Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Mannheim, 2005. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed July 31, 2007). Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study was to determine how Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B funds in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) were initially budgeted for sustainable or unsustainable purposes by the 50 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in East Tennessee in 2009-2010. Federal guidance for use of ARRA funds suggested funds should be spent quickly to create or save jobs and support education reforms. Thoughtful investment in order to avoid the funding cliff when ARRA funds ended was also stressed. The one-time funds presented a substantial increase in federal dollars and provided opportunity for LEAs to reduce maintenance of effort, the level of state and local funds an LEA must maintain in order to receive federal funds. The study was conducted to determine if significant relationships existed among the percentage of economically disadvantaged students, the percentage of dollars taken in reduction of maintenance of effort, geographic demographics of the LEAs, and the percentage of dollars budgeted for sustainable purposes. Data sources included the 2009-2010 IDEA Part B ARRA budget applications and 2009-2010 IDEA Special Education Services LEA Budget Applications as approved by the Tennessee Department of Education. The LEA Report Card Profiles were the source for the percentage of economically disadvantaged population. Significant results were found in the difference in dollars budgeted for unsustainable and sustainable purposes with more funds for unsustainable efforts. No significant relationships were found among the percentage of dollars budgeted for sustainable purposes, the percentage of reduction in maintenance of effort, the percentage of economically disadvantaged students, and the rural-urban index classifications of the LEAs. The study indicates the importance of careful long-term planning by LEAs to identify and prioritize needs in order to appropriately budget short-term funds to the best advantage for students. There may also be implications for state and federal entities that underscore the importance of specific structuring and clear communication of parameters for use of short-term funds.

I examine the impact of hedge fund managers selling ownership stakes in their firms to outside owners. Funds with outside owners do not subsequently outperform a matched sample of funds but do attract higher flows, suggesting that managers sell stakes to obtain strategic growth partners. The flow impact is greater for i) funds with lower prior flows or performance, ii) smaller funds, and iii) funds with more reputable outside owners. Outsiders also monitor their investments as funds with outside owners reduce their returns management. The reduction in return management is stronger after the 2008 financial crisis when institutions’ reputations are more tarnished. Combined, the results indicate that outside ownership benefits managers, outsiders, and fund investors.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

<p>Interest for Mutual funds has been enormous in Sweden and since 1970 has savings increased from 300 million SEK to about 900 billion SEK. An important reason for this increasing is the strong development of the stock markets has got and, the impairment of the public pension and the increasing of necessity of the private saving.</p>

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

This thesis deals with exchange traded funds (ETFs). The goal is to explain how different kinds of ETFs work and to find out whether some of them operate inefficiently when it comes to following their benchmarks. The thesis describes the collective investments industry, characteristics and valuation of ETFs, and compares the performance of chosen commodity funds among themselves as well as to their benchmarks. The thesis reaches an interesting conclusion.

Information asymmetry literature has developed models that explain the relation between uninformed traders and informed traders. In general, these models have shown that first, information asymmetry is a driving force for investor buying and selling behavior. Second, the trades of informed investors reveal some of the information they possess suggesting that the trades of informed investors are informative to market makers. Third, when information about a stock enters the market, the characteristics of the firm can change, e.g., a better information environment reduces the cost of capital (Admati, 1985; Easley and O‟Hara, 2004; Wang, 1993). In this study, I apply information asymmetry theory to explore the trading behavior of active equity mutual fund managers and their role as facilitators of information. In the first essay, I study the information environment of firms mutual funds choose to add to their holdings and how it changes after the inclusion. I identify all new additions to the mutual fund holdings universe from 2002 to 2015 and compare them to the available universe of firms not yet owned by mutual funds. I find that active equity mutual fund managers behave as informed investors and prefer to buy stocks with more opaque information environments i.e., firms with larger spreads, lower trading volume, smaller firms with more growth opportunities, and firms that tend to use more accruals. Fund managers also show a preference for firms that have less analyst following, those in which analysts are less likely to agree on their EPS estimates, and firms in which analysts are more likely to err in their predictions. In other words, mutual fund managers prefer firms that are more likely to be mispriced. Once the funds include the firms, I document a strong improvement in their information environment. Firms attract more analyst coverage, reduce its use of accruals, produce more guidance, increase their market cap, and show increased turnover. The second essay focuses on the herding behavior of mutual funds. The study is the first to document the herding of mutual fund managers after creation of toehold positions by portfolio managers. I use a hand-collected dataset consisting of all toehold acquisitions reported to the SEC from 1995 to 2015 to document a strong herding reaction of active equity mutual funds after toehold announcements. This herding reaction is several times stronger than other mutual fund herding events reported by previous literature. I also document that the strength of the herding reaction varies depending on the identity of the filer or the characteristics of the firm acquired. The herding reaction is stronger for toehold announcements of firms with a smaller market capitalization, better growth opportunities, and those that are more illiquid. I also find that the herding reaction is weaker after the filings of hedge fund managers. My results support the informational herding cascade hypothesis. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

by Kam Tsz-Chung, Narayanan Kamakodi. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-46). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.iv / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Asian Crisis 1997 --- p.1 / Project Objectives --- p.2 / Report Structure --- p.2 / Methodology --- p.3 / Chapter II. --- ESSENTIALS OF HEDGE FUNDS --- p.4 / What is a Hedge Fund? --- p.4 / Common Characteristics of Hedge Funds --- p.5 / Comparison of Hedge Funds and Traditional Investment Tools --- p.7 / Popular Misunderstanding --- p.7 / Eight Investment Styles --- p.8 / Fund Structures --- p.12 / Fees --- p.13 / The Rule of Game --- p.13 / Risk Hedging Mechanism by Hedge Fund --- p.14 / Difference Between Hedge Fund and Mutual Fund --- p.14 / Chapter III. --- HEDGE FUND INDUSTRY --- p.16 / Evolution of Hedge Funds --- p.16 / "Number, Size, and Location of Hedge Funds" --- p.16 / Recent Performance --- p.17 / Closing Down of Tiger Management LLC --- p.18 / Supervision and Regulation --- p.18 / Hedge Fund Managers --- p.21 / Hedge Fund Institutions --- p.21 / Chapter IV. --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.22 / Returns of Hedge Funds --- p.22 / Chapter V. --- CASE STUDY ON A FAMOUS HEDGE FUND --- p.24 / Long-Term Capital Management --- p.24 / Chapter VI. --- PERSPECTIVES IN ASIAN-PACIFIC REGION --- p.28 / A Survey on Hedge Funds --- p.28 / An Interview with a Hedge Fund Manager in Hong Kong --- p.31 / An Interview with a Fund Manager in Hong Kong --- p.33 / An Interview with the Financial Secretary of HKSAR Government --- p.36 / Chapter VII. --- RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION --- p.37 / General Roles of Hedge Funds in the Financial Market --- p.37 / Specific Roles of Hedge Funds in Asian-Pacific Region --- p.38 / Conclusion --- p.38 / Recommendation --- p.39 / APPENDIX --- p.41 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.45