Browsing by Subject "Department of Finance"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Effects of Green Business on Firm Value
    (2010-04-21) Videen, Greg
    Shareholders have traditionally been a firm’s greatest constituents, but new stakeholder models are emerging that suggest firms have a greater obligation to society than simply maximizing shareholder profits. This concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming a major point of interest for many companies. One aspect of CSR is environmental responsibility, which refers to the degree to which firms act in a responsible manner in the natural environment. Research Questions: Do corporations go “green” to benefit of their shareholders, or do shareholders see little financial benefit from increased environmentalism? If there is no financial benefit to acting responsibly towards the environment, what motivation do firms have to continue to pursue these initiatives?
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    Money Market Funds Under the Current Financial Crisis
    (2009-04-08) Sun, Fei
    Money market funds, a special kind of mutual funds regulated by Rule 2a-7 of SEC Investment Company Act of 1940, are one of the investments with lowest risk which has been deemed and used almost equivalently as savings accounts with a bit higher return. However, money market funds are not insured by FDIC as are savings accounts. Last September, two money market funds went below $1.00 net asset value, which is also known as "broke the buck." This resulted in many law suits filed against the failed fund companies on misleading information once investors, especially many municipalities who invested tax payers' money in them, realized that they could not get back 100% of their money. I reviewed related SEC regulations and investigated into money market funds' information about their risks. After the cases of failed funds, most money funds now have clear indications on that they are different from savings accounts and are not FDIC insured. Additionally, I investigated the portfolio holdings and other financial facts of popular money market funds and collected data from both before and after September to obtain comparisons. Many funds have significantly lowered their risk level by cutting the percentage of risky investments, such as commercial paper, in their portfolio. Furthermore, most of the popular funds that are highly rated now are the huge ones with relatively low risks and low expense ratio, as opposed to the ones with high risks and high expense, since investors are very risk averse nowadays.
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    Wikipedia User Profiles: Why Online Profile Information Differs
    (2009-04-08) Chen, Jiake
    Why does the type of user information posted on user's profiles at Wikipedia differ from the profiles posted on Facebook and LinkedIn? Our research examines the differences in the types of information users share on their profile pages in online volunteer communities like Wikipedia. We analyze the structure of user pages as well as the types of information which users share. We summarize our findings into a theoretical framework to better understand user motivations and the relationships between the type of information on user's profiles and their involvement in Wikipedia. In place of an actual name, connection to a network, pictures and friend lists on social networking sites, Wikipedia editors provide different information such as education, age and field of study on their user pages. Through a qualitative analysis of more than 100 active user profiles, we found patterns which help us develop a theoretical framework of the types of information that Wikipedia editors share on their profiles and how and why it differs from user profiles in online social networks. We also hope to explore the use of user profile information to gauge user motivation.