This thesis deals mainly with the question how and to what extent the 1997 Asian financial crisis influenced the unprecedented development of the welfare system in South Korea while other Asian countries remained or diminished their welfare programs. This research explains the historical development of the South Korean welfare system, which has been entwined with political and economic conditions in the theoretical approach of the path dependence. This research proved that the 1997 crisis was a critical juncture, which explains how unprecedented welfare policy reforms were achieved and that the character of the South Korean welfare system has improved. While the IMF and the World Bank required the reforms and expansion of social safety net as a bailout condition, the political leadership of South Korea was changed by President Kim Dae-Jung, which made possible opening progressive policymaking and decision processes in reform politics to extend the national welfare system, particularly four social insurance systems and the public assistance. Given these occasions, the character of the South Korean welfare system has transferred from the liberal welfare-state regime to the conservative.

The adverse effect of small bank closures in the United States from 2007 to 2009 required $7 trillion from United States taxpayers to rescue the United States economy. This comparative case study explored the reasons that led to differences in efficiency in small banks in the United States and Ghana during the 2007 to 2009 period. This research was driven by the contingency theory, which states leaders perform well if they change their styles of leadership to suit the situation at hand. Semistructured interviews were employed to gather data from 20 senior and chief executives of small banks: 10 from the United States and 10 from Ghana. Data were formatted into matrices using the van Kaam method and then coded and organized into categories, which led to the identification of the 2 themes: (a) policies and practices and (b) reasons that contributed to the differences in efficiency between small banks in the United States and Ghana. The participants expressed concerns regarding the impact of increased regulations and bank reserves, and the resulting impact on the future of small banks. Findings from this study suggest that small banks that relaxed their mortgage qualification requirements during the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis had more losses compared to the small banks that did not. Additionally, findings from the United States and Ghana revealed small banks focusing on commercial loans had less losses compared to small banks investing in residential real estate. This study may contribute to social change by providing bank leaders with additional tools to prevent future bank failures and the confidence to make new commercial and residential mortgage loans, thereby creating jobs, lowering poverty, increasing income levels, and contributing to a more stable economy in which small banks operate.

Inquiries have been made by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education and the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to determine how colleges and universities could meet the financial crisis now being faced. One of the recommendations made by both agencies as a result of their investigations was that curriculum planners at these institutions provide students with opportunities to have off-campus experiences, preferably in their chosen career areas, before they are graduated to determine whether they want to pursue their studies in that area or reorient themselves to other options. These planned stopouts, they suggested, would curtail drifting or hanging on as well as enable students to gain practical experiences at various stages in their training. There is a lack of information in the literature to justify immediate response to the suggestions made by the private and public bodies mentioned. Time does not permit officials to conduct longitudinal studies based on an experimental design which would provide a basis to accept or reject these recommendations. This study represents an effort to investigate the effects of stopping out on former students. Admittedly it has limitations, particularly those inherent in ex post facto research, but does provide some results which may assist administrators and faculties as they make decisions in light of the crisis now facing them. The results of this study indicate that students who have stopped out are more likely to change their academic major than students who have not stopped out. Also, there are indications that stopping out does not affect academic standing. However, it was found that for most students grades get higher as they progress through school whether they stop out or stay in. This finding is in agreement with findings from previous studies reported in the literature.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Finance and Investment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2018 / This paper aims to optimise the financial conditions index (FCI) indicator that best describes the monetary policy interest rate setting behaviour of twelve emerging market central banks. This is achieved by analysing and looking at the background of modelling interest rates and forecasting interest rate setting behaviour from various regions globally. Following the credit crisis of 2008, the conventional wisdom and foundations that prevailed before were profoundly shaken. Particularly the conduct and behaviour of central banks in response to financial conditions assumed centre stage. Consequently, there has been a consensus among economists and policymakers on the importance of financial conditions, and the influence thereof, on the interest rate setting. However, in order for central banks to achieve their financial stability objectives, they need to construct an optimal indicator that best describes financial conditions. To construct such an optimal indicator, this paper firstly investigates whether the central banks of emerging markets follow the Taylor rule in setting their interest rates. Secondly, it investigates whether the FCI with optimal time-varying weights better describes interest rate movements in emerging markets, when incorporated in the Taylor rule. Lastly, it evaluates interest rate predictability by comparing various models that include non-optimized FCIs. The paper finds that the majority of emerging countries follow the Taylor rule. It also finds that most emerging markets take into account the information contained in FCIs and the majority of these countries, optimize the variables that enter the FCIs. When evaluating the forecasting accuracy of these models, the paper finds that the optimized model ranks superior in most countries in terms of forecasting accuracy. The optimization and allocation of the variables that enter the optimized FCI happen in a similar manner that was proposed by Markowitz in portfolio allocation theory. / GR2019

This thesis examines three important topics in corporate governance: the relationship between activist hedge funds and other institutional investors, the role of perks in the market for CEO talent, and public scrutiny and the changing nature of perks. First, I provide an in depth study of the interaction between activist hedge funds and other institutional investors. Hedge funds are more likely to target firms with high levels of institutional ownership, and demonstrate a preference for short term focused institutional investors. Hedge fund activism generates short run and long run abnormal returns without increasing stock return volatility. Regardless of investment horizon, volatility is inversely related to prior period institutional ownership. The trading behavior of institutional owners with different investment horizons is consistent with hedge fund activism creating value. These findings hold regardless of whether investment horizon is based on portfolio churn rate or type of institution. Overall, the results suggest a mutually beneficial relationship between activist hedge funds and other institutional investors. Second, in a coauthored paper with Drs. Seungijn Han and Jiaping Qiu, I provide the first comprehensive analysis on how CEOs’ wage and perks are jointly determined in a competitive CEO market. The underlying theory shows that in equilibrium, firm size, wage, perks and talent are all positively related. Perks are more sensitive than wage to changes in firm size. The more perks enhance the CEO’s productivity, the faster perks increase in firm size. Closed form solutions allow the recovery of the cost function of providing perks. I examine the determinants of CEO perquisite compensation using hand-collected information for S&P 500 companies and find consistent empirical evidence. Third, I examine the impact of public scrutiny on CEO compensation using the unique opportunity provided by the 2008 financial crisis, government support, and legislated compensation restrictions. I introduce novel data on executive perks at S&P 500 firms from 2006 to 2012. Overall, my results are consistent with increased public scrutiny having lasting impact on perks and temporary impact on wage, and with legislated compensation restrictions having temporary impact on wage. Changes in specific perks items provide evidence on which perks firms perceive as excessive and which provide common value. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The 2008 financial crisis revealed systemic weaknesses in the global financial architecture, gave rise to the most severe economic collapse since the Great Depression and engendered a fundamental shift in the prevailing consensus on financial governance. It reminded us of the fragility of the international financial system and the politically unacceptable costs to society when it fails. This dissertation adds to the literature on the governance of private and public sector financial institutions. It presents a conceptual framework of linkage between the governance of financial institutions, systemic risk and financial crises. It is based on a review of the empirical and theoretical literature on the influence of financial regulation and governance on the stability of the international financial system. The dissertation examines the application of financial governance in three different contexts: (i) the introduction of a common regulatory framework for the European securities industry, known as MIFID; (ii) the introduction of a risk governance framework at a US federal agency, the US Export-Import Bank, and (iii) the introduction of performance metrics among Export Credit Agencies that operate within a common governance framework known as the Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits. In addition, the dissertation provides specific policy recommendations designed to enhance the portfolio risk management practices of the US Export Import Bank. By extension, these recommendations are relevant to a wider audience of federal agencies with similar portfolio credit risks and may help inform the design of a robust risk management framework that is critical to the government's ability to manage its burgeoning credit portfolio. / Ph. D.

No description available.

This dissertation focuses on the Capital Purchase Program (CPP) of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and consists of a historical overview of TARP and three empirical studies of the CPP. In the first empirical analysis, presented in chapter 2, I use an event study approach to examine the impact of firm announcements of CPP approval on their stock price. I find that the average firm in my sample enjoyed a 1.31% abnormal return on their stock price in the trading days surrounding this news event. In a multivariate regression that examines cross-firm variation in abnormal returns, I find evidence that legislative action in February 2009 to increase the restrictions on executive compensation at CPP-funded firms may have played an important role in dulling market enthusiasm for a firm qualifying for CPP capital. In chapter 3, I propose a model of TARP funding with numerous financial, structure, economic and regulatory explanatory variables to determine which factors were most influential in directing CPP capital to specific firms in the banking system. I find a clear pattern that CPP capital flowed most prominently to both larger, systematically important firms and firms that, while not on the verge of failure, were experiencing greater financial stress. In chapter 4, I study whether CPP funding altered bank behavior. Modifying established models from the economic literature on bank lending, loss recognition and CEO pay, I investigate whether CPP recipients behaved differently than non-recipient firms in lending activities, acknowledging portfolio losses or altering CEO compensation. Controlling for firm condition, I find that CPP recipients were significantly less likely to lend, but significantly more likely to acknowledge losses and curb CEO pay. Collectively, these results suggest that the government's decision to inject capital into the banking system primarily led to greater transparency about the health of recipient financial institutions. / Economics

No / This paper investigates the dynamics of R&D and capital investment using a large sample of US firms during the period 2002–2016. A partial adjustment approach is employed with a specific focus on the impact of the financial crisis on target adjustment speed. Evidence suggests that firms have a target in both types of investment and adjust to it at varying speeds. Specifically, firms adjusted to the capital investment target faster than to R&D investment. However, firms increased the adjustment speed in R&D investment significantly during the crisis, and it has remained at similar levels during the post-crisis period. The changes in adjustment speeds can be explained by several firm-specific characteristics that are related to the ability of firms to raise internal finance.

The recent financial crisis has raised serious questions about the effectiveness of corporate governance (CG) in monitoring management and protecting investors’ interests. There is concern that ‘poor’ CG was, to a certain extent, a major cause of the current financial crisis. This thesis, therefore, investigates the crucial policy question of whether the quality of CG has any effect on financial performance, information asymmetry and on block shareholders’ investment decisions. This is achieved and presented in the form of three essays on CG practices in UK with a particular focus on the periods before and during the 2007/2008 financial crisis. The first essay aims to investigate the impact of firm-level CG on block shareholders’ investment decisions for a large sample of UK non-financial firms over the period 2005 to 2009. Using a panel data analysis, the results revealed the importance of CG for block shareholders’ investment decisions. Furthermore, the study results indicated that only institutional block shareholders consider CG to be important criteria for their investment decisions. Moreover, when the effect of CG on block shareholdings in both periods before and during crisis was examined, a significant difference in results appeared: an insignificant positive relationship in the pre-crisis period turned out to be significant during crisis. The result thus indicates that block shareholders viewed CG as particularly important during the crisis period. The second essay aims to examine the effect of CG on firm performance before and during the financial crisis. It also investigates the mediating effect of agency costs on the association between CG and firm performance. The results revealed that CG affects firm performance only in the period before the crisis, but no significant effect was found during the crisis period. Moreover, agency cost was proved to fully mediate the relationship between CG and performance in the pre-crisis period. The results point to an important issue, which is the need to re-evaluate CG not only in stable periods but also during turbulent times, and to evaluate its ability to perform effectively in such different conditions. The third essay investigates the effect of both CG and block ownership on information asymmetry. Further, the effects of CG in lessening the positive association between block ownership and information asymmetry is considered. The results revealed that CG affects information asymmetry only in the pre-crisis. In addition, block ownership was shown to have a significant and positive effect on information asymmetry during crisis periods suggesting that block shareholders benefit from their information advantage during crisis period which in turn worsens the information asymmetry problem. This suggests that block shareholders engage more in their private benefits rather than in efficient monitoring. The results also proved that CG is insignificant during turbulent period in lessening the negative effect of block ownership.