This dissertation examines the relative importance of the information effect on corporate takeover in total takeover gains. It develops the measure of information effect based on the residual income valuation model with I/B/E/S analysts' abnormal earnings forecast revisions. Empirical results show that the information effect and the synergy are estimated to be around 4 percent and 22 percent respectively in the 1,372 US samples during 1980- 2006. Furthermore, almost all of the synergy gains disappear as the deal is expected to be failed while the measured information effect remains afterwards. The evidence suggests that the information effect is more evident in the disciplinary (failed & high Tobin's-q for bidders) or acquisitional (small capitalization & high book-to-market ratio for targets) takeovers while the synergy is greater in the successful tender-offer. Overall, the corporate takeover bid generates information gains up to 15 percent of total takeover gains. It also develops a theoretical model on the market for corporate control using the assumption that there exists management slack which does not contribute to shareholder wealth. This model provides explanations to several questions about corporate takeovers, which include the following: Why do managers prefer takeovers to other investment alternatives? When are they likely to occur? What are the sources of takeover gains? Do takeovers create value? Why are stock offers more common? Who gains from such transactions both in the long and short runs? Why do they occur in massive waves? Why is diversification often attractive to bidder managers? How does corporate governance play its role during this process? And why do managers often resist takeovers? The agency model this paper develops is compatible with existing theories on takeovers including neoclassical, inefficient stock market, and the free cash flow approach. Furthermore, it is consistent with most of the empirical evidence available.

Young children have becoming an important target by marketers. Marketers have used many strategies to influence their food choices including advertising and free gifts. According to literature, young children, are cognitively vulnerable and may make unhealthy decisions about their food choices that could lead to serious problems associated with being overweight and obese. This thesis examines whether price and health claim information can shift young childrens' choices towards healthier foods. Most of the previous published research literature has focused on adults. Those findings, using surveys and experiments, suggest that adults' food preferences and choices can be influenced by setting price and by providing health information. These findings suggest that these strategies may have a potential effect in young children decision making. The literature on Children Socialization and Information Processing Theory in consumer behaviour suggests that most young children under 8 are not cognitively skilled to use price and health claim information for their decision making. Nonetheless, most 5 to 8 year olds are making purchases of food at their school canteen several times a week. In order to test for the effects of price and nutrition information, several experiments that used discrete choice modelling were conducted to determine their choices, the reliability of their choices and the between their experimental choice behaviour and their choice in the market place. More than one hundred young children, aged from five to eight years old, completed the discrete choice experiments conducted in two primary schools in the suburbs of Perth. The choice experiments on subjects that had previous experience with the food items, but did not know their relative nutritional value, showed a strong positive effect of price. In other words, higher priced options were often in more demand. Although this may appear a poor response to price by an observer, children have little knowledge of food costs, so they may use price as a surrogate for quality. Price level was also a main effect in reducing the share of unhealthy choices. The results of the analyses also show that young children can provide reliable choice decisions within 5 months of experiment. However, their experimental choices were not associated with their later choices in the canteen. These findings provide evidence of the effectiveness of price and health claim information in changing young childrens' preference toward healthy choices, and the potential usefulness of using discrete choice techniques to shift children to more healthy food options.

本論文共一冊，約六萬字，分為五章。 本論文之主要目的有二：其一是探討利率變動對台灣股票市場是否具有「情報效果」 ，並進一步檢定台灣股票市場是否為一半強式的效率資本市場；其二是比較不同產業 的股票對利率風險的敏感性是否相同？ 研究期間自民國６５年起，至７４年止，共計９年。實證結果顯示，利率下降期間， 股票市場具有負的異常報酬。由此可知，利率變動的確含有「情報效果」。而且，利 率與股價二者之間為負相關，即利率下降對股票市場而言，為一「好消息」；反之， 利率上升則為「壞消息」。不過，雖然上述的結果成立，可是並未達統計上的顯著性 （異常報酬未顯著異於零）。其次，實證結果也顯示，不同產業的股票，對利率風險 的敏感生並沒有顯著的差異。

本論文共一冊，約四萬字，分為五章，十六節。 本論文主要在探討現金增資公告對股票價格的影響，以了解現金增資公告是否具有「 情報效果」，並進一步檢定台灣的股票市場是否符合「半強式效率市場假說」，亦即 是否目前的證券價格充分地反映了所有已經公開的情報。 本研究利用市場模式來估計個別證券的預期報酬率，而實際報酬率與預期報酬率的差 ，即表示消除了市場因素影響後，個別證券所持有的變動，再利用平均誤差及累積平 均誤差來顯示現金增資公告日前後四十一天內報酬率異常變動的情形，並使用幾種不 同的統計量來檢定這些異常報酬率是否具有統計上的顯著性。

This thesis focuses on the impact of negative political advertising on voters in the Czech Republic. Evaluation and perception of negative political advertising, information effect, impact on the assessment and perception of political subjects and impact on voter turnout are examined specifically. To test proposed hypothesis, data from a survey and from a time and content analysis of political ads in the selected daily newspaper are used.

本研究蒐集經濟日報、聯合報、與聯合晚報的新聞文章，以中研院的中文斷詞性統進 行結構性的處理，參考並延伸Tetlock、Saar-Tsechansky和Macskassy(2008)的研究方法，檢驗 使用一個簡單的語言量化方式是否能夠用來解釋與預測個別公司的會計營收與股票報酬。有 以下發現： 1. 正面詞彙(褒義詞)在新聞報導中的比例能夠預測高的公司營收。 2. 公司的股價對負面詞彙(貶義詞)有過度反應的現象，對正面詞彙(褒義詞)則有效率地充分 反應。 綜合以上發現，本論文得到，新聞媒體的文字內容能夠捕捉到一些關於公司基本面難 以量化的部份，而投資者迅速地將這些資訊併入股價。 / This research collects all of the news stories about China Steel Corporation from Economic Daily News, United Daily News, and United Evening News. These articles I collect are segmented by a Chinese Word Segmentation System of Academia Sinica and used by the methodology of Tetlock, Saar-Tsechansky, and Macskassy(2008). I examine whether a simple quantitative measure fo language can be used to predict individual firms’ accounting sales and stock returns. My two main findings are: 1. the fraction of positive words (commendatory term) in firm-specific news stories forecasts high firm sales; 2. firm’s stock prices briefly overreaction to the information embedded in negative words (Derogatory term); on the other hand, firm’s stock prices efficiently incorporate the information embedded in positive words (commendatory term). All of the above, we conclude this linguistic media content captures otherwise hard-toquantify aspects of firms’ fundamentals, which investors quickly incorporate into stock prices.