As the stock market plays an important role in the global economy and Chinese economy become progressively significant part of the world economy, we are interested in the Chinese stock market. After we compared the methods on the stock market, we choose to use the CAPM and the APT model on Chinese stock market. As a lot papers study on the Main Board of Chinese stock market, we pay our attention on the SME Board and the ChiNext Board of Chinese stock market. We put the samples from the SME Board and the ChiNext Board into the regression models which are based on the CAPM and the APT model, and then we can use the regression models to forecast the long returns. Comparing the forecast ln returns with the true ln returns, we may find that the CAMP or the APT model can forecast better on the SME Board and the ChiNext Board. The systematic risk is the only factor we put the regression model based on the CAPM. For the regression model based on the APT model, we use three factors which are the systematic risk, daily exchange volume and the volatility. Our results show that the APT model can explain factors better than the CAPM for the samples from the SME Board and the ChiNext Board. On the other hand, we could not find evidence that the APT Model can forecast better than the CAPM for the SME Board and the ChiNext Board.

När man väljer att analysera företag, finns det flera olika värderingsmodeller att använda.En av dessa är Piotroskis F-score. Denna modell har mestadels tidigare använts för att analysera företag på den amerikanska marknaden. Nu vill författarna undersöka hur tillämpbar modellen är på den svenska aktiemarknaden och dessutom kombinera denna modell med en Magic Sixes värdering för att öka dess precision. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om F-score i samarbete med Magic Sixes kan generera överavkastning och överträffa den svenska aktiemarknaden. Författarna har genomfört en kvantitativ studie med en deduktiv ansats. Data har samlats in med hjälp av databasen Orbis och Dagens Industri. Författarna har upprättat identiska listor för att beräkna företagens F-score och Magic Sixes. Därefter har en beräkning av portföljernas lönsamhet genomförts. Författarnas studie har visat att F-score i kombination med Magic Sixes lyckas slå marknaden under 3 av de 6 studerade åren. F-score har en träffsäkerhet på 65,15% och Magic Sixes har en träffsäkerhet på 58,82%. Modellerna bör inte användas självständigt eller i kombination med varandra som enda grund för ett beslut, men bör ses mer som ett komplement till andra analysmetoder. Slutsatsen är att modellerna kan ge en god indikation på huruvida investerare bör undersöka investeringsobjektet närmare.

The research paper explores the value of information content incorporated in the first-time going concern opinion from the perspective of investors. The signaling effects of the auditors’ opinion with going concern remark issued to financially distressed companies are of a great value in case the auditor statements deliver new information content which has not been incorporated in the previously disclosed financial information. Otherwise a going concern audit opinion remains not relevant for the purpose of investors’ decision making. If the going concern audit opinion adds new information content, we gain an ability to detect a stock market reaction to the relevant public announcement. The paper examines the Australian stock market reaction to public announcements of going concern audit opinion in a short term period for the sample of the 29 first-time going concern listed companies during the 2007 to 2009 years observation period. High sample criteria are determined in order to avoid contamination effects of other price sensitive information. The impact of both the preliminary financial report and the final annual report is examined by means of the parametric and non-parametric tests aligned with the event study methodology. Consistent with previous studies in Australia, no significant financial market reaction to the final going concern audit opinion announcements inherent to the Australian environment has been found. We document that the more negative impact on the market reaction is caused by the preliminary financial report rather than the final report, which contains an audit opinion note. Correspondently, the audit opinions with going concern qualification do not add new information content for the Australian stock market participants, who base their expectations on the previously disclosed financial information.

The aim of this paper is to test and further improve fundamental analysis models developed by Piotroski (2000) and Rados and Lovric (2009). The improvement seeks to reverse the information in the previous models by taking relative importance and strength of both positive and negative fundamental signals into consideration. The theoretical framework used includes the efficient market hypothesis, fundamental analysis and investing in high book-to-market companies. The Piotroski model, two Rados’s and Lovric’s models and two variations of our model were tested on a portfolio consisting of high book-to-market companies from the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the period 1999-2008. The results show that our EDA Model was the most successful at identifying short selling candidates, as EDA Low portfolio rendered market adjusted returns of -19% on average. Moreover, our EDC model was the best performing at identifying buy-and-hold candidates, with an average annual market adjusted return of 31,5%. The success of our models implies that the market is not using the information captured by them fully and in a timely manner.

In 1968, Rein Taagepera created growth curves of four empires by measuring the surface area of each and plotting his data on a graph of area versus time. He used his growth curves to analyse the development of empires quantitatively, as he considered surface area to be the best measurable indicator of an empire’s strength. His growth curve of the Roman Empire, in particular, has been referenced numerous times by scholars researching the decline and fall of complex civilizations to support their individual analyses of the collapse of Rome. While this thesis surveys only the territories of the Western Roman Empire, many of the parameters used by Taagepera have been either borrowed or adapted in order to define, measure, and graph the surface area of the Western Empire as precisely as possible. This thesis also adds further precision and validity to Bryan Ward-Perkins’ theory that surface area can be used to analyse and quantify the collapse of a complex society accurately. In order to demonstrate the extent to which differing circumstances and outcomes of provincial history impacted the total surface area of the Western Roman Empire, it was essential to include not only an overview of Rome’s extensive history, but also to establish the chronology, as it related to the Roman Empire, of each individual province, territory, and client kingdom within the Western Empire. Detailed chronologies of Noricum and Britannia have been included to serve as case studies as they comprise a broad range of distinct characteristics and so represent typical western provinces. My research of the history and geography of the Roman Empire has generated a comprehensive inventory that includes all the pertinent onomastic and chronological data needed to measure the surface area of each of Rome’s western provinces and client kingdoms. When plotted on a graph of area versus time, my data not only produced an accurate representation of the actual surface area of the Western Roman Empire, but also one that facilitates temporal analyses of territorial fluctuations at any given point in the Empire’s history until the fall of the Western Empire in CE 476.

Syfte: Studien undersöker om det finns ett samband mellan ekonomiska indikatorer och den årliga aktieavkastningen ett år framåt på den svenska marknaden för företag som genomfört nyemission och jämförs med en benchmark som består av företag som inte genomfört nyemission. Metod: Uppsatsen utgår från en kvantitativ undersökning där multipel regressionsanalys används för att undersöka sambandet mellan indikatorer och aktieavkastningen vid nyemissioner under tidsperioden 2002 – 2010. Slutsats: Utifrån resultaten kunde vissa signifikanta samband konstateras mellan indikatorerna och totalavkastningen för nyemissionsgruppen. Det visade att totalavkastningen sjunker det året företag genomför nyemission jämfört med totalavkastningen året innan nyemissionen. Det kunde konstateras att marknaden är ineffektiv till en viss utsträckning i samband med nyemissioner. För benchmark kunde resultaten dock inte säkerställas på grund av att statistisk felkälla förekom i regressionsmodellen. / Purpose: The study examines if there is any significant relationship between predictors and the one year ahead stock returns in the Swedish market for company that have issued new equity and it is compared to a benchmark consisting of companies that have not made any new equity issues. Method: The essay is based on a quantitative study where a multiple regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between predictors and stock returns for company that have issued new equity during a time period of 2002 – 2010. Conclusion: Based on the results significant relationship between some predictors and stock returns could be found for the new equity issue group of company. It showed that stock returns decline the same year companies issue new equity compared to the year before new equity is issued. It was noted that the market is inefficient to a certain extent in the new equity issues matter. As for the benchmark the results could not be ensured and interpreted due to statistical errors occurring in the regression model.

This thesis examines the impact of earnings announcements on the stock return performance. Most literature regarding this topic is related to the US market. We follow 40 of the largest and most liquid stocks on the virtual OMX Nordic Exchange from 2010 to 2012. In this research paper, we present the theoretical framework that gives an overview of the possible research areas, and provide empirical evidence of the repercussion of the earnings announcements on stock returns. We use the event study methodology to conduct this thesis. It is a standard approach established by Fama et al. (1969). It has been used in a variety of researches for gauging the effect of new information on the market value of a security. As we expected good news and bad news to have different reactions on the stock return performances, we have split our data in good news and bad news. To differentiate good news from bad news, we measure analysts’ forecast error. It consists in subtracting the earnings per share (EPS) of the analysts’ consensus forecast from the reported EPS of the same year. The analysis is composed of three different subdivisions: the study of the abnormal return during an event window of 17 days, the cumulative abnormal return during this event window, stock price behavior from growth stocks and from value stocks. Our findings show that stock behavior gradually responds to the earnings announcement. The stock reactions that appear within pre-event window may indicate information leakage. Our results describe most average abnormal returns as statistically insignificant during the event window. Earnings information has a lower impact on the stock market. We also find that the effect of positive earnings surprise on stock price lasts longer than that of negative earnings surprise. Stocks from OMX Nordic 40 index have a stable reaction on negative earnings surprise. As a conclusion, we highlight three points. Earning interim and annual earning information disclosure were unable to influence the stock market effectively, and therefore could not fully reflect the changes on the stock price. Investors can get the abnormal returns by using this earnings information during the whole event window.

In this paper, we use a Fama-French model and Markov regime-switching model to capture time series behavior of many financial variable. Alternatively, classification by cluster analysis help to learn the different characteristics of the sample between stock returns and risk factors. This empirical result shows that the excess return in the low volatility state tends to be greater than that in the high volatility state. The stock returns in each regime have a higher probability of remaining in their original state, especilly in low volatility state. This article also found the influence of risk factors affecting the stock returns is not symmetrical. In the state of low volatility, market factors and momentum effect have a significant influence in stock returns, and in the high volatility state, except the size effect, market and behavior factors have a significant influence in stock returns. Markov-switching models have proved to be useful for modeling a range of economic time series in the stock market. The regime-switching model has a superior performance in capturing the risk sensitivities of the stock return beyond the findings based on the Fama-French models. At last, we find the cluster analysis is feasible for the multi-factor model. The returns of mature companies have a primarily impact of market risk premium, while the major factor affecting returns with characteristics of growth companies is a investor sentiment. In addition, it is found that small companies¡¦ returns are vulnerable to investors sentiment. In this case, investors will invest based on stock's past performance, so the momentum effect significantly affect the stock returns.

Studies on returns to education disagree as to where these returns are highest. It is suggested that these disagreements are the result of inconsistencies in the data and methodologies used for their estimation. These disagreements specifically refer to where in education governments should invest in order to obtain the highest returns, based on the specific characteristics of their countries (i.e. level of economic development). The purpose of this dissertation is to estimate and determine whether returns to investments in education vary for groups of countries with different levels of economic development. Rates of return to investments in education were estimated through improvements in methodology and data comparability. Subsequently, the differences among these returns and their significance were observed. This study provides evidence to suggest where in education countries should invest based on their specific level of economic development in order to obtain the highest returns to these investments.

Nowadays it is a worldwide trend to transform the government by using information and communications technology. Particularly in keen competition amongst countries in the 21st century, a country which has competitive consciousness uses information and communication technology to reform the government for improving its national competitiveness. If Taiwan intends to remold itself and improve its national competitiveness, it should establish an electronic government to develop governmental Internet service and substantially renovate the effectiveness of administrative operations. The government should break through the traditional thinking frame and redefine the role and function of the government. This is for the purpose of changing and improving the interactive relationship between the government and the public and to help the public accept the convenient service of various Internet applications offered by the government. Taiwan started the online governmental services from 1998 and has been engaged in several types of applications, such as Government to Citizen, Government to Business, and Government to Government applications. Among these applications, the convenient service of Internet application, which is most closely related to the daily life of the public, includes electronic tax filing, electronic motor vehicle & driver information system, electronic public safety, electronic industries and businesses, electronic health care, and electronic utilities, etc, which have been gradually and widely used by the public. By adopting the four phases of NEBIC Theory (Net-Enabled Business Innovation Cycle), this study will examine whether the electronic filing of individual income tax returns, which is introduced by the government, makes tax filing more efficient, lowers the cost and offers a more convenient service or not. In brief, the study is to analyze whether the needs of the public are being more fulfilled. NEBIC Theory mainly defines the four phases of the cycle, which are Choosing Enabling Information Technologies, Matching with Economic Opportunities, Executing Business Innovation for Growth and Assessing Customer Value, to create customer value. By using NEBIC Theory, this study analyzed (1) the first phase that the electronic government was engaged in convenient service of Internet application by using information technology, (2) the second phase that the government offered tax payers the electronic tax filing with a 24-hour filing system and a trial run of auto-selected optimal filing, and (3) the third phase in which the national tax information systems used by five regional National Tax Administrations and the Financial Data Center were integrated and planned anew, which was named ¡§National Tax System Migration¡¨, in which most commonly known by the public was ¡§electronic filing of individual income tax returns¡¨, and was accomplished in 6 years. This study finally analyzed the fourth phase of the value of electronic filing of income tax returns. Voluntarily providing tax payers with annual income data by tax authorities significantly saves the social cost, time cost, and manpower cost of tax withholders, payers and authorities. Tax authorities may save manpower in data recording and processing, save data storage space and improve the government¡¦s administrative effectiveness. Tax payers may save transport costs, extend the tax filing time, save time of trials and lower the possibility of rejection, which offers more convenience to the public. Therefore, electronic filing of individual income tax returns greatly increases satisfaction of the needs of the public.