Thèse (M.A.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 2008. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 1 février 2007). In ProQuest dissertations and theses. Publié aussi en version papier.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4436. Adviser: Bruce J. Sherrick. Includes bibliographical references. Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Ohio State University, 2008. / Adviser: Abdoul Sam. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Oct. 6, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-02, Section: A, page: 0641. Adviser: John L. Mikesell.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-06, Section: A, page: 2587. Adviser: Scott H. Irwin. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-101) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (PH.D.)--Syracuse University, 2003. / "Publication number AAT 3097917."

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Syracuse University, 2005. / "Publication number AAT 3186478."

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4276. Adviser: Anil K. Bera. Includes bibliographical references. Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

This dissertation addresses the central issue of understanding how frictions to information flow distort the ability for prices to incorporate new information. In chapter 1, “Forgotten Portfolios”, I illustrate how the ability of a stock’s price to impound information can rely on the portfolios of its owners. I show that, in the presence of limited attention, investors rationally allocate their attention towards processing information that has a greater impact on their wealth. Chapter 2, “The Social Elite” (based on joint work with Alexander Chernyakov), examines how casual social interactions impact asset prices. Social networks play a vital role in the diffusion of information. I focus on fund managers and corporate officers of publicly traded firms and present evidence of information transfer at exclusive social gatherings. I find that when executives attend social gatherings their stock prices' subsequent behavior directionally predicts upcoming earnings surprises. I show that fund managers who attend events that corporate officers from a particular firm also attend are more likely to purchase stock in that firm. I explore potential reasons for this tendency and find that fund managers demonstrably outperform when they decide to trade these socially-connected stocks. Further, socially-connected stocks that fund managers do not purchase subsequently underperform. In chapter 3, “Mean Reversion”, I propose a mechanism whereby learning from news jointly explains the patterns of short horizon momentum and long horizon reversals observed in equity prices. The model's key departure from rationality is its assumption that investors underestimate the relative precision of news. Under mild assumptions, investors will exhibit a rational but perverse tendency to increase their belief in other private signals, regardless of whether or not the private signal is true. / Economics

Motivated by policy debates emerging from the U.S. Great Recession and Eurozone crisis, I study the stabilization role of monetary, fiscal, and macroprudential policies in response to short-run fluctuations. In the first essay on "Unemployment Insurance in Macroeconomic Stabilization", I characterize the role of unemployment insurance (UI) generosity as a particular instrument of fiscal policy, and use my framework to quantitatively evaluate the employment and welfare effects of UI extensions in the U.S. over 2008-13. In the second essay on "Labor Market Frictions in a Monetary Union", I study stabilization trade-offs and optimal monetary policy in a monetary union where labor markets are frictional and heterogeneous across member states, with implications for the sustainability of the Euro and policy of the ECB. In the third essay on "Firm vs. Bank Leverage over the Business Cycle", I develop a general equilibrium model explaining the contrasting cyclical behavior of non-financial corporate and bank leverage in U.S. data, and study its implications for macroprudential regulation in banking. Methodologically, these essays share a focus on building theoretical models of closed and open economies to address policy-relevant questions in macroeconomics, drawing on additional ideas from related fields such as public economics and finance. / Business Economics