, such as the Connecticut Invention Convention (CIC) and other non-profit educational organizations, have been dedicated to increase the presence of creative problem solving and innovation through STEM-based learning and inventions in various schools in Connecticut. To promote the existence of these organizations in hopes of countering the current nations lack of focus on creativity, this thesis examines teacher's motivation to be involved in their programs and to train their students …

Impact On Financial Statements Of New Accounting Model For Leases, Wenqi Ma

Honors Scholar Theses

On August 17, 2010 the IASB and FASB published an Exposure Draft on leases. A new accounting model for leases which would include both financing lease and operating leases was proposed. According to the World Leasing Yearbook 2010, $640 billion was involved in leasing activity, of which a significant amount is not reported on the lessees' balance sheets [1]. The current leases which firms report in the financial statement notes showed that most companies currently have financing leases although many do not capitalize all of these leases. The new accounting model for leases would be a challenge for companies to …

The Role Of Emerging Market In Investment Portfolios, Kelly Hallinan

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis explores the role of emerging markets in investment portfolios. Could an investment portfolio consisting of emerging market securities have outperformed similar portfolios that did not contain emerging markets over recent years? Gathering data from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010, mean-variance efficiency and the efficient frontier were used to compare the risk-return tradeoff for six constructed portfolios comprised of emerging markets, developed markets, and the risk-free asset. Brazil, Russia, India, and China were chosen to represent the emerging market allocation of the portfolios, accomplished by working with a BRIC Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). The S&P 500 was …

Sarbanes-Oxley And Corporate Greed, Adria L. Stigliano

Honors Scholar Theses

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is still a relatively new federal law set forth by the Securities Exchange Commission in 2002. Since its implementation, individuals have been wondering if Sarbanes-Oxley is effective enough and doing what it is meant to do – catch and prevent future accounting frauds and scandals. With the use of closer and stricter rules, the SOA is trying to prevent frauds with the use of a created Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Most importantly, however, it was created to protect the investors from self-interested managers, so as to not have repeats of the Enron, WorldCom and Tyco International …