The purpose of this thesis is to further examine the market dynamics of M&As in the cleantech and renewable energy industry. This study analyzes the abnormal returns of 273 announced and 54 completed buyout acquisitions that took place between 1997 and 2014. The event study method is used to test if cleantech deals experience higher returns than traditional energy and mining deals, if deal completions display similar effects as deal announcements (which is the unique contribution of this thesis) and if homogenous deals experience higher abnormal returns than heterogeneous deals. The outcomes are that the traditional energy and mining sector outperforms the cleantech sectors in homogenous deals. That deal completions effect follows the announcements effect for 11 out of 15 groups and that homogenous deals outperform heterogeneous deals.

I examine the effects of contemporaneous credit rating and watchlist announcements on the over-the-counter U.S. corporate bond market. I find significant negative daily abnormal returns (-2.91%) over a ten-day window associated with a downgrade announcement with negative watch. The effect is particularly strong over the two-day post-event window (-1.90%), while there is some weak evidence of market timing during the four days preceding a downgrade (-0.58%). Abnormal returns following upgrades with positive watch are weaker both in terms of statistical significance and magnitude. I also observe higher abnormal bond returns following downgrades with negative watch around rating-sensitive boundaries. These results suggest that bond abnormal returns could also be driven by regulation constraints, besides the information content of the ratings. Finally, a multivariate cross-sectional analysis on abnormal returns over the two-day window following downgrades shows that the negative watchlist state is a key determinant of bond market's response even when key control variables are included. / <p>Lic.-avh. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2014</p>

Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis reports two tests of information-based theories of the returns to education, in the labour market for young Australians. The first is a test of whether these returns increase discontinuously with credentials such as high school graduation and university degrees. The second is a test of employer learning based upon how the returns to education, and to measures of ability not initially observed by employers, evolve with experience. These tests are conducted using a new data source which tracks individuals during the years in which they are entering and establishing themselves in the labour market, the period during which such credential and learning effects are most likely to be important. It is found that there are large and highly significant credential returns to completion of bachelor’s degrees, of 14% for males and 10% for females. For males, around 39% of the returns to 15 years of education (relative to 9 or fewer years) are attributable to credential effects, while the corresponding figure for females is 36%. These effects are stronger among workers who were recruited through hiring channels that convey less initial information to employers. There is also evidence that post-secondary admission or attendance without completion of a credential may itself have a sorting effect in the labour market. In the employer learning estimates, when parental education is used as a measure of ability observed by the researcher but not initially by employers, it is found to become increasingly correlated with wages as experience accumulates. However, no such result is found when a standardised test score is used as the ability variable – apparently because the information captured by this score is already observed by employers at the time of labour market entry. When the model is estimated separately by occupational class, the finding of employer learning holds only among white-collar workers. This may be due to the types of attributes that are reflected in parental education as a measure of initially unobserved ability.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2002. / CD-R disc contains copy of thesis in PDF format. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 329-350). Also available online.

Σκοπός της εργασίας αυτής είναι να αναδείξει την σπουδαιότητα του ΔΛΠ 7 για τις Ταμειακές Ροές στην χρηματοοικονομική ανάλυση καθώς επίσης να παραθέσει μια καταγραφή της διεθνής έρευνας σχετικά με το πληροφοριακό περιεχόμενο των Ταμειακών Ροών. Εν συνεχεία γίνεται μια προσπάθεια να αποτιμηθεί η χρησιμότητα των Ταμειακών Ροών από Λειτουργικές, Επενδυτικές και Χρηματοοικονομικές Δραστηριότητες και δίνεται ένα παράδειγμα εμπέδωσης της Κατάστασης Ταμειακών Ροών με την άμεση και την έμμεση μέθοδο. Στην εμπειρική έρευνα, αναλύονται δεδομένα από το Χρηματιστήριο Αθηνών την περίοδο 2005-2007 με έμφαση στα Κέρδη προ Φόρων και στις Λειτουργικές Ταμειακές Ροές. Ειδικότερα εξετάζεται συσχέτιση στα πρόσημα των δύο μεταβλητών με το πρόσημο των αποδόσεων των μετοχών. Τέλος, εξετάζεται η προβλεπτική ικανότητα των Ταμειακών Ροών από Λειτουργικές Δραστηριότητες στα μελλοντικά κέρδη προ φόρων. / Purpose of this assignment is to highlight the importance of the IAS 7 for the Cash Flows Statements on the financial analysis as well to quote a notation of the international research for the “value relevance” of the Cash Flows. In addition to this, there is an attempt to evaluate the usefulness of the Cash Flows from Operating, Investing and Financial Activities and an example of Cash Flow Statement reporting with direct and indirect method is given. In the empirical research, data from the Stock market of Athens for the period of 2005-2007 is analyzed with emphasis to Earnings before Taxes and the Cash Flows from Operating Activities. Specifically a correlation among the operator of the above figures with the operator of the stock returns is examined. In the final part it is investigated the predicted capability of the Cash Flows from Operating Activities to future earnings before taxes.

Σκοπός της εργασίας είναι να εξακριβώσει αν το φαινόμενο των μικρών εταιριών εμφανίζεται και εξηγείται από τις αποδόσεις σε χαρτοφυλάκια ελληνικών μετοχών, εταιριών εισηγμένων στο Χρηματιστήριο Αξιών Αθηνών (Χ.Α.Α.) την περίοδο 2005-2010. Δηλαδή να δούμε αν και σε ποιο βαθμό το μέγεθος της κεφαλαιοποίησης των επιχειρήσεων επηρεάζει τη διαμόρφωση των αποδόσεων των μετοχών τους. / The purpose of this study is to determine whether the phenomenon of small firms appears and explained by Greek yields portfolios of shares of companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) over the period 2005-2010. That is to see if and to what extent the size of the market capitalization of the company influence the formation of their stock returns.

[pt] EVA é uma medida que avalia o desempenho das empresas em termos de geração de valor para os acionistas. Trata-se de uma metodologia bastante utilizada no mercado norte-americano e que vem ganhando espaço no mercado brasileiro. A relação do EVA com o valor de mercado e o desempenho das ações das empresas tem sido objeto de estudos nos últimos anos, tanto nos EUA quanto no Brasil, algumas vezes gerando resultados controversos. Neste contexto, esta pesquisa tem como principal objetivo testar, através de modelos de regressão linear, a relação entre o EVA e o desempenho das ações no mercado acionário brasileiro no período de 1995 a 2004. A amostra contempla todas as empresas que compõem o IBrX (índice das 100 ações mais negociadas da Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo) que possuam histórico mínimo de cinco anos de negociações, exceto as instituições financeiras. O resultado observado foi que de fato existe correlação entre o EVA e o desempenho das ações no mercado brasileiro, porém esta correlação é estatisticamente baixa, apesar de ter se mostrado crescente ao longo dos anos. / [en] EVA is a measure which assesses companies´ performance in terms of value generation to the shareholders. It is a methodology fairly used in the North- American market and which has been gaining space in the Brazilian market. The relation of the EVA with the market value and the companies´ performance has been the subject of many studies in the last years, both in the North-American and Brazilian markets, sometimes generating controversial results. Within this context, this research has as its main objective to test, through linear regression models, the relation between the EVA and the companies´ performance in the Brazilian Market during the period of 1995 to 2004. The sample contemplates all companies which compound the IBR-X (Index with the one hundred most traded stocks in the Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo) and that have a minimum record of five years of traded stocks, with the exception of financial institutions. The result observed was that in fact there is a correlation between the EVA and the companies´ performance in the Brazilian market, however, this correlation is statistically low, despite of its growing tendency shown in the tests throughout the years.

This paper studies if a change in political risk has a significant impact on the stock returns of countries. Additionally, the paper assesses if this change in political risk impacts stock returns differently in emerging and developed countries. The paper conducts a risk based portfolio analysis and a linear cross-sectional regression analysis in order to find a conclusive result. The portfolio analysis, which replicates a study carried out by Diamonte, Liew, and Stevens (1996), reveals that there is a difference in the impact that change in political risk has in developed and emerging countries. The regression analysis finds that change in political risk does impact stock returns but there is no statistically significant difference in this impact between emerging and developed countries. The regression analysis also finds that the existing level of risk does not significantly affect the impact that growth in political risk has on stock returns.

The issue of gender wage differentials has long been of interest not only to economists, but also to governments and policy makers. In the last few decades, the labour market outcomes for females seem to be improving; however, the gender pay gap persists globally and females still earn significantly less than males. However, labour market discrimination has not received the research attention it deserves in developing countries in general, and in Syria in particular. A wide variety of factors could influence the gender pay gap, such as human capital, job characteristics and social factors. In the Syrian context, social and cultural factors play an important role in determining the position of females in the labour market. However, most previous studies have ignored the effects of social factors on other variables. Therefore, this research investigates the indirect effect of social factors on wages through human capital and job characteristics. This thesis has two main aims: to examine the main determinants of earnings for men and women in Syria, and to investigate the existence and extent of discrimination in the observed gender wage differentials there. To achieve this, two methods were used. Firstly, the Mincerian wage equations were used to analyse gender wage determinants, then discrimination was estimated using Oaxaca’s decomposition. Secondly, General Linear Modelling (GLM) Univariate ANOVA was tested to reveal the main and interaction effects of the factors specified in the theoretical model. The data used in this research came from the Syrian Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2010 conducted by the Government through the Central Bureau of Statistics. The results indicated that human capital variables were vital in explaining individuals’ earnings. Also, job characteristics and social variables explained wages to different degrees. Rates of return to education were, on average, around 5%, with women’s returns being better for higher educational levels. All three groups of variables explained only 17.19% of the earning gap between men and women, leaving 82.81% that could be considered as labour market discrimination. The GLM models revealed that social factors have significant indirect effects on wages as, when adding these indirect effects to the model, the explained variance in wages increased from 35% to 55%. This research makes significant contributions to the field of gender wage differentials and discrimination in Syria. The results of this study could help the Syrian government to develop tailored policies for the Syrian labour market to narrow the gender pay gap as decreasing gender inequality would enhance productivity and foster economic growth.

Este trabalho foi conduzido com o objetivo de comparar a formulação de ração por meio da programação linear (custo mínimo) e programação não linear (lucro máximo) para poedeiras comerciais. Utilizou-se 288 poedeiras da linhagem Hisex® White de 33 a 45 semanas de idade, com 1,540 ± 0,1167 kg de peso corporal. As aves foram distribuídas em delineamento em blocos ao acaso, com seis tratamentos com seis repetições de oito aves cada, totalizando 36 parcelas. Os tratamentos experimentais foram: 1) ração de custo mínimo com exigências nutricionais das Tabelas Brasileiras para Aves e Suínos; 2) ração de custo mínimo com as exigências nutricionais recomendadas pelo Manual da Linhagem; 3) ração de custo mínimo com exigências nutricionais obtidas de modelos matemáticos para otimização de desempenho; 4) ração de lucro máximo em cenário de mercado normal; 5) ração de lucro máximo em cenário de mercado favorável; e 6) ração de lucro máximo em cenário de mercado desfavorável. O desempenho foi avaliado por meio do consumo de ração, produção de ovos, peso dos ovos, massa de ovos e conversão alimentar. Na qualidade interna e externa, em quatro ovos por parcela, foram avaliadas o peso do ovo, gravidade específica, resistência à quebra da casca, peso da casca, espessura da casca, coloração da gema, altura de albúmen e unidade Haugh. Para avaliação econômica calculou-se o lucro. Os dados foram submetidos a análise de variância e em caso de significância (P&lt;0,05) foi aplicado o teste de Scott-Knott (5%). Não houve diferença estatística (P&gt;0,05) para a unidade Haugh, altura do albúmen e para as características de qualidade externa de ovos. Verificou-se efeito de tratamento (P&lt;0,05) nas características de desempenho e qualidade de ovos por meio do valor absoluto e relativos de albúmen e gema. De forma geral, os tratamentos com as exigências obtidas pelos modelos matemáticos seguido das obtidas pelo manual da linhagem, ambos da programação linear, proporcionaram melhores resultados de desempenho, pois as rações foram nutricionalmente mais densas, no entanto, pioraram os resultados econômicos. Conclui-se que rações formuladas por meio de programação linear propiciaram as aves melhor desempenho, todavia, sem correspondente benefício econômico comparadas as rações formuladas por meio de programação não linear. / This study aimed to compares the feed formulation using linear (minimal cost) and non-linear (maximum profit) programming for commercial hens. Thus, 288 Hisex® white layer hens, from 33 to 45 weeks old, with 1,54 ± 0,12 kg of BWwere used. The hens were distributed in randomized blocks, with six treatments and six replicates with eight birds per replicate, totaling 36 plots. The treatments were: 1) minimum cost feed formulation, with nutritional requirements proposed by Rostagno et al. (2011); 2) minimum cost feed formulation, with nutritional requirements recommended by strain management guide; 3) minimum cost feed formulation, with nutritional requirements obtained from mathematical models for performance optimization; 4) maximum profit feed formulation in normal market scenario; 5) maximum profit feed formulation in favorable market scenario; and 6) maximum profit feed formulation in an unfavorable market scenario. The performance was evaluated from feed intake, egg production, egg weight, egg mass and feed conversion ratio. In four eggs per pen was evaluated the internal and external egg quality: egg weight, specific gravity, shell resistance, shell weight, shell thickness, yolk color, albumen height and Haugh unit. To economic evaluation, profit was calculated. Data were submitted to variance analyses and when significant (P&lt;0.05) Scott-Knott test (5%) was applied. There was no statistical difference (P&gt;0.05) for Haugh unit, albumen height and external quality of the eggs. There was effect of treatment (P&lt;0.05) on performance and eggs quality from absolute and relative values of yolk and albumen. In general, treatments with requirements obtained by mathematical models or by strain management guide, both from linear programming, improved the performance results, since diets were denser nutritionally, however, worsened the economic results. In summary, feed formulated by linear programming improves performance, however, worsens economic results compared with nonlinear programming.