Finance Commons^™

Government Size And Openness: Evidence From The Commodity Boom In Latin America, Andre Vianna, Andre V. Mollick

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Does government size increase to compensate for the volatility that arises from openness? We evaluate this compensation hypothesis by focusing on Latin America, whose economic growth in the 2000s has been often attributed to the commodity boom. Panel data regressions show that during the 2003-2010 commodity boom terms of trade volatility has positive effects on government size compared to the earlier 1990-2002 period. This key finding supports the compensation hypothesis, a result robust to dynamic panels allowing for reverse causation from government size to the real economy. Policy implications include diversification of the production structure and strengthening of regulatory framework.

The Impact Of Crime And Other Economic Forces On Mexico's Foreign Direct Investment Inflows, Rene Cabral, Andre V. Mollick, Eduardo Saucedo

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This paper examines the effect of different crimes on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows into the 32 Mexican states. Using a state-quarter panel data for the period 2005 to 2015, we estimate alternative models of FDI, with fixed effects throughout a flexible lag-lengths methodology and System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) models in order to identify the determinants of FDI inflows into the country. The dependent variable in our model is the annual inflow of FDI and the independent variables are state level indicators (real wages and electricity consumption), and macroeconomic forces (the real exchange rate and interest rate). We …

Executive Overconfidence And Securities Class Actions, Suman Banerjee, Mark Humphery-Jenner, Vikram Nanda, T. Mandy Tham

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Overconfident CEOs/senior executives tend to have excessively positive views of their own skills and their company’s future performance. We hypothesize that overconfident managers are more likely to engage in reckless or intentional actions/disclosures that give rise to securities class actions (SCAs). Empirical evidence is supportive: Overconfident CEOs/senior executives increase SCA likelihood, though litigation risk is ameliorated through improved governance, such as following the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. Post-SCA, companies are less likely to hire an overconfident CEO. Following an SCA, overconfident CEOs appear to moderate behavior and to reduce their litigation risk.

Likely Trajectory Of Fed Policy Far From Settled, Thomas Lam, David Fernandez

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Markets seem to be assuming an almost pre-set path of Fed policy normalization in 2019, including hiking rates and shrinking the balance sheet. In contrast, we see many uncertainties ahead.

Economic Base Analysis Of The City Of Commerce, Texas With Relation To Hunt County And Texas, Rebekah Cooper

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Price Discrimination And Focal Points For Tacit Collusion: Evidence From The Airline Industry, Diego Escobari, Nicholas G. Rupp, Joseph Meskey

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

We use unique data sets with round-the-clock posted fares and a regression discontinuity design to identify price discrimination in advance-purchase discounts. Price discrimination increases fares by 7.6% at 14 days to departure, and by 14% at 7 days to departure. While competition reduces price discrimination, it is unaffected by product variety for a multiproduct monopolist. The results show that the arbitrary thresholds of 7 and 14 days-in-advance serve as focal points for tacit collusion and to implement price discrimination in competitive markets. For round-trip tickets price discrimination depends on the days-in-advance for both the outbound and inbound flights.

Is Public Transit's 'Green' Reputation Deserved?, Justin Beaudoin

PSU Transportation Seminars

While public transit has a reputation as a potential means to ameliorate the adverse environmental effects of automobile travel, there have been very few empirical studies of the marginal effect of transit supply on air quality. We explore whether any of the substantial improvement in air quality observed in the U.S. from 1991 to 2011 can be attributed to increased public transit supply by developing an equilibrium model of transit and automobile travel volumes as a function of the level of transit supplied. We then empirically analyze the effects of the level of transit supply on observed ambient pollution levels …

Partisan Conflict And Stock Price, Dashan Huang, Wang Liyao

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Partisan conflict has been one dominant theme in U.S. politics in recent years. By using the textual index of Azzimonti (2018), this paper shows that partisan conflict positively predicts market returns, controlling for economic predictors and proxies for uncertainty, disagreement, geopolitical risk, and political sentiment. A one standard-deviation increase in partisan conflict is associated with a 0.58% increase in next month market return. The forecasting power concentrates in periods when the president is from the Republican Party or the majority of House is Republicans. Partisan conflict is positively related to downside risk, and makes investors more conservative when its value …

An Examination Of The Stock Market’S Effect On Economic Inequality, Nicholas J. Golina

Undergraduate Economic Review

The literature on economic inequality has shown that stock markets can negatively impact aggregate demand because it indicates a higher concentration of wealth in the hands of the top 10% as opposed to the middle class. The stock market could be one of the factors leading to increased inequality. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing stock markets in OECD countries. Building on Tsountas et al (2015), the results showed that stock markets can have a positive impact on inequality, but with weak economic significance. It is recommended that policymakers should focus on factors that more greatly impact inequality.

Separating Between Unobserved Consumer Types: Evidence From Airlines, Diego Escobari, Manuel A. Hernandez

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

We propose an alternative approach to identify unobserved consumer types and assess whether firms price discriminate. Unlike other screening schemes that rely on quantity discounts or product differentiation, in our finite mixture structure individuals have unit demands and the product is homogeneous. We implement the model using an original U.S. airlines data set. The results support the existence of two demand types. The high-type “business” traveler is less price sensitive, has a higher valuation, and pays a higher price than the low type “tourist.” The proportion of high types also increases as the departure date nears. (JEL C23, L93, …

Impact Of Airplane Crashes On Firm's Credit Risk Under The Creditgrades Model, Alexandros Bougias

Undergraduate Economic Review

The paper examines the impact of airplane accidents with 40 or more fatalities, on airline's firm credit risk. The sample contains 20 airplane crashes for the period 2000-2017. The analysis proposes the CreditGrades model introduced by Finger et al. (2002) , which is an extension of the first passage time model of Black and Cox (1976). The study concludes that airplane accidents lead to a statistically significant increase in airline's Probability of Default. The results are both significant and robust under the t-Test and the non-parametric Wilcoxon Signed-rank test.

Is Uber A Substitute Or Complement For Public Transit?, Jonathan D. Hall, Craig Palsson, Joseph Price

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

How Uber affects public transit ridership is a relevant policy question facing cities worldwide. Theoretically, Uber’s effect on transit is ambiguous: while Uber is an alternative mode of travel, it can also increase the reach and flexibility of public transit’s fixed-route, fixed-schedule service. We estimate the effect of Uber on public transit ridership using a difference-in-differences design that exploits variation across U.S. metropolitan areas in both the intensity of Uber penetration and the timing of Uber entry. We find that Uber is a complement for the average transit agency, increasing ridership by five percent after two years. This average effect …

Gender Performativity And Hegemonic Masculinity In Investment Management, Corina Sheerin, Prof. Margaret Linehan

Dept of Applied Social Science

Purpose

Through an examination of the everyday organisational and social practices, this paper aims to consider gender performativity and hegemonic masculinity within front office investment management. At the core of this research is the need to understand the interactions between gender, power and patriarchy.

Design/methodology/approach

An interpretivist philosophical stance underpins the study. A theory-building approach using 19 semi-structured interviews with investment management employees based in Ireland was undertaken.

Findings

The findings highlight a sector in which gender is performed in line with sectoral expectations, which place men in positions of dominance with hegemonic masculinity inherent. The organisational structures and daily …

Nonlinearities In The Real Exchange Rates: New Evidence From Developed And Developing Countries, Yamin S. Ahmad, Ming Chien Lo, Olena M. Staveley-O'Carroll

Economics Department Working Papers

This paper investigates nonlinearities in the dynamics of real exchange rates. We use Monte Carlo simulations to establish the size properties of the Teräsvirta-Anderson (1992) and the Teräsvirta (1994) test, when the dynamics of the real exchange rate is influenced by an exogenous process. In addition, we examine the modification proposed by Ahmad, Lo and Mykhaylova (2013; Journal of International Economics) to show that the modified nonlinearity test performs much better than the original in both Monte Carlo exercises and in the actual data on 1431 bilateral real exchange rate series. Finally, we investigate the dynamics of the real exchange …

Natural Disaster Risk And Corporate Leverage, Ahmed Elnahas, Dongnyoung Kim, Incheol Kim

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Firms located in more disaster-prone counties adopt more conservative leverage policies than those in less disaster-prone counties. Compared to peers in the least disastrous areas, firms in the most disastrous areas are less levered by 3.6 percentage points, equivalent of foregoing $13.47 million. We argue that this systematic difference in leverage is attributed to elevated operating disruption, increased cost of capital, and tightened financial flexibility. Our findings indicate that firms incorporate natural disaster risk in financing decision, which is consistent with the trade-off theory of capital structure.

Information Technology System Failure And Value Of Airlines: A Case Study Of Airlines In 2016, Jayendra Gokhale

Publications

Technology is a critical component of a firm’s operations. Technology failures can cause widespread problems in airlines. These failures cause disruptions in flight schedules, cause passengers to be stranded at airports and also increase airline operating costs. The objective of this study is to measure an effect of information technology failures on the firm value of passenger airline companies during the year 2016. In that year, there were cases involving delays and cancellations associated with JetBlue, Southwest, Delta, American, and Virgin America that received significant media coverage. Using the event study methodology, this study finds that the intensity of failures …

Could An Alternative Policy Design Have Produced A Stronger Mortgage Modification Outcome For Hamp?, Sean Macdonald

Publications and Research

This paper conducts a study of the relative effectiveness of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) - the primary federal mortgage loan modification program - from early 2009 through 2016. It evaluates U.S. Treasury Department and other data sources, and reviews the recent literature on the relative success of the program. The analysis suggests that HAMP’s success rate in modifying mortgage loans was likely constrained by its voluntary design, a structure that enabled lenders and servicers to prioritize the interests of investors in assessing the risks of modification. It then considers the economic issues surrounding the foreclosure issue and presents …

دور نظام الرقابة الداخلية في الحد من التهرب الضريبي دراسة تطبيقية في الهيئة العامة للضرائب, علي فالح خالف

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

يهدف هذا البحث الى بيان دور نظام الرقابة الداخلية في الحد من التهرب الضريبي من خلال عينة البحث الهيئة العامة للضرائب وقد تم اعداد استمارة استبيان بالاستفادة من الدراسات السابقة في هذا المجال تم توزيعها على عينة بحث شملت (50) حيث كان معظم أفراد العينــــة هم من ممثلي السلطة المالية من مدراء أقسام ومخمنين ومدققين والاختصاصات الأخرى من رئيس مبرمجين أقدم ورئيس ملاحظين للتعرف على آرائهم من خلال الاجابة على اسئلة الاستبيان وبعد تحليل الاجابات كانت اهم النتائج التي توصل اليها:ان انشطة التدقيق الداخلي تساهم في تطوير انظمة الرقابة الداخلية وانه يوجد نظام معتمد للرقابة داخلية يحدد صلاحيات واختصاصات الهيئة …

التمويل الزراعي واثره على الناتج المحلي الاجمالي في العراق للمدة (1998-2012), ليلى بدوي مطوطك

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

يستهدف البحث تسليط الضوء على التمويل الزراعي وقياس دوره في التأثير على الناتج المحلي الاجمالي في العراق خلال المدة 1998-2012، بالاعتماد على القروض الممنوحة للقطاع الزراعي من المصارف وكذلك القروض الممنوحة من برنامج المبادرة الزراعية وباستخدام اسلوب التحليل القياسي، فقد تم اختبار استقراريه البيانات ومن ثم تقدير النتائج من خلال نموذج الانحدار البسيط، وقد اجتاز النموذج الاختبارات الاحصائية والقياسية، وقد ظهر التأثير الايجابي للتمويل الزراعي على الناتج المحلي الاجمالي اذ ان زيادة التمويل الزراعي بمقدار 1% يؤدي الى زيادة الناتج بمقدار (0.325%).

الابعاد التكاملية لمصفوفة الحيود السداسية مع مناظير التقنية المتوازنة لتعظيم الاداء في ظل اقتصاد السوق رؤية استراتيجية مقترحة, فائزة براهيم محمود الغبان

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

تتسارع منشآت بيئة الأعمال المعاصرة نحو تبني الاستراتيجيات التي تحتاجها في خلق رؤى تنشد التنمية المستدامة في ظل مناخ مؤسسي قائم على نيل رضا الزبائن من خلال تلبية طلباتهم في ظل سوق عمل ينشد الاقتصاد المعرفي. ويحاول البحث الحالي بناء هيكلية لرؤية تكاملية بين الحيود السداسية والتقنية للأداء المتزن بقصد تحقيق اهداف منشاة الأعمال المتعددة وتضمن لها الاستمرار في تعزيز الإدارة على مشاركة الموارد البشرية في بلوغ قياسات الاداء المستهدفة . وخلص البحث على ان الاسترشاد بعناصر ومبادئ اداء الحيود السداسية ذات الصلة بالقيادة والربحية ، الادارة والتحسين المبيعات والتوزيع ، الخدمة والنمو ، الابتكار، التميز التشغيلي وادارة المشتريات والموردين …