Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Financing Terrorism: A Look At The Past, Present, And Future Of Defunding Terror Organizations, Mitchell Wasmund

University Honors Program

Terrorism is a major problem facing governments across the globe in the 21st century. Terror organizations, domestic and international, are complex and vary in structure as well as how they are financed. By using various governmental and journalistic resources, this paper will examine four different terror organizations in how they are operated and financed. It will focus on what are the current practices by law enforcement officials to stop the sources of terror organizations’ funds. This paper will also examine future areas of concern related to where terror organizations will receive their financing in the future. The impacts of economic …

Nyse To Stop "Stop Orders", Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

On August 24, many stocks fell by large percentages, only to recover shortly thereafter. Investors with standing stop-loss orders likely didn't fair well. And, in fact, many are blaming these orders for the volatility. The NYSE plans to eliminate stop orders, but brokerage firms can still facilitate these for their customers, as long as the final order is sent at market. See article here, Bloomberg.

Lower Minimum Investment, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

Charles Schwab cut the initial minimum investment from $2,500 to $100 for most of the mutual funds on its Mutual Fund OneSource platform, which charges no transaction fees. At the same time, it cut the minimum for subsequent investments from $500 to $1. See article here, Financial Advisor Magazine.

2015 Q3 Market Pulse Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Market Pulse Report

The quarterly IBBA and M&A Source Market Pulse Survey was created to gain an accurate understanding of the market conditions for businesses being sold in Main Street (values $0-$2MM) and the lower middle market (values $2MM -$50MM). The national survey was conducted with the intent of providing a valuable resource to business owners and their advisors. The IBBA and M&A Source present the Market Pulse Survey with the support of the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project and the Graziado School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

2015 Q4 Private Capital Access Index Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Private Capital Access Report

The Pepperdine Private Capital Access Index (PCA) is a quarterly indicator produced by the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, and with the support of Dun & Bradstreet. The index is designed to measure the demand for, activity, and health of the private capital markets. The purpose of the PCA Index is to gauge the demand of small and mediumsized businesses for financing needs, the level of accessibility of private capital, and the transparency and efficiency of private financing markets.

Behavioral Finance: Its History And Its Future, Robert Christopher Hammond

Selected Honors Theses

The field of behavioral finance has attempted to explain a litany of biases, heuristics, and

inefficiencies present in financial markets since its creation in the 1980’s. This paper is structured as a comprehensive literature review of behavioral finance, and includes both the seminal works as well as more recent papers. The various subtopics of behavioral finance will also be analyzed, which include loss aversion, corporate finance, and momentum/contrarian investing. Finally, this paper will draw unique conclusions across behavioral finance and hypothesize about what topics within behavioral finance are likely to yield the most interesting research in the near future.

New Approach To Density Estimation And Application To Value-At-Risk, Kian Guan Lim, Hao Cheng, Nelson K. L. Yap

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The key contribution in this paper is to provide a new approach in estimating the physical distribution of the underlying asset return by using a quadratic Radon-Nikodym derivative function. The latter function transforms a fitted Variance Gamma risk-neutral distribution that is obtained from traded option prices. The generality of the VG distribution helps to avoid unnecessary mis-specification bias. The estimated empirical distribution is then used to find the risk measure of VaR. We show that possible underestimation of VaR risk using existing methods is largely not due to VaR itself but perhaps due to mis-specification errors which we minimize in …

Competition Of The Informed: Does The Presence Of Short Sellers Affect Insider Selling?, Massimo Massa, Wenlan Qian, Weibiao Xu, Hong Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study how the presence of short sellers affects the incentives of the insiders to trade on negative information. We show it induces insiders to sell more (shares from their existing stakes) and trade faster to preempt the potential competition from short sellers. An experiment and instrumental variable analysis confirm this causal relationship. The effects are stronger for "opportunistic" (i.e., more informed) insider trades and when short sellers' attention is high. Return predictability of insider sales only occurs in stocks with high short-selling potential, suggesting that short sellers indirectly enhance the speed of information dissemination by accelerating trading by insiders. …

Testing For Multiple Bubbles: Limit Theory Of Real-Time Detectors, Peter C. B. Phillips, Shuping Shi, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This article provides the limit theory of real-time dating algorithms for bubble detection that were suggested in Phillips, Wu, and Yu (PWY; International Economic Review 52 [2011], 201-26) and in a companion paper by the present authors (Phillips, Shi, and Yu, 2015; PSY; International Economic Review 56 [2015a], 1099-1134. Bubbles are modeled using mildly explosive bubble episodes that are embedded within longer periods where the data evolve as a stochastic trend, thereby capturing normal market behavior as well as exuberance and collapse. Both the PWY and PSY estimates rely on recursive right-tailed unit root tests (each with a different recursive …

A Risk- And Complexity-Rating Framework For Investment Products, Benedict S. K. Koh, Francis Koh, David K. C. Lee, Kian Guan Lim, David Ng, Kok Fai Phoon

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Many investors who bought such investments as Lehman Brothers’ minibonds did not understand the products’ complicated features. This fact suggests that if the inherent risk and complexity of products’ structure are not clearly understood by investors, they will be unable to make informed decisions. Some practitioners have recently attempted to calibrate product complexity. The authors propose a framework for classifying investment product risk and complexity separately with a list of factors that contribute to these attributes. They demonstrate the framework’s simplicity and usefulness in helping investors make informed decisions, showing that it can be used to calibrate a variety of …

The Bright Side Of Political Uncertainty: The Case Of R&D, Julian Atanassov, Brandon Julio, Tiecheng Leng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine the relationship between political uncertainty and R&D investment by exploiting the timing of U.S. gubernatorial elections as a source of plausibly exogenous variation in uncertainty. In contrast to the literature documenting negative effects of political uncertainty on real investment, we find that uncertainty over government policy encourages firm-level R&D. Firms increase R&D investments by an average of 4.6% in election years relative to non-election years. The uncertainty effect is stronger in hotly contested elections, in politically sensitive and hard-to-innovate industries, and in firms subject to higher growth options and greater product market competition. Our findings suggest that, as …

On The Edge Of Disruption, David K. C. Lee

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The financial system is on the verge of massive disruption. Innovative competitors operating on sleek business models and offering new alternative services are entering at the bottom of the market, where gross margins are low and latent demand is high. As these new entrants scale and progress through higher market segments, they will erode incumbent pricing power.

Testing For Multiple Bubbles: Historical Episodes Of Exuberance And Collapse In The S&P 500, Peter C. B. Phillips, Shuping Shi, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

Recent work on econometric detection mechanisms has shown the effectiveness of recursive procedures in identifying and dating financial bubbles in real time. These procedures are useful as warning alerts in surveillance strategies conducted by central banks and fiscal regulators with real-time data. Use of these methods over long historical periods presents a more serious econometric challenge due to the complexity of the nonlinear structure and break mechanisms that are inherent in multiple-bubble phenomena within the same sample period. To meet this challenge, this article develops a new recursive flexible window method that is better suited for practical implementation with long …

The Impact Of High-Order Risk Attitudes On Bank's Loan Policy, Yuchen Luo

Lingnan Theses

It is well known that prudence plays an important role in the process of decision making under uncertainties. However, how prudence affects a bank's decision on extending fixed rate or variable rate loan has not yet been fully examined. In this dissertation, I use definition of second-order expectation dependence to further identify conditions for the risk prudent (imprudent) bank under state-dependent framework to refrain from extending fixed rate loans. Furthermore, using a set of actual data, I apply a recent developed inference procedure for testing positive expectation dependence to demonstrate the significance of my work in empirical applications. In the …

Faculty Focus: Finance Professor Brings Real-World Lessons To Class

Business Exchange

Profile of Finance Professor Rebel Cole showcases his preference for using real-world case studies of international finance to challenge students to take on the role of decision-maker and learn from real-life examples.

Scholarly Pursuits: Business Insights From Driehaus Faculty Research

Business Exchange

Lessons in Marketing from the "Obama Model"; Lack of Self-Awareness at Work Hurts Team Performance; Award-Winning Research Sheds Light on Shareholder Activism

An Expanding Financial Sector: Continuity And Change Among Dhikur Groups In Lower Mustang, Anna Misenti

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Thakali people of lower Mustang have a long history of economic success fostered through community systems that function due to cooperation, but are also characterized by competition. One of these traditional systems is dhikur , a system of rotating credit composed of approximately twenty members. This study examines the roles of traditional savings and credit institutions within communities in lower Mustang in the context of the emergence of private financial institutions in Jomsom over the last ten years. My research displayed the strength of these community based organizations in the face of a private financial sector where organizational requirements …

Notes With Interest: Department Of Finance Newsletter, N04, Fall 2015, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Finance.

Department of Finance Newsletter

News about the activities of the Department of Finance

Nevada Continues To Lead Delaware And All Other States And Jurisdictions In 2014 Securities And Exchange Commission Trading Suspensions, Anthony J. Cataldo Ii, Xi (Cici) Cheng, Paul Christ, Thomas Miller

Accounting Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Innovations In Financial Is And Technology Ecosystems: High-Frequency Trading Systems In The Equity Market, Robert J. Kauffman, Jun Liu, Dan Ma

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Technology-based financial innovations over the past four decades have led to transformations in the financial markets. Understanding technological innovations in financial information systems (IS) and technologies has been challenging for technology consultants and financial industry practitioners due to the underlying complexities though. In this article, we propose an ecosystem analysis approach by extending the technology ecosystem paths of influence model (Adomavicius et al., 2008a) to incorporate stakeholder actions, considering both supply-side and demand-side forces for technological change. Our ecosystem model brings together three original core elements: technology components, technology-based services, and technology-supported business infrastructures. We also contribute a fourth new …

Trading Costs On The Stock Exchange Of Thailand, Nattawut Jenwittayaroje, Charlie Charoenwong, David K. Ding, Yung Chiang Yang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examines the components of trading costs incurred in trading large and liquid stocks listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. We find that aggressive orders pay an immediacy price measured by price impact, whereas executed passive orders gain the immediacy price. We also find a sizable opportunity cost from the unexecuted portion of a limit order that more than offsets the benefit obtained from the partial fulfillment of the order. The total trading cost, which includes price impact and opportunity cost, is positively related to order size and stock price volatility, but negatively associated with firm size, stock …

Local Business Cycles And Local Liquidity, Gennaro Bernile, George Korniotis, Alok Kumar, Qin Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examines whether state-level economic conditions affect the liquidity of local firms. We find that liquidity levels of local stocks are higher (lower) when the local economy has performed well (poorly). This relation is stronger when local financing constraints are more binding, the local information environment is more opaque, and local institutional ownership levels and trading intensity are higher. Overall the evidence supports the notion that the geographical segmentation of U.S. capital markets generates predictable patterns in local liquidity.

Essays On International Risk-Return Trade-Off Relations, Liang Meng

Finance Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two essays on the international risk-return trade-off relations. The first essay is titled “The Role of the US Market on International Risk-Return Trade-Off Relations” and the second essay is titled “The Role of Investor Sentiment on International Risk-Return Trade-Off Relations”.

In our first essay, we study the intertemporal risk-return trade-off relations based on returns from 18 international markets. Our main contribution is that we find the US market plays an important role affecting the international risk-return trade-off. We present striking new empirical evidence that the inclusion of US market variables significantly changes the estimated risk-return trade-off …

Consumer Confidence Keeps Rising, Steven D. Dolvin

All Chapters

According to a recent article from US News, consumer confidence is at an 8-year high. It will be interesting to see how this impacts the economy and markets in light of the negative impacts of international problems, particularly in China.

Business Framing For Analytics, Beverly Wright

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Both the academic and business practitioner communities are faced with the challenges of discovery, innovation, and constant learning of their field, particularly within the marketing discipline, where content, processes, and even structure are dynamic in nature, with constantly evolving interests and focus. A solid research agenda with excellent analytics to address pertinent business questions is crucial for successfully expanding our understanding of the marketing function.

A Research Note On Street Pricing Requirements In Major U.S. Airport Retail Concessions Requests For Proposals, Blaise Waguespack

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

When reviewing the subject of airport marketing, much of the literature is broken down into issues external or internal to the airport. The external literature tends to divide and differentiate airports on the issues of size (passenger counts) and who is the target of the marketing campaign. Those articles and books that tend to focus on the larger commercial airports (Jarach, 2005; Halpern and Graham, 2013) note the role the airport can play in economic development. Much of the external marketing tasks for the larger commercial airports are aimed at either attracting more airline service to the community or working …

Rembrandt Versus Van Gogh: A Qualitative Contrast Study Applying A Visual Arts Valutation Model, Rene Desborde, Kimball P. Marshall

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Few marketing scholars have explored the field of fine arts marketing despite its significance as an area of economic activity and human creativity. Billions of dollars change hands annually in the worldwide visual fine arts industry (Velthuis, 2007; Clark and Flaherty, 2002), defined here to include various paintings, sculptures, and ceramics. This lack of academic attention might be because marketing scholars perceive that issues related to fine arts have little to do with marketing. It could also be that the unique characteristics of fine arts marketing are thought not to lend themselves to a traditional analytical approach to explain a …

Perceived Risk Reduction In E-Commerce Environments, C. Michael Powell, Chris Conca

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

During the past three decades, the growth of e-commerce has presented marketers with many new arenas for research and application. Certainly e-commerce has become a significant portion of the world economy and in particular the consumer sector. As previous literature has consistently considered perceived risk as a major factor consumer purchase decisions, this research identifies several major components of consumer perceived risk (PR) and their normative implications in the e-commerce environment

National Culture Dimensions And Consumer Digital Piracy: A European Perspective, Irena Vida, Monika Kukar-Kinney, Mateja Kos Kokli, James Reardon

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Digital piracy as a ubiquitous phenomenon affects a number of stakeholders, such as consumers, enterprises, and governments. Considering its global nature, it has been of particular interest to consumer researchers. Hence, a large body of digital piracy literature sheds light on the demand side and illuminates various predictors of digital piracy behavior (Harris & Daunt, 2011). Despite these efforts, very little attention has been devoted to applying international perspective in investigating digital piracy across different countries (Ki, Chang, & Khang, 2006). This study aims to fill this void by examining the digital piracy behavior in three EU countries. In addition, …

Do You Feel Financially Secured? The Investigation Of Economic Indicators Of Financial Well-Being, Tommy Hsu, Leona Tam, Ryan T. Howell

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The economy has been in downward movement in the past few years in the United States as well as different parts of the world. Consumers’ financial situations have been found to influence their purchase behaviors. While some personal finance experts blame consumers’ (lack of) spending plans for their financial situations, others suggest that consumers’ perception of their financial standing influences their purchase plans. Using a nationwide large scale survey study, we examined the value of applying economic indicators as proxy measure of financial well-being. Instead of income or debts, wealth was found to be the most important economic indicator of …