I analyze the effect of various risks faced by commercial banks on the executive compensation in banking industry. Commercial bank executives are risk averse due to the regulatory pressure in addition to board governance mechanism. Commercial banks face various risks because of the regulatory mechanism and unique asset structure of the firm. So, it is expected that they should associate their own pay and pay-performance sensitivities (PPS) with the risks their banks face. I find that bank executives associate their performance based pay with both idiosyncratic risk and systematic risk. But they associate their fixed pay only with systematic risk. The risk based PPS is also affected by the idiosyncratic risk but not by the systematic risk. Both asset return risk and insolvency risk have significant positive effect on PPS. Bank executives put significantly higher emphasis on the fixed compensation in terms of salary and bonus, and significantly lower emphasis on the performance based compensation. They also put minimum emphasis on the risk based PPS although they put significant emphasis on return based PPS. These indicate the risk-averse nature of the bank executives due to the regulatory pressure in addition to board governance mechanism.

La communauté scientifique s’accorde sur la responsabilité de l’homme dans les menaces actuelles pesant sur la biodiversité. La forte érosion de la biodiversité mondiale pointe les limites biophysiques de renouvellement du capital naturel (espèces, paysages, services écosystémiques…). Postulant que la durabilité d’un système économique passe par le maintien du stock de capital naturel, Costanza et Daly ont introduit les concepts de « durabilité faible » et de « durabilité forte » pour caractériser les biens selon leur niveau de substituabilité (dans le cadre de la durabilité forte, le capital naturel devient non substituable). A leur suite, afin d’adapter le concept de durabilité forte aux problématiques de développement et d’aménagement, Toman suggère en 1994 de distinguer les capitaux naturels critiques présentant des enjeux de préservation forts des capitaux naturels de moindre importance. Il propose d’appliquer une logique de durabilité forte aux premiers pour ne pas les laisser décroître en dessous de seuils donnés dits normes minimales de sauvegarde et, d’utiliser les seconds comme supports du développement, appliquant alors une logique de durabilité faible.Partant les cadres conceptuels de Costanza, Daly et Toman, ma thèse évalue la faisabilité et les arbitrages inhérents à la mise en œuvre de la durabilité forte dans une action publique de préservation de la biodiversité, en l’occurrence, la compensation écologique qui conditionne les opérations d’aménagement à compenser les pertes écologiques qu’ils engendrent. Mon objectif fut de me centrer sur une action publique ayant des assises spatiales afin de mettre en évidence les déterminants individuels permettant sa mise en œuvre et d’évaluer les seuils, notamment spatiaux, nécessitant des arbitrages entre enjeux de développement économique et conservation de la biodiversité.Dans un premier chapitre, je propose et applique empiriquement sur trois régions françaises, une méthode pluridisciplinaire (reprenant des éléments d’écologie) de catégorisation des milieux naturels en fonction de leur niveau de durabilité. La spatialisation empirique de mes catégories fait ressortir la place prédominante de l’agriculture et une forte variabilité des niveaux de durabilité selon la nature biophysique et anthropique des espaces. Dans le second chapitre, j’évalue, à partir des cadres de l’économie comportementale, l’acceptabilité de la compensation écologique par les agriculteurs. Je mets en évidence de fortes disparités dépendantes des types de production et de l’histoire personnelle des agriculteurs. Dans mon dernier chapitre, j’évalue empiriquement les contraintes spatiales inhérentes à l’atteinte d’une durabilité forte à partir d’un modèle théorique d’allocation de l’effort de compensation à l’échelle régionale. Un premier résultat de ma thèse est donc une définition opératoire de la nature ordinaire, adaptée à la mise en œuvre d’une action publique sur l’environnement (en l’occurrence le dispositif de compensation écologique). Je montre que, si l’on cantonne les aménagements à la nature ordinaire, l’objectif de durabilité forte devient atteignable, à condition que l’agriculture soit le pivot du dispositif. Mon second résultat met en lumière les comportements des agriculteurs eu égard aux politiques visant la préservation d’une biodiversité. Il montre, à rebours des résultats standard en économie comportementale, que les agriculteurs réagissent plus favorablement à une biodiversité moins spécifique et que les niveaux d’acceptabilité de la mesure sont hétérogènes selon leur type de production (bio vs conventionnel) et leur histoire personnelle (héritier agricole versus néo-agriculteur). / Non fourni

77 Abstract Economic and Legal Aspects of Corporate Governance with regard to the Impacts of the Financial Crisis in 2007 - 2009 This thesis deals with the impact of the financial crisis that occured from 2007 to 2009 on corporate governance of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, the OECD and the European Union. Even before the financial crisis, companies like Enron or WorldCom has already shown the need to regulate corporate governance but the responses to those bancrupts have not been sufficient because they could not prevent the financial crisis a few years later. The financial crisis is regarded as well as a crisis of corporate governance and the aim of this work is to analyze this crisis and its solution. The thesis is divided into 8 chapters, where the first chapter briefly gives definitions introduces the issues of corporate governance and the second chapter briefly describes the causes and course of the financial crisis. The next chapters deal with the impact of the crisis on corporate governance where the main topics addressed are compensation, risk management, practices and responsibilities of the board and the role of shareholders. The last chapter is devoted to description of corporate governance and its shift since the financial crisis. Finally, the conclusion summarizes...

Thesis advisor: Hideo Konishi / This dissertation covers three essays in modelling the market competitions with the presence of consumer search. The first two essays add on Wolinsky's (1986) model to investigate firms' optimal choice of their way of doing business in response to the changing consumer search behaviors during the information age. The third essay modifies the Varian's (1980) model to provide a new mechanism to rationalize the countercyclical markups in supermarkets. The first essay concerns the formation of referral alliance. It extends the Wolinsky's (1986) model to a three-stage game with two types of products produced by a continuum of firms with each one having strength in a single type only. In the first stage, firms simultaneously decide on the formation of referral alliances, in which each alliance consists of a pair of firms producing different types of products. In the second stage, they set price simultaneously. In the third stage, each consumer who only values one type of product searches sequentially for the right product. We show that firms with low ability to deal with the unmatched consumers are positively assorted together in the formation of referral alliance with multiple equilibrium possible. The proliferation of referral alliance always benefits consumers but not necessarily firms. One the one hand, it intensifies competition and drives down the market price. On the other hand, it increases the mass of consumers participating in the search market. The price elasticity of demand together with our stability condition govern the changes in consumer and social welfare as the search cost varies. The reduction in search cost always increases consumer and social welfare only if the equilibrium is stable with elastic demand. The policy implication from our results is that it might be more effective to improve consumer and social welfare by inducing more firms to participate in the referral alliances rather than reducing the consumers' search cost. The second essay studies the incentives for stores to invest effort in serving customers if effort is costly and might be merely persuasive that reduces consumption utility. We incorporate a sales agent to each store in Wolinsky's (1986) model, in which the sales agent is paid either by fixed wage or by commissions. The commissions motivate sales agents to provide more advice, which could be indeed useful to increase clients' willingness to pay or merely persuasive without affecting it. Consumers are sophisticated that understand the dual roles of effort before visiting firms, but they might be impressionable and therefore could not stay away from the effect of persuasion when they are making the purchasing decision. When consumers are heterogeneous in terms of their impressionability, they are sorted into stores with fixed wage and commissions in the equilibrium. The composition of stores varies with the search cost and the ability of sales agents to increase consumers' willingness to pay (effectiveness of advice). When the advice is relatively ineffective, there will be an increase in mass of fixed wage stores in response to a reduction in search cost. The reverse is true when the advice is sufficiently effective. Additionally, the mass of fixed wage stores always increases as the advice becomes less effective. The competitive equilibrium outcome might imply that there are too little commission-based stores, so it could be social welfare enhancing by encouraging more consumers to visit the stores with commissions. The third essay provides a simple mechanism that rationalizes the countercyclical markups in supermarkets with the presence of a warehouse club. We first provide a mechanism on the higher supermarket prices upon the entry of the warehouse club. The new warehouse club attracts price-sensitive consumers away from supermarkets, which reduces the price elasticity of the consumers in the supermarket regime. This relaxes price competition resulting in higher supermarket prices. After that we apply the same mechanism to explain the countercyclical markups in supermarkets. During economic booms, the time value of consumers increases making them less willing to visit the warehouse club. Thus, economic booms increase the amount of price-sensitive consumers in supermarkets, intensifying price competition and inducing a lower price relative to cost in booming times. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Ritmos biológicos são regulados por mecanismos homeostáticos que asseguram a confiabilidade funcional do relógio fisiológico independentemente de mudanças de temperatura no ambiente. Compensação de temperatura, ou a independência do período oscilatório em relação à temperatura, é conhecida por exercer um papel central em muitos ritmos biológicos, mas um fenômeno raro em osciladores químicos. Estudou-se nessa dissertação a influência da temperatura na dinâmica oscilatória durante a oxidação catalítica de ácido fórmico sobre eletrodo de platina policristalina. Os experimentos foram conduzidos em cinco temperaturas diferentes de 5 à 25 ºC, e as oscilações foram estudadas sob controle galvanostático. Resultados experimentais foram comparados a um novo modelo proposto para a eletro-oxidação de ácido fórmico, considerando formato como intermediário ativo e a desidrogenação da água em altos potenciais. Sob condições oscilatórias apenas comportamento anti-Arrhenius foi observado. Sobre-compensação com coeficiente de temperatura (q10, definido como a razão entre a constante de velocidade à temperatura T + 10 ºC e em T) < 1 é achada para a maioria dos casos, exceto em altas correntes aplicadas onde compensação de temperatura, q10 ~ 1 predomina. O comportamento do período e amplitude resulta de uma combinação complexa entre a temperatura e corrente aplicada ou, equivalentemente, a distância do equilíbrio termodinâmico. Altas energias de ativação aparente foram obtidas em condições voltamétricas, não-oscilatórias, as quais implicam que o comportamento anti-Arrhenius observado sob regime oscilatório resulta de um acoplamento entre as rotas reacionais em vez de uma fraca dependência da temperatura nas etapas elementares. Mecanisticamente, os experimentos e o modelo matemático sugerem que o período em regime de (sobre)compensação de temperatura durante a eletro-oxidação de ácido fórmico sobre platina é governado pelo acoplamento entre as taxas reacionais de formação/remoção de monóxido de carbono e formato em condições oscilatórias. / Biological rhythms are regulated by homeostatic mechanisms that assure that physiological clocks function reliably independent of temperature changes in the environment. Temperature compensation, i.e. the independence of the oscillatory period on temperature, is known to play a central role in many biological rhythms, but it is rather rare in chemical oscillators. It was studied in this master thesis the influence of temperature on the oscillatory dynamics during the catalytic oxidation of formic acid on a polycrystalline platinum electrode. The experiments are performed at five temperatures from 5 to 25 ºC, and the oscillations studied under galvanostatic control. Experimental results are compared to a new model proposed for formic acid electro-oxidation, which includes formate as an active intermediate and water dehydrogenation at high potentials. Under oscillatory conditions only non-Arrhenius behavior is observed. Over-compensation with temperature coefficient (q10, defined as the ratio between the rate constants at temperature T + 10 ºC and at T) < 1 is found in most cases, except that temperature compensation with q10 ~ 1 predominates at high applied currents. The behavior of the period and the amplitude result from a complex interplay between temperature and applied current or, equivalently, the distance from thermodynamic equilibrium. High, positive apparent activation energies were obtained under voltammetric, non-oscillatory conditions, which implies that the non-Arrhenius behavior observed under oscillatory conditions results from the interplay among reaction steps rather than from a weak temperature dependence of the individual steps. Mechanistically, the experiments and the mathematical model suggest that the period in temperature (over)compensation regime during electro-oxidation of formic acid at platinum is governed by the coupling among the reaction rates of formation/removal of carbon monoxide and formate coverage in oscillatory conditions.

by Tam Wing Wah, Michael. / Bibliography: leaves 35-37 / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1984

A proposta central do estudo foi investigar se o valor da remuneração pode influenciar na preferência ou atratividade da auditoria independente como uma alternativa de ocupação profissional no ambiente brasileiro. Teve como foco os alunos do curso de ciências contábeis que são os prováveis candidatos a optar por essa atividade profissional. Para alcançar tal objetivo, foi definido como estratégia de pesquisa o desenho quase-experimental, conduzido com 240 alunos pertencentes às instituições públicas estaduais e federais no Brasil, em que os sujeitos participantes foram direcionados aleatoriamente ao grupo de controle ou ao grupo experimental. Cada grupo recebeu algumas ofertas de trabalho nas três atividades profissionais definidas para a pesquisa, cuja tarefa dos integrantes era dizer se aceitava ou não a vaga ofertada. A diferença entre o grupo de controle e o experimental foi o estímulo da remuneração apresentada para o grupo de experimento. A metodologia aplicada nas mensurações compreendeu basicamente análises de frequência dos grupos e testes não paramétricos para verificar a existência ou não de diferenças de média entre os grupos. Os resultados indicaram o aceite da primeira hipótese de que a preferência pela atividade de auditoria é influenciada pela percepção do valor da remuneração e, em termos relativos essa influência representou 26% na taxa de aceite, o teste não paramétrico de Mann-Whitney também confirmou a existência dessa influência apontando um p-valor < 0,000. Os resultados também indicaram suporte ao modelo de valência da teoria da expectativa em que os indivíduos com alto índice de valência pela atividade de auditoria escolheram essa atividade independentemente do estímulo remuneração uma vez que já tinham valorado os atributos de trabalho mais preferidos. Com isso, a segunda hipótese da pesquisa de que a remuneração não influencia na escolha quando a valência pela auditoria for alta, também foi aceita. Por outro lado, os resultados também apontam para o aceite da terceira hipótese indicando que aqueles indivíduos com menor valência tiveram influência significativa do fator remuneração na escolha da vaga de auditoria. Apesar de não ser o foco dessa pesquisa também foi possível evidenciar os atributos de trabalho mais preferidos pelos alunos, os quais se mostraram similares aos levantados em outras pesquisas como, por exemplo, Rendell e Brown (2011) e Leschinsky & Michael (2004), esses fatores foram 1. Oportunidade de avanço na carreira, 2. Estabilidade e segurança no trabalho e 3. Conseguir alta remuneração, seguida por outros com menor grau de importância. A principal contribuição dessa pesquisa foi evidenciar a influência do fator remuneração na atração da atividade de auditoria, permitindo assim corroborar com as pesquisas que apontam a remuneração como um dos motivos da carência de auditor independente no país, como é o caso da pesquisa de Amorin (2012). / The main goal of this study was to investigate whether compensation value can influence the preference for or attractiveness towards independent auditing as a vocational choice in Brazil. It focused on students majoring in Accounting, who are the most likely candidates to opt for this professional occupation. To that end, the research strategy was defined in a quasi-experimental design, among 240 students enrolled at state and federal universities in Brazil; participants were randomly assigned to either the control or experimental group. Each group received a number of job offers in all three professional fields defined for the study, and participants had the task of declaring whether or not they would have accepted the job offer. The difference between the control and experimental groups was the compensation incentive (specific salary offer) presented to the experimental group. The methodology applied in the measurements consisted basically of frequency analyses of the groups and non-parametric tests to determine whether or not means differed between the groups. The results indicated acceptance of the first hypothesis that the preference for the auditing occupation is influenced by the perception of remuneration value; in relative terms, this influence accounted for 26% of the job acceptance rate, and the Mann-Whitney non-parametric test confirmed the existence of this influence as well, indicating a p-value < 0.000. The results also supported the value model of expectancy theory in which individuals with high valuing rates for the auditing occupation chose it regardless of the compensation stimulus, as they had already valued their most preferred job attributes. With that, the second research hypothesis - that compensation does not influence the choice whenever valence for auditing is high - was accepted as well. On the other hand, the results also indicate acceptance of the third hypothesis, indicating that those individuals with lower valence were significantly influenced by the compensation factor when choosing the auditing job opening. Although it was not the focus of this research study, it was possible to determine the students\' most preferred job attributes, which proved similar to those surveyed in other studies, such as Rendell & Brown (2011) and Leschinsky & Michael (2004). Those factors were: 1. Opportunities for career advancement, 2. Job security and stability, and 3. High remuneration, followed by other factors with lower degrees of importance. The main contribution provided by this research was to evidence the influence of the compensation factor on the attractiveness of the auditing occupation, thereby making it possible to corroborate studies that show remuneration as one of the reasons for the shortage of independent auditors in Brazil, as observed in research by Amorin (2012).

Programme evaluation research examined the criminological and socio-legal issues of a Claimant Fraud Investigation Program (CFIP) operating inside the workers' compensation system. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to evaluate the programmes' choice of deterrence as an instrumental mechanism for achieving compliance. Key aspects of the programme were analysed from both criminological and socio-legal standpoints. Justice and liberty tensions were examined in reference to the programmes' deterrence mechanisms and the perceptions of fourteen participants' were thematically analysed. The study develops an analytically useful concept of light blue-collar crime that could be applied to other organisations and scenarios. The study concluded the programme is not effective and has more of a symbolic than instrumental value. It conducts itself ethically, however, there are problems with its' choice of deterrence and the study indicates there is a low probability for a deterrent effect. Recommendations are made for other actors and institutions to play non-deterrence based roles intended to achieve compliance.

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The diploma thesis examines employee satisfaction and employee benefits in a chosen company. It was used a research: asking via a questionaire. The analysis of chosen quality characters has been made in this thesis and the financial impact of the employee benefits has been monitored. On the basis of the results the reseatched situation has been appreciated and there have been proposed possible changes and improvement in the providing of emplayee benefits.