Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Robust Median Reversion Strategy For Online Portfolio Selection, Dingjiang Huang, Junlong Zhou, Bin Li, Hoi, Steven C. H., Shuigeng Zhou

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

On-line portfolio selection has been attracting increasing interests from artificial intelligence community in recent decades. Mean reversion, as one most frequent pattern in financial markets, plays an important role in some state-of-the-art strategies. Though successful in certain datasets, existing mean reversion strategies do not fully consider noises and outliers in the data, leading to estimation error and thus non-optimal portfolios, which results in poor performance in practice. To overcome the limitation, we propose to exploit the reversion phenomenon by robust L1-median estimator, and design a novel on-line portfolio selection strategy named "Robust Median Reversion" (RMR), which makes optimal portfolios based …

Do Government Linked Companies Hold More Cash?, Chenxi Liu, Kian Leong Nelson Yap, Sili Zhou

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In this paper, we investigate the cash holings of government linked corporations (GLCs) in Singapore, with different levels of Temasek Holdings ownership. We find evidence that Temasek owned public firms hold on average substantially more cash than otherwise similar public firms listed on SGX. This result is robust to different measures of Temasek ownership. We also show that when GLCs have excess cash, they do not spend it on capital expenditure, acquisition, dividends or share repurchase. Instead, they hoard these excess cash leading to an accumulation of cash. In addition, we show that Temasek firms are on average more profitable, …

Two Essays On Ceo Inside Debt Holding In Relation To Firm Payout Policy And Financial Reporting, Asligul Erkan

Finance Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation is a thorough examination of CEO inside debt holding, and consists of two essays. The first essay focuses on the relationship between CEO inside debt and firm payout policy. Previous studies document that higher CEO inside debt is associated with lower firm payout which is explained by CEO’s motivation to preserve cash either in order not to default on debt obligations or in order to keep cash available for his future pension benefits. This study investigates how do excess cash, overinvestment risk, and firm-specific information asymmetry affect this negative relationship, and examines net payout to shareholders as well …

Two Essays On Shareholder Base, Firm Behavior, And Firm Value, Yi Jian

Finance Theses & Dissertations

Most companies spend significant time and attention to managing their shareholder base out of the belief that significant stock market benefits can be reaped if they can identify and attract the right shareholders. Consistent with the opinion of practitioners, many financial economists suggest that the shareholder base is an important determinant of firm value and corporate policies (Lins and Warnock 2004; Brav, Graham, Harvey, and Michaley 2005; Bodnaruk and Ostberg 2013). Despite the importance of the shareholder base, research on the topic has been scant. What’s more, previous studies have reported conflicting results regarding the effect of the shareholder base …

Impact Of Dividend Policy On Stock Prices: Evidence From Pakistan, Shahid Iqbal, Faisal Abbas, Bilal Aziz University Of Engineering And Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

Business Review

We study the impact of dividend yields and payout ratios on stock prices using an econometric model that also includes control variables such as debt leverage rates, earnings per share, total assets and asset growth. Relevant data for Pakistani companies are compiled from a variety of sources for the period 2001-2014. Econometric results show that dividend yields are negatively correlated and dividend payout ratios positively correlated with stock prices.

2015-2016 Operating Budget: Form Bor-10, Salaries Of Non-Classified Employees; Form Bor-11, Salaries Of Classified Employees, Southern University System. Office Of Finance & Administration.

All Southern University System Budgets

The Southern University System Board and System Administration Operating Budget-Supplemental Documents Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2016.

Financial Soundness Indicators And Macroeconomic Variables: An Empirical Investigation Of The Dynamic Linkages, Baba N. Yaaba

Bullion

The Financial soundness indicators compiled for Nigeria within the context of IMFs Financial Sector Assessment Programme has been proven to be capable of pre-empting financial crisis. Analysts, however, considered it imperative to further explore the characteristics of the indicators, particularly their relationship with other macroeconomic variables to enhance the understanding of its dynamics so as to improve on its usefulness. This study, as a maiden attempt, applies Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to investigate the dynamic linkages between the indicators and selected macroeconomic variables covering the period 2007 Q1 to 2015 Q4. The results indicate that macroeconomic events dictate the …

Exploring The Impact Of Information And Communication Technology (Ict) On Intermediation Market Structure In The Microfinance Industry, Frederick Riggins, David Weber

The African Journal of Information Systems

The microfinance industry provides financial services to the world’s poor in hopes of moving individuals and families out of poverty. In 2013 there were 4.7 million active microfinance borrowers in Africa. This represents a smaller percentage of the population compared to other regions of the world, indicating the potential for rapid growth of microfinance in Africa. However, microfinance is maturing, in part due to the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This research examines how ICTs are changing the microfinance industry given recent advancements in mobile banking, Internet usage, and connectivity. By examining the microfinance market structure, we determine …

Two Essays On Lottery-Type Stocks, Yun Meng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the first essay titled “Monthly Cyclicality in Retail Investors’ Liquidity and Lottery-type Stocks at the Turn of the Month”, we find that the well-documented underperformance of lottery stocks masks a within-month cyclical pattern. Demand for lottery stocks increases at the turn of the month especially in areas whose demographic profile resembles that of the typical lottery-ticket buyers (i.e., gamblers) driving their prices higher at the turn of the month. This effect is particularly pronounced among firms located in areas whose demographic profile resembles that of the typical lottery-ticket buyer and propelled by the within-month cyclicality of local investors’ personal …

Optimal Strategy For Gambling Pools, Aaron C. Brown

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

In gambling pools, entrants submit predictions and the prizes are awarded to the prediction or predictions closest to actual outcomes. Some well-known examples are football pools (both the global and American game versions), toto, NCAA March Madness bracket pools and horse racing tournaments. For small pools with complete information about outcome probabilities, exact game theory optimal solutions are straightforward to compute. If there is also complete information about the number and strategy of other players, optimal exploitive strategies are even easier to derive. These problems have been treated in the literature.

This paper argues that the complete information approaches are …

Self-Correcting Kelly Strategies For Skeptical Traders, Aaron C. Brown

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

The Kelly criterion gives the appropriate bet size in idealized situations with known parameters. In financial trading situations parameters are generally unknown and the mathematical assumptions underlying the Kelly proof are not met precisely. Moreover a risk manager typically must cooperate with a trader who may be skeptical about both the Kelly criterion specifically and the concept of mathematical optimization of bet size in general.

This presentation tackles the problem of designing a Kelly-based system for setting trade risk management parameters that is both self-correcting (the system delivers good results even if initial parameter are misestimated or parameters change) and …

Anti-Money Laundering Programs For Casinos - A Comparison Of Macao And Us Practices, Carlos Siu, Malcolm Greenlees

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

Anti-Money Laundering Programs for Casinos: A Comparison of Macao and US Practice.

Recent world events have reemphasized the importance of controlling and reporting of terrorism financing – one of the major reasons for National and International Anti Money Laundering procedures since the early 1980’s.

Although initially focused on commercial banking operations, casinos have been brought under the scope of that legislation since 1990 – as “money service businesses.” The explosive growth of the Macao casino business on the world gaming since 1995 has led to implementation of new rules for the casinos operating in that jurisdiction.

The current research describes …

Essays On Institutional Investor Trading, Karolina Krystyniak

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three chapters that examine the role of institutional investors in stock market efficiency. Institutions are important and influential market participants. This study aims to analyze whether institutional investor trading is consistent with higher attention and better skill, what is the impact of institutional trading on future asset prices and how does institutional trading relate to the liquidity in the market.

The first chapter of the dissertation analyzes institutional investors’ response to stock level liquidity shocks. I find that institutions, especially the transient ones, buy stocks that experience positive liquidity shocks and sell those that experience negative …

Essays On Investor Attention, Hongqi Liu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three chapters that examine investor attention and its impact on corporate events and asset prices using a Google search-based measure of investor attention.

Chapter 1 This chapter investigates investor attention patterns and its determinants. I document that investor attention displays strong seasonality. It is significantly lower on Fridays and in summer months. I find that investor attention increases significantly following earnings announcements and macro news releases, and the effect is stronger for large firms. When faced with both firm-specific and market-wide information shocks, investors’ attention response to firm-specific information attenuates and their trading behavior is also …

Rankings Of Published Price-Earnings Ratios And Value Investor Attention, Jordan Moore

Rohrer College of Business Departmental Research

Price-earnings (P/E) ratios are the most popular proxy for fundamental value and are widely published using a common methodology. This paper explores whether stocks with high P/E rankings are especially salient to individual investors with attention constraints. Consistent with the role of attention, P/E rankings predict the returns of strategies based on size, liquidity, and short-term reversals as well as increases in trading volume and liquidity. Financial data providers publish P/E ratios for stocks with positive earnings, but do not publish P/E ratios for stocks with negative earnings. P/E rankings predict returns and changes in trading volumes for stocks with …

Blockchain And Smart Contracts, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx, Miguel Soriano, Ernie G. S. Teo

Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics

This discussion paper covers and develops the ideas discussed during the Roundtable Discussion on Blockchain and Smart Contracts, jointly organised by the Singapore CFO institute and the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics (SKBI) at Singapore Management University (SMU) on the 29th of June, 2016. The discussion was moderated by: Professor David Lee Kuo Chen (SKBI & SMU) and Mr Loh Uantchern (Chief Executive Singapore Accountancy Commission).

Portfolio Asset Allocation On A Sector Rotation Strategy Triggered By Fed's Discount Rate, Jorge Luis Orozco

Applied Economics Theses

The purpose of this project is to evaluate sector rotation strategies to determine if they out-perform market index strategies. This work will focus on the development of a portfolio strategy that will give portfolio managers and small investors the possibility to obtain higher returns with lower exposure. At the same time, it will give life to the market as it is a dynamic and vivid strategy.

The Role Of The Media In Promoting Real Sector Finance., Gbenga Adefaye

Bullion

This paper would focus on the Role of the Media as a social institution, why it should promote real sector financing and how it can promote real sector financing. This is premised on the belief that previous papers have dwelt sufficiently on the issue of technicalities of real sector and aspects of financing.

Key Findings: 2016 Atrs Global Airport Performance Benchmarking, Chunyan Yu

Publications

The ATRS Global Airport Benchmarking Project measures and compares the performance of several important aspects of airport operations: Productivity and efficiency, unit costs and cost competitiveness, financial results and airport charges. The report also examines the relationships between various performance measures and airport characteristics as well as management strategies in order to provide a better understanding of observed differences in airport performance. This report includes 205 airports and 24 airport groups of various sizes and ownership forms in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. This presentation highlights key findings on efficiency and cost.

Macro Disagreement And The Cross-Section Of Stock Returns, Frank Weikai Li

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper examines the effects of macro-level disagreement on the cross-section of stock returns. Using forecast dispersion measure from Survey of Professional Forecasters database, I find that when forecast dispersion on macroeconomic factor is high, stocks that have high loadings on that factor earn lower future returns relative to stocks with low loadings and vice versa. This negative relationship between risk premium of macro-factors and macro-level disagreement is robust and exists for a large set of macroeconomic risk factors. These findings are consistent with the model of Hong and Sraer (2015), where high beta stocks are more prone to speculative …

Experience And Fdi Risk-Taking: A Microfoundational Reconceptualization, Peter J. Buckley, Liang Chen, L. Jeremy Clegg, Hinrich Voss

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Studies of how firms respond to host country risk have assigned explanatory primacy to organizational capability and managerial risk preference. The organization-level account is built on the premise that capability is a prerequisite for risk-taking while the individual-level account focuses on the managers' intrinsic behavioral attitude. Without integrating one with the other, the former is open to many alternative explanations while the latter remains only a source of heterogeneity. We propose that employing the microfoundations approach can address the limitations of each account and yield a fuller understanding of FDI risk-taking. Drawing upon behavioral decision theory and the concept of …

Endogeneity In Ceo Power: A Survey And Experiment, Zhichuan Li

Business Publications

The endogeneity problem has always been one, if not the only, obstacle to understanding the true relationship between different aspects of empirical corporate finance. Variables are typically endogenous, instruments are scarce, and causality relations are complicated. As the first attempt to summarize different econometric methods that are commonly used to address endogeneity concerns in the context of corporate governance, we explore the relation between CEO power and firm performance, as an experiment, to illustrate how these methods can be used to mitigate the endogeneity problem and by how much. After carefully dealing with the endogeneity issues, we find strong evidence …

Hunting For Financial Literacy, Georgia Sozou

Theses and Dissertations

This paper summarizes and explores the results of a survey conducted at Hunter College of the City University of New York that surveys 211 students. It examines the relationships between the students’ individual characteristics, previous personal finance education and the levels of financial literacy of the Hunter College population.

Robustness Of Firm-Specific And Macroeconomic Determinants Of Exploration Investments Implications From Egyptian Oil & Gas Industry, Mohamed Rashwan, Tarek Eldomiaty, Mohamed Bahaa El Din

Business Administration

Purpose – The uncertainty that surrounds oil and gas exploration environments call for an examination at different angles. In terms of robustness, the purpose of this paper is to focus on three performance measurements: the amount of exploration investments, the growth rate of exploration investments, and the value at risk (VaR) of exploration investments.

Design/methodology/approach – The study utilizes the properties of discriminant analysis for deriving Z-score models that can be used for monitoring firms’ performance. A cointegration analysis is utilized as well in order to examine the level of cointegration between predictors of each performance measure. The sample includes …

Financial Wellness And Undergraduate Students, Kristin N. O'Donovan

BU Well

Liberal Arts Universities often include a core curriculum with the education provided to students. This core curriculum includes a variety of topics, separate from a student’s major, aimed at delivering a well-rounded education. However, one major topic seems to be missing from the core curriculum of many universities across the country: finance. Not only does this have implications to the financial wellness of undergraduate students, but the overall wellness of students as well. Undergraduate students face an increasingly difficult financial landscape with unique needs, and the financial decisions they make may have repercussions years or decades into their futures. Based …

Two Essays In Corporate Finance: The Effects Of Ownership And Governance On A Firm's Innovation And Capital Structure Decisions, Zhengyi Zhang

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the first chapter, we assess the effect of changes of government ownership on corporate innovation activities. Across 58 non-US countries, treatment firms’ innovation, both in quantity and quality, decrease after a governmental acquisition by using a difference-in-difference regressions and propensity score matching. We show that there is conflict of interest between major shareholders and minor shareholders. The corporate innovation efficiency also decline after the government acquisition. We find that this negative relationship is more severe for the group with higher government ownership of banks, better creditor rights and worse stock market development.

For second chapter, if the optimal capital …

The Identification And Exploitation Of Terrorist Financing, Jacob S. Gordon

Senior Honors Theses

Terrorism and the threat of terrorist attacks have forced the United States to place a high priority on developing a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy. A crucial component of this overarching strategy focuses on targeting the finances of a terrorist organization, hoping to eliminate or stifle their sources of funding in an effort to render the organization incapable of launching successful operations due to an absence of funding. By analyzing the most common financing options that terrorist groups use, the United States can hone its ability to disrupt the funding operations for terrorist groups. Likewise, developing a method for tracking the laundering …

Banks Vs. Credit Unions: A Comparative Analysis Of Massachusetts Banks And Credit Unions Before, During And After The Recession, Mikaela Astore

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

What Predicts Loan Repayment At Auto Capital?, Kathleen Fogg

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

There are many underbanked Americans who struggle to obtain financing due to poor credit or no credit. Credit score is the primary measure used in the United States to determine credit worthiness, however there are many problems with credit score. Credit score may not be an accurate representation of risk and it can be manipulated. In addition, many Americans do not have a credit score. Some companies are beginning to use alternative measures to underwrite, but there are no published studies on using this method for subprime auto loans. This paper examines the potential alternative measures that Auto Capital, a …

Predictors Of Private School Sustainability Using Irs Form 990, Paul G. Leaman

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Private school leaders face financial sustainability challenges as competition for students and money increases. This study aims to identify financial metrics which school leaders can use for monitoring and guiding their school’s financial health. IRS Form 990 provided the financial data for calculating predictors of interest. The study evaluated data from 2009–2013 for five groupings of schools, as measured by operational size. The study included 1029 private schools after removing outliers and cases with missing data. Private school leaders helped define the dependent variable as the ratio of total revenue/total expense. Sustainable schools carried an averaged five-year ratio of greater …