Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-41).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-140).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Economics, August 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Com.(Ondernemingsbest.))--Universiteit van Pretoria, 2001. / Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 1999. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 307-323). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ39276.

This dissertation studies the impact of business relations on firms' financing decisions. The goal is to understand the determinants of business relations and how they interact with firms' capital structure. In the first chapter, I present a model which studies the role of customer risk in suppliers' financing choice. The base model predicts that when faced with a high-risk customer, suppliers with significant continuation values prefer equity over debt. The extended model allows for analyzing the supplier's decision to concentrate on a single major customer or diversify into multiple customers. The model shows that by decreasing the risk of premature liquidation, diversification allows for the supplier to take advantage of the bargaining benefits of debt. The second chapter empirically investigates the impact of customer risk on suppliers' capital structure. Consistent with the model presented in the first chapter, both cross-sectional and time-series regression results show that customer risk has a negative impact on suppliers' debt financing. Customer risk is an important determinant of suppliers' method of financing as well. During the first two years of the relationship, suppliers with high-risk customers are more likely to raise equity. Comparing the impact of customer risk on different supplier groups shows that firms that operate in concentrated industries and younger firms are more sensitive to changes in customer risk. In further analyses I find that the risk is transferred from customers to suppliers: There is a lead-lag relationship between customer and supplier credit rating changes. Also, suppliers experience an increase in volatility of their stock returns after they start a new relationship with a risky customer. Results from further analyses are suggestive of customer risk affecting capital structure through its impact on supplier risk. / text

This thesis centers around the pricing and risk-return tradeoff of credit and equity derivatives. The first essay studies the pricing in the CDS Index (CDX) tranche market, and whether these instruments have been reasonably priced and integrated within the financial market generally, both before and during the financial crisis. We first design a procedure to value CDO tranches using an intensity-based model which falls into the affine model class. The CDX tranche spreads are efficiently explained by a three-factor version of this model, before and during the crisis period. We then construct tradable CDX tranche portfolios, representing the three default intensity factors. These portfolios capture the same exposure as the S&P 500 index optionmarket, to a market crash. We regress these CDX factors against the underlying index, the volatility factor, and the smirk factor, extracted from the index option returns, and against the Fama-French market, size and book-to-market factors. We finally argue that the CDX spreads are integrated in the financial market, and their issuers have not made excess returns. The second essay explores the specifications of jumps for modeling stock price dynamics and cross-sectional option prices. We exploit a long sample of about 16 years of S&P500 returns and option prices for model estimation. We explicitly impose the time-series consistency when jointly fitting the return and option series. We specify a separate jump intensity process which affords a distinct source of uncertainty and persistence level from the volatility process. Our overall conclusion is that simultaneous jumps in return and volatility are helpful in fitting the return, volatility and jump intensity time series, while time-varying jump intensities improve the cross-section fit of the option prices. In the formulation with time-varying jump intensity, both the mean jump size and standard deviation of jump size premia are strengthened. Our MCMC approach to estimate the models is appropriate, because it has been found to be powerful by other authors, and it is suitable for dealing with jumps. To the best of our knowledge, our study provides the the most comprehensive application of the MCMC technique to option pricing in affine jump-diffusion models. / published_or_final_version / Economics and Finance / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Due to their arduous schedules, Korean high school students have little time to socialize with their peers face-to-face. Because of this, socializing in online environments is important to them. Using smartphone applications, Korean high school girls are creating their own cultural practices as they socialize. However, media repeatedly report concerns about adolescents’ excessive use of smartphones, and the public has begun to worry about children’s media dependence. In exploring these phenomena, I pose four research questions: 1) what do smartphones mean to South Korean high school girls? 2) How do South Korean high school girls socialize through mobile messengers, such as Kakao Talk, and how are these activities related to their social capital and social networks? 3) How do South Korean high school girls socialize through mobile social games connected to mobile messengers, and how are these activities related to their social capital and social networks? 4) How is Korean high school girls’ attachment to smartphones related to smartphone addiction? For this research, I conducted focus group interviews with 23 Korean high school girls about their smartphone use. The findings of this research revealed that 1) South Korean high school girls established an exceptional attachment to smartphones; 2) interviewees were complementing the deficiency of offline socializing by establishing alternative online communities through smartphone messengers, and these social behaviors were increasing their bonding social capital; 3) Korean high school girls were interacting with their strong ties through mobile social games, and the interactions with their weak ties were limited and superficial; and 4) Korean high school girls were at risk for smartphone addiction in accordance with the existing criteria for media addiction. / text

This paper outlines five major policy change recommendations for Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (Capital Metro) paratransit department called MetroAccess. These policy changes are recommended in response to Capital Metro’s April 2010 audit from the Texas State Legislature’s Sunset Advisory Commission. Overall these policy changes must achieve a mandated 10% cost reduction in the program. / text