Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Lévy Processes: Characterizing Volcanic And Financial Time Series, Peter Kwadwo Asante

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this work, we use the Diffusion Entropy Analysis (DEA) to analyze and detect the scaling properties of time series from both emerging and well established markets as well as volcanic eruptions recorded by a seismic station, both financial and volcanic time series data are known to have high frequencies (i.e they are collected at an extremely fine scale). The objective is to determine the characterization i.e whether they follow a Gaussian or Lévy distribution. If they do follow a Lévy distribution we are then interested in finding if they are characterized by a Lévy walk which has a finite …

Essays On The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Of 2017, Tahsina Haque Simu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study investigates the effects of a tax reform act on the financing and tax planning activities of firms using the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 as the experimental setting. This paper examines the changes in debt levels, effective tax rates, use of interest and non-debt tax shields and various tax constructs before and after the tax revision. The results show that debt ratios significantly rise from pre to post event year. Economically, this increase seems significant, as well, as increases in debt ratios range from 1% to 4%. There is also evidence that effective tax rates do …

Market Effects Of Local Media Employment Reductions On The Idiosyncratic Risk Of Nearby Firms; Returns, Valuation, And Debt; And Firm Meet-Beat Behavior And Ceo Turnover And Compensation, C. Kyle Jones

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research examines the effects of reductions in local and regional media employment on firms' information environment. A reduction in the number of local media employees available to provide coverage of firms is associated with persistent levels of increased idiosyncratic risk. The source of that firm-level risk appears to be increased estimation risk among investors, rather than decreased awareness about the investment opportunities or real effects on firms' product market competition. I also demonstrate that overall levels of local media coverage are associated with differences in returns similar to those associated with coverage in national outlets. While a reduction in …

Managerial Entrenchment And Financial Reporting Comparability, Qifeng Wu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study examines whether managerial entrenchment has an association with firms' financial statement comparability. I find that managerial entrenchment has a significant negative association with financial statement comparability, providing a new notion about the management influence on financial reporting quality. Moreover, by using the business segment as a proxy for business complexity, I find that the variation of accounting comparability with its peer firms mainly stems from managers' investment choice. This finding supports FASB's assertion that financial statement comparability is a reporting quality that should be enhanced among firms with similar economic events. Lastly, I test if managerial entrenchment mitigates …

Two Essays On Executive Compensation, Michael Abrokwah

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This doctoral dissertation examines the effect of an exogenous event on Executive compensation and the relationship between executive compensation and earnings management undertaken by the firm.

My first essay presents evidence that natural disasters have an effect on CEO compensation. Our main findings are that option compensation is lower for CEOs in counties where a natural disaster occurred. Furthermore, in the year of the disaster, stock compensation is higher among CEOs in natural disaster counties when compared to those in non-disaster counties. When considering liquidity, option compensation levels are lower for firms with below average liquidity levels but stock compensation …

Stochastic Modeling Of Earthquakes And Option Pricing Using Bns-Gamma-Ou Model, Mandela Bright Quashie

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

High frequency data are becoming increasingly popular these days. They are fundamental in basically every facet of people’s lives. They are the determining factors in hedging in the field of finance. In geology, they help in the accurate prediction of earthquakes’ magnitude which goes along way to help save lives and properties.

High frequency data are also used more and more frequently for speculations. For this reason, it is important not only for scientists to apply models allowing correct quantification of these data, but also to improve the eciency of these models.

The Black-Scholes model, which is widely used because …

How Access To Finances Affects Gender Inequality Across Cultures, Allison Muntin

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

While many studies of financial inclusion have been undertaken, very few discuss the inclusion of women. Financial inclusion plays a large role in unlocking resources for the disadvantaged, resulting in higher economic growth and development. The economic opportunity allows individuals and businesses to have a greater contribution to society as a whole, enhancing all aspects of the economy. This paper furthers the conversation of women’s access to financial institution accounts across cultures and what underlying factors play a key role. The results indicate that the female demographic has fewer financial institution accounts in comparison to men when: (i) a country’s …

Perceptions Of The Value Of Financial Education In African American Creditworthiness, Melvin Thomas Miller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research suggests a disparity for African Americans within the banking system, as they are denied credit at a higher rate than other ethnic groups. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions of African Americans financial training in regards to qualifying for consumer loans. The conceptual framework was based on seminal theories on credit risk assessment and critical race theory. The research questions were designed to address banking officials' perceptions of financial training and the effectiveness of training in improving African Americans' credit. A phenomenological design was employed with the purposeful sample of 9 banking officials within …

Employee Motivation And Knowledge Transfer In Nonprofit Organizations, Heidi Keam Nors

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractIneffective knowledge transfer strategies can negatively affect knowledge creation and employee motivation. Nonprofit business leaders who struggle with knowledge transfer among department staff are at a high risk of not improving employee motivation. Grounded in Kahn’s organizational theory on leadership and structure, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the knowledge transfer strategies used by nonprofit business leaders to transfer knowledge among departmental staff and to improve employee motivation. The participants comprised business leaders and staff, consisting of 2 executives, 2 managers, and 2 departmental staff members from a nonprofit charter school management company in North …

Essays On Financial Institutions And Advisors, Joseph D. Farizo

Theses and Dissertations--Finance and Quantitative Methods

In my first chapter, I examine how index funds vote their proxies on firms in its index that their family does not hold in its actively managed funds. For a given proxy proposal at a given point in time, I find that an index fund is more likely to oppose management on shares its family does not hold in its active funds than on shares its family does hold in its active funds. I further demonstrate that index fund governance has positive effects on the probability a proposal passes and on shareholder value. In my second chapter coauthored with Will …

Essays On Corporate Finance And Institutional Investors, Ang Li

Theses and Dissertations--Finance and Quantitative Methods

The dissertation consists of three chapters spanning two areas of finance: corporate finance and institutional investors. In the first chapter, “Board Gender Diversity, Firm Culture, and Female Inventors”, I study how employee's Research and Development (R&D) activity is affected by firm culture. Using board gender diversity as a proxy for female-friendly culture, I find that a greater representation of women in the boardroom is associated with increased productivity and innovation output by female inventors relative to male inventors. Female inventors file more highly cited patents and less uncited patents. The effect is driven by female directors with R&D or high-tech …

Essays On The Spillover Effects Of Whistleblowing On Peer Firms, Emmanuel Joseph Sequeira

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation examines the spillover effects of media reported corporate whistleblowing on industry peer firms in two essays. The first essay examines peer firm risk-taking and firm efficiency following a whistleblowing allegation. I find that peers significantly reduce their risk-taking following the allegation. They also increase their efficiency following the allegation and increase their market share at the expense of the whistleblowing firms, leading to increased profitability. My second essay examines peer firms' earnings management choices following a whistleblowing allegation. I find that peer firms significantly reduce their manipulation of real activities and reduce their use of accruals-based earnings management …

A Business Plan For The Fitzgerald Institute, Elaine M. King, Matthew G. Deibel, Matthew J. Bulgrin, Alex Skeen, Stephanie N. Kieke

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This piece seeks to develop a business strategy for the University of Akron's Fitzgerald Institute for Entrepreneurship. The recommendations given were developed utilizing research on entrepreneurial education and the desires of students at the university.

Culture Of Countries And Country-Index Crash Risk, Jason Petri

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Previously crash- risk studies have focused on assessing at the firm level the likelihood of a firm’s equity to crash (a rapid decline in value), apart from the dynamics of its respective country-level market. In this study, however, I examine the determinants of an overall countrylevel equity crash apart from the dynamics of the global market. I will argue that this is a very different focus of analysis that will provide valuable information to both investors and policy makers. Expansion of credit and subsequent equity-market bubbles and crashes are of particular concern to foreign direct investors (FDI), as country-level equity …

Cross-Industry Information Sharing And Analyst Performance, Allen Huang, An-Ping Lin, Amy Zang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study shows that analyst research benefits from the sharing of information about economically connected industries among colleagues. Measuring the intensity of potential information sharing with the level of economic connection between an analyst’s industry and her colleagues’ industries, we find that it is positively correlated with an analyst’s earnings forecast accuracy, stock recommendation profitability, coverage breadth, and report frequency after controlling for other determinants including broker or analyst fixed effects. We also find that analysts are more likely to issue reports when highly connected colleagues produce information. We show that sharing information with colleagues covering downstream (upstream) industries benefits …

Ecosystem-Specific Growth Responses To Climate Pattern By A Temperate Freshwater Fish, Jonathan Spurgeon, Mark A. Pegg, Kevin L. Pope, Lin Xie

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

Somatic growth patterns among animal populations are maintained through complex processes that vary among ecosystems. Changes in growth patterns may be concomitant with changes in climate; however, understanding how growth will manifest among ecosystems is limited. Information embedded within fish hard-parts (i.e., otoliths, spines, vertebrae) can account for variation in growth patterns resulting from changing climate conditions. Channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus is a freshwater fish species widely distributed across North America with limited information regarding climate influences on growth and differences in climate-growth relations among ecological systems. We assessed growth (total length) response to changing climate conditions for channel catfish …

Resilience Management For Conservation Of Inland Recreational Fisheries, Edward V. Camp, Mark A. Kaemingk, Robert N. M. Ahrens, Warren M. Potts, William E. Pine Iii, Olaf L. F. Weyl, Kevin L. Pope

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

Resilience thinking has generated much interest among scientific communities, yet most resilience concepts have not materialized into management applications. We believe that using resilience concepts to characterize systems and the social and ecological processes affecting them is a way to integrate resilience into better management decisions. This situation is exemplified by inland recreational fisheries, which represent complex socioecological systems that face unpredictable and unavoidable change. Making management decisions in the context of resilience is increasingly important given mounting environmental and anthropogenic perturbations to inland systems. Herein, we propose a framework that allows resilience concepts to be better incorporated into management …

Coerced Regimes: Management Challenges In The Anthropocene, David G. Angeler, Brian C. Chaffin, Shana M. Sundstrom, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Kevin L. Pope, Daniel R. Uden, Dirac Twidwell, Craig R. Allen

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

Management frequently creates system conditions that poorly mimic the conditions of a desirable self-organizing regime. Such management is ubiquitous across complex systems of people and nature and will likely intensify as these systems face rapid change. However, it is highly uncertain whether the costs (unintended consequences, including negative side effects) of management but also social dynamics can eventually outweigh benefits in the long term. We introduce the term “coerced regime” to conceptualize this management form and tie it into resilience theory. The concept encompasses proactive and reactive management to maintain desirable and mitigate undesirable regime conditions, respectively. A coerced regime …

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) …

Return Predictability Of Cape Versus Pe, A Case Of Thai Stock Exchange Market, Theerapat Muenpakdee

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

No abstract provided.

Budget Habits Of College Students: An Empirical Analysis Of Expectations And Realizations, James C. Brau, Marshall Ringwood, Jessica West

Faculty Publications

Using a sample of more than 500 college students from a large, private university, this study seeks to analyze spending expectations of students, their realized habits, and the dispersion between the two. We first ask the students to project what they think their monthly budget will be throughout the semester. We then ask them to track their expenses for three months. The students do the same for income they receive. The students then report their actual spending habits and answer various questions related to their demography, family, and life experience. We use simple univariate correlation methods to explain factors that …

Strategies For Improving Rural Small Startup Business Owners Success To Prevent Closures, Hector Lora

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners with unsuccessful startup strategies can negatively impact business sustainability. Small business owners are concerned about startup strategies because 50% of new, small business owners fail within the first 5 years of operation. Grounded in the systems theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies 4 rural, small startup business owners in Tennessee used to prevent closure within the first 5 years of operation. The participants selected successfully implemented strategies to avoid business closures. Data were collected using semistructured face-to-face interviews and revised reports published by the Center for Rural Affairs, U.S. Economic …

Strategies To Integrate Technological Innovations For Caribbean Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Deborah J. Mahabir-Yearwood

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Up to 59% of managers in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) fail to integrate technological innovation (TI) strategies. Restricted access to sophisticated technology, limited capital, and discontinuous collaborations between SMEs and government organizations hamper the successful integration of TI by managers of Caribbean SMEs. Managers of SMEs in the Caribbean region must exploit strategies for improved efficiencies in operational capacity, continuous development in business profits and growth, and surviving hyper-competition. Grounded by the theories of diffusion of innovation and adopter-based instrumentalist, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies that 4 operation managers of SMEs …

An Examination Of Corporate Financial Performance Within Corporate Socially Responsible Standard & Poor 500 Companies, Kevin J. Utzig

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many managers are failing to predict and respond to the evolutionary changes within their firm’s business environment. Some experts believe that any company not utilizing a corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy will lose customers, which will have a direct impact on the firm’s financial performance. Managers lack a clear understanding of the impacts of CSR strategies on corporate financial performance. The purpose of this quantitative multiple regression-based study was to examine what relationship existed between an organization’s CSR strategy and its financial performance. The conceptual frameworks for this research were stakeholder and triple bottom line theories. These frameworks were selected …

Bidding Strategies For Winning Construction Bids In South Africa, Momoh Vandi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The failure of small business managers to understand various bidding strategies leads to losing construction bids. The lack of management skills, limited access to markets, weak customer relationships, lack of appropriate technology, and government bureaucracy are problems small business managers face when preparing to bid for construction contracts. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore bidding strategies small and medium enterprise business managers use to win construction bids. The participants comprised 5 business owners of small- and medium-sized construction enterprises in Johannesburg, South Africa. The conceptual framework was the theory of constraints. Data were collected using …

Business Funding Strategies For Women-Owned Small Businesses, Jefreda R. Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, limitations in funding allocation threaten the viability of small business success. In the United States, women start businesses at faster rates than men do, but women business owners continue to experience challenges in accessing capital to sustain their businesses. Grounded in pecking order theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to identify business funding strategies women small business owners in Birmingham, Alabama, used to sustain their businesses for more than 5 years. The participants for this study were 3 women small business owners in Birmingham, Alabama, who have used business funding strategies to …

Strategies Small Business Leaders Implement For Outsourced It Solutions For Business Sustainability, Jessica A. Folkes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses in the United States have a high failure rate within their first 5 years of operation. Small business success is vital to the economy because it drives revenue, income, and job creation. Grounded in rational decision-making theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies small business owners and leaders implement for effective outsourced IT solutions for business sustainability. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with 10 purposefully selected business owners and leaders in the Houston, Texas, metro area and from a review of documentation from archival records. Yin's 5-step analysis guided the coding …

Three Essays On Energy Markets, Sultan Alturki

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation includes three essays investigating topics relevant to the energy markets. The first essay employs a new dataset to measure the impact of investor sentiment regarding oil prices on the U.S. inflation premium. The empirical analysis relies on Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) and out-of-sample forecasts. The results indicate that a one standard deviation positive shock to overall investor sentiment regarding oil prices results in a significant increase in the U.S. inflation premium by approximately 1.2% over the subsequent 10 weeks. Compared to individual investor sentiment, institutional investor sentiment regarding oil prices has a larger impact on the U.S. inflation …