Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Does Bidder Complexity Affect Market Reactions To M&A Decisions?, Rajib Chowdhury, John A. Doukas

Finance Faculty Publications

We examine whether and how bidder complexity influences investor reactions to merger and acquisition (M&A) announcements. Using an established measure of complexity, we find a significant positive relationship between acquiring firm complexity and cumulative abnormal returns (CAR). This suggests that investors perceive more complex firms as capable and value-enhancing participants in M&A activities. The association is particularly strong for bidders with high operating risk, greater R&D intensity, and larger firm size. We also find that complex bidders tend to offer higher takeover premiums. Overall, our study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that bidder complexity is an important determinant of …

Gubernatorial Re-Election Incentives, Local Investment Bias, And Pension Fund Performance, Hongxian Zhang, Liang Guo, Jun Hao, Yu Liu

Business and Information Technology Faculty Research & Creative Works

We investigate the impact of gubernatorial re-election incentive and political factors on US public pension funds from 1990 to 2022. Our empirical analysis finds no significant overall relationship between gubernatorial re-election incentives and local bias in the full sample. However, the effect of gubernatorial re-election incentives on local bias is influenced by a state's level of corruption. Specifically, in states within the lowest corruption quantile, governors eligible for re-election tend to prioritize local investments to gain consistent support. In contrast, in states within the highest corruption quantile, heightened scrutiny may encourage re-election-eligible governors to adopt conservative investment policies that do …

Essays In Housing And Consumer Finance, Spencer Stone

Theses and Dissertations--Finance and Quantitative Methods

In my first chapter, I show how consumer left-digit bias affects borrowing costs in the US residential mortgage market. I find that the distribution of mortgage rates bunch at .99-ending rates just below left-digit changing thresholds, and that this bunching is greater in the distribution of rates selected by borrowers than those simply offered by lenders. Comparing observably similar borrowers within the same 1-bp interest rate band, selecting similar mortgage products, in the same census tract and origination month, I show that borrowers receiving .99-ending rates pay significantly more fees than borrowers receiving the nearest whole-number rate just above them, …

A Strategic Analysis Of Project Learn Of Summit County, Alex Kennedy, Tyler Hutchinson, Haley Guest, Zach D. Thomas, Lizzie Sisler

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Our group is working with Project Learn of Summit County, a GED and ESL assistance program located in the Akron Public Library. Our group will be performing a strategic analysis and providing them with a strategic plan, to be presented to them at the end of the term. We aim to increase awareness for the program, point out areas of growth, and increase functionality.

Dynamic Modelling Of Shocks To Credit Spread Risk In Banking Book: Evidence From European Sovereign Markets, Yaman O. Erzurumlu, Alper Kirik, Tunc Oygur

Faculty Publications – Finance, Insurance, and Law

This research examines the relationship between credit spread risk in the banking book (CSRBB) and bond market behavior across various maturities in twelve European nations. We address the challenges banks encounter in modeling CSRBB in isolation, as directed by the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) revised guidelines, which mandate the distinct management of CSRBB and interest rate risk in the banking book (IRRBB). Utilizing IRF and VAR models, the analysis demonstrates that credit spread shocks have divergent effects on sovereign bond I-Spreads and 5-year Credit Default Swap spreads across different tenors and countries. The results also indicate that shock absorption and …

100 Conversation Starters To Develop Student Critical Thinking In Intermediate And Financial Accounting Courses, Joe B. Hoyle

Bookshelf

INTRODUCTION

Why create a book containing nothing but accounting problems?

The genesis of an idea is often difficult to recall, but I can trace the creation of this project to a single sentence found in a specific book.  One recent summer, to help prepare myself for the upcoming academic year, I began reading Why Don’t Students Like School? by Daniel T. Willingham.  On page 16 of the dog-eared copy I acquired on the Internet, I was drawn to a key sentence like a moth to a flame.  The words were buried rather unobtrusively within a long paragraph but, for me, …

Essays On Stock Market Expectations And Financial Decisions, Shanxiang Yang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation consists of three essays on stock market expectations and financial decisions. The first essay shows significant racial differences in expectations regarding future stock market performance. Using data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Survey of Consumer Expectations from 2013 to 2022, we find that, relative to White Americans, Black and Hispanic Americans have lower probabilistic expectations that the stock market will increase. This racial gap in expectations was even larger during the recession caused by the Covid-19 epidemic, suggesting that economic uncertainty exacerbates this heterogeneity in expectations. Furthermore, we show that relative to White Americans, the …

Three Essays On Option Markets, Fangzheng Ou

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation includes three essays examining index option and stock option markets. The first essay investigates the pricing kernel puzzle by examining S&P 500 index option returns and empirical pricing kernels across expiration dates ranging from one month to one year. We document that at short maturities, out-of-the-money call option returns are negative and decrease with the strike price, while at long maturities, at least some are positive and increase with the strike price. Empirical pricing kernels predominantly exhibit a W-shape at short maturities, with this pattern becoming less pronounced and evolving toward a monotonically decreasing curve at longer maturities. …

Design Thinking For Corporate Social Responsibility Program Proposal Creation, Michelle "Mindy" D. Danovaro

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study used action research to explore how the use of design thinking engaged employees in the creation of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program proposal in a small- to medium-enterprises (SME) in the Sacramento region of California. The purpose of the study was to assess whether employee participation in a design thinking exercise could improve employee perception of engagement, inclusion, and reciprocity during the CSR program proposal creation. The study was grounded in social exchange theory, stakeholder theory, and design thinking methodologies. The iterative research process followed action research cycles (i.e., plan, act, observe, and reflect) integrated with …

Detection Of Financial And Political Fake News As A Measure To Prevent Instability In Financial Markets, Konstantyn Malyshenko

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This article explores the role of social networks as a catalyst for instability in financial markets. Its purpose is to present strategies for mitigating the media’s influence on adverse outcomes, primarily by analyzing the information cascades and related transactions in stock markets. The innovative aspect of this research lies in the development of methods for analyzing specific types of information, particularly media reports, to identify indicators of fake that distort public perception. The focus of this study is on fake news and the analysis of its potential linguistic features for identification purposes. A significant outcome of this research is the …

Lease Capitalization And Financial Flexibility: An Empirical Investigation Of Asc 842’S Impact On Liquidity In The Us Telecommunications Industry, Caleb J. Martin

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

Measures of liquidity are some of the most important financial ratios to analyze when measuring a firm’s overall financial health and its ability to pay both creditors and dividends. The US telecommunications industry is an industry that has become synonymous with dividends, mergers, and acquisitions, all of which are possible due to industry wide and firm specific liquidity. With the implementation of ASC 842 and the new standard of placing operational leases on the balance sheet, additional research may be warranted to determine the effect ASC 842 may have on firm liquidity. This study investigated whether there was evidence to …

The Investor Perspective Of Materiality, Sam Lessinger

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Often auditors are asked to adopt the reasonable investor perspective in their materiality evaluations however, there is no consensus regarding what investors deem to be material. This can lead to confusion in the markets. In fact, past studies have shown how taking an investor perspective can backfire and may result in more leniency and fewer misstatements being deemed material by auditors. This leniency can, potentially, result in financial statements that mislead investors. The aim of this paper is to address the reasonable investor perspective to achieve a more complete understanding of an investor’s viewpoint. This study also incorporates the effect …

Financial Literacy And Inclusion Of Philippine Jeepney And Tricycle Drivers, Bryan N. Bernabe, Jyro B. Triviño

Leadership and Strategy Faculty Publications

The study investigated how the different elements of financial literacy influence the financial inclusion of jeepney and tricycle drivers in Caloocan, Metro Manila. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation between financial inclusion and attitude, behavior, knowledge, and skills. Additionally, analysis of variance highlighted that education and age play significant roles in enhancing financial literacy. The linear regression findings also supported the idea that income acts as a positive moderator, augmenting the impact of financial literacy on financial inclusion. The study attempted to disaggregate its financial literacy components to understand their impact on financial inclusion, but its interrelationships also require …

Lost In The Language: Data Breaches And The Strategic Fog Of Risk Disclosures, Ling Tuo, Shipeng Han

Accounting Faculty Publications

This study examines whether firms strategically adjust the readability of Item 1A (“Risk Factors”) disclosures following data breaches. Using U.S. firm-year observations from 2006 to 2023, we find that data breaches are associated with a significant decline in Item 1A readability. This decline is not accompanied by a meaningful increase in informational content; instead, post-breach disclosures exhibit higher syntactic complexity, more positive tone, and lower textual similarity to prior and industry peers' filings, consistent with strategic obfuscation rather than transparent reporting. The readability decline is amplified among firms facing higher litigation risk but attenuated among firms with stronger reputations for …

Linear And Asymmetric Interactions Of Bank And Stock Market Development In The Face Of Global Economic Uncertainty: A Focus On The Nigerian Economy, Augustine C. Arize, Ebere Ume Kalu, John Malindretos, Srinvias Nippani

Faculty Publications

This study explores the functional interaction between bank development and stock market development in the face of uncertainty variables. The geography of the study is one of the largest economies in Africa—Nigeria—regarding the following variables: credit to the private sector (CPS), broad money (M2) stock market capitalization (MCAP), and industrial production (IP), which are all scaled by the gross domestic product (GDP) and used in natural log form. Additionally, we included the natural logarithm of a measure of monetary policy uncertainty, which represents the uncertainty variable. In terms of methodology, the study uses monthly time series data from 1990:M1-2022M4 (384 …

From Reviews To Value: Harnessing Crowdsourced Data To Capture Visitor Perceptions And Economic Benefits Of Recreation, Laura Costadone, Shan Zhang

ODU Articles

Quantifying the recreational value of protected natural areas is essential for sustainable management, conservation financing, and informed decision-making. Traditional approaches, such as on-site surveys, are often costly, spatially limited, and constrained by regulatory barriers. This study evaluates the potential of crowdsourced user-generated data to jointly assess visitor perceptions and the economic value of nature-based recreation, using Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge (Virginia, USA) as a case study. We integrated georeferenced photographs and textual content from four platforms (Flickr, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and AllTrails) with supplementary survey data to analyze visitation patterns, visitor sentiment, cultural ecosystem services, and recreational value using the …

Navigating Financial Futures: A Case Study Of A Targeted Financial Literacy Program For African American College Students, Michael L. James

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation presents a qualitative analysis of a targeted financial literacy program designed for African American college students. The dissertation examined how African American college students describe and make meaning of their participation in a targeted financial literacy program, particularly in relation to the program’s structure, content, and delivery. Despite growing interest in financial literacy education, interventions that acknowledge the persistent wealth gap and systemic financial inequities faced by African Americans remain underexplored. Employing a case study research method within a program understanding framework, this study investigated a program at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Findings reveal that the …

Entropic Foundation Of Finance And Physics: Securities Price Dynamics And Quantum Theory, Mohammad Abedi

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

In many scientific and financial contexts, we must reason and make predictions under conditions of incomplete information. This dissertation develops Entropic Dynamics (ED) as a unified framework for deriving dynamical laws directly from principles of inference. Within this approach, probability distributions represent states of knowledge, and their evolution is determined through entropy maximization subject to relevant constraints. This leads to a novel concept of entropic time and a formulation of dynamics as an inferential process. In this talk, I will present how ED provides a common foundation across multiple domains. In physics, quantum dynamics for particles and scalar fields in …

Contemporary Issues In Economics And Finance: The View From China, Kenneth S. Bigel

Open Touro Created

2026

This collection of essays showcases original research crafted by exceptional young scholars—primarily high school students from China and North America—guided step-by-step from topic selection to final publication. Across diverse subjects in business and the social sciences, these emerging researchers demonstrate curiosity, discipline, and global awareness. Their work provides a rare window into the questions today’s youth are asking on both sides of the Pacific, offering fresh perspectives and a meaningful bridge between two world powers. Designed not only to inspire but also to instruct, this compendium fills a long-recognized gap in early research education: it presents accessible, real student …

[Abstract For] Bond Pricing Mechanics Beyond Yield-To-Maturity Based Calculations, Maura Alexander, Tom Arnold, Xiu (Summer) Liu

Finance Faculty Publications

Three methods for pricing bonds are presented: using a constant yield to maturity, using the yield curve with discount factors, and using implied forward rates from the yield curve with backward induction.  By moving beyond the first method, more dynamic duration and convexity analyses emerge.  Further, logical connections and extensions are made in regard to pricing bonds with embedded options, the calculation of a swap rate, and the “bond bootstrapping” process for building a yield curve.

Data Utilization In Facilities’ Performance Management Decision- Making At U.S. Four-Year Public Institutions: A Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study, Tanaporn Supanichrattana

Theses and Dissertations

The growing complexity of higher education finance, aging infrastructure, and rising accountability expectations has intensified demands on facilities organizations to manage institutional assets strategically. As colleges and universities face sustained fiscal constraints and expanding operational pressures, the ability of facilities leaders to use data to inform performance management has become increasingly critical. Despite this importance, limited empirical research has examined how facilities leaders integrate data into decision-making within public higher education contexts.

The quantitative study employed a cross-sectional, exploratory survey design to investigate data utilization practices among facilities leaders at U.S. public four-year institutions. Guided by the Data–Information–Knowledge–Wisdom hierarchy and …

Evaluating The Use Of Machine Learning For Road Maintenance Cost Estimation, Shahla Shirinzad, David Enke

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Accurate estimation of highway maintenance costs is essential for efficient resource allocation and long-term infrastructure sustainability. This study evaluates the effectiveness of advanced machine learning models, including ResNet, Transformer, and other neural network architectures, for forecasting maintenance costs using historical data from the Highway Maintenance Improvement Program (HMIP) provided by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NC DOT). A comprehensive comparative analysis is conducted across multiple models using standard performance metrics, including R², MAE, RMSE, and MSE. The results demonstrate that advanced architectures, particularly ResNet and Transformer, consistently outperform traditional statistical approaches and baseline machine learning models, achieving …

Strategic Signaling Or Structural Friction?: How Ai Disclosure Moderates Resource-Performance Dynamics In Hotels And Restaurants, Jaewan Heo

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly important strategic issue in the hospitality industry. While prior research has primarily examined AI as an operational technology that improves efficiency and service delivery, less attention has been paid to how AI-related disclosures influence investor evaluations of firm resources. This dissertation investigates whether AI-related disclosures moderate the relationship between organizational resources and financial performance in publicly traded hospitality firms.

Drawing on signaling theory and the resource-based view, this study conceptualizes AI disclosures as strategic signals that shape investor perceptions of firm capabilities and future value creation. Firm-level financial data were obtained from Compustat …

Well, If You Put It That Way Three Studies On Contract Framing In Incomplete Contract Environments, Garrison L. Nuttall

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation contains three studies examining contract framing, with implications for how organizations structure and frame performance-based compensation systems. Across all studies, I compare penalty contracts to bonus contracts with gain framing and bonus contracts with loss framing. My first study examines how managers prefer to frame performance-based compensation systems on average and identifies how the traits trust propensity, empathy, personal norm of reciprocity, loss aversion, Machiavellianism, and critical thinking disposition are associated with certain preferences. I find that mangers prefer bonus contracts to penalty contracts on average and that empathy is positively associated with this preference. My second study …

Two Essays On Out-Of-Town Home Buyers, Kamrul H. Talukdar

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation analyzes the price premia paid by Out-of-Town (or non-local) home buyers. The first essay investigates the role of social connectedness in the price premia paid by non-local buyers in the residential housing market. Using over 74,000 residential transactions from Orange and Seminole counties, Florida between 2016 and 2019 and exploiting the Social Connectedness Index (SCI) constructed based on Facebook friendship links, I show that non-local buyers who come from regions which are more socially connected to the purchase location pay about 1.8% to 2.1% lower premia compared to those coming from less connected regions. This effect is attributed …

Who Invests In Crypto? Revealed Types And Economic Drivers Of Retail Investment, Darren Aiello, Scott R. Baker, Tetyana Balyuk, Marco Di Maggio, Mark J. Johnson, Jason Kotter

Faculty Publications

Using transaction-level data from millions of U.S. households, we provide the first comprehensive characterization of retail cryptocurrency investment. Crypto investors are distinguished not by demographics but by a latent behavioral type revealed through consumption patterns—one that also predicts higher participation in traditional equity brokerages. The economic forces driving crypto investment, including income shocks, workplace peer effects, and inflation exposure, mirror those driving traditional investment. Crucially, households whose consumption matches the crypto-investor profile are more responsive to all these drivers across both asset classes, suggesting that investor type is a more relevant distinction than asset class.

Stock Market Reactions To Interest Rate Changes: Evidence From Emerging Markets, Binali Selman Eren

The Indonesian Capital Market Review

This study investigates the impact of interest rate decisions made by national central banks, including the Federal Reserve (Fed), and the European Central Bank (ECB), on the stock markets of emerging economies. It analyzed stock market reactions to interest rate hikes and cuts through the use of an event study approach. The findings provided evidence of heterogeneous effects of interest rate decisions by national central banks, the Fed, and the ECB on stock markets in emerging economies. Specifically, the results indicated that, in most emerging economies, stock markets reacted negatively to interest rate hikes and positively to cuts by national …

The Impact Of Shariah Law, Liquidity And Interest Rate On Sukuk Growth In Malaysia In Short And Long Run: The Ardl Estimation, Dheya Hamood Saif Al-Fakih, Shahsuzan Zakaria, Md Khairu Amin Ismail

The Indonesian Capital Market Review

The issuance of sukuk has been steadily increasing over time, underscoring its growing significance and the need for further scholarly examination. As a global leader in the Islamic finance industry and a prominent issuer of sukuk, Malaysia serves as a critical case study for understanding this phenomenon. It is essential to investigate various factors and their impact on the growth of sukuk. The study analyzes the relationship between sukuk growth and factors such as interest rate, liquidity (M1), and Shariah law using monthly data from April 2011 to December 2020 obtained from Thomson Reuters Eikon. The study employs the ARDL …

Awareness And Decision-Making In Cryptocurrency Investment Among Students In Guwahati: A Comprehensive Study, Rituparna Roy Dr, Anupam Chanda Dr, Bidangsha Basumatary

The Indonesian Capital Market Review

This study investigates the awareness and decision-making processes related to cryptocurrency investment among students in Guwahati, Assam. Cryptocurrency, a form of digital money designed for online transactions without government or bank oversight, has initiated significant shifts in the global financial sector. The decentralization of cryptocurrencies offers transparency, security, and efficiency, challenging traditional financial systems. Despite the growing global interest in cryptocurrencies, their adoption faces barriers such as limited technological expertise, regulatory uncertainty, and security concerns. These issues are particularly pronounced among students, a demographic increasingly interested in digital currencies but often lacking foundational financial knowledge. The research aims to fill …

Identifying Risk-Free Asset Proxies In Companies Listed On The Indonesia Stock Exchange From 2017 To 2023 Using The Zero-Beta Capital Asset Pricing Model, Fajri Alan Ghazali Mr., Lenny Suardi Mrs.

The Indonesian Capital Market Review

This study evaluates Bank Indonesia Certificates (SBI), IndONIA, and gold as zero-beta proxies for Indonesian equities. Using daily returns for 213 firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (2017–2023) and the Jakarta Composite Index as the market return, we estimate firm-level zero-beta CAPMs and compute Wald statistics test to identify the appropriate risk- free asset proxy for each individual company; and firm-level outcomes are then aggregated under a Bernoulli/Binomial criterion with a 95% threshold. Empirical results show that gold satisfies the zero-beta condition for 207 of 213 firms (97.18%), whereas SBI and IndONIA satisfy it for five (2.35%) and six …