This Dissertation consists of two essays. The first essay studies the causal impacts of compensation disclosure on executive compensation, turnover, and executives’ job responsibilities. We find that, after the SEC mandates the disclosure of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs)’ compensation in 2006, CFO pay increases significantly relative to CEO pay, particularly in firms most affected by the mandate. CFOs are more likely to leave their firms following poor performance. The results are absent for the CEO or other executives, suggesting they are unique outcomes of enhanced CFO compensation disclosures. The evidence is consistent with more intense monitoring following the disclosure mandate. CFOs require additional compensation for the loss of private benefits due to greater monitoring and are subject to greater internal discipline. There is also some evidence that the CFOs hide bad news and lower corporate reporting quality after the mandate, suggesting that CFOs engage in more short-term behavior to boost their performance and avoid termination. The second essay of my dissertation focuses on the idiosyncratic volatility puzzle - the negative relation between estimated idiosyncratic volatility and the subsequent month returns documented by Ang et al (2006). We document a systematic pattern of temporary increases in the estimated idiosyncratic volatility for the quintile of stocks with the highest estimated idiosyncratic volatility in a given month. A large portion of this temporary increase in the estimated idiosyncratic volatility is reversed in the subsequent month. This temporary increase in the idiosyncratic volatility for the quintile of stocks with the highest estimated idiosyncratic volatility is associated with relatively large positive returns (positive abnormal returns) in the estimation month and relatively low returns (negative abnormal returns) in the subsequent month. Our evidence shows that these temporary increases in the estimated idiosyncratic volatility and the related positive and negative abnormal returns in the estimation and subsequent months, respectively, create a negative relation between the estimated idiosyncratic volatility and subsequent month returns documented in the prior literature (Ang et al. 2006). We find no significant relation between idiosyncratic volatility and subsequent returns for eighty percent of the stocks that do not exhibit large changes in idiosyncratic volatility despite large differences in the levels of their idiosyncratic volatility. Finally, there is no relation between the estimated idiosyncratic volatility and subsequent returns after a lag of 3 months when the abnormal returns associated with temporary changes are no longer present. Overall, our results are consistent with the notion that there is no relation between the true underlying idiosyncratic volatility and expected returns, and that the previously documented negative relation between estimated idiosyncratic volatility and subsequent month’s returns is being driven by temporary one-month increases in the estimated idiosyncratic volatility and the associated abnormal returns for a subset of stocks. / Ph. D. / The disclosure of executive compensation is an important issue because it affects the investors’ ability to monitor the firms’ compensation practices. Properly designed compensation contracts, in turn, incentivize the executives to make decisions that serve the investors’ interests. The SEC has made continuous regulatory efforts to monitor the executive compensation and has adopted several disclosure rules. However, the impacts of such enhanced compensation disclosure has not been well understood. My first essay studies the impacts of compensation disclosure on executive compensation, turnover, and executives’ job responsibilities. We find that, after the SEC mandates the disclosure of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs)’ compensation in 2006, CFO pay increases significantly relative to CEO pay, particularly in firms most affected by the mandate. CFOs are more likely to leave their firms following poor performance. There is also some evidence that the CFOs hide bad news and lower corporate reporting quality after the mandate, suggesting that CFOs engage in more short-term behavior to boost their performance and avoid termination. Traditional asset pricing models in which investors hold well-diversified portfolios imply that there should be no relation between firm specific risk (the idiosyncratic volatility) and the expected returns. However, Ang et al (2006) document that stocks with high firm specific risks earn low subsequent returns. The significant negative relation between firm specific risk and subsequent returns has puzzled many researchers. The second essay of my dissertation provides a possible resolution to this puzzle.

This thesis focuses on the equity premium puzzle, risk-free rate puzzle and possible solutions of these two quantitative conundrums. Original formulation of both puzzles is introduced and comprehensive literature survey is presented to show the developments regarding this topic. These include risk-based explanations, non-risk based explanations and behavioral finance perspective. Main contribution of this study dwells in estimation of these two puzzles for the Czech Republic. Using consumption-based asset pricing model with time separable preferences, presence of the two puzzles is estimated employing annual Czech data from 1995 to 2011. The equity premium puzzle is not present in the Czech Republic, as the coefficient of risk aversion 5.57  . On the other hand, the risk-free rate puzzle is as severe as in developed economies. Furthermore, the individual time preference parameter  is estimated to be larger than one - a counterintuitive result suggesting consumers prefer unit of consumption tomorrow to unit of consumption today. Robustness of the results is confirmed when different proxy for a risk-free rate is used. Results do not change significantly and the risk-free rate puzzle persists. Direction for future research of the financial market puzzles in the Czech Republic is suggested.

This experiment was conducted in two zoos - ZOO Troja in Prague and ZOO Ohrada in Hluboká nad Vltavou. The animals were presented the food enrichment of a puzzle type with different difficulties. Solving each levels of puzzles was being compared with the dominance of individuals in the group that was being observed by the aggression among all examinees. Nosal and their accession to the normal diet. All data were statistically evaluated. With the obtained results, the theory of "index of balance in the group" was tested.

Ce mémoire vise à explorer quelles conventions narratives dans les romans policier son essentiel pour un dénouement satisfaisant chez le lecteur. En utilisant une approche critique littéraire et (post)structuraliste de la création d’un texte, nous pouvons attribuer l’essentiel du sentiment de satisfaction produit par la fiction policière à la relation étroite entre l’écrivain et le lecteur. C’est en comprenant le rôle d'un lecteur et celui d'un écrivain que l'écrivain peut rédiger un texte satisfaisant. Ceci est accompli en utilisant les conventions narratives et les attentes du genre (et du format de l'art) et en les présentant d'une manière inattendue. Ce mémoire contribue à une compréhension plus approfondie des thèmes de la narratologie et de la fiction policière anglaise. En tant que corpus principal, le mémoire sera composé de deux études de cas distinctes qui serviront d'exemples afin de démontrer l'argument principal. La première étude de cas est Evil Under the Sun d’Agatha Christie, qui sert d’exemple d’un roman policier conventionnelle. Le deuxième cas d’étude est Caïn’s Jawbone de Torquemada, qui sert d’exemple d’un roman policier non conventionnelle. Le but de ces études de cas est d’analyser l’efficacité de certains aspects de l’intrigue narrative et la manière dont le lecteur et l’écrivain influencent la forme du récit. / This thesis aims to explore which narrative conventions and why certain narrative conventions in puzzle plots provide a satisfactory conclusion. Using a literary critical and (post) structuralists approach to the creation of a text, we can trace most of the feeling of fulfillment provided by detective fiction to the close relationship between the writer and the reader. By understanding the role of a reader and the role of a writer, the writer can craft a text that is satisfactory. This is accomplished by using narrative conventions and expectation of the genre (and of the format of the art) and delivering them in an unexpected manner. This thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of the topics of narratology and detective fiction. As a main corpus, the thesis will be composed of two separate case studies to be used as examples in order to demonstrate the main argument. The first case study is Agatha Christie’s Evil Under the Sun which serves as an example of a conventional puzzle plot. The second study case is Torquemada’s Cain’s Jawbone which serves as an example of an unconventional puzzle plot. The purpose of these case studies is to analyze the effectiveness of certain aspects of the puzzle plot narrative and how the reader and the writer influence the shaping of the narrative.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychological Sciences / Jerome Frieman / Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) live in highly-complex, female-dominated groups called “clans.” Due to their social arrangement, spotted hyenas were a logical species on which to test the social complexity hypothesis. In the present study, they were presented with a series of puzzle boxes designed to test problem-solving behavior. The five puzzles varied in difficulty. All spotted hyenas solved the puzzle with the lowest difficulty level, five out of six solved the medium puzzles at least once, and one out of six solved the high difficulty puzzle. Some decreases in behavior diversity and time working on the puzzles were observed over successful trials; however, the decreases were only significant for successful trials of one medium-level puzzle. Decreases in work time were observed for some unsuccessful trials and the decrease was statistically significant for the highest difficulty puzzle. Overall, spotted hyenas were proficient at problem solving in the present study. Social learning is an important component of a lengthy juvenile period for spotted hyenas, and they have also been shown to influence one another’s feeding behavior. Furthermore, spotted hyenas participate in scramble competition when feeding and forage for and hoard food. In light of these behaviors, social learning was examined using the social transmission of a flavor preference (STFP) procedure. STFP was not observed overall. The sex of the subjects did not significantly influence the results; however, subjects that interacted with each other longer were significantly more likely to show STFP. The STFP procedure may not be sensitive enough to detect social learning in spotted hyenas. Perhaps spotted hyenas have no need to learn STFP due to their digestive and/or immune systems. The results of the current experiments make important contributions to existing knowledge. Data from other species like spotted hyenas are vital for evaluating the generality of the social complexity hypothesis since support thus far has come from data on primates. This study was the first to investigate STFP in a species from the Feliformia suborder. Additionally, finding more evidence that spotted hyenas have advanced cognitive abilities is essential for researchers and zoo personnel who work with spotted hyenas in captivity.

Credit spread is the extra risk-reward that an investor is bearing for investing in corporate bonds instead of government bonds. Structural models, which are simple in their framework, fail to explain the occurring credit spread and underestimate the predicted credit spread. Hence, the need for new models and exploration of systematic and idiosyncratic variables arose. The present paper aims to investigate if the predictability of lower-medium investment grade bonds and non-investment grade bonds credit spread can be improved by incorporating systematic and idiosyncratic variables into a fixed effect panel data regression model, and whether the selected variables’ significance has high influence on credit spread or not. Initial results showed that fixed effect panel data regression model underperforms the structural models and under predicts the actual credit spread. The applied model explained 13.5% of the lower-medium investment grade bonds credit spread and 8.5% of non-investment grade bonds. Further, systematic variables have higher influence on lower-medium investment grade bonds and idiosyncratic variables have higher influence on non-investment grade bonds. The predictability of credit spread can be improved by employing correct explanatory variables which are selected based on the characteristics of the sample size.

La saga Saw est une franchise qui a marqué le cinéma d’horreur des années 2000. Le présent mémoire tâchera d’en faire une étude détaillée et rigoureuse en utilisant la notion de jeu. En élaborant tout d’abord un survol du cinéma d’horreur contemporain et en observant la réception critique de la saga à travers l’étude de différents articles, ce travail tentera en majeure partie d’analyser la franchise Saw en rapport avec l’approche ludique du cinéma en général et celle adoptée par Bernard Perron. Cette étude, qui s’élaborera tant au niveau diégétique que spectatoriel, aura pour but de montrer l’importance de la place qu’occupe la notion de jeu dans cette série de films. / The Saw saga is a franchise that marked the horror film industry in the 2000’s. This report will try and give a thorough and detailled study while using the idea of a game. At the same time taking a cursory glance at contemporary horror films and observing how the critics were received by studying different articles. This assignment will in majority analyse the Saw saga using a recreational approach of movies in general as well as the one adopted by Bernard Perron. This study will be elaborated on a "diegetique" and "spectatoriel" level – the goal being to show the importance that games occupy in this film series.

We present in this thesis three distinct experiments, studying issues in behavioural economics and finan- cial market. In the first paper, we study the level-k reasoning model in an experimental extension of Arad and Rubinsten (2012) “11-20 Money Request Game”. In the second paper, we introduce an experimental design where traders can buy or sell the rights for performing complex decisional task. The design seeks to test the allocative efficiency of markets. In the third paper, we introduce an Arrow-Debreu market where traders have diverse and partial information about the true state of nature. The design seeks to test the Rational Expectations model’s prediction that all relevant information will be aggregated into market prices.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-08-24T12:50:36Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Mario Madureira Fontes.pdf: 94224761 bytes, checksum: 0d01cb5af73fd93f89f5bc68f2a6268b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-24T12:50:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mario Madureira Fontes.pdf: 94224761 bytes, checksum: 0d01cb5af73fd93f89f5bc68f2a6268b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-15 / The motivation for developing this thesis stems from the wish to find ways t o make the learning of computational concepts easier . The objective of this work is to contribute to the learning/teaching of computational concepts based on narrative learning and critical thinking approaches. In order to develop this objective , OCC-RDD narratives and instructional card games were chosen as instruments. A mechanism called puzzle triggers was conceptualized and integrated in these instruments, and thanks to the introduction of this concept, a very important distinction was made possible: the puzzles correspond to problem-solving oriented cognitive actions, which enable the interpreter to construct puzzles in their mind. As the puzzle triggers evoque puzzles, they are thought to engage the students in the learning context. Conceptualizing the mechanism of puzzle triggers to be integrated in the OCC-RDD narratives and in instructional card games follows a dynamic and constructivist approach based on critical thinking. Three questions were posed and discussed in this work: how can puzzle triggers be structured in OCC-RDD narratives and in card games so that the student develops the kind of logical thinking necessary to acquire computational concepts? How to arouse puzzles within the OCC-RDD scenes and in the process of creating intructional card games? Are there puzzle triggers which are more adequate to be integrated in certain types of OCC-RDD narrative scenes and in certain stages of instructional card games? In order to answer these questions, case studies involving the application of a proposal to teaching computacional concepts to students attending Engineering and Digital Course Games were made. In this teaching proposal, puzzle triggers and puzzles were introduced in OCC-RDD narratives and instructional card games. In order to develop these studies, a guideline for developing OCC-RD narratives and instructional card games was developed. As research hypotheses, the following were proposed: puzzle triggers evoque puzzles and these are essential for developing and structuring critical thinking as students learn a new concept. The introduction of puzzle triggers turned out to be successful, because they stimulated planning, pondering, and evaluating of intervening factors, as well as the process of making decisions and taking actions in order to solve problems. As they performed the activities evoked by the puzzle triggers, the students were able to evaluate the problems they faced from multiple points of view and in this way, they were able to develop critical thinking and reasoning, using strategies and realizing representations to solve problems / A motivação para o desenvolvimento desta tese decorre da intenção de fornecer subsídios para facilitar a aprendizagem de conceitos computacionais. O objetivo geral consiste em contribuir para o ensino-aprendizagem de conceitos computacionais a partir de uma abordagem fundamentada em aprendizagem narrativa e pensamento crítico. Para desenvolver esse objetivo, foram utilizados como instrumentos, narrativas OCC-RDD e jogos de cartas instrucionais e nesses integrado um mecanismo denominado gatilhos de desafios. Com a introdução desse conceito, uma distinção importante é formalizada: os desafios correspondem às ações cognitivas que se orientam para a resolução de problemas, enquanto os gatilhos de desafios concernem os estímulos que levam o solucionador a interpretá-los e construir em sua mente os desafios. Considera-se que os gatilhos de desafios, pela potencialidade em desencadear desafios, podem ser utilizados para engajar os estudantes no contexto de aprendizagem. A formalização do conceito de gatilhos de desafios como mecanismo a ser incorporado em roteirização de narrativas instrucionais e de jogos de cartas instrucionais contempla uma visão da aprendizagem como uma atividade dinâmica e construtivista alicerçada em pensamento crítico. Três questões são postuladas e discutidas: como os desafios podem ser estruturados em narrativas escritas com a técnica OCC-RDD ou em jogos de cartas para levar o estudante a desenvolver o raciocínio lógico necessário para a aquisição de conceitos de computação?; como suscitar os desafios dentro das cenas das narrativas OCC-RDD e dentro do processo de criação dos jogos de cartas?; há gatilhos de desafios que se adequam melhor a certos tipos de cenas de narrativas OCC-RDD e a certas etapas de jogos de cartas instrucionais?. Para respondê-las, foram desenvolvidos estudos de caso que envolveram aplicação de uma proposta de ensino de conceitos computacionais com o uso de gatilhos de desafios e desafios introduzidos em narrativas OCC-RDD e em jogos de cartas instrucionais para alunos dos cursos de Engenharia e de Jogos Digitais. Para desenvolver esses estudos, foi elaborado um roteiro para a criação e o desenvolvimento das narrativas OCC-RDD e dos jogos de cartas instrucionais. Como hipóteses de pesquisa, foram postuladas: os gatilhos de desafios desencadeiam desafios e estes são essenciais para o desenvolvimento e a estruturação do pensamento crítico dos estudantes ao aprenderem um novo conceito; os gatilhos de desafios conferem um aspecto de dinamicidade ao serem inseridos em narrativas e jogos de cartas. Os gatilhos de desafios mostraram-se eficazes, pois estimularam, pela criação do desafio, o planejamento, a reflexão, a avaliação de fatores intervenientes, a tomada de decisões e o agir para a solução dos problemas. Ao executarem as tarefas sugeridas pelos gatilhos de desafios, os estudantes realizaram uma confiável avaliação do problema a ser solucionado a partir de múltiplos pontos de vista e, dessa maneira, desenvolveram o pensamento crítico, ou seja, a capacidade de raciocinar, de empregar estratégias e de realizar representações para solucionar problemas

Equity risk premium is a financial variable that is surrounded by mystery. Starting from the almost 30 year old equity premium puzzle caused by considerations that equity premium values which are observable in past data imply an implausibly high risk aversion to more recent statements that equity premium does not exist anymore. The purpose of this paper is to find out more about the traits and characteristics of equity risk premium, its current status and interactions of its values across international markets by conducting data analysis on mature equity markets using optimal methods as suggested in academic literature. This paper attempts to clear some of the confusion regarding equity premiums by analyzing equity excess returns in the mature equity markets of France, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom and USA from 1970 to 2012. It is concluded that equity premium follows a mean reverting process however in short-term and mid-term its values can be volatile and in March 2000 there might have been a structural break. The obtained current equity premium values are significantly higher than zero. At the same time they are lower than popularly used values that are based on longer periods of past data. The paper also finds out that equity premiums in different countries are highly correlated not only due to shared global influence but also due to some direct causality relationships between them, most of which are positive. A panel data analysis is conducted as well to test the explanatory power of some macroeconomic and financial variables on the equity risk premium values and it is concluded that risk-free rate and unemployment rate have some explanatory power for equity risk premium values. This paper manages to clear a part of the mystery that surrounds the equity risk premium.