<p> This paper explores the relationship between a state's use of voter-approved debt and its credit ratings. The variation in credit ratings from 1973 - 2008 across the 50 US states is explained as a function of states' use of voter-approved debt while controlling for confounding variables. The analysis attempts to estimate the effect of issuing voter-approved debt on credit ratings relative to the effect of issuing legislature-approved debt using a panel dataset constructed from three data sources: the National Conference of State Legislature's Ballot Measure Database, the US Census Bureau's Survey of Government Finances and Standard &amp; Poor's credit ratings. While prior literature has focused on the effect of voter approval requirements on measures of state credit health, this paper investigates the use of voter-approved debt by relying on a variable that measures the share of voter-approved debt issued by a state, in a given year and over time. Ordered probit models controlling for state and year fixed effects, as well as state demographics, finances, economic performance and financial institutions are used to explore the relationship between the use of voter-approved debt and a state's credit rating. The paper finds a statistically significant negative relationship between a state's use of voter-approved debt and its credit ratings. The results show that issuing 60% of state debt using voter-approval (the average for states that issue voter-approved debt in a given year) is related to a 0.71 lower state credit rating on a scale from 1-7 (BBB=1, AAA=7).</p>

<p> Abstract of Dissertation Loan Awarding Practices and Student Demographic Variables as Predictors of Law Student Borrowing This study examined the effect of institutional loan awarding practices and student demographic characteristics on law student borrowing, in order to contribute to our understanding of student borrowing decisions. Behavioral economic concepts like framing and status quo bias suggest that decisions about borrowing may not be made using a rational cost-benefit analysis alone, as traditional economic theory suggests, but may also be influenced by the loan amount that an institution initially awards a student. The amount initially awarded represents the status quo, which, for a variety of possible reasons, the student may be inclined to accept, even if he is eligible to borrow more. </p><p> Using three years of student borrowing data from a law school, multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the effect of initial loan amount offered and 15 additional independent variables on loan amount borrowed. The law school data provided a unique opportunity to study student loan borrowing decisions because the institution followed two different loan awarding practices in the three academic years for which data was obtained. This provided a quasi-experimental environment in which to study the effect of initial loan amount awarded on loan amount borrowed. </p><p> Altogether, the model explained nearly half of the variance in loan amount borrowed and initial loan amount offered explained 5.4 percent of the variance in loan amount borrowed holding all other variables in the model constant. In addition to initial loan amount offered, the following variables were also found to be statistically significant predictors of loan amount borrowed: Asian race, age, being married, Expected Family Contribution, cost of attendance, class level, student status, total credits, and total non-loan aid. It was also found that there was no statistically significant difference in the relation between initial loan amount offered and loan amount borrowed in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, under the old awarding practice, as compared with 2010-2011, when a new awarding practice was in place. This suggests that students responded similarly to the initial loan amount offered, or the status quo amount, under both the old and new awarding practices.</p>

<p> This study examined the relationship between innovation strategy, as represented by assignee patents, and the financial performance of firms traded on stock exchanges in the United States. Building upon previous industry-specific research, this study broadens these investigations to relationships across multiple industries with respect to innovation and value creation. As a basis for examining the aforementioned relationships, this study was based on a framework shaped by Schumpeter's (1934) economic value of innovation theory. This study seeks to answer three research questions: (a) To what degree does innovation and a company's financial performance correlate across different industries, (b) To what degree does innovation strategy for publicly traded mid-capitalized firms and a company's financial performance correlate across different industries, and (c) To what degree does innovation strategy for publicly traded large-capitalized firms and a company's financial performance correlate across different industries? In addressing these questions, the study analyzed secondary data from the United States Patent and Trade Office and company financial data from the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) online system. Regression analysis was conducted to analyze the relationship between company financial data and innovation as a function of patent awards. While no significant relationship was found to exist across a range of financial measures, significance was found for selected measures of mid-capitalized firms over a seven-year period. Recommendations for future research was provided in the conclusions to the study.</p>

The author's goal is to illuminate the current business legislation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) through a comparison of three countries from the region, namely, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. / The present study is divided into four parts. The first part states the thesis itself, the goals, and the structure of the discussion. / The second part provides the basic premises of the analysis, with emphasis on the current data on foreign investment in the three countries. / The third part presents the core of the comparative study and deals with the following issues: basic foreign investment laws, including corporate laws, property rights of foreign persons, currency regimes. Among other important aspects, attention is paid to the following subjects: general treatment of FDI, foreign investment in corporate capital, branches of transnational corporations, forms of FDI, special procedures for banking and insurance, closed sectors for FDI, financing of investment, incentives of FDI, domestic and international guarantees for FDI etc. The set of criteria used to assess the compared legislation focuses primarily on the essential features of that legislation. This narrow approach is expedient in terms of the huge area that relates to foreign investment. / The final part uses the findings of the comparative study of the relevant legislation in order to determine the reasons for the lagging interest of foreign investors in Bulgaria. These reasons are found not to be due to any deep-seated differences in the pertinent legislation, but rather to some other factors, such as historical, socio-cultural, and geopolitical. / The law in the present work is stated as of 1 January 1994. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The assessment of benefits and costs in determining national and international aviation policy by the developing countries differs markedly from that used for advanced countries. / The treatment of the subject matter begins in Chapter I with an overview of the aviation industry and its financing Historical Review. Chapter II deals with the problem of recognition of title and security rights in aircraft under international law. Chapter III contains a detailed consideration of the types of commonly used security instruments in aircraft financing. Chapter IV sets out an overview of financing in developing countries, Chapter V contains a study of the various problems facing the asset financing of aircraft in the Third World and possible solutions. / In the last three chapters, emphasis will be placed on regional aviation issues.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Public Environmental Affairs, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 17, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-12, Section: A, page: 4698. Adviser: Robert Agranoff.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4405. Advisers: Joseph Mahoney; Paul Vaaler. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-154) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Oct. 5, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-02, Section: A, page: 0684. Adviser: David Reingold.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Economics, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 6, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-10, Section: A, page: 3955. Adviser: Michael Alexeev.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4257. Adviser: Anju Seth. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-192) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.