Socially responsible investing has presented itself as a growing, multifaceted, advanced and sophisticated investment philosophy. Socially responsible investment (SRI) involves incorporating social, ethical and responsible investment objectives with financial investment objectives during the investment decision-making process. Social, ethical and responsible investment objectives are set in line with environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria which are established within the SRI strategy followed. SRI strategies include screening (negative, positive and best-of-sector), shareholder activism and cause-based investing. Although international SRI markets such as that of the United States of America and the United Kingdom are sophisticated and established markets, the South African SRI market is still relatively new and is yet to reach its full potential. Thus, as a growing market, little research regarding the long term risk-adjusted performance of SRI funds in South Africa has been conducted. The long term risk-adjusted performance of the sample of SRI funds was measured through the use of five risk-adjusted performance measures, namely the Treynor ratio, Sharpe ratio, Jensen’s alpha, Sortino ratio and Omega ratio, and through the use of three performance measurement models which included the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), Fama-French three-factor model and Carhart four-factor model. The risk-adjusted performance of the sample of SRI funds was measured with the intent to establish if these funds out- or underperformed against three benchmark categories, namely the Financial Times Stock Exchange/Johannesburg Stock Exchange (FTSE/JSE) SRI Index, a matched sample of conventional investment (non-SRI) funds and the FTSE/JSE All Share Index. The probable effect of the 2007/08 global financial crisis was also measured to analyse whether such a hazardous market event affected the performance of the SRI funds. According to the results and findings, the risk-adjusted performance of the SRI funds has improved over the research period. However, the SRI funds neither outperformed nor underperformed against the three benchmark categories over the research period. The performance measurement models’ analysis indicated that the SRI funds were less sensitive to market fluctuations, more exposed to small capitalisation portfolios, more growth-oriented, and exhibited significant momentum after the period of the 2007/08 global financial crisis. Furthermore, the analysis indicated that the SRI funds significantly underperformed against the non-SRI funds during the Performance of socially responsible investment funds in South Africa research period. Mixed results were obtained with regards to the probable effect of the 2007/08 global financial crisis on the performance of the SRI funds.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

We investigate the activity and performance of 64 Swedish registered mutual equity funds available in the Swedish Premium Pension System from October 2002 to December 2011. Fund activity is measured by applying the holdings based analysis Active Share combined with Tracking Error Volatility (TEV). Active Share is a relatively new measure that compares a fund’s holdings with its benchmark index constituents (Cremers & Petajisto, 2009; Petajisto, 2013). This is used as a proxy for the fund’s stock selection strategy. As a complement, TEV is used as a proxy for the factor timing strategy. Performance are measured by using Jensen’s (1968) model, Fama and French’s (1993) model and Carhart’s (1997) model. We document that Swedish funds in the Premium Pension System are relatively passive in term of Active Share compared to US funds. We attribute this finding to the relative number of stocks held by a fund compared to the market. Swedish equity funds hold a relatively larger share of the number of stocks in the Swedish market while US funds hold a relatively smaller share of the stocks in the US market. We run a panel regression analysis to test the relation between Active Share and various variables. We find that funds with higher TER fees and fewer stocks on average have higher Active Share. There are also indications that TEV is positively related to Active Share. However, the overall explanatory power of the variables is low. We attribute this as evidence that Active Share is an independent measure of fund activity. Overall, we find neutral performance for an equally weighted portfolio of all funds in the PPS. To examine the performance differences between different levels of activity, we sort funds into five portfolios based on Active Share and TEV. The results show that, given a medium-to-low TEV, funds with high Active Share significantly outperform funds with low Active Share. Furthermore, it appears that the fee rebate in the Premium Pension System is important especially for the passive funds. Without the rebate, the passive funds underperform significantly. We run a panel regression analysis on the future fund performance to test the predictive abilities of Active Share and TEV. The results indicate that Active Share does not explain future performance differences. Conversely, TEV is negatively related to future performance which can be explained by fund managers being overconfident

The fund market has grown substantially during the past decades and the majority of Swedish citizens are invested in funds directly or through pension savings. There is mixed evidence on the performance of Swedish equity funds depending on the method employed and the time period studied. In this study, we set out to estimate abnormal performance using acknowledged methods during a time-period that is both longer and more recent than previous studies. Our sample is survivorship-free and consists of 150 mutual equity funds during January 1993 to December 2011. We use a four-factor model to estimate abnormal performance compared to an index and additional risk factors. We find that the average performance is neutral net of costs and that funds outperform with 1.7 percent before costs, the difference is approximately the average management fee. Over time, we find that the average abnormal performance and the share of funds that have significant outperformance have decreased while the share of significant underperformance has increased. Since the study of fund performance started in the 1960's the twin questions has been; does funds outperform the market and is this a result of pure chance or are managers skilled? Since we observe funds with significant positive and negative abnormal performance, we want to know if the results can attributed to luck or skill. We employ the latest technique, a bootstrap simulation, to test for skill or luck. This is the first study to employ the bootstrap to distinguish skill from luck in sample of Swedish funds. By ranking funds on performance after costs, we find that the performance of the majority of funds can be attributed to skill or "bad skill". The evidence is strongest in the top 95th percentile and above, and from the bottom 50th percentile and below.

Notre thèse explore les facteurs de risque et les modèles des facteurs sur le marché boursier chinois A-share. Notre étude est basée sur le contexte du modèle facteur de Fama-French (FF). Tout d'abord, au chapitre 1, nous réexaminons l'applicabilité du Modèle Fama-French à Trois Facteurs (FF3F) et du dernier Modèle Fama-French à Cinq Facteurs (FF5F), compte tenu de plusieurs caractéristiques spéciales du marché boursier chinois. Les résultats empiriques montrent que le Modèle FF3F peut expliquer la majorité des variations de séries chronologiques des rentabilités des actions chinoises A-share. Au cours de la période d'échantillonnage, le marché bêta et le facteur SMB sont des déterminants importants pour expliquer la variation transversale des rentabilités des actions, cependant nous ne trouvons aucune prime de valeur. D’après la comparaison des performances des modèles FF3F et FF5F en présence de facteurs de rentabilité et d'investissement, le Modèle FF5F ne semble pas capturer plus de variations de rentabilités espérées que le modèle à trois facteurs, à l'exception des six portefeuilles pondérées en valeurs qui formés à partir de la taille et de la rentabilité opérationnelle.Dans le chapitre 2, nous examinons si les facteurs FF, SMB et HML, sont des proxys d'innovations de variables d'état sélectionnées (rendement de dividende agrégée, taux de T-bonds en un mois, l’écart de terme et l’écart de défaut) qui décrivent, sur la période recherche, les opportunités futures d'investissement sur le marché boursier chinois A-share. Les régressions chronologiques et les régressions des séries transversales sont réalisées sur cinq modèles comparatifs en utilisant l'approche à deux étapes Fama-MacBeth. Les facteurs FF ne perdent pas leur pouvoir explicatif, avec ou sans la présence des innovations des quatre variables d’états sélectionnées, à la fois dans les examens de séries chronologiques et les examens transversaux. Nous trouvons que l'information contenue dans l'innovation de rendements de dividende agrégés semble totalement capturée par la combinaison du marché bêta et du facteur de taille. Les facteurs FF ont pu jouer un rôle limité de capturer d'opportunités d'investissement alternatives représentées par les innovations des quatre variables d'état sélectionnées.Dans le chapitre 3, nous étudions si les facteurs FF sont des proxys de facteurs de risque de détresse et si différentes méthodes de construction des facteurs entraînent des résultats différents. Les résultats empiriques suggèrent qu'il n'y a pas de preuve significative que les facteurs FF représentent un risque de détresse sur le marché boursier chinois A-share. En comparant les résultats des régressions des séries chronologiques à partir de deux méthodes différentes, la performance du facteur de risque de détresse basé sur le DLI semble légèrement meilleure que celui basé sur le O-score. Cependant, le facteur de risque de détresse n'est pas un déterminant important des rentabilités transversales moyennes, et les facteurs FF ne peuvent pas représenter le facteur de risque de détresse dans la section transversale du marché boursier chinois A-share. / This dissertation is to explore the risk factors and factor models on Chinese A-share stock market based on the context of Fama-French (FF) factor model. First of all, chapter 1 re-examines the applicability of Fama-French Three-Factor (FF3F) Model and the latest Fama-French Five-Factor (FF5F) Model considering several special features of Chinese stock market. FF3F Model can explain a majority of time-series variation of the Chinese A-share stock returns. The market beta and SMB are important determinants in explaining the cross-sectional variation in the average stock returns over the sample period; however, we find no value premium. Comparing the performance of both FF3F Model and FF5F Model on Chinese A-share stock market, in the presence of profitability and investment factors, FF5F Model seems not capture more variations of expected stock returns than the three-factor model except the six value-weighted portfolios formed on size and operating profitability.Chapter 2 examines whether FF factors SMB and HML proxy for the innovations of selected state variables (aggregate dividend yield, one-month T-bill rate, term spread and default spread) that describe future investment opportunities on Chinese A-share stock market during the research period. Both time-series and cross-sectional regressions are performed on five comparative models using Fama-MacBeth two-stage approach. FF factors don’t lose their explanatory power with or without the presence of the innovations of selected four state variables in both the time-series and cross-sectional examinations. We find that the information contained in innovation of aggregate dividend yields seems totally captured by the combination of market beta and size factor. FF factors might have played a limited role in capturing alternative investment opportunities proxied by innovations of the selected four state variables.Chapter 3 investigates whether FF factors proxy for distress risk factor and whether different methods of constructing factors result in the different outcomes. The empirical results suggest that there is no significant evidence that FF factors are proxying for distress risk on Chinese A-share stock market. Comparing the time-series regression results by using two different methods, the distress risk factor constructed based on DLI seems to perform slightly better than that constructed based on O-score in capturing time-series average returns. However, the distress risk factor is not an important determinant of cross-sectional average returns, and FF factors cannot proxy as distress risk factor in the cross-section on Chinese A-share stock market.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att analysera och utvärdera Carharts fyrfaktormodells och Fama- Frenchs trefaktormodells prestanda vid portföljavkastning på den svenska aktiemarknaden, under perioden 2011–2020. Teori: Denna studie grundar sig i den effektiva marknadshypotesen, Fama och Frenchs trefaktormodell samt Carharts fyrfaktormodell. Metod: En kvantitativ studie med ett deduktivt förhållningssätt. Undersökningen utför tester på den svenska aktiemarknaden under perioden 2011–2020 genom en regressionsanalys. Upptäckter: Carharts fyrfaktormodell har en högre justerad förklaringsgrad än trefaktormodellen, vilket drivs av modellens förmåga att förklara avkastning på portföljer sorterade efter storlek och momentum. Originalitet: Studien särskiljer sig på grund av avsaknaden av forskning på den svenska aktiemarknaden. Vidare bidrar studien till ett forskningsområde för små öppna ekonomier, där den svenska aktiemarknaden ingår. / Purpose: The purpose of the study is to analyze and evaluate Carhart's four-factor model’s and Fama-French's three-factor model's performance in portfolio returns on the Swedish stock market, during the period 2011–2020. Theory: This study is based on the effective market hypothesis, Fama and French's three- factor model and Carhart's four-factor model. Method: A quantitative study with a deductive approach. The survey performs tests on the Swedish stock market between the period 2011-2020 through a regression analysis. Findings: Carhart's four-factor model has a higher adjusted degree of explanation than the three-factor model, which is driven by the model's ability to explain returns on portfolios sorted by size and momentum. Originality: The study differs due to the lack of research on the Swedish stock market. Furthermore, the study contributes to a research area for small open economies, where the Swedish stock market is included.

This dissertation addresses the fundamental question of what factors drive equity prices and investigates the mechanisms through which the drivers influence the price dynamics. The studies are based on the two different frequency levels of financial data. The first part aims to identify what systematic risk factors affect the expected return of stocks based on historical data with frequency being daily or monthly. The second part aims to explain how the hidden supply-demand of a stock affects the stock price dynamics based on market data observed at frequency levels generally between a millisecond and a second. With more and more financial market data becoming available, it greatly facilitates quantitative approaches for analyzing asset price dynamics and market microstructure problems. In the first part, we propose an econometric measure, terms as modularity, for characterizing the cluster structure in a universe of stocks. A high level of modularity implies that the cluster structure of the universe of stocks is highly evident, and low modularity implies a blurred cluster structure. The modularity measure is shown to be related to the cycle of the economy. In addition, individual stock's sensitivity to the modularity measure is shown to be related to its expected return. From 1992 to 2011, the average annual return of stocks with the lowest sensitivity exceeds that of the stocks with highest sensitivities by approximately 7.6%. Considerations of modularity as an asset pricing factor expand the investment opportunity set to passive investors. In the second part, we analyze the effect of hidden demands/supplies in equity trading market on the stock price dynamics. We propose a statistical estimation model for average hidden liquidity based on the limit orderbook data. Not only the estimated hidden liquidity explains the probabilistic property in market microstructure better, it also refines the existing price impact model and achieves higher explanation powers. Our enhanced price impact model offers a base for devising optimal order execution strategies. After we develop an optimal execution strategy based on the price impact function, the advantage of this strategy over benchmark strategies is tested on a simulated stock trading model calibrated by historical data. Simulation tests indicate that our strategy yields significant savings in transaction cost over the benchmark strategies.

Over the past years, the total assets under management among hedge funds and equity mutual fundshave increased significantly. The question from an investor point of view iswhich investment vehicle can provide the greatest return adjusted for risk. The purpose of this study involves an analysis on the historical net asset values todetermine and evaluate what one can except from actively managed hedge andequity mutual funds. It supports the determination of the most profitable asset, adjusted for risk, as part of a diversified portfolio. The performance is measured net of fees and costs with the inclusion of potential performance fees individual hedge funds may apply. Hedge funds practice different investment approaches depending on what strategy is applied and hence, return levels can vary dramatically. The study is designed to answer questions by comparing net returns and risk-adjusted returns for respective investments and the different hedge fund strategies. With a deductive research approach, the analysis is conducted by applying existing models and theories as the Fama-French three-factor model through time-series regressions measuring excess returns (alpha), risk-adjusted performance measures as Sharpe ratio, M-squared and the Sortino ratio. The results show that hedge funds outperform equity mutual funds in all examined aspects and produce positive monthly net alphas,on average. Equity mutual funds are unable to provide investors with positive excess returns and subsequently fail the purpose of an actively managed fund by providing returns lower than the return of the market. The results are increasingly strengthened with both time-series regressions and performance measures showing homogenous results and reaching the equal conclusions. From the conclusions that hedge funds provide the most profitable investment compared to equity mutual funds, the hedge fund strategy CTA/managed futures strategies perform best in both net and risk-adjusted terms.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka personlighet och dess eventuella kausala samband med konstnärlig kreativitet. Femfaktormodellen användes för att undersöka personlighetsdragen öppenhet, extroversion och neuroticism. Begreppet kreativitet beskrivs genom tidigare forskning och konstnärlig kreativitet utgör grunden för studien. En kortare pilotstudie genomfördes för att testa förståelsen av mätinstrumentet för kreativitet, som tidigare översatts från engelska till svenska. I undersökningen ingick 89 respondenter som besvarade en online-enkät utlagd i facebookgruppen “studenter vid högskolan i Skövde”. Resultatet visade att personlighetsdraget öppenhet predicerar konstnärlig kreativitet. Resultaten för personlighetsdragen extroversion och neuroticism visade inte på någon predicering av konstnärlig kreativitet. Dock visade resultatet att facetten sällskaplighet för personlighetsdraget extroversion predicerar den konstnärligt kreativa domänen dans, medan personlighetsdraget neuroticism och facetten depression predicerar den konstnärligt kreativa domänen kreativt skrivande. Därigenom kunde följande slutsats dras: ett flertal av studiens respondenter uttrycker sig på ett konstnärligt kreativt sätt och vilken typ av konstnärligt kreativt uttryckssätt som individen föredrar beror på individens personlighet. / The purpose of this study was to investigate personality and it’s potential causality with artistic creativity. The five-factor model was used to investigate the personality traits openness, extraversion and neuroticism. Creativity is described by earlier research and artistic creativity creates the basic of this study. A short pilot-study was performed to evaluate the understanding of the instrument for creativity, that had been translated earlier from english to swedish. The sample used consisted of 89 respondents, who participated in an online-survey posted at a facebook-group named “studenter vid högskolan i Skövde”. The results showed that the personality trait openness predicts artistic creativity. The results of the personality traits extraversion and neuroticism did not show any predictability of artistic creativity. However, the results showed that the facet gregariousness from the personality trait extraversion predicts the artistic creative domain of dance, while the personality trait neuroticism and the facet depression predicts the artistic creative domain creative writing. Thereby the following conclusion could be made: several respondents of this study are expressing themselves in an artistic creative way and what kind of artistic creative expressions they use is defined by the personality of the person.

L'objectif de cette thèse était de montrer que les autodescriptions dans les inventaires de personnalité expriment la connaissance que les individus ont de valeur sociale qu'il convient d'exprimer selon les contextes de passation. Nous nous sommes principalement appuyés sur la littérature relative au jugement social, qui définit la valeur sociale à partir de deux dimensions fondamentales : la désirabilité sociale et l'utilité sociale. La première, la désirabilité sociale, exprime la réputation des personnes à susciter des affects positifs dans les relations sociales. La seconde, l'utilité sociale, exprime la réputation à performer dans un système social. Dans ce cadre, nous avons examiné l'hypothèse générale selon laquelle les réponses données à un inventaire de personnalité reposent davantage sur la valeur d'utilité et/ou de désirabilité des items (information évaluative) que sur les facteurs de personnalité qu'ils sont censés mesurer (information descriptive). Nous avons d'abord montré que les individus attribuent plus ou moins de désirabilité et d'utilité sociale aux différents items des inventaires de personnalité. Nous avons ensuite mis en évidence que la prise en compte de cette information évaluative permet aux répondants de mieux faire correspondre leurs réponses aux prescriptions sociales (explicites ou implicites). Dans un troisième ensemble d'études, nous avons étudié le rôle des informations descriptives et des informations évaluatives dans les inférences de performance professionnelle. Les données ont mis en évidence que les individus utilisent davantage l'information évaluative lorsqu'ils doivent pronostiquer la performance professionnelle. Enfin, les deux dernières études montrent que les facteurs de personnalité prédisent la performance essentiellement à travers les items dont la valeur sociale est congruente avec la valeur mobilisée par le critère de performance (sélection, relations sociales). Pris ensemble, nos résultats soutiennent notre hypothèse générale et indiquent que les individus expriment une connaissance intuitive de leur valeur sociale dans les inventaires. / Our aim was to show that self-description in personality inventories communicate individuals' self-knowledge about their social value. Following social judgment framework, social value is defined around two fundamental dimensions: social desirability and social utility. The former refers to the individuals' reputation to elicit positive affects in interpersonal relations. The latter refers to the individuals' reputation to perform in social systems. We postulated that self-description in personality inventories rely more on the social utility and social desirability of the items (evaluative information) than on the personality factors they are supposed to measure (descriptive information). We first showed that personality items could cover more or less social desirability or social utility. Then, we showed that these two components serve the malleability of self-descriptions according to explicit or implicit social exigencies. In a third set of studies, we studied the role of descriptive and evaluative information on performance inferences. Results showed the primacy of evaluative over descriptive information for professional performance inferences. Finally, the last two studies show that personality factors predict performance primarily through the items whose social value is congruent with the value mobilized by the performance criterion (selection, social relations). Taken together, the results support our hypothesis and indicate that individuals express an intuitive knowledge of their social value in personality inventories.