This dissertation examines the effect of income smoothing on information uncertainty, stock returns, and cost of equity. Following existing literature, I construct two income smoothing measures - capturing income smoothing through both total accruals and discretionary accruals. I show that income smoothing tends to reduce firms' information uncertainty, as measured by stock return volatility, analyst forecast dispersion, and analyst forecast error. Further, I provide evidence that market prices income smoothing and rewards income smoothing firms with a premium. Controlling for unexpected earnings shocks and other firm characteristics, income smoothing firms have significantly higher abnormal returns around earnings announcement. Finally, I show that income smoothing, particularly through discretionary accruals, reduces firms' implied cost of equity.

The informational content of implied volatility and its prediction power is evaluated for time horizons of one month. The study covers the period of November 2007 to November 2013 for the two indices S&P500 and OMXS30. The findings are put in relation to the corresponding results for past realized volatility. We find results supporting that implied volatility is an efficient, although biased estimator of realized volatility. Our results support the common notion that implied volatility predicts realized volatility better than past realized volatility, and that it also subsumes most of the informational content of past realized volatility.

Under a class of one dimensional local volatility models, this thesis establishes closed form small time asymptotic formulae for the gradient of the implied volatility, whether or not the options are at the money, and for the at the money Hessian of the implied volatility. Along the way it also partially verifies the statement by Berestycki, Busca and Florent (2004) that the implied volatility admits higher order Taylor series expansions in time near expiry. Both as a prelude to the presentation of these main results and as a highlight of the importance of the no arbitrage condition, this thesis shows in its beginning a Cox-Ingersoll-Ross type stock model where an equivalent martingale measure does not always exist.

Este trabalho situa-se no âmbito dos estudos voltados para as relações entre linguagem e mundo previdenciário e, em consideração às várias possibilidades de abordagem para essas relações, pretende aprofundar-se nos discursos produzidos sobre o pecúlio. A proposta desta pesquisa é, sob o ponto de vista enunciativo, identificar que sentidos de pecúlio circulam em notícias veiculadas na Revista PREVI, levando em consideração a historicidade dos pecúlios e a comunidade discursiva que participa dessa construção de sentidos. Ao fazermos uma leitura mais analítica das notícias, identificamos que a forma como o enunciador se constituiu, nos levou a trabalhar com os implícitos - pressupostos e subentendidos - e, como pretendíamos analisar a relação PREVI/Participante, optamos por estudar o ethos enunciativo a partir desses implícitos. Dessa forma, pudemos estudar imagens de enunciador e, consequentemente, a forma de relacionamento desse com seu coenunciador, bem como os sentidos de pecúlios recuperados a partir dessa relação. A perspectiva teórica utilizada é a da Análise do discurso de base enunciativa que determina a forma como compreendemos as manifestações de linguagem (MAINGUENEAU, 2004). Outros conceitos presentes em nossa análise foram os de gênero do discurso (BAKHTIN, 2010); as teorias dos implícitos em Ducrot (1987) e Maingueneau (1996) e os estudos sobre o ethos em Maingueneau (2004, 2008 e 2011). Nossas análises nos possibilitaram recuperar três imagens predominantes de enunciadores: o explicador, o defensivo e o apelativo. O primeiro enunciador explica, porque entende que seu coenunciador tem dúvidas, desconhece, não está apto a; o segundo, defende a instituição PREVI, o pecúlio da PREVI e, se necessário, ataca inclusive seu coenunciador, se entender que está sendo ameaçado. Por sua vez, o terceiro argumenta em sua própria causa ou pela causa dos pecúlios e apela pela adesão do seu coenunciador. Depreendem-se dessas imagens de enunciador sentidos de pecúlios que precisam ser explicados, defendidos e argumentados nas publicações da PREVI. Como conclusão, a partir desses sentidos de pecúlio, inferimos uma possível causa para que os enunciadores e coenunciadores estabeleçam as mesmas relações em um período de mais de trinta anos de divulgação dessas revistas / This work lies within the framework of studies on the relationship between language and pension fund and, in consideration of the various possible approaches to these relationships, wants to delve into the speeches made on the reserve funds. The purpose of this research is to identify which reserve funds stories are found in reports in the previ Magazine, taking into account the historicity of the reserve funds and the community that participates in this discursive construction of meaning. By making a more analytical reading of the news, we identified how the utterer was formed, led us to work with the implicit - assumptions and innuendos - and, as we wanted to analyze the PREVI / Participant relationship, we have opted to study the relationship enunciation ethos from such implied. Thus, we studied pictures of the enunciator and hence this kind of relationship with their co-enunciator and the directions of reserve funds recovered from this relationship. The theoretical perspective used is that of discourse analysis of expository basis that determines how we understand the manifestations of language (MAINGUENEAU, 2004). Other concepts presented in our analysis were the gender discourse (BAKHTIN, 2010); implicit theories in Ducrot (1987) and Maingueneau (1996) and studies on the ethos in Maingueneau (2004, 2008 and 2011). Our analyzes allowed us to recover three predominant enunciators pictures: the tutor, the defensive and the appealing. The first enunciator explains, because he understands that his co-enunciator is unsure, unaware, unable; the second one supports the Previ institution, the reserve fund and, if necessary, attacks your co-enunciator to understand what is being threatened. The third one argues for its own sake or for the sake of reserve funds and calls for the accession of his co-enunciator. Be inferred from these enunciators pictures reserve funds ideas which must be explained, defended and argued in the Previ publications. In conclusion, from these reserve funds ideas, we infer a possible cause for the enunciators and the co-enunciators to establish the same relationships over a period of more than thirty years of dissemination of these journals

Este trabalho situa-se no âmbito dos estudos voltados para as relações entre linguagem e mundo previdenciário e, em consideração às várias possibilidades de abordagem para essas relações, pretende aprofundar-se nos discursos produzidos sobre o pecúlio. A proposta desta pesquisa é, sob o ponto de vista enunciativo, identificar que sentidos de pecúlio circulam em notícias veiculadas na Revista PREVI, levando em consideração a historicidade dos pecúlios e a comunidade discursiva que participa dessa construção de sentidos. Ao fazermos uma leitura mais analítica das notícias, identificamos que a forma como o enunciador se constituiu, nos levou a trabalhar com os implícitos - pressupostos e subentendidos - e, como pretendíamos analisar a relação PREVI/Participante, optamos por estudar o ethos enunciativo a partir desses implícitos. Dessa forma, pudemos estudar imagens de enunciador e, consequentemente, a forma de relacionamento desse com seu coenunciador, bem como os sentidos de pecúlios recuperados a partir dessa relação. A perspectiva teórica utilizada é a da Análise do discurso de base enunciativa que determina a forma como compreendemos as manifestações de linguagem (MAINGUENEAU, 2004). Outros conceitos presentes em nossa análise foram os de gênero do discurso (BAKHTIN, 2010); as teorias dos implícitos em Ducrot (1987) e Maingueneau (1996) e os estudos sobre o ethos em Maingueneau (2004, 2008 e 2011). Nossas análises nos possibilitaram recuperar três imagens predominantes de enunciadores: o explicador, o defensivo e o apelativo. O primeiro enunciador explica, porque entende que seu coenunciador tem dúvidas, desconhece, não está apto a; o segundo, defende a instituição PREVI, o pecúlio da PREVI e, se necessário, ataca inclusive seu coenunciador, se entender que está sendo ameaçado. Por sua vez, o terceiro argumenta em sua própria causa ou pela causa dos pecúlios e apela pela adesão do seu coenunciador. Depreendem-se dessas imagens de enunciador sentidos de pecúlios que precisam ser explicados, defendidos e argumentados nas publicações da PREVI. Como conclusão, a partir desses sentidos de pecúlio, inferimos uma possível causa para que os enunciadores e coenunciadores estabeleçam as mesmas relações em um período de mais de trinta anos de divulgação dessas revistas / This work lies within the framework of studies on the relationship between language and pension fund and, in consideration of the various possible approaches to these relationships, wants to delve into the speeches made on the reserve funds. The purpose of this research is to identify which reserve funds stories are found in reports in the previ Magazine, taking into account the historicity of the reserve funds and the community that participates in this discursive construction of meaning. By making a more analytical reading of the news, we identified how the utterer was formed, led us to work with the implicit - assumptions and innuendos - and, as we wanted to analyze the PREVI / Participant relationship, we have opted to study the relationship enunciation ethos from such implied. Thus, we studied pictures of the enunciator and hence this kind of relationship with their co-enunciator and the directions of reserve funds recovered from this relationship. The theoretical perspective used is that of discourse analysis of expository basis that determines how we understand the manifestations of language (MAINGUENEAU, 2004). Other concepts presented in our analysis were the gender discourse (BAKHTIN, 2010); implicit theories in Ducrot (1987) and Maingueneau (1996) and studies on the ethos in Maingueneau (2004, 2008 and 2011). Our analyzes allowed us to recover three predominant enunciators pictures: the tutor, the defensive and the appealing. The first enunciator explains, because he understands that his co-enunciator is unsure, unaware, unable; the second one supports the Previ institution, the reserve fund and, if necessary, attacks your co-enunciator to understand what is being threatened. The third one argues for its own sake or for the sake of reserve funds and calls for the accession of his co-enunciator. Be inferred from these enunciators pictures reserve funds ideas which must be explained, defended and argued in the Previ publications. In conclusion, from these reserve funds ideas, we infer a possible cause for the enunciators and the co-enunciators to establish the same relationships over a period of more than thirty years of dissemination of these journals

abstract: Current research has identified a specific type of visual experience that leads to faster cortical processing. Specifically, performance on perceptual learning of a directional-motion leads to faster cortical processing. This is important on two levels; first, cortical processing is positively correlated with cognitive functions and inversely related to age, frontal lobe lesions, and some cognitive disorders. Second, temporal processing has been shown to be relatively stable over time. In order to expand on this line of research, we examined the effects of a different, but relevant visual experience (i.e., implied motion) on cortical processing. Previous fMRI studies have indicated that static images that imply motion activate area V5 or middle temporal/medial superior temporal complex (MT/MST+) of the visual cortex, the same brain region that is activated in response to real motion. Therefore, we hypothesized that visual experience of implied motion may parallel the positive relationship between real directional-motion and cortical processing. Seven subjects participated in a visual task of implied motion for 4 days, and a pre- and post-test of cortical processing. The results indicated that performance on implied motion is systematically different from performance on a dot motion task. Despite individual differences in performance, overall cortical processing increased from day 1 to day 4. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Psychology 2014

Over the past couple of decades, the number of volatility indices has increased rapidly. These indices seek to represent the market’s expectation of realized volatility over the coming month, based on the prices of options traded on each underlying equity index. Although the dynamics of realized volatility spillover have been studied extensively, very few studies exists that examine the spillover between these volatility indices. By using DAG-based structural vector autoregression, this paper provides evidence that implied volatility spillover differs from realized volatility spillover. Through solving the well-known VAR identification problem for these indices, this paper finds that Asia, more specifically Hong Kong, plays a central role in implied volatility spillover during and after the 2008 financial crisis.

Scholars and investors have studied the value premium for several decades. However, the debate over whether risk factors or biased market participants cause the value premium has never been settled. The risk explanation argues that value firms are fundamentally riskier than growth firms. At the same time, the behavioral explanation argues that biased market participants systematically misprice value and growth stocks. In this paper, I use the implied cost of equity capital to capture all risks that investors demand a premium and sort stocks into risk quantiles. The implied cost of equity capital is estimated using models proposed by Gebhardt et al., Claus and Thomas, Ohlson and Juettner-Nauroth, and Easton. I find that value stocks have higher implied cost of equity capital and lower forecasted earnings growth while growth stocks have lower implied cost of equity capital and higher forecasted earnings growth. More importantly, even within the same risk quantile, the value premium still exists. The results suggest that risk and behavioral factors simultaneously cause the value premium. Furthermore, by decomposing the holding period return, I find that adjustments in valuation ratios caused by negative earnings surprises for growth firms and positive earnings surprises for value firms at least partially lead to the value premium.

This study tests if historical volatility- and implied volatility has significant predictive power over future realized volatility and if so which one of the two is the superior predictor. The study is conducted by using historical volatility of the OMXS30 and implied volatility from OMXS30 call options during the period 2012-2023. Three regressions have been made to test the research questions, two simple linear regression and one multiple linear regression. The results of the study showed that both historical- and implied volatility had significant predictive power over future realized volatility with implied being the superior one with a higher correlation coefficient. The multiple regression showed that both the independent variables were important and both of them explained different parts of the data, which means that they have complementary abilities and that both should be used when assessing the forecast of realized volatility.

The current study sought to examine how best to fully represent and measure approach-avoidance motivational orientation using self-reports. Participants responded to a variety of existing, revised, and new scales across the theoretical spectrum of approach-avoidance motivation. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted to identify the items to be retained for evaluating the adequacy of competing confirmatory measurement structures. Overall results supported the validity of the second-order approach-avoidance overarching framework and indicated that the use of items with clear specification of reward/punishment context improves the psychometric properties of approach-avoidance scales. Moreover, the newly developed scales reflecting constructs that represent increasing non-gains via approach and increasing non-losses via avoidance meaningfully expanded the approach-avoidance construct space. It also appeared that the proposed four-dimensional model of approach-avoidance is a viable alternative measurement structure. Finally, the current results suggested that contamination by implied outcomes does not invalidate approach-avoidance scales where reward/punishment context is specified. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed. / Ph. D.