2008 Stock Markets and the Race to the Bottom: “Stuck” in China

Since late 2005, China’s two stock markets, in Shanghai (SSE) and Shenzhen (SZSE), have risen over 600% only to fall by close to 60% from a peak in late 2007. The race up and down is reflected in China’s macroeconomic indicators, but the real story lies with individuals investing in the market. In contrast to past studies of China’s stock markets, this paper argues that individual investors, and especially those investing less than 100,000 USD, are a critical part of the market. One postulate is that it is precisely these “micro” investors who, despite the general consensus that China’s stock markets are “policy markets”, keep the state from regulating the market. Put warrants, literally worthless paper in the days before the end of trading, continue to become sites for speculative trading. The 2007 stock market rose 97%, while the 2008 market has fallen over 50%: the non-tradable share reform, allowing large and small holders to trade previously non-tradable shares, is the current bane of the market. Yet the culprits in abnormal trading are not “individuals”, but the companies, often owned by local governments, that are the vanguard of China’s reform. This paper reviews these developments in detail, and suggests a potential new theory of China’s securities reform.

The Dissemination of Responsibility: Exploring the Audience as Bystander in Theatre

This study focuses on finding how theatrical technique and process changes when the audience is reframed as bystanders. I hoped to find ways that theatre artists could fight against the bystander effect in life by bringing it into our theatres. The study was written in conjunction with a production of Nine by Jane Shepard. Nine is a piece about two women who are imprisoned. The audience does not know where they are, how long they have been there, or who has taken them—just that they are regularly raped and tortured. The play is treated as a focal point for my work around the bystander effect. Through an analysis of the theatrical techniques used in Nine we are able to frame the audience as bystander from the point of view of the actors and director. The audience’s own view of themselves is less significant to that of the director and cast, because change in the theatre starts with us, the artists. Throughout the study Brecht’s theory of the alienated spectator and Boal’s theory of the spect-actor are both used to demonstrate ways in which the bystander effect takes hold in theatrical audiences

Condom Use for the Prevention of STIs Among College Students who do not Rely on Condoms as their Primary Form of Contraception

This research analyzes the likelihood of college students who do not rely on condoms as their primary form of contraception to use a barrier method (e.g., condoms) to protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and determines the best predictors of condom use among the sample. We hypothesized that pregnancy is the main concern among sexually active adolescents, and that when risk of pregnancy is removed students are less likely to use a barrier method. Surveys of 203 students at a small, liberal arts college support what literature agrees are that the best predictors of condom use at last sex: perceived loss of pleasure by using condoms, perceived partner disapproval of using condoms, and ease of partner communication

The relationship between capital structure and product market competition in US listed firms

This study measures the effect of competition on leverage using unbalanced panel data from 4,957 US listed firms within 8 industries. To address the issues associated with concentration indexes, we contribute to the literature by using a new measure of competition – the Boone indicator which is based on efficiency. Initially results indicate a positive (negative) effect of competition (concentration) on leverage. Due to the distorting effect of the recent financial crisis, the sample was split into two sub-periods. From this it was determined that competition has a significant negative effect on capital structure when measured with the BI which is a theoretically robust proxy for competition. Accounting for non-linearity does not produce any significant results