Do firms with higher levels of innovation output, measured by patent counts and citations, enjoy lower costs of funds? The process to develop and apply for patents involves valuable resources. Thus, applying for a patent is a credible signal that the underlying invention is valuable. This value is validated to some degree when the patent is granted. In addition, patents contain detailed information about the firm's inventions and provide collateral value as they can be sold and licensed. The number of citations a firm receives act as a proxy for high-quality inventions, active networking, and pioneering. These attributes are expected to attract investors and reduce the cost of funds. Univariate and cross-sectional regression analyses of a sample consisting of 404,595 firm-years, involving firms from twenty-eight countries spanning from 1976 to 2012, demonstrate a significant negative association between innovation output and the cost of funds. The evidence suggests that the marginal benefit of innovation diminishes as innovation output increases. The results are robust to different measures of the cost of equity and the cost of debt. The negative association between the cost of equity and innovation output is economically larger for younger and smaller firms. The long-term level of innovation seems …

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of the "limits of arbitrage" on securities mispricing. Specifically, I investigate the effect of the availability of substitutes and financial constraints on stock mispricing. In addition, this study investigates the difference in the limits of arbitrage, in the sense that it will lead to lower mispricing for these stocks, relative to non-S&P 500 stocks. I also examine if the lower mispricing can be attributed to their lower limits of arbitrage. Modern finance theory and efficient market hypothesis suggest that security prices, at equilibrium, should reflect their fundamental value. If the market price deviates from the intrinsic value, then a risk-free profit opportunity has emerged and arbitrageurs will eliminate mispricing and equilibrium is restored. This arbitrage process is characterized by large number of arbitrageurs which have infinite access to capital. However, a better description of reality is that there are few numbers of arbitrageurs to the extent that they are highly specialized; and they have limited access to capital. Under these condition arbitrage is no more a risk-free activity and can be limited by several factors such as arbitrage risk and transaction costs. Other factors that are discussed in the literature …

Issuers’ credit ratings change by one or more notches when credit rating agencies provide new ratings. Unique to the literature, I study the influences affecting multi notch versus single notch rating upgrades and downgrades. For Standard & Poors data, I show that rating changes with multiple notches provide more information to the market than single notch rating changes. Consistent with prior literature on the business cycle, I show that investors value good news rating changes (upgrades) more in bad times (recession) and that investors value bad news rating changes (downgrades) more in good times (expansion). I model and test probit models using variables capturing the characteristics of the previous issuer’s credit rating, liquidity, solvency, profitability, and growth opportunity to determine the classification of single notch versus multi notch rating changes. The determinants of multi notch versus single notch rating changes for upgrades and downgrades differ. Business cycle influences are evident. Firms that have multi notch rating upgrades and downgrades have significantly different probit variables vis-à-vis firms that have single notch rating upgrades and downgrades. The important characteristics for determining multiple notch upgrades are a firm’s prior rating change, prior rating, cash flow, total assets and market value. The important characteristics …

This study examines the comparative magnitude of disturbances in intraday data for exchange traded foreign exchange (FX) options. An in-depth time series analysis on the frequency and extent of discrepancies in the disturbances is conducted. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, using intraday data and trading volume, this study attempts to determine whether both put-call parity and lower boundary conditions consistently hold for exchange traded options written on U.S. dollar denominated options on the Euro trading on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX). Second, this study attempts to investigate the magnitude of any discrepancies that may exist due to a temporary cessation of either put-call parity or lower boundary conditions. Intraday (tick-by-tick) bid prices, ask prices, and trading volume on U.S. dollar denominated European style call options and put options on the Euro are obtained. Option data is collected through a Structured Query Language (SQL) request from the Bloomberg database. Corresponding tick-by-tick spot rates for the underlying exchange rate are obtained for the same time period. Tick-by-tick 3-month Treasury bill rates are obtained to for use as the relevant risk-free interest rate. The primary data set spans an approximate one month period from 11/1/2011 to 12/6/2011. Call and option …

This dissertation consists of three essays: essay 1, Underwriting Use of Credit Information and Firm Performance ‐ An Empirical Study of Texas Property‐Liability Insurers, essay 2, Prediction of Ratings in Property‐Liability Industry when The Organizational Form Is Endogenous, and essay 3, A Discussion of Parsimonious Methods Predicting Insurance Companies Ratings. The purpose of the first essay is to investigate the influence of underwriting use of credit information on variation in insurers’ underwriting performance. Specifically, this study addresses the following two research questions: first, what firm‐level characteristics are associated with the insurers’ decision to use credit information in underwriting? second, is there a relationship between the use of credit information and variation in insurers’ underwriting performance? The empirical results indicate that larger insurance companies, companies having more business in personal auto insurance, and those with greater use of reinsurance are more likely to use credit information in underwriting. More importantly, the results indicate that use of credit information is associated with lower variation in underwriting performance, consistent with the hypothesis that use of credit information enables insurers to better predict their losses. The purpose of the second essay is to resolve the inconsistent relationship between the organizational forms (i.e., stock versus …

This study provide empirical evidence whether bias in the standard errors of Jensen’s alpha explains conflicting results in the extant literature in real estate funds. Significant alphas in real estate mutual funds and REITs are compared with heteroskedasticity consistent covariance matrix estimators (HC1, HC2 and HC3), Newey-West standard errors, a robust regression tempering the effect of high leverage points, a GARCH model, and a HC3 adjusted wild bootstrap. In the analysis of real estate mutual funds and a separate sample set of REITs, the HCCME had a minimal impact attenuating the number of firms with excess returns. Contrary to expectations the differences from HC1 to HC2 to HC3 were also negligible. The Newey-West standard error provided highly variable results when compared with the OLS results particularly in the REIT sample. Of the techniques to adjust for bias in the standard error, the wild bootstrap with HC3 adjustment to the standard error provided the most conservative result to the number of real estate mutual funds and REITs with significant alphas. The co-movement of real estate funds suggests common exogenous influences. Including state variables such as the changes in unexpected inflation, term spread, default spread, market skewness and industrial production growth in …

This dissertation identifies key determinants of outbound cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by emerging Asian acquirers during 2001-2012. Using a zero-inflated model that takes into account different mechanisms governing country pairs that never engage in cross-border M&As and country pairs that actively participate in cross-border M&As, I uncover unique patterns for emerging Asian acquirers. Emerging Asian acquirers originate from countries with lower corporate tax rates than those countries where their targets are located. Furthermore, the negative impact of an international double tax burden is significantly larger than that found in previous studies. While country governance differences and geographical and cultural differences are important determinants of international M&As, relative valuation effects are muted. Coefficients of these determinants vary substantially, depending on whether targets are located in developing or advanced nations. Also, determinants differ considerably between active and non-active players in cross-border M&As. Moreover, comparisons of empirical models illustrate that estimating a non-linear model and taking into account both the bounded nature and non-normal distributions of fractional response variables lead to different inferences from those drawn from a linear model estimated by the ordinary least squares method. Overall, emerging Asian acquirers approach the deals differently from patterns documented in developed markets. So, …

During the Great Recession of 2007 and 2008, liquidity and credit dried up, threatening the stability of financial institutions, particularly the banking firms. Traditional source of funds from the last resort, the Discount Window of the Federal Reserve System, failed to remedy the liquidity problem. To assuage the liquidity and credit problem, the Federal Reserve System established several emergency lending facilities and provided unprecedented amount of loans to the banking industry. Using a dataset published by Bloomberg LLP in the aftermaths of the financial crisis, which contains daily loan balances from the Fed, I conduct an event study to test whether financial markets are efficient in reflecting all public, anticipated and classified information in security prices. The most important contribution of this dissertation to the finance discipline and literature is the investigation and analysis of the Fed’s unprecedented loans to the banking industry during the Great Recession and the market reaction to it. The second major contribution of this study is the empirical test of strong form efficient market hypothesis, which has not been feasible due to legal data challenges. This dissertation has other contributions to the finance discipline and banking research. First, I develop an algorithm for measuring the …

The purpose of this study was to examine the aspects of redeployment in general terms, and then to present a case study of a specific redeployment program to analyze its effectiveness as a corporate financial tool. The first four chapters discuss the general and financial definitions of redeployment, as well as the objectives, benefits, and alternate methods of the operational asset form of redeployment. The specific redeployment program analyzed is the case study of Ling-Temco-Vought's use of the operational asset form of redeployment. The purpose of the case study was to determine if Ling-Temco--Vought achieved their stated objectives. An analysis of these objectives shows that redeployment was a success.

Many mathematical programming models of the selection of investment portfolios assume that the best portfolio at any given level of risk is the portfolio having the highest level of return. The expected level of return is defined as a linear combination of the expected returns of the individual investments contained within the portfolio,and risk is defined in terms of variance of return. This study uses Monte Carlo simulation to establish that if the estimates of the future returns on potential investments are unbiased, the steady-state return on the portfolio is overestimated by the procedure used in the standard models. Under reasonable assumptions concerning the parameters of the estimates of the various returns, this bias is quite sizeable, with the steady-state predicted return often overestimating the steady-state actual return by more than ten percentage points. In addition, it is shown that when the variances of the alternative potential investments are not all equal,a limitation on the variance of the portfolio will reduce the magnitude of the bias. In many reasonable cases, constraining the portfolio variance reduces the bias by a magnitude greater than the amount by which it reduces the predicted portfolio return, causing the steady-state actual return to rise. This …

The initial matching relationships between underwriters and bonds/issuing firms and the certification quality of underwriters, as determined by changes in the issuing firm’s financial strength post issue, are the two primary research topics in this dissertation. Based on total underwriter syndicate market share, two distinct categories, low market power (LMP) syndicates and high market power (HMP) syndicates were defined. Firm financial strength is examined based on a new factor developed in this research. A comparison of the two underwriting categories, or pools, indicates that the HMP underwriters take on firms of lower initial financial strength and additionally, the issuing firms decline more in financial strength two years following bond issuance than do firms using LMP underwriters. Notwithstanding these results, the more interesting findings are the relationships within each of these pools. In the LMP pool of underwriters, financially stronger firms used the larger LMPs to underwrite their bonds, while the weaker firms used smaller LMPs. In contrast, among HMP underwriters, the largest HMPs aligned with the firms of relatively lower financial strength. The relationships in both pools reverse when changes in financial strength are examined. Larger LMPs are associated with greater issuing firm financial decline while larger HMPs correlate with …

This study examines the impact of reducing tick size and, in particular decimalization on stock splits. Based on previous studies, this study examines hypotheses in the following three areas: first, market reaction around stock split announcement and ex-dates, second, the effect of tick size on liquidity after stock split ex-dates, and third, the effect of tick size on return volatility after stock split ex-dates. The impact of tick size on market reaction around split announcement and ex-dates is measured by abnormal returns and buy and hold abnormal returns (BHARs). Also, this study investigates the long term impact of decimalization on market reaction for small, medium, and large firms for the three different tick size periods. The effect of tick size on liquidity after stock split ex-dates is measured by turnover, relative bid ask spread, and market maker count. The effect of tick size on return volatility around stock split announcement and ex-dates is measured by return standard deviation. Also, this study investigates the long term impact of decimalization on volatility after split ex-dates for small, medium, and large firms for three different tick size periods.

The purpose of the study was to find the best prediction models of short-term bank CD ratings using financial variables. This study used short-term bank CD ratings assigned by Moody's and Standard and Poor's.

This dissertation examines the reaction of common stock prices to the announcement of changes in bond ratings by Moody's Bond Service, while having a control for differential information availability. The Institutional Brokers Estimate System (I/B/E/S) number of security analysts and coefficient of variation of earning per share (EPS) estimates are used as a proxy for information availability of the firms. Past studies differs in their conclusions as to whether the market has responded to announcement of bond rating changes. None of past studies have controlled for differential information availability. This study, using daily stock returns data and the event study methodology with the statistical test, finds that while the sample of rating downgrades exhibit significantly negative abnormal price effect during the announcement period, the magnitude of this effect is significantly higher for firms with low information availability. For the rating upgrades, the sample as a whole has no abnormal announcement period returns, but the sample of firms with lower information earns significantly positive abnormal returns. This study provides support for the hypothesis that the announcement effect of bond-rating changes is conditional on the information available about the firm.

The purpose of the study is to empirically determine the relevance of PPP theory under the traditional arbitrage and the efficient markets (EPPP) frameworks during the recent floating period of the 1980s. Monthly data was collected for fifteen industrial nations from January 1980 to December 1986. The models tested included the short-run PPP, the long-run PPP, the EPPP, the EPPP with deviations from expectations, the forward rates as unbiased estimators of future spot rates, the EPPP and the forward rates, and the EPPP with forward rates and lagged values. A generalized regression method called Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) was employed to test the models. The results support the efficient markets approach to PPP but fail to support the traditional PPP in both the short term and the long term. Moreover, the forward rates are poor and biased predictors of the future spot rates. The random walk hypothesis is generally supported.

The effect of a change in capital structure on the risk and return of common stockholders is investigated. Also, the information content of dividends when a firm goes for new outside financing is examined. Data used in the study are collected from the Moody's Bond Survey, the Prentice Hall's Capital Adjustments, the Wall Street Journal Index, and the Center for Research in Security Prices Tape. The study uses an event study methodology. The risk (beta) of common stock before an issuance of debt securities is compared with the risk after the issue. The stock market reaction to the issuance of new debt securities is measured using after-the-event risk. The information content of dividend announcement before a new debt issue is compared to that of after the issue. The findings show that debt issue reduces stock holders' risk if the issuer is a dividend paying company. Also, debt securities issued through an exchange offer increase stockholders' wealth. Finally, issuance of new debt does not affect the information content of dividends.

Few areas of research in the finance literature have received greater attention than the efficient market hypothesis. Much of the research has been directed toward the securities market while very little research has been done in the real estate markets. The existing research on real estate market efficiency has been either descriptive or illustrative with very little empirical testing being performed. The major reason for the lack of empirical testing has been the inability to develop an adequate data base. The results of the empirical work that has been done do not support the widely held belief that real estate markets are inefficient. This study, using the autoregressive-integrative-moving average (ARIMA) time series analysis technique, tests the weak-form efficiency of the Dallas-Fort Worth office properties real estate market. According to the weak-form efficient market hypothesis, all price information should be capitalized into current real estate prices and not provide the basis for earning abnormal returns in trading. Price data formed from office building sales dating from January, 1979 to January, 1985 are used to test the market. The data was gathered from the files of several professional appraisal firms located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The transaction information includes (1) transaction …

The observed use (and indeed tremendous growth in volume) of forward contracts, futures, options, and swaps as hedges against interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk, and commodity price risk indicates that hedging does add value to the firm. The purpose this research was to empirically examine the value of off-balance-sheet hedging. The benefits of off-balance-sheet hedging were found to accrue from reducing (1) taxes, (2) expected financial distress costs, and (3) agency costs. Taxes. Hedging reduces the firm's tax liability by reducing the variability in taxable income. The value of hedging to the firm is a positive function of the convexity of the tax function and the variability of taxable income. Expected Financial Distress Costs. The value of hedging is a positive function of the degree to which hedging reduces the probability of financial distress and the costs of financial distress. Agency Cost. Due to the fact that bondholders and some managers hold fixed claims while shareholders hold variable claims, shareholders desire more risky projects than do bondholders or managers. Hedging reduces this conflict by allowing shareholders to undertake higher risk projects while protecting the holders of fixed claims. Firms can achieve the same benefits of hedging by using alternative …

This empirical study is concerned with the usefulness of proposed supplementary disclosures for oil and gas producers to financial analysts in valuing a company. It is concerned with what supplementary information is being used, to what extent it is being used and which type of information is used most. Three main research procedures are employed. In the first procedure, the Mann-Whitney U Test is applied to determine any significant difference between valuing an oil and gas producing company using basic financial statements and ratio data, and valuing the same company with this information plus the proposed disclosures. The second procedure involves applying the chi-square and Cramer's V statistics to determine whether the disclosure information caused switching in valuation method used for each of the cases. The third procedure tests for significant differences between financial ratios used for each case by employing the test of differences between two proportions. Additional evaluation attempts to determine analysts' perceived usefulness of each of the schedules of the proposed disclosures

Catastrophe theory (CT) is a relatively new mathematical theory that comprehensively describes a system exhibiting discontinuous behavior when subjected to continuous stimuli. This study tests the theory using capital-market data. The data is a time series of stock returns on firms that filed for Chapter 11 reorganization during 1980-1985. The CT model used is based on a corporate failure model suggested by Francis, Hastings and Fabozzi (1983). The model predicts 1) as the filing date approaches, there will be a structural shift in the underlying stock-return generating process of the filing firm, and 2) firms with lower operating risk will have a smaller jump than firms with higher operating risk, corresponding to their relative positions within the bifurcation set of the catastrophe cusp.

This study addressed two issues. First, it examined the ability of two models, developed by Cox, Ingersoll and Ross (CIR), to explain the differences between futures and implicit forward prices in the thirteen-week T-bill market. The models imply that if future interest rates are stochastic, futures and forward prices differ; the structural difference is due to the daily settlement process required in futures trading. Second, the study determined the efficiency of the thirteen-week T-bill futures market using volatility and regression tests. Volatility tests use variance bounds to examine whether futures prices are excessively volatile for the market to be efficient. Regression tests investigate whether futures prices are unbiased predictors of future spot prices. The study was limited to analysis of the first three futures contracts, using weekly price data as reported in the Wall Street Journal from March, 1976 to December, 1984. Testing of the first CIR model involved determination of whether changes in futures-forward price differences are related to changes in local covariances between T-bill futures and bond prices. The same procedure applied in testing the second model with respect to changes in futures-forward price differences, local covariances between T-bill spot and bond prices, and local variances of bond …

The forces that shaped banking practices in the late 1970s and which fostered attempts by the banks to rapidly expand their markets are examined. Why, and to what extent, the Texas energy banks committed themselves to the oil industry in those years, as well as the effects of the oil industry's four-and-one-half year decline on the banks' financial strength is detailed. How banks structured loans to various energy borrowers and why these borrowers lost their ability to service their debts is analyzed. The changes that the Texas banks' painfully learned lessons will bring about in energy and other specialized lending is considered.

In this study, the possibility that money demand of one country might be affected by macroeconomic activities of other countries is investigated. We use the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) technique, which takes into account all covariances between residuals of country-specific money demand equations. Efficiency of estimates using the SUR technique is enhanced because it uses information contained in the contemporaneous correlation of the error terms. The hypothesis of economic interdependence is tested. A proxy for foreign influence, deviation from interest rate parity (DIRP), is tested for significance in the money demand function.

This study examines the differential effect of each of the ten largest bank failures on shareholders' wealth of non-failed banks over the period from 1973 through 1984. It examines how contagion and information effects of major bank failures have changed over time. FDIC policy for settling failures has important implications for system stability, and has changed over time. This study's purpose is to provide empirical evidence on the effects of FDIC policy. The FDIC's handling of the Penn Square failure signaled a policy shift and offers a unique opportunity to examine changes in market reactions to large bank failures. The literature on the capital market effects of major bank failures provides limited evidence on the impact of bank failures and related FDIC policy. Most fail to discriminate between contagion and information effects, and conduct analysis on one (or a few) bank failure(s) in the mid-1970s using traditional event study methodology. This study considers multivariate regression (MVRM) an appropriate methodology for bank failures which are likely to have simultaneous impact on non-failed banks. MVRM, which accounts for contemporaneous cross-sectional dependence of residuals, has three advantages over standard residual analysis: no "event clustering" problem, multiple hypotheses tests, and computational efficiency. This study …