https://hdl.handle.net/2123/1983 Wed, 03 Jun 2026 23:36:21 GMT 2026-06-03T23:36:21Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32444 Maximal Coding Rate Reduction for Graph Embeddings Chi, Zhengyang Despite the recent prosperity in the graph representation learning Graph Neural Network (GNN) community, most research fails to extend their analysis to the learned representations for the graph data. They overlook the structural composition of the graph data in high-dimensional manifolds, which reduces the discriminative power and interpretability of the learned representations. The idea to capture the semantics in the complex graph data does not receive sufficient attention. Due to the lack of a theoretical framework to efficiently and effectively learn from the graph data and produce physically meaningful and discriminative graph embeddings, this Honours thesis explores the application of the principle of Maximal Coding Rate Reduction (MCR2) to graph representation learning through designing a novel GNN model. The proposed model focuses on the structures of graphs, identifying different subspaces underlying the graphical data. Based on the structures, the subspace representations will be optimised by the principle of MCR2 to become the optimal graph representations. The effectiveness and properties of the proposed model are validated through experiments. This work opens avenues for further research in graph representation learning under the principle of MCR2. Wed, 10 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32444 2024-04-10T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32342 Reducing Fashion MNEs' Potential Litigation Risk Arising From Environmental Sustainability Marketing Messages From A Signalling Theory Perspective Zhu, Wenhui For multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the fashion industry, sending out an attractive and truthful marketing message to consumers is the key to their success. Sustainable development is becoming more relevant as a marketing message for fashion MNEs, and consumers are becoming more aware of environmentally sustainable practices, prompting them to seek verification of marketing messages sent by MNEs in the fashion industry. In the H&M Group case, consumers discovered that H&M®’s products are not in line with its marketing materials, giving rise to litigation risk (Chelsea Commodore individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiff, v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz Lp, Defendant, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York). This thesis reviews existing literature on signalling theory and signal verification to help fashion MNEs to reduce the litigation risk raising from marketing messages. The research gap arose as there is little research on verifying fashion MNEs’ environmentally sustainable signals by adopting ISO 14021 Type II Self-Declared Environmental Claims. To identify whether fashion MNEs sent out verifiable signals regarding their sustainable practices to consumers, this thesis analyses the claims made by four selected fashion MNEs through their annual reports and their brands’ products. It analyses whether the claims made through brands’ products match with annual reports, and then verifies the claims made through brands’ products by using ISO 14021 Type II Self-Declared Environmental Claims. Through the adoption of signalling theory and case studies, this thesis concludes that by voluntarily compliance with the most frequently satisfied requirements in ISO 14021 Type II Self-Declared Environmental Claims, fashion MNEs could reduce potential litigation risks raised from unmatched environmental sustainability marketing messages from different channels. Mon, 11 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32342 2024-03-11T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32209 Facing the music: Strategic leadership in Australian opera Thomas, Belinda The Australian opera industry faces entrenched business challenges in an increasingly volatile, uncertain and complex world; challenges that both impede its ability to deliver an in-demand contemporary art form and that make such a transformation imperative. To further both evidence-based research knowledge and practitioner competency in this field, this study focuses on strategic leadership in the executive management echelon of Australian opera companies; on those leaders who are responsible for building a connection between strategic thinking and action to sustain and transform an organisation. To this end, Adaptive Leadership Theory (ALT; Heifetz, 1994) is employed as the conceptual framework to analyse the extent to which opera leaders are aware of adaptive challenges and demonstrate ALT-prescribed adaptive behaviours and, hence, to offer appropriate evidence-based prescriptions for greater adaptive leadership practice in the industry. The study applies an interview-based qualitative methodology and a positivist episteme to gather and interpret rich, experiential data from 24 executive-level opera leaders. Results show that while most of these leaders typically have a high level of adaptive awareness, it was less common for this awareness to translate to adaptive action. Further, results indicate that leaders’ occupational background does affect the degree of adaptive awareness and associated adaptive behaviours. The study makes two main contributions to research knowledge and theory in the field. First, it applies the lens of ALT to build on existing arts literature, contributing to an evolving conceptualisation of arts leadership with a strong consideration of both leader background and organisational context. Second, this study adds to ALT by focusing on the intra-individual factors that may be relevant to explaining why leaders with adaptive awareness do, or do not, engage in adaptive action. We draw on Reasoned Action Theory to address this gap in the theory of adaptive leadership. The study also makes three specific recommendations for more effective strategic leadership practice in the opera industry and, by implication, in the arts sector generally. Mon, 12 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32209 2024-02-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32207 Exploring the Liquidity of NFT Collections Rogers, Jackson This paper provides the first analysis of non-fungible token (NFT) collection liquidity by applying a suite of widely used proxies that capture different dimensions of liquidity. Using transaction-level data from the OpenSea marketplace, manipulative trades are flagged and two novel methodologies for calculating liquidity are applied before performing a family of regressions to investigate its dynamics. I find that collection-specific attributes directly account for both NFT-specific liquidity idiosyncrasies and the impacts of manipulative trading. Following robustness tests, I identify that this collection-level power only exists in bull markets, similarly to real estate ZIP-code groupings. Finally, the estimated models reveal a non-linear liquidity pattern across a collection’s lifetime, with successful collections dipping in liquidity before recovering quickly. This paper deepens our understanding of how liquidity operates at the collection level in NFTs, offering findings for liquidity researchers in non-fungible asset markets. Mon, 12 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32207 2024-02-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32187 Examining the Influence of Mentoring on Job Performance in MNEs: Unravelling the Gender Moderation Effect Yu, Xin This study identified four possible mediators in the relationships between various mentoring functions and various individual performance dimensions: knowledge and skills, POS, self-efficacy and sense of identity. It also attempts to explain how gender moderates the correlations between mentoring functions and job performance dimensions using social role theory and an informal networking viewpoint. I used an online survey to conduct a quantitative study that incorporated existing scales of mentoring functions and job performance dimensions. I conclude by discussing the study's recommendations for mentorship practises as they apply to MNEs, as well as future research prospects. Thu, 08 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32187 2024-02-08T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32160 What Influences the Adoption Timing of Accounting Practices? An Investigation of the Voluntary Adoption of Stand-Alone Corporate Social Responsibility Reports in China Zhang, Wei Escalating societal concern about corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues has led regulators around the globe to publish CSR reporting guidelines, with China being a prominent actor in this field. Prior studies tend to predominantly focus on the Western institutional context and study the adoption of CSR reporting as a binary decision. In contrast, anchored in institutional theory, the theoretical aim of this thesis is to study factors influencing the timing of voluntary adoption of stand-alone CSR reports. Empirically, we focus on China’s socialist market economy as its hybridity enables a reconsideration of how adoption timing of accounting practices is influenced by institutional factors – both market-based and political. Using a sample of Chinese publicly listed firms from 2010 – 2020, we find that market factors and political factors coexist in China and interpenetrate each other to influence the adoption timing of stand-alone CSR reports. Firms with superior CSR performance, state ownership, and top executives serving on political councils are more likely to adopt stand-alone CSR reports earlier. Furthermore, although the relationship between CSR performance and the adoption timing is less pronounced for firms vulnerable to state influence, it remains positive and significant for these firms. Overall, our findings suggest that in the absence of hard laws and regulations, listed firms pursue both economic and symbolic resources, responding to both coercive institutional pressure as well as isomorphic pressure manifested as state signalling of priorities, a pressure that we label as state-sponsored isomorphism. The findings of this study have practical implications for investors, policymakers, and standard setters. Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32160 2024-01-31T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32158 The Information Content of Green Bond Prospectus Ma, Jianxing Since its inception in 2013, green bonds, as a nascent financial instrument, have channeled trillions of financial capital towards environmentally-friendly projects. Yet, the pricing dynamics of this instrument remain a puzzle: green bonds often enjoy a lower cost of debt even though they share similar fundamentals with comparable non-green bonds. To better understand this empirical puzzle, this study delves into bond prospectuses, capturing both environmental disclosures using a machine-learning-based (\textit{word2vec}) green dictionary, along with other linguistic features widely examined in the finance literature. My findings show that more extensive environmental disclosure in prospectuses can significantly reduce the bond yield at issuance. However, these findings appear to be driven by non-green bonds. For green bonds, the green label, but not environmental disclosure in bond prospectuses, is priced in the bond at-issue yield. To explore whether the insignificant pricing effect of green disclosure in prospectuses is driven by a lack of information content or the ignorance of bond investors, I link the linguistic metrics constructed based on bond prospectuses with the environmental performance of bond issuers following the green issuance. The results show that both the environmental disclosure and negative tone contained in the prospectuses can offer valuable insights into the issuers' future environmental performance. Collectively, my findings suggest that bond investors need to pay more attention to the qualitative information revealed in bond prospectuses to identify genuinely eco-friendly corporate investments. Mon, 29 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32158 2024-01-29T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32130 Projection-free methods for solving smooth convex bilevel optimisation problems Giang, Tran Khanh Hung When faced with multiple minima of an "inner-level" convex optimisation problem, the convex bilevel optimisation problem selects an optimal solution which also minimises an auxiliary "outer-level" convex objective of interest. Bilevel optimisation requires a different approach compared to single-level optimisation problems since the set of minimisers for the inner-level objective is not given explicitly. In this thesis, we propose new projection-free methods for convex bilevel optimisation which require only a linear optimisation oracle over the base domain. We provide convergence guarantees for both inner- and outer-level objectives that hold under our proposed projection-free methods. In particular, we highlight how our guarantees are affected by the presence or absence of an optimal dual solution. Lastly, we conduct numerical experiments that demonstrate the performance of the proposed methods. Thu, 25 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32130 2024-01-25T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/30115 Understanding men's parental leave-taking decisions: Evidence from Australian fathers Watson, Jacqueline Over the past decade, fathers’ usage of statutory parental leave entitlements has remained low, and this gendered pattern of leave taking is widely seen as a major contributor to workplace gender inequality in Australia. In response, some organisations have sought to make themselves employers of choice and improve gender equality by actively encouraging and supporting fathers’ uptake of parental leave. This study examines how men understand and experience parental leave within the context of one organisation that has enacted generous policies to promote fathers’ use of leave. It uses semi-structured interviews with 16 fathers and four organisational leaders to interrogate fathers’ leave taking decisions and the motivations driving the organisation’s adoption of more generous leave policies. This study finds that the structure of organisational leave policies, including rates of wage replacement, duration and flexibility of leave, and cultural supports are key factors promoting men’s use of paid parental leave. However, key challenges remain, particularly around job design and backfilling. These findings suggest that men can be incentivised to take longer parental leaves, with implications for organisational practice and regulatory policy aimed at promoting gender equality. Fri, 24 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/30115 2023-02-24T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/30080 Does FOMO Mediate the Effects of Time-Limited Scarcity Promotions for Material and Experiential Purchases? Tang, Anthea Scarcity tactics have been used extensively in marketing, largely because such appeals signal the current or potential unavailability of a product which enhances its perceived value and desirability. Such perceptions then in turn increase consumers’ interest in the item and purchase intentions. Due to their extensive use across time and contexts, multiple theories have been put forward to understand why scarcity appeals have such strong, positive effects on consumer behaviour. However, the existing theories have neglected the consideration of consumers’ emotional responses. This thesis aims to enhance the literature by exploring how consumers’ emotional responses to scarcity appeals influences their interest in the item and their purchase intentions. Specifically, we propose the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) as a common emotional response and relevant motivator of consumer behaviour within the scarcity context. We also extend our findings into a new context by exploring whether the strength of scarcity appeals varies between material and experiential items, as prior studies have demonstrated that scarcity effects differ across product level characteristics. We begin by reviewing the current state of the scarcity literature before conducting two experiments to test our propositions. We then employ independent samples t-tests, mediation analyses and a two-way Analysis of Variance to test our predictions and validate the relationships. Our results reveal that time-based scarcity appeals elicit feelings of FOMO, which enhances purchase interest. We also found that such appeals increase consumers’ FOMO and purchase interest for material goods, however there is no significant change for experiences. Our findings contribute to the literature by introducing an alternative way of understanding why scarcity influences consumer behaviour, and by examining scarcity effects within a previously unexplored context. They also have significant practical implications in that we can recommend that material good retailers utilise time-based scarcity promotions to drive purchase interest, particularly those which incorporate FOMO appeals, whereas experiential retailers would benefit from alternate strategies. Wed, 22 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/30080 2023-02-22T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/30003 Biopiracy and Native Title: An Exploration of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) and Indigenous Knowledge Protection Holtheuer, Laura The exploitation of Indigenous Knowledge is pervasive and widespread. Despite its significance and value however, the current legal frameworks available for its protection fail to offer a comprehensive regime which fundamentally accommodates for the unique characteristics that underlie Indigenous Knowledge. This thesis critically examines the protective frameworks currently available in Australia for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Knowledge of plant-based biological resources and traditional medicine, mainly environmental laws, intellectual property rights, and human rights. Although their inadequacy has been continually demonstrated, regulatory research in Australia has primarily focused on recommending developments to the current frameworks available, disregarding the unique characteristics and fundamental principles of the knowledge they seek to protect. This thesis aims to fill the gap in the research concerning the protection of Indigenous Knowledge systems through an exploration of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) and the feasibility of incorporating Indigenous Knowledge protection within its scope, justified by the interconnected and land-related nature of Knowledge and Indigenous ways of life. The analysis is framed around the definition of native title contained in s 223(1) of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) and draws from jurisprudential interpretations to determine whether it could encompass, and therefore protect, Indigenous Knowledge pertaining to plant-based biological resources and traditional medicine specifically. Through case study application, this thesis illustrates and concludes that the s 223(1) native title definition has the scope to protect Indigenous Knowledge of plant-based biological resources. While the success of applying this conclusion in practice remains severely limited given the inequality and imbalance of power amongst Indigenous Peoples and ‘settler’ Australians that still permeates the legal context and Australian society more widely, recent developments in this space indicate a growing social and political demand for much needed change which may act as the vehicle through which to grant Indigenous Peoples rights to their knowledge under the native title framework. Mon, 13 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/30003 2023-02-13T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29974 Going Green: A Short Story Gulli, Simone This paper investigates whether firms’ degree of environmental sustainability motivates short selling investment strategies. This paper also addresses whether short sellers successfully target firms with poor future performance, and whether this performance is driven by previous environmental activity. By using a unique panel of 3,466 publicly listed firms in the U.S. between 2002 and 2021, this study is the first of its kind to provide evidence that a significant, negative relation exists between short interest and past environmental performance. This study additionally finds that firm performance and past short interest are inversely related, and firm performance and past environmental activity are positively related. These results are attributed to recent surges in environmental activism by market participants, where corporations must implement environmentally sustainable business practices to ensure positive future performance in an increasingly green society. Tue, 07 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29974 2023-02-07T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29944 Anthropomorphism Is Not Always A Marketing Panacea: How Anthropomorphism Shapes Product Durability Perception. Carruthers, Samantha Palita This research examined anthropomorphism as a marketing tool in the new paradigms of green and online merchandising. Two experiments tested how product anthropomorphism affects consumers' product durability perception. Study 1 demonstrated that anthropomorphic design had a significant effect on reducing a product’s durability perception due to its greater perceived performance risk. Importantly, this research reveals an important boundary condition for the negative effect of anthropomorphism on perceived durability and performance risk. Study 2 demonstrated the moderating role of consumers' green consumption attitudes, where individuals with lower green consumption attitudes perceiving anthropomorphised products to have greater perceived performance risk and lesser durability than non-anthropomorphised products. These studies produced clear and significant outcomes that can be utilised in both theoretical and managerial implications. Therefore, although most extant research has shown that anthropomorphism enhances consumers' perceptions of a product, the current research demonstrates that anthropomorphising a product or its promotion can become a detrimental marketing strategy when aiming to project durability. Wed, 01 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29944 2023-02-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29943 Colour My World: The Effect of Colour and Context on Brand Personality Smith, Geraldine Colour has inherent meaning that evokes strong associations and is used by brand managers to capture the consumers attention and convey the brand's personality. Despite the importance of colour as a communication cue for brand identity, empirical studies of colour are still needed to consider how the meaning of colour changes in the context of specific product categories. An experiment was conducted with 1078 participants to test the effect on both brand logo colour and product category context on brand personality perceptions, as well as attitude towards the brand and purchase intention. The results of this study indicate that the effect of brand logo colour on brand personality judgments, attitude towards a brand and purchase intension is dependent upon product category context. For example, while fashion brand may be viewed as dynamic when adopting a green logo, the use of green logo in the context of technology was found to reduce perceptions that the brand was dynamic. This research contributes to marketing literature through providing initial evidence of context effects. Further, it provides marketing managers with insight into the role of brand colour, within specific industry context. Wed, 01 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29943 2023-02-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29941 A Magnetic Framelet-Based Convolutional Neural Network for Directed Graphs Lin, Lequan Recent years have witnessed the surging popularity among studies on directed graphs (digraphs) and digraph neural networks. With the unique capability of encoding directional relationships, digraphs have shown their superiority in modelling many real-life applications, such as citation analysis and website hyperlinks. Spectral Graph Convolutional Neural Networks (spectral GCNNs), a powerful tool for processing and analyzing undirected graph data, have been recently introduced to digraphs. Although spectral GCNNs typically apply frequency filtering via Fourier transform to obtain representations with selective information, research shows that model performance can be enhanced by framelet transform-based filtering. However, the massive majority of such research only considers spectral GCNNs for undirected graphs. In this thesis, we introduce Framelet-MagNet, a magnetic framelet-based spectral GCNN for digraphs. The model adopts magnetic framelet transform which decomposes the input digraph data to low-pass and high-pass frequency components in the spectral domain, forming a more sophisticated digraph representation for filtering. Digraph framelets are constructed with the complex-valued magnetic Laplacian, simultaneously leading to signal processing in both real and complex domains. To our best knowledge, this approach is the first attempt to conduct framelet-based convolution on digraph data in both real and complex domains. We empirically validate the predictive power of Framelet-MagNet via various tasks, including node classification, link prediction, and denoising. Besides, we show through experiment results that Framelet-MagNet can outperform the state-of-the-art approaches across several benchmark datasets. Wed, 01 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29941 2023-02-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6655 Commitment Mechanisms and Blood Donation Craig, Ashley The Australian Red Cross Blood Service (ARCBS) recently introduced a policy of compulsory appointments for blood donations. This thesis examines the effect of these appointments on donor satisfaction and donation behaviour. Overall, aggregate tests indicate that the policy transition initially had a negative effect. However, conditional on having donated once after the transition, donors are more likely to return. In order to isolate individual mechanisms that contribute to these results, a survey of blood donors is used to test two specific theories from behavioural economics. On the positive side, appointments are found to increase the likelihood that a donor will return, possibly by circumventing a problem of time-inconsistent preferences. However, the results also support a theory from the marketing literature that appointments change donors' expectations, causing wait time to be more negatively perceived. Furthermore, this is found to cause a significant change in donors' intended actions. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6655 2009-10-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6614 Asset Prices, Monetary Policy and Macroeconomic Stability Stone, Sophie A focal point of macroeconomic policy analysis over the past decade has been whether central banks should respond to changes in asset prices. This thesis addresses the question from the distinct perspective of equilibrium determinacy. By obtaining the conditions for equilibrium determinacy, it is possible to ascertain whether a central bank could induce additional volatility in an economy by adopting a monetary policy rule which incorporates asset prices. This thesis employs a New Keynesian model with a nancial accelerator developed by Bernanke, Gertler and Gilchrist (1999) to analyse the e¤ects on equilibrium determinacy. In contrast to most of the related literature, the principal finding of this thesis is that a central bank can respond to asset prices without inducing additional volatility in the economy. Moreover, responding to asset prices actually decreases the likelihood of indeterminacy. This can be attributed to the substitutability between responding to inflation and asset prices present in a New Keynesian model with a financial accelerator. The key implication is that central banks should take asset prices into account when designing monetary policy. Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6614 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6613 The Hold-up Problem in the Presence of Free Trade Agreement Negotiations Wei, Wenjie This paper examines how the underinvestment that results from the hold-up problem is affected when there is some probability of reaching a free trade agreement (FTA). This paper examines the canonical domestic hold-up problem in an international context. It considers an input supplier undertaking one-sided cost-reducing relationship-specific investment to produce an input for a final-good producer. Once the FTA is reached, both the final-good producer and input supplier face foreign competition. This study finds that it is possible for the presence of FTA negotiations to either aggravate or alleviate the domestic hold-up problem. The total effect of the presence of FTA negotiations on ex-ante investment incentives can be decomposed into an “output competitive effect” and an “input substitution effect”. Both effects can be further decomposed into a “strategic effect” and a “cost effect”. The fundamental driving forces behind the “strategic effect” and “cost effect” are the characteristics of the cost function for the non-standardised input, the characteristics of the final-good’s demand function, and the relative efficiency of the two final-good producers in the two countries. In addition, the probability of reaching the FTA serves as an “intensifier” of the aggravation or alleviation. The modification cost of the foreign input serves as a “protector” for the domestic non-standardised input against competition from the cheaper foreign substitutes. Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6613 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6439 Pricing Decisions by Australian General Practitioners Gilboud, Elina In the Australian market for primary healthcare, some General Practitioners (GPs) bulk bill patients while others charge them a direct fee. The prevalence of these two fee structures means that patients are paying different prices for the same service. From a policy perspective, universal bulk billing is preferred since this leads to more equitable access to free primary healthcare. The empirical observation that bulk billing and fee charging GPs can exist in a single location has not been explained in the literature. This thesis seeks to explain the observation by differentiating GPs into those who provide long consultations and those who provide short consultations. Given the nature of policy in the market, these two types of GPs have different incentives when deciding whether to bulk bill or charge a fee. The hypothesis put forward in this thesis is that GPs who have long consultations will prefer to charge a fee while GPs who have short consultations will prefer to bulk bill. Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6439 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6441 Ethnic Conflict: A Model of Concessions Samuel, Thampapillai The Coase Theorem suggests that the ability of completely informed agents to make transfers should generally avert conflict. This thesis considers a complete information model of ethnic conflict where the dominated group consists of heterogeneous agents, but the dominant group can only bargain with the dominated group as a whole. This broadly captures a political system with race-based parties and coalitions. Moreover in this thesis the dominant group can make credible ex-ante transfers to the dominated group outside a standard bargaining framework. Then conditions arise where conflict occurs. Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6441 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6440 Equilibrium Price Dispersion: A Model of Intermediated Search with Repeated Interaction Cusbert, Thomas This thesis develops a model in which homogeneous producers and merchants interact repeatedly in a search market. Merchants are able to reduce the cost of search by o ering trading certainty to pro- ducers with whom they have a preexisting relationship. Equilibria are characterised in Markov strategies, and it is found that price- dispersed equilibria exist in asymmetric strategies. Conditions in which a price-dispersed equilibrium can be welfare improving com- pared to a single-price equilibrium are found, and two extensions to the basic model are provided. Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6440 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6274 THE FORGOTTEN SECONDS: EXAMINING PRIMARY AND SECONDARY 457 Joanne, Winning Over the past decade workers employed under the temporary skilled 457 visa category have aroused much controversy in Australia. Indeed a recent Australian Government inquiry proposed some significant changes to the 457 visa category. However while there has been discussion of 457 visa holders in the popular press over the years, there has been a dearth of academic research in the area. In order to build on this limited knowledge, this thesis analyses both primary and secondary 457 visa holders within the Australian labour market, and in particular, within the Australian beef industry. Taken together this thesis seeks to give a voice to a group of male and female non- English speaking background (NESB) migrant workers employed in what is often regarded as ‘dirty’ and undesirable work. Analysis is particularly directed to secondary 457 visa holders, who have been virtually forgotten by key government organisations including the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). The research analyses the experiences and attitudes of primary and secondary visa workers undertaking slaughtering, boning, and meat packing work within one large abattoir in the Australian state of Queensland. In doing so, it seeks to fill both an empirical and theoretical ‘gap’ through exploring how migration status and gender shape migrant entry into specific labour markets, as well as the attachment of migrants to particular jobs, and the future intentions of migrants to seek permanent residency. The thesis argues that migrant networks, both in Australia and Brazil, have played an important role in encouraging temporary migrant workers into the Australian beef industry. Similarly, the study highlights the strength of (gendered and occupational) network ties which have ultimately shaped NESB migrant women’s location within this unskilled segment of the labour market. Further the thesis identifies that the majority of 457 visa workers in the study reported a strong desire to remain in Australia. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/6274 2009-10-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/5314 Unlikely Marriages: An Examination of Customer-Visible Partnerships Between Prestige Brands and Mass-Market Distributors Fetherstone, Julia The prestige goods industry is founded on exclusivity and premium pricing. The challenge for the industry is extracting that premium from the greatest possible number of consumers (the mass-market), while retaining the exclusivity that permits the extraction of that premium. Prestige / mass-market partnerships (PMMP) – one-off, co-branded partnerships between prestige designers and mass-market clothing retailers are increasingly used by participants in the industry to negotiate that precarious balance between volume sales and premium pricing. Exclusivity is the key source of competitive advantage for prestige brands; that exclusivity would appear to be prima facie compromised by undertaking a PMMP. A review of the literature in branding, strategy and organisational research, it was found that none of these schools would direct a prestige partner to undertake a PMMP. Yet PMMPs persist and proliferate in the fashion industry. Either the prestige partners need a new strategy or researchers need a new paradigm, or both. The question is: which is it? This thesis has used a single case narrative to get inside a PMMP through the voice of the designer. It then provided three separate expert readings of that narrative. Those expert readings were found to have some explanatory power in relation to PMMPs but were unable to capture the rich tapestry of drivers on the prestige partner side. The dominant paradigms neglect the entrepreneur as a unit of analysis, over-rely on rational, linear models to explain a phenomenon that defies such categorization, and fail to appreciate the highly-specific context of the prestige fashion industry. iv To achieve this end, the literature on entrepreneurial opportunism was introduced. From the prestige side, PMMPs can be conceived of as four related opportunity events – creative, business, learning and personal. Next, structuration theory was introduced as a means to analyse the context surrounding PMMPs. It was found that the designers is both constrained and enabled by the prestige fashion context; some counter-orthodox behaviour is permitted, and indeed encouraged, but the limits of acceptability are still clearly defined by the community of practitioners. To capture the interaction between the entrepreneur, the opportunity and the context analysis, a model of drivers based on Sahlman’s (1996) PCDO model was proposed. This thesis has found that the drivers motivating prestige designers to enter PMMPs are significantly more nuanced and less linear than convention structure-strategy analyses might wish. Starting with the entrepreneur as the central unit of analysis is the most effective way to capture the range of drivers that stimulate a designer towards a PMMP. Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/5314 2009-07-23T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/5316 A New Paradigm of Entrepreneurial Leadership: the mediating role of influence, vision and context Huynh, Lancy Abstract This research project explores Entrepreneurial Leadership as a new way of understanding the entrepreneur. By exploring this phenomenon, the project aims to help the field of entrepreneurship move from a position of fragmentation to consolidation. A review of the both the entrepreneurship and leadership fields will conclude that entrepreneurship focuses on the individual entrepreneur/leader whereas leadership literature explores the significance of context and followers. A hypothetical case of the sports leader who is also an entrepreneur is utilized to provide insight into the literature. From the review, the emerging themes of influence, vision and contextual boundaries were uncovered. These themes were the foundation for a case study research strategy whereby the experiences of Aqua, Wheeler and Batter were sought to understand the emerging themes. It was found that the ability to influence other people in an entrepreneurial business context was stronger then that of a sports leadership role. Secondly, the individuals believed they created their own vision while the realisation of their goals was more self-influenced in the business context. Lastly it was shown that contextual boundaries were not restricted to a leadership environment as stated in the literature, but also existed in the entrepreneurial business context. The study of Entrepreneurial Leadership is in need for further development before an indepth synthesis of the field can be established. Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/5316 2009-07-23T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/5315 Large Pure Internet Firms and Theories of International Business: Australia as a Foreign Internet Market Nairn, Hamish ABSTRACT: Large pure internet firms challenge key assumptions in international business theories. This paper considers the relevance of the eclectic paradigm and ‘born global’ theories to large purely internet based multinationals. By researching four case studies of firms operating in the Australian market, evidence is found for a need to update the theory. Specifically, there is a need to consider the elevated importance of the consumer as a critical resource. Secondly, these firms operate in a market that is borderless and where market entry is a spectrum. Third, complex networking relationships break down boundaries between internal and external. Theory must be developed to analyse the post-born global firm. Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/5315 2009-07-23T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4115 Drama, Narrative and Charismatic Leadership Sharma, Abhimanyu Since the 1970s, management scholars have been captivated by the emotional and symbolic aspects of leadership, particularly charismatic leadership — a form of influence independent of tradition and formal authority. More recently, dramaturgical scholars have sought to augment orthodox understandings of charisma by examining leadership as a ‘performing art’: a ‘front stage’ social interaction between ‘actor’ (leader) and ‘audience’ (followers). Whereas existing research has examined the nature of charismatic leadership through, for example, impression management and social constructionism, this thesis suggests that dramaturgical scholars have largely neglected to demonstrate the value of the theatrical metaphor by testing, evaluating and building on extant theory through a case study leader. The thesis seeks to augment extant theory by revealing the importance of i) ‘narrative and storytelling’, and ii) the ‘stage management’ of leader performance to the audience’s attribution and maintenance of what constitutes a ‘charismatic’ leader. Accordingly, this thesis develops a narratologically informed dramaturgical framework of analysis to examine six public performance texts by a case study ‘charismatic leader’ — Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. The framework is tendered as a useful device through which narrative and storytelling, impression management, organisational outcomes, and the social construction of charismatic leadership may be further examined. Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4115 2009-03-11T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4078 How much volume will an illegal insider trade? Evidence from options markets MARAS, PETER Modelling the volume traded by illegal inside traders is a fairly new area of research. Previous research into insider trading has focused not a comprehensive study on the determinants of volume, but empirical and theoretical work has touched the area. This thesis will aim to consolidate the scattered literature and model the volume traded by someone who has made the decision to trade on that information (i.e. we are not concerned so much with the ‘to trade or not to trade question’ but rather the how much question). The literature assists in finding factors that may cause high volumes of inside trading under the framework of the utility theory of insider trading. These factors are tested on SEC data on prosecuted insider trades for trades executed between 31 May 1994 and 17 October 2007 to find the material determinants of illegal insider trading volumes on the American option markets. Three determinants examined perform as expected: the performance of the underlying stock is negatively correlated with insider trading volumes on the option market, the act of spreading trades over multiple days increases the insider volume traded and the option liquidity on the day/s of the insider trade/s is positively correlation with insider trading volumes. Two determinants perform contrary to what is expected: higher levels of normal trading liquidity reduce insider trading volume and larger amounts of insider trading volume occur after more stringent insider trading regulations are put in place on 23 October 2000. The other factors are insignificant, not influencing the amount of insider trading volume and include: the amount of profit per option, the volume in the underlying stock, the number of relationships to other traders, working for a scrutinised firm and the type of information announcement. Finally, through robustness testing it is indeterminable whether insider trades on the option markets differ significantly from the average trade, however results are presented, which may be usefully interpreted given future research efforts. Since many of the null and unexpected results can be adequately explained, the thesis concludes with the proposition that there is not enough evidence to either prove or disprove the utility theory of insider trading. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4078 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4075 STATISTICAL AND ECONOMIC TESTS OF EFFICIENCY IN THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE SOCCER BETTING MARKET BRYCKI, JONATHON This thesis investigates the weak and semi-strong form efficiency of the fixed odds English Premier League soccer betting market between 2002-03 and 2007-08. Recent structural changes – including a reduction in taxes, and the rapid growth of online bookmakers – renders this market ideal for empirical efficiency analysis. Weak form evidence indicates that favourite-longshot and home ground advantage biases exist in the quoting of bookmaker odds. In order to conduct semi-strong form analysis, a number of ordered probit models are specified, incorporating fundamental variables which are widely perceived to contain predictive power with regard to the outcome of a soccer match. The Kelly betting strategy isutilised to analyse the economic significance of their predictions, for matches played in the three most recently completed seasons, 2005-06 to 2007-08. It is found that the implementation of two methodological adjustments – the avoidance of bets on away longshots, and a staggered start and finish to betting in each season – results in the generation of significantly positive returns, providing strong evidence against semi-strong form economic efficiency. Evidence presented in this thesis indicates a strong preference for a fractional Kelly strategy and supports the technique of combining forecasts, findings consistent with previous literature. Further, it is shown that a distinct improvement to the returns from any strategy can be obtained by shopping around for the best available odds. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4075 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4071 Order Placement and Performance: A Comparative Analysis of Institutional and Retail Traders Alcock, Emma This thesis seeks to identify systematic differences in the order placement of institutional and retail traders in the Australian market. With institutions exhibiting a greater awareness of market conditions, this analysis facilitates the comparison of informed and uninformed trading behaviour. Applying broker IDs as a proxy for trader type, the characteristics and the execution costs of institutional and retail orders are analysed to compare their order performance. Retail traders demand immediacy, accounting for a disproportionate volume of market orders and aggressive limit orders. Exposed to heightened execution risk, these traders also place a higher volume of limit orders behind the quoted spread. In comparison, institutional traders, concentrating order flow within the quoted spread. As passive investors, these traders exhibit a preference for limit orders priced at the best same side quote. Whilst institutional and retail traders exhibit distinct order placement strategies, no significant differences are observed in their order execution costs. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4071 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4072 Pairs Trading: A Cointegration Approach Schmidt, Arlen David This study uses the Johansen test for cointegration to select trading pairs for use within a pairs trading framework. A long-run equilibrium price relationship is then estimated for the identified trading pairs, and the resulting mean-reverting residual spread is modeled as a Vector-Error-Correction model (VECM). The study uses 5 years of daily stock prices starting from the beginning of July, 2002. The search for trading pairs is restricted to 17 financial stocks listed on the ASX200. The results show that two cointegrated stocks can be combined in a certain linear combination so that the dynamics of the resulting portfolio are governed by a stationary process. Although a trading rule is not employed to access the profitability of this trading strategy, plots of the residual series show a high rate of zero crossings and large deviations around the mean. This would suggest that this strategy would likely be profitable. It can also be concluded that in the presence of cointegration, at least one of the speed of adjustment coefficients must be significantly different from zero. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4072 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4077 The Investment Value of Australian Security Analyst Recommendations: An Application of the Black-Litterman Asset Allocation Model He, Peng William The study empirically examines the investment value of analyst recommendations on constituent stocks of the S&P/ASX 50 index. For the period from 30 June 1997 to 30 October 2007, we find that stocks with favourable consensus recommendations (“strong buy” and “buy”) on average earn a higher return than the market, whereas stocks with unfavourable recommendations (“strong sell” and “sell”) earn a lower return. An investment strategy using the Black-Litterman asset allocation model that overweights (underweights) stocks with favourable (unfavourable) consensus recommendations, in conjunction with daily rebalancing, outperforms the market in terms of raw return and risk adjusted performance measures. The investment strategy involves high levels of trading and, as a result, no significant abnormal returns are achieved after accounting for transaction costs. Less frequent rebalancing, under most situations, causes a decrease in both performance and turnover. Filtering of dated recommendations causes an increase in turnover, whilst having mixed effects on investment returns. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4077 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4073 The Disposition Effect and the Ability of Investors to Learn Thomson, Nicholas This paper provides an in depth analysis of investors’ reluctance to crystallise losses and propensity to realise gains, a behavioural bias dubbed the disposition effect. We examine a comprehensive data set comprised of trading records for individual and institutional investors within the Finnish Stock Market over an extensive ten year period. Consistent with previous studies, we find that the disposition effect exists for not only individuals, but also for institutions. We conclude that despite significantly attenuating, ‘professionalism’ (i.e. investor sophistication) is unable to provide total immunity from the disposition bias. Moreover, this study confirms the existence of an apparent asymmetric relationship between trading experience and the disposition effect. Both individuals and institutions exhibit learning effects over time, with the accumulation of trading experience inversely related to the bias. However, while investors are capable of completely eliminating their tendency to ride losses, we found that no amount of trading experience is capable of eradicating an investor’s propensity to realise gains. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4073 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4082 Development of a Forecasting Model for Hedge Fund Failure: A Survival Analysis Approach Ng, Michael Siu Fung Well-known biases associated with hedge fund data have created difficulties in analysing the factors behind the failure of hedge funds. This study was interested in quantifying the factors influencing hedge fund failure and to construct a framework for forecasting the time varying probability of survival for individual hedge funds. Based on a robust filter for the identification of failure times, a Cox proporational hazards model was used to determine the effects of historical performance and fund characteristics on true hedge fund failure. Covariates included fund size, return measures, leverage , strategy, liquidity, minimum investment, fee structure and domicile. By adopting an evaluation procedure developed from the theory of signal detection, it was found that the specification of the Cox proportional hazards model incorporating fixed factors had predictive skills for forecasting the occurrence of failure in individual hedge funds. Importantly, the model is robust against variations in covariate definition, evaluation timing, data filter as well as the thresholds used to identify failure times. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4082 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4076 The Dynamics of Bid and Ask Quotes Set by a Heterogeneously Informed Market Maker Dwyer, Gregory James This paper studies the effects superiorly informed market makers have on the price formation process. Two models are developed in which the market maker receives some informative signal. In one version, the market maker receives an informative signal at the start of the day with which he assigns a probability to its correctness. In the other version, the market maker receives a fully informative signal at some random time throughout the day. By comparing the models to the Glosten and Milgrom (1985) model, it is shown that informed market makers are able to improve certain dimensions of market quality. Prices become more reflective of their true value, price discovery is enhanced, and trading costs for uninformed traders are decreased. These benefits to the market are further demonstrated through the development of simulations of the theoretical models. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4076 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4081 Effects on Fragmentation and Market Quality When ASX Moves Towards a More Anonymous Market Teo Shi Ni, Cecilia This thesis addresses the question of whether the anonymization of broker identifiers has an effect on market quality through the natural experiment on the Australian Securities Exchange. We show that the removal of broker identifiers on the ASX has a significant impact on the market quality measures. We confirm that the removal of broker identifiers effects on a fall in traded value, an increase in transaction costs and an increase in intraday volatility. Results indicate that the large special crossings exhibit the best market quality measures in the anonymous regime. Specifically, there is a strong signal that the better informed institutions and their brokers, who are mostly active in the larger stocks gain more advantage from their position after the market reform. Further, we obtain strong results that larger firms benefit more from a transparent market. We conclude that there is value in greater pre-trade transparency in the form of the disclosure of broker identification. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4081 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4080 Illegal Insider Trading and its Differential Impact on Liquidity on the CBOE, NYSE, and NASDAQ Rahman, Rizwan Tanvir This study examines the differential impact of illegal insider trading on liquidity in the alternative market structures of the NYSE (specialist), NASDAQ (dealer), and the CBOE (hybrid). Using US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prosecuted insider trades, we investigate changes in bid ask spread measures. This study contributes to, and extends, the literature on insider trading in several ways. Firstly, by specifically examining SEC prosecuted insider trading cases, this thesis utilises a direct measure of informed trading and adverse selection risk. Secondly, literature in the field has mainly focused on event studies. This is the first study to examine the impact of illegal insider trading on liquidity in a cross-sectional framework. Thirdly, it is also the first study to examine the impact of illegal insider trading on the liquidity of option contracts, in addition to investigating the relationship between informed trading in the options and underlying stock of a company. Finally, since the identification of informed traders by market makers is dependent on the implicit trader anonymity built in to the alternative market structures, this study also contributes to literature on trader anonymity, by examining the level of trader anonymity - the extent to which a trader is recognized as informed – afforded to illegal insider traders on each market. Results indicate that bid ask spreads are greater on the NYSE on insider trading days, but narrower or unchanged on NASDAQ, which suggests that the specialist system offers less trader anonymity than the competitive dealer system. However, our cross-sectional regressions reveal that it is the trade characteristics of the informed trades which possibly signal the presence of informed traders to market makers. In addition we also find that paired option trades of NASDAQ underlying stocks experience an improvement in liquidity, while NYSE underlying stock options experience no significant change. These findings suggest that the hybrid market structure is in fact fragmented like the NASDAQ dealer system and offers greater trader anonymity than the NYSE specialist system. Furthermore, we find that the main determinant of option spreads is the quoted spreads of the underlying stocks, which lend further support to Cho and Engle’s (1998) derivative hedge theory. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4080 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4083 Performance of Active Extension Strategies in the Australian Equities Market Turner, James This dissertation examines the performance of active extension strategies, also known as ‘130/30’, in the Australian equities market. This strategy involves introducing short positions to 30% of the value of a fund while increasing the number of long positions to 130%, providing 100% net exposure to the market while giving the ability to take a larger number of active positions. A detailed analysis of the factors affecting performance is explored using a simulation approach based on eight years of historical returns for the constituents of the S&P/ASX 200 index and a variety of realistic cost assumptions. This study builds on previous analysis by using a simulation approach that allows a larger number of contributing factors to be analysed with greater precision. There is also a unique advantage to using active extension strategies in the Australian market, as a higher level of benchmark concentration relative to other major developed market indexes should lead to a higher performance increase from active extension strategies over traditional long-only portfolios. This is also one of the first analyses of this kind in the Australian market and should have a high degree of relevance to institutional investors considering active extension strategies. This study finds a statistically significant increase in performance from active extension strategies over equivalent long-only portfolios, holding all other factors constant. This increase is greatest for managers with higher levels of skill, where the manager is equally skilled at picking long or short positions. The performance increase from active extension portfolios is greatest where any tracking error limit is high and costs are low. Volatility and cross-sectional dispersion of returns, two factors hypothesised in the literature to affect the relative advantage of active extension strategies, are found to have no discernable effect. Similarly, there is no measurable difference in relative performance in rising or falling markets. Overall, this study concludes that there is a performance gain in relaxing the long-only constraint, provided costs are low, any tracking error target is not extremely low, and the manager has a reasonable degree of skill in selecting stocks both long and short. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4083 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4074 Does market depth concentration matter? Evidence from the Australian Stock Exchange Avila, Kristoffer Kevin In considering the behaviour of market participants, this paper introduces a new variable into the model for the determinants of institutional trading costs. By using an ex-ante measure of the concentration in the opposite-side of the market, this study suggests that traders on the opposite-side of the market herd against an incoming trader looking to trade a series of orders. The new variable measures the level of broker competition prevailing on the opposite-side of the market and is found to be negatively related with price impact. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4074 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4079 THE IMPACT OF BLOCKS TRADES IN THE UNDERLYING MARKET ON OPTION PRICES: EVIDENCE FROM THE ASX MENDEZ, MELISSA This dissertation examines the impact a block trade in the underlying stock market has on options listed on that stock in the options market. There is significant debate in previous literature in regards to which market leads, and which market is preferred by informed traders. This thesis contributes to, and extends previous literature, by examining the relationship between stocks and options around block trades in a different geographical setting. Furthermore, by using a combined dataset provided by SIRCA and the Australian Securities Exchange, this dissertation is able to identify individual brokers executing block trades and analyse their activity in the options market. This unique dataset allows a direct test of the “inter-market front-running” hypothesis proposed by in prior literature. Results from this dissertation are consistent with previous literature, and indicate that the stock market leads the options market by as much as fifteen minutes. Analysis of Broker ID’s confirms that there is no evidence of any inter-market front-running. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/4079 2009-02-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/3666 The Introduction of Clerp 9 Audit Regulation and its Impact on the Auditing Profession Hecimovic, Angela This study examines the introduction of legally enforceable Australian Auditing Standards (ASAs) and the impact on the audit profession after their first year of implementation. This study is informed by regulation theories and potential costs, benefits and other impacts of the new regulatory regime identified by the Australian government’s April 2006 Regulation Impact Statement (RIS). This study collected relevant data through semi-structured in-depth interviews with the same key stakeholders as RIS (accounting firms, professional bodies and regulatory bodies). The results indicate significant differences to the government’s pre-implementation RIS expectations, as well as differences between stakeholder groups. Overall the accounting profession does not consider that the extra burden of demonstrating compliance with the legally enforceable ASAs has changed the audit process or audit outcomes. The auditing profession does not consider the extra burden of the new regime justifiable as it has not increased audit quality or public confidence, which were the main aims of the government’s regulatory intervention. Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/3666 2008-10-21T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2293 The Sectoral Impact of Monetary Policy in Australia: A Structural VAR Approach Crawford, Claudia In recent years, the global resources boom has had a major impact on the Australian economy. In the mining rich state of Western Australia, rapid commodity price growth has contributed to strong economic conditions. However, state economies that rely heavily on manufacturing industries have fared less well, forced to cope with higher input costs as well as the effects of a stronger exchange rate. The resulting 'two-speed economy' presents a challenge for monetary policy, which must manage the diverging performances of different sectors and regions. In light of these issues, this thesis develops a small, open economy structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model of Australia in order to examine the impact of monetary policy on sectoral output. The results suggest that monetary policy shocks have uneven impacts across different sectors. The construction and manufacturing sectors show the most sizeable and rapid responses, while the mining sector is not as interest rate sensitive as the existing literature would suggest. This thesis also adds to our understanding of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in a small, open economy. In particular, while the results indicate that global economic conditions account for a large proportion of the variation in mining sector output, there is evidence that the exchange rate channel of monetary policy does not play a dominant role in influencing output in this sector. One implication of these findings is that the Reserve Bank of Australia will find it difficult to stabilise output across regional economies in the face of a resources boom. The model also indicates that changes to monetary policy have long, non-trivial real impacts, and there is some suggestion that the credit channel of monetary policy has an important influence in propagating monetary policy shocks. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2293 2008-04-03T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2292 The Implications of Sequential Investment in the Property Rights Theory of the Firm Mai, Maxim In the property rights theory of the firm, control over assets (ownership) affords bargaining power in the case of re-negotiation, providing incentives for parties to make relationship specific investments. The models predict that property rights will be allocated so as to maximise surplus generated from investment. However, these models assume that investments are made simultaneously. In this thesis I extend the standard property-rights framework to allow for sequential investment; the model allows for two investment periods. If a party invests first (ex-ante), they sink their investment before any contracting is possible. The parties that invest second (ex-post) do so after some aspects of the project are tangible, so that they can contract on (at least some) of their investment costs. As well as being empirically relevant, sequencing has several important theoretical implications. First, if a party gets to invest second, then – ceteris paribus – it has a greater incentive to invest. Second, the investment of parties that invest first are affected by a more than one influence. Anticipating higher ex-post investment, they can have a greater incentive to increase their investments. However, higher ex-post investment leads to greater costs being borne by the ex-ante investors (via the cost sharing contracts); this reduces ex-ante incentives to invest. Overall either effect can dominate so that ex-ante investment can either increase or decrease as a result of sequential investment. Third, as noted, sequencing of investment provides the possibility to (partially) contract on ex-post investment and costs. This is an additional method of providing incentives to invest, beyond the allocation of property rights themselves. Consequently, ex-post investors can be protected (and be provided incentives to invest) via these contracts, whereas ex-ante investors –who can not contract on their investments at all – are more likely to require the protection of property rights (through the allocation of asset ownership). The addition of sequential investment alters some of the predictions of the standard models. For example, previously the literature found that if all assets are complements at the margin all agents should have access to all assets (Bel (2005)). However, when investment sequencing is possible, making a control structure more inclusive (increasing the number of agents who have access to assets) can reduce the incentives of the ex-ante investors, decreasing overall surplus; this is because increasing the property rights of ex-post investors increases the marginal costs borne by ex-ante investors, effectively reducing their claim on surplus, diminishing their incentives to invest. This result contradicts Bel (2005), and shows that even when all assets are complimentary at the margin allocating access rights can be detrimental to incentives. Furthermore, if assets are substitutes at the margin then transfer of assets from ex-ante investors to ex-post investors can increase ex-ante investment and surplus. This counter intuitive result can occur in the case when decreasing ex-post investment is necessary to provide an incentive to ex-ante investors to increase their investments. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2292 2008-04-03T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2256 Street Vendors tackle the Newsvendor Problem: An Experimental Inquiry into the Big Issue Bailey, Nicholas The Big Issue is a not-for-profit organisation that gives homeless people the opportunity to reclaim ownership over their lives by selling a street magazine. The vendors must purchase the magazine from the Big Issue office before making sales, and may do so multiple times each day. The vendors hence face the economic problem of how to construct an order plan given multiple, costly opportunities to replenish. This paper solves the problem theoretically and conducts an experiment with actual Big Issue vendors which tests how their ordering behaviour departs from the optimal solution. The experiment reveals various types of orderers exist, and that some of these systematically perform worse than others. The results also suggest that ordering decisions are heavily influenced by an anchoring heuristic. The experiment ultimately aims to test the effectiveness of a policy recommendation in improving ordering behaviour by setting minimum order quantities and offering vendors a refund for unsold magazines. The effect of the policy is different for each behavioural grouping of vendors. Some vendors demonstrate improved behaviour, while others do not. Based on the results of the experiment, a policy is formulated that will improve the profits of some vendors, without impinging upon the profits of any other behavioural types. This policy is designed so that it is sympathetic to the non-economic goals of the Big Issue. Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2256 2008-03-17T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2252 Strategic Voting in TV Game Show "The Weakest Link" Yuan, Haishan This paper utilizes the data generated from the television game show 'The Weakest Link' to study real life strategic voting with large stake payoffs. Theoretical models are built to analyse the three-player voting possibly with second move of tie breaker. With reasonable specifications, equilibria can be constructed to support all observed outcomes. When the game structure is relatively simple with single possible tie breaker, the empirical results are in line with theoretical implications. When the tie breaker is uncertain, the predictability of basic game theory analysis is largely compromised. Regression results suggest that, with the presence of increased complexity and uncertainty in the voting game, naive coordination strategies are instead adopted. Strategic untruthful performance is found as a source of inaccurate prediction of theory. Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2252 2008-03-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2253 An Impotent Aegis: An economic analysis of the effectiveness of Australia’s anti-circumvention laws Hollis, Richard This paper examines the degree to which anti-circumvention laws meet their policy objectives of reducing piracy and protecting copyright owners’ interests. This paper develops economic models of ‘rational contravention’ and applies them to Australian anti-circumvention laws. These models are used to analyse the impact that the laws have on potential contraveners, and the extent to which these parties may be dissuaded from engaging in their illegal activities. The results indicate that Australian anti-circumvention laws will not deter a substantial number of contraveners, nor significantly improve copyright owner protection. Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2253 2008-03-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2251 What Determines Australia's Foreign Equity Investment? Pendle, Lara In light of the recent changes to superannuation policy in Australia, the corresponding heightened exposure to equity markets has highlighted the importance of portfolio diversification as a means to reduce income risk. The International Capital Asset Pricing Model of Sharpe (1964) and Lintner (1965) suggests that in order to obtain maximum gains from diversification, investors hold too little wealth in foreign assets. This large discrepancy between theory and data is known as the home income bias puzzle and still remains robust despite the recent liberalisation of financial markets and removals of direct barriers to investment. This thesis empirically investigates the distribution of Australian holdings of foreign equities and considers the determinants of equity home bias for a sample of 25 countries. The IMF's high quality Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS) dataset is appropriate for this purpose and is utilised over the period 2001 to 2005. The key findings are that indirect barriers to international investment and information costs are important factors behind international investment patterns and the home bias puzzle. Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2251 2008-03-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2234 A deconstruction of Cox’s proportional hazards model and an inquiry into its ability to predict the outcome of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings Hoi Fung Ng, Calvin Set against the backdrop of Chapter 11 proceedings in the United States, a specification of Cox’s proportional hazards model proposed by Partington, Stevenson, Russel and Torbey (2001) was examined for its stability over time. Faced with findings of instability consistent with those of Wong, Partington, Stevenson and Torbey (2007), the model was respecified to only include two firm-specific covariates (capturing firm size and earnings) and a time-dependent market-wide covariate. A ‘calendar-time model’ was then introduced to enable analysis of the firm-specific covariates in abstraction from the systematic effects of time. With such effects controlled for, the suggestion was made that any remnant instability in the model was a result of non-systematic factors reflecting the changing nature of firms which filed for Chapter 11 protection during the period examined. Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2234 2008-02-21T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2215 THE PREDICTION OF AUSTRALIAN TAKEOVER TARGETS: A BINOMIAL AND MULTINOMIAL LOGIT ANALYSIS Arnull-Almond, Blake This thesis provides the first attempt to predict takeover targets in the Australian context using binomial and multinomial logit models, extending the relatively small amount of work focused in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Evidence is provided concerning eight main hypothesised motivations for takeovers. Our results confirm the contention that such motivations are inconsistent both throughout time and across economies. Application of models to a true ex-ante predictive sample suggests that individual models are quite inaccurate, but that the use of certain methodological improvements can produce relatively accurate predictive classifications. Multinomial logit models are also compared to binomial logit models to examine whether theoretical benefits exist from discrimination between types of targets. Evidence is provided suggesting that the binomial model is indeed misspecified, but that it is the most appropriate model if the purpose of prediction is investment. Our main empirical finding is that a significantly positive abnormal return of 23.37 percent (68.67 percent prior to robustness adjustments) may be made from an investment in the commonly predicted targets of logit based models. This contradicts the current belief within the extant literature that such returns cannot be achieved through the use of binomial logit models for true ex-ante prediction. Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2215 2008-02-05T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2213 The Impact of Trading Halts on the Australian Equities Markets Lecce, Steven This dissertation examines the impact of trading halts on the trading behaviour for a sample of halted stocks listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). A detailed analysis of returns, liquidity and volatility around trading halts for a sample of 18,245 halted stocks captured over the period 1 January 2005 to 26 September, 2006 allows this study to extend the literature in three main ways. First, this study re-examines the impact of ASX trading halts in a tighter regulatory environment, where companies were obliged to comply with stricter continuous disclosure requirements. Second, the availability of the largest database of trading halts in Australia, permits an investigation of the benefits of trading halts in a more rigorous manner. Finally, regression analysis is used to identify factors associated with aberrant stock volatility immediately after a trading halt. This will provide a better understanding of the trading behaviour surrounding trading halts and allow ASX exchange officials to fine-tune the market surveillance discipline. This study finds that trading halts result in abnormally high levels of trading volume and volatility in the period immediately following a trading halt. Additionally, wider bid-ask spreads and lower order depth immediately after a trading halt, suggest that information asymmetry is high during this period. Halted stock returns are persistently high for up to a full trading day after a trading halt. This suggests that trading halts do not fully allow for an efficient dissemination of new information. The impact of trading halts on stock volatility is found to be a function of firm size, and trading halt duration, but not for the announced reason for the trading halt. Overall, this study concludes that trading halts have an immediate negative impact on market quality. Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2213 2008-02-05T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2214 Liquidity and Information Asymmetry Around Preliminary Final Reports Cacciola, Erin This thesis seeks to examine changes in liquidity and information asymmetry around earnings and dividend announcements, using evidence from the Australian market. Unlike previous studies conducted, this thesis examines a market without the presence of official market makers. In Australia earnings and dividend announcements are released simultaneously in companies’ Preliminary Final Reports (PFR). Consequently these announcements are the focus of this thesis. Market participants are interested in liquidity and information asymmetry around PFR announcements to determine whether the release of these announcements provide a trading opportunity for traders with greater research and information processing skills. By partitioning the sample into anticipated and unanticipated PFR announcements this thesis finds that trading activity decreases around anticipated announcements, while trading activity increases around unanticipated announcements. This suggests that uncertainty increases around unanticipated announcements. Liquidity does not change around anticipated announcements. However liquidity decreases following unanticipated announcements. Information asymmetry is found to decrease prior to anticipated announcements and following unanticipated announcements that the market perceives to be good news. Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/2214 2008-02-05T00:00:00Z