The purpose is to investigate whether there are any significant differences in risk                                                             tolerance in equity investments between the genders. Further, the study intends to                                                        investigate wether independent factors such as age, income, education and                                                                  confidence effects the risk tolerance of an individual.Method: The study has adapted a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The                                                      primary data has been collected through surveys and semi-structured interviews.                                                           The adopted research approach  is deductive and the study population consists of                                                                men and women in Sweden, which are or have been active equity investors. Theory: Describes the concept of risk tolerance in financial decisions. The theory further                                                             explains an individual’s descisionprocess in relation to risk, with its overvaluation                                                         to a positive probability and its undervaluation to a negative risk. Further, a                                                     several factors are explained and discussed that influence an individual’s risk                                                        tolerance. Conclusion: Differences in risktolerance between the genders has been proved. Furthermore,                                                             the influence of the factors age, income and education are statistically proved.                                                                Finally the impact of self confidence were proven through qualitative data. / Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka om det finns några signifikanta skillnader i riskbenägenhet                                                        vid aktieplacering mellan könen. Vidare ämnar studien undersöka om oberoende                                                           faktorer som ålder, inkomst, utbildning och självförtroende påverkar                                                                        riskbenägenheten hos en individ. Metod: Studien har antagit en kombination av kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod.                                                                         Primärdata har således samlats in via enkätundersökningar samt delvis                                                                           strukturerade intervjuer. Studiens sekundärdata består av tidigare forskning.                                            Forskningsansatsen som antagits är deduktiv och studiens population utgörs av                                                  män och kvinnor i Sverige, vilka är eller någon gång har varit aktiva                                                                         aktieplacerare. Teori: Beskriver begreppet riskbenägenhet vid finansiella beslut. Även teori som                                                                         förklarar en individs beslutsprocess i förhållande till risk, med dess                                                                                   övervärderingar till en positiv sannolikhet och dess undervärdering till en negativ                                                          risk. Vidare förklaras och diskuteras ett flertal faktorer som påverkar en individs                                                           riskbenägenhet. Slutsats: Skillnad i riskbenägenhet mellan könen har påvisats. Vidare har påverkan från                                                                faktorerna ålder, inkomst och utbildning statistiskt bevisats. Avslutningsvis                                             bevisades självförtroendes påverkan genom kvalitativ data.

Aggression has been demonstrated to pose a serious threat to the adaptive development of youth, with decades of research demonstrating the negative associations between aggression and other problem behaviors, both concurrently and predictively. However, despite this body of research, the current psychological literature continues to suffer from a lack of an overarching organizational framework from which to structure the construct(s) of aggression. Furthermore, existing discrepancies across the literature, particularly in the definitions of and outcomes associated with non-physical forms of aggression (e.g., relational aggression, social aggression), exacerbate the complexities facing prevention and intervention specialists. Insofar as research can isolate the unique subtypes of aggressive behaviors that best predict maladjustment outcomes, researchers can focus resources and efforts on those subtypes of aggression identified as being particularly relevant for prevention efforts. To this end, the purpose of the current study was to develop a measure that encompassed the structure of physical and relational aggression and to test competing structures of aggression based on the hypothesized relevant dimensions of mechanism of action (i.e., confrontational action vs. nonconfrontational action) and vehicle of harm (i.e., physical harm vs. relational/social harm) using confirmatory factor analyses. Additionally, this study examined relations between aggression subtypes and hypothesized correlates, including peer deviancy, delinquency, drug use, and social intelligence. Further, this study assessed both the factor structures and unique relations among aggression and its correlates separately for boys and girls, and identified unique structure and relations by gender. Participants included an urban, predominantly African American sample of 280 youth ages eleven through seventeen, who were sampled from an ongoing longitudinal study of violence, substance use, stress, and coping. As hypothesized, the mechanism of action and vehicle of harm dimensions did represent relevant conceptual distinctions in the structure of aggression. Although models did not reach objective standards for goodness of fit criteria, comparatively, the mechanism of action model best represented the structure of aggression for boys, whereas the vehicle of harm model best represented the structure of aggression for girls. Both boys and girls had significant positive correlations among their respective subtypes of aggression and other indicators of maladjustment, including peer deviancy, delinquency, and drug use. Overall, these findings confirm that structures of aggression tested were problematic for urban African-American youth, and suggest that further attention should be paid to disentangling those aspects of aggression that might be most relevant for addressing prevention and intervention efforts.

The proposed study examined the role of anxiety and risk-taking in driving performance in adolescents. In addition to examining the sample as a whole, gender differences were assessed given earlier reports from our laboratory and others indicating that males and females differ with respect to risky behaviors to driving performance and anxiety. Adolescents' subjective and physiological responses to a driving simulator task were assessed. Anxiety was measured via self report and salivary cortisol. Participants provided a baseline saliva sample and 3 post-task samples for cortisol analysis. Subjective anxiety scores were obtained at both baseline and following the driving stressor. Information concerning impulsivity, as well as other psychological constructs was also collected at baseline. Unlike the pilot study, there were no relationships (with or without respect to gender) between salivary cortisol and both self-reported anxiety (state and trait) or impulsively measures for this sample. These results suggest that this group of adolescents may not have been anxious about the driving task. This discrepancy may stem from error introduced by the smaller sample size obtained from the initial findings or to other factors remaining outside the parameters of the current study. The task did, however, induce a slight hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis response indicating some physiological arousal. Males had significantly higher cortisol levels at baseline than females and at time point 3 while approaching significance at time points 2 and 4. Females possessed significantly higher trait anxiety than males and all post task cortisol levels were positively correlated to age while time points 2 and 4 (with time point 3 approaching significance, p=0.09) were inversely correlated with Self Depreciation scores. Additionally, females had Persecutory Ideas scores that were also negatively correlated with cortisol at time points 3 and 4. For both the entire sample and males only, the correlation between post-task cortisol and driving performance was positive and approached significance (p=0.07 and p=0.08, respectively), suggesting that some HPA activation may be facilitative for successful driving task performance. Correlations between driving performance and psychological constructs were explored and discussed with and without respect to gender.

Humans exhibit a number of suboptimal behaviours in the wake of a loss. For example, gamblers often ‘chase' their losses in an attempt to break even. Similarly, investors tend to hold on to losing stocks too long in the hope that the declining share price might make a recovery. However, the neural mechanisms that instantiate such behaviour are poorly understood. I begin the introductory chapter with a basic historical overview of fundamental economic concepts, interleaving intersecting ideas from psychology and neuroscience. This leads to a more in-depth exploration of the notion that loss-related behavioural biases might provide insight into the neural mechanisms that underlie risky choice. From this, I argue that rats represent a viable animal model of risky decision- making for neuroeconomic research. The original research presented in Chapters 2 – 5 pave the way toward advancing our current understanding of loss-related biases in behaviour with rat models of risky decision-making. By employing insight from psychology and economics, I developed two models of rat behaviour that can be used to study the neural substrates of loss valuation. I presented the experimental paradigms in Chapters 2 and 5, while demonstrating novel loss-related correlations between the midbrain dopamine system and observed loss behaviour in Chapters 3 and 4. The results presented in Chapter 5 demonstrate that rats are capable of producing behavioural patterns akin to loss aversion and the disposition effect. This work has also highlighted a number of areas for future research. In Chapter 6, I explore potential theoretical implications of the results discussed in previous chapters. In summary, this thesis uses experimental risky decision-making tasks in rats to advance our current knowledge of the ways in which concepts such as loss aversion critically influence our internal representation of value.

In our economic era, the youth unemployment is a considerable issue. The labour market isblocked and it is a challenge for young people to find a stable job, especially in specificfields as social sciences or humanity studies. After graduating, the job seeking can take fewweeks even few months. Thus, entrepreneurship appears as a solution for those younggraduates who do not find a job or as a future career. Historically speaking, entrepreneurshipwas defined as an economic phenomenon but is seen as a broader concept today. Throughdecades, notions as opportunity, risk-taking and creativity have been added to the definitionbut also the different forms of entrepreneurship as social, societal, ecological or educational.Everyone can be an entrepreneur in his own way and young people are seduced by thisconcept that brings independence and freedom. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate onthe way young graduates who decided to turn themselves into entrepreneurship experiencetheir engagement in this field. To answer the research question, the abductive method hasbeen used. The thesis’ authors interviewed six young graduates who are engaged in variousprojects in order to collect the different experiences and relate them with the differentconcepts of entrepreneurship. After gathering the empirical data and analysed it with diversetheories, a conclusion has been drawn. It showed that there is no common way ofexperiencing entrepreneurship and that personality can have a valuable role concerning thedecision-making. In the following manuscript, theories and interviews have been collectedto reflect on engagement that can be taken by young graduates.

In this dissertation we investigate different aspects of capital regulations and their impact on the behavior of commercial banks. In chapter two, we foucs on the impact of capital regulations on risk-taking of commercial banks in developed and developoing countries separately and togahter. We find that such regulations indeed reduce the risk taking of commercial banks. At the same time, we examine the relationship between capital ratios and risk taking. In line with previous literature, we find that this ratio is negative also. Further examinations including the degree of liberalization and the level of finanicl development did not yield conclusive results. In chapter three, we examine the relationship between the capital regulations and total lending and total depositis. We do not find conclusive evidence in support of the ‘credit crunch' or the ‘ risk retrenchment' hypothesis. However, several important variables do show a tendency to change with capital ratios. As a result, changes in capital ratios in response to regulations do have important impact on bank lending and decision making. In chapter four, we study five South East Asian countries within the context of the crisis of 1996. First we test for the existence of depositor discipline in these countries and find that the sate of such discipline is very weak even after such a huge crisis. We also test the degree of risk taking in the banking industry in these countries. Evidence shows that perfect competition prevails in the bankins secotr. We also try to establist the link between "the index of depositor discipline" and "index of competition". But we don't find evidence in support of this.

In this dissertation, we first examine the relationship between performance of the bank holding company and several board characteristics. We use five proxies for bank performance including Tobin’s Q, ROA, loan loss reserve ratio, non-performing asset ratio, and net charge-offs ratio. Board characteristic variables we include are board size, proportion of outsiders, CEO power, CEO tenure and board tenure. We find that a large board enhances bank performance, as proxied by Tobin’s Q and loan quality variables. We find no evidence that board structure or CEO power influences firm performance. We see that CEO and board tenure have a positive effect on firm performance. We further employ a crisis dummy during the period 2007 through 2009 to determine if the relationships between firm performance and board characteristics changed during the crisis. Our crisis results show us that board size has a negative effect on Tobin’s Q and the non-performing asset ratio during the crisis. Further, we find that board structure decreases the non-performing asset ratio during the crisis. We next examine the relationship between risk-taking of the bank holding company and several board characteristics. We use four accounting based proxies for bank risk-taking including credit risk, liquidity risk, capital ratio and operational risk. We also use three market based proxies for bank risk including market beta, idiosyncratic risk and the standard deviation of its stock return. Board characteristic variables we include are board size, board independence, CEO duality, CEO tenure and board tenure. We find that a large board reduces both balance sheet and market risk. We further investigate the relationships between risk-taking and board characteristics changed during the financial crisis of 2007-2009. We find that our results are robust during the crisis.

This study tested dual-process decision-making models as predictors of between-person and within-person variation in risk-taking behavior. Additionally, the study integrated trait perspectives on self-control and impulsivity with decision-making processes to explain risk-taking. Participants were 580 college students ages 18 and older (M age = 20.45, range = 18 to 52 years). This study involved three parts. First, participants completed a survey assessing decision-making processes, self-control, impulsivity and risk-taking behavior. Second, a sub-set of participants completed laboratory-based measures of self-control and impulsivity. Third, participants completed a longitudinal online assessment of their risk-taking behavior. Dual-process models explained concurrent risk-taking, but only the reasoned decision-making process explained longitudinal risk-taking. The dual decision-making processes appear to operate through similar pathways, with components from each pathway exhibiting indirect effects through the other pathway. Impulsivity was linked to higher levels of risk-taking because of higher levels of behavioral intentions and willingness, whereas self-control was linked to lower levels of risk-taking because of lower levels of behavioral intentions. Between-person effects were as common as within-person effects, so future researchers are urged to consider decision-making processes averaged across forms of risk-taking and within each form of risk-taking. Altering decision-making pathways may be an effective way to intervene with individuals at high risk for engaging in risk-taking behavior.

Adolescence is often seen as a stage where risk taking and experimentation are common. The need to feel a part of one’s peer group, to be valued as an individual and to overcome physical and emotional changes are all part of this developmental stage. This research examines the link between Elkind’s theory of Egocentrism and risk taking in female adolescents. Risk taking and its links to the Personal Fable and the Imaginary Audience were the main focus of the research. This study used a qualitative research design to obtain an in-depth understanding of risk taking among a sample group of ten female adolescents. A focus group from a different school was used to help analyse and discuss the data obtained. The results of this study show that Elkind’s theory of adolescent Egocentrism (both the Personal Fable and the Imaginary Audience) are, indeed, influencing factors in female adolescent risk taking.

Thesis advisor: Ronnie Sadka / This dissertation is comprised of three essays which examine the ramifications of executive compensation incentive structures on corporate outcomes. In the first essay, I present evidence which suggests that executive compensation convexity, measured as the sensitivity of managerial equity compensation portfolios to stock volatility, predicts firm-specific crashes. I find that a bottom-to-top decile change in compensation convexity results in a 21% increase in a firm's unconditional ex-post idiosyncratic crash risk. In contrast, I do not find robust evidence of a symmetric relation between compensation convexity and a firm's idiosyncratic positive jump risk. Finally, I exploit exogenous variation in compensation convexity, arising from a change in the expensing treatment of executive stock options, in buttressing my interpretations within a natural experiment setting. My results suggest that managerial equity compensation portfolios do not augment a firm's future idiosyncratic crash risk because they link managerial wealth to equity prices, but rather because they tie managerial wealth to the volatility of a firm's equity. In the second essay, I exploit an exogenous negative shock to CEO compensation convexity in examining the differential ramifications of option pay and risk-taking incentives on the systematic and idiosyncratic volatility of the firm. I find new evidence that is largely consistent with the notion that compensation convexity, stemming from option convexity, predominantly incentivizes under-diversified risk-averse CEOs to increase the value of their option portfolios by increasing the systematic volatility of the firms they manage. I hypothesize that this effect manifests as systematic volatility is readily more hedgeable than idiosyncratic volatility from the perspective of risk-averse executives who are overexposed to the idiosyncratic risk of their firms. If managers use options as a conduit through which they can gamble with shareholder wealth by overexposing them to suboptimal systematic volatility, options are not serving their intended contracting function. Instead of decreasing agency costs of risk, by encouraging CEOs to adopt innovative positive NPV projects that may be primarily characterized by idiosyncratic risk, option pay may have contributed to the same frictions it was intended to reduce. In the third essay, I present evidence that is consistent with the notion that certain managerial debt-like remuneration structures decrease the likelihood of firm-specific positive stock-price jumps. Namely, I find that a bottom-to-top decile increase in the present value of CEO pension pay leads to a roughly 25\% decrease in a firm's unconditional ex-post jump probability. However, I do not find that CEO deferred compensation decreases firm jump risk. Finally, I find that information in option-implied volatility smirks does not appear to reflect these dynamics. Together, these results suggest that not all debt-like compensation mechanisms decrease managerial risk-taking equally. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.