This dissertation deals with one aspect of how city officials respond to community needs. It is about the decisions of governments on how to secure the financial resources needed to fulfill their obligations to the public. The study explores the factors that influence officials' decisions to issue debt. It is different from other municipal bond studies in that it focuses on the behavior of bond issuers rather than bond investors and the rating agencies.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis addresses various contractual solutions to firms' financial distress. The first chapter presents a unified framework for analyzing the holdout problem, a pervasive economic phenomenon in which value creation is hindered by the incentive to free-ride on other agents' participation. The framework nests many classic applications, such as takeovers and debt restructuring, and highlights the role of the commitment power: The holdout problem can be resolved using contingent contracts with commitment, e.g., by a unanimity rule if the principal can commit to calling off the deal when anyone holds out. In contrast, a lack of commitment substantially alters the optimal offers depending on the payoff sensitivities of the existing contracts, which explains the absence of the unanimity rule despite its efficacy and cross-sectional heterogeneity in offers. (E.g., senior debt is used in debt restructuring but not in takeovers.) Furthermore, I show that stronger partial commitment can backfire via renegotiation, exacerbating the holdout problem. This non-monotonicity reconciles contradictory empirical findings on the use of CACs in the sovereign debt market and sheds light on various policies. Lastly, the paper shows stronger investor protection could facilitate instead of hinder restructuring under limited commitment.The second chapter considers the role of institutions in financial distress. Distress can be mitigated by filing for bankruptcy (which is costly) or preempted by restructuring (which is impeded by a collective action problem). We find that bankruptcy and restructuring are complements, not substitutes: Reducing bankruptcy costs facilitates restructuring rather than crowding it out. So does making bankruptcy more debtor-friendly, under a condition that can be written in terms of a few easily observable sufficient statistics. The model gives new perspectives on relief policies (e.g., subsidies to bankrupt firms) and on legal debates (e.g., the absolute priority rule). The third chapter examines the optimal design of liquidity insurance contracts for firms that experience a quality shock concurrent with the liquidity shock, both of which cannot be verified and hence contracted upon. Due to the incompleteness of these contracts, firms cannot receive full liquidity insurance: If a firm is fully insured, it has little incentive to stop inefficient projects, as creditors bear the costs. Therefore, the optimal contract involves limited insurance and requires co-investment with internal cash. Interestingly, my findings challenge the classical theory that low-pledgeability firms rely more on liquidity insurance. Instead, I show that a lack of pledgeability prevents these firms from obtaining more liquidity insurance. In fact, I demonstrate a positive relationship between liquidity insurance and pledgeability, which sheds light on the seemingly paradoxical fact that smaller firms that need liquidity insurance the most are the least insured and face the highest risk of revocation. Furthermore, my results rationalize the common cash-related covenants in credit lines.

This dissertation analyzes the major role that Alexander Hamilton's ideas and innovations played in the development of the American administrative state during and subsequent to the Federalist era. Secondly, it contrasts the richness of Hamilton's prudential theory of public administration with the sterile scientific theories of administration advanced in the twentieth century. Though modern American public administration is usually thought of as a product of the early twentieth-century reform era, many ideas articulated during the founding period were ingrained in our legal, political, and administrative thought. Of those founding ideas, Hamilton's are the most numerous and significant. Hamilton's administrative thought and innovations are traced in the historical development of the American administrative state in terms of three topics central to public administrative development. These are finance, military/foreign affairs, and the nature of public office. The final chapter summarizes Hamilton's contributions and then challenges our acceptance of Woodrow Wilson as founder of American public administrative thought. Alexander Hamilton is far more appropriate as founder of both the thought and practice of American public administration. / Ph. D.

Peng, Handa. / "August 2011." / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-83). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.1 / 摘要 --- p.2 / Acknowledgements --- p.3 / Introduction --- p.6 / Chapter Section I --- Literature Review --- p.11 / Theories on Sovereign Default --- p.11 / Historical Case Studies on Sovereign Default --- p.15 / Brief Summary on the Existing Theories and Empirical Cases --- p.16 / Chapter Section II --- Historical Backgrounds --- p.21 / Political Instability and Military Expenditures --- p.21 / Fiscal Status during the rule of the Nanking Government --- p.22 / Silver Standard and Currency Reform in 1935 --- p.26 / Chapter Section III --- Sovereign Default and Restructuring Episodes of the Nanking Government --- p.29 / Data --- p.29 / Sovereign Debt as a Heritage --- p.30 / Background Information of the Debts --- p.34 / The Restructuring Episode --- p.37 / Market Reactions --- p.42 / Chapter Section IV --- Capital Market Access and Reputational Theories in the Restructuring Episode --- p.45 / Access to the International Capital Market --- p.45 / Relevance of the Traditional Reputational Model --- p.48 / Signaling Model and Role of Reputation --- p.51 / Chapter Section V --- Role of Sanctions in the Restructuring Episode --- p.57 / Analytical Framework of the Sanctions Model --- p.57 / Three Possible Channels of Direct Sanctions --- p.60 / Chapter Section VI --- Informational Explanation of the Restructuring Episode --- p.64 / A Practical Analytical Framework for the Informational Model --- p.64 / Issue of Credibility and Currency Reform --- p.66 / The Need for the Settlement of Old Debts --- p.68 / Outcomes --- p.73 / Summary --- p.77 / Conclusion --- p.79 / References --- p.81 / Chapter Appendix I --- Basic information on Chinese sovereign bonds traded in the London Stock Exchange --- p.84 / Chapter Appendix II --- Price of Chinese Sovereign Bonds traded in the London Stock Exchange --- p.86 / Chapter Appendix III --- Price level change around the settlement of two Tienstin-Pukow loans --- p.93 / Chapter Appendix IV --- "Price levels and yield to maturities of the Chinese sovereign bonds on November 1，1935 and June 25, 1937" --- p.94 / Chapter Table I --- Classification of Literatures on Cost of Sovereign Defaults --- p.17 / Chapter Graph I --- Fiscal Status of China in the Nanking Decade --- p.22 / Chapter Graph II --- Breakdown of Revenue --- p.23 / Chapter Graph III --- Breakdown of Expenditures --- p.24 / Chapter Graph IV --- Financing Methods of Government Deficit --- p.25 / Chapter Graph V --- Time Distribution of Borrowing and Defaulting of Old Debts --- p.32 / Chapter Table II --- Purpose of the Old Debts --- p.35 / Chapter Table III --- Lending Countries of the Old Debts --- p.35 / Chapter Table IV --- Collateral of the Old Debts --- p.36 / Chapter Table V --- Currency Denomination of the Old Debs --- p.37 / Chapter Graph VI --- Restructuring Time Distributions --- p.39 / Chapter Graph VII --- Time distribution of new debts obtained during the Nanjing government --- p.46 / Chapter Graph VIII --- Exports and Imports of China in 1921-1937 --- p.61 / Chapter Graph IX --- "Wholesale Price Index in Shanghai, 1929-1937" --- p.74 / Chapter Graph X --- Monthly Exchange Rate of Chinese Currency to U.S. Dollar (Indirect Quotation) --- p.74 / Chapter Graph XI --- "Net Domestic Capital Formation in China, 1931-1936" --- p.76 / Chapter Graph XII --- "Industrial Product and Its Growth Rate in China, 1928-1936" --- p.76

This study seeks to show that a higher usage of debt instruments by consumers with limited available funds leads to the usage of savings tools to finance debt costs, which subsequently results in lower levels of savings. This was espoused by the literature on PFM and also proven by the test results from the research hypotheses that were computed by means of a logistic regression. The test results showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between the usage of debt instruments and the usage of savings tools. An emphasis is placed on the importance of savings as an integral component of the PFM concept: it is namely seen to be indispensable to good financial planning to ensure current and future consumer financial security. Therefore, this study concludes by highlighting the importance of consumers’ financial- management skills in minimising debt costs to increase levels of savings by controlling higher consumption expenditure through debt. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business management)

M.Com. (Economics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Este trabalho analisa o processo de ordenamento fiscal que ocorreu no Brasil, na década de 1990, abordando especificamente o processo de criação da Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal (LRF). Alguns autores na Ciência Política argumentam que os projetos de lei votados no Congresso que afetam os interesses dos governadores não passam porque os governadores mobilizam suas respectivas bancadas estaduais para vetá-los. Assim, como podemos entender a aprovação da Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal, lei complementar que afeta diretamente os interesses financeiros e fiscais dos entes federativos. Alguns autores argumentam que houve um consenso em torno da necessidade do ordenamento fiscal, na década de 1990, destacando o processo de incrementalismo das mudanças institucionais, o desenvolvimento de uma \"cultura fiscalista\"que vira consenso na opinião pública e na classe política e, as crises financeiras internacionais (México, 1995; Ásia, 1997 e Rússia, 1998) que colocaram em xeque a capacidade de reação do governo diante das ameaças à política econômica de estabilização. Este trabalho alinha-se com os que desenvolvem esses argumentos, mas enfatiza o processo de negociação, ou seja, a existência de um dissenso dentro do consenso, que caracterizou o processo de criação da LRF. Argumentamos que, a despeito da existência de um consenso em torno da idéia de promover um ordenamento fiscal, a criação e a aprovação da LRF caracterizaram-se por conflitos dentro do governo e por um processo de intensa negociação parlamentar. / The aim of this work is to investigate the Brazilian process of fiscal ordering in the 1990s. More specifically, it focuses on the creation process of Fiscal Responsibility Law. Its point of departure is some political scientists vision that legislative projects undermining the subnational governments interests are not often approved due to State governors efforts to veto them. The hypothesis is that this phenomenon happens because governors exert stronger influence on the behavior of legislators than the President and political parties. For this reason, they assume that governors are veto-players in the Brazilian political system. This is an important component of our research strategy that seeks to explain why Fiscal Responsibility Law was approved despite of the key players financial and fiscal interests. The novelty of this work is to provide an approach that unveils a little explored explanatory element by previous works: the process of negotiation of the law project in the Federal Executive and in the Federal Legislative. In tune with some authors claims that there was a consensus on the necessity of fiscal ordering, we scrutinize the incremental process of institutional change and the development of a \"fiscal culture\" in the Brazilian society and its political class. We go on to suggest that international financial international crisis (México, 1995; Ásia, 1997 e Rússia, 1998) served as tests of the government\'s capacity to deal with the challenges posed to the economic stabilization policies. Furthermore, the current work gives special attention to addressing the process of negotiation that gave rise to the Fiscal Responsibility Law. We argue that the whole process was characterized by the existence of a dissension inside of consensus. Putting somewhat different, conflicts in the Federal Executive realm and complex negotiation schemes at the Federal Legislative level characterize the creation and the approbation stages of Fiscal Responsibility Law in Brazil.

O estudo de estrutura de capital tem se desenvolvido amplamente ao longo do tempo nas finanças corporativas no mundo inteiro. Seguindo essa linha e grande interesse no estudo dos determinantes de estrutura de capital, propôs-se primeiramente analisar os determinantes da estrutura de capital de empresas americanas de capital aberto, seguidamente verificar se os determinantes da estrutura de capital durante a Crise Financeira Global se comportaram de uma maneira diferente antes da crise e, por último, como foram afetadas as emissões de dívidas e ações depois da Crise Financeira Global. Verificou-se que no período 1992-2010 as variáveis Lucratividade, Expectativas de Crescimento, Risco de Falência e Inovação apresentaram relação negativa com o endividamento a longo prazo. Por outro lado, as variáveis Tangibilidade e Tamanho mostraram relação positiva com o endividamento a longo prazo. Também se viu que a Crise Financeira Global teve efeito sobre estes determinantes de maneira que apenas as variáveis Tangibilidade, Tamanho, com relação positiva, e Lucratividade, com relação negativa, foram importantes para determinar o endividamento das empresas na Crise Financeira Global. O resultado mais relevante do trabalho foi a confirmação de mudanças no comportamento dos determinantes de estrutura de capital. Também foram analisadas as emissões de ações e dívidas antes e durante a Crise Financeira Global, sendo elas afetadas pelo choque econômico do momento. Os resultados demonstraram que as inferências são mais eficientes quando as empresas são analisadas por sua situação de caixa ou necessidade financeira. Foram levantadas evidências de que as premissas teóricas funcionam com restrições que devem ser levadas em consideração. / The study of capital structure has been extensively developed over time in the finance business worldwide. Following this line and great interest in the study of the determinants of capital structure was proposed to first analyze the determinants of capital structure of publicly traded U.S. companies, then verify that the determinants of capital structure during the Global Financial Crisis behaved differently before the crisis and finally how the debts and equities issues were affected after the Global Financial Crisis. It was found that in the period 1992-2010 the variables Profitability, Growth Expectations, Risk of Default and Innovation showed negative relationship with long term debt. On the other hand the Size and Tangibility variables showed positive relationship with long term debt. Also saw that the Global Financial Crisis had an effect on these determinants, so that only variables Tangibility, Size, with positive relationship and Profitability, with negative relationship, were important in determining the capital structure in the Global Financial Crisis. The most relevant result of this study was to confirm changes in the behavior of the determinants of capital structure. We also analyzed the shares and debts issues before and during the Global Financial Crisis, which were affected by the economic shock of the moment. The results showed that inferences are more efficient when companies are analyzed for their cash situation or financial constraint. Was raised evidence that the theoretical premises work with restrictions that should be taken into consideration.