American Depository Receipts (ADRs) represent shares of foreign firms that are issued and traded in the U.S. Since an ADR and its underlying shares represent ownership interest of the same firm, they should be perfect substitutes in a perfect market. However, market imperfections such as differences in information environment, liquidity, investment and trading restrictions, taxes, control right, corporate governance might make them less-than-perfect substitutes. These imperfections, on the other hand, also present opportunities for research. This dissertation consists of two essays on ADRs, both related to the effects of less-thanperfect information. Specifically, the first essay examines the return and volatility transfers between ADRs and their underlying home shares. Our investigation differs from the previous studies in that we cover substantially more countries and that we attempt to explain the variations in the extents of transfer effects both across firms and across countries. Various hypotheses are developed, based on the premise that barriers associated with trading, investments, and corporate governance would lower the extent or effectiveness of transfers. Overall, our empirical results support these hypotheses. The second essay takes the viewpoint of the issuing firms. Supposedly, an issuer's timing and dollar amount raised depend on the conditions of three markets: its home equity market, the U.S. equity market, and the currency market. From purely the standpoint of information accessibility, ADR issuers are likely to time their issues or set their amounts with respect to the conditions of the home equity market and/or currency market, with which they are more familiar. On the other hand, issuers typically employ the assistance of U.S. investment banks, and therefore they may be well-informed about the U.S. equity market. This is largely an empirical issue. Generally, our empirical results are mixed, but there is somewhat stronger evidence for the U.S. equity market being more important when setting the issue amount. There is also evidence that suggests regulations having influences on such activities.

Background: Emerging economies is more fragile for global actions than developed markets, and they struggle to keep the economic growth consistent. Brazil, as an emerging economy, has one of the higher growth in the world, but the country has had some difficulties during the last years and foreign direct investments have decreased. Most foreign direct investments activities tend to go north-to-north, and the most common investment strategy is acquisition and the success is related to the type of activity and industry. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what type of cross-border acquisitions companies choose to be involved in and which financial factors have the greatest impact, when entering the Brazilian market. Theory: The theoretical framework consists of theories related to acquisition strategies to answer formulated purpose. Following theories have been used as an analytical tool in the thesis: merger and acquisition waves, horisontal, vertical and conglomerate strategies and information asymmetry. Method: This study is based on a mixed method design with inductive and deductive approach. Statistical data have been gathered together with four semistructured interviews to gain data about ingoing acquisitions in Brazil. The statistical data have been gathered from the database Zephyr. Conclusion: To summarize the conclusions, ingoing cross-border acquisitions in Brazil follow a wave-like pattern that is mostly depending on horisontal acquisitions, were the financial factors that have the greatest impact is information, taxation, labor and laws.

Submitted by Fabricia Fialho Reginato (fabriciar) on 2015-07-03T01:17:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 FernandoFontana.pdf: 578681 bytes, checksum: da3b83c9232b1611e07e3a9c58e8b1e6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-03T01:17:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FernandoFontana.pdf: 578681 bytes, checksum: da3b83c9232b1611e07e3a9c58e8b1e6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-04-11 / Nenhuma / O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar os fatores explicativos do nível de evidenciação voluntária de informações sobre recursos intangíveis nas empresas listadas na BM&FBovespa. Partindo do pressuposto de ineficiência de mercado; pela existência de assimetria informacional entre gestores e acionistas/investidores, a Teoria da Agência indica que a evidenciação poderia implicar em redução de custos de agência. De outra parte a Teoria do Custo dos Proprietários fundamenta que evidenciar informações geraria custo para a empresa. A justificativa da investigação ampara-se no fato de que mesmo com a grande quantidade de estudos encontrados sobre evidenciação de informações, no âmbito internacional ainda é escasso o número de estudos sobre o nível de evidenciação de informações sobre recursos intangíveis e, no âmbito nacional não foi encontrado nenhum estudo. A escolha da informação sobre recursos intangíveis configurou-se pelo reconhecimento de que os mesmos diferenciam o potencial competitivo de uma organização empresarial e a evidenciação deste tipo de informação poderia afetar o valor da empresa. Trata-se de um estudo explicativo, com abordagem de evidencias qualitativa e quantitativa. A amostra foi composta por 29 empresas. O documento analisado foi o relatório anual. Realizou-se sua coleta por meio de download nos websites das empresas, correspondente ao período de 2005 a 2009. O nível de evidenciação de informações sobre recursos intangíveis foi mensurado pela análise de conteúdo dos relatórios anuais, utilizando-se indicadores e, posteriormente, por índices, segundo o modelo de Macagnan (2005). A técnica de análise utilizada foi de regressão linear múltipla com dados em painel. Os principais resultados são que não se rejeitam as hipóteses: tamanho, endividamento, liquidez, preço da ação dividido pelo seu valor contábil e tempo de registro na CVM, num nível de significância de 1%, como fatores explicativos do nível de evidenciação de informações sobre recursos intangíveis em geral. As hipóteses: rentabilidade, crescimento, capital flutuante, dividendos por ação, volatilidade da ação e eficiência foram rejeitadas como fatores explicativos do nível de evidenciação de informações sobre recursos intangíveis em geral. Como contribuição diferencial deste estudo destaca-se a identificação e não rejeição da hipótese tempo de registro na CVM como um dos fatores explicativos. / The objective of this study was to investigate the explicative factors of the level of voluntary disclosure of information about intangible resources in companies listed on BM&FBovespa. Considering market inefficiency, the existence of information asymmetry between managers and shareholders/investors, the Agency Theory indicates that the disclosure might result in the reduction of agency costs. On the other hand, the Proprietary Costs Theory establishes that the disclosure of information would generate cost to the company. The justification to the study is grounded on the fact that even with the large number of studies found about disclosure of information, in an international scope, the number of studies on the level of disclosure of information about intangible resources is still scarce, and in national scope no studies were found. The choice of information about intangible resources was configured by the recognition that they differentiate the competitive potential of a business organization and disclosure of that kind of information could affect the company value. This is an explanatory study, with a qualitative and quantitative approach of the evidences. The sample included 29 companies. The document analyzed was their annual report. The annual reports were downloaded from the websites of the companies, and are related to the period that goes from 2005 to 2009. The level of disclosure of information about intangible resources was measured through the content analysis of annual reports, using indicators and, subsequently, by indexes, according to the Macagnan model (2005). The analysis technique used was multiple linear regression with panel data. The main findings show that the following hypotheses are not rejected: size, leverage, liquidity, market to book ratio and time of registration in the CVM, at a significance level of 1%, as explanatory factors of the level of disclosure of information about intangible resources in general. The hypotheses: profitability, growth, free float, dividends per share, stock volatility and efficiency were rejected as explanatory factors for the level of disclosure of information about intangible resources in general. As a differential contribution of this study the identification and not rejection of the hypothesis time of registration in CVM stands out as one of the explanatory factors.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-04-27T12:39:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Amalia Costa Farias.pdf: 4127834 bytes, checksum: 3f1bb273fab1e3afbea99f236500dd2c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-27T12:39:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Amalia Costa Farias.pdf: 4127834 bytes, checksum: 3f1bb273fab1e3afbea99f236500dd2c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The present research proposes to analyze the franchising system in the Brazilian context in view of the increase of the sector over the last years. The proposed study aimed to analyze and identify elements of the activities of this model that could be indicative of the existence of asymmetry of information between the contracting parties, that is, franchisors and franchisees. With this intent, comparative studies were developed in franchising systems of brands affiliated with ABF, of networks belonging to the food sector. The development of the analysis through the formulation of a corpus, fed with the selection and purification of data, was able to identify different discursive elements enunciated by the contracting parties; each revealing a dimension of its own imagined for the business and automatically capable of eluding other contentions and controversies / A presente pesquisa se propõe a analisar o sistema de franchising no contexto brasileiro em vista do incremento do setor ao longo dos últimos anos. A proposta de estudo conduzida procurou analisar e identificar elementos das atividades deste modelo que pudessem ser indicativos da existência de assimetria de informação entre as partes contratantes, quais sejam, franqueadores e franqueados. Com esse intento, foram desenvolvidos estudos comparativos em sistemas de franchising de marcas filiadas a ABF, de redes pertencentes ao setor alimentício. O desenvolvimento da análise por meio da formulação de um corpus, alimentado com a seleção e depuração de dados, foi capaz de identificar diferentes elementos discursivos enunciados pelas partes contratantes; cada qual revelador de uma dimensão própria imaginada para o negócio e, automaticamente, capaz de elidir outras contendas e controvérsias

O objetivo desta dissertação foi analisar o mercado de saúde suplementar no Brasil e avaliar as regulamentações da Agência Nacional de Saúde Suplementar – ANS, órgão regulador do setor, no contexto da teoria da informação assimétrica. Para tanto, utilizou-se a teoria da informação assimétrica através dos problemas de seleção adversa e risco moral a fim de analisar os problemas regulatórios. Também foram levantados dados e referenciais teóricos do mercado de planos de saúde no Brasil, principalmente no que se refere a sua regulação e suas implicações. A revisão bibliográfica deste trabalho indica que diversos estudos já evidenciaram a presença de assimetria de informação no mercado de saúde suplementar. A avaliação econômica de quatro resoluções normativas da ANS também corrobora para com essa evidência e explicam a presença de seleção adversa e risco moral evidenciados da literatura. Este trabalho conclui que a regulação desse mercado falhou, no que tange a redução das falhas de mercado, mais precisamente com relação com relação à assimetria de informação, onde sua presença tornou-se mais acentuadas com suas constantes intervenções, comprometendo a sustentabilidade do mercado e reduzindo o nível de bem-estar econômico. / The objective of this dissertation was to analyze the health insurance market in Brazil and evaluate the regulations of the National Health Agency - ANS, regulatory agency, in the context of the theory of asymmetric information. Therefore, we used the theory of asymmetric information through the problems of adverse selection and moral hazard in order to analyze the regulatory problems. Also data and theoretical of the health insurance market benchmarks in Brazil, especially in relation to regulation and its implications were raised. The literature review of this work indicates that several studies have demonstrated the presence of asymmetric information in the supplementary health market. The economic evaluation of four legislative resolutions ANS also corroborates with this evidence and explain the presence of adverse selection and moral hazard evidenced literature. This paper concludes that the regulation of the market has failed, as regards the reduction of market failures, specifically with respect with respect to information asymmetry, where their presence has become more pronounced with their constant interventions, compromising the sustainability of the market and reducing the level of economic welfare.

Cette thèse a pour objectif d'étudier les programmes de labellisation environnementale. Dans un premier temps nous différencions deux types de programmes de labellisation, les programmes de type ISO I qui donne une information discrète (les produits sont labellisés ou non), et les programmes de type ISO III qui eux révèlent l'information de manière continue (les cartes énergétiques). Nous montrons que les programmes de type de ISO III conduisent à des problèmes d'auto-sélection au sein de la ligne du produit du monopole alors que les programmes de type ISO I permettent à celui-ci de parfaitement discriminer entre ces produits. Ensuite dans un second chapitre, réalisé en collaboration avec J.W. Maxwell et R. Harbaugh, nous faisons l'hypothèse que le consommateur n'a qu'une idée incertaine de la difficulté du standard qu'un produit doit atteindre pour être labellisé. Nous montrons que la prise en compte de cette hypothèse diminue les incitations des entreprises à se faire certifier et l'efficacité des programmes de labellisation. Nous prouvons aussi que les entreprises choisissent de manière stratégique entre les différents labels disponibles sur le marché. Enfin dans un dernier chapitre réalisé en collaboration avec J. Rosaz et F. Poinas, nous choisissons d'utiliser l'économie expérimentale afin d'étudier le comportement du consommateur ou plus précisément la révision des croyances d'un sujet lorsque celui-ci reçoit un signal imparfait. Le signal envoyé au sujet consiste en une restriction des états possibles de la nature et s'apparente ainsi au label observé par le consommateur sur le marché. Nous montrons qu'en moyenne ces signaux permettent aux sujets d'améliorer leur estimation, cependant certains signaux trop incertains peuvent avoir des effets pervers. / This thesis has for goal to study environmental labeling programs. In the first chapter, I use a self-selection model to study environmental labelling program in a context of multiproduct monopoly. I show that the manner by which information is conveyed affects the firm strategies. I prove that programs, which disclose continuous information such as report cards, can lead to self-selection issues within the monopoly product line, whereas those which give discrete information such as the EU flower allow the monopoly perfectly discriminating among consumers. In the second chapter, joint with J. Maxwell and R. Harbaugh, we relax the assumption that consumers know the exact standard that the product has to meet to be labelled. The uncertainty over the standard leads the consumers to jointly estimate the product quality and the standard difficulty. This undermines the ability of voluntary certification to reduce information asymmetry. In the third chapter, joint with J. Rosaz and F. Poinas, we analyze belief updating behaviors with imperfect signals in an experimental setting. The novelty of the paper is to consider a signal that restricts the set of the possible states of the nature. One of the objectives of this chapter is to study the consumer updating behaviors when they observe a label on a product but with the methodologies developed in the Bayesian updating literature. We show that this kind of signals increases the correctness of the subject estimations. However these signals can also let the subjects very uncertain about their estimation which can conduct to adverse effects.

O objetivo principal deste trabalho é analisar o efeito da assimetria da informação no custo de capital próprio das empresas negociadas em bolsa de valores no Brasil. O tema está em constante debate sobre a existência dessa relação e até mesmo sobre sua relação com o custo de capital ser favorável ou não. A assimetria da informação foi estimada através da Probability of informed trading (PIN), mensurando de forma direta a existência de negociações com informação privilegiada para a confrontação com custo de capital das empresas brasileiras. O resultado encontrado não apresentou relação estatisticamente significante a 5% entre a PIN e o custo de capital, de forma que não foi possível verificar a relação entre assimetria da informação e o custo de capital. Adicionalmente, o coeficiente encontrado para a PIN no modelo adotado indica uma possível correlação negativa da variável estudada e o custo de capital, deste modo o estudo corrobora com a conclusão de Lambert et al. (2012), segundo a qual, em mercados líquidos, a assimetria da informação não exerce papel relevante e sim a quantidade e a qualidade da informação disponível, não importando a forma de entrada da informação no mercado. / The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the effect of information asymmetry on the cost of equity of companies traded in stock exchanges in Brazil. It is constantly debated whether this relationship exists and also whether information asymmetry\'s effect on the cost of equity is favorable or not. Information asymmetry has been estimated using the PIN (Probability of Informed Trading), directly measuring the existence of insider trading for confrontation with the cost of equity of Brazilian companies. The result obtained did not show a statistically significant relationship at the 5% level between the PIN and the cost of equity; therefore, it was not possible to ascertain the relationship between information asymmetry and cost of equity. Additionally, the coefficient found for the PIN on the selected model indicates a possible negative correlation between the studied variable and the cost of equity, which indicates that the study corroborates the conclusion of Lambert et al. (2012), according to which information asymmetry does not exert a significant role in liquid markets but rather this role is exerted by the quantity and quality of available information, regardless of how information reaches the market.

Il est admis dans les théories économiques que l’existence de risques importants peut être source de sérieuses perturbations au bien-être des ménages et à l’équilibre budgétaire de l’Etat, car les risques ne permettent pas souvent l’optimisation des ressources. En admettant que le risque est un produit d’aléa et de vulnérabilité, nous constatons que l’aléa est souvent considéré au Niger comme l’unique «coupable» de ces perturbations, alors que le comportement des agents face au risque peut en être un facteur déterminant. Sur ce constat, cette thèse se propose d’analyser ces comportements et leurs implications dans les décisions économiques des ménages. Les principaux résultats montrent d’abord une aversion au risque assez relative qui s’explique par deux approches dominantes: une perception fataliste des risques naturels et anthropiques d’une part, et une rationalité adaptative au regard de l’importance de ces risques et de la vulnérabilité des ménages, d’autre part. Cette notion d’aversion a été ensuite utilisée pour servir de lien à l’analyse des risques de comportement inhérents essentiellement à l’asymétrie d’information. Il ressort de cette analyse que face aux risques naturels auxquels les individus paraissent impuissants, ces derniers développent des comportements opportunistes au détriment des contrats de crédit mutuellement avantageux, par un usage abusif de la rente informationnelle. Nous pensons que dans ce cas-ci, la contrainte des incitations doit être sérieusement prise en compte. Par ailleurs, la simultanéité des risques climatiques et d’une forte asymétrie d’information en milieu rural laisse penser que l’assurance agricole indicielle doit être progressivement envisagée. / It is recognized in economic theory that the existence of significant risks can cause serious disruption to the well-being of households and to the State budget’s balance, because the risks do not often value for money. Assuming that the risk is a hazard and vulnerability occurs, we find that the hazard is often seen in Niger as the only "guilty" of these disturbances, while the agents' behavior towards risk can be a factor. On this observation, this thesis proposes to analyze these behaviors and their implications in the economic decisions of households. The main results first show a rather relative risk aversion, which can be explained by two main approaches: a fatalistic perception of natural and man-made hazards on the one hand, and adaptive rationality in terms of the importance of these risks and the vulnerability of households, on the other. This notion of aversion was then used to provide a link to the analysis of risk behavior associated with information asymmetry. It is clear from this analysis, to natural hazards which individuals appear powerless; they are developing opportunistic behavior at the expense of credit agreements mutually beneficial, by abuse of informational rent. We believe that in this case, the incentive constraint must be taken seriously. The simultaneity of climate risk and high information asymmetry rural index suggests that the agricultural insurance should be progressively considered.

Background: The market of sustainable investments is immature. As a result, there are problems with standardisation and information asymmetry. The United Nations has developed 17 global goals that must be achieved before year 2030. Therefore, it is of interest to examine if the global goals are used in asset management today and whether the global goals could contribute to reduce the recently mentioned problems. Aim: The purpose of this study is to examine how the 17 global goals created by the United Nations can be integrated with sustainable asset management as well as how they are used today. The study will also explore the problematics regarding standardisation of sustainability in the Swedish financial market and the information asymmetries that appears as a result of this. Completion: To fulfil the aim of the study, a qualitative method has been used. A document study of the 17 global goals of the United Nations has been conducted to constitute the base of the interview guide that was used during the six interviews held with sustainability experts. The interviews were held with representatives from three government-owned corporations and three from privately-owned corporations to acquire a broader perspective within the subject. Conclusion: The 17 global goals of the United Nations are vaguely integrated in the financial market. To increase the integration, industry standards, industry definitions as well as awareness-raising activities based on the global goals should be developed. Furthermore, the study has identified the lack of reporting of sustainability data from companies, which constrains the integration of the global goals in the financial market. There is also a prevalent information asymmetry where the 17 global goals could contribute with knowledge to ease the problematics. / Bakgrund: Marknaden för hållbara investeringar är relativt omogen. Till följd av detta finns det problematik med standardisering och informationsasymmetrier på den hållbara kapitalmarknaden. FN har tagit fram 17 globala mål som ska vara uppnådda år 2030. Därav är det av intresse att undersöka om FN:s 17 globala mål används i kapitalförvaltningen i dagsläget samt huruvida målen skulle kunna bidra till att minska den ovannämnda problematiken. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur FN:s 17 globala mål kan integreras med hållbar kapitalförvaltning samt huruvida målen används idag. Studien kommer även undersöka problematiken gällande standardisering av hållbarhet och de informationsasymmetrier som uppstår till följd av detta på den svenska hållbara kapitalmarknaden. Genomförande: För att besvara studiens syfte har en kvalitativ metod använts, där sex intervjuer med hållbarhetsexperter har genomförts. En dokumentstudie av FN:s 17 globala mål utfördes tidigt för att ligga som grund för den intervjuguide som utvecklades inför intervjuerna. Intervjuerna hölls med representanter från tre statliga bolag och tre privata bolag för att erhålla ett bredare perspektiv inom ämnet. Slutsats: Studien har kommit fram till att FN:s 17 globala mål är svagt integrerade på den hållbara finansmarknaden. För att öka integrationen bör det utvecklas branschstandarder, branschdefinitioner och kunskapshöjande aktiviteter utifrån FN:s 17 globala mål. Slutligen har studien identifierat att bristen på rapportering av hållbarhetsdata från företag begränsar denna integration samt att det råder en informationsasymmetri där FN:s 17 globala mål kan bidra med kunskap för att minska problematiken.

Le marché dans lequel évoluent les bourses est devenu extrêmement concurrentiel, ce qui se traduit notamment par de nombreux mouvements de rapprochement ou de fusion. Dans ce contexte, les bourses cherchent à tout moment à améliorer la qualité du système de marché qu'elles proposent à leurs clients. La microstructure des marchés est le domaine de la finance qui étudie le lien entre organisation et qualité des marchés, et deux problématiques précises de microstructure sont traitées dans cette thèse. En matière d'asymétrie d'information, nous comparons différents modèles de décomposition de la fourchette de prix appliqués à un marché dirigé par les ordres, et proposons une recommandation quant aux modèles susceptibles de fournir les meilleurs résultats. En matière de transparence des marchés, nous commençons par fournir une revue détaillée de la littérature, avant d'analyser la question de l'anonymat pré-transactionnel selon deux méthodes : une analyse empirique du passage à l'anonymat sur Euronext Paris en avril 2001, et une étude expérimentale. Nos résultats concluent à une absence d'effet de l'anonymat sur l'asymétrie d'information, l'efficience et la liquidité, ce qui contredit d'autres résultats de la littérature. Notre analyse empirique émet aussi l'hypothèse de l'existence d'un facteur de liquidité globale, dont la prise en compte est sans doute fondamentale dans les études portant sur l'évolution de la liquidité sur les marchés./The market for financial markets has become increasingly competitive, and this leads to strategic moves such as mergers or acquisitions. In this context, stock exchanges struggle to offer the best quality system to their customers. The link between the organization of markets and their quality is one of the central themes of the research area called market microstructure. This dissertation focuses on two key aspects of microstructure research. In terms of information asymmetry, we compare the results provided by several spread decomposition models that are applied to order-driven markets, and we make a recommendation on the models that provide the best estimates. On the issue of transparency, we first review the literature and then provide two analyses of the impact of pre-trade anonymity: (i) we empirically study how the switch to anonymity in Paris in April 2001 affected market quality, and (ii) we use the experimental method to assess the consequences of disclosing the ID codes of traders in an electronic order book. Our results point to the absence of an effect due to anonymity, which is at odds with existing results in the literature. Our empirical analysis also highlights the possible existence of a “global liquidity factor”, that should ideally be taken into account when studying the evolution of liquidity on financial markets.