Bachelor-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2008.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2008.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2006.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin. / Typescript (carbon copy). eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [100]-105).

Paul's collection for the poor in Jerusalem has been neglected in recent New Testament scholarship, and the two monographs by Keith Nickle and Dieter Georgi have largely treated the topic from a historical-critical perspective. The collection however was primarily a socio-economic project. This study seeks to place Paul's collection in its original socio-economic setting, specifically in the Corinthian church of the first century. Part one deals with method, an important and often controversial element in studies of the social world of the New Testament. The first chapter of this section surveys the general debates, problems and theories in social-scientific methods, with especial focus on the use of models. It is concluded that models are both necessary and limited. The second chapter addresses specific issues in socio-economic studies of the New Testament world. A proper understanding of the issues and debates in economic history is critical to the interpretation of economic texts and data, and the proper description of socio-economic structures in the Graeco-Roman world. There are several socio-economic models which could be applied to Roman Corinth of the first century. Part two describes the socio-economic context of Roman Corinth and the Corinthian church from the perspective of economic models. The first chapter of the section suggests that the economy of Roman Corinth was relatively diversified and robust, and that significant numbers of the non-elite had real opportunities to be economically self-sufficient and to be socially mobile. This, it is suggested, is not consistent with the Finleyan model of the economy and the city. Rather Roman Corinth was a commercial city in which economy was primarily based on commerce rather than agriculture. From this picture of economy, the social structure of Roman Corinth was not in fact merely divided between the elite and the non-elite, but rather divided along various gradations, especially within the non-elite. The second chapter evaluates the consensus view that Paul's congregation in Corinth represented a wide cross section of Corinthian society and specifically considers the recent challenge to the consensus view by Justin Meggitt. The early churches have similar social structures with voluntary associations and with Roman households, which suggests that there was considerable internal social disparity. It is concluded that the consensus view remains essentially correct, where some early Christians were relatively higher on the social scale than others. These wealthier Christians held to similar values to the elite of Graeco-Roman society and behaved as the elite would have done in their sphere of influence. Part three looks at the collection project specifically as a means of illuminating the discussion over the social make-up of the Corinthian church, and other early Christian churches, and its role in the conflict in the church and in 2 Corinthians. The first chapter of the section socio-economically locates the communities which participated in the collection, with specific focus on the Corinthian church. The socio-economic approach enhances the understanding of the collection as a means for material relief and the socio-economic location of the Corinthian church as relatively wealthy when compared to the Jerusalem church and the Macedonian churches. 2 Corinthians 8-9 only makes complete sense in light of wealthy Christians who had misconstrued the collection as an act of patronage. The second chapter discusses the collection in the conflict setting reflected in 2 Corinthians and concludes that the collection was the main occasion for 2 Corinthians as a whole. Paul's response entails an alternative economy of God which must overshadow both the real economy of Corinthian church and the competitive economy of Corinthian society.

Alternative investments are a new but fast growing phenomenon in the South African market, hedge funds in particular were introduces to our market in the year 2000. Assets under management by hedge funds have enjoyed fast growth over the years relative to assets managed by mutual funds. Including hedge funds in an investment portfolio represents a unique proven opportunity for pension funds to protect their investments during bear markets. Unfortunately only a limited number of investors outside the industry understand what factors drive returns in hedge fund strategies. The hedge fund industry is still a mystery to many investors who as a result have not been able to take advantage of absolute returns generated through investing in hedge funds. This quantitative research aimed to determine which dominant factors drive strategy aggregate returns in the Hedge Fund Industry through correlation. It also aimed to analyse regression of these factors to returns on different strategies as well as among themselves. Lastly to develop models of hedge fund aggregate returns by equity strategy using the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) model. Results of the research show that the Mid Cap index is the primary driver of equity strategies selected in this research. The Long Short interest rates as the secondary driver, the Long Bias has the small cap index and global markets as the secondary driver, for the Market Neutral strategy has a short position in small caps as its secondary performance and resource indices are the secondary performance drivers for the Global Macro strategy. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

In this dissertation I examine mutual fund performance from the points of view of three distinct, but interrelated parties: individual investors, financial advisors, and the boards of directors of mutual fund companies. In the first essay, "Comparing Fund Flow Sensitivity for Load and No-Load Funds Under Different Market States," I compare the flow-performance sensitivity of no-load funds and the three main classes of load fund shares, assuming investment advisors are more likely to guide the decision-making process of load fund investors. I find that load investors are more sensitive to raw fund return than are no-load investors. The flow to performance relation increases during good market states, but portfolios formed from the top performing funds after good market years actually tend to underperform during the following three years. In the second essay, "Mutual Fund Performance and Board Characteristics Relating to Manager Terminations," I examine the timing of the decision to replace fund managers. I find that while returns and flows improve for those funds which replace their managers, very similar improvement is found in funds which do not terminate their managers. However, for mutual fund boards which do choose to replace a poorly performing manager, stronger board governance characteristics are associated with a greater probability of early replacement. In the third essay, "Mutual Fund Performance in Extreme Market States," I examine performance of actively managed mutual funds separately for good and bad states of the market to test whether mutual funds perform differently under different market conditions. I find that the sample of funds performs 2.3 percentage points better in good states over bad on a risk adjusted basis. I also analyze the performance of mutual funds by assuming individual funds are part of a larger, more complete portfolio. The performance of the portfolios closely matches that of the individual funds.

Today, governments function in an “anti-government era” and are forced to provide more services with fewer financial resources (Watson, 1997, p.1). To deal with this situation, they are creating savings or a budgetary cushion (e.g., unreserved fund balances) to stabilize taxes and expenditures (Wolkoff, 1987, Tyer, 1993, Shelton et al, 2000). But, prior research suggests that the recommended benchmark of savings is not adequate for stabilization. To move beyond this benchmark, researchers are seeking to identify those factors that influence the level of savings maintained by governments (Hendrick, 2006). Because there is no consensus on those factors, this research seeks to address this gap in the literature by using the Bounded Fiscal/Demographic perspective used by Marlowe (2004) to examine fiscal and demographic factors. It uses the Politico-Structure perspective also used by Marlowe to examine political factors. Moreover, it uses the organizational financial obligations perspective used by Hendrick (2006) to examine organizational factors that affect the accumulation of unreserved fund balances for Mississippi’s 82 counties. It focuses on the change in the unreserved fund balance as a percent of current general fund expenditures by examining the change between FY 1995 to FY 1999 of the unreserved fund balance during a period of fiscal plenty and the change between FY 2000 to FY 2004, a period of fiscal stress. Overall, Mississippi counties are maintaining either too much or too little of an unreserved fund balance. Their unreserved fund balances ranged from less than their current expenditures to over 10% of their current expenditures. Marginal support was also found for the Bounded Fiscal/Demographic, Politico-Structure, and Organizational Financial Obligations perspectives used to explain the behavior of the unreserved fund balances. More specifically, the findings suggest that Mississippi counties build reserves during times of fiscal plenty and dispense those funds during times of fiscal stress. Counties also showed a tendency to address short-term needs and demands of their residents when revenues were plentiful. However, during fiscal stress, they showed a tendency to be more cost-conscious by focusing more on maintaining rather than expanding current expenditures.

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