Product quality is an often-overlooked factor in the financial analysis of video games. Quality measurements have been proven to work as a reliable predictor of sales while also directly influencing performance in financial markets. If markets are efficient in reflecting new information, perception of video game quality will lead to a rational response. This thesis examines the market reaction to this information set. The release structure in the video game industry allows for a direct observation of the isolated quality effect through third-party reviews. These reviews form an objective measurement of game quality without having other revealing characteristics, as all other information is released prior to these reviews. The possibility to exploit this unique case motivates the analysis through multiple empirical designs. Results from a multivariate regression model show a statistically significant positive effect of higher quality on short-term returns over all models. The release of a lower quality game reduces returns only for high-profile games. Both of these results are confirmed by the results from a rules-based trading strategy. These effects subside in the face of longer holding periods and higher exposure. This thesis finds sufficient evidence that video game quality should be an important factor in the analysis of video game companies. At the same time, these effects are only persistent in the short-time validating an efficient response to new information by financial investors.

This thesis consists of three empirical studies. The first study, Rationales to Language-in-Education Policies in Postcolonial Africa: Towards a Holistic Approach, considers two issues. First, it explores the factors affecting the choice of an LiE policy in 35 African countries. The results show that the countries adopting a unilingual education system put different weights on the influential parameters than countries adopting a bilingual education system. Second, the study investigates how decision makers can ensure the optimal choice of language(s) of instruction by developing a non-cooperative game theoretic model with network externalities. The model shows that it is never optimal for two countries to become bilingual, or for the majority linguistic group to learn the language of the minority group, unless there is minimum cooperation to ensure an equitable redistribution of payoffs. The second study, The Role of Language in Learning Achievement: A Namibian Case Study, investigates the role played by home language and language proficiency on SACMEQ II mathematics scores of Namibian Grade-6 learners. HLM is used to partition the total variance in mathematics achievement into its within- and between-school components. Results show that although home language plays a limited role in explaining within- and between-school variations in mathematics achievement, language proficiency (proxied by reading scores) plays a significant role in the heterogeneity of results. Finally, the third study, Language Skills and Economic Returns, investigates the economic returns to language skills, assuming that language competencies constitute key components of human capital. It presents results from eight IALS countries. The study finds that in each country, skills in a second language are a significant factor that constrains wage opportunities positively.

The aim of this thesis is to compare long term investments, in particular, shares, bonds and bills. Based on the analysis of historical returns in 16 countries in the 20th century. The assets are compared and considered viable for long term investment based on few criteria. The saved amount is calculated by saving one third of current Social Security for 40 years for each asset class based on historical returns. The pension is calculated in two ways. Pension, especially the lowest ones, for each country is compared with the current pension in the Czech Republic.

本研究蒐集經濟日報、聯合報、與聯合晚報的新聞文章，以中研院的中文斷詞性統進 行結構性的處理，參考並延伸Tetlock、Saar-Tsechansky和Macskassy(2008)的研究方法，檢驗 使用一個簡單的語言量化方式是否能夠用來解釋與預測個別公司的會計營收與股票報酬。有 以下發現： 1. 正面詞彙(褒義詞)在新聞報導中的比例能夠預測高的公司營收。 2. 公司的股價對負面詞彙(貶義詞)有過度反應的現象，對正面詞彙(褒義詞)則有效率地充分 反應。 綜合以上發現，本論文得到，新聞媒體的文字內容能夠捕捉到一些關於公司基本面難 以量化的部份，而投資者迅速地將這些資訊併入股價。 / This research collects all of the news stories about China Steel Corporation from Economic Daily News, United Daily News, and United Evening News. These articles I collect are segmented by a Chinese Word Segmentation System of Academia Sinica and used by the methodology of Tetlock, Saar-Tsechansky, and Macskassy(2008). I examine whether a simple quantitative measure fo language can be used to predict individual firms’ accounting sales and stock returns. My two main findings are: 1. the fraction of positive words (commendatory term) in firm-specific news stories forecasts high firm sales; 2. firm’s stock prices briefly overreaction to the information embedded in negative words (Derogatory term); on the other hand, firm’s stock prices efficiently incorporate the information embedded in positive words (commendatory term). All of the above, we conclude this linguistic media content captures otherwise hard-toquantify aspects of firms’ fundamentals, which investors quickly incorporate into stock prices.