Essays in finance

This thesis which compromise of three essays focuses on the theme of valuation, value premium anomaly, financing behaviour and emerging markets. The first essay studies the value growth puzzle in the context of conflict of interest between taxable and institutional investors. We model this conflict in a rational expectations framework and demonstrate how the differences in firm's characteristics (in terms of value versus growth) and the risk profile of the investors can explain the shape of CAPM's frontier in the overall economy without involving the beta parameter. We also explicate that the changes in taxable and non-taxable investors profile in a dynamic environment rationalize the value growth premium as illustrated by Malkiel (2003). Finally, our approach shed light on the issues raised by Shiller (1979,1981) and LeRoy and Porter (1981) that stock [bond] prices are too volatile to be rationalized by the discounted value of their expected dividends [coupon payments]. The second essay studies value anomaly in the context of four major emerging economies (i.e. Brazil, Turkey, China and India denoted by the acronym BTIC) with vast economic potential and Malaysia, a small emerging economy with top heavy, closely held, state-owned institutional setting. We attribute the anomaly to the investment pattern of glamour firms. Our empirical analysis illustrates that these firms have a tendency to hoard cash, delaying the undertaking of their growth options, especially in poor economic environments. This mitigates their business risk, but lowers their market valuation, driving down their returns. Our hypothesis also reconciles the diverging views stemming from both the neoclassical and behavioural perspectives. This third essay examines the target capital structure of Malaysian firms and their adjustment process in the pre- and post- Asian financial crisis. We utilize an unbalanced panel data set comprising of 184 firms and employ the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to study the relationship between a firm's characteristics and its capital structure targeting behaviour in the context of political patronage. Our results support the amalgamation of the well-known Pecking Order and Static Trade-off theories. It also illustrates that the financial crisis had a significant impact on the financial policy of Malaysian firms

Essays in finance

This thesis which compromise of three essays focuses on the theme of valuation, value premium anomaly, financing behaviour and emerging markets. The first essay studies the value growth puzzle in the context of conflict of interest between taxable and institutional investors. We model this conflict in a rational expectations framework and demonstrate how the differences in firm's characteristics (in terms of value versus growth) and the risk profile of the investors can explain the shape of CAPM's frontier in the overall economy without involving the beta parameter. We also explicate that the changes in taxable and non-taxable investors profile in a dynamic environment rationalize the value growth premium as illustrated by Malkiel (2003). Finally, our approach shed light on the issues raised by Shiller (1979,1981) and LeRoy and Porter (1981) that stock [bond] prices are too volatile to be rationalized by the discounted value of their expected dividends [coupon payments]. The second essay studies value anomaly in the context of four major emerging economies (i.e. Brazil, Turkey, China and India denoted by the acronym BTIC) with vast economic potential and Malaysia, a small emerging economy with top heavy, closely held, state-owned institutional setting. We attribute the anomaly to the investment pattern of glamour firms. Our empirical analysis illustrates that these firms have a tendency to hoard cash, delaying the undertaking of their growth options, especially in poor economic environments. This mitigates their business risk, but lowers their market valuation, driving down their returns. Our hypothesis also reconciles the diverging views stemming from both the neoclassical and behavioural perspectives. This third essay examines the target capital structure of Malaysian firms and their adjustment process in the pre- and post- Asian financial crisis. We utilize an unbalanced panel data set comprising of 184 firms and employ the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to study the relationship between a firm's characteristics and its capital structure targeting behaviour in the context of political patronage. Our results support the amalgamation of the well-known Pecking Order and Static Trade-off theories. It also illustrates that the financial crisis had a significant impact on the financial policy of Malaysian firms.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

PROMOTING AN INCLUSIVE ECONOMY: THE RELEVANCE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ISLAMICITY PROSPERITY INDEX

Inequalities and social exclusion are the consequences of imbalanced economic growth, prompting the World Bank to establish new targets for eradicating extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. Surprisingly, the contemporary solution methods are consistent with Shari'ah's objectives. Stressing the importance of balanced growth, this study aims to quantify prosperity sharing in 28 developed and 14 developing nations by reshaping the notion of sustainable development from an Islamic perspective. The study examins four pillars of prosperity namely Faradh (social responsibility), Shura (social participation), Al Adl Wal Ihsan (social equilibrium) and Ummah (social cohesion) to capture the essence of prosperity sharing. It begins with a thorough literature review as the basis for designing and developing the dimensions and indicators, followed by an adequacy test of the indicators using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Then, the study employs panel data regression analysis to identify the determinants that have a significant impact on the shared prosperity indicator (s). The results show that all of the pillars (Faradh, Shura, Al Adl Wal Ihsan, and Ummah) have a significant outcome, confirming that the strength of the association between the variables is strong and adequate as proxies for each pillar. Finally, an Islamicity Prosperity Index is developed, which is a multidimensional index (iPI) to measure prosperity sharing in developed and developing countries

Testing the financial distress prediction model for sukuk-issuing companies in Malaysia

Companies are exposed to business and financial risk and are affected by business cycles and economic downturns. A company is fortunate if it is capable of preventing and alleviating financial crises by utilizing existing financial distress models to deal with volatile markets and changes in the global economy. Such models are capable of signalling to a company worst case scenarios and remedial possibilities to prevent future distress. However, applying such risk models to sukuk-issuing companies remains a point of contention because sukuk and related bonds are fundamentally different types of financial instruments and possess dissimilar risk exposure to traditional instruments. The current study examines this difference by testing existing financial distress prediction models on sukuk-issuing companies. The results show that the Altman and Ohlson financial distress models were capable of alerting companies of possible financial distress with a 52.78 per cent prediction accuracy. Further testing revealed that the Ohlson model produced a higher prediction power than the Altman model for Malaysian sukuk-issuing companies. These signify that logit model is more powerful for sukuk issuing companies