Business Commons^™

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.

Lobbying Legislation And Cumulative Abnormal Returns, Brenan Stewart

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

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (Pub.L. 110-81, 121 Stat. 735, enacted September 14, 2007) was passed by the U.S. Congress in order “to strengthen public disclosure requirements concerning lobbying activity and funding. It placed more restrictions on gifts for members of Congress and their staff, and provides for mandatory disclosure of earmarks in expenditure bills.” Treating this event as a natural experiment, we examine how this legislation affected the Cumulative Abnormal Returns (CARs) of firms that lobbied in the year(s) leading up to the passing of the legislation. We find that companies that lobbied in the …

The Free Cash Flow And Corporate Returns, Sen Na

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

Mcpherson (2018) and Jose, Lancaster, Stevens (1996) have written papers to examine the relationship between liquidity management and firm profitability. The literature establishes that the cash conversion cycle has an implication for the profitability and liquidity of a firm. We extend the time period and analyze the free cash flow instead of cash conversion cycle. We provide evidence that firms with higher free cash flows have higher risk adjusted stock returns.

2018 Marketing Audit For Jump The Moon Foundation, Luke L. Flynn

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Jump the Moon Foundation (JTM) was started in December of 2017 as a nonprofit organization under the vision and direction of Michael J. Bingham, an artist and teacher with 30 plus years of professional experience. During his art experiences in and outside the workforce and classroom, Michael noticed a gap in the nonprofit sector for an organization that helps "individuals of all abilities" take part in art. This intuition and vision soon lead to Michael's creation of JTM, "a vocational arts program dedicated to creating opportunities for artists with disabilities to make, market, and earn income from their original and …

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 …

A Return To The Cash Conversion Cycle And Corporate Returns, Madyson Mcpherson

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

A little over twenty years ago, Jose, Lancaster, and Stevens (1996) wrote a paper examining the relationship between profitability and ongoing liquidity management for firms over a twenty-year period, from 1974 to 1993. They test the relationship between the cash conversion cycle, ongoing liquidity management, and other methods of profitability using a regression analysis (Jose, Lancaster, and Stevens, 1996). This paper aims to do the same but with a selection of firms over a different twenty-year period, from 1993 to 2013. We implement Jose et al.’s methodology with updated data to see if contemporary data yields similar results: aggressive working …

Revisiting Corporate Financial Policy And The Value Of Cash, Nan Guo

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

Corporate financial policy and the value of cash by Michael Faulkender and Rong Wang (2006) examined the cross sectional variation in the marginal value of corporate cash holdings that arises from differences in the corporate financial policy. The main findings were that the marginal value of cash declines with large cash holdings,higher leverage, and better access to capital market. The goal of this paper is to replicate and extend Faulkender & Wang's (2006) work to test whether their assumptions and results are still valid.

The Effects Of Economic Policy Uncertainty On Common Stock And American Depository Receipts, Bradley David Zynda Ii

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

Uncertainty can have profound implications on both firms and individuals who hope to optimally make decisions in their best interest. In this research, I seek to examine the impact that economic policy uncertainty has on domestic and foreign stock. In particular, I take a market microstructure perspective focused on stock liquidity and volatility measures in response to changes in economic policy uncertainty. Understanding the directional flow of economic policy uncertainty and the magnitude of the consequences at home and abroad can both help prepare agents to make good decisions about the future and exhort policy makers to be more efficient …

The Industry And Occupation Incidence Of State Mandated Maternity Benefits, Adam Bahr

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Government mandates are often used to promote equality in the workplace, often imposing additional costs upon employers. Economic theory suggest that these additional costs will be shifted onto the employees through a reduction in wages. However, when wage shifting is not an option due to anti-discrimination laws, how will employers respond to the additional costs imposed? Gruber (1994) found that wage shifting occurs when the groups benefiting from a government mandate are easily identifiable to the employer, despite the existence of anti-discrimination laws.

This study seeks to further the work of Gruber (1994) and examine wage shifting at an industry …

Executive Portfolio Diversification Through Dividends, Janette Goodridge

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

In recent decades, many managers and executives have received company stock and stock options as a portion of their pay. As the incidence of this phenomenon increased, it became evident that insiders needed a way to diversify their holdings. One way this could be accommodated is through the issuance of dividends. This paper examined how executive stock ownership and managerial power impacted a firm’s dividend policy. Specifically, it examined the power of an executive as measured by the G index. It further took into account the current level of ownership for a particular manager, as well as the value of …

Insider Trading And The Stock Act Amendment, Josh Wilson

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

On April 2, 2012, Congress passed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. The purpose of this legislation was to enhance transparency among the financial investments of Congress members, congressional staffers, and other government employees. One year later, an amendment was passed which no longer required staffers or government employees to publish their holdings online citing “national security”. Treating this event as a natural experiment, I examine whether insider trading occurred in the days leading up to and through the signing of the law by President Obama. In general, I find that portfolios of the 50 most commonly held …

An Investigation Of The Impact Of Changing Social Norms On Female Clothing Attire Pre And Post Ww Ii, Bailey Marie Burningham

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Not only did World War II bring about changes to the economy and policy in the United States, it also changed women's fashion and, consequently, the way in which women's fashion was presented through marketing efforts. This study is an investigation of how changing social norms, as seen in various marketing material, may have impacted women's attire before and after World War II. The study will be conducted by analyzing various reports on how changes came to pass throughout this time, and how different factors may have instigated the change. Additionally, an analysis of marketing materials used pre and post …

The Nfl And Trump: Did Protesting Cause The Decline?, Jameson Osmond

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This project is a study in econometric modeling of the effects of the protests of the national anthem in the NFL during the 2016-2017 seasons. The project is created to determine the accuracy or lack thereof of President Donald Trump's statement that the cause of the decline in viewership and ratings (and thus business) of NFL games was caused by protests that deterred US viewers.

Using viewership and rating data, along with various protest indexes created by collecting game-level protest data, an econometric model was constructed to allow for control over various endogenous and exogenous variables that surround NFL in-season …