Thesis advisor: Pierluigi Balduzzi / Essay one of this dissertation investigates the relation between fundamental idiosyncratic volatility and stock returns idiosyncratic volatility using data from 56 countries over 1980-2014. I find a strong positive relation between fundamental idiosyncratic volatility and idiosyncratic volatility of returns. This association, however, seems to be entirely driven by the developed economies and I find no effect in the emerging markets. Specifically, fundamental idiosyncratic volatility does not lead to more idiosyncratic return volatility in countries with poor legal institutions and weak shareholder protection laws. The second essay examines the effect of accounting standards on return predictability by using a variance decomposition approach, and is joint work with Pierluigi Balduzzi, Gil Sadka, and Ronnie Sadka. We decompose returns into a cash-flow news component and a discount-rate news component, and investigate cross-sectional and time-series changes in the contribution of each component to return variations. We also decompose returns for 20 industries in three subsample periods to examine the effect of accounting standards on different industries over time. Our results contribute to our understanding of the effect of accounting practices on accounting variables and return predictability. The third essay studies the effect of short-selling on stock price informativeness. Morck, Yeung, and Yu (2000), in their pioneering study of international differences in stock price synchronicity, emphasize the effect of market development on the ability of investors to incorporate firm-specific information into prices. I use a unique institutional feature in the Hong Kong market to investigate one of the important tools investors use to incorporate information into prices and hence, reduce stock price synchronicity; short-selling. Examining the cross-sectional and time-series variation in short-sale constraints in the Hong Kong market, I find that following the removal of short-sale constraints, stock prices become more informative and move less in tandem with the market. My findings contribute to our understanding of the impact of short-sales constraints on stock price informativeness. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

Thesis advisor: Robert Murphy / Thesis advisor: Hiroshi Nakazato / Microfinance and the notion of helping the poor help themselves by providing small loans to serve as startup capital and encourage entrepreneurship has been increasing in popularity as the new panacea to poverty since its development by Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank. In order to accurately identify the validity of this claim, this thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of the academic studies that have been done to date in order to determine what we know about the effectiveness of these programs. By analyzing studies based on three major questions: Who is being studied? What variables are being studied? and How is the analysis done? This research addresses the differences between conclusions and finds that overall, microfinance may be effective for some populations, but is not necessarily worthy of such high acclaim. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: International Studies Honors Program. / Discipline: International Studies.

by Chan Ho-Tong & Ren Tong-Hai. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-82). / ABSTRACT --- p.i / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS --- p.v / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vi / ACKNOWLEDGMENT --- p.vii / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- WARRANT AND COVERED WARRANT --- p.3 / Chapter III. --- HONG KONG WARRANTS MARKET --- p.5 / Chapter 3.1 --- Brief review --- p.5 / Chapter 3.2 --- The covered warrants market --- p.7 / Chapter 3.3 --- Attraction of Warrants --- p.9 / Chapter IV. --- STOCK OPTIONS --- p.11 / Chapter V. --- COMPARISON OF COVERED WARRANT TO STOCK OPTION --- p.13 / Chapter VI. --- MARKET EXPECTATIONS OF STOCK OPTIONS' IMPACTS --- p.16 / Chapter 6.1 --- Historical evidence from index option --- p.16 / Chapter 6.2 --- Expected impact of stock options --- p.17 / Chapter VII. --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.19 / Chapter 7.1 --- The impact of option on the underlying stock market --- p.19 / Chapter 7.1.1 --- Theoretical arguments --- p.20 / Chapter 7.1.2 --- Empirical evidence --- p.23 / Chapter 7.1.3 --- Effects of options listing on stock bid-ask spread --- p.27 / Chapter 7.2 --- Prediction of changes in the covered warrants market --- p.31 / Chapter 7.2.1 --- Volatility of covered warrant return --- p.31 / Chapter 7.2.2 --- Trading volume --- p.32 / Chapter 7.2.3 --- Bid-ask spread --- p.34 / Chapter 7.2.4 --- Additional considerations --- p.35 / Chapter VIII. --- DATA ANALYSIS --- p.37 / Chapter 8.1 --- Data Selection --- p.37 / Chapter 8.2 --- Methodology --- p.38 / Chapter 8.4 --- Spread Regression Model --- p.39 / Chapter 8.4 --- Results and Analysis --- p.41 / Chapter 8.4.1 --- Return --- p.41 / Chapter 8.4.2 --- Trading Volume --- p.43 / Chapter 8.4.3 --- Spread --- p.47 / Chapter 8.4.4 --- Spread regression --- p.48 / Chapter 8.4.5 --- Exploration of additional factors --- p.52 / Chapter IX. --- CONCLUSION --- p.55 / Chapter X. --- LIMITATIONS --- p.58 / Chapter XI. --- SUGGESTIONS --- p.60 / APPENDIX --- p.61 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.76

Chen, Renjie. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

by Ip Ka Tsun Anthony and Tang Ying Wa. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-46). / ABSTRACT --- p.i / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.iv / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --- p.v / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter II . --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.4 / Selection Criteria of the Neglected Markets --- p.4 / Market Review --- p.4 / Day-of-the-Week Effect --- p.9 / Month- of - the - Year Effect --- p.11 / Spill´ؤOver Effect Across National Stock Markets --- p.11 / Granger Causality Between Aggregate Stock Price and Trading Volume --- p.13 / Chapter III. --- DATA and METHODOLOGY --- p.16 / Day-of-the-Week Effect and Month-of-the-Year Effect --- p.16 / Spill-Over Effect Across National Stock Markets and Granger Causality Between Aggregate Stock Price and Trading Volume --- p.18 / Chapter IV. --- EMPIRICAL RESULTS --- p.24 / Day-of-the-Week Effect --- p.24 / Month-of-the-Year Effect --- p.26 / Spill-Over Effect Across National Stock Markets --- p.28 / Granger Causality Between Aggregate Stock Price and Trading Volume --- p.31 / Chapter V. --- CONCLUSION --- p.36 / Direction of Further Studies --- p.38 / APPENDIX --- p.40 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.42

by Wong Pui Ling. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-54). / ACKNOWLEDGMENT --- p.i / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS --- p.v / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vi / Chapter / Chapter I --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Objectives --- p.2 / Terms of References --- p.2 / Scope of Study --- p.3 / Summary of Contents --- p.4 / Chapter II --- . RULES AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING SHARE REPURCHASE --- p.6 / Rules and Regulations --- p.6 / Methods of Share Repurchase --- p.7 / On-Market Repurchase --- p.7 / General Offer --- p.8 / Off-Market Repurchase --- p.8 / Chapter III. --- DATA AND METHODOLOGIES --- p.9 / Chapter VI. --- FEATURES OF SHARE REPURCHASE IN HONG KONG STOCK MARKET --- p.11 / Type of Shares --- p.11 / Methods of Repurchase --- p.12 / Type of Companies --- p.15 / Business Sectors --- p.15 / Index Constituent Companies --- p.19 / Top Twenty Repurchasers in Value in 1991 to 1997 --- p.20 / Chapter V. --- MOTIVES OF SHARE REPURCHASE --- p.26 / Literature Review --- p.26 / Motives of Companies Repurchase Shares in Hong Kong --- p.27 / Official Reasons for Repurchases --- p.28 / Other Reasons for Shares Repurchase in Hong Kong … --- p.30 / Prevention of Odd Lot --- p.30 / Privatization --- p.31 / Share Trading at a Substantial Discount --- p.32 / Masking Financial Difficulties --- p.32 / Chapter VI. --- IMPACT OF FLUCTUATIONS IN HANG SENG INDEX ON SHARE REPURCHASE --- p.34 / Impact on Daily Fluctuations in Hang Seng Index --- p.39 / Chapter VII. --- CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS --- p.44 / Conclusion --- p.44 / Limitations --- p.44 / Recommendations for Further Studies --- p.45 / APPENDIX --- p.46 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.53

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University

Wong Ying Chiu. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-69). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1. --- Introduction and Literature Review --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- Methodology --- p.9 / Chapter A. --- OLS Regression and Correlation / Chapter B. --- Simulation Trade / Chapter 3. --- Data --- p.15 / Chapter 4. --- Empirical Findings --- p.21 / Chapter A. --- OLS Regression and Correlation / Chapter B. --- Simulation Trade / Chapter 5. --- Conclusion --- p.32 / Chapter 6. --- Figures and Tables --- p.34 / Chapter 7. --- Bibliography --- p.62 / Chapter 8. --- Appendix --- p.70

The IPO market is characterised by a high level of information asymmetry; thus, self-interested managers have strong incentives to overstate earnings during the IPO to inflate stock prices. Prior literature has provided evidence of earnings manipulation by managers around IPOs. If managers opportunitically manipulate earnings in the IPO year, the reported earnings will not be sustainable, and the IPO firms will exhibit negative abnormal stock returns in subsequent periods due to investors' downward adjustment of their evaluation of the firm value. Another common phenomenon of the IPO markets is the underperformance of IPO firms in the post-issue periods, with nearly a third of issuers either failing or being acquired within five years of going public. Therefore, in this thesis, I aim to examine potential factors contributing to restraining the level of earnings management undertaken by IPO firms and improving the post-issue long-term performance. Specifically, I investigate the impact of credit ratings and CEOs' work experience on earnings management and post-issue performance of newly listed firms. I uncover strong evidence that newly listed firms going public with a credit rating are less likely to engage in income-enhancing earnings management through both accruals and real operating activities manipulation. Moreover, while unrated IPO firms manipulate earnings to mislead investors, rated issuers tend to employ accounting discretion for informative purposes. I also study the association between CEOs' financial experience and earnings management around IPOs and find that IPO firms with financial expert CEOs are less likely to manage earnings through accruals. Furthermore, financial expert CEOs tend to be informative in financial reporting to allow investors to properly gauge the fair value of the firm. In addition, I investigate the influence of CEOs' specialist managerial experience on the probability of failure and survivability of IPO firms. My findings suggest that specialist CEOs enhance the ability of IPO firms to remain viable for a longer period of time. My research not only contributes to a wide range of literature on IPOs, credit ratings, earnings management and managerial attributes but also provides several practical implications for regulators in monitoring IPO firms' financial reporting, for investors in making investment decisions, and for firms in considering relevant work experience for CEO appointment.

本文探討關於影響股票流通量的不同因素。數據資料包括40國家由1981年開始30年的每月數據，當中股票流通量使用股票交投量計算。本文特別關注企業管治質素對於股票流通量的影響，並透過使用封閉型控股比例及審計師報告量度企業管治質素。本文研究的另一個目的為確定國家管治質素對於股票流通量的影響。除此之外，本文亦探討經濟增長及宏觀政策穩定性對於股票流通量的影響，及股票流通量與公司財政狀況的關係。 / 透過使用固定影響面版數據迴歸分析，結果顯示股票流通量與（i）企業管治質素成正比關係；（ii）國家管治質素成正比關係；（iii）宏觀經濟發展及政策穩定性成正比關係；（iv）公司財政狀況成正比關係。投資者普遍拒絶交易一些企業管治質素差的股票以防被大股東剝奪。良好的國家管治質素能夠促進投資者信心並提高相關股票市場的交易量。較高的經濟發展及穩定的貨幣政策預期能夠提供可觀的回報並吸引投資者。良好的公司財政表現表示公司有較強的增長並吸引投資者交易相關股票。 / 透過抽選不同的情況以驗證結果的準確性，當中顯示股票交投量能夠恰當計算股票流通量，當中的迴歸結果皆十分有力。本文對影響股票流通量的不同因素提供全面的分析。政府及股票市場監管機構應將焦點放於改善市場制度以促進流通量，並減低上市公司的資本成本。將來的相關研究能夠集中於政策探討並深化有關研究。 / This thesis investigates the different factors that affect stock liquidity. The data set comprises 40 countries with monthly data for the 30 years starting from 1981. Stock liquidity is measured using the stock turnover rate. The first concern of this thesis is the determination of the manner by which the standard of corporate governance affects the stock liquidity based on the percentages of closely held shares and the reports of auditors as the proxy of corporate governance. The second concern is the ascertainment of the effects of country governance on stock liquidity. Furthermore, the current study investigates the effects of economic growth and macroeconomic policy stability on stock liquidity. In addition, the present work also determines the relationship between stock liquidity and the financial status of companies. / The results of fixed effect panel data regression show that the stock liquidity is (i) positively correlated to the corporate governance standard, (ii) positively correlated to the country governance standard, (iii) positively correlated to the macroeconomic development and policy stability, and (iv) positively correlated to the financial status of companies. Investors typically refuse to trade the stocks with poor corporate governance records to prevent minority expropriation. Moreover, better country governance improves investor confidence in trading in the respective country’s stock market. Higher economic growth and stable monetary policy attract investors by providing promising results. In addition, better financial performance by companies implies stronger growth and attracts investors to trade on the stocks of such companies. / Using different selected occasions for the validation of robustness, the stock turnover rate is confirmed to be a good proxy for stock liquidity, and the results of different regressions are strong. The current study provides a comprehensive analysis on the factors affecting stock liquidity. Governments and stock market regulators should focus on having a better institutional design to improve liquidity, which can potentially reduce the cost of equity for listed firms. The future extension on this topic can focus more on policy implication to deepen the investigation further. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Lin, Yuk Lun. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-60). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.iv / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.v / TABLES --- p.vii / FIGURES --- p.ix / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT --- p.3 / Chapter 2.a --- Literature review --- p.3 / Chapter 2.b --- Hypothesis development --- p.6 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- DATA DESCRIPTION AND SUMMARY STATISTICS --- p.8 / Chapter 3.a --- Firm-level time series data --- p.8 / Chapter 3.b --- Country-level time series data --- p.10 / Chapter 3.c --- Data summary --- p.11 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- SAMPLE SUMMARY OF DIFFERENT LAW ORIGINS --- p.12 / Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- REGRESSION MODEL AND RESULT --- p.14 / Chapter 5.a --- Stock turnover rate, corporate governance, country governance, and control variables --- p.14 / Chapter 5.b --- Amihud measure, ownership structure, country governance, and control variables --- p.19 / Chapter 5.c --- Stock turnover rate, ownership structure, squared ownership structure, country governance, and control variables --- p.21 / Chapter 5.d --- Stock turnover rate, corporate governance, country governance, interaction term of corporate and country governance, and control variables --- p.23 / Chapter 5.e --- Summary of the results --- p.24 / Chapter CHAPTER 6 --- ROBUSTNESS CHECKS --- p.26 / Chapter 6.a --- Alternative measure for stock turnover rate --- p.26 / Chapter 6.b --- Exclusion of the data on developing countries --- p.26 / Chapter 6.c --- Exclusion of the period of great volatility --- p.28 / Chapter CHAPTER 7 --- POLICY IMPLICATION --- p.30 / Chapter 7.a --- Implications for corporate governance --- p.30 / Chapter 7.b --- Implications for information disclosure --- p.31 / Chapter 7.c --- Implications for country governance --- p.32 / Chapter 7.d --- Implications for country and firm level data --- p.33 / Chapter CHAPTER 8 --- CONCLUSION --- p.34 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.60