Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Investments Australia Econometric models'

[Truncated abstract] This thesis examines competing asset-pricing models in Australia with the goal of establishing the model which best explains cross-sectional stock returns. The research employs Australian equity data over the period 1980-2001, with the major analyses covering the more recent period 1990-2001. The study first documents that existing asset-pricing models namely the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and domestic Fama-French three-factor model fail to meet the widely applied Merton?s zero-intercept criterion for a well-specified pricing model. This study instead documents that the US three-factor model provides the best description of Australian stock returns. The three US Fama-French factors are statistically significant for the majority of portfolios consisting of large stocks. However, no significant coefficients are found for portfolios in the smallest size quintile. This result initially suggests that the largest firms in the Australian market are globally integrated with the US market while the smallest firms are not. Therefore, the evidence at this point implies domestic segmentation in the Australian market. This is an unsatisfying outcome, considering that the goal of this research is to establish the pricing model that best describes portfolio returns. Given pervasive evidence that liquidity is strongly related to stock returns, the second part of the major analyses derives and incorporates this potentially priced factor to the specified pricing models ... This study also introduces a methodology for individual security analysis, which implements the portfolio analysis, in this part of analyses. The technique makes use of visual impressions conveyed by the histogram plots of coefficients' p-values. A statistically significant coefficient will have its p-values concentrated at below a 5% level of significance; a histogram of p-values will not have a uniform distribution ... The final stage of this study employs daily return data as an examination of what is indeed the best pricing model as well as to provide a robustness check on monthly return results. The daily result indicates that all three US Fama-French factors, namely the US market, size and book-to-market factors as well as LIQT are statistically significant, while the Australian three-factor model only exhibits one significant market factor. This study has discovered that it is in fact the US three-factor model with LIQT and not the domestic model, which qualifies for the criterion of a well-specified asset-pricing model and that it best describes Australian stock returns.

Historically, the Consumption Capital Asset Pricing Method (C-CAPM) has performed poorly in that estimated parameters are implausible, model restrictions are often rejected and inferences appear to be very sensitive to the choice of economic agents' preferences. In this study, we estimate and test the C-CAPM with Constant Relative Risk Aversion (CRRA) using time series data from Germany, South Africa, Britain and America during relatively short time periods with the latest available data sets. Hansen's GMM approach is applied to estimate the parameters arising from this model. In general, estimated parameters fall outside the bounds specified by Lund & Engsted (1996) and Cuthbertson & Nitzsche (2004), even though the models are not rejected by the J-test and are associated with relatively small minimum distances.

This study examines the importance of public research and development (R&D) expenditures and innovations (prices) to U S agricultural productivity employing panel vector error correction econometric technique Specifically, time-series and panel unit root tests, panel cointegration procedures, panel causality tests, and vector error correction model are used in the analysis. Empirical application to U S state-level data for 1960-2004 suggests positive and statistically significant influence of both supply-side drivers, in the form of public R&D expenditures, and demand-side drivers, in the form of innovations (prices), on total factor productivity growth.

This thesis models the Australian-US Dollar (AUD/USD) exchange rate with particular attention being paid to investor risk aversion. Accounting for investor risk aversion in AUD/USD exchange rate modelling is novel, so too is the method used to measure risk aversion in this thesis. Investor risk aversion is measured using a technique developed in Bliss and Panigirtzoglou (2004), which makes use of Probability Density Functions (PDFs) extracted from option markets. More conventional approaches use forward-market pricing or Uncovered Interest Parity. Several methods of estimating PDFs from option and spot markets are examined, with the estimations from currency spot-markets representing an original application of an arbitrage technique developed in Stutzer (1996) to the AUD/USD exchange rate. The option and spot-market PDFs are compared using their first four moments and if estimated judiciously, the spot-market PDFs are found to have similar shapes to the option-market PDFs. So in the absence of an AUD/USD exchange rate options market, spot-market PDFs can act as a reasonable substitute for option-market PDFs for the purpose of examining market sentiment. The Relative Risk Aversion (RRA) attached to the AUD/USD, the US Dollar-Japanese Yen, the US Dollar-Swiss Franc and the US-Canadian Dollar exchange rates is measured using the Bliss and Panigirtzoglou (2004) technique. Amongst these exchange rates, only the AUD/USD exchange rate demonstrates a significant level of investor RRA and only over a weekly forecast horizon. The Bliss and Panigirtzoglou (2004) technique is also used to approximate a time-varying risk premium for the AUD/USD exchange rate. This risk premium is added to the cointegrating vectors of fixed-price and asset monetary models of the AUD/USD exchange rate. An index of Australia???s export commodity prices is also added. The out-of-sample forecasting ability of these cointegrating vectors is tested relative to a random walk using an error-correction framework. While adding the time-varying risk premium improves this forecasting ability, adding export commodity prices does so by more. Further, including both the time-varying risk premium and export commodity prices in the cointegrating vectors reduces their forecasting ability. So the time-varying risk premium is important for AUD/USD exchange rate modelling, but not as important as export commodity prices.

This dissertation contains a series of essays that provide empirical evidence for Australia on some fundamental predictions of real business cycle models and on the convergence and persistence of real interest rates. Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction to the issues examined in each chapter and provides an overview of the methodologies that are used. Tests of various basic predictions of standard real business cycle models for Australia are presented in Chapters 2, 3 and 4. Chapter 2 considers the question of great ratios for Australia. These are ratios of macroeconomic variables that are predicted by standard models to be stationary in the steady state. Using time series econometric techniques (unit root tests and cointegration tests) Australia great ratios are examined. In Chapter 3 a more restrictive implication of real business cycle models than the existence of great ratios is considered. Following the methodology proposed by Canova, Finn and Pagan (1994) the equilibrium decision rules for some standard real business cycle are tested on Australian data. The final essay on this topic is presented in Chapter 4. In this chapter a large-country, small-country is used to try and understand the reason for the sharp rise in Australia??s share of world output that began around 1990. Chapter 5 discusses real interest rate linkages in the Pacific Basin region. Vector autoregressive models and bootstrap methods are adopted to study financial linkages between East Asian markets, Japan and US. Given the apparent non-stationarity of real interest rates a related issue is examined in Chapter 6, viz. the persistence of international real interest rates and estimation of their half-life. Half-life is selected as a means of measuring persistence of real rates. Bootstrap methods are employed to overcome small sample issues in the estimation and a non-standard statistical inference methodology (Highest Density Regions) is adopted. Chapter 7 reapplies the High Density Regions methodology and bootstrap half-life estimation to the data used in Chapters 2 and 5. This provides a robustness check on the results of standard unit root tests that were applied to the data in those chapters. Main findings of the thesis are as follows. The long run implications of real business cycle models are largely rejected by the Australia data. This finding holds for both the existence of great ratios and when the explicit decision rules are employed. When the small open economy features of the Australian economy are incorporated in a two country RBC model, a country-specific productivity boom seems to provide a possible explanation for the rise in Australia??s share of world output. The essays that examine real interest rates suggest the following results. Following the East Asian financial crisis in 1997-98 there appears to have been a decline in the importance of Japan in influencing developments in the Pacific Basin region. In addition there is evidence that following the crisis Korea??s financial market became less insular and more integrated with the US. Finally results obtained from the half-life estimators suggest that despite the usual findings from unit root tests, real interest rates may in fact exhibit mean-reversion.

Office space oversupply cost Australia billions of dollars during the 1990-92 recession. Australia, the United States, Japan, the U.K., South Africa, China, Thailand, and many other countries have suffered office oversupply cycles. Illiquid untenanted office buildings impair investors capital and cash flows, with adverse effects on macroeconomics, financial institutions, and individuals. This study aims to develop improved methods for medium term forecasting of office market adjustments to inform individual project development decisions and thereby to mitigate office oversupply cycles. Methods combine qualitative research, econometric estimation, system dynamics simulation, and institutional economics. This research operationalises a problem solving research paradigm concept advocated by Ken Lusht. The research is also indebted to the late James Graaskamp, who was successful in linking industry and academic research through time and space specific feasibility studies to inform individual property development decisions. Qualitative research and literature provided a list of contributing causes of office oversupply including random shocks, faulty forecasting methods, fee driven deals, prisoners dilemma game, system dynamics (lags and adjustment times), land use regulation, and capital market issues. Rather than choosing among these, they are all considered to be causal to varying degrees. Moreover, there is synergy between combinations of these market imperfections. Office markets are complex evolving human designed systems (not time invariant) so each cycle has unique historical features. Data on Australian office markets were used to estimate office rent adjustment equations. Simulation models in spreadsheet and system dynamics software then integrate additional information with the statistical results to produce demand, supply, and rent forecasts. Results include ++
models for rent forecasting and models for analysis related to policy and system redesign. The dissertation ends with two chapters on institutional reforms whereby better information might find application to improve market efficiency.Keywords. Office rents, rent adjustment, office market modelling, forecasting, system dynamics.

This study argues that governments with sustained GDP growth, open markets, low country risk, high levels and low standard deviation of government performance, and few or no occurrences of war, will see larger levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) over time. Scholarship on the determinants of FDI variously argues the influence of GDP growth, the openness of a country's economy, a government's level of political capacity, the level of country risk, and the negative effects of inter-, intra- and extrastate conflict. These studies on the various effects on FDI, while providing insightful and substantial statistical results, fail to capture the simultaneous effects of macroeconomic, government performance, country risk, and war variables. The present study attempts to resolve this gap in the literature on FDI by proposing a multi-dimensional model of the combined effects of un-weighted macroeconomic, political, country risk, and war variables on FDI flows over time. The empirical results confirm the expected multi-dimensional nature of FDI flows over time and provide insight into the macroeconomic and political effects on regional and country-level yearly flows of FDI, as well as yielding some unexpected and counter-intuitive results of the role war plays on FDI flows over time.

The thesis includes two essays on asset pricing. In the first essay, "Asset Pricing in a Monetary Economy with Heterogeneous Beliefs", we shed new light on the role of monetary policy in asset pricing by focusing on the case where investors have heterogeneous expectations about future monetary policy. Under heterogeneity in beliefs, investors place bets against each other on the evolution of money supply, and as a result, the sharing of wealth in the economy evolves stochastically over time, making money non-neutral. Employing a continuous-time, general equilibrium model, we establish these fluctuations to be rich in implications, in that they majorly affect the equilibrium prices of all assets, as well as inflation. In particular, we find that the stock market volatility may be significantly increased by the heterogeneity in beliefs, a conclusion supported by our empirical analysis. The second essay is titled with " Asset Pricing and Welfare Analysis with Bounded Rational Investors". Motivated by the fact that investors have limited ability and insufficient knowledge to process information, I model investors' bounded-rational behavior in processing information and study its implications on asset pricing. Bounded rational investors perceive "correlated" information (which consists of news that is correlated with fundamentals, but provides no information on them) as "fundamental" information. This generates "bounded rational risk". Asset prices and volatilities of asset returns are derived. Specially, the equity premium and the stock volatility are raised under some conditions. I also analyze the welfare impact of bounded rationality.

China has been increasingly sending more contracts to work on projects in Africa. This study tests the effects of Chinese contracts on economic growth in 50 African countries as well as the correlation between Chinese contracts and other economic indicators. The paper uses data from the World Bank and National Bureau of Statistics of China starting from 2000-2015. This study finds that from 2000 to 2015, Chinese contracts have not been significant in economic growth of all African countries. The analysis does find that Chinese contracts are significant to economic growth when considering only the top five countries who have received the most contracts on average.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Tobin's q value is widely used by financial analysts as a performance indicator ratio. The market value of a firm over the replacement cost of fixed assets and inventory serves as an indication of whether value is created by investing internally in the firm, or whether value is destroyed by investing in negative net present value projects. Where Tobin's q is greater than one (q > 1), the market value of the firm is greater than what it would cost to replace fixed assets and inventory. Therefore value is created. Firms that have a Tobin's q value of less than one are advised to pay dividends rather than invest in negative net present value projects. Over 200 different methods exist of calculating Tobin's q. By increasing the complexity of the algorithm to determine q, very little is achieved to improve the measurement quality. A strong link exists between excess market returns, free cash flow spending announcements and Tobin's q value for the firm. Firms with a high Tobin's q value should ensure that good investment possibilities are pursued. The use of internal funds to fund new investment is viewed in a positive light by the market and above average returns are generated. Firms with a high Tobin's q value and high free cash flow show lower returns. These lower returns happen as a result of the market recognising the firm's failure to capitalise on favourable internal investment opportunities.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tobin se q-waarde word wyd gebruik as prestasie aanwyser deur finansiele ontleders. Die markwaarde van 'n firma gedeel deur die vervangingskoste van vaste bates en voorraad, dien as 'n maatstaf om aan te dui of waarde geskep word deur intern in die firma te belê en of waarde vernietig word deur in projekte met 'n negatiewe netto teenswoordige waarde te belê. Waar Tobin se q-waarde groter is as een (q > 1) is die markwaarde van die firma groter as wat dit sal wees om die vaste bates en voorraad te vervang. Sodoende word waarde geskep. Firmas met 'n q-waarde van minder as een word aanbeveel om eeeder dividende uit te betaal as om die beskikbare fondse in projekte met 'n negatiewe netto teenswoordige waarde te investeer. Meer as 200 verskillende metodes bestaan om Tobin se q-waarde te bereken. Deur die kompleksiteit van die algoritme te vergroot om q te bereken, dra min by tot groter akkuraatheid van die meting. 'n Sterk verband bestaan tussen bo-gemiddelde markopbrengste, aankondigings oor die besteding van vrye kontantvloei en die Tobin q-waarde van die firma. Firmas met 'n hoë Tobin q-waarde moet verseker dat goeie investeringsgeleenthede aangegryp word. Die gebruik van interne fondse om nuwe investering te finansier word deur die mark in 'n positiewe lig beskou en bogemiddelde opbrengste word gelewer. Firmas met 'n hoë Tobin q-waarde en hoë vrye kontantvloei toon laer opbrengste. Hierdie laer opbrengste is as gevolg van die mark wat besef dat die firma nalaat om gunstige interne investeringsgeleenthede te gebruik.

This thesis provides more precise characterisation of patterns, causes and consequences of takeover activity in Australia over three decades spanning from 1972 to 2004. The first contribution of the thesis is to characterise the time series behaviour of takeover activity. It is found that linear models do not adequately capture the structure of merger activity; a non-linear two-state Markov switching model works better. A key contribution of the thesis is, therefore, to propose an approach of combining a State-Space model with the Markov switching regime model in describing takeover activity. Experimental results based on our approach show an improvement over other existing approaches. We find four waves, one in the 1980s, two in the 1990s, and one in the 2000s, with an expected duration of each wave state of approximately two years. The second contribution is an investigation of the extent to which financial and macro-economic factors predict takeover activity after controlling for the probability of takeover waves. A main finding is that while stock market boom periods are empirically associated with takeover waves, the underlying driver is interest rate level. A low interest rate environment is associated with higher aggregate takeover activity. This relationship is consistent with Shleifer and Vishny (1992)'s liquidity argument that takeover waves are symptoms of lower cost of capital. Replicating the analysis to the biggest takeover market in the world, the US, reveals a remarkable consistency of results. In short, the Australian findings are not idiosyncratic. Finally, the implications for target and bidder firm shareholders are explored via investigation of takeover bid premiums and long-term abnormal returns separately between the wave and non-wave periods. This represents the third contribution to the literature of takeover waves. Findings reveal that target shareholders earn abnormally positive returns in takeover bids and bid premiums are slightly lower in the wave periods. Analysis of the returns to bidding firm shareholders suggests that the lower premiums earned by target shareholders in the wave periods may simply reflect lower total economic gains, at the margin, to takeovers made in the wave periods. It is found that bidding firms earn normal post-takeover returns (relative to a portfolio of firms matched in size and survival) if their bids are made in the non-wave periods. However, bidders who announce their takeover bids during the wave periods exhibit significant under-performance. For mergers that took place within waves, there is no difference in bid premiums and nor is there a difference in the long-run returns of bidders involved in the first half and second half of the waves. We find that none of theories of merger waves (managerial, mis-valuation and neoclassical) can fully account for the Australian takeover waves and their effects. Instead, our results suggest that a combination of these theories may provide better explanation. Given that normal returns are observed for acquiring firms, taken as a whole, we are more likely to uphold the neoclassical argument for merger activity. However, the evidence is not entirely consistent with neo-classical rational models, the under-performance effect during the wave states is consistent with the herding behaviour by firms.

This dissertation focuses on the estimation of the generative multifactor model of returns on equities, under a statistical approach of the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT), in the context of the Mexican Stock Exchange. Therefore, this research takes as frameworks two main issues: (i) the multifactor asset pricing models, specially the statistical risk factors approach, and (ii) the dimension reduction or feature extraction techniques: Principal Component Analysis, Factor Analysis, Independent Component Analysis and Non-linear Principal Component Analysis, utilized to extract the underlying systematic risk factors. The models estimated are tested using two methodologies: (i) capability of reproduction of the observed returns using the estimated generative multifactor model, and (ii) results of the econometric contrast of the APT using the extracted systematic risk factors. Finally, a comparative study among techniques is carried on based on their theoretical properties and the empirical results. According to the above stated and as far as we concerned, this dissertation contributes to financial research by providing empirical evidence of the estimation of the generative multifactor model of returns on equities, extracting statistical underlying risk factors via classic and alternative dimension reduction or feature extraction techniques in the field of finance, in order to test the APT as an asset pricing model, in the context of an emerging financial market such as the Mexican Stock Exchange. In addition, this work presents an unprecedented theoretical and empirical comparative study among Principal Component Analysis, Factor Analysis, Independent Component Analysis and Neural Networks Principal Component Analysis, as techniques to extract systematic risk factors from a stock exchange, analyzing the level of sensitivity of the results in function of the technique carried on. In addition, this dissertation represents a mainly empirical exhaustive study where objective evidence about the Mexican stock market is provided by way of the application of four different techniques for extraction of systematic risk factors, to four datasets, in a test window that ranged from two to nine factors.

Financial liberalization in South Africa was a process that took the form of various legal reforms very a long period of time. This study uses quarterly financial data from 1969 quarter one to 2009 quarter four to analyse this process. The data used was pertinent to the financial liberalization theorem by McKinnon (1973) and Shaw (1973). The examination of the relationships between the various macro economic variables has important implications for effective policy formulation. The empirical analysis is carried out in four phases: the preliminary analysis, the principal component analysis (PCA), the cointegration analysis and pair wise Granger causality tests. The preliminary analysis examines trends over the sample period and reports the on the correlation between the selected variables. The PCA analysis was used to create indexes for financial liberalization, taking into account the phase wise nature of legal reforms. The generated index was representative of the process of financial liberalization from 1969 to 2009. A financial development index was also created using the various traditional measures of financial development and through PCA which investigated interrelationships among the variables according to their common sources of movement. Cointegration analysis is carried out using the Johansen cointegration procedure which investigates whether there is long-run comovement between South African economic growth and the selected macroeconomic variables. Where cointegration is found, Vector Error-Correction Models (VECMs) are estimated in order to examine the short-run adjustments. For robustness, many control variables were added into the model. The results showed that there are positive long run relationships between economic growth and financial liberalization, financial development and a negative relationship with interest rates. The Granger results suggested that the MS hypothesis does not manifest accurately in the South African data. The implications of the results were that financial liberalization has had positive effects on economic growth and thus any impediments to full financial liberalization must be removed albeit with considerations towards employment and local productivity. Financial development also possessed positive long run relationships with economic growth, although results differed based on the financial development proxy used. Thus, financial development must be improved primarily through liberalizing the banking sector and spurring savings.

The aim of the thesis is to further explore the relationship between economic integration and firm mobility and investment, both from an empirical and a theoretical perspective, with the objective of drawing conclusions on how government policy can be used to strengthen the positive impact of integration on investment, which is crucial in moving and maintaining countries at the forefront of the technology frontier and accelerating economic growth in a world of rapid technical change and high mobility of ideas, goods, services, capital and labor.

The first chapter aims to bring together the literature on economic integration, firm mobility and investment. It contains two sections: one dedicated to the literature on FDI and the second covering the literature on firm entry and exit, economic performance and economic and business regulation.

In the second chapter I examine the relationship between the Single Market and FDI both in an intra-EU context and from outside the EU. The empirical results show that the impact of the Single Market on FDI differs substantially from one country to another. This finding may be due to the functioning of institutions.

The third chapter studies the relationship between the level of external trade protection put into place by a Regional Integration Agreement(RIA)and the option of a firm from outside the RIA block to serve the RIA market through FDI rather than exports. I find that the level of external trade protection put in place by the RIA depends on the RIA country's capacity to benefit from FDI spillovers, the magnitude of set-up costs of building a plant in the RIA and on the amount of external trade protection erected by the country from outside the reigonal block with respect to the RIA.

The fourth chapter studies how the firm entry and exit process is affected by product market reforms and regulations and impact macroeconomic performance. The results show that an increase in deregulation will lead to a rise in firm entry and exit. This in turn will especially affect macroeconomic performance as measured by output growth and labor productivity growth. The analysis done at the sector level shows that results can differ substantially across industries, which implies that deregulation policies should be conducted at the sector level, rather than at the global macroeconomic level.
Doctorat en sciences économiques, Orientation économie
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Law Wing Fai.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves [151]-156).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
ABSTRACT --- p.I
摘要 --- p.II
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.III
TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.IV
Chapter CHAPTER ONE --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1
Background --- p.1
Purpose --- p.3
Organization --- p.4
Chapter CHAPTER TWO --- REVIEW OF THEORIES AND LITERATURE --- p.5
The Literature on Foreign Direct Investment --- p.5
The Literature on Legal Issues --- p.10
Chapter CHAPTER THREE --- METHODOLOGY --- p.17
Data Collection --- p.17
Control Variables in Detail --- p.20
Design of Regression Models --- p.26
Methodology --- p.28
Chapter CHAPTER FOUR --- THE EFFECTS OF LEGAL FACTORS ON INVESTMENT MODE SELECTION --- p.29
Rationale for the Study --- p.29
Fundamental Differences between Partial Acquisition and JV --- p.30
Importance of Legal Institutions in the Choice of M&A and JV --- p.33
Hypothesis on the Effects of Legal Factors on Investment Mode Selection --- p.34
Hypothesis on Legal Origin --- p.34
Hypothesis on Shareholder Protection --- p.36
Hypothesis on the Government Enforcement Efficiency --- p.39
Hypothesis on Securities Regulation --- p.42
Hypothesis on Accounting Standard and Corporate Transparency --- p.42
Hypothesis on Other Legal Issues --- p.43
Empirical Evidence for the Effects of Legal Factors on Investment Mode Selection --- p.45
Legal Origin --- p.45
Shareholder Protection --- p.48
Government Enforcement Efficiency --- p.50
"Securities Regulation, Accounting Standard and Corporate Transparency" --- p.52
Other Legal Issues --- p.54
Chapter CHAPTER FIVE --- THE EFFECTS OF LEGAL FACTORS ON OWNERSHIP PROPORTION DECISION --- p.57
Rationale for the Study --- p.57
Hypothesis on the Effects of Legal Factors on Ownership Proportion Decision --- p.57
Hypothesis on Legal Origin --- p.59
Hypothesis on Shareholder Protection --- p.59
Hypothesis on Government Enforcement Efficiency --- p.59
Hypothesis on Securities Regulation --- p.60
Hypothesis on Accounting Standard and Corporate Transparency --- p.60
Hypothesis on Legal Origin --- p.60
Hypothesis on Shareholder Protection --- p.60
Hypothesis on Government Enforcement Efficiency --- p.61
Hypothesis on Securities Regulation --- p.61
Hypothesis on Accounting Standard and Corporate Transparency --- p.61
Hypothesis on Other Legal Issues --- p.61
Empirical Evidence for the Effects of Legal Factors on Ownership Proportion Decision --- p.63
Legal Origin --- p.63
Shareholder Protection --- p.65
Government Enforcement Efficiency --- p.66
"Securities Regulation, Accounting Standard and Corporate Transparency" --- p.67
Other Legal Issues --- p.68
Chapter CHAPTER SIX --- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION --- p.70
TABLE --- p.73
Table 1: The Variables --- p.73
Table 2: Shareholder protection around the world --- p.82
Table 3: Government enforcement efficiency around the world --- p.85
"Table 4: Accounting standard, corporate transparency, securities regulation, mandatory bid rule and cross-border regulation around the world" --- p.88
Table 5A: Effect of legal origin on investment mode selection --- p.91
Table 5B: Effect of shareholder protection on investment mode selection --- p.93
Table 5C: Effect of government enforcement efficiency on investment mode selection --- p.95
"Table 5D: Effect of securities regulation, accounting standard and corporate transparency on investment mode selection" --- p.97
Table 5E: Effect of other legal issues on investment mode selection --- p.99
Table 6A: Effect of legal origin on investment mode selection (controlling the ex-post ownership proportion) --- p.101
Table 6B: Effect of shareholder protection on investment mode selection (controlling the ex-post ownership proportion) --- p.103
Table 6C: Effect of government enforcement efficiency on investment mode selection (controlling the ex-post ownership proportion) --- p.105
"Table 6D: Effect of securities regulation, accounting standard and corporate transparency on investment mode selection (controlling the ex-post ownership proportion)" --- p.107
Table 6E: Effect of other legal issues on investment mode selection (controlling the ex-post ownership proportion) --- p.109
Table 7A: Effect of legal origin on investment mode selection (Majority ownership sample) --- p.111
Table 7b: Effect of shareholder protection on investment mode selection (Majority ownership sample) --- p.113
Table 7C: Effect of government enforcement efficiency on investment mode selection (majority ownership sample) --- p.115
"Table 7D: Effect of shareholder protection, accounting standard and corporate transparency on investment mode selection (majority ownership sample)" --- p.117
Table 7E: Effect of other legal issues on investment mode selection (Majority ownership sample) --- p.119
Table 8 A: Effect of legal origin on investment mode selection (Minority ownership sample) --- p.121
Table 8B: Effect of shareholder protection on investment mode selection (Minority ownership sample) --- p.123
Table 8C: Effect of government enforcement efficiency on investment mode selection (minority ownership sample) --- p.125
Table 8D: Effect of legal origin on investment mode selection (Minority ownership sample) --- p.127
Table 8E: Effect of other legal issues on investment mode selection (Minority ownership sample) --- p.129
Table 9A: Effect of legal origin on ownership proportion selection (M&A sample) --- p.131
Table 9b: Effect of shareholder protection on ownership proportion selection (M&A sample) --- p.133
Table 9C: Effect of government enforcement efficiency on ownership proportion selection (M&A sample) --- p.135
"Table 9D: Effect of securities regulation, accounting standard and corporate transparency on ownership proportion selection (m&a sample)" --- p.137
Table 9E: Effect of other legal issues on ownership proportion selection (M&A sample) --- p.139
Table 10A: Effect of legal origin on ownership proportion selection (JV sample) --- p.141
Table 10B: Effect of shareholder protection on ownership proportion selection (JV sample) --- p.143
Table 10C: Effect of government enforcement efficiency on ownership proportion selection (jv sample) --- p.145
"Table 10D: Effect of securities regulation, accounting standard and corporate transparency on ownership proportion selection (jv sample)" --- p.147
Table 10E: Effect of other legal issues on ownership proportion selection (jv sample) --- p.149
BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.151
APPENDIX --- p.157
Appendix 1: Summary statistics of the variables used in investigation of investment mode selection --- p.157
Appendix 2: Summary statistics of the variables used in investigation of ownership proportion selection (m&a sample) --- p.159
Appendix 3: Summary statistics of the variables used in investigation of ownership proportion selection (JV sample) --- p.161
"Appendix 4: Correlations of Shareholder Protection, Corporate Transparency, Securities Regulation and other legal issues" --- p.163
"Appendix 5: Correlations of Shareholder Protection, Government Enforcement Efficiency, Corporate Transparency, Securities Regulation and other legal issues" --- p.164
"Appendix 6: Correlations of Shareholder Protection, Government Enforcement Efficiency and other legal issues" --- p.165
Appendix 7: Correlations of firm-level and country-level control variables --- p.166

Yau Cheuk Man.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-47).
Lists of figure --- p.iii
Acknowledgment --- p.iv
Chapter
Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1
Chapter 2 --- Model1 --- p.6
Chapter 2.1 --- The basic model --- p.7
Chapter 2.2 --- The modified model --- p.11
Chapter 2.3 --- Coordination policy --- p.19
Chapter 2.4 --- Capital mobility --- p.21
Chapter 3 --- Model2 --- p.23
Chapter 3.1 --- The basic model --- p.24
Chapter 3.2 --- The modified model --- p.28
Chapter 3.3 --- Coordination policy --- p.35
Chapter 3.4 --- Capital mobility --- p.37
Chapter 4 --- Conclusion --- p.39
REFERENCES --- p.46

Thesis (M.Com. (Business Finance))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2017
The writer studies the short-run determinants of bond yield volatility in South Africa (SA) by analyzing the impact that global factors –representing global funding conditions – have on the changes to the rand denominated generic 10-year government bond yield (SAGB). This is followed by a one-period forward forecast of this volatility. The explanatory variables tested in this study are as follows: net bond purchases by foreign investors, Chicago Board Options Volatility Index (VIX), JP Morgan Emerging Market Bond Index (JP EMBI) spread, the US dollar to SA rand (USDZAR) exchange rate, the SA 5 year credit default swap (CDS) rate, the 12 month interest rate expectation/9x12 forward rate agreement (FRA), dollar spot price of gold and dollar spot price of oil. The study period ranges from January 2000 to December 2015. The GARCH modelling technique is used due to its ability to capture the volatility clustering effects observed in time series return data. The writer used the Gaussian distribution as the default model, however in order to control for the skewness and fat-tails in financial market return data, the Student-T and Generalised Error distributions are also tested to see if the non-normally distributed bond returns could be better captured by alternative parametric assumptions. The results show that all the explanatory variables, with the exception of the FRA, are statistically significant in explaining volatility in the local generic 10-year government bond.
GR2018

Using 1980 - 2012 annual data, the study empirically investigates the dynamic relationship between financial development and economic growth in three developing countries (South Africa, Brazil and Kenya) and three developed countries (United States of America, United Kingdom and Australia). The study was motivated by the current debate regarding the role of financial development in the economic growth process, and their causal relationship. The debate centres on whether financial development impacts positively or negatively on economic growth and whether it Granger-causes economic growth or vice versa. To this end, two models have been used. In Model 1 the impact of bank- and market-based financial development on economic growth is examined, while in Model 2 it is the causality between the two that is explored. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration and error-correction based causality test, the results were found to differ from country to country and over time. These results were also found to be sensitive to the financial development proxy used. Based on Model 1, the study found that the impact of bank-based financial development on economic growth is positive in South Africa and the USA, but negative in the U.K – and neither positive nor negative in Kenya. Elsewhere the results were inconclusive. Market-based financial development was found to impact positively in Kenya, USA and the UK but not in the remaining countries. Based on Model 2, the study found that bank-based financial development Granger-causes economic growth in the UK, while in Brazil they Granger-cause each other. However, in South Africa, Kenya and USA no causal relationship was found. In Australia the results were inconclusive. The study also found that in the short run, market-based financial development Granger-causes economic growth in the USA but that in South Africa and Brazil, the reverse applies. On the other hand bidirectional causality was found to prevail in Kenya in the same period.
Economics
DCOM (Economics)

This dissertation examines the causal relationship between inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth (GDP) in SADC countries. The study investigates, within a panel data context, whether causation is short-term, long-term or both; and explores whether the causal relationship between the two variables differs according to income level. The study covered a panel of 15 SADC countries over the period 1980-2012. In order to assess whether the causal relationship between FDI inflows and economic growth is dependent on the level of income, the study divided the SADC countries into two groups, namely, the low-income and the middleincome countries. The study used the recently developed panel data analysis methods to examine this causal relationship. It adopted a three stage approach, which consists of panel unit root, panel cointegration and Granger causality to examine the dynamic causal relationship between the two variables. Panel unit root results show that both variables in the two SADC country groups were integrated of order one. Panel cointegration tests showed that the variables for low-income country group were not cointegrated, while the variables for the middle-income countries were cointegrated. Since the low-income country group panels were not cointegrated, Grangercausality tests were conducted within a VAR framework, while causality tests for the middleincome country group were conducted within an ECM framework. Panel Granger causality results for the low-income countries showed no evidence of causality in either direction. However, for the middle-income countries’ panel, there was evidence of a unidirectional causal flow from GDP to FDI in both the long- and short- run. The study concludes that the FDI-led growth hypothesis does not apply to SADC countries. The results imply that the recent high economic growth rates recorded in the SADC region, especially middle-income countries, have been attracting FDI. In other words, it is economic growth that drives FDI inflows into the SADC region, and not vice versa. These findings have profound policy implications for the SADC region at large and individual countries.
Economics
MCOM (Economics)