Yes / We study liquidity on the London Stock Exchange. We find that the average bid-ask spread declines, but that the skewness of the spread increases. These results are robust to firm size, trading volume and price level. Our findings hold when the bid-ask spread is estimated utilising high frequency data. We find that the bid-ask spread prior to earnings announcements dates is significantly higher than that of post earnings announcements, suggesting that asymmetric information has driven the increase in liquidity skewness. We also find that the effect of earnings announcements is more pronounced in the 2007 global financial crisis, consistent with the notion that extreme market downturns amplify asymmetric information. Our overall evidence also implies that increased competition and transparent trading environments limit market makers' abilities to cross-subsidize bid-ask spreads between periods of high and low levels of asymmetric information. / National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71571197)

Denna studie undersöker bakomliggande faktorer till lokaliseringsbeslut när kontorssektorn väljer att etablera sig utanför stadens centrum. Vi analyserar hur företagen resonerar och vilka faktorer som påverkar deras beslut. Tidigare forskning och teori talar för att ett centralt läge är det mest optimala för kontorssektorn, då det genererar agglomerationsfördelar. Därför är kontorssektorns betalningsvilja för mark också högst i centrala lägen. På ett icke-centralt läge som Hyllie, skulle företag som är beroende av billiga transporter som tillverkningsindustrin valt att lokalisera sig. Detta då de föredrar närheten till motorvägar över de centrala platserna. Studien är avgränsad till området Hyllie, vilken är lokaliserad i utkanten av Malmö och nära infrastrukturen. Hyllie var också en ödelagd åkermark när de första kontorsföretagens gjorde beslutet om att etablera sig där. Det fanns dock visioner och en framarbetad detaljplan som kommunen skapat tillsammans med marknadens aktörer, där Percy Nilssons engagemang troligen hade en stor inverkan. Därför har kommunen och Percy ingått som respondenter i studien för att även fördjupa författarnas inblick i områdets utveckling. Studien bygger på en kvalitativ ansats där empirisk data har insamlats genom både ostrukturerade- och semistrukturerade intervjuer med ett urval av anställda inom banksektorn. De banker som ingår i studiens urval är Nordea, Sparbanken Syd och Swedbank. Det valda teoretiska materialet har byggt grunden för intervjufrågor och även för analysen. Resultaten av studien visar på att de främsta faktorerna bakom lokaliseringsbeslutet i Hyllie var att platsen ansågs vara strategisk, erbjöd en bra kollektivtrafik samt gav tillgång till de människorna som skulle röra sig i området på grund av bland annat Emporia och arenan. / This study explores the underlying factors that affect location decisions when the office sector chooses to establish outside the city center. We analyze how companies are reasoning and the factors that influence their decisions. Previous research and theory suggest businesses in the office sector prefer central location, as they generate agglomeration advantages. Therefore, the office sector’s willingness to pay for land is highest at central locations. At a non-central location like Hyllie, should companies which rely on cheap transports of goods such as the manufacturing industry choose to locate. This because of that they prefer nearness to motorways over central locations. The essay focuses on the area Hyllie, which is located outside of Malmoe and close to the infrastructure. Hyllie was also a loamy field when the first office companies made the decision to establish there. However, there were visions and a zoning plan that were prepared by the municipality along with the market actors, where Percy Nilsson's involvement probably also had a great impact. Therefore, the municipality and Percy have been included as respondents in this study to deepen the authors' insight into the development of the area. The essay is based on a qualitative approach where the empirical data has been collected through both unstructured- and semi-structured interviews with a selection of employees in the banking sector. The banks that are included in the study's selection are Nordea, Sparbanken Syd and Swedbank. The selected theoretical material has been the basis for the interview-questions and also for the analysis. The result of the study shows that the main factors behind the location decision in Hyllie are that the place is perceived as a strategic location, offers a good public transport service and provides access to people who are in the area because of Emporia and the arena for instance.

Studien undersöker de faktorer som ligger bakom spelutvecklingsföretagens val vid etablering i de centrala delarna av Malmö. Analys har gjorts på hur spelutvecklingsföretagen resonerar kring deras beslut samt vilka faktorer de grundar sin lokalisering på. Enligt tidigare studier är det vanligt att kontorssektorn lokaliserar sig centralt då företaget kan dra nytta av de agglomerationsfördelar som generellt skapas genom kluster. Vid en nyttomaximerad verksamhet blir betalningsviljan högre på dessa platser. Andra studier har däremot visat att spelutvecklingsföretag har möjligheten att placera sig utanför städerna eftersom de inte har samma karaktärsdrag som den karakteristiska kontorssektorn. Den här studien är avgränsad inom spelutvecklingsindustrin i Malmö, vilket inte inkluderar online gambling. Malmö är en välkänd spelhubb världen över och det sker många internationella rekryteringar. Staden erbjuder bra kommunikationer både regionalt men också internationellt då Köpenhamns flygplats bara ligger 20 minuter från Malmös centralstation. Det empiriska materialet är insamlat via semistrukturerade intervjuer gjorda med representanter från både Massive Entertainment och Avalanche Studios. Studien bygger på en kvalitativ ansats men också textanalys då vi granskat spelutvecklingsföretagens internethemsidor. Grunden för studien har byggts upp med hjälp av teoretiskt material. Resultatet av studien visar att spelföretag beaktar medarbetarnas närhet till arbetsplatsen som en av de viktigaste faktorerna vid placering av deras kontor. Det är viktigt att kontorsplaceringen förenklar gång- och cykelavstånd till och från de stora kommunikationspunkterna. En annan orsak till att både Massive och Avalanche etablerade sig i Malmö var att man ville vara en del i stadens gemenskap. De flesta spelutvecklingsföretagen i Malmö är beroende av varandra därför att de delar samma typ av arbetskraft, kompetens och genom närhet till varandra underlättas stora sammankomster och samarbeten. / The study examines the underlying factors behind game development companies choices when establishing in the central parts of Malmö. The analysis has been based on how game development companies reason about their decision as well as which factors they found their localisation on. According to previous studies it is common that the office sector often choose to localise centrally because the company can benefit from the agglomeration economies that are generally created through clusters. By having a utility maximized business the willingness-to-pay increases in these places. However previous studies have shown that game development companies have the opportunity to locate outside of the cities since they do not have the same characteristics as the common office sector.This study is limited to the game development industry in Malmo, which do not include online gambling. Malmo is a well-known gaming hub worldwide and there is frequent international recruitment. The city offers good communications both regionally and internationally, since Copenhagen Airport is only 20 minutes away from Malmo centralstation.The empirical material is gathered through semi-structured interviews made with representatives from both Massive Entertainment and Avalanche Studios. The study is founded on a qualitative approach but also text analysis by examining game development companies websites. The foundation of the study has been based on theoretical material. The results of the study show that the game development companies take their employees commute into consideration as one of the most important factors for the placement of their office. It is of importance that the office placement simplifies with easy access to and from the workplace by foot and cycling as well as the main commuting routes. Another reason why both Massive and Avalanche established themselves in Malmo was because they wanted to be part of the city's community. Most game development companies in Malmo are dependent on each other because they are sharing the same type of workforce and competence, and through proximity to each other, large gatherings and collaborations are facilitated.

No description available.

Initiativ från internationell, nationell och lokal nivå förespråkar arbete i de offentliga rummen för utveckling mot inkluderande, säkra och hållbara städer. Insatser från olika aktörer behövs för att förbättra allmänna platser och många hänvisar till den internationella modellen Business Improvement District (BID) som innebär samverkan mellan kommun, fastighetsägare, handlare och andra aktörer för säkerställande av välskötta och attraktiva offentliga miljöer. I Stockholm har dock privata aktörer upplevt ett motstånd från kommunen när de försöker implementera BID-inspirerade metoder. Den här studien beskriver och analyserar hur BID-inspirerade metoder används för långsiktigt arbete i urban miljö i Sverige och inom Stockholms kommun.  Studien är genomgående kvalitativ och har ett utforskande angreppssätt, där frågeställningen behandlas genom tre delstudier som har utförts parallellt: (1) Observationer, intervjuer och deltagande i seminarier (2) Dokumentbaserade fallstudier av befintliga organisationer som genomför platsspecifikt arbete i Sverige (3) Undersökning av Stockholms Stads beslutsprocesser gällande användning av allmänna platser Studien väger in kommunala och privata perspektiv för att undersöka BID, som begrepp och som verktyg. Resultatet visar att platssamverkan kan appliceras på alla platser där det är fler än en verksam aktör och att det redan finns ett stort antal organisationer som genomför BID-liknande metoder. Det finns dock potentiella konflikter mellan privata intressen och kommunens ansvar att hålla allmänna platser tillgängliga för allmänheten. Stockholms Stad vill vara försiktiga med att implementera nya arbetssätt om det finns risk att vissa människors intressen tillgodoses på bekostnad av andras behov. De anser dock att det är viktigt att tänka nytt inom dessa frågor och tror att processerna kommer att se annorlunda ut när metoder för platssamverkan blir bättre beprövade. Att det saknas tydligt definierade strukturer och riktlinjer för platssamverkan är en begränsande faktor, och en slutsats är att marknaden skulle gynnas av ett paraplyorgan som kan tillhandahålla stöd och vägledning till lokalt arbete. / International, national and local initiatives encourage the development of public spaces towards inclusive, safe and sustainable cities. Contributions from different public and private organisations are needed to improve public places. Many people refer to the international Business Improvement District (BID) model, which involves collaboration between municipalities, property owners, merchants and other industry actors to ensure well-maintained and attractive public environments. Private businesses have however experienced conflicts with the municipality when trying to implement BID-inspired methods in Stockholm. This study investigates how BID-inspired methods are used for long-term management of urban environments in Sweden and within the Stockholm municipality. It is a qualitative study with an exploratory approach that addresses the problem area using the following three procedures: (1) Observations, interviews and participation in seminars (2) Document-based case studies of existing organisations that implement BID-inspired methods in Sweden (3) Exploration of Stockholm municipality’s procedures regarding the use of public places The study discusses both municipal and private perspectives to investigate BID as a phenomenon and as a tool. The results show that BID-inspired methods can be applied in all locations where there is more than one industry actor and that there are a large number of organisations in Sweden already implementing similar methods. However, there are potential conflicts between private interests and the municipality's responsibility to keep public places accessible to the public. Stockholm municipality wants to be careful when implementing new tools and procedures to minimize the risk that certain people will reap benefits at the expense of others. However, they find it important to be innovative about these issues and they believe that such models are more viable when methods for collective actions in place management become verified and systematised. The lack of clearly defined structures and guidelines for implementing such collaborative models is thus a limiting factor, and the conclusion is that the industry would benefit from an umbrella organisation providing support and guidance for local work.

The city and its planning are dynamic products of permanent change, which is influenced by a myriadof different actors with different wills and opinions. During the last century, urban planning has gonefrom being a steering process to a more mediating role between prominent and relevant actors. Duringthe last decades, a growing internationalisation has weakened traditional institutions and thrown citiesinto a global competition of attention and development. This has led to a bigger need for marketing,which provoked development of varying models such as Business Improvement District, BID forshort. With common financing and goals, actors can come together and improve the public places ofthe city. Though, this can lead to a greater requirement of consumption in these places, which in turndisfavour groups without economic power. The town of Hudiksvall is one of several urban areas that is to begin a BID process, in which the goalis to increase the attractiveness and be crowned as the city centre of 2024. The area in focus is the citycentre, whose identity is made up of all its users and their perception of the place. The goal of thisstudy is therefore to investigate the perceived identity of the city centre of Hudiksvall among thoseusing it and among those who are in charge of the development, as well as how the city centre isaffected by design based on an idea of economic gain. A case study was instigated with the city centre of Hudiksvall as primary focus, which was dividedinto several methods; a document study to gather data about Hudiksvall and the BID, a surveyfollowed by interviews of the steering group of the project as well as a survey for the inhabitants andvisitors of the city centre. The results from these methods were analysed in harmony with a theoreticalframework grounded in research and expertise about socio-urban theories, identity and BID. The study shows that the steering group and the users of the city centre had similar perceptions aboutthe extent and usage of the city centre. Though, there existed three areas in which the differentperceptions did not coincide regarding them belonging to the centre or not, which is recommended tolook more into. According to inhabitants and visitors, there existed three especially interesting areaswhich are characterized by commerce and restaurant business. The city centre also had a dynamiccharacteristic due to it moving along the day and night, an aspect worth attention. Finally, it wasbrought into attention that traditionally economically weak social groups, which are especiallyvulnerable to the commercialization of public space, were poorly represented in the survey. It istherefore recommended that these groups get some attention in urban planning and that they areincluded in the planning process. / Staden och dess planering är dynamiska produkter i ständig utveckling som påverkas av en mängdolika aktörer med olika viljor och åsikter. Stadsplaneringen har under det senaste århundradet gått frånatt vara en framförallt styrande process till att övergå till en mer medlande form mellan olikaprominenta och relevanta aktörer. De senaste decennierna har dessutom en allt störreinternationalisering försvagat traditionella institutioner och kastat in städerna i en global konkurrensom uppmärksamhet och utveckling. Detta har lett till ett större krav på marknadsföring till vilket olikamodeller utvecklats, däribland samverkansmodellen Business Improvement District, förkortat BID.Med gemensam finansiering och målbild kan flertal aktörer gå samman och tillsammans förbättrastadens offentliga platser. Detta kan dock medföra ett allt större krav på konsumtion på dessa platservilket missgynnar kapitalsvaga grupper i samhället. Småstaden Hudiksvall är en av flera städer som påbörjat en BID-process i vilket syftet är att ökastadens attraktivitet och bli utsedd till årets stadskärna 2024. Det område som processen fokuserar påär stadskärnan vars identitet är en produkt av alla dess användares uppfattning av den. Denna studiesyftar därför till att undersöka dess upplevda identitet hos de som använder den och de styr utvecklingenav den, samt hur den påverkas av en utformning grundad på iden om ekonomisk vinst. En fallstudie genomfördes över Hudiksvalls stadskärna vilket var uppdelat i flera metoder; endokumentstudie utfördes för att samla kunskap kring Hudiksvall och dess BID-process, en enkätstudieföljt av intervjuer riktades mot projektets styrgrupp samt en enkätstudie riktades mot stadskärnansinvånare och besökare. Resultatet från dessa analyserades utefter ett teoretiskt ramverk byggt påexisterande forskning och expertis angående urbansociologi, identitet och BID. Studien visar på att styrgruppen och användarna av stadskärnan hade liknande uppfattningar kringstadskärnans utsträckning och användning. Dock fanns tre områden där uppfattningen skiljde sigmellan enkätundersökningarna om huruvida de tillhörde stadskärnan, vilket rekommenderas attfokusera på. Enligt invånarna och besökarna fanns tre speciellt intressanta områden vilkakaraktäriseras av handel och restaurangverksamhet. Stadskärnan hade även en dynamisk karaktär ochförflyttades över dygnet, en aspekt som kan vara värd att uppmärksammas. Det observeradesockså att traditionellt kapitalsvaga grupper som påverkas mest av kommersialisering av den offentligaplatsen var de som var minst representerade i enkäten. Det rekommenderas därför att fokuserapå dessa grupper under planeringen och att inkludera dem i processen.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the liquidity and the components of the bid-ask spread for thinly traded firms switching from a dealer market (Emerging Stock Market (ESM)) to an order driven market (Taiwan Stock Exchanges (TSE) or GreTai Securities Market (GTSM)). Firstly, we follow Christie and Huang’s (1994) method to measure the liquidity performance. Our finding shows that thinly traded firms could improve their liquidity by switching from a dealer market to an order driven market. Secondly, we apply Huang and Stoll’s (1997) and Lin et al.’s (1995) model to estimate the bid-ask spread components. Our results show that the adverse selection cost is significantly smaller on ESM than TSE or GTSM using both Huang and Stoll’s (1997) and Lin et al.’s (1995) model. The inventory holding cost is lower on ESM than TSE or GTSM estimated by Huang and Stoll’s (1997) model. However, the estimates of order processing cost and the probability of trade reversal do not produce consistent results by applying Huang and Stoll’s (1997) and Lin et al.’s (1995) model.

This thesis aims to investigate the influence of earnings news on stock liquidity and the relationship between information asymmetry cost component and Post Earnings Announcement Drift in different equity markets. The scope of this research includes 1821 firms from three leading countries in capital trading, the United States, United Kingdom, and France. The first part of empirical work, the univariate panel analysis, shows that price reaction, volume response and liquidity effect are profound during short term event window length and reduce over time when the news ceases, The second part, a multivariate regression analysis which uses Generalised Method of Movement to capture both the problems of a likely presence of endogeneity between the explanatory variables and cross-stock heterogeneity,shows that the impact of earnings announcement on stock liquidity can split in two directions. The immediate effect is the shock after the news, causing stock liquidity to decrease immediately by lifting the illiquidity function upward. After the event, from the new increased position of illiquidity function, stock liquidity improves over time due to the trading volume increases and shifts the slope of illiquidity function downward. The overall effects at a point of time will be the total impact of the two side effects. And as shown in the results, the overall impact on the US and UK markets are that stock liquidity decreases and that on Euronext Paris the stock liquidity increases. Given that in accounting there are two types of systems of which common law system includes the US, UK and others, and code law system includes France and the rest, the above results could suggest the difference between the two systems is that the information asymmetry component dominates the bid-ask spread in common law countries as in the US and UK markets while the cost of trading dominates the bid-ask spreads in code law countries such as France. Finally, it is shown that there are several determinants of the PEAD, of which stock liquidity is one. Earnings news changes the stock liquidity, and therefore stock liquidity plays a role in the market response. When earnings news is released, it initially creates a gap between the informed traders and the uninformed traders, increasing the bid ask spread. Over time, this information gap decreases, however in the meantime more information on the market increases trading volume and reduces trading cost, leading to another part of the bid ask spread decreasing or stock liquidity improving. After decomposing bid ask spread into information asymmetry cost and cost of trading components, the final part of empirical analysis shows that information asymmetry cost component provides a partial explanation for PEAD in the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Paris.

The thesis studies aspects of the cost of equity trading in the emerging stock market of Ukraine. The market is quite new (opened in 1997 but started to operate actively only in 2004) and little research on this market has been done so far. The market appears to offer lucrative investment opportunities that attract attention of both Ukrainian and foreign investors but the cost of trading Ukrainian stocks is quite high and can considerably decrease the returns to investors. The empirical part of the thesis is based on the transactions data from the main trade floor in Ukraine, PFTS, for 59 Ukrainian stocks during 2004-2006. The cost of equity trading in Ukraine is found to be quite high compared to many other stock markets, both developed and emerging. An in-depth study has shown that the medium-sized trades are the cheapest to execute, followed by large and then small trades. The reason for the pattern is seen in the price improvement suggested by brokers to the larger, more valued customers in order to keep the business with them and is in line with the findings in other literature for dealership markets (Reiss and Werner (1996), Hansch et. al (1999), and Huang and Stoll (1996)). The average cost of institutional sale trades exceeds the average cost of institutional buy trades at any market condition (falling, neutral, or rising), which is a puzzling result given that sales are often found in the literature to be more expensive in falling market, while purchases are more expensive in rising market. The efficacy of a number of measures of liquidity is studied. In line with findings for other emerging markets, it is shown that the proportion of zero daily returns (Lesmond (1999)) and the proportion of no-trading days are the most reliable liquidity measures for the Ukrainian stock market. Turnover, a measure widely applied in literature for developed stock markets, has a very small power for measuring liquidity in Ukraine. The spread components are estimated by applying three spread decomposition models most frequently referred to in literature: Stoll (1989), Glosten and Harris (1988), and Huang and Stoll (1997). The estimation results show a low importance of the asymmetric information component, which is surprising given that insider trading is considered a serious risk in Ukraine. To present the importance of incorporating the transactions costs into portfolio return analysis, a momentum trading strategy is examined. It is shown that momentum portfolio returns decrease considerably when the cost of trading is taken into account.

The thesis provides for a comprehensive legal overview of bid rigging and its manifestation in public procurement. Bid rigging is defined as coordination of competitors in tenders which is not necessary and which is executed when these competitors submit bids according to the conditions agreed among them. The thesis briefly sums up available information on occurrence of bid rigging with emphasis on the only two cases of bid rigging that have been identified, proved and sanctioned in the Czech Republic. This information suggests that despite the fact that the risk of bid rigging is higher at certain markets, notably markets with limited number of competitors present thereon, it may take place in any market. Bid rigging is further analysed as a prohibited agreement distorting competition which always distorts or prevents competitions and as such is considered one of the most serious anti- competitive practices capable of causing immense economic damage. A separate chapter tackles bid rigging in public procurement. This chapter analyses legal basis of prohibition of bid rigging in public procurement, its impact on principles of efficiency, effectiveness and expediency, and points out factors that may support occurrence of bid rigging. With regards to this analysis, the thesis formulates several...