A research report submitted to the Faculty of Law, Commerce and Management, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce in Finance, Johannesburg, South Africa, September 2019 / This study examines the role of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) in influencing firm performance and leverage as a form of financing decisions, in the presence of herding in the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS). The increase or decrease EPU is determined by the way policymakers or investors act and the consequences of their decisions. This study tries to answer the questions of: During times of economic policy uncertainty, how do firms rationalise making leverage financing decisions; and do they herd their leverage financing decisions towards what the market or other firms have decided? The sample firms are selected based on the Top 80 listed firms by market capitalisation in their respective country stock exchanges; however, the Top 50 in Russia was used. These firms will be split into two sub-groups of the first 40 (25) listed firms and the next 40 (25) listed firms. This will provide some insight into how the first group performs as to the second group at the beginning and end of the sample period. A total of 369 firms will be sampled over a period of 15 years from the beginning of June 2002 to the end of June 2017. Russian, Indian and South African results reject the primary and secondary null hypotheses and conclude that there is a significant relation with EPU being a factor in determining firm leverage financing decisions and that there is a significant relation with more EPU leading to herding towards firm leverage financing decisions, respectively. Brazilian and Chinese results fail to reject the primary and secondary null hypotheses and conclude that there is no significant relation with EPU being a factor in determining firm leverage financing decisions and that there is no significant relation with less EPU leading to little or no herding towards firm leverage financing decisions, respectively. EPU has an impact on business and affects the profit for many firms and this is the reason of investment delays or less consumption, which together may lead to economic activity slowdown. / PH2020

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2019-03-19T12:32:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 William Daldegan de Freitas.pdf: 6718593 bytes, checksum: b93fabf100ab52efc7d87eda42bf41c8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2019-03-19T12:32:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 William Daldegan de Freitas.pdf: 6718593 bytes, checksum: b93fabf100ab52efc7d87eda42bf41c8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2019-02-25 / The hypothesis defended here is that BRICS is a processual and dynamic phenomenon, adequate to the contemporary international order. As a processual phenomenon, it is understood that there is not a specific definition, much less the intention, regarding the format or the institutionalization to be achieved. It is a dynamic group, due to the perception of its members, which does not mean that there are limitations to their international strategies and initiatives. For this, the annual declarations of the BRICS summits, between 2009 and 2018, were analysed, through the historical methodology used in the analysis of documents and bibliography. The usage of software – AntConc e VOSviwer –, to count words and word association, enabled the construction of a textual analysis model and yielded results that prove the proposed hypothesis: the absence of formalization of the BRICS derives from the interest of its members, by preserving their independence and autonomy in the establishment of projects and policies, without harming their coordination as group. Moreover, the absence of formalization, above all, allows the creation of a bank and a reserve fund and fills the empty spaces, in a stimulus of the enlargement of the international order, without defying it / A tese aqui defendida é de que o BRICS é um fenômeno processual e dinâmico, adequado à natureza da ordem internacional contemporânea. Enquanto processual, entende-se que não há definição, tampouco intenção, quanto ao formato ou institucionalização a serem alcançados. Trata-se de um grupo dinâmico, devido às percepções dos seus membros, sem que isso signifique limitações em suas estratégias e iniciativas internacionais. Para tanto, foram analisadas as declarações anuais de cúpula do BRICS, entre 2009 e 2018, por meio da metodologia histórica no emprego da análise documental e bibliográfica. A utilização dos softwares – AntConc e VOSviwer - para a contagem e associação de palavras permitiu a construção de um modelo para análise textual e gerou resultados que comprovam a tese proposta: a não formalização do BRICS deriva do interesse de seus membros, ao preservar a independência e autonomia na condução de projetos e políticas individuais, sem que isso acarrete prejuízo para sua articulação enquanto grupo. Além disso, e sobretudo, permite a criação de um banco e de um fundo de reservas e a ocupação de espaços vazios, num estímulo ao alargamento da ordem internacional, sem contestá-la