The key features of this dissertation pertain to limited investor attention and its indirect consequences of conservatism and representativeness biases that have impacts on the Taiwan Stock Market. Thus, this dissertation contributes to the empirical work on investors¡¦ limited attention and heterogeneous beliefs to public information, as well as representativeness heuristics. This study examines the market reaction of a sequential release of annual reports in Taiwan, in which different stages of attention-grabbing cause different market reactions. Moreover, investors with limited attention have an incomplete understanding about the content of the annual report, in which different years present significant positive or negative reactions of trading volume, and the evidence supports the hypothesis of limited attention. If people focus primarily on the strength of the evidence, they tend to neglect its weight and manifest representativeness bias. On the other hand, when people are unimpressed by the strength of the evidence, they focus too much on its weight and exhibit conservatism bias. Thus, this study distinguishes the behavioral biases between global representativeness bias and local representativeness bias. The results suggest that accounting performances globally have low strength but high weight features, leading investors to show conservatism bias, and other valuation ratios globally have high strength but low weight features, leading investors to exhibit representativeness bias. However, when global sequence is further decomposed into a local sequence, those behavioral biases disappear. This study also sheds light on how investors are sensitive to the streak length of performance, and the empirical evidence indicates that investors exhibit the gambler¡¦s fallacy to the trend of performance.

Earnings conference calls are salient sources of firm-specific information that provide both hard and soft information to investors. In this paper, I find that institutional investors participate more actively in earnings conference calls held by firms that receive less attention than their peers prior to conference calls. I construct a measure of relative inattention using the Bloomberg Heat Score, which captures the aggregate search activities of institutional investors at the firm level. Using a broad set of earnings conference call transcripts, I identify participants affiliated with institutional investors and their dialogue to examine the association between institutional investors' inattention and their activities during earnings conference calls. I show that institutional investors appear more often, ask more questions, and request more guidance in conference calls held by firms that receive less attention before the calls. Collectively, the results indicate that institutional investors compensate for the lack of firm-specific information with conference call participation, despite potential costs of publicly revealing their information acquisition.

Behaviour is usually assumed to depend on the reach of a critical intensitytermed reactivity thresholdby its motivation. This view represents a simple, predictive theoretical framework in ethology and psychology. However, it is here argued that only the influence of an isolated motivation on behaviour can be explained that way; that such a view fails to account for behaviour when several motivations are jointly activated. Upon analysis, the 'classical' theory of behaviour proves to be under-specified and thus leads to three conceptual problems that make it logically inconsistent for the study of multiple motivations. A revision of the 'classical' théory, called Anticipatory Dynamics Model (ADM), is then developed in order to bring a theoretical solution to these conceptual problems. The ADM hypothesizes that an organisms motivational interactions are due to the limitation of the organisms attentional resources. Several experiments are designed to test major predictions of the ADM. Tout comportement est censé dépendre du fait que sa motivation atteint une valeur critique d'intensité appelée seuil de réactivité. Cette approche constitue un cadre théorique simple et prédictif aussi bien en éthologie qu'en psychologie. Cependant, je tente de montrer que seule l'influence d'une motivation isolée sur le comportement peut être expliquée de cette façon ; que cette approche cesse d'être applicable lorsque plusieurs motivations sont activées simultanément. Après analyse, cette théorie 'classique' s'avère sous-spécifiée et conduit à trois problèmes conceptuels qui la rendent logiquement inconsistante pour l'étude des motivations multiples. Une révision de cette théorie 'classique', appelée Modèle de Dynamique Anticipatoire (MDA), est ainsi développée en vue d'apporter une solution théorique à ces problèmes conceptuels. Le MDA fait l'hypothèse que les interactions motivationnelles d'un organisme sont causées par la limitation de ses ressources attentionnelles. Plusieurs expériences ont été imaginées pour tester des prédictions importantes du MDA.

This research paper explores differences in company performance levels, as measured by selected company fundamentals and annual return, with regard to the marital status of top executives, specifically the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer. It examines whether the differences in firm performance are determined by the marital status of the respective business executive. Groups of never married, married, and divorced executives are compared against each other to establish if and how the company performance changes between these groups. Summary statistics of the examined variables in conjunction with the results of the simple and multiple regression analyses indicate that marriage clearly has a detrimental effect on a firm’s performance. By contrast, divorce is beneficial as it contributes to improved firm performance. As previous research has revealed, professional performance of top executives, particularly CEOs, as well as money managers is influenced by distractions originating in their personal life events. Because human attention is naturally limited, major life events, such as marriage or divorce, can have detrimental effects on the professional performance of a business executive, and therefore also on the firm performance. Consistent with the results of previous research, the data analysis identifies marital status of CEOs and CFOs as a significant determinant of firm performance.

Submitted by Gustavo Pereira (gustavo.cicco@fgvmail.br) on 2015-06-22T20:12:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao-final.pdf: 563562 bytes, checksum: d73ee22a77a43ed9ca60e77b0a5359cb (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by BRUNA BARROS (bruna.barros@fgv.br) on 2015-07-07T12:25:40Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao-final.pdf: 563562 bytes, checksum: d73ee22a77a43ed9ca60e77b0a5359cb (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2015-07-09T12:30:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao-final.pdf: 563562 bytes, checksum: d73ee22a77a43ed9ca60e77b0a5359cb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-09T12:31:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao-final.pdf: 563562 bytes, checksum: d73ee22a77a43ed9ca60e77b0a5359cb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-27 / When disagreement in economic models occurs due to different interpretations of public signals, the level of ``marketwide disagreement'' not necessarily decreases upon the arrival of a public signal. We propose an empirical assessment of this phenomenon. By using a measure of attention based on Google Trends, we show that an increase in the attention allocated by the market to a company is associated to a significant increase in disagreement about it. / Quando a discordância em modelos econômicas ocorre devido a interpreta- ções diferentes de sinais públicos, o nível de 'discordância de mercado' não necessariamente diminui com a chegada de um sinal público. Nós propomos uma avaliação empírica desse fenômeno. Usando uma medidade de atenção baseada no Google Trends, mostramos que um aumento na atenção alocada pelo mercado a uma company está associada a um aumento significativo da discordância sobre ela.

Research on task-based language teaching (TBLT) offers a large body of evidence suggesting that cognitive task complexity influences learners’ language production and development. Studies that investigate task complexity, however, provide contradictory results on the way different linguistic aspects of performance are affected by the manipulation of cognitive task complexity. The empirical study presented in this degree project aimed to investigate the effect of task complexity on the accuracy, complexity and fluency in learners ́ written performance. An additional goal of the study was to examine whether proficiency level would mediate the effects of cognitive task complexity. In order to explain the influence of cognitive task complexity on linguistic performance two theoretical models are used and discussed, namely Skehan’s Limited Attention Capacity Hypothesis (Skehan 2015) and Robinson’s Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson 2001, 2011, 2015). In order to answer the research questions guiding the study, 71 Swedish high school students of Spanish performed a simple or a more cognitively complex version of a written task. Results showed that increasing task complexity had a positive effect on the fluency, accuracy, and complexity of the participants ́ written performance, and that these effects were greater among the high proficiency participants’ productions. These results offer valuable implications for syllabus and task designers, language teachers and examiners, as well as second and foreign language researchers.

Cette thèse est composée de trois chapitres distincts. Le premier chapitre montre que les dirigeants réagissent de façon excessive face aux risques qui frappent l'attention. Après un ouragan, le choc produit par la catastrophe sur le risque de liquidité perçu conduit les entreprises situées dans le voisinage de la zone sinistrée à augmenter temporairement leur détention de liquidités alors que le risque réel n'a pas changé. Le deuxième chapitre montre que les dirigeants influencent de façon stratégique l'attention des investisseurs aux annonces de résultats en les prévenant plus ou moins tardivement de la date de l'événement. Cette stratégie leur permet de lisser dans le temps l'impact de mauvais résultats sur leur cours de bourse. Le troisième chapitre étudie l'effet des league tables dans les activités de fusions-acquisitions. Les league tables classent les banques d'investissement. Le rang d'une banque dans la league table prédit sa capacité à engendrer des affaires nouvelles dans le futur, ce qui incite les banques à manipuler leur classement. / This dissertation is made of three distinct chapters. The first chapter shows that managers overreact to salient risks. They respond to the occurrence of a hurricane event when their firms are located in the neighborhood of the disaster area. The sudden shock to the perceived liquidity risk leads them to temporarily increase the amount of corporate cash holdings, even though the real liquidity risk remains unchanged. The second chapter examines earnings announcements by US firms, and how far in advance notice of the event is given (the "advance notice period"). Such advance notice period affects how much investors pay attention to earning news. This variation in investors' attention affects short-run and long-run stock prices, thereby creating incentives for firms to strategically reduce the advance notice period when they plan to disclose bad news. The third chapter studies M&A league tables, which provide rankings of investment banks. The rank of a bank in the league table predicts its future deal flow. This creates strong incentives for banks to manage their ranks in the league table.

Submitted by Fernando Ferreira da Luz Barbosa (fernando.luz@outlook.com) on 2015-07-20T19:07:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernando Ferreira da Luz Barbosa.pdf: 927554 bytes, checksum: e29a7f5ad6e3cdd15bb6adafc98a4cb6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by BRUNA BARROS (bruna.barros@fgv.br) on 2015-07-21T12:46:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernando Ferreira da Luz Barbosa.pdf: 927554 bytes, checksum: e29a7f5ad6e3cdd15bb6adafc98a4cb6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Almeida (maria.socorro@fgv.br) on 2015-07-30T19:08:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernando Ferreira da Luz Barbosa.pdf: 927554 bytes, checksum: e29a7f5ad6e3cdd15bb6adafc98a4cb6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-30T19:08:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernando Ferreira da Luz Barbosa.pdf: 927554 bytes, checksum: e29a7f5ad6e3cdd15bb6adafc98a4cb6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-27 / Disagreement between economists is a well know fact. However, it took a long time for this concept to be incorporated in economic models. In this survey, we review the consequences and insights provided by recent models. Since disagreement between market agents can be generated through different hypotheses, the main differences between them are highlighted. Finally, this work concludes with a short review of nowcasting using google trends, emphasizing advances connecting both literatures.

Cette thèse est composée de trois chapitres distincts.Dans le premier chapitre, je montre que les mesures de liquidités traditionnelles, telles que la profondeur du marché, ne sont pas toujours pertinentes pour mesurer le bien-être des investisseurs. Je construis un modèle de marché conduit par les ordres et montre qu'une offre de liquidité élevée peut correspondre à de mauvaises conditions d'éxécution pour les fournisseurs de liquidité et à un bien-être relativement faible.Dans le deuxième chapitre, je modélise la vitesse des ajustements de prix à l'arrivée de nouvelles dans les marchés conduits pas les ordres, lorsque les investisseurs ont une capacité d'attention limitée.En raison de leur attention limitée, les investisseurs suivent imparfaitement l'arrivée de nouvelles. Ainsi, les prix s'ajustent aux nouvelles après un certain délai. Ce délai diminue lorsque le niveau d'attention des investisseurs augmente.Le délai d'ajustement des prix diminue également lorsque la fréquence à laquelle les nouvelles arrivent, augmente. Le troisième chapitre présente un travail écrit en collaboration avec Thierry Foucault. Nous construisons un modèle pour expliquer en quoi le trading à haute fréquence peut générer des "mini flash crashes" (un brusque changement de prix suivi d'un retour très rapide au niveau antérieur). Notre théorie est basée sur l'idée qu'il existe une tension entre la vitesse à laquelle l'information peut être acquise et la précision de cette information. Lorsque les traders à haute fréquence mettent en oeuvre des stratégies impliquant des réactions rapides à des événements de marché, ils augmentent leur risque à réagir à du bruit et génèrent ainsi des "mini flash crashes". Néanmoins, ils augmentent l'efficience informationnelle du marché. / This dissertation is made of three distinct chapters. In the first chapter, I show that traditional liquidity measures, such as market depth, are not always relevant to measure investors' welfare. I build a limit order market model and show that a high level of liquidity supply can correspond to poor execution conditions for liquidity providers and to a relatively low welfare.In the second chapter, I model the speed of price adjustments to news arrival in limit order markets when investors have limited attention.Because of limited attention, investors imperfectly monitor news arrival. Consequently prices reflect news with delay. This delay shrinks when investors' attention capacity increases. The price adjustment delay also decreases when the frequency of new arrival increases. The third chapter presents a joint work with Thierry Foucault. We build a model to explain why high frequency trading can generate mini-flash crashes (a sudden sharp change in the price of a stock followed by a very quick rversal). Our theory is based on the idea that there is a trade-off between speed and precision in the acquisition of information. When high frequency traders implement strategies involving fast reaction to market events, they increase their risk to trade on noise and thus generate mini flash crashes. Nonetheless they increase market efficiency.