Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Empirical Evaluation Of Neural Process Meta-Learners For Financial Forecasting, Kevin G. Patel

Master's Theses

Challenges of financial forecasting, such as a dearth of independent samples and non- stationary underlying process, limit the relevance of conventional machine learning towards financial forecasting. Meta-learning approaches alleviate some of these is- sues by allowing the model to generalize across unrelated or loosely related tasks with few observations per task. The neural process family achieves this by con- ditioning forecasts based on a supplied context set at test time. Despite promise, meta-learning approaches remain underutilized in finance. To our knowledge, ours is the first application of neural processes to realized volatility (RV) forecasting and financial forecasting in general.

We …

The Martingale Approach To Financial Mathematics, Jordan M. Rowley

Master's Theses

In this thesis, we will develop the fundamental properties of financial mathematics, with a focus on establishing meaningful connections between martingale theory, stochastic calculus, and measure-theoretic probability. We first consider a simple binomial model in discrete time, and assume the impossibility of earning a riskless profit, known as arbitrage. Under this no-arbitrage assumption alone, we stumble upon a strange new probability measure Q, according to which every risky asset is expected to grow as though it were a bond. As it turns out, this measure Q also gives the arbitrage-free pricing formula for every asset on our market. In …

Financial Red Flags: Empirical Mapping Of Firm Political Preferences By Sector In Mexico, Ian Connors

Master's Theses

Can the stock market be used to determine the political preferences of individual economic sectors? This paper explores the conceptual relationship between electoral outcomes and financial markets in Mexico. Specifically, it analyzes how financial markets predict the expected effects of a given political platform on the performance of firms within specific sectors. To do this, the study used event-study methodology to calculate abnormal returns on stock prices across the nine sectors listed on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores stock exchange following the historic election of leftist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), On July 1, 2018. However, despite the uncertainty …

Financing And Productivity: Evidence From Indian Manufacturing Industry, Tingyi Wu

Master's Theses

India grows rapidly in recent years, not to mention its high-technology industry. What are secrets behind this fast-growing situation? This paper intends to find the answer using a firm-level panel data in India and examine the loan-productivity relationship via both contemporaneous and lagged models. I find positive and statistically significant results that loans play an important role in firms’ performances.

Financial Sector Development And Agricultural Productivity, John J. Onoja

Master's Theses

Global concern is rising about the performance of the agricultural sector in view of its integral role in poverty alleviation, economic development and meeting an ever-increasing nutritional demand. At the epicenter of the concern is declining productivity due to poor financial inclusion of the sector leading to low investment and returns to agriculture. A cursory examination of the existing literature on the subject reveals quite varied dimensions to the analysis of agriculture productivity-financial development nexus. Focusing on the role of financial sector development as a catalyst to agricultural productivity, we employ panel data and advances fixed-effects econometrics approach to empirically …

Bank Specific Determinants Of Profitability In Turkish Banks, Ahmet Karakuza

Master's Theses

This paper examines the profitability of Turkish commercial banks during the period 2005 – 2014. We use bank – specific determinants to predict the following years’ profitability measured by return on assets (ROA). Among the performance measures, the amount of net interest income as a proportion of total operating income is positive related to profitability. It remains important for banks to loan money out at a rate higher than their cost of capital. Non-interest income as a proportion of total assets is strongly positively related to profitability. Consumer loans as a proportion of total loans is negatively related to profitability. …

Financial Openness And Trade Volatility In Argentina, Joseph H. Asciuto

Master's Theses

This paper will identify the relationship between financial openness and trade volatility in Argentina. Data spanning 1970-2011 provided by the IMF, WTO, and INDEC will be used to construct a panel dataset for both a global analysis and a sectoral analysis for the Argentine economy. The application of established and accepted techniques to the constructed dataset will show a negative correlation between trade volatility and financial openness; thus, financial openness acts as a stabilizing mechanism for trade. Additional analysis will be performed on the of role regional trade agreements as stabilization mechanisms for trade. A significant implication of this study …

Gender Bias In Microlending: Do Opposites Attract?, Kanyinsola Adepoju

Master's Theses

This study exploits a quasi-random assignment of clients to loan officers using a unique database and survey from a large microfinance bank in Nigeria to show that opposite-sex preferences affect credit demand and supply. We find that clients matched to loan officers of the opposite gender are more likely to receive credit and are more likely to return for an additional loan with the credit lender.

Different Uses Of Microfinance Among Conventional And Islamic Borrowers: Evidence From Jordan, Ngan Bui

Master's Theses

The paper focuses on investment decisions made by microfinance borrowers in Jordan. While there has been a lot of literature concentrating on the level of investment after credit access was made available, there has been very limited research on the impact of Islamic microfinance. The amount of literature comparing Islamic financing and its conventional counterpart is even more uncommon. This study will look at how conventional and Islamic borrowers differ in their decisions pertaining to business investments, home improvement projects and consumer durable goods. Results show that microfinance loan take-ups do lead to a higher probability of business investments. In …

Fraternal Life Insurance With Special Reference To Kansas, Dollie B. Thomas

Master's Theses

It is the purpose of this thesis to present a discussion of the history and development of the fraternal beneficiary societies, which make up one of the few distinct types of organizations that offer protection from financial loss resulting from physical disability or premature death. Chapter II will give a brief resume of the age-old principle of fraternalism, or brotherhood, from pre-historic times to the present. A general history of fraternal life insurance organizations in the United States will make up Chapter III. A study of the fraternal insurance law of the State of Kansas , including state regulation and …

The Kansas Court Of Industrial Relations, Jack W. Rodgers

Master's Theses

The Kansas Industrial Court Act has the distinction of being the only one of its kind ever passed. The things it attempted to do had never been done before in just the same way, nor have they ever since been imitated. But, to many people, there had been previous experiments closely resembling the Kansas act of 1920. They pointed to various acts passed in the latter part of the 19th. century, and the early part of the 20th, in such places as New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and even in parts of the United States as being forerunners of the Kansas …

The Economic Development Of Cowley County, Kansas, Richard J. Chisum

Master's Theses

This thesis is a survey of the history of Cowley County, Kansas from 1870 through 1947 focusing on the economic development of the county.

The Virginia Retirement System, Julian Hutson Hill Jr.

Master's Theses

This thesis is written largely from knowledge obtained through two years of experience with the administration of the Virginia Retirement System. From this experience the author has attempted to provide the reader with a deeper insight into the operation of the Virginia Retirement System than otherwise might have been possible. In some instances it may appear that the treatment has become somewhat technical, but every attempt has been made to use language which is clear and nontechnical and still retain the original meaning of the Act. If the interpretation of the provisions of the Act has been altered in any …

The Trend Of Farm Population And Land Ownership In Smith County, Kansas, From 1900 And 1940, Charles Casper Easterly

Master's Theses

All through their history the American people have lived and developed in the presence of abundant land. If a farm failed to produce profitably the occupants would merely move to the frontier and take up new land. In the few years prior to nineteen hundred the frontier, as a large determining factor in the life of our people, ceased to exist. Many farm problems arose. The spread of the machine process has raised many problems which we have to puzzle over. Power farm machinery has made it possible for one man to do the work which formerly required the services …

Real Property Assessment Variations In Dickinson County, Kansas, And Their Effect On School Finance, Robert B. Gilkison

Master's Theses

The problem of this thesis is indicated in the title, "Real Property Assessment Variations in Dickinson County Kansas and Their effect on School Finance.” This problem will be considered under two major phases: (1) a critical analysis of the 1938 assessment of all rural real property in Dickinson County, Kansas to determine what irregularities exist and what the cause for these irregularities appear to be, and (2) to ascertain the effect of these inequalities upon the financing of the public schools of the county. The schools in the two second class cities of the county will not be included in …

A Comparison Of The Personal Property Tax Burden Of Five Separate Groups Of Business In Norton County, Hobart E. Rader

Master's Theses

The subject of this thesis, "A Comparison of the Personal Property tax burden of Five Separate Groups of Business in Norton County", was selected after much consideration and investigation. The purpose of the investigation is to find to what extent the personal property tax burden is borne by business and what group bears the heaviest burden. The first four chapters of this thesis cover materiel and data considered essential in discussing the problem of personal property tax burden of business in the state as it might be expected to affect Norton County. These chapters lay the background concerning the wealth …

The Economic Development Of Gray County, Kansas, Marvin A. Hubert

Master's Theses

This thesis is a study of the economic development of Gray County, Kansas from the time of the organization of the county in 1887 to the year 1939. Historical facts and economic trends which tend to show progress or retardation have been organized in an attempt to show significant phases of the problem. Even though the study is limited to a period of fifty years, important events in the history of the territory prior to this time are not ruled out insofar as they have a bearing on the future development of the county.

Trends In Social Thinking, 1910-1935, Mary Elizabeth Williams

Master's Theses

This topic has been chosen because of an interest in the economic and social conditions of the present day and a desire to know just how much the changing events of the world’s history during the past twenty five years have affected our attitudes toward certain economic problems. In order to do this, five fields of interest were chosen. These are, banking practice and legislation, agriculture, public finance, labor problems and trusts. I have attempted to draw some conclusions which will show a definite trend toward certain attitudes of thinking of the present day which are different from the attitudes …

John Ruskin, His Social Philosophy, Frank Willis Cunningham

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to set forth the teachings of John Ruskin, to explain them in the light of the day in which he lived, to compare them with recent economic thought, and to point out their influence on the trend of economic thought. With this in mind the author set out first , to develop briefly, the social and economic doctrines preceding and during the time of John Ruskin in order to better understand Ruskin’s social philosophy. To still further enlighten the reader concerning the philosophy of Ruskin a brief biography is presented in which the influence …

The Trend Of Financing Urban Property, Irvine F. Wilson

Master's Theses

This thesis is intended as a survey of terns in financing urban property. Urban property as construed by this study includes all incorporated cities, towns, and villages. This interpretation is used firstly, in order that a more complete analysis might be pictured, and secondly, because investments in property are not necessarily restricted because of the number of inhabitants in a particular town or city.

Trends In Kansas State Government Revenue And Expenditure, 1880-1934, Vernon Thomas Clover

Master's Theses

The main purpose of this thesis is to point out the significant trends in governmental revenue receipts and expenditures in Kansas during the period from 1880 through 1934. Especial attention is given to the state government as opposed to the local governments. The discussion in connection with the latter is confined to property tax levies, expenditures for roads, streets and bridges, and for education. Few new or startling facts are presented. The trends shown however, are based upon definite statistics and therefore give the conclusions that are drawn the element of accuracy which has usually been lacking in the popular …