Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-212).

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-212).

This thesis explores the potential of novel mechanisms towards the reduction of issuers' ex ante uncertainty in the process of going public: i) the recruitment of directors with exceptional academic backgrounds and ii) obtaining credit ratings. Given the information scarcity in the private domain, IPO firms can use these strategies to provide investors with solid, readily identifiable benchmarks to assess their standing. Notwithstanding whether these informational cues are associated with positive or negative prospects, they cause a significant portion of uncertainty in valuation to subside. Ultimately, this should act to constrain the phenomenon of IPO underpricing causing firms to claim a larger portion of the surplus value created on the issue day. First, we examine whether CEO educational and professional attainments are associated with short-run IPOs performance. We find that returns are negatively associated with Ivy-League education, the existence of at least one University degree and the total number of qualifications. After controlling for endogeneity and self-selection bias, the results show that at the graduate level of education the Master of Arts, the MBA, the Juris and Medical Doctor titles exhibit negative relation with the money left on the table. The same is true for any professional qualification. It is also reported that only in the case of the PhD title the Nobel Elite group of Universities outperforms the rest of the sample. Second, we examine the effect of multiple credit ratings on IPO performance. The evidence comes from the U.S. and shows that the acquisition of credit ratings constitutes a valid investment decision for the issuing firm as it leaves less money on the table. Both individual as well as any combination of ratings from the three largest agencies associates with lower underpricing. This effect exacerbates with higher grade levels which are also found to decrease initial returns. Additionally, rated IPOs systematically experience negative filing price revisions. The results offer new insight to the facilitation of the going public process. Finally, we contribute to the large literature associating IPOs with earnings management. In this respect, we explore a special niche, i.e. politically connected firms. A priori, these issuers can be expected to refrain from discretionary accruals manipulation to avoid causing discontent to their contacts. Alternatively, the case may be that the powerful acquaintances fuel managers with overconfidence which permeates the financial statements. Assembling a hand-collected database on firms' political donations, we come up with strong support for the latter conjecture. In particular lobbying activity and candidate campaign financing are both shown to be among the important determinants of aggressiveness in reporting. Our findings tie in with a growing body of literature showing businesses actively involved in politics to be prone to abuses and professional misconduct.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:17:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marilia Gabriela Goncalves.pdf: 632255 bytes, checksum: 16f176380056a4337a0282fad05a0dab (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-04-28 / The creation of a public for contemporary art has been a recurring theme in different forums of debate in Brazil as well as abroad. This has led to discussions related to cultural journalism, to changes in the criteria of curatorship and the production of culture, as well as to the study of new bibliographies to evaluate art, culture and power. The hypothesis of this dissertation for a Master s Degree is that, in this context, there is a fundamental problem of communication. This does not apply exclusively to the relationship between the artist and the public, but involves a complex system of power and the means of transmitting information. To study it and propose strategies for dealing with some of the main difficulties which have been barriers to the development of broad projects, it is necessary to discuss the role of the media, some laws during the last decade to encourage culture, and the action of some public and private institutions in this context. As a case study, we selected dance in Brazil, drawing a diagnosis of the problems of communication that have overrun this field of knowledge since the arrival of ballet in the country, in 1927, and which have continued doing so until today. This is because there are standards that are fixtures. The scenario of theoretical research includes reflections on the bodymedia theory of Christine Greiner e Helena Katz, the studies on translation of Boaventura de Sousa Santos (important to understanding how dance was presented to the public as a mechanism of power), the concept of mimesis developed by Homi Bhabha, the concept of inclusion as a means of exclusion studied by Giorgio Agamben and the discussions on the term Cultural Journalism as raised by Daniel Piza and as yet to be answered for the institutions that work on questions related to cultural media. Through this work, we hope to detect the sounds of communication that exist in this system which aims at forming a public, by showing the path of the relationship between the public, the artist and the accompanying processes (media, politics, power) and, insofar as this is possible, suggesting new strategies to achieve this / A formação de público para arte contemporânea tem sido um tema reincidente em diversos fóruns de debate, no Brasil e no exterior. Implica em discussões relativas ao jornalismo cultural, a mudanças de critério no âmbito curatorial e da produção cultural, assim como no estudo de novas bibliografias para conceituar arte, cultura e poder. A hipótese desta dissertação de mestrado é a de que, neste contexto, há, fundamentalmente, um problema de comunicação. Este não diz respeito exclusivamente à relação entre público e artista, mas envolve um sistema complexo de poder e veiculação de informação. Para estudá-lo e propor estratégias para lidar com algumas das principais dificuldades que têm impedido projetos de amplo escopo, é preciso discutir o papel das mídias, algumas leis de fomento à cultura criadas nos últimos dez anos e a ação de algumas instituições públicas e privadas neste contexto. Selecionamos, como estudo de caso, a dança no Brasil, traçando um diagnóstico dos problemas de comunicação que assolam este campo de conhecimento desde a chegada do balé ao país, em 1927 e que tem se desdobrado até hoje. Isso porque existem padrões que se mantêm. O quadro teórico da pesquisa inclui a reflexão sobre o corpomidia de Christine Greiner e Helena Katz, os estudos sobre tradução de Boaventura Sousa Santos ( importante para se compreender como a dança foi apresentada ao público como um mecanismo de poder), o conceito de mimese trabalhado por Homi Bhabha, a inclusão como modo de exclusão estudada por Giorgio Agamben e as discussões em torno do Jornalismo Cultural termo questionado por Daniel Piza e ainda sem alternativas para as instituições que trabalham questões relativas à mídia cultural. Esperamos com este trabalho, detectar os ruídos de comunicação existentes neste sistema que é a formação de público, mapeando a trajetória da relação entre público, artista e demais processos (mídia, política, poder) e, dentro do possível, sugerir novas estratégias de atuação

A Constituição Federal não estabeleceu o perfil do princípio da não-cumulatividade da Contribuição para os Programas de Integração Social (PIS) e de Formação do Patrimônio do Servidor Público (Pasep) e da Contribuição para o Financiamento da Seguridade Social COFINS (PIS/COFINS) nela previsto, mas o legislador ordinário deve se pautar em três parâmetros quando da instituição da sua sistemática: (i) obedecer os princípios constitucionais em geral; (ii) observar o núcleo de materialidade constitucional do PIS/COFINS; e (iii) respeitar a finalidade que justificou a criação desta sistemática. O insumo se trata de um conceito jurídico indeterminado e possui zonas de certeza positiva (núcleo), de incerteza (halo) e de certeza negativa, tendo cada uma delas parâmetros para as suas respectivas definições. Por isto, o conceito de insumo no PIS/COFINS não se equipara ao insumo no Imposto sobre Produtos Industrializados (IPI), nem aos custos e despesas necessárias no Imposto de Renda da Pessoa Jurídica (IRPJ), possuindo sentido próprio. Foi ainda verificado o entendimento adotado nos precedentes administrativos e judiciais acerca do conceito de insumo no PIS/COFINS que já chegaram aos nossos tribunais. / The Federal Constitution did not establish the profile of the non cummulativity principle of the Contributions for the Social Integration Programs (PIS), for the Formation of the Public Servant Patrimony (Pasep) and for the Financing of Social Security - COFINS (PIS/COFINS) disposed in it, but the ordinary legislator shall base on three parameters when establishing its systematic: (i) obey the constitutional principles in general, (ii) observe the materiality constitutional core of the PIS/COFINS; and (iii) respect the purpose that justified the creation of this systematic. The input is a undetermined legal concept and has areas of positive certainty (core), of uncertainty (halo) and of negative certainty, having each of them parameters for its respective definitions. Therefore, the concept of input at PIS/COFINS shall not be treated as the input at industrialized products tax (IPI), neither as the costs and necessary expenses at the corporate income tax (IRPJ), having thus its own concept. It was also verified the understanding adopted at the administrative and judicial precedents about the concept of input at PIS/COFINS that have already reached our courts.

A Constituição Federal não estabeleceu o perfil do princípio da não-cumulatividade da Contribuição para os Programas de Integração Social (PIS) e de Formação do Patrimônio do Servidor Público (Pasep) e da Contribuição para o Financiamento da Seguridade Social COFINS (PIS/COFINS) nela previsto, mas o legislador ordinário deve se pautar em três parâmetros quando da instituição da sua sistemática: (i) obedecer os princípios constitucionais em geral; (ii) observar o núcleo de materialidade constitucional do PIS/COFINS; e (iii) respeitar a finalidade que justificou a criação desta sistemática. O insumo se trata de um conceito jurídico indeterminado e possui zonas de certeza positiva (núcleo), de incerteza (halo) e de certeza negativa, tendo cada uma delas parâmetros para as suas respectivas definições. Por isto, o conceito de insumo no PIS/COFINS não se equipara ao insumo no Imposto sobre Produtos Industrializados (IPI), nem aos custos e despesas necessárias no Imposto de Renda da Pessoa Jurídica (IRPJ), possuindo sentido próprio. Foi ainda verificado o entendimento adotado nos precedentes administrativos e judiciais acerca do conceito de insumo no PIS/COFINS que já chegaram aos nossos tribunais. / The Federal Constitution did not establish the profile of the non cummulativity principle of the Contributions for the Social Integration Programs (PIS), for the Formation of the Public Servant Patrimony (Pasep) and for the Financing of Social Security - COFINS (PIS/COFINS) disposed in it, but the ordinary legislator shall base on three parameters when establishing its systematic: (i) obey the constitutional principles in general, (ii) observe the materiality constitutional core of the PIS/COFINS; and (iii) respect the purpose that justified the creation of this systematic. The input is a undetermined legal concept and has areas of positive certainty (core), of uncertainty (halo) and of negative certainty, having each of them parameters for its respective definitions. Therefore, the concept of input at PIS/COFINS shall not be treated as the input at industrialized products tax (IPI), neither as the costs and necessary expenses at the corporate income tax (IRPJ), having thus its own concept. It was also verified the understanding adopted at the administrative and judicial precedents about the concept of input at PIS/COFINS that have already reached our courts.