The CEO and CFO are the two key executives of a firm. They work cohesively to ensure the growth of the firm. After the adoption of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) in 2002, the importance of CFOs has increased due to their personal legal obligation in certifying the accuracy of financial statements. Only a few papers such as Mian (2001), Fee and Hadlock (2004), and Geiger and North (2006) focus on CFOs in the pre-SOX era. However, a vacuum exists in research focusing exclusively on CFOs in the post-SOX era. The purpose of this dissertation is to delve into a comprehensive investigation of the CFOs. More specifically, I answer three questions: a) does the CEO change lead to the CFO change? b) does the CFO appointment type affect the firm’s debt-equity choice? and c) does the CFO appointment affect the firm’s information environment? I use Shumway’s (2001) dynamic hazard model in answering question ‘a’. For question ‘b’, I use instrumental variable (IV) regression under various estimation techniques to control for endogeneity. For part ‘c’, I use the cross sectional difference-in-difference (DND) methodology by pairing treatment firms with control firms chosen by the propensity scores matching (PSM). I find there is about a 70% probability of CFO replacement after the CEO replacement. Both of their replacements are affected by prior year’s poor performance. In addition, as a custodian of the firm’s financial reporting, the CFO is replaced proactively due to a probability of restatement of earnings. I find firms with internal CFO hires issue more equity in the year of appointment than firms with external hires. The promoted CFO significantly improves the firm’s overall governance which helps the firm obtain external financing from equity issue. However, I find that CFO turnover does not significantly affect the firm’s information environment. To ensure that my finding is not due to mixing up of samples of good and distressed firms together, I separated distressed firms and re-ran my models and my finding still holds. This dissertation fills the gap in the literature with regards to CFOs and their post SOX relationship with the firm.

The goal of this study was to develop Multinomial Logit models for the mode choice behavior of immigrants, with key focuses on neighborhood effects and behavioral assimilation. The first aspect shows the relationship between social network ties and immigrants’ chosen mode of transportation, while the second aspect explores the gradual changes toward alternative mode usage with regard to immigrants’ migrating period in the United States (US). Mode choice models were developed for work, shopping, social, recreational, and other trip purposes to evaluate the impacts of various land use patterns, neighborhood typology, socioeconomic-demographic and immigrant related attributes on individuals’ travel behavior. Estimated coefficients of mode choice determinants were compared between each alternative mode (i.e., high-occupancy vehicle, public transit, and non-motorized transport) with single-occupant vehicles. The model results revealed the significant influence of neighborhood and land use variables on the usage of alternative modes among immigrants. Incorporating these indicators into the demand forecasting process will provide a better understanding of the diverse travel patterns for the unique composition of population groups in Florida.

The aim of this thesis was to analyse and compare tax morale and its determinants in South Africa and Zimbabwe, as well as in Zimbabwe in different economic environments. The study applied the standard models of tax evasion, game theory, prospect theory, agent-based theory and slippery slope framework to explain the variability in the determinants of tax morale between South Africa and Zimbabwe under different economic and political environments. The study becomes novel in that it provides a comparative analysis of the determinants of the tax morale between Zimbabwe and South Africa under contrasting economic and political time scales. The study also tested a new variable, namely hunger, on how it affects tax morale in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The study was guided by quantitative research which was used to inform the study. Data was collected using questionnaires from the 2010-2014 and 2017-2020 World Values Survey (WVS). For Zimbabwe, Wave 6 and Wave 7 had a sample size of 1500 and 1200 respectively. The Wave 6 survey for South Africa had 3531 participants. Data was analysed using STATA software 2013 Version. The study’s dependent variable, tax morale and independent variables included marital status, age, income level, employment and religion among others, and analysed them using the Ordered Logit Model. The Ordered Logit Model was used to empirically model the effects of the identified variables on tax morale. The study concludes with an understanding of how tax morale and its determinants is crucial for governments in their bid to boost voluntary compliance. Also, different economic milieus for a particular country affect the level of tax morale significantly. Tax morale was established to be high when Zimbabwe was experiencing economic growth due to the introduction of multi-currency, herein called the dollarization period, and the opposite was true for the post-dollarization era. Surprisingly, the study’s results showed that Zimbabweans have a higher tax morale than South Africans, who have better standards of living. In addition, the determinants of tax morale also differ from one economic situation to another and from one country to another. Corruption, which is a menace in both countries under study, has proven to be an important factor that influences tax morale. Results of all the models show that demographic factors have little effect on tax morale. The study introduced an important variable of hunger in its analysis of determinants of tax morale. Though this variable was insignificant for South Africa, the study showed that there is a negative relationship between hunger and tax morale for Zimbabwe in both economic situations. Based on the thesis’s findings, policy makers should consider the eradication of corruption and hunger in order to boost tax morale, which in turn improves tax compliance. Also, policy makers should include improvement in the perception of democracy in the mix of enhancement strategies of tax compliance. / Economics / D. Com. (Economics)

Heirs' property is generated through the intergenerational transfer of a property to several co-owners when the original owner dies without a will. Such co-owners hold undivided fractional interest in the entire land but lack a clear title. Co-owners face several legal, financial, and technical constraints to manage the forestlands and often seek partition of the land. However, the legal environment and empirical assessment of partition actions on forestlands owned as heirs' property has not been examined. This thesis evaluates statutory laws relevant to forestland partition and the factors instrumental in adjudicating partition lawsuits. The findings reveal that partition lawsuits are primarily adjudicated using common law rather than statutory law. The magnitude of co-owners' fractional interest, the income withheld from forestlands, and the presence of absentee co-owners favor partition claimants. The study results have implications for heirs' property owners, legal entities and personnel, and policymakers.

不動產證券化可行性之研究 摘要 為解決傳統不動產投資困境，將不動產投資方式由固定的資產形式轉變為證券型態的概念，而有不動產證券化（Real Estate Securitization）的產生。國內主要的不動產證券化模式分為不動產投資信託（Real Estate Investment Trust）與不動產資產信託（Real Estate Asset Trust），這兩種模式未來市場供需面實際運作的可行性為何，將是不動產證券化制度成功與否的重要關鍵。 本研究先從需求面投資者的角度切入，透過問卷調查資料，運用Logit模型探討證券化可行性因素對於投資者購買不動產受益證券的影響。實證結果發現，一般投資者認為受益證券的市場流通性、分散風險的重要性愈高，以及預期報酬率愈高，其購買不動產受益證券的可能性愈高；在總體因素方面，對於未來證券市場情況愈樂觀，以及房地產市場情況愈樂觀，其購買受益證券的機率將愈高；法人投資者則認為分散風險的重要性愈高，以及該法人機構主要投資工具的種類愈多，其購買不動產受益證券的機率愈大。 以供給面不動產持有者財務上的可行性而言，其財務目標在追求自身的ROE極大化，因此不動產持有者將視各項風險來源對於投資報酬的影響，決定是否運用證券化投資方式。模擬分析結果發現，除了不動產持有者本身的財務結構限制與不動產經營能力之外，在個別考量委託成本風險與開發風險的情況下，其對於不動產持有者ROE的影響較小，但營運風險相較於其他風險來源，對於不動產持有者ROE的影響較大；綜合各項風險來源同時納入考量時，發現不動產持有者自有資金比例愈低，其運用證券化方式的ROE較高，但變動的幅度也較大。此一實證與模擬分析結果，對於未來國內不動產證券化實際運作，可提供政府、業者及一般投資大眾作為決策參考。 關鍵字：不動產證券化、不動產投資信託、不動產資產信託、Logit模型、蒙地卡羅模擬 / A Feasibility Study of Real Estate Securitization in Taiwai Abstract By transforming real assets into securities , real estate securitization is created to solve the liquidity problem of real estate investment. The real estate securitization system in Taiwan is divided into two types - Real Estate Investment Trust and Real Estate Asset Trust. Whether the real estate securitization system succeeds or not is based on the feasibility of the market operation in practice. On the demand side, this research uses Logit model to analyze the impact of the feasibility of the real estate securitization system on the investors’ behavior of buying beneficiary certificates by sampling from intuitional investors and individual investors. The empirical results show that the individual investors emphasize on liquidity, divergence, and expected return. In addition, the probability of buying real estate beneficiary certificates increases with the degree of their optimistic expectation on both the stock and the real estate markets. However, the institutional investors regard the divergence of portfolios and investment instruments as the main factors of their buying those certificates. On the supply side, given the financial objective of ROE maximum, the owners of the real estate will review all of impacts of risk on return of investment before their decision to take the way of securitization. In addition to the financial structure and the management ability of the owners, the results of Monte Carlo simulation on the effect of real estate securitization also reveal that: a. There is little influence on the ROE of the owners’ real assets while taking trust cost risk and land development cost risk into consideration. b. The influence of operation risk on ROE is more than that of other risks. c. Lower the proportion of capital, higher the ROE and bigger the variation of the ROE are. The results of empirical analysis can be a reference of decision making for Government, trust industry, and investors in the real estate security market operation. Keywords：Real Estate Securitization , Real Estate Investment Trust , Real Estate Asset Trust , Logit Model , Monte Carlo Simulation

Em ecologia, o comportamento dos animais é freqüentemente estudado para entender melhor suas preferências por diferentes tipos de alimento e habitat. O presente trabalho esta relacionado a este tópico, dividindo-se em três capítulos. O primeiro capitulo refere-se à estimação da função da probabilidade da seleção de recurso (RSPF) comparado com um modelo de escolha discreta (DCM) com uma escolha, usando as estatísticas qui-quadrado para obter as estimativas. As melhores estimativas foram obtidas pelo método DCM com uma escolha. No entanto, os animais não fazem a sua seleção baseados apenas em uma escolha. Com RSPF, as estimativas de máxima verossimilhança, usadas pela regressão logística ainda não atingiram os objetivos, já que os animais têm mais de uma escolha. R e o software Minitab e a linguagem de programação Fortran foram usados para obter os resultados deste capítulo. No segundo capítulo discutimos mais a verossimilhança do primeiro capítulo. Uma nova verossimilhança para a RSPF é apresentada, a qual considera as unidades usadas e não usadas, e métodos de bootstrapping paramétrico e não paramétrico são usados para estudar o viés e a variância dos estimadores dos parâmetros, usando o programa FORTRAN para obter os resultados. No terceiro capítulo, a nova verossimilhança apresentada no capítulo 2 é usada com um modelo de escolha discreta, para resolver parte do problema apresentado no primeiro capítulo. A estrutura de encaixe é proposta para modelar a seleção de habitat de 28 corujas manchadas (Strix occidentalis), assim como a uma generalização do modelo logit encaixado, usando a maximização da utilidade aleatória e a RSPF aleatória. Métodos de otimização numérica, e o sistema computacional SAS, são usados para estimar os parâmetros de estrutura de encaixe. / In ecology, the behavior of animals is often studied to better understand their preferences for different types of habitat and food. The present work is concerned with this topic. It is divided into three chapters. The first concerns the estimation of a resource selection probability function (RSPF) compared with a discrete choice model (DCM) using chi-squared to obtain estimates. The best estimates were obtained by the DCM method. Nevertheless, animals were not selected based on choice alone. With RSPF, the maximum likelihood estimates used with the logistic regression still did not reach the objectives, since the animals have more than one choice. R and Minitab software and the FORTRAN programming language were used for the computations in this chapter. The second chapter discusses further the likelihood presented in the first chapter. A new likelihood for a RSPF is presented, which takes into account the units used and not used, and parametric and non-parametric bootstrapping are employed to study the bias and variance of parameter estimators, using a FORTRAN program for the calculations. In the third chapter, the new likelihood presented in chapter 2, with a discrete choice model is used to resolve a part of the problem presented in the first chapter. A nested structure is proposed for modelling selection by 28 spotted owls (Strix occidentalis) as well as a generalized nested logit model using random utility maximization and a random RSPF. Numerical optimization methods and the SAS system were employed to estimate the nested structural parameters.

過去有關土地使用分區管制與地價兩者間關係之研究，往往假設地價在實施規劃管制過程中呈中立性，且過去在探討土地使用分區管制與地價二者間關係之研究時，多著重在探討土地使用分區管制施行後對地價之影響上，對於土地使用分區管制決策是否受到土地市場中地價之影響，則僅在少數的研究中被探討。故本研究首先透過國內外相關文獻之回顧與分析，得知規劃管制決策者有時為求得最大之政治支持，有可能會以規劃管制為其尋求最大政治利益之工具，而扭曲規劃管制之原意，使得土地使用分區管制決策可能受到土地市場中地價之影響，然而地價於實際經濟社會中是否會影響土地使用分區管制決策，則有待進一步的探討與驗證。 是以本研究以公共選擇理論與消費者效用理論為基礎，透過台北縣市土地使用分區管制決策過程與內涵之探討，利用羅吉特(logit)迴歸分析模型，以台北市為實證範圍，並以其72至81年度之房地移轉買賣實際調查資料，進行分年橫斷面分析方式，求取選擇性偏誤訂正項後，再納入地價方程式中估計，以求地價函數一致性估計，據以逐年檢驗地價對土地使用分區管制決策之影響情形。再以台北市信義計畫區為個案分析之對象，檢視於現實社會中地價對土地使用分區管制決策之影響情形。 經由上述之實證與個案分析，得到以下之結論： 一、土地使用分區管制決策在執政者追求最大政治利益之假設下，將可能受到利益團體等相關者之壓力，而做出只利於少數人之土地使用分區管制決策。 二、土地使用分區管制決策可能會受土地市場中地價之影響。 三、地價對土地使用分區管制決策之影響不穩定。 四、對土地使用分區管制決策時應有制度性之建立以審慎考量規劃管制之旨意。 / In the literatures, the study on. the relationship between land price and zoning control was assumed that land price is neutral. Moreover, the studies of land price and zoning control are more on the impact of land use control upon land price. The issue that impact of land prices upon the decision making of zoning control is rarely investigated. Based upon the theories of public choice and consumer's utility, this study discusses the process and content of zoning control decision-making. Then, by Logit model, the transaction data of property in Taipei City from 1983 to 1992 are employed to test the impact of land price upon the decision making of zoning control. Furthermore, a case study of Shin-I Planning District in Taipei City is analyzed so as to examine the impact of land price upon zoning control decision-making in the real operation. The major findings of this study are that, land price may affect the decision making of zoning control in the long term. However, the impact of land price upon the zoning control decision-making is unstable. Finally, based upon the public choice theory, the empirical results are discussed so as to apply the findings to the land policy.

本研究著眼於台灣經濟轉型、中國經濟的崛起與台灣企業組織的變化，從台灣企業集團的總部設立、跨界投資的區位選擇及在地再投資三個面向進行討論，期望在既有的研究基礎上，就台灣廠商在兩岸投資區位佈點的考量提出完整性的觀察，並強化既有的研究。 首先，以台灣1000大製造業為研究樣本，選擇包括純辦公室使用、研發設計、台商一千大、跨國生產網絡、外資企業、員工人數、資本總額、知識密集型、傳統型製造業等變項分別代表總部功能、跨界治理能力及企業屬性三大類變數，透過二元羅吉特模型以及集群分析方法，探討台灣企業在首都、都會區以及生產性服務業及創新氛圍同質性地區的總部設立區位選擇行為。實證的結果發現，代表企業屬性變數的資產總額、員工人數和產業別明顯影響台灣製造業廠商在首都設立總部的區位選擇，而總部功能為純辦公室使用或設有研發機構者更傾向將總部設立於首都或都會區，跨界治理能力的影響則未能獲得證實。另外，過去國內在研究企業總部地點選擇研究上較少從創新氛圍角度出發，而本研究實證的結果發現，台灣製造業廠商企業總部的區位選擇不僅受到地區生產性服務業的影響，也受到地區創新氛圍的影響。 在跨界投資區位選擇部分，本研究以台灣250大企業集團中的知識密集型製造業集團為研究對象，以台灣、環渤海地區、長江三角洲地區、珠江三角洲地區為研究場域，選擇企業特性與投資區位條件變數，並以多項羅吉特模型進行實證分析。其中，企業特性變數為產業類別、投資經驗、投資時間等三項因子，而投資區位條件則有勞工薪資、市場規模、區域創新強度及外資投資強度等因子。實證結果發現，代表經濟發展階段的投資時間變項確實會影響企業集團的區位選擇行為，產業的類別不同其區位選擇也會不同，先前的投資經驗雖然影響區位選擇。但是與過去研究不同的是，本次實證發現對台灣企業來說面對相似而且鄰近的市場，進入新市場的動機可能比過去的投資經驗來得重要的多，同時投資區位條件亦會影響區位選擇行為。另外，過去較少直接連結廠商生產面的區域創新能力亦明顯影響企業集團的區位選擇，因此本研究認為區域創新活動對於跨國企業在地化取得知識及技術亦具有相當重要的意義。 在地再投資部分以台灣製造業1000大廠商中知識密集型製造業為研究對象，並以工業地域觀點所劃分的台灣地區北、中、南三大區域為研究場域，選擇包括在台投資經驗、總部區位、第一次投資決策、路徑依循等企業廠商組織決策之屬性變數，以及包含區域中科學園區的設立、產業專業化係數、雜異化指標等區域環境變數，透過多項羅吉特模型進行實證分析。實證的結果發現，總部區位確實影響後續再投資的工廠區位選擇，第一次的投資決策經驗對於第二次投資的區位選擇行為影響比總部區位的影響明顯，代表時間演進而產生路徑相依的地區經濟型態差異變項也確實會影響區位選擇行為。而當區域內科學園區的發展相較未臻成熟時，其區域的賦能仍不足以吸引企業廠商進駐，至於台灣企業的再投資區位選擇基於對區域特性的了解較偏好區域內工業地域的地方化經濟，而不偏好區域內工業地域的都市化經濟。 / Stressed on the Taiwanese economical transition, the up-rising of Chinese economy and the change of Taiwanese enterprise organization as well as based on the past research, this study explores the factors affecting location selection behavior of Taiwanese firms across Taiwan Strait from three aspects including the establishment of enterprise headquarter, cross-border investment and local re-investment. On the establishment of enterprise headquarter, the top 1000 manufacturing firms in Taiwan were sampled and some factors were analyzed including office type, R&D, multinational production network, foreign enterprise, number of employee, total asset, knowledge-intensive business, and traditional manufacturing firms. However, these factors could be classed into three fields: headquarter function, cross-border management ability and firm characteristics. Then, the location selection behavior of Taiwanese enterprise headquarter was examined by the techniques of binary logit model and cluster analysis technique among capital area, urban area and homogenous area with productive service industry and innovation-based cluster. The results of empirical analysis show that the factors represented firm characteristics including total asset, number of employee and enterprise type significantly affected the location selection of Taiwanese enterprise headquarter. Furthermore, it is also verified that the enterprise headquarter had been established in capital or urban area if the headquarter was provided with R&D or simply used as office, but the effect of cross-border management upon headquarter establishment is insignificant. The effect of innovation-based cluster upon location selection of enterprise headquarter is seldom studied in the past. However, according to empirical results in this study, they show that location selection of Taiwanese enterprise headquarter is affected not only by local Productive Service industry but also by regional innovation-based cluster. On the location selection of cross-border investment, this study focused on the area of Taiwan, Bohai Economic Rim, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. The top 250 Taiwanese enterprise groups were taken into consideration, and the multinomial Logit model was adopted for empirical analysis in which firm characteristics and location conditions were chosen as research variables. Where, firm characteristics contained industrial type, investing experience and investment time, and location conditions included labor cost, market scale, regional innovation intensity and foreign investment intensity. The empirical results indicate that industrial type and investment time significantly affect the selection of investment locations. In contrast, investment experience only slightly influences the selection of investment locations. In addition, we find that entrepreneurial motivation to enter new markets may be much more influential than prior location investment experiences for Taiwanese enterprises functioning within similar markets. Regional differences shaping investment conditions in Taiwan and mainland China also affect the selection of investment locations. Our analysis shows a particularly strong linkage between regional innovation capacity and the selection of investment locations. This implies that regional innovation capacity plays a very important role in the selection of investment locations for multinational enterprises On local re-investment, the top 1000 knowledge-intensive manufacturers in Taiwan were the samples divided by region into the northern, central and southern Taiwan groups by administrative region. The factors affecting organizational decisions were the attribute variables, including Taiwan investment experience, headquarters location, first investment experience and path dependence; and the factors affecting location selection were the regional environment variables, including regional science park status, industry specialization coefficient and Hirschman-Herfindahl index (HHI). The multinomial Logit model was used for empirical analysis, and the results show that the headquarters location affects plant location selection in re-investment, and the first investment experience has a more significant effect on the plant location selection in the second investment than the headquarters location, suggesting that the path-dependent heterogeneity in regional economic style developed over time affects location selection. Also, the immaturity of regional science parks affects plant location selection when regional empowerment cannot attract enterprises. Lastly, Taiwanese enterprises prefer regions with localized economies to regions with urbanized economies for plant location selection.

Emerging markets such as India have witnessed waves of domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. This historical analysis, which consists of two parts, tests central tenets of resource dependence theory. The first part entails an analysis of the transition in public policy governing corporations between 1991 and 2005. The second part tests hypotheses derived from resource dependence theory relating to a firm’s decision to acquire. The analysis explores the factors that explain why firms engage in mergers and acquisitions by examining three specific policy periods (i.e., 1991-1996, 1997-2001 and 2002-2005). The findings from the historical analysis suggest that firms did not merely react to the conditions (i.e., constraints on capital) in their environment by undertaking merger and acquisition activity, but attempted to alter them as resource dependence theory suggests. Findings from the event history logit model also support resource dependence theory. Overall, the study shows that merger and acquisition activity increased during a period of intense deregulation (i.e., 1991-2005) brought about by the adoption of neo-liberal reforms, change to the multilayer subsidiary form, deregulation of the banking and financial sectors’ and reforms in foreign direct investment and equity markets. During this period of uncertainty, firms controlling more resources in terms of earnings, efficiency and number of subsidiaries were more likely to undertake acquisition activity as they have leverage in organization-environment relationships. The effect of number of subsidiaries on acquisition activity was the most consistent across policy periods’. This dissertation is organized in the following manner: Following the introductory chapter, Chapter II is a historical examination of the three policy periods and includes an analysis of the effect of the political-legal environment on mergers and acquisitions between 1991 and 2005. Chapter III reviews the propositions of resource dependence theory that pertain to organizational change and presents research hypotheses related to mergers and acquisitions. Chapter IV describes the data, measurement and methodology employed in the quantitative analysis. Chapter V presents the findings from the quantitative analysis and discusses the results. The concluding chapter (Chapter VI) includes a presentation of the theoretical findings and discussion of the limitations and scope of the study.

No description available.