Le résumé en français n'a pas été communiqué par l'auteur. / In this paper, I study the effect of risk-free rate shocks on firms that are exposed to interest rate risk. To examine their influence on the firms’ investment behaviours, I define an interest rate exposure, which is measured by the total floating debt, so that the impact of interest rate shocks on firms can be measured by the product of the interest rate exposure and the change in the interest rate. Using the Compustat data from 1974-2012 and the US annual fundamental financial data, I firstly find that the firms, which are exposed more to interest, have more sensitive cash flows of interest payments and retained earnings. Secondly, I find that exposed firms’ investment behaviours are sensitive to the interest rate shocks as well: the higher the exposure to interest rate risk, the more the firms would react to interest rate shocks. Furthermore, I show that financially constrained or high-leverage firms are more sensitive to interest rate shocks than financially non-constrained or low-leverage ones. Interestingly, I find that the fact that firms have different reactions to the interest rate shocks of different signs also works for R&D policies. Finally, I show that the model structure changes a lot after the 2008 financial crisis. We study the reactions of insurance companies to the unexpected interest shocks, which are defined by using the level and the slope of future contract interest rates. We find that on average, insurance companies have significantly positive abnormal returns following a positive unexpected shock in the level or the slope of interest rates: a 1% increase in the level or the slope of interest rates will increase the abnormal returns on average by 2.59% and 1.63%, respectively. We also find that insurance firms engage in maturity transformation in the opposite direction of banks: insurance companies, whose long-term debts will maturate in a very long term, will benefit from the increase in interest rate slope shocks rather than banks’ riding on the yield curve through a large mismatch between assets and liabilities. The empirical results provide important policy implications: interest rate shocks boost the value of insurance equities, with a decreasing effect on life, property & causality, and multi-line, but not for the reinsurance or insurance brokers. I investigate how the 2011 and 2014 EU stress tests affect the risk-taking of Euro-pean banks. I document a non-monotonic relationship between banks’ risk-shifting resulting from regulatory arbitrage and the tightness of their capital constraint (i.e., the distance between their ex-ante capital ratio and the regulatory level): banks with capital ratios marginally above the regulatory level do more regulatory arbitrage than banks with a level of capital ratio significantly below or above the regulatory level. I also study the indirect effect of the tests on the financing costs of banks which are excluded from the tests: their financing costs on the corporate bond market increase with the level of negative information released in the country in which they are located.

Student Number : 9904331V - MA research report - School of Social Sciences - Faculty of Humanities / The sexual behavioural choices made by adolescents is a salient issue in South Africa. The practice of risky sexual behaviour puts one at risk of unwanted pregnancy, STI and HIV infection. These behaviours affect one not only physically but mentally as well. Adolescence is a “turbulent” time in ones life and risky sexual behaviour makes this period all the more difficult and could result in disastrous consequences. This is due to the fact that sexual health and sexual practices of adolescents has implications for morbidity and mortality rates in South Africa. In order to address the issue of risky sexual behavioural choices made by adolescents, this study has examined the effect of family characteristics on adolescent sexual behavioural choices. The 1998 South African Demographic and Health Survey data was used. The data set was a nationally representative data set with a probability sample of 12000 women aged 15-49 taking part in it. Analysis for this study was based on 2373 female adolescent respondents aged 15-19. The association between individual and family background characteristics and risky sexual behavioural choices was examined. Crucial variables were extracted and fitted to logistic regression models. The study found that 47% of the female adolescents were sexually active. Of these, only 15% used a condom at the last sexual encounter despite the fact that 78% had a high degree of knowledge concerning HIV and condom use. South African adolescents are thus engaging in risky sexual behaviour. The family household structures in which adolescents reside was found to be associated with risky sexual behavioural choices. Sexual activity is strongly associated with socioeconomic status of the family. Condom use and HIV & contraceptive (condom) knowledge was found to be less strongly associated with the socio-economic (financial) status of the family but rather the social processes and relationships within the family are speculated to have a greater effect. The need for a more in-depth analysis with reference to family processes and relationships is recommended in order to properly understand the familial effect on sexual behavioural choices. The findings from this study have implications for reproductive health and reproductive rights policies. Appropriate national strategies are needed to reduce risky sexual practices and thus ensure lower morbidity and mortality among South African youth.

A Research Report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Community Based-Counselling Psychology in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand / Train surfing or staff riding has been a part of the South African working-class economic fabric since the initiation of segregation under apartheid. Now within contemporary society the activity has gained great media attention due to the fatalities that are so commonly associated with it. Despite it being a globally and locally longstanding activity it is still an area that is under-researched. The current study was aimed at exploring the growing phenomenon and how it is constructed by youth in Soweto. A total of 32 adolescent boys and girls between the ages of 18 and 21 were recruited from a public secondary school in Orlando West, Soweto, to take part in one of four focus groups. The participants’ responses from the focus group discussions were recorded then analysed using thematic content analysis. Emerging themes, including what it means to be an adolescent living in Soweto postapartheid, what adolescents now consider having fun, and what they consider to be risky behaviour, were explored in the data analysis. In addition, alternative growing phenomena within Soweto were identified, namely biking and drag-racing. Evident from the analysis was the pressure felt and experienced by adolescents, especially by male adolescents within society and the school environment to fit in to popular constructions of a growing adult and the constructions of hegemonic masculinity in contemporary South Africa. It was also found that the train surfing participants used the practice as a means to define their identity as young, black males living in South Africa. However, as much as some of the accounts of the reasons behind risky behaviours were in line with hegemonic constructions of masculinity, also revealed were the alternative and opposing voices which appeared to be tense with emotional, personal and social sacrifices. This fluidity of identity was explored through the various components of identity such as race, class and gender that all interact within the context of Soweto and results in differing adolescent identity constructions, such as, the ambitious and inspired, as well as the risk-taking train surfers who are described as being ‘in limbo’. The research concludes by shifting contemporary understanding of the phenomenon from one of thrill seeking to a performance of identity and masculinity that is influenced by race, class, and gender.

We analyze the effect of the coach's gender on risk-taking in women sports teams using data taken from National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball games. We find that the coach's gender has a sizable and significant effect on risk-taking, a finding that is robust to several empirical strategies, including an instrumental variable approach. In particular, we find that risk-taking among teams with a male head coach is 5 percentage points greater than that in teams with a female head coach. This gap is persistent over time and across intermediate game standings. The fact that risk-taking has a significantly positive effect on game success suggests that female coaches should be more risk-taking. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Increasingly the Internet has been used by men who have sex with men (MSM) to facilitate social and sexual relationships. Finding from studies investigating the relationship between sexual risk and MSM who meet sex partners on the Internet in either venue-based (offline) and Internet-based (online) settings have been mixed. In an effort to contribute to the knowledge base on this topic, this study analyzed data from two samples of MSM recruited in New York City: Web-based HIV Behavioral Surveillance (WHBS) and National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS). The relationship between sexual risk behaviors including unprotected anal intercourse (UAI), drug use, number of sexual partners, use of performance enhancing drugs (also known as erectile dysfunction drugs or PDE5 inhibitors), and group sex participation and mode of sex partner recruitment are examined. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analysis were used to examine the research questions and hypothesis.

Abstract is available to download.

The purpose of this research was to understand the contexts that support the barriers to women’s advancement and to identify the conditions under which women leaders overcome the barriers to attain top corporate leadership positions. I have identified and discussed three distinct approaches for understanding how we can increase women’s representation and influence in the executive and director ranks within top U.S. corporations. The first approach investigates the complexities of leveraging the social and cultural capital attained through post-secondary education in order gain entry into the corporate elite. The second approach examines gendered stereotypes of risk-taking versus the organizational risk-taking realities that are inherent in women corporate leaders’ climb to the top. The final approach considers the impact of external pressures in increasing the prevalence, power and influence of women corporate directors. Findings reveal some of the complexity in both the antecedents and consequences of gender diversity within top leadership of large U.S. firms. Taken together, the results convey the organizational and societal contexts that lead to more diverse corporate leadership.

No description available.

Recent evidence in the road safety research literature indicates that skills in hazard perception, visual search and attention may be developing executive functions in young novice drivers before the age of 25 years, contributing to their unintentional risk taking behaviour and subsequent high crash rates. The present research aimed to investigate these skills, whether they are predictive of each other, and whether hazard perception can be improved through road commentary training. Twenty-two young novice drivers and eight experienced drivers were recruited as participants in this study. The experienced drivers performed significantly better than the novice drivers on the hazard detection task that was specifically designed for the study. Their visual search skills were also examined and compared using the Visual Search and Attention Test, with the experienced drivers performing significantly better than the novice drivers. Interestingly, a significant positive correlation was found between the scores of the participants on the hazard detection task and the Visual Search and Attention Test which may indicate that the hazard detection skills can be predicted. The novice driver group who received 12 trials of video based road commentary training significantly improved in their hazard detection skills, suggesting that video based road commentary could be an effective road safety intervention for young novice drivers and if developed into a more comprehensive programme, holds promise for future implementation into the New Zealand Graduated Driver Licensing System. The results also hold promise for future investigation into the use of the Visual Search and Attention Test as a predictor of hazard perception skills in novice drivers.

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 on (March 2, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.