本研究主要欲針對市場擇時理論進行實證研究，研究期間橫跨1990年至2008年，以台灣上市公司為研究樣本，主要欲探討兩大議題：第一部分驗證台灣上市公司是否會在權益資金成本相對較低時，進行外部權益融資，而使公司之槓桿下降；反之，觀察其是否會在權益資金成本相對較高時，進行負債融資，而使公司槓桿上升。研究方法參考Huang and Ritter(2009)之方法，使用剩餘收益模型估計權益資金成本，並以權益風險溢酬作為衡量市場擇時行為的代理變數，探討權益資金成本的大小是否會透過淨權益的發行而影響公司資本結構，並加入公司特徵變數與總體市況變數作為控制變數。實證結果顯示在公司有財務資金需求的前提下，公司的負債比例與權益風險溢酬之間存在正向的關係，此結果符合市場擇時理論之預期。第二部分討論過去依據資金成本之高低所進行的市場擇時融資行為是否會影響公司的資本結構。實證結果發現市場擇時行為對公司資本結構的影響力會在三年後消逝，對資本結構只具有短期的影響效果。 / This paper examines market timing theory on Taiwan listed company during 1990－2008, and focus on two topics. In the first part, we want to test whether firms fund larger proportion of their financing deficit with external equity when cost of equity is relatively low. We refer to Huang and Ritter (2009), using residual income model to estimate the firm’s implied cost of equity, and let implied equity risk premium as a market timing proxy. Consistent with the market timing theory, the empirical evidences show that the effect of financing deficit on leverage is positively related to the implied equity risk premium. In the second part, we test whether the historical values of cost of equity have persistent impact on current capital structure. We find about three years impacts, indicating that past market timing financing behavior have short-term effects on firm’s capital structure.

受2008年金融海嘯影響，人壽保險業因資本及信用市場之系統性風險而導致帳列資產價值大幅減損，進一步影響壽險公司清償能力，而主管機關為兼顧審慎監理與市場穩定原則，而採行資本監理寬容措施，卻使得資本不足之保險公司缺口擴大。另外，保險安定基金以保費為基礎徵收單一費率，加劇保險公司間交叉補貼之情形。因此，如何透過以責任準備金為基礎，計算公平合理之風險差別費率，以避免產生影響其他保險公司正常經營之系統性風險，抑或引發保險公司道德風險，為本文研究之主要議題。 本文與過去文獻主要之差異為：(1) 資產模型依資產配置方式，使用蒙地卡羅模擬詳盡現金流路徑，著重於描述壽險業之情境；(2) 股票型風險性資產加入跳躍過程 (Jump) 與隨機波動兩種情境，以表達壽險業資產端承受資本市場變動加劇之風險；(3) 考慮政府監理寬容措施，以描述主管機關對於壽險業監理態度。 依蒙地卡羅模擬法試算保險安定基金公平費率，研究結果發現：(1)監理寬容期限增加時，安定基金公平費率增加；(2)監理標準提高，安定基金公平費率有先降後升之效果；(3)保險公司財務槓桿比例增加時，安定基金公平費率上升。 / Due to the global financial crisis in 2008 that resulted in systematic risks in the equity and credit market, it creates significant deprecation in the life insurers’ balance sheet which affect insurers’ solvency. In order to retain prudent supervision and market stability, the authority has announced capital temporal relief plan that may make insolvency insurer worse. Recent occurrences of financial distress to some insurers have raised questions about whether the current guaranty system that charge a flat levy rate in premium-based is adequate to protect policyholders. A risk-weighted levy rate in reserve-based has been proposed to establish reasonable contribution method which can avoid high risk insurers’ moral hazard and protect the other insurers from further systematic risks. A brief summary of the advantages of this paper is listed below：(1) By Monte Carol simulation method, detailed cash flow of insurer’s asset allocation can be used to describe the risk preference of life insurer. (2) Our stock model incorporates jump diffusion and stochastic volatility in order to reflect that life insurers face increasing volatility in capital market. (3) Consider regulatory forbearance to represent government’s attitude to life insurers. We calculate fair guaranty premium through Monte Carol simulation method. We find that： (1) Fair premium increases as extending the period of regulatory forbearance. (2) As regulatory criterion raises fair premium decreases at first, but increases if regulatory criterion reaches certain level. (3) Increasing leverage ratio of the insurer results in increasing fair premium.

Electricity generated from photovoltaics (PV) promises to satisfy the world's ever-growing thirst for energy without significant pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. At present, however, PV is several times too expensive to compete economically with conventional sources of electricity delivered via the power grid. To ensure long-term success, must achieve cost parity with electricity generated by conventional sources of electricity. This requires detailed understanding of the relationship between technology and economics as it pertains to PV devices and systems. The research tasks of this thesis focus on developing and using four types of models in concert to develop a complete picture of how solar cell technology and design choices affect the quantity and cost of energy produced by PV systems. It is shown in this thesis that high-efficiency solar cells can leverage balance-of-systems (BOS) costs to gain an economic advantage over solar cells with low efficiencies. This advantage is quantified and dubbed the "efficiency premium." Solar cell device models are linked to models of manufacturing cost and PV system performance to estimate both PV system cost and performance. These, in turn, are linked to a model of levelized electricity cost to estimate the per-kilowatt-hour cost of electricity produced by the PV system. A numerical PV module manufacturing cost model is developed to facilitate this analysis. The models and methods developed in this thesis are used to propose a roadmap to high-efficiency multicrystalline silicon PV modules that achieve cost parity with electricity from the grid. The impact of PV system failures on the cost of electricity is also investigated; from this, a methodology is proposed for improving the reliability of PV inverters.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Göteborg : Univ., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:06:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CarolineDV.pdf: 1162871 bytes, checksum: cfd19877b2a491c559d68283231f1117 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-04-09 / A frequently encountered difficulty in oral prosthetics is associated with the loss of metallic alloys during the melting stage of the production of metal-ceramic replacement systems. Remelting such materials could impar their use in oral rehabilitation due to loss in esthetics, as well as in the chemical, physical, electrochemical and mechanical properties. Nowadays, the Ni-Cr-Mo-Ti alloy is widely used in metal-ceramic systems. Manufacturers state that this material can be remelted without significant alterations in its behavior, however little has been established as to the changes in the performance of this alloy after successive remelting, which is common practice in oral prosthetics. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate possible changes in the esthetics and associated properties of metalceramic samples consisting of Ni-Cr-Mo-Ti and dental porcelain. Three to five remelting steps were carried out. The results revealed that Ni-Cr-Mo-Ti can be safely used even after three remelting steps. Further remelting significantly affect the characteristics of the alloys and should not be recommended for the manufacture of metal-ceramic systems / Uma dificuldade frequente encontrada na pr?tese dent?ria est? associada com a perda de ligas met?licas durante o est?gio de fundi??o na confec??o de sistemas metalocer?micos. A refundi??o de alguns materiais pode impedir seu uso na reabilita??o oral devido ? perdas nas propiedades est?ticas, como tamb?m, nas qu?micas, f?sicas, eletroqu?micas e mec?nicas. Atualmente a liga Ni-Cr-Mo-Ti ? bastante usada em sistemas metalocer?micos. O fabricante afirma que esse material pode ser refundido sem causar significantes altera??es na sua qualidade, no entanto pouco foi estudado quanto ?s mudan?as nas propriedades dessa liga ap?s sucessivas fundi??es, como ? comum na pr?tica nos laborat?rios dent?rios. Com base nisso, o objetivo desse estudo foi avaliar poss?veis mudan?as est?ticas e das propriedades das amostras metalocer?micas fabricadas com a liga Ni-Cr-Mo-Ti e porcelana odontol?gica. De tr?s a cinco etapas de fundi??o foram realizadas. Os resultados revelaram que a liga Ni-Cr-Mo-Ti pode ser usada mesmo ap?s subemtida ? tr?s fundi??es. Refundi??es adicionais afetam significantemente as caracter?sticas da liga e n?o s?o recomendadas para a confec??o de sistemas metalocer?micos

Cette thèse tente d'évaluer l'intégration des marchés émergents dans une perspective régionale et intra-régionale. Elle contribue à la littérature existante en développant un modèle dynamique d’évaluation des actifs financiers à l’international (ICAPM) avec changement de régime. Spécifiquement, les rentabilités attendues peuvent passer du régime de segmentation parfaite au régime d’intégration parfaite ou inversement en fonction d’un certain nombre de facteurs nationaux, régionaux et internationaux qui sont susceptibles d’influencer le processus d’intégration financière. Le champ d’étude s’étend aux pays de l’Asie de Sud-est, d’Europe Sud-est, de l’Amérique Latine et du Moyen Orient sur la période 1996-2008. Nous développons le modèle de Bekaert et Harvey (1995) où la PPA n’est pas vérifiée, et les variances et covariances conditionnelles sont modélisées grâce à un processus GARCH multivarié. Cette approche permet de déterminer simultanément le niveau d’intégration au cours du temps de toutes les zones dans le marché mondial et le niveau d’intégration intra-régionale dans chaque région. Il permet aussi d’analyser la formation de la prime de risque totale. Nos résultats empiriques montrent que les marchés émergents restent encore très segmentés du marché mondial et des marchés régionaux. Ces résultats suggèrent que l’inclusion des actifs des marchés émergents continue à générer des gains de diversification substantiels, et que les règles d’évaluation devraient être conformes à un état d’intégration partielle. / The purpose of this thesis is to study the dynamics of the global integration process of four emerging market regions into the world and the regional market, while taking into account the importance of exchange rate and local market risk. An international capital asset pricing model suitable for partially integrated markets and departure from purchasing power parity was developed in the spirit of Bekaert and Harvey (1995)’s regime-switching model in order to explain the time-variations in expected returns on regional emerging market indices. In its fully functional form, the model allows the market integration measure as well as the global and local risk premiums to vary through time. We mainly find that the integration degree in emerging market regions (Latin America, Asia, Southeastern Europe, and the Middle East) varied widely through time over the period 1996-2008 and is satisfactorily explained by global, regional and national factors. Even though it reaches fairly high values during several periods, and exhibit an upward trend towards the end of the estimation period, the emerging market regions under consideration still remain segmented from the world and regional market. These results thus suggest that diversification into emerging market assets continue to produce substantial profits and that the asset pricing rules should reflect a state of partial integration. Our investigation, which addresses the evolution and formation of total risk premiums, confirm this empirically.

Bakgrund: Var dag ställs människor inför val som har högre eller mindre utsträckning påverkan på dess framtid. En av de vanligaste ekonomiska beslutssituationer människor ställs inför är beslut gällande pensionen. Det svenska pensionssystemet är komplext och särskilt inom premiepensionen ställs individen inför en mängd valmöjligheter. Där kan individen välja egna premiepensionsfonder eller välja att inte göra ett aktivt val och därmed ha kvar förvalsalternativet AP7 Såfa. Samtidigt som kraven är höga på individens beslutsfattande visar beteendeekonomisk forskning att individens förmåga att fatta rationella beslut inte är på den nivå som traditionella ekonomiska teorier utgår ifrån. Den stora mängd valmöjligheter som finns inom premiepensionen förefaller skapa problem och leder till att åtskilliga individer väljer att inte göra något aktivt val. Tidigare forskning visar att ett flertal demografiska faktorer samt individens finansiella förmåga och kännedom om finansiella marknaden påverkar individens beslut gällande pensionen, samt att det finns ett behov av vidare forskning på vad som påverkar individer gällande pensionssparandet. Denna studie ämnar bygga vidare på de tidigare studier som gjorts för att kartlägga vilka egenskaper som leder till att en individ fattar aktiva beslut inom premiepensionssparandet samt koppla de beslut de gör till beteendeekonomiska teorier för att få en djupare förståelse för individens agerande gällande premiepensionsvalet. Med studiens resultat hoppas vi kunna bidra med ökad förståelse för vad som påverkar de val som görs gällande premiepensionen. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka samband mellan en individs egenskaper och om denne gör ett aktivt val gällande premiepensionemn, samt undersöka bakomliggande beteendeekonomiska biases gällande individens val inom premiepensionen. Detta med avsikt att genom en kvantitativ metod skapa ökad förståelse kring varför individer fattar de beslut de gör kring premiepensionssparandet. Genomförande: Denna kvantitativa studie antar en iterativ ansats där studien präglas av en tvärsnittsdesign och data har samlats in genom ett snöbollsurval med hjälp av enkäter. Sammantaget ingår 172 individer i denna studie. Slutsats: Resultatet av studien visar att hur länge en individ har befunnit sig i arbetslivet, inkomstnivån samt om individen investerar i aktier på fritiden har en positiv påverkan på sannolikheten att denne har valt egna fonder till premiepensionen. Resultatet skiljer sig mot vad viss tidigare forskning visat. Studien identifierade även ett antal beteendeekonomiska biases som påverkar individen inom premiepensionsvalet. Resultatet tyder på att de individer som har gjort ett aktivt premiepensionsval påverkas av mentala genvägar när det kommer till att välja premiepensionsfonder. Vidare indikerar resultatet på IV att de som inte gör ett aktivt val påverkas av beteendeekonomiska biases som leder till inaktivitet. / Background: Every day people have to make choices that have a greater or lesser impact on their future. One of the most common financial decision-making situations people face is the decision regarding the pension. The Swedish Pension System is complex and, in particular, within the Premium Pension the individual is faced with a variety of choices. There individuals can choose their own Premium Pension funds or choose not to make an active choice and thus retain the AP7 Såfa. While the demands are high on the individual’s decision-making, behavioral finance research shows that the individual’s ability to make rational decisions is not at the level of traditional economic theories. The wide range of options available within the Premium Pension seems to create problems and leads to the fact that several individuals choose not to make any active choice. Previous research shows that a number of demographic factors, as well as the individual's financial literacy and financial market awareness, influence the individual's decision regarding the pension. Previous research also shows that there is a need for further research on what affects individuals in terms of pension savings. This study aims to build on previous studies to map which characteristics affect an individual to make active decisions in the Premium Pension and to link the decisions they make to behavioral finance theories to gain a deeper understanding of the individual's actions regarding the Premium Pension choice. With the result of the study, we hope to contribute with better understanding of what influences the choices made within the Premium Pension. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between an individual's characteristics and if they make an active choice regarding premium pension funds, as well as investigate underlying behavioral finance bias that affect an individual’s choice within the Premium Pension. With the intention, through a quantitative method, to create a better understanding of why individuals make the decisions they make regarding the Premium Pension. Completion/methodology: This quantitative study assumes an iterative approach where the study is characterized by a cross-sectional design and the data has been collected through snowball sampling using surveys. Altogether, 172 people are included in this study. Conclusion: The result of the study shows that how long an individual has been working, the income, and if the individual invests in shares has a positive impact on the probability that the individual has chosen own funds for the premium pension. This differs from what some previous research has shown. The study also identified a number of behavioral biases that affect the individual in the Premium Pension Plan. The result indicates that those individuals who have made active Premium Pension choices are affected by shortcuts when it comes to choosing Premium Pension funds. Furthermore, the result indicates that those who do not make an active choice are affected by behavioral biases that lead to inactivity.

Notre thèse s'intéresse aux conflits d'agence entre les actionnaires de contrôle et les actionnaires minoritaires pouvant surgir suite à une décision de fusion ou d'acquisition. Plus précisément, nous tentons, à travers trois essais, d'identifier les cas où, les actionnaires de contrôle utilisent des opérations de fusions-acquisitions comme un outil de transfert de richesses des actionnaires minoritaires vers leurs propres comptes. Dans le premier essai, nous présentons une analyse théorique de ce comportement opportuniste avec deux cas portant sur des faits réels. En utilisant la méthodologie des études d'événement, nous montrons dans le deuxième essai que ce comportement peut se révéler important dans des cas spécifiques liés au degré de l'enracinement de l'actionnaire de contrôle. Dans le troisième essai, nous montrons que la prime d'acquisition peut refléter ce comportement dans les cas de fusions-acquisitions à caractère public / Our dissertation focuses on agency conflicts between controlling shareholders and minority shareholders that may arise following a merger-acquisition decision. Through three essays, we aim to identify cases in which the controlling shareholders use mergers and acquisitions as a tool to transfer wealth from minority shareholders to their own accounts. The first essay provides a theoretical analysis of this opportunistic behavior and examines two real cases. Using event study methodology, the second essay shows that the opportunistic behavior may be important in specific cases linked to the level of shareholder's entrenchment. Finally, the third essay shows that the acquisition premium may reflect this behavior even in cases of public transactions

The main aim of my dissertation Factors influencing the management of health insurance in 2004 2012 in the context of health insurance in The Czech Republic - was to identify and categorize the factors that affect the management of the chosen health insurance in 2004 2012 with the respect to existing system of health insurance. The first assessed year was 2007 because of unavailability of data in 2004 - 2007. My dissertation is divided into two parts, theoretical and practical. The theoretical part is devoted to the principles of health insurance, the legal relations of health insurance, the current system of public health insurance and the effects influencing the health insurance balance. The practical part deals with designated health insurance and its organizational structure, its management methods, the income side of the balance sheet, the expediture side of the balance and finally the ratings balance of the specific health insurance. The factors which affect this side of the balance were analysed in detail at the income side. Among these factors were included: trends in the number of policyholders, the development of receivables, the problems of "state policyholders", macroeconomic index and the redistribution system. The expediture balance was mainly focused on the cost of health care and preventive care. In conclusion the balance of one of the health insurance companies was evaluated in the selected years.

A indústria de seguros é uma atividade econômica relativamente jovem, possuindo raízes na revolução industrial. O desenvolvimento dessa indústria ocorreu de forma bastante intensa durante o século passado, quando a atividade passou a ser inserida na área de gestão de riscos. As Companhias de Seguros que trabalham nesse ambiente de negócio fundamentam todo o processo de precificação dos seus produtos em rígidas bases técnicas e atuariais. O presente trabalho dedica-se ao estudo dessas questões, abordando especificamente os seguros de vida, com ênfase à cobertura de morte. A pesquisa tem por objetivo comparar duas modalidades distintas de seguros que são ofertadas ao mercado: o seguro de vida individual e o seguro de vida em grupo. Embora ofereçam aos consumidores coberturas bastante similares, ambas as modalidades devem obedecer a requisitos e princípios técnicos diferenciados por parte das instituições que fazem a sua gestão. / The insurance industry is a relatively young economic activity; its bases are found in the industrial revolution. The development of such industry occurred in a very intense way in the last century, when the activity started being placed in the area of management of risks. The insurance companies that work in this business environment base the whole pricing process of their products on rigid technical and actuarial bases. The present work aims at studying these questions, focusing on the life insurance, with emphasis on the death coverage. The research intends to explore and compare two distinct modalities of insurance that are offered to the market: the individual life insurance and the group life insurance. Even though they offer similar coverage, they must fulfill requirements and different technical principles ruled by the institutions which are responsible for their management.