Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Recommending A Productivity Model For Singapore Hotels: A Critical Review Of Productivity Models Adopted By Researchers And Hotel Operators, Hwee Noi Goh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The business challenges and intensely competitive environment in today’s economy make productivity a key factor for organizational survival. This paper examines what productivity means to the services industry, in particular, to the hotel industry. This is underpinned by an investigation of the fundamental differences between goods and services and the implications on productivity measurement and control in the manufacturing and services industries.

The purpose of this paper is to critically review productivity measurement and control methods used by researchers and hotel operators in order to find a model suitable for the hotel industry in Singapore, taking into consideration the local …

The Temple Recommend: A Solution To The Free-Rider Problem, Austin Bowles

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Temple worship and geographical boundaries are unique features of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Our research uses economic theory to understand how the organizational benefits of the temple recommend system and the geographical ward boundaries may solve the market failures associated with religious organizations. These features of the LDS Church will be used to create a framework for understanding how the church limits free-riding and sub-optimal participation, which would result in increased efficiency and production of large religious benefits. Because the market failures faced by the church are the same as those faced by other …

Two Essays On The Impact Of Rational And Irrational Investor Sentiments On Equity Market Return And Volatility: Evidence From The U.S. And Brazil, Pablo Javier Calafiore

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This dissertation consists of two essays on how investor sentiments affect the returns and volatility of the Brazilian stock market. Both essays share a similar methodological approach. The first one analyzes the effect of investor sentiments on the returns and volatility of the Brazilian stock market using a model that accounts for fundamentals (rational) and noise components (irrational) of investor sentiments on the Sao Paulo leading index Bovespa. This research finds a statistically significant positive (negative) impact of rational (irrational) sentiments on market returns. Moreover, there are statistically significant impacts of irrational components of the sentiment indexes on Bovespa volatility …

A Dynamic Model For The Forward Curve, Choong Tze Chua, Foster Dean, Krishna Ramaswamy, Robert Stine

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article develops and estimates a dynamic arbitrage-free model of the current forward curve as the sum of (i) an unconditional component, (ii) a maturity-specific component and (iii) a date-specific component. The model combines features of the Preferred Habitat model, the Expectations Hypothesis (ET) and affine yield curve models; it permits a class of low-parameter, multiple state variable dynamic models for the forward curve. We show how to construct alternative parametric examples of the three components from a sum of exponential functions, verify that the resulting forward curves satisfy the Heath-Jarrow-Morton (HJM) conditions, and derive the risk-neutral dynamics for the …

Incorporating Economic Objectives Into Bayesian Priors: Portfolio Choice Under Parameter Uncertainty, Jun Tu, Guofu Zhou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper proposes a way to allow Bayesian priors to reflect the objectives of an economic problem. That is, we impose priors on the solution to the problem rather than on the primitive parameters whose implied priors can be backed out from the Euler equation. Using monthly returns on the Fama-French 25 size and book-to-market portfolios and their 3 factors from January 1965 to December 2004, we find that investment performances under the objective-based priors can be significantly different from those under alternative priors, with differences in terms of annual certainty-equivalent returns greater than 10% in many cases. In terms …

The Liquidity Risk Of Liquid Hedge Funds, Melvyn Teo

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper evaluates hedge funds that grantfavorable redemption terms to investors. Within this group of purportedlyliquid funds, high net inflow funds subsequently outperform low net inflowfunds by 4.79% per year after adjusting for risk. The return impact of fundflows is stronger when funds embrace liquidity risk, when market liquidity islow, and when funding liquidity, as measured by the Treasury-Eurodollar spread,aggregate hedge fund flows, and prime broker stock returns, is tight. Inkeeping with an agency explanation, funds with strong incentives to raisecapital, low manager option deltas, and no manager capital co-invested are morelikely to take on excessive liquidity risk. These results …

Price Movers On The Stock Exchange Of Thailand: Evidence From A Fully Automated Order-Driven Market, Charlie Charoenwong, David K. Ding, Nattawut Jenwittayaroje

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examines trade sizes used by informed traders. The selected sample includes 73 active stocks from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), a pure limit order market, that cover two distinct market conditions of a bull and bear market. Using intraday data, the study finds that large sized trades (i.e., larger than the 75th percentile) account for a disproportionately large impact on changes in traded and quoted prices. This finding compares with the results of studies conducted on U.S. markets that show informed traders employ trade sizes falling between the 40th and 95th percentiles (Barclay and Warner 1993; Chakravarty …

Ua37/29 Gary Ransdell - Federal Reserve Board - Monetary Policy Hearing, St. Louis Federal Reserve Board

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Email sent to members of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Board of Ben Bernanke's answers at the House Financial Services Monetary Policy Hearing.

Ua37/29 Gary Ransdell - Federal Reserve Board - Chairman Bernanke’S Semiannual Monetary Policy Report, St. Louis Federal Reserve Board

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Email sent to members of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Board of Ben Bernanke's Semiannual Monetary Policy Report.

Private Equity: The Players, The Jargons, And What Lies Ahead, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

What do private equity and venture capital fund managers do? The short answer to that question will hardly do justice to the profession. Yet, it is not easy to provide an accurate explanation without first condensing the nuts and bolts that form the mechanics of the industry. Dan Schwartz, editor of the Asian Venture Capital Journal, does just that, albeit in the form of the 236-page The Future of Finance: How Private Equity and Venture Capital Will Shape the Global Economy – a book that has prominent industry leaders speaking to the layman.

Before The Fields Run Dry: How To Avoid The 'Dutch Disease', Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

For any economy, the discovery of abundant natural resources is almost akin to striking nature's lottery. But as any eager financial planner might say to a lottery winner, no windfall can last for long without a solid financial plan. Singapore, a country admired for its relatively substantial national reserves, is home to almost no natural resources (except for human capital, we're told). This lack of natural resources, however, may well be the reason behind the country's economic success. According to Svein Gjedrem, governor of Norges Bank, natural resource-rich countries often suffer from a 'disease' that causes them to rely too …

Investor Knowledge And Investment Barriers., Steven Doman

Student Works (2010-2019)

The world of investing in the various products related to the stock and bond markets is confusing for many people. This is a problem since financial investments often represent a large portion of an individual’s personal assets. As regulators begin to search for answers about what caused the economic crisis of 2008-2009 and try to pass regulations that will prevent it from happening again, investors will continue to look to the products of investment firms to help accomplish their financial goals. Unfortunately for investors, many will continue to choose investments based on very limited personal knowledge. Investment firms will in …

Target Status And Method Of Payment : A Perfomance Analysis Of Acquisitions In Malaysia., Lee Siew Peng

Student Works (2010-2019)

This study investigates firms performance in acquisition based on the target status and methods of payment in the Malaysian market over the period 2000-2004. To measure the acquiring and target firms abnormal returns around the acquisition announcements, the study employs the market model with Scholes-Williams adjustments for thin trading. For long-term analysis after acquisition, we use the market-adjusted model and buy-and-hold abnormal approach. The study finds that, in the short-term, acquisition activities create positive gain to both acquiring and target firms, most of which go to the target firms. Further, most of the abnormal returns occurs on day 0 and …

Financial Literacy Explicated: The Case For A Clearer Definition In An Increasingly Complex Economy, David L. Remund

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

This study explicates the concept of financial literacy, which has blossomed in use this century. Scholars, policy officials, financial experts, and consumer advocates have used the phrase loosely to describe the knowledge, skills, confidence, and motivation necessary to effectively manage money. As a result, financial literacy has varying conceptual definitions in existing research as well as diverse operational definitions and values. This study dissects the differing financial literacy definitions and measures, urging researchers toward common ground. A clearer definition should improve future research, in turn helping consumers better understand and adapt to changing life events and an increasingly complex economy.

Forecasting Philippine Monthly Inflation Using Tramo/Seats, Cesar C. Rufino

DLSU Business & Economics Review

The study aims to explore the feasibility of adopting for inflation forecasting a sophisticated expert system normally used in routine outlier detection and deseasonalization of time series. Known as TRAMO/SEATS expert system, this twin program is a fully automatic procedure that extracts the trend-cycle, seasonal, irregular and certain transitory components of high frequency time series via the so-called ARIMA-model-based method. The results of the study reveal the feasibility of the use of the technique for routine inflation forecasting. The automatic model building capability of TRAMO/SEATS is exploited to arrive at an ex-ante model that has the ability to generate optimal …

Values Of Females And Males In The East And West: Are They Similar Or Different?, Arnel Onesimo O. Uy, Edward F. Murphy, Regina A. Greenwood

DLSU Business & Economics Review

Understanding whether cross-cultural values are similar or different has become more important in an increasingly global marketplace. Yet, few studies have explored cross-cultural sex-based value structures. This study examines the values of 5,134 male and female working adults in three Eastern nations (Japan, the Philippines, and Thailand) and three Western nations (United States, United Kingdom, and Iceland). For similarities, males and females more highly valued personal than social terminal values. For differences, males in the East more highly valued self-actualization/competence instrumental values. Females in both geographic groups placed higher importance on social terminal values than did males, supporting prior research.

Impact Of Hiked Prices Of Food And Basic Commodities On Poverty In Cambodia: Empirical Evidences From Cbms Five Villages, Try Sothearith, So Sovannarith

DLSU Business & Economics Review

The study on the impact of hiked prices of food and basic commodities on poverty is designed as a follow-up CBMS survey of 5 villages in a Northwest province of Cambodia. The hiked prices in Cambodia and in CBMS sites occurred when there were changes in demand and prices of petrol, food and other consumer goods at the international market. The rising prices have immediately resulted in food insecurity for many people and pushed small landholders into indebtedness and deteriorated the capacity of the poor to cope with any future shocks or crises. This requires a stronger social safety net …

Effects Of Rising Food And Oil Prices On Rural Households In Ghana: A Case Study Of Selected Communities In The Dangme West District Using The Cbms Approach, Felix A. Asante, Cynthia A. Tagoe, Alfred A. Boakye

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This study sought to examine the effects of rising food and oil prices on rural households in Ghana in relation to their food, access to healthcare and education, changes in their work situations, their financial management practices, and their recreational and leisure practices using three selected communities in the Dangme West district of the Greater Accra region – Dodowa, Ningo, and Prampram. A total of 300 households were interviewed. The households were divided concerning the issue of whether their standard of living was better, worse or had remained the same. In general, households that indicated they were worse off currently …

Analysis Of The Impact Of Changes In The Prices Of Rice And Fuel On Poverty In The Philippines, Celia M. Reyes, Alellie B. Sobrevinas, Joel Bancolita, Jeremy De Jesus

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This study aims to assess the impact of rising prices of rice and fuel on poverty in the Philippines. In particular, the variations in the potential effects among different group of households were analyzed using household level data. Results of the study confirm that the impact of increasing prices of rice and fuel vary across different groups of households depending on the sector of employment, level of urbanity, income group and geographical location. In fact, there are losers and gainers from the recent increases in the prices of rice and fuel. In response to higher prices, households adopted different coping …

Prospect Theory And The Financial Markets: A Review, Paulo Jose M. Mutuc

DLSU Business & Economics Review

The Prospect Theory as proposed by Kahneman and Tversky (1979) has emerged as a widely accepted theory of decision-making, thanks largely to the persistence of observed anomalies in the trading of financial products – specifically, the existence of an unusually large premium on equities, and the tendency to hold on to losing investments (disposition effect). Questions about the true nature and extent of reference-dependent loss aversion as manifested by these phenomena, however, remain. In particular, for countries like the Philippines with relatively shallow capital markets, there is a need to reconcile financial education and advice with the reality of systematically …

The Context Of Cultural Intelligence – A Book Review Of David Livermore’S Leading With Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret To Success, Emiliano T. Hudtohan

DLSU Business & Economics Review

Livermore’s contribution to global leadership is his pioneering work on cultural intelligence (CQ), a new addition to a growing number of multiple formulations of human intelligences and quotients. By addressing culture as a key factor of leadership in a global context, he now provides a neutral perspective on culture for corporate leaders. This perspective is aligned with the growing trend of understanding other cultures and civilizations with empathy. Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret to Success may yet facilitate the implementation of global hypernorms proposed in integrative social contract theory and facilitate compliance to global standards of codes of …

Investor Diversification And The Pricing Of Idiosyncratic Risk, Fangjian Fu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Theories predict that, due to investor under-diversification, idiosyncratic risk is positively priced in expected stock returns. Empirical studies based on various methodologies yield mixed evidence. This study circumvents the debate on methodological issues and traces the pricing of idiosyncratic risk to its economic source – investor under-diversification. Assuming that institutional investors tend to hold more diversified portfolios and thus care little about idiosyncratic risk relative to individual investors, we find that the positive relation between idiosyncratic risk and stock returns is significantly stronger (weaker) in stocks that are held and traded more by individual (institutional) investors. In addition, the pricing …

How Predictable Is The Chinese Stock Market?, Fuwei Jiang, David E. Rapach, Jack K. Strauss, Jun Tu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We analyze return predictability for the Chinese stock market, including the aggregate market portfolio and the components of the aggregate market, such as portfolios sorted on industry, size, book-to-market and ownership concentration. Considering a variety of economic variables as predictors, both in-sample and out-of-sample tests highlight significant predictability in the aggregate market portfolio of the Chinese stock market and substantial differences in return predictability across components. Among industry portfolios, Finance and insurance, Real estate, and Service exhibit the most predictability, while portfolios of small-cap and low ownership concentration firms also display considerable predictability. Two key findings provide economic explanations for …

Reference Point Adaptation And Disposition Effect: Evidence From Institutional Trading, Chiraphol N. Chiyachantana, Zongfei Yang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Using a large proprietary database of institutional trades, we investigate whether, and to what extent, the dynamic adaptation of reference point translates into variations in the disposition effect, and establish three key results. First, the propensity to realize losses declines sharply with the magnitude of prior losses due to insufficient adaptation of reference point. Second, recent adverse information accelerates investors’ adaptation to price depreciation and increases investors’ willingness to realize losses. Finally, a priori of losing money in highly speculative investments decreases investors’ aversion to realize losses. Collectively, the findings suggest that both prior outcomes and recent expectations contribute to …

Global Financial Crisis: Cause, Emerging Trends And Strategy, Badar Alam Iqbal

Business Review

Global financial crisis is the biggest threat to the survival of the world in years to come. It has far reaching consequences for both developed and developing economies of the world. There is only a difference of the degree of impact. This crisis is resulting into recession which is also a most dangerous thing for the global economy. Hence, these days, global attention has now shifting from concern in regard to dimensions of the financial crisis to assessing how deep the real economy recession it has triggered will be and how long the crisis would last. No one can say …

Determinants Of Foreign Direct Investment In Services Sector Of Pakistan: An Econometrics Approach, Muhammad Zahid Awan, Khair Uz Zaman, Bakhtiar Khan

Business Review

This study examines the key determinants of FDI inflows in Services sector of Pakistan, using time series data (quarterly) for the period of 1996Q1-2008Q4. To check the stationarity of the data, ADF test has been applied. Co-integration and Error Correction Model (ECM) is used for estimation of the data. This study found that Gross Domestic Fixed Capital formation (GDFCF), Inflation Rate(INF), Current Account Balance(CAB), Exchange Rate (ER), and Per Capita Income (PC) are main factors of FDI inflows in services sector of Pakistan. This study reveals that GDFCF, INF and PC are found statistically significant with positive signs. CAB and …

Two Essays On Investor Sentiment And The Profitability Of Contrarian And Momentum Strategies, Changmei Zhang

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation, by employing different trading strategies, addresses the trading profitability issue in a broad scope of different markets.

In the equity market, I construct a group of BUY-SELL portfolios based on prior stock returns, and find that contrarian and momentum strategies are both significantly profitable. Investor sentiment, in addition to firm-specific risks, provides behavioral explanations to the profitability. Three popular sentiment measures are used for the purpose of study: two reduced-formed sentiment indexes that are constructed by Baker and Wurgler (2006) and the survey-based University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. Several interesting findings are revealed: (1) extreme sentiment levels …

A Re-Examination Of Stock Repurchase In Usa, Hua Yang

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Since the adoption of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 10b-18 Safe Harbor for Issuer Repurchases in 1982, stock repurchases have been growing explosively. Extant literature has shed some light on the motivation behind companies' repurchase activities. The most popular beliefs include signaling undervaluation (Dann 1981, Vermaele 1981, Comment and Jarrell 1991), reducing free cash flow (Guay and Harford 2000, Jagannathan, Stephens and Weisbach 2000, Grullon and Michaely 2004), raising leverage ratio (Hovakimian, Opler and Titman 2001) and increasing earnings (Bens, Nagar, Skinner and Wong 2003).

Motivated by Stephens and Weisbach's (1998) research which found that companies on average …

2009-2010 Operating Budget (Bor-Forms): Southern University At New Orleans, Southern University System. Office Of Finance & Administration.

All Southern University System Budgets

2009-2010 Operating Budget (BOR-FORMS) Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2010. Southern University at New Orleans.

2009-2010 Operating Budget: Southern University And A & M College, Southern University System. Office Of Finance & Administration.

All Southern University System Budgets

The 2009-2010 Operating Budget of the Southern University and A & M College Campus.