This thesis contributes to the literature in the finance and accounting field throughout its three empirical chapters. The first empirical chapter contributes to the literature on accounting conservatism in several ways; first, it investigates the accounting conservatism of US insurance companies using four measures, namely, non-operating accruals, skewness of earnings and cash flows, book to market ratio and asymmetric timeliness measures. Second, this paper compares these four measures in order to determine the association and differences between them. Finally, the level of accounting conservatism of the insurance companies is compared to that of a sample of commercial banks to check whether they have similar levels of accounting conservatism. The results of the first chapter suggest that the changes in accounting performance, as measured by return over assets, can be partly explained by accounting conservatism, since it is measured by the accumulation of non-operating accruals, skewness of operating cash flow and accruals, book to market ratio, adjusted book to market ratio and Basu's asymmetric measure. All of these four measures give robust evidence that insurance companies' accounts tended to be conservative for the whole sample period, and that the level of conservatism has risen over the years. More interestingly, a t test for the differences in means suggests that accruals conservatism show on average a higher level of accounting conservatism than book value conservatism does. Finally, our results, based on a constant sample consist of 92 banks and 46 insurance companies whose data are available for all the sample years; they suggest that both insurance companies and banks have similar levels of accounting conservatism due to their similar reporting characteristics. The second empirical chapter contributes to the existing literature on equity valuation in two ways. First, it confirms the importance of imposing linear information dynamics when predicting the equity values of insurance companies, because the restricted models result in fewer error metrics. Second, it highlights the role of the accruals components in the equity valuation of US insurance companies by demonstrating that the incorporation of accrual components in the residuals income valuation model suggested by Ohlson (1995) has smaller error metrics than those of aggregate net income. Our results are based on a sample of US insurance companies, which consists of 718 firm-year observations over the period from 2001 to 2012. For instance, our results suggest that total accruals, changes in insurance reserve, changes in account receivables, and deferred acquisition costs have an incremental ability to predict equity market value over abnormal earnings and book values. Furthermore, the predictive ability of changes in insurance reserves is higher than the predictive ability of changes in account receivables and the change in deferred acquisition costs without imposing the LIM structures. However, when the LIM structure is imposed the predictive ability of changes in deferred acquisition costs is higher than the predictive ability of both changes in accounts receivable and changes in insurance reserves. Our final empirical chapter contributes to the literature on accounting anomalies by investigating the value to price anomaly (V/P), where the fundamental value (V) is estimated using the residual income valuation model. Motivated by the findings of Hwang and Lee (2013), Fama and French (2015), and Fama and French (2016), Chapter Four asks whether V/P strategies reflect the risks factor or whether this is better explained by market inefficiency, and whether Fama and French's five-factor model can explain the excess return of V/P. To answer the previous questions we use data from the merger of COMPUSTAT, CRSP, I/B/E/S for all the non-financial firms listed in AMEX, NYSE, and NASDAQ during the period from 1987 to 2015. Our findings suggest that the V/P ratio is positively correlated to future stock returns after controlling for several firm characteristics, which are known to be proxies of common risks. Our results indicate that the omission of risk factors is not likely to be an explanation of the V/P effect. To answer the second question, we compare the performances of different asset pricing models by calculating the GRS F-statistics. Our findings clearly indicate that the five-factor model of Fama and French performs better than either the CAPM or the traditional Fama and French three factor model. These results confirm that the excess returns of V/P strategy vary due to the differences in size, the B/M ratio, operating profit and betas across quintile portfolios. However, these factors cannot explain all the variation in excess returns; moreover, the stocks in the high V/P may be riskier than the stocks in the low V/P portfolios in certain other dimensions.

O termo bancada da bala descreve as bancadas suprapartidárias do Legislativo compostas majoritariamente por egressos das forças de segurança, cuja agenda se organiza em torno de temas da segurança pública. Seus membros são associados a uma visão autoritária e repressiva de controle social, aos interesses da indústria armamentista e a uma tensão constante com a política de Direitos Humanos. O sucesso e a articulação política de candidatos com esse perfil são retratados midiaticamente como expressão de uma onda conservadora no cenário político e social brasileiro. No entanto, a estruturação desses grupos não é um fenômeno recente, principalmente para o legislativo paulista que, desde 1987, apresenta grupos de deputados-policiais favoráveis a políticas de mano dura. Buscou-se compreender a estruturação desses grupos, com base em autores da Sociologia da Punição que identificam reconfigurações semelhantes no campo de controle do crime na maioria das democracias contemporâneas (como políticas de contenção contraditórias e ambivalentes, transformações nos discursos oficiais em relação ao crime no sentido de um populismo penal, crescimento dos sentimentos de insegurança e sua instrumentalização pela esfera política e eleitoreira). Investigou-se como essas questões se organizam nos discursos de deputadospoliciais da 18ª legislatura da Assembleia Legislativa de São Paulo, comparando-os aos discursos da chamada bancada da segurança, eleita pela primeira vez na 11ª legislatura. Realizou-se a pesquisa documental sobre as proposições legislativas, sessões e frentes parlamentares mediante a análise do discurso com base no instrumental analítico foucaultiano. Observou-se uma trajetória de continuidade entre os grupos em que a matriz da guerra estende-se para além dos objetos clássicos do penal e do trabalho policial, tornando-se um organizador de mundo pelo qual se definem as fronteiras entre o bem, a legitimidade, a ordem e suas respectivas oposições. O principal desdobramento observado é a maneira como os deputados da 18ª legislatura mobilizam um discurso gerencialista da cidade que se mostra estratégico para o discurso do populismo penal, em que o princípio de tolerância zero é agenciado sobre toda sorte de comportamentos, figuras e atividades presentes nos espaços de grande circulação de pessoas e mercadorias. Conclui-se que a estruturação desses grupos se realiza discursivamente e politicamente, não apenas em relação à identidade policial, pautas corporativas e bandeiras securitizadoras, mas também na forma como esses elementos geram identificação, conferem legitimidade, se combinam e atualizam sensibilidades e representações enraizadas socialmente. Esses elementos acrescem discursos sobre o fenômeno da punição, que, por sua vez, fala à sociedade muito mais do que em termos de crime e castigo: canaliza ansiedades e insatisfações, produz solidariedade, organiza o mundo conforme diferentes territórios morais. Assim, os discursos mobilizados por bancadas da bala possibilitam comunicações com públicos e grupos políticos diversos, reorganizando conservadorismos nos campos político e de controle do crime. / The expression bullet caucus describes supra-party organized groups of legislators composed mostly of former members of police and military forces, whose agenda is built around public security issues. Its members are associated with an authoritarian and repressive vision of social control, as with the interests of the arms industry, and constant tension over human rights policies. The media portrays the success and political articulation of candidates in this profile as an expression of a conservative rise in the Brazilian political and social scene. However, the emergence of these groups is not a recent phenomenon, especially for the São Paulo legislature, which since 1987 has had groups of police-officer-congressmen in favor of hard-hitting policies. We sought to understand the constitution of these groups, based on authors of Sociology of Punishment who identify similar reconfigurations in the field of crime control in most contemporary democracies (such as contradictory and ambivalent containment policies, changes in official discourses on crime towards criminal populism, growing feelings of insecurity, and their instrumentalization by the political and electoral spheres). We investigated how these issues appear in speeches of police-officercongressmen of the 18th legislature of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo, comparing them to speeches of the so-called security caucus, elected for the first time in the 11th legislature. Documentary research on legislative propositions, legislative sessions, and congressional fronts was carried out using discourse analysis, based on Foucaultian analytical instruments. Continuity has been observed between the two groups, to which the image of war reaches far beyond the classic subjects of criminal law and law enforcement, becoming a world organizer that defines the boundaries between good, legitimacy, order, and their respective oppositions. The main development observed was the way in which congressmen of the 18th São Paulo state legislature resort to a managerial discourse about the city, strategically favoring tendencies of penal populism, which enforces principles of zero tolerance over all sorts of behaviors, figures and activities found in massive people and goods circulation areas. We concluded that the structuring of these groups takes place discursively and politically, referring to police identity, corporate topics and public security causes, and enabling these elements to generate identification, confer legitimacy, and combine and update firmly rooted social sensitivities and representations. These elements add discourses on the phenomenon of punishment, which, in turn, speaks to society much more than in terms of crime and punishment: it channels anxieties and dissatisfaction, produces solidarity, and organizes the world according to different moral territories. The discourses mobilized by bullet caucuses communicate with distinct publics and political groups, reorganizing conservatism in the political and crime control fields.

Este trabalho trata do pensamento social conservador na modernidade brasileira contemporânea. O texto parte de uma análise da bibliografia consagrada sobre conservadorismo, modernidade contemporânea e brasileira, analisando suas categorias fundamentais e colocando-as em contraste com uma análise empírica do pensamento social de um grupo de indivíduos conservadores imersos na modernidade brasileira: o movimento escoteiro no Brasil. As conclusões indicam que o fenômeno do pensamento conservador brasileiro segue uma lógica própria, de um conservadorismo progressista, distinto daquele encontrado em outros países europeus e anglo-saxônicos. / This dissertation deals with the conservative social thought in contemporary Brazilian modernity. The text begins with a review of the literature devoted about conservatism and contemporary Brazilian modernity, analyzing its key categories and contrasting to an empirical analysis of social thought in a conservative group immersed in Brazilian modernity: the boy scout movement in Brazil. The conclusions indicate that the phenomenon of conservative thought in Brazil follows its own logic: a \"progressive conservatism\" as distinct from that one found in other European and Anglo-Saxon countries.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal investigar se, após a vigência da Lei nº 11.638/2007 e da Resolução nº 3.786/2009, houve alteração no conservadorismo condicional das instituições financeiras de capital aberto que estavam listadas na BM&FBOVESPA. O estudo pretende trazer para a contabilidade das instituições financeiras contribuições relacionadas à reação desse setor específico diante das alterações normativas ocasionadas pelo processo internacional de convergência das normas contábeis. A regulação contábil, segundo a literatura internacional, fornece incentivos para que as demonstrações contábeis das empresas sejam mais conservadoras. Os órgãos reguladores estimulam a utilização do conservadorismo nas informações contábeis, uma vez que os resultados apresentados por essas demonstrações são utilizados como fonte de informação para o mercado. O conservadorismo, portanto, é considerado uma prática importante na contabilidade, pois faz parte das características qualitativas da informação contábil, que são atributos que as tornam úteis para os seus usuários. Para a medição do conservadorismo condicional foi utilizado o modelo proposto por Basu (1997), ajustado para medir os efeitos das normas em questão. Os dados que compõem as amostras foram coletados na base de dados ECONOMÁTICA, no período de março de 2000 a março de 2010. Os resultados empíricos demonstraram que a vigência da Lei nº 11.638/2007 e da Resolução nº 3.786/2009 não afetaram o nível de conservadorismo condicional nos lucros divulgados pelas instituições financeiras analisadas. / This research aimed to investigate whether, after Law 11.638/07 and Resolution 3.786/09 came into force, changes occurred in the conditional conservatism of publicly traded financial institutions listed on BM&FBOVESPA. The study intends to offer contributions to financial institutions\' accounting related to this specific sector\'s reaction to the regulatory changes brought about by the international convergence process of accounting standards. According to international literature, accounting regulations provide incentives towards greater conservatism of companies\' financial statements. Regulatory entities stimulate the use of conservatism in financial information, as the results these statements present are used as an information source for the market. Hence, conservatism is considered an important practice in accounting, as it is part of financial information\'s qualitative characteristics, which are attributes that make it useful to users. To measure conditional conservatism, the model proposed by Basu (1997) was used, adjusted to measures the effects of these standards. Sample data were collected from ECONOMÁTICA database between March 2000 and March 2010. Empirical data demonstrated that the coming into force of Law 11.638/07 and Resolution 3.786/09 did not affect the level of conditional conservatism in the profits the financial institutions under analysis disseminated.

Financial reporting conservatism enjoys a long-standing place of prominence in accounting principles and practices. Its prevailing influence justifies the considerable attention conservatism has, and continues to receive in accounting research. A growing body of recent research suggests that, in time series, financial reporting has become more conservative. Whilst this evidence is intuitive on a number of levels, the notion of conservatism appears to be incongruent with the continual spate of corporate collapses that plague our financial world and the outward rejection of conservatism as a desirable qualitative characteristic of financial reporting by Australian and U.S. standard setters. Existing empirical research indicates that conservatism continues to be evident in accounting and serves a positive function in contracting efficiencies with evidence, inter alia, of conservatism mitigating agency conflicts and therefore reducing the cost of debt and improving corporate governance (Watts 2003a). However, little evidence exists regarding its economic consequences in terms of its impact on the cost of equity capital. This thesis empirically examines the relationship between conservatism and the cost of equity capital under a framework supported by Signalling Theory rather than Agency (Contracting) Theory, consistent with the theoretical propositions modelled by Gietzmann and Trombetta (2003) and Bagnoli and Watts (2005). The primary research question of this thesis explores the influence of conservatism on the cost of equity capital and thus asks if the firm’s decision to adopt conservative reporting practices has economic consequences. At the same time, research has seen a plethora of studies that investigate the capital market impacts of the firm’s disclosure policy. Existing empirical research provides evidence in part indicating that the cost of equity capital is reducing in disclosure levels, however, existing empirical research does not provide evidence on how conservatism and disclosure interact. Therefore, the second research question seeks to explore this interaction and investigates the conditional influence of disclosure on the primary relationship between conservatism and the cost of equity capital. Using a sample of U.S. listed entities for the period 1984 to 1994, this thesis investigates the individual (unconditional) and joint (conditional) impact of conservatism and disclosure on the cost of equity capital. The thesis makes several contributions. First, the findings provide considerable new evidence in support of the prediction that the cost of equity capital is decreasing in the level of conservatism. Consistent with the theoretical propositions in Gietzmann and Trombetta (2003) and Bagnoli and Watts (2005), it is argued that by signalling of firm quality through adoption of conservative reporting practices, firms have the ability to reduce non-diversifiable firm-specific information risk and hence will benefit from a resulting decrease in the cost of equity capital. Second, this thesis re-examines the relationship between disclosure and the cost of equity capital with evidence indicating that the cost of equity capital is decreasing in the disclosure level as measured by the comprehensive disclosure score. Third, this thesis explores new ground in its investigation of the interaction between conservatism and disclosure and their joint influence on the cost of equity capital. The findings provide considerable support for the prediction that the value of conservatism is diminished in environments of low information asymmetry (high disclosure). It is conjectured that because there is little private information in environments of low information asymmetry, there are no signalling benefits to be gained. Finally, the results provide consistent evidence of an inverse relationship between conservatism and disclosure. The findings suggest that conservatism and disclosure are therefore strategy substitutes in the overall reporting strategy. The findings of this thesis provide considerable support for the benefits of conservatism and provide a further explanation for the continued observation of conservatism evidenced in prior empirical research. Further, the findings provide support for the conjecture that conservatism and disclosure each have a role to play in the financial reporting strategy of the firm. Overall, the findings of thesis provide new evidence indicating that the firm’s decision to adopt conservative reporting practices has the potential to reap real economic benefit in terms of reduction in the cost of equity capital and that conservatism has a positive role in accounting principles and practices.

This thesis contributes to the discussion on the importance of accounting information for stock market efficiency. As any analysis of market efficiency depends on the use of adequate risk proxies, the thesis first investigates the ability of commonly used risk factors to explain the cross-sectional variation of Swedish stock returns. The findings suggest that capturing risk is indeed very complicated, as neither CAPM beta nor size and book-to-market equity ratio are significantly associated with realized monthly returns. The relative bid-ask spread is found to be the strongest of all the analyzed factors; nevertheless it does not seem to be related to momentum in the manner predicted in the conceptual argument presented earlier in the paper. Second, the thesis documents that simple accounting summary measures, such as earnings and book value of equity, can be used as benchmarks for the identification of mispriced stocks. Contrarian investment strategies (CISs) based on these simple measures earn a substantial value premium of 11-14%. In addition, we find that their effectiveness is compromised by noise that is caused by transitory earnings and accounting conservatism. Controlling for these factors increases the magnitude of the value premium and improves the consistency of the CIS. This suggests that the information reflected in key accounting measures is not fully reflected in stock prices. Finally, this thesis shows that the structure of accounting information matters too. It documents that the transition from the Swedish GAAP to IFRS in 2005 not only changed the average goodwill charges reported by companies, but also affected valuation of goodwill-intensive companies. This suggests that investors were not able to see through the conservative treatment of goodwill prior to the adoption of IFRS and that they recognized its higher persistence only after being provided with accounting information directly highlighting it. It is sometimes suggested that the structure of financial reporting “per se” should not be relevant to the valuation of companies, because the presentation itself does not the affect expected operating performance and because investors and analysts can “see through” and properly discount for various reporting formats. This thesis concludes that, contrary to this proposition, the structure of accounting does matter for equity valuation and that changes in representation do impact on stock prices.

The incarceration rate in the United States has increased dramatically in the period since 1945. How did the United States move from having stable incarceration rates in line with global norms to the largest system of incarceration in the world? This study examines the political and intellectual aspects of incarceration and theories of criminal justice by looking at the contributions of journalists, intellectuals and policy makers to the debate on whether the purpose of the justice system is rehabilitation, vengeance, deterrence or incapacitation. This thesis finds that justice and the institution of the prison itself are not immutable facts of modern civilization, but are human institutions vulnerable to the influence of politics, culture and current events.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 1999. Graduate Programme in English. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 265-285). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ39317.

Satisfying a campaign pledge to the National Education Association (NEA), President Jimmy Carter pushed for a federal Department of Education in 1978 and 1979. In the ensuing legislative battle, Carter confronted opposition from states’ rights, social, and religious conservatives that were beginning to form the nucleus of the New Right in the Republican Party. Using divisive racial and religious issues, these conservatives tried, and failed, to thwart the Department of Education project. Congressional testimony, the Carter administration’s internal documents, and newspaper editorials illustrate that the Department of Education battle foreshadowed the Reagan Revolution of 1980.

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