Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

How Does Convergence Influence Cluster-Based Economic Growth In Regions?, Jamie Meehan

Doctoral

This thesis is a novel study examining the influence of convergenceon cluster-based economicgrowth in regions. The goal of which isto provide exploratory insights frombothnational and international perspectives. This research study examines the relevant literature in thefieldsof convergence,clusters,and regions. It thenadoptsideologies from the most salient studies,to create a conceptual framework. There is limitedextantliterature currently available on the connection between convergence, cluster-based economicgrowth,and regions. AnOECD (2011) report identified the importance of regions as they are themost effective place to make economic decisions. The convergence approachof moving towards equality, bottom-up growth,and co-opetition can be regarded as being imperative to the successful augmentation of …

Contingency Planning Amidst A Pandemic, Natalie C. Belford

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Proper prior planning prevents pitifully poor performance: The purpose of this research is to address mitigation approaches - disaster recovery, contingency planning, and continuity planning - and their benefits as they relate to university operations during a worldwide pandemic predicated by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The most relevant approach pertaining to the University’s needs and its response to the Coronavirus pandemic will be determined and evaluated in detail.

The Relative Industry Specific Effects Of Covid-19 On Market Volatility And Liquidity, Callin Christensen

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

Understanding how historical events affect market volatility and liquidity can provide crucial information to financial analysts, investment professionals, and managers in the event that similar circumstances resurface. In this study, I look at how a global pandemic (COVID-19) can introduce frictions into the market and cause disrupt the generation or flow of available information, this could cause prices to deviate significantly from their equilibrium values. I also hypothesize that these inefficiencies may have a greater effect on some industries than others. My analysis seems to confirm this hypothesis. I observe that the global COVID-19 pandemic leads to statistically significant increases …

College Of Business Dean's Report: 2019-2020, Ryan Butt

College of Business Dean’s Reports

No abstract provided.

Project Foresight: A Ten-Year Retrospective, Paul J. Speaker, Max M. Houck

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Project FORESIGHT is a business-guided self-evaluation of forensic science laboratories across the globe. The participating laboratories represent metro, regional, state, and national agencies. Economics, accounting, finance, and forensic faculty provide assistance, guidance, and analysis. Laboratories participating in Project FORESIGHT have developed standardized definitions for metrics to evaluate work processes, linking financial information to work tasks, and functions. Laboratory managers can then assess resource allocations, efficiencies, and value of services—the mission of Project FORESIGHT is to measure, preserve what works, and change what does not.

The benchmark data for the 2018-2019 performance period includes laboratory submissions for a variety of fiscal …

Auditor Information Spillovers And Company Operating Performance: Evidence From Targeted Auditor Switches, Tyler Kleppe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examine whether companies realize operational benefits from making “targeted auditor switches” (i.e., engaging a new auditor recently dismissed by a competitor company). While prior work provides evidence consistent with companies perceiving that auditor information spillovers are costly, there is sparse extant evidence as to whether auditors actually do transfer operational information across companies. I find that companies that switch to a competitor’s former auditor realize significant subsequent improvements in operating performance, and I provide evidence that the association between targeted auditor switches and improvements in operating performance varies predictably with several across- and within-market factors. In …

A Proposal Digital Marketing Strategy For Marcheluzzo Srl: Training And Evaluating A Prediction Model For The Number Of Adv. Impressions, Charles Alves De Castro

Articles

This research aims to describe a digital marketing strategy elaborated to be deployed in the MarcheluzzoSrl Company located in Italy. In addition, it intends to give a wide range of information to the company about its customers, target, competitors, market, digital marketing strategy, and potential recommendations. It is also important to highlight that this strategy is focused on the Brazilian market. Most of the information collected for the situational analysis and many other components for this research were gathered through the author`s perception during his internship in the company. The methodology includes secondary data collected through field observation in the …

Analyzing Competitive Balance In Professional Sport, Kevin Alwell

Honors Scholar Theses

In this paper we review several measures to statistically analyze competitive balance and report which leagues have a wider variance of performance amongst its competitors. Each league seeks to maintain high levels of parity, making matches and overall season more unpredictable and appealing to the general audience. Here we quantify competitive advantage across major sports leagues in numbers using several statistical methods in order for leagues to optimize their revenue.

Corporate Decision-Making In The Presence Of Political Uncertainty: The Case Of Corporate Cash Holdings, William B. Hankins, Anna-Leigh Stone, Chak Hung Jack Cheng, Ching-Wai (Jeremy) Chiu

Research, Publications & Creative Work

Using a quarterly panel of U.S. corporations over the period 1985 – 2014 we show that corporate managers respond to political uncertainty and economic policy uncertainty shocks in different ways. We proxy for political uncertainty using the Partisan Conflict Index and employ a prevalent empirical macroeconomic methodology to construct structural shocks that are orthogonal to shocks captured by the Economic Policy Uncertainty Index. Following a political uncertainty shock, corporations increase cash but do not adjust investment. Alternatively, following an economic policy uncertainty shock, firms appear to draw on cash and reduce capital spending to increase R&D spending.

An Examination Of How Environmental, Social, Governance (Esg) Investing Influences A Company's Stock Return, Sam Marty

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Using a random sample of 184 companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 2019, this paper investigates the impact of Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) investing on a company’s stock return. The results show that ESG investing has a positive and statistically significant impact on a company’s stock return. An increase in one ESG rating leads to an increase between 0.4% and 3.6% in the return of a company’s stock. Additionally, the results show that individual ESG factors are each statistically insignificant. This indicates that the three ESG factors need to be viewed together rather than individually. Lastly, the …

A Credit Analysis Of The Unbanked And Underbanked: An Argument For Alternative Data, Edwin Baidoo

Doctor of Data Science and Analytics Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the statistical and economic significance of non-traditional credit data for individuals who do not have sufficient economic data, collectively known as the unbanked and underbanked. The consequences of not having sufficient economic information often determines whether unbanked and underbanked individuals will receive higher price of credit or be denied entirely. In terms of regulation, there is a strong interest in credit models that will inform policies on how to gradually move sections of the unbanked and underbanked population into the general financial network.

In Chapter 2 of the dissertation, I establish the …

Session 12 - Finance: Bias In, Bias Out? How To Fight Biases In Ai And Create Trust, Gerald Fahner

SDSU Data Science Symposium

Alarming headlines appear at an increasing rate about ‘biased AI’ leading to nontransparent decisions, discrimination and lack of trust.

Newcomers to AI application development are confronted with (and often struggle with) multiple traps that can inadvertently lead to biased and unreasonable automated decisions. By comparison, credit score developers have decades of experience in the “art and science” of mitigating biases through transparent and credible models and decisions that provide benefits to all stakeholders while complying with fair lending regulations.

In this presentation you will learn about traps to be avoided and get our unique perspective on how to achieve comprehension …

Machine Learning Stock Market Prediction Studies: Review And Research Directions, Troy J. Strader, John J. Rozycki, Thomas H. Root, Yu-Hsiang John Huang

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Stock market investment strategies are complex and rely on an evaluation of vast amounts of data. In recent years, machine learning techniques have increasingly been examined to assess whether they can improve market forecasting when compared with traditional approaches. The objective for this study is to identify directions for future machine learning stock market prediction research based upon a review of current literature. A systematic literature review methodology is used to identify relevant peer-reviewed journal articles from the past twenty years and categorize studies that have similar methods and contexts. Four categories emerge: artificial neural network studies, support vector machine …

Government Debt And Economic Growth, Cai Xin Ng

Student Works (2020-2029)

The level of Malaysia government debt have been hiking in recent years which leads to controversies regarding the sustainability of the debt level. The question that borrowings will stimulate or inhibit the economy remains as an important issue to be addressed. This paper examines the impact of government debt on economic growth in Malaysia. Utilizing the macroeconomic data between 1970 and 2018, we first apply an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework to examine the relationship between government debt and economic growth. The short term and long term relationship as well as cointegrating relationship between government debt and economic growth were …

Financial Development And Unemployment In Malaysia, Puong Hung Hii

Student Works (2020-2029)

In the past decades, the topic financial development and economic growth has been popularly discussed by scholars. From the past literature, financial development is an important component in promoting economic growth. However, there has been less study about the relationship of financial development and unemployment rate. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationship between the financial development and unemployment rate in the case of Malaysia from year 1981 until 2018. This study analyses the relationship by using two model equations to test separately the effect of each financial development indicators (Domestic Credit to Private Sector and Stock Market Capitalization) …

Behavioral Agent-Based Framework For Interacting Financial Markets, Heba M. Ezzat Dr.

Business Administration

Purpose – This paper aims at developing a behavioral agent-based model for interacting financial markets. Additionally, the effect of imposing Tobin taxes on market dynamics is explored. Design/methodology/approach – The agent-based approach is followed to capture the highly complex, dynamic nature of financial markets. The model represents the interaction between two different financial markets located in two countries. The artificial markets are populated with heterogeneous, boundedly rational agents. There are two types of agents populating the markets; market makers and traders. Each time step, traders decide on which market to participate in and which trading strategy to follow. Traders can …

The Bluebox Practicum: Integrating Technology, Culture, And Academic Service-Learning, Charles Braymen, Dustin Ormond

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Advancing education in marginalized communities has been more difficult compared to more privileged communities due to the lack of infrastructure, which in part results in an absence of educational materials. The BlueBox Project was created to minimize this divide by bringing a wealth of information to these communities. Using a small digital computer, faculty, staff, and students across many disciplines built the BlueBox, a stand-alone digital library which hosts an array of books, articles, educational games, and videos to inspire learning in a variety of subjects including science, technology, math, music, and literature. The BlueBox is powered by solar energy, …

Collaborative Speculation And Overvaluation: Evidence From Social Media, Adam Barrett Booker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I use data from StockTwits and Twitter to provide evidence that investor attention on social media in the period before earnings is related to short-term overvaluation, consistent with bullish investors herding around common information. In the 2 to 60 days after earnings, returns for companies in the highest quintile of pre-earnings announcement investor attention are 4.2 percent lower than those of companies in the lowest quintile. I find evidence that the negative post-earnings drift result found in this study is related to investors waiting until after earnings are announced to enact costly arbitrage strategies. I further examine intra- and inter-network …

College Of Business Dean's Report: 2018-2019, Ryan Butt

College of Business Dean’s Reports

No abstract provided.

Executive Leadership Challenges In Today’S Environment, Herbert J. Degraffe Jr.

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

Abstract

Individuals in top management positions often have conflicting interpretations concerning the authoritative qualities that align with the intrinsic and external relations of an organization. Although, researchers may still debate about the extent to which athletic development personality factors are important internal components of an individual. The purpose of this correlational study was to determine if athletic development personality factors correlate with decision making at the executive leadership level. The research questions focused on determining if there was a relationship between athletic development personality factors and decision making. Social exchange theory, social representations theory, and leadership theories comprised the theoretical …

The Performance Of Military Defense Contracted Companies After September 11th, 2001: The Case Of Politically Connected Companies, Derek J. Larsen

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

This paper examines the effect that the terrorist attacks on September 11^th, 2001 had on the stock prices of companies within the military defense industry. In addition, this paper studies the effect of the defense firms’ political engagement (through lobbying activities) and how this affected the stock price response to the terrorist attacks. Our study finds that the cumulative abnormal returns of these companies are positively significant and that companies who lobbied experienced higher returns relative to those who did not lobby.

An Analysis Of The Business Structures And Performance Of Traditional Vs. "Freemium" Applications, Daztar Pagdiwala

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis will examine the rationale and financial success of “freemium” applications versus traditional applications. I define what the “freemium” model is, and how it compares to the traditional (premium) and “free trial” models. In addition, I discuss the value proposition of the business structure, and how it is fully dependent on the consumer’s ability to perceive an increase in value through the purchase of additional features. I also analyze the major positive and negative aspects of the “freemium structure.

Overall trends that I note in the paper include a general shift towards “freemium” and “subscription” based products; within the …

Effects Of Terrorism On The U.S. Stock Market: Evidence From High Frequency Data, Kyla Scanlon

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This paper investigates the effects that terrorist attacks and mass shootings had on the U.S. stock market, using high frequency intraday data to identify stock price and variability reactions in the hours after the attack. The impact that terrorist attacks had on price level variability was examined using the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model. The market reaction to domestic versus foreign attacks was examined to measure a potential for contagion across financial markets. The potential for flight-to-safety/quality and capital reallocation in response to terrorist attacks were measured using ordinary least squares (OLS) model, measuring the respective betas of small …

The Importance Of School District Quality In The Columbus Real Estate Market, Ryan Karapas

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Using a random sample of 100 houses sold between the months of October 2018 and January 2019 in the greater Columbus, Ohio area, this paper investigates the relationship between school district quality and the selling price of houses. The results show that school district quality has a positive and statistically significant influence on the Columbus real estate market. An increase of one letter grade in school district quality (calculated using output-related factors such as student performance) leads to a 13% increase in the selling price of a house. When using the average house price in my data set of $254,000, …

How Sector Volatility Spills Into Related Markets, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Research reveals the linkages that let a meltdown go global

Improving Vix Futures Forecasts Using Machine Learning Methods, James Hosker, Slobodan Djurdjevic, Hieu Nguyen, Robert Slater

SMU Data Science Review

The problem of forecasting market volatility is a difficult task for most fund managers. Volatility forecasts are used for risk management, alpha (risk) trading, and the reduction of trading friction. Improving the forecasts of future market volatility assists fund managers in adding or reducing risk in their portfolios as well as in increasing hedges to protect their portfolios in anticipation of a market sell-off event. Our analysis compares three existing financial models that forecast future market volatility using the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX) to six machine/deep learning supervised regression methods. This analysis determines which models provide best …

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 …

Do Repurchasing Firms Shave Capital Expenditures When Signaling?, Bishal Bc, Yatin N. Bhagwat, Marinus De Bruine

Open Access Publishing Support Funded Articles

This paper studies the extent of firm level over- and under-investment in capital projects among firms with excess cash flows. Whereas most prior research looks for either the signaling or free cash flow hypothesis, we find that the motives for share repurchases differ depending on the firm’s concurrent investments in capital projects. Our initial sample contains 3,417 firm-year observations from 1998 through 2014 where we match share repurchasing firm-year observations with non-repurchasing counterparts by 8-digit GICS industry code, by fiscal year, and by size. Using two sample t-tests, we find evidence that consistent with free cash flow explanations over-investment is …

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.

Research On Risk Control Of Ship Financial Leasing, Junyi Xu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.