Browsing by Subject "Finance"

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Advancing Public Interest in Public-Private Partnership of State Highway Development
(Minnesota Department of Transportation Research Services Section, 2011-02) Zhao, Zhirong (Jerry); Saunoi-Sandgren, Emily; Barnea, Avital
Facing rapidly increasing demand for new or additional transportation capacity, many states are eagerly exploring public-private partnership (PPP) in state highway development, which may allow public agencies to access private project financing and specialized expertise, and thus save public investment, expedite project completion, or improve service quality and diversity. Nevertheless, the path of PPPs is not smooth. The confusion and controversy surrounding recent asset-monetization leasing concession cases in the US have led to widespread public concerns and legislative caution, in particular on the question of whether a PPP project is advancing the public interest. The purpose of this project is to study the public interest associated with PPPs, with the goal to maximize efficiency gains, mitigate potential risks, and address public concerns in launching and deploying PPPs in state highway development. In particular, we focus on three aspects of PPP consideration: (1) Understanding economic rationales of PPPs, (2) Legal and political aspects of PPP decision-making, and (3) Managerial issues in implementing PPP projects.
Behavioral Finance: FIFA World Cup Expectations and Stock Market Success
(2015) Janousek, Jeffrey;
Behavioral finance, defined as the combination of behavioral and cognitive psychology theory with economics and finance to explain financial decisions, has grown in popularity over the last several years. Behavioral finance has also expanded into sports as researchers seek to find and explain anomalies that exist in the stock market. Existing research about sports is mixed, but prior studies have found that FIFA World Cup soccer matches have a statistically significant correlation with stock prices. This study further examines underlying factors that could influence this correlation. Specifically, it introduces an expectations framework and differentiates game outcomes based on whether the team exceeds, meets, or fails to meet expectations. Using regression analysis, the study finds some evidence for this relationship and that failing to meet expectations is correlated with a stock market decline during the World Cup.
Blocked! The psychology behind the usage of ad-blocking software
(2015) Rafian, Jahan;
The use of internet ad-blocking software as a form of online ad avoidance is increasing rapidly, and websites/online advertisers are seeing their revenues decline as a result. Ad-blocking software is free to download, easy to use, and available across a variety of platforms. Approximately 10% of internet users are now blocking ads, and year-over-year growth is close to 40%. Websites and online advertisers have pushed users to whitelist—the term used when users disable their ad-block for a specific site—but have had limited success. This paper evaluates how ad characteristics, demographics, and exposure affect internet ad-blocking usage. Through a survey and statistical analysis, it was determined that demographics and exposure are significant drivers: younger internet users are more likely to use ad-blocking software, and a major inhibitor of ad-blocking growth appears to be lack of mainstream exposure. However, ad characteristics do not have an effect on ad-blocking usage or whitelisting likelihood. The results suggest that ad-blocking software is poised for long-term growth, and websites/online advertisers will need to adapt.
Competition and community: exploring the inter-organizational relationships underlying dual credit programs.
(2012-03) Schefers, Oscar Carmody
Dual credit programs, in which a student takes a course that fulfills both high school and postsecondary requirements, are one method employed to increase the number of high school students matriculating into a postsecondary program. This study investigates how postsecondary institutions and high schools work together to develop student access to dual credit programs. Implementing this arrangement requires establishing new relationships between high schools and postsecondary institutions. Using qualitative methods, the research explores how institutions involved in a dual credit partnership manage the arrangements and are affected by them. Interviews were conducted with postsecondary faculty and administration, high school teachers, counselors, and administrators. As a result of the investigation, a framework focusing on the following elements of an inter-organizational relationship is proposed: Curriculum, collaboration, support services, and organizational structure. The study's findings suggest that when the curriculum for a dual credit program is jointly developed between the high school and postsecondary faculty, and is coupled with strong leadership in both institutions, dual credit programs have the ability to serve a wider range of students than traditionally continue on to postsecondary settings.
Congressional Insider Trading: Returns of US Representative During the Covid-19 Pandemic
(2022) Bauer, Thomas;
Abnormal returns from insider trading among members of Congress disappeared in 2012 with the passage of the STOCK Act. Prior to these regulations, existing literature showed that members of Congress earned significant abnormal returns. However, there have recently been concerns that certain members of Congress exploited their information advantages related to the Covid-19 pandemic and partook in insider trading. Given this development, it is important to reassess if insider trading occurs in congress. This thesis finds little evidence of widespread insider trading in the US House of Representatives during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Correlations between strategic planning and financial performance: a focus on Lutheran Colleges and Universities
(2014-09) Ries, Thomas Karl
Higher education finance is complex, and a grasp of it by governing boards and academic leaders is enormously important if colleges and universities are to effectively pursue their missions. The notions of achieving positive operating results and growing net assets are foreign to many educators, yet vitally important to the long-term health and vitality of institutions of higher education. Nonprofit private colleges and universities are often particularly vulnerable to the vicissitudes of the macro-economic conditions around them, as well as their own particular financial circumstances. Within the cohort of private, nonprofit institutions of higher education in the United States are 40 colleges and universities which identify as Lutheran.Strategic planning has long been touted as an important mechanism for achieving positive financial results. This study examined the strategic planning practices at Lutheran colleges and universities to determine whether there is a correlation between strategic planning and financial performance. A key part of the research was a survey of four administrators at 38 of the 40 accredited, four-year Lutheran colleges and universities in the United States. The four administrators surveyed were the President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Academic Officer (CAO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Chief Advancement Officer (CAdvO). Survey data were collected from a total of 98 administrators.Descriptive research revealed that a centrally-coordinated, institution-wide strategic planning process had been conducted at all 38 institutions since 2003, and 91 of 98 respondents reported that their institution would continue to perform institution-wide strategic planning in the future. Some form of internal and external environmental scan was part of the planning process at all 38 institutions (as reported by 96 of 98 respondents) and Budget/Finances was the topic most often cited as extremely important in the planning process.Correlation analysis revealed statistically significant relationships between some aspects of strategic planning and financial performance as measured by the U. S. Department of Education's Financial Responsibility Composite Scores. More specifically, the results revealed statistically significant relationships between financial performance and a number of financial best practices, which may or may not have been implemented at the Lutheran institutions as a result of their strategic planning processes.A secondary descriptive benefit of the study was the observance of perspectives among the four categories of administrators at each campus. The research frequently revealed statistically significant differences in perspectives among the four administrators in their perceptions of strategic planning and financial performance. College and university leadership teams may find it helpful to review these observed differences in order to gain a better understanding of the relative viewpoints and expectations of strategic planning among the individual members of their teams.
Cross-Cultural Differences in Financial Risk Preference between Chinese and American College Students
(2012-08-27) Zhang, Tianshi;
Generally, people can easily get an impression that Chinese people are very conservative in making monetary decisions. Empirical evidence shows that China’s saving rate is one of the highest in the world. However, are Chinese people really more risk-averse than Americans? Contradicted to the traditional stereotype, the Cushion Hypothesis suggests that people in collectivist culture, such as China, are likely to be more risk-seeking in making financial decisions. Because the closer social networks in such society serve as the “cushions” if they fall. The goal of this thesis is to investigate whether there are cross-cultural differences in financial risk preference between Chinese and American college students. If so, what role does culture play in influencing people’s risk preference? By using basic statistical tools, this study found that Chinese students were significantly more collectivistic and risk-seeking than American students and there was a positive relationship between collectivism and risk-seeking preference.
Crowdfunding to Cannes: Evaluating the Wisdom of Crowdfunding Crowds in the Movie Market
(2016) Stephan, Hannah;
Crowdfunding has emerged over the last few years as a means for small business owners to raise money on the Internet by tapping the easily accessible crowd of potential funders. Campaigns have been very successful, in some cases raising millions of dollars. These extremely successful campaigns raise an important question: does crowdfunding support bringing high quality products to the market, and does it help them remain successful once they do reach the market? Research on crowdfunding has increased greatly in the past couple of years, but this is a gap that has not yet been filled. This research seeks to assess whether crowds on these platforms are making wise funding decisions by analyzing the funding of movies on crowdfunding platforms in terms of whether or not they won any awards. This measure of market performance will give us an indication of whether certain aspects of a crowdfunding campaign have an impact on an offering once it reaches the market.
Distinguishing Pyramid Schemes and Multilevel Marketing
(2012-08-27) Beasley, Jennifer;
The number of multilevel marketing organizations has been increasing, and the number of people involved is increasing exponentially. As more people become a part of the multilevel marketing business model, the negative impacts of some multilevel marketing organization practices on people’s lives is growing due to the high potential for moral hazard amongst multilevel marketing organization leadership. It is my contention that new legislation to protect people involved in this type of organization is critical to dramatically reduce the potential for moral hazard. This paper contends that the practices of some multilevel marketing organizations currently can be comparative to pyramid schemes, which is known to have high moral hazard. But the franchise model, which originally had the potential for similar moral hazard, has been greatly reduced through prudent legislation. The ability of this model to minimize the potential for moral hazard maximizes fairness for all parties involved. Therefore, the franchise model guidelines will be examined to provide for a new model for dramatically reducing the potential moral hazard issues posed currently by multilevel marketing organizations.
Do Parental Leave Policies Affect Employee Engagement at Firms in the US?
(2016) Solheid, Madison;
The concept of employee engagement is relatively new and has become an important theme in business management as research has shown that employee engagement drives productivity and bottom-line results. Much of the employee engagement concept remains unexplored due to its recent appearance and rapid growth in current research. Additionally, many employee engagement surveys used by consulting firms are proprietary and are therefore difficult to compare. As employee engagement is increasingly measured and used in firms, it is critical to understand its drivers and its application across countries. Existing research has linked work-hour flexibility to increased retention and work-life balance, and thus decreased work-family conflict. However, there is a lack of evidence to link parental leave, an aspect of work-family balance, to employee engagement. This study investigates the relationship between the length or pay of parental leave and employee engagement for employees at firms in the United States using a combination of secondary research and survey data. The implications of a connection between parental leave and employee engagement could provide motivation for firms in the United States to extend their parental leave offerings.
The end of the Gold Standard: finance, crisis, and the cinema of the New Left, 1967-1974.
(2011-05) Adamson, Morgan
This dissertation is a comparative analysis of emergent visual cultures in the U.S.A., Europe, and South America within the context of the global political and economic crises of that moment. The period that frames the dissertation is the era economists have come to call "floating Bretton Woods," which saw the breakdown of the post-war economic order defined by the dollar-gold standard. By developing a theoretical framework to analyze a diverse and international set of media practices, I present an original historical account of a heterogeneous phenomenon in visual culture, which I call the "Cinema of the New Left." Addressing avant-garde film, video, and television experiments that took place both within and alongside New Left political movements, I develop a new language for analyzing these movements in a moment of crucial global transition. In its approach to film form, my research is concerned with the re-emergence of the "essay film" within international avant-garde film cultures, and the manner in which this form was translated into different geopolitical contexts and media. Theoretically, this dissertation combines the fields of Film and Media Studies with the emerging field of Critical Financial Studies, and works to understand what Randy Martin calls the "financialization of daily life" at the level of visual culture. In essence, this dissertation draws together interdisciplinary historical and theoretical approaches in order to examine a process we might describe as the "financialization of the image," and seeks to ground this analysis in a concrete set of historical situations that typify the transition between modernity and post-modernity, Fordism and post-Fordism, industrial and financial capitalism. While traditional analyses of the political economy of cinema focus on a critique of the commodity form, or on specific economic practices within film production (especially Hollywood cinema), this dissertation offers a new set of terms such as debt, inflation, and credit to the analysis of moving-image culture in order to better theorize the role of finance in shaping our contemporary visual environment.
Financial Stress, Parenting Quality, and the Moderating Effect of Co-parenting Alliance within the Marital Dissolution Population
(2017-08) Mao, Dung
In this study, the relationship between the perception of financial stress (measured by income inadequacy), parenting quality (measured by positive parenting, consistent discipline, and good supervision), and the moderating effect that cooperative co-parenting (measured by co-parenting alliance) were investigated within a sample of parents who were separated, filing for divorce, and in post-divorce. Social Exchange Theory (SET) as well as Parenting Alliance Theory (PAT) were used as a guiding framework for the study. PROCESS were used to conduct the moderation analyses. Analyses showed a significant, positive relationship between financial stress and all three indicators of parenting quality (i.e., positive parenting, consistent discipline, and good supervision). Analyses further showed a moderating effect of co-parenting alliance on the relationship between financial stress and the discipline and supervision aspects of parenting quality. Co-parenting alliance did not moderate the effect of financial stress on the positive parenting aspect of parenting quality. These findings contradict existing literature pertaining to the relationship between financial stress and parenting quality. Implications of the results were discussed.
Individual Investors' Values in Times of Crisis: Evaluating the Relationship Between Individuals' Investments and ESG Scores
(2022) Schaffer, Sarah;
Investor preferences have long been analyzed to improve both portfolio management and company investor relations. The entry of new individuals investing combined with the economic uncertainty brought by COVID-19 is likely to show new investor preferences. This thesis examines the relationship between individual investors ownership and companies’ ESG scores to see if there is a heighten ESG preference for this class of investors. Results suggest that while ESG is a component of individual investors preference, it does not fully explain their trading decisions. Key Words: ESG, individual investors preferences, e-trading, COVID-19
Interest rates and housing prices: A cross comparison between the US and China
(2016) Wang, Xinyang (Nathan);
Interest rates (e.g., government bond yields, mortgage rate) are an essential monetary tool to regulate economy. Existing scholars have studied the impact of interest rates and some non-monetary factors such as physical investment on housing prices. Using multivariate linear regressions, this study investigates the predictive capability of interest rates and additional control variables that either are inspired by the previous studies or haven’t been examined before over the housing prices of the US and China. Throughout the analyses, mortgage premium, household indebtedness, and net physical investment are found to have more predictive capability in the US housing market, whereas term premium and deposit to GDP ratio pose more impact on China. Furthermore, even though Chinese economy is more government-intervened, there is no evidence that newly-published polices have regulatory effect over the housing prices in China.
Interview with David Lilly
(University of Minnesota, 1994-10-11) Lilly, David; Chambers, Clarke A.
Clarke A. Chambers interviews David Lilly, former professor for the School of Business and vice-president of Finance and Operations.
Interview with Jean Keffeler
(University of Minnesota, 1999-07-25) Keffeler, Jean; Pflaum, Ann M.
Ann Pflaum interviews the Honorable Jean Keffeler, alumna of the University of Minnesota and former member of the Board of Regents.
Interview with Joe Rigert
(University of Minnesota, 1995-09-14) Rigert, Joe; Chambers, Clarke A.
Clarke A. Chambers interviews Joe Rigert, reporter for the Star Tribune. Rigert is an investigative reporter for the University.
Interview with William Hogan
(University of Minnesota, 1999-07-14) Hogan, William E. II; Pflaum, Ann M.
Ann Pflaum interviews the Honorable William Hogan, former chairman of the Board of Regents.
Investment Bubble: Exploration of the Clean Technology Industry
(2012-08-27) Yang, Zehuan;
The clean technology industry (including recycling, renewable energy, information technology, green transportation, electric motors, green chemistry, lighting, etc) has been one of the fastest growing sectors, and billions of dollars have been poured into the industry from investors and governments worldwide. Having been through two boom-bust cycles in the 21st century alone, many investors are worried whether the industry is worth the investment. The concern mainly comes from overheated investment into the industry and investors’ overly high expectations. This study will compare the clean technology industry with the dot-com industry in 2000, and perform an industry valuation analysis and then compare the result with the current investment level. By building a discounted cash flow model of selected companies in the solar photovoltaic (PV) sector, the equity value is calculated and compared with the current market cap of the company set. In addition, this thesis will see what assumptions have to be met for the current investment level, and whether those assumptions are realizable.
Large Market Advantage: The National Basketball Association & the Relationship Between Market Size & Success
(2013-08-12) Housh, Andrew
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has a fundamental problem with their business model; not every market is created equal. Even though the league is widely popular, after the Financial Crisis of 2008, the majority of teams were losing money. Existing research on financial success factors in the NBA have generalized results across all teams. Using regression techniques, population has been shown to have a significant, positive relationship with a team’s revenue. In December of 2011 a new collective bargaining agreement was signed in order to increase the likelihood that small market teams could better compete both financially and competitively. This study intends to decipher whether the CBA is having its intended effects by utilizing a multivariate regression model. Dummy variables will be employed in order to show the interaction between market size and the new CBA to discover if market size is becoming more or less important to both financial and on-court success. After identifying whether or not a difference between market sizes exists, I will attempt to reconcile the findings by looking at the fabric of the current league and identifying what type of teams are succeeding and why.

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