An event study is an economic tool of analysis that has begun to gain popularity in recent empirical literature. It is a technique that gives a researcher the opportunity to map out the reaction of a firm's stock to an event, usually making use of daily or monthly data. However, up to this point, event study methodology has generally been applied to more traditional phenomena capable of affecting equity value, such as dividend and macroeconomic policy announcements, and there have only been a few exceptions to this. This study looks at what impact the tragic shootings at Lonmin mine in Marikana on August 16th 2012 had on the share prices of platinum mining firms based in South Africa using event study methodology. It makes use of the technique to investigate how the share prices responded to the tragedy over a number of trading days, including the day of the shootings. To be best of our knowledge, no attempt has been made to analyse the impact on share prices using events of this nature. For the investigation, daily returns data was used for each firm. The abnormal returns and cumulative abnormal returns to each were then calculated and compared with their respective expected returns in order to determine whether investors in the shares of that particular firm reacted positively, negatively or not at all. The evidence found suggests that tragedies of this nature are capable of influencing share prices in the same manner as more traditional economic phenomena. Overall, only one firm was found to have been negatively affected by the shootings in a persistent manner, while the shares of the other firms examined reacted in a manner that was positive overall, but varied according to individual firm characteristics such as size. These finding conformed to our a priori expectations. In addition, the results also confirm the benefits of applying event study methodology to a wide variety of phenomena that fall outside the boundaries usually associated with business.

Cette thèse met en évidence l’aspect macroéconomique du degré de report du taux de change sur les prix dans la zone euro. Nous utilisons un large éventail de méthodes économétriques récentes afin de fournir des mesures robustes sur la transmission du taux change ainsi que sur ses déterminants macroéconomiques. Notre recherche révèle le rôle prépondérant des facteurs macroéconomiques dans le déclin récent du degré de report. Une conséquence directe de ce résultat est que la baisse du taux de transmission du change n’est pas nécessairement un phénomène structurel, et il peut être ainsi résolu par des politiques macroéconomiques conjoncturelles. Par exemple, l’adoption de régimes de politique monétaire plus crédibles avec l’engagement de maintenir une inflation faible joue un rôle important dans la réduction de la sensibilité des prix aux variations du change. Ceci est particulièrement valable pour les pays dont les politiques macroéconomiques sont historiquement laxistes. Ainsi, la poursuite de politiques économiques solide et lisible au sein de l’UEM peut être un outil efficace pour réduire le degré de report du taux de change / This thesis highlights the macroeconomic aspect of the exchange rate pass-through to domestic prices in the euro area countries. We use a wide range of up-to-date econometric methods in order to provide robust measures of the rate of pass-through as well as to shed further light on its macro determinants. The main finding of our research is the prominent role of macroeconomic forces in driving the recent declin of the transmission of currency movements. A direct consequence of this result is that the lowering in the rate of pass-through is not necessarily a structural phenomenon and it may be solved via macroeconomic policies. For instance, the shift to a more stable monetary policy conditions with credible and anti-inflationary regime would reduce the sensibility of prices to exchange rate changes. This is especially true for countries with historically poor macroeconomic policies. Thus, a better macroeconomic management with a sounder set of policies within the EMU may be an effective tool for reducing the degree of pass-through

This study examined the impact of the ceiling test write-off on the stock prices of affected full cost (FC) oil and gas firms.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(経済学) / 甲第21439号 / 経博第586号 / 新制||経||287(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院経済学研究科経済学専攻 / (主査)教授 柴田 章久, 教授 小佐野 広, 准教授 高橋 修平 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Economics / Kyoto University / DGAM

This dissertation examines the reaction of common stock prices to changes in bond ratings by Moody's Bond Service. The question is whether an announcement of a re-rating by Moody's is new information. There are only two studies of stock price reaction to bond changes and the results are conflicting. Pinches and Singleton (1978) [PS] concluded that any reaction comes well before the re-rating. Griffin and Sanvicente (1982) [GS] found that their portfolio test indicated that rating changes do convey new information. This was particularly true for downgradings. Both studies used monthly data and neither performed a statistical testing of residual reversals. PS provided a graph of the residuals which indicated the presence of a reversal trend. GS provided no information on this topic. This study, using daily data and the cumulative prediction error technique, finds that bond re-ratings offer new information. The results indicate that the market only partially anticipates the bond change. For the downgrades, the excess return on the announcement day is .6% which is statistically significant. The residuals reverse after the announcement day, but are not statistically significant. The upgrades do not have a significant reaction on the announcement day, but have a statistically significant negative reaction from day 1 to 10. The cumulative residual for days 1 to 10 is -2.8% with a test statistic of -3.85. This study finds as PS that there is some anticipation for both upgrades and downgrades. It extends their work by statistically testings the reversals after the announcement date and by testing the announcement day effect. There is significant abnormal return for the downgrades on the announcement day and the upgrades have a significant reversal in their residuals from day 1 to 10. This provides both support and extension of Griffin and Sanvicente's results and suggests that Moody's is offering the market new information.

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In the beginning of 1990s Sweden implemented several measures in order to maintain price stability. These measures have resulted in an environment in which inflation is lower and more stable. The same development could be seen in other OECD countries. At the same time a decrease in exchange rate pass-through was noticed in many countries. This has led researchers to believe that there may be a connection, between these two phenomena. This dissertation analyzes whether there has been any change in exchange rate pass-through for manufacturing products in Sweden between the high inflation period (1977-1993) and the low inflation period (1994-2006). The result shows that there is a difference in the exchange rate pass-through between the two periods. During the low inflation period the degree of pass-through was lower than during the high inflation period.

The high cost of prescription drugs has been an issue that numerous federal agencies have examined for years. In 2003, Congress passed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, better known as Medicare Part D, in an effort to ease the burden of skyrocketing prescription prices for citizens 65 and older. While much of the discussion has focused on the impact on Medicare and Medicaid, the search for the source of high prescription drug prices has possible benefits for all patients. Unfortunately, the vast majority of research into this topic focuses only on the manufacturers of prescription drugs. This thesis examined the relationship between wholesale and retail prices of prescription drugs to discover whether this is another possible source of high prescription drug costs that policy makers need to consider. The findings suggest that more research is warranted. Many of the pharmacies surveyed reported unexpected negative mark-ups. Moreover, the Average Wholesale Rice evidently is not an accurate basis for comparison with actual retail prices. The findings suggest that more research is warranted, including studies by federal legislative and executive branch actors with investigatory authority. / Master of Arts

This dissertation examines the reaction of common stock prices to the announcement of changes in bond ratings by Moody's Bond Service, while having a control for differential information availability. The Institutional Brokers Estimate System (I/B/E/S) number of security analysts and coefficient of variation of earning per share (EPS) estimates are used as a proxy for information availability of the firms. Past studies differs in their conclusions as to whether the market has responded to announcement of bond rating changes. None of past studies have controlled for differential information availability. This study, using daily stock returns data and the event study methodology with the statistical test, finds that while the sample of rating downgrades exhibit significantly negative abnormal price effect during the announcement period, the magnitude of this effect is significantly higher for firms with low information availability. For the rating upgrades, the sample as a whole has no abnormal announcement period returns, but the sample of firms with lower information earns significantly positive abnormal returns. This study provides support for the hypothesis that the announcement effect of bond-rating changes is conditional on the information available about the firm.