Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Also available in print.

This Master’s Thesis deals with the analysis of current situation in company AŽD, s.r.o. and of its financial planning model. On the basis of findings, the work includes the proposal of improvement this model.

Standard finance theory portrays investors as rational utility maximisers. Persisting market anomalies and observed investor practice, however, have led to widespread recognition that the fundamental axioms of rationality are often violated. In response to the limitations inherent in standard theory, the Behavioural Finance approach relaxes the rationality assumption and takes account of psychological influences on individuals’ decision-making processes. Adopting the behavioural approach, this thesis, which includes two empirical studies, examines why, and to what extent, investors depart from rational or optimal investment practices. The thesis examines the effect of Myopic Loss Aversion (MLA) suggested by Benartzi and Thaler (1995) as a response to the Equity Premium Puzzle highlighted by Mehra and Prescott (1985). While previous studies are almost exclusively based on experiments in a laboratory setting, this approach provides more compelling empirical evidence by investigating the effects of MLA on real individual investors’ portfolio allocations through the use of the Dutch National Bank Household Survey. For the first time, the concept of MLA is identified through the interaction of two separate effects, firstly, individuals’ myopia, reflected in portfolio evaluation and rebalancing frequencies, and secondly, loss aversion. The thesis finds that individuals who are less affected by MLA invest more in risky financial assets. Further, individuals who are less myopic increase their share of risky assets invested in their financial portfolios over time, although this is unrelated to their loss aversion. These findings support the prediction of MLA theory that short investment horizons and high loss aversion lead to a significantly lower share of risky investments. In summary, the high equity premium can be explained by the notion of MLA. If individuals evaluate their investment performance over the long-term, they perceive much smaller risks relative to stockholding returns; consequently, they will be prepared to accept smaller equity premiums. The findings suggest possible interventions by policy makers and investment advisors to encourage individuals to remain in the stock market, such as providing long-term investment instruments, or restricting evaluation frequency to the annual reporting of investment performance. In response to the stockholding puzzle (Haliassos and Bertaut, 1995), this thesis also investigates individuals’ stock market returns expectations and their varying levels of risk aversion. Previous studies find that individuals’ heterogeneous stock market expectations determine variations in their stockholdings. The thesis accounts for the effect of risk aversion on stock market expectations, as well as on stockholding decisions. Additionally, the causality issue as between individuals’ expectations and stockholding status is controlled. The thesis finds that more risk averse individuals hold lower stock market expectations, and that the stock market return expectations of more risk averse individuals affect their stock market participation decisions negatively. The portfolio allocation decisions of individuals who already hold stocks are only affected by their expectations, with risk aversion being no longer significant. The thesis argues that persistent risk aversion effects cause individuals to hold pessimistic views of stock market returns, thus contributing to the enduring stockholding puzzle. The thesis reinforces existing perceptions that individuals in the real world may not make fully rational decisions due to their judgments which are based on heuristics and affected by cognitive biases. Individual investors often fail to maximise their utility given their preferences and constraints. Consequently, this thesis draws attention to the possible role of institutions, policy makers, and financial advisory bodies in providing effective interventions and guidelines to improve individuals’ financial decisions.

Univ., Diss.--Konstanz, 2003. / Literaturverz. S. [273] - 283.

This thesis aims at understanding the impact of Islamic banking development on economic growth and international trade in countries with a dual banking system. For this purpose we use a sample of twenty countries mainly from the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia during the time period from 1999 through 2014. We employ commonly used panel data estimators such as Pooled OLS and Fixed Effects, as well as the generalized method of moments (GMM) to address a possible endogeneity of the banking development indicators. Our findings show that on the one hand Islamic banking development in countries with a dual banking system hinders economic growth while on the other hand it boosts international trade. The study further discusses why Islamic banking might actually obstruct growth.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Konstanz. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [273]-283) and index.

Submitted by Elba Lopes (elba.lopes@fecap.br) on 2016-01-27T20:23:23Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Andrea_Galvao_Rodrigues1.pdf: 7473371 bytes, checksum: 178fd1f85ec7f498bb8b518b4571be6d (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-27T20:23:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Andrea_Galvao_Rodrigues1.pdf: 7473371 bytes, checksum: 178fd1f85ec7f498bb8b518b4571be6d (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-29 / The aim of this research was to identify, from the point of view of the knowledge building theory, the most important authors and institutions involved in finance research publications, from 1979 to 2012, to follow how the knowledge was built in this area. It was made a sociometric study of descriptive character, involving 223 articles from 78 journals. For this, the articles were divided in six thematic areas - Portfolio Theory, Capital Structure and Dividend Policy, CAPM, Market Efficiency, Price Options and Behavior Finance. Moreover, it was made the presentation of the cooperation social networks, splitting authors and institutions according to the thematic areas. Subsequently, it was made the analysis of the areas and institutions that most represent the publications in the searched population, as well as how the building of this knowledge occurred, based on the concepts of normal science and Thomas Kuhn paradigm. The following results were obtained, mapped and followed by the social network analysis (SNA): a) the theories that compose the Modern Finance Theory have their constitution anomalous concerning the paradigms; b) in the normal course of science, response to crisis was through new finance and its behavior model; c) the results presented between the dichotomy full and limited rationality in finance fit in the concept of normal science, according to its building course; d) Finance is a research area that has already presented its scientific paradigm; e) the comparison between the periods of published research and the knowledge building, in various moments, occurs through pre-paradigmatic periods, and its first divergence point was defined based on the real behavior factor. The answer was the insurgence and the insertion of behavior models in agents' decisions, which appeared in publications only in the last two decades, even under questionings of the dominant paradigm. / Nesta pesquisa, o objetivo foi identificar, sob a perspectiva da teoria de constru????o do conhecimento, os autores e as institui????es de destaque envolvidos na ??rea de publica????o da pesquisa em finan??as, entre 1979 e 2012, para acompanhar como ocorreu a constru????o do conhecimento nessa ??rea. Foi feito um estudo sociom??trico de car??ter descritivo, com 223 artigos, oriundos de 78 peri??dicos. Para tanto, os artigos foram divididos em seis ??reas tem??ticas - Teoria do Portfolio, Estrutura de Capital e Pol??tica de Dividendos, CAPM, Efici??ncia de Mercado, Precifica????o de Op????es e Finan??as Comportamentais - e foi feita a apresenta????o das redes sociais de coopera????o, dividindo autores e institui????es em conformidade com as ??reas tem??ticas. Posteriormente, procedeu-se ?? analise das ??reas e institui????es que mais representaram publica????es na popula????o pesquisada, e como ocorreu a constru????o desse conhecimento, a partir dos conceitos de ci??ncia normal e do paradigma de Thomas Kuhn. Foram obtidos os seguintes resultados, mapeados e acompanhados pela an??lise de rede social (ARS): a) as teorias componentes da MTF t??m sua constitui????o an??mala com rela????o aos paradigmas; b) na rota normal da ci??ncia, a resposta ?? crise foi por meio das novas finan??as e de seu modelo comportamental; c) os resultados entre a dicotomia da racionalidade plena e a limitada nas finan??as apresentaram-se e se encaixam no conceito de ci??ncia normal, de acordo com sua rota de constru????o; d) Finan??as foi uma ??rea de pesquisa a qual j?? apresentou seu paradigma cient??fico; e) a compara????o entre os per??odos da pesquisa publicada e a constru????o do conhecimento passa em diversos momentos por per??odos pr??-paradigm??ticos, e tem seu primeiro ponto de diverg??ncia definido com o fator comportamental comprovado; a resposta foi o surgimento e a inser????o dos modelos comportamentais nas decis??es dos agentes, que surgiu nas publica????es somente nas ??ltimas duas d??cadas, mesmo sob questionamentos do paradigma dominante.