Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Reducing The Complexity Costs Of 401(K) Participation Through Quick Enrollment, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

Previous research has shown that 401(k) participation increases dramatically when companies switch from an opt-in to an opt-out (or automatic) enrollment regime (Madrian and Shea 2001; Choi et al. 2004; Choi et al. 2006). Although automatic enrollment has been widely touted as an effective tool for encouraging saving, it has its detractors. Some libertarians dislike automatic enrollment because they view it as coercing individuals into the company-chosen default contribution rate and asset allocation. Indeed, the vast majority of automatically enrolled employees passively accept all of the defaults in the short run, and many remain at those defaults for years (Choi …

The Functional Specification Of The Wageexperience Relationship And Male Wage Inequality In The Philippines: A Decomposition Analysis, Lawrence B. Dacuycuy

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This study analyzed the factors that have contributed to the increase in wage inequality among male workers in the Philippines. Using the Fields (2003) framework as a decomposition platform, the validity of the usual parametric specification of the wage-experience relationship to ascertain the effects of functional misspecification on wage decomposition estimates was investigated. The study found that the quadratic specification of the nonlinear relationship is inadequate, thereby favoring the use of the semiparametric partially linear model, which does not impose any functional assumption on the said relationship.

An Evaluation Of Financial And Non-Financial Environmental Disclosures Of Ten Publicly-Listed Mining Companies In The Philippines, Nimpha M. Aquino

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This study determined the environmental disclosure practices of 10 mining companies in the Philippines by examining the nature and extent of disclosures in the financial and non-financial sections of their 2006 corporate annual reports. It was found out that there was no uniformity in the environmental disclosures of the 10 mining companies. It was also discovered that there was no existing environmental reporting standards as far as environmental disclosure is concerned. The study provided recommendations to the standard-setting council to improve the firms’ environmental disclosure compliance with a discussion regarding the benefits these recommendations might offer.

Stock Diversification And Integer Programming, Emilina R. Sarreal

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This study shows how investors can maximize returns by preparing and monitoring their own stock portfolio by using an integer programming model with an algorithm that can be computed in spreadsheet and linear programming software. Further, the study emphasizes the importance of diversifying stockholdings to reap optimal returns and minimum volatility/risk. It also suggests employing behavioral portfolio theory where goals/aspirations of investors are combined with their reward-to-volatility profile.

Risk Management In The Indian Petrochemical Industry (With Special Reference To Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd.), Tamma K. Reddy, Subhayan Basu

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This study focuses on the identification and acceptance or offsetting of the risks threatening the profitability and existence of any petrochemical organization. It deals with the foreign exchange risk management policy of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. and how it could be implemented in the risk minimization or the profit maximization of the company. It applies theories about risks and offers insights and recommendations to the company regarding their management of risk exposures.

Exchange Rate Pass-Through For Selected Southeast Asian Countries, Stephanie L. Chan

DLSU Business & Economics Review

Long- and short-run exchange rate pass-through coefficients were estimated for Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines using a simple model based on absolute purchasing power parity. Results were lower than 0.30 for all four countries. Cointegration tests confirmed the existence of a long-run relationship between CPI, GDP, exchange rate, and the U.S. PPI for the countries studied. However, the post-estimation tests showed that a more comprehensive model may need to be developed. The low coefficients reflect the success of the countries in stabilizing their inflation levels, though implying that exchange rate interventions may be less effective in restoring trade balance.

Evaluating Impacts Of Microfinance Institutions Using Guatemalan Data, James C. Brau, Shon Hiatt, Warner Woodworth

Faculty Publications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate microlending outcomes among Latin American non-governmental organizations (NGOs), specifically microfinance institutions (MFIs). While there is a growing movement of non-profit ventures channeling small loans to the poor worldwide, assessments of their impacts are lacking. Thus, field interviews with clients who had various degrees of involvement in the process of receiving microloans from MFIs were conducted over a summer in Guatemala.

Design/methodology/approach – Using a dataset of 393 clients from Guatemalan MFIs, microfinance impacts from two dimensions are examined and impacts measured along financial and social dimensions by surveying new clients, …

Lockups Revisited, James C. Brau, Val E. Lambson, Grant Mcqueen

Faculty Publications

Lockups are agreements made by insiders of stock-issuing firms to abstain from selling shares for a specified period of time after the issue. Brav and Gompers (2003) suggest that lockups are a bonding solution to a moral hazard problem and not a signaling solution to an adverse selection problem. We challenge this conclusion theoretically and empirically. In our model, insiders of good firms signal by putting and keeping (locking up) their money where their mouths are. Our model yields two comparative statics: lockups should be shorter when a firm is i) more transparent and/or ii) more risky. Using a sample …

The Customer Is King : Mutual Fund Relationships And Analyst Recommendations, Ping Liu

Lingnan Theses

I investigate whether the business relations between mutual funds and brokerage firms influence sell-side analyst coverage and recommendations. Using a comprehensive sample of analyst recommendations in China over the 2004-2008 period, I find that the likelihood of analyst coverage and analysts’ relative recommendations, benchmarked against consensus recommendations, are positively associated with the mutual fund business relationship. I measure the business relation by the weight of a stock in the mutual fund client’s portfolio and the commission revenue generated from the mutual fund clients. My results show that mutual funds take advantage of these optimistic recommendations by selling the stocks. I …

Exploring The Use Of Exchange Market Pressure And Rmu Deviation Indicator For Early Warning System (Ews) In The Asean+3 Region, Marvin Raymond F. Castell, Lawrence B. Dacuycuy

DLSU Business & Economics Review

Although macroeconomic and financial surveillance mechanisms have been in place both at the global level and at the Asia regional level, the results of the empirical analysis provide some evidence that a regional monetary unit (RMU) can be used to supplement existing surveillance tools for improved crisis detection and prevention. In particular, this study showed that the RMU may be useful as a tool for macroeconomic consultation.

An Excerpt From The Sec Commissioned Report: A Balance Sheet Disclosure Compliance Check Of Ten Publicly-Listed Companies, Ma. Gina T. Manaligod

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This study is an excerpt of a SEC-commissioned report. It investigated the extent of compliance of 10 publicly-listed finance companies with regard to the provisions of relevant PFRS/PAS on balance sheet disclosure requirements. This was accomplished by examining the balance sheet and the related note disclosures of the 10 companies. It was found the all 10 companies had deficiencies in their balance sheet disclosures. It can be implied from this study that deficiencies in disclosure requirements stem from the standards themselves. Recommendations for the improvement of disclosure compliance were provided.

Learning By Trading, Amit Seru, Tyler Shumway, Noah Stoffman

Faculty Publications

Using a large sample of individual investor records over a nine-year period, we analyze survival rates, the disposition effect and trading performance at the individual level to determine whether and how investors learn from their trading experience. We find evidence of two types of learning: some investors become better at trading with experience, while others stop trading after realizing that their ability is poor. A substantial part of overall learning by trading is explained by the second type. By ignoring investor attrition, the existing literature significantly overestimates how quickly investors become better at trading.

Mental Accounting In Portfolio Choice: Evidence From A Flypaper Effect, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

Consistent with mental accounting, we document that investors sometimes choose the asset allocation for one account without considering the asset allocation of their other accounts. The setting is a firm that changed its 401(k) matching rules. Initially, 401(k) enrollees chose the allocation of their own contributions, but the firm chose the match allocation. These enrollees ignored the match allocation when choosing their own-contribution allocation. In the second regime, enrollees simultaneously selected both accounts’ allocations, leading them to mentally integrate the two. Own-contribution allocations before the rule change equal the combined own- and match-contribution allocations afterwards, whereas combined allocations differ sharply …

Optimal Defaults And Active Decisions, Gabriel D. Carroll, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, Andrew Metrick

Faculty Publications

Defaults often have a large influence on consumer decisions. We identify an overlooked but practical alternative to defaults: requiring individuals to make an explicit choice for themselves. We study such “active decisions” in the context of 401(k) saving. We and that compelling new hires to make active decisions about 401(k) enrollment raises the initial fraction that enroll by 28 percentage points relative to a standard opt-in enrollment procedure, producing a savings distribution three months after hire that would take 30 months to achieve under standard enrollment. We also present a model of 401(k) enrollment and derive conditions under which the …

Essays On Corporate Governance, Minhua Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is composed by two essays that explore the changes in corporate governance around the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) 2002. In the first essay, I examine the relation between board structure and compensation as a bargaining game between the board and the CEO. Bargaining game theories describe an endogenous process of determining the structure of director and CEO compensation. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) altered the equilibrium of power between the board and CEO by changing the monitoring role of the board. SOX essentially provides a natural experiment to test how a shock to the bargaining game alters the balance …

Learning Style Differences Between Students And Facultyo Title, Thomas Berry, Amber Settle

College of Business Faculty and Staff Works

Learning styles refers to the different ways that people process and retain information. Our interest is in discerning differences in learning styles between faculty and students. Just as students vary in learning styles, instructors differ in the methods they use to convey information. Any disconnect between the learning styles of instructors (and hence the methods used to teach material) and the predominant learning styles of the students may result in greater learning difficulties for students. We test the learning styles of three groups: students in the introductory finance course, finance majors, and finance faculty. Significant differences are found between each …

What Does Islamic Finance Want To Be When It Grows Up?, Karen Ahmed

College of Business Faculty and Staff Works

No abstract provided.

"Islamic Banking And Finance: Moral Beliefs And Business Practices At Work", Karen Ahmed

College of Business Faculty and Staff Works

The religion of Islam has existed for 1400 years but Islamic economic theory and its financial institutions emerged as an industry only in the 1970s. Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) are designed to help Muslims conduct business internationally while simultaneously upholding traditional Islamic values related to trade finance and currency movement. The basis for their existence is the Islamic moral prohibition on charging interest—interest is a central component of capitalist banking—yet IFIs conduct billions of dollars of business annually in the world economy and the de facto Islamic banking transaction is—in most cases—virtually identical to a capitalist banking transaction. Business practices …

Personal Financial Knowledge Of College Students, Adam Moehn

Honors Program Theses

This research is about looking at what affects the personal financial knowledge and behaviors of college students. Primarily this research is focused on the effects of taking a personal financial course by answering the following questions.

- Does taking a personal finance course increase personal financial knowledge?

- Does taking a personal finance course improve financial behaviors?

- Does an increase in personal financial knowledge improve financial behaviors?

The answers to these questions will help to determine how important personal finance courses and personal financial knowledge are. This research will also look at other areas which may affect personal financial …

The Financial Fiasco: What Started It And How Long Will It Last?, Jodi Sweeney

Honors Program Theses

Throughout my college career, I have been able to watch something quite phenomenal unfold within my fields of study, real estate and finance. In the fall of 2005, the real estate market was still hot and booming. As the months and years have gone on, something happened that very few saw coming: A financial crisis that caused such turmoil Wall Street as we knew it will be dramatically changed. What caused this inevitable downturn? How much damage will it cause before it stops? What changes are needed to bring an end to this financial predicament? After thoroughly analyzing the critical …

Risky Asset Substitution In The Insurance Industry: An Historical Example, Brenda Wells, Karen Epermanis, Larry A. Cox, Michael Mcshane

Finance Faculty Publications

In the 1980s, life insurers sold guaranteed investment contracts (GICs) to pension plan sponsors, then backed these contracts with portfolios heavily weighted with higher risk assets such as common stocks and junk bonds. Ultimately this caused considerable loss, and history has repeated itself in many respects in recent years via holdings of equities and mortgage-backed securities. We evaluate the risky asset substitution in the life insurance industry from an historical perspective to determine if organizational form or other factors might be rationale for managerial decisions to engage in asset substitution. We find evidence that stock insurer managers are more likely …

Expected Idiosyncratic Skewness, Brian H. Boyer, Todd Mitton, Keith Vorkink

Faculty Publications

We test the prediction of recent theories that stocks with high idiosyncratic skewness should have low expected returns. Because lagged skewness alone does not adequately forecast skewness, we estimate a cross-sectional model of expected skewness that uses additional predictive variables. Consistent with recent theories, we find that expected idiosyncratic skewness and returns are negatively correlated. Specifically, the Fama-French alpha of a low-expected-skewness quintile exceeds the alpha of a high-expected-skewness quintile by 1.00% per month. Furthermore, the coefficients on expected skewness in Fama-MacBeth cross-sectional regressions are negative and significant. In addition, we find that expected skewness helps explain the phenomenon that …

Does Size Matter In The Hedge Fund Industry?, Song Wee Melvyn Teo

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We document a negative and convex relationship between hedge fund size and future risk-adjusted returns. Small hedge funds outperform large hedge funds by 3.65 percent per year after adjusting for risk. This over performance is not driven by fund age, leverage, serial correlation, or self-selection biases. The capacity constraints manifest across various investment styles and regions. In particular, they are strongest for funds managed by multiple principals who trade small, illiquid securities, suggesting that the observed diseconomies can be traced to price impact and hierarchy costs (Stein, 2002). While investors direct disproportionately more capital to smaller funds, they do not …

Investor Flows And Stock Market Returns, Brian H. Boyer, Lu Zheng

Faculty Publications

This study simultaneously analyzes the relation between aggregate stock market returns and cash flows (net purchases of equity) from a broad array of investor groups in the United States over a long period of time from 1952 to 2004.We find strong evidence that quarterly flows are autocorrelated for each of the different investor groups.We further document a significant and positive contemporaneous relation between stock market returns and flows of Mutual Funds and Foreign Investors.

The Financing And Reform Of The United States Healthcare System, Sarah Georgeau Bernheisel

Honors Theses

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, approximately forty-five million people in the United States, including nearly nine million children, were without health insurance in 2007 ("Fast Stats A to Z" 1). Additionally, in 2007, nearly 30% of young adults, ages 18-24, in the United States were uninsured ("Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage" 22). Sadly, none of these figures includes the countless individuals who have insufficient healthcare coverage caused by their high out-of pocket costs compared to their wages.

Investor Reaction To Women Directors, E. Kang, David K. Ding, C. Charoenwong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Existing studies on women directorships present equivocal results on the association between appointing women directors and firm performance. These studies tend to focus on western countries and largely ignore investors' reactions to such appointments. This paper applies the financial event study method and finds that investors generally respond positively to the appointment of women directors in Singaporean firms. Regression analyses also reveal that investors are most receptive when the women are independent directors and are least receptive when the directors assume the CEO role. This study not only tests the theory of gender diversity in an Asian context but also …

Business Aggression, Institutional Loans, And Credit Crisis: Evidence From Lending Practices In Leveraged Buyouts, Xiaping Jerry Cao, Wei-Ling Song, Joe Mason

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper investigates the lending practices related to leverage buyouts (LBOs) market between high and low write-down institutions. The write-downs, which are a proxy for business aggression of institutions, are mainly related to credit crisis from the beginning of 2007 to August 10, 2008. We find that high (low) write-down institutions increase (decrease) loan market share dramatically during the period of 2001-2006. The increase is mainly driven by the segment of loans sold to institutional investors, such as collateralized loan obligations vehicle, hedge fund, and insurance companies. Institutional loans originated by high write-down institutions carry significantly fewer covenants and higher …

Idiosyncratic Risk And The Cross-Section Of Expected Stock Returns, Fangjian Fu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Theories such as Merton (1987, Journal of Finance) predict a positive relation between idiosyncratic risk and expected return when investors do not diversify their portfolio. Ang, Hodrick, Xing, and Zhang (2006, Journal of Finance 61, 259-299) however find that monthly stock returns are negatively related to the one-month lagged idiosyncratic volatilities. I show that idiosyncratic volatilities are time-varying and thus their findings should not be used to imply the relation between idiosyncratic risk and expected return. Using the exponential GARCH models to estimate expected idiosyncratic volatilities, I find a significantly positive relation between the estimated conditional idiosyncratic volatilities and expected …

Customer Perception Of The Commercial Banks’ Services In Kano Metropolis, Ahmed Audu Maiyaki

Business Review

It is a general belief that business is changing and will continue to change the way we work and live in the twenty- first century. For instance, technology shrinks time and space, customers can be anywhere in the globe and they can transact business at anytime of the day. The business environment in the present time is practically undergoing a major revolution in the way customers buy, shop, and decide to come back or to take their business elsewhere. Companies are increasingly realising that the balance of power is shifting from sellers to buyers. The customers need exactly what they …

Asian Financial Crisis 1997: An Empirical Investigation, Khurshid M. Kiani

Business Review

Multinomial Asian Financial Crises are said to happen because of financial mismanagement due to post Bretton Woods era financial liberalization, enhancement in private sector debt, currency crises, investor panic as well as inept attitude of the governments in these countries after start of the crises. Since Taiwan is the only country that was not hit as hard as the other countries in the region due to the brunt of these crises we decided to analyze its firm structure to unfold the causes of its survival. Our analysis reveal evidence that manager operated firms finances their growth through external finance without …