My dissertation consists of three essays in international capital markets. In Chapter I, we examine the herd trading behavior of institutional investors trading around the world. Using a new transaction-level trades database of 531 U.S. institutional investors trading across 37 countries for the period 2002-2009, we find robust evidence of intra- and inter-period herdings at the monthly frequency. We find no evidence that trades by institutions in our sample destabilize local stock markets. Further analysis shows that: (i) in the buy side, both intra- and inter-period herdings are more pronounced in countries with weaker information environments; and (ii) in the sell side, intra-period herding is more pronounced in countries with stronger information environments, whereas inter-period herding is not significantly related to information environments. In Chapter II, we document that the degree of co-movement between bilateral USD ex- change rates has increased substantially since the introduction of the euro in 1999 and investigate what drives the increased co-movement. For each of our 33 sampled bilateral USD exchange rates, we measure the degree of co-movement using the R-square from re- gressing weekly exchange rate changes on the weekly world exchange rate factor. Our results show that, for the majority of sample exchange rates, the R-square has increased substan- tially over the period 1999-2010. Specifically, the average R-square was 0.15 in 1999, but it increased to 0.47 by more than 200% in 2010. Further analysis reveals that the rising influence of the euro relative to USD over a third currency can explain most of the increase in the measured co-movement over time. In Chapter III, we examine the level and trend of U.S. domestic market integration. For each of our sample states, we construct the state (market) portfolio comprising public firms headquartered within the state and compute R-square, our measure of integration, from regressing state portfolio returns on national stock market factors. Using weekly returns, we estimate the regression for each year of our sample period 1963-2008. The key findings are: (i) For the majority of sample states, the R-square exhibits a statistically significant upward trend, implying that U.S. domestic stock markets were not fully integrated and have been integrating during the sample period; (ii) consistent with the previous result, the explanatory power of the state factor over individual stock returns has been decreasing for the majority of states; and (iii) the increasing integration of U.S. domestic stock markets is associated with the decreasing home state bias, suggesting that investors' pursuit of nation- wide investment opportunities may be a significant driver of domestic financial integration.

Investors have been shown to be driven by emotional and psychological factors. This contradicts classical financial theories, for example the Efficient Market hypothesis which states that all investors act rationally. Behavioural Finance is an area of study which describes various psychological factors which may result in irrational investor behaviour. The primary question of the study is: which factors do operating people in the financial sector consider themselves to be influenced by? The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors which affect the process of creating forecasts or making financial decisions. The study examines in addition if there is a correlation between length of investor experience and overconfidence in forecasting accuracy and investment decision making. The study includes both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The study has a basis of survey data which has been supplemented with interviews to obtain further explanation of the results. The result showed that the factors being studied had varying degrees of influence on forecasting accuracy and investment decision making. It was further found through the survey undertaken that there is a moderate correlation between length of investor experience and overconfidence. This correlation was contradicted however by interview data, in which all interview participants proposed that overconfidence decreases the more experienced an investor or analyst is. It was argued by interviewees that increased experience affords an individual more realistic insight into their own abilities. / Investerare har påvisats drivas av emotionella och psykologiska faktorer vilket motsäger klassiska finansiella teorier som den Effektiva Marknadshypotesen vilket menar att alla investerare agerar rationellt. Finansiell Psykologi är således ett område som beskriver olika psykologiska faktorer som resulterar i att investerare agerar irrationellt. Tidigare forskning har visat att olika faktorer har påverkan inom finansbranschen och för att undersöka detta på den svenska marknaden skapades denna problemformulering: Vilka faktorer anser sig verksamma inom finansbranschen påverkas av? Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka faktorer som bland annat påverkar processen att skapa aktieprognoser eller fatta finansiella beslut. Därtill ska det undersökas om det finns korrelation mellan antal år som verksam och Övertro på egna förmågan att göra korrekta prognoser eller fatta finansiella beslut. Studien innefattar en metodtriangulering vilket innebär att det både skett tillämpning av en kvantitativ och kvalitativ metod. Studien har haft en utgångspunkt i en surveyundersökning som genomfört för att sedan kompletterats med intervjuer för att få vidare förklaring till de resultat som undersökningen gav samt ge ytterligare synvinklar och kommentarer kring ämnet. Resultatet visade att de undersökta faktorerna i olika hög grad har påverkan. Det visade sig även via surveyundersökningen att det fanns ett moderat samband mellan antal år som verksam och Övertro. Samtliga intervjuade personer hade däremot en motsägande åsikt, de ansåg att Övertro minskar med antal år som verksam och hävdade att den erfarenhet man får på vägen får en som individ att bli mer realistiskt kring sin egen förmåga.

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本研究旨在檢視債券市場有無從眾行為產生的現象，並進一步探討其可能產生從眾現象的原因。首先，嘗試將財務工程，在滿足平睹過程下所計算出來債券應有的真實價格，並利用Keynes選美競爭的概念作結合。一般的債券市場存在著兩種交易者，一為同時擁有私人訊息和公開市場資訊的交易者，另一為只具有公開市場資訊的交易者，在資訊不對稱的條件下，兩種交易者的交易策略皆是利用有條件下的理性預期去估算債券的市場價格，然而發現到債券的市場價格會受到本身的真實價格、公開市場資訊和債券的供給衝擊等因素所影響。 最後，由研究模型發現，會不會導致債券市場存在從眾行為的最主要因素，就是債券交易者所擁有的利率行為方程式，藉由利率方程式選取的外生變數，比較會影響債券市場價格因素的權重大小，加以判斷會產生從眾行為的條件。 / The objective of this study is to examine the bond market, the phenomenon of herd behavior, and to further explore the possible reasons for the phenomenon of conformity. First, try to combine competitive advantage of Keynes’s concept of beauty contests and the real bond price which satisfies martingale process Bond market in general there are two kinds of traders, one has both public information and private information, the other has only public information. Under conditions of asymmetric information, two kinds of traders’ trading strategies are the use of rational expectations under conditions to estimate the bond’s market price. However, we can find that there are some factors which affect the bond’s market price. Like bond’s true value, public information and supply shock. Finally, the model is found by the study will not lead to herd behavior bond market the most important factor is the interest rate behavior equation owned by traders. We select the exogenous variables which to compare their weight in order to determine the conditions of herd behavior.

Thesis (doctoral)--Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2009. / Thesis documentation sheet inserted. Includes appendix with reprints of two published papers and two manuscripts, three of which are co-authored with others. Includes bibliographical references. Issued also electronically via World Wide Web in PDF format; online version lacks appendix.

Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala University, 1981. / One map on one folded leaf tipped in on cover p. 3. Additional (corrected) p. 97 inserted. Included bibliographical references (p. 511-526).

Název / Title Eseje o rozhodování pod stresem / Essays on Decision Making under Stress Student PhDr. Lubomír Cingl Studijní program / Study program Ekonomické teorie Školitel / Advisor PhDr. Michal Bauer, Ph.D. Abstract This dissertation comprises three thematically connected experimental studies of human behavior under non- standard conditions: time-pressure and stress. In the Introduction section I present the argument for why it is important for economists to recognize stress research as a valid part of the research in economics and how it can contribute to the growing knowledge of human behavior in general, including several examples from the literature. The first paper presented in Chapter 2 examines the effect of time pressure on the individual propensity to herd, while the remaining two papers examine the effect of acute stress on risk-preferences and herding behavior, respectively. Herding behavior is a very important phenomenon in human decision making since social influence is very frequent in our lives and economic decisions: consider traders in financial markets, wait-and-see investors, but also purchase behavior due to fads, fashion and top-ten lists. Risk preferences are another essential factor which determines many important economic outcomes, and the assumption of their stability is a...

Submitted by Morgana Silva (morgana_linhares@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-07-25T16:07:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3917406 bytes, checksum: 84cf3bac7d4ce0c03e7c2bb543ec310e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-25T16:07:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3917406 bytes, checksum: 84cf3bac7d4ce0c03e7c2bb543ec310e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-25 / This work results from a research about Aboio’s (cow herding) singing in the Paraiba’s high sertão (backwoods) region, especially in these cities: Sousa, Cajazeiras, Marizópolis, São João do Rio do Peixe among surrounding municipalities. The focus is on the adaptive processes that this kind of chanting undergoes in order to survive as a manifestation of the Vaqueiros’ (Cowboy) voice and culture. Interviews and ethnographic research has been done with Aboio’s singers of this region seeking for an understanding of musical and sociological changes that have occurred to cowboy culture and how they influence and construct reality for contemporary cowboy. It follows that the aboio, actually, is very different from that described by Mário de Andrade since he organized the folkloric research missions in 1938. The aboio has adapted to new contexts and to the changes brought by modernity and late modernity in order to ensure its survival in northeast backcountry culture. / Este trabalho é resultado de uma pesquisa sobre o canto de aboio na região do alto sertão paraibano, em especial, os municípios de Sousa, Cajazeiras, Marizópolis, São João do Rio do Peixe e municípios circunvizinhos. Foca-se nos processos adaptativos que o aboio passa para sobreviver enquanto manifestação da voz e da cultura do vaqueiro. Foram feitas entrevistas e pesquisa etnográfica com os cantadores de Aboio da região buscando uma compreensão das transformações musicais e sociológicas por que passa a cultura do vaqueiro e como as mesmas influenciam e constroem a realidade do vaqueiro contemporâneo. Concluiu-se que o aboio está muito diferente da prática descrita por Mário de Andrade desde que organizou as missões de pesquisas folclóricas em 1938, pois o aboio se adaptou aos novos contextos e às mudanças trazidas pela modernidade e modernidade tardia a fim de assegurar sua sobrevivência na cultura do sertanejo nordestino.

Background: Kahneman and Tversky (1974, 1979 & 1992) argue that individuals are bound to numerous behavioral biases that may lead to the emergence of different irrational behaviors. This is often observed with even a higher degree among participants of financial and stock markets as agents such as investors are frequently exposed to significant level of risk and uncertainty (Kahneman, 2013; Kahneman, Knetsch & Thaler, 1991; Kahneman & Tversky, 1974, 1979, 1992). Also, empirical studies indicate that a significant level of herding exists among investors when they are exposed to a high degree of risk and uncertainty such as those in financial crises (Galariotis, Rong & Spyrou, 2014; Litimi, 2017; Hott, 2009). Purpose: the main purpose of this thesis is to explore if the loss aversion bias has a significant causal impact on forming herding behavior among young Swedish retail investors. Method: an online analytical questionnaire including eight questions has been conducted to collect primary data, with 77 Swedish retail investors under the age of 35 participating in the study. Furthermore, a multiple regression analysis has been implemented to analyze and interpret the data. Conclusion: it can be concluded that there is not a significant correlation between the degree of loss aversion and the degree of herding behavior within the sample group of young Swedish retail investors. Hence, loss aversion bias cannot be considered as one of the major contributors of herding within the target population.

The potential of utilizing boreal forests for carbon storage has gained momentum, a recognition reflected in both the Paris Agreement and science. Research on the consequences of climate policy on sustainable forest management delineate, rather inadequately, the complexities of policy-human-environment interactions. These studies are limited in terms of integrating various land user with different values sharing the same forest resource, such as indigenous peoples. This paper uses a semi-quantitative Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) approach to capture interdisciplinary knowledge by comparing different scenarios regarding forest management strategies and power regimes, driven by the Paris Agreement or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Given these scenarios, this paper aims to analyze the possible effects on quality of winter grazing grounds for reindeer relative to forest biomass yield. The findings of this study confirm that a scenario with more intensively managed forest is most likely to harm terrestrial and arboreal lichen availability, which is the basis for sustainable winter grazing for reindeer. The study also suggests that more indigenous influence would enhance the sustainability of reindeer herding. Based on these results and given this era of industrially intensified forest management, now partly justified by climate change mitigation, it can be argued that the livelihood of Sami herders is vulnerable due to multiple direct and indirect climate stressors. The results are discussed to explore possible policy implementations, as well as environmental decision making.   Keywords: climate policy, climate mitigation, boreal forests, indigenous herding, power regimes