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Title: EFFECTS OF GENERAL AND SPECIFIC HUMAN CAPITAL ON NEW VENTURE PERFORMANCE: THE ROLE OF GENDER.
Creator: Sherbondy, Sara, Castrogiovanni, Gary J., Florida Atlantic University, Department of Management, College of Business
Abstract/Description: This study tests a model that draws on human capital theory to explain how individual characteristics of founding entrepreneurs influence performance of their new businesses. Using data from Project GATE (Growing America Through Entrepreneurship), this research study assesses the direct effect of gender on new venture performance and the moderating role of gender on the relationship between general and specific human capital and new venture performance.
Date Issued: 2022
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014059
Subject Headings: Human capital, New Ventures (Firm), Gender
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: ESSAYS ON GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING AND PRIVATE INVESTMENT FIRMS: IMPLICATIONS FOR CORPORATE FINANCE.
Creator: Suleymanov, Masim, Cumming, Douglas, Javakhadze, David, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Finance, College of Business
Abstract/Description: The modern organization is “a nexus of contracts” among various stakeholders. In this two-essay study, I examine how contracts surrounding entrepreneurial firms, namely contracts with the U.S. government agencies as customers and contracts with venture capital (VC) firms as investors, interact. In the first essay, I examine whether and how the ex-post government contracting activity of portfolio companies affects the performance of VC investments. Prior research establishes the impact of...
Show moreThe modern organization is “a nexus of contracts” among various stakeholders. In this two-essay study, I examine how contracts surrounding entrepreneurial firms, namely contracts with the U.S. government agencies as customers and contracts with venture capital (VC) firms as investors, interact. In the first essay, I examine whether and how the ex-post government contracting activity of portfolio companies affects the performance of VC investments. Prior research establishes the impact of government customers on the contractor's operating performance and information quality. I find that government contracting improves the likelihood of successful exits via initial public offering (IPO) or acquisition and reduces the likelihood of a liquidation. I also find that the suppliers’ bargaining power relative to the government moderates the relationship between government contracting and VC investment exits. The increased suppliers’ bargaining power mitigates the positive relationship between government contracting and the likelihood of IPOs. The impact of government contracting on the likelihood of acquisitions and liquidations is more substantial for suppliers with greater bargaining power. The results are robust for reputable and non-reputable VC firms, alternative model specifications, and adjustments for potential endogeneity.
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Date Issued: 2022
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013917
Subject Headings: Public contracts, Venture capital, Corporations—Finance
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: CEO SOCIAL CAPITAL AND STOCK PRICE INFORMATIVENESS: US AND INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES.
Creator: Malinin, Artem, Garcia-Feijoo, Luis, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Finance, College of Business
Abstract/Description: In Essay 1, I investigate the association between CEOs’ social capital and stock price informativeness in a sample of US firms. After accounting for the fact that larger networks attract more analysts following, I find that firms with larger CEO social capital exhibit higher private information incorporation and hence more informative stock prices. Results are consistent for five different proxies for stock price informativeness. Furthermore, the positive association between social capital...
Show moreIn Essay 1, I investigate the association between CEOs’ social capital and stock price informativeness in a sample of US firms. After accounting for the fact that larger networks attract more analysts following, I find that firms with larger CEO social capital exhibit higher private information incorporation and hence more informative stock prices. Results are consistent for five different proxies for stock price informativeness. Furthermore, the positive association between social capital and informativeness is driven by more diverse networks, as measured by gender, nationality, education, or professional diversity. Overall, results suggest that private information existing in networks may result in markets that are more informationally efficient. In Essay 2, I show that CEOs’ social capital has a positive impact on stock price informativeness in an international sample. Different robustness and endogeneity tests confirm those results. Moreover, I find that factors present at the country level can mitigate or reinforce social capital’s impact on informativeness. I consider characteristics not observable within one country that can influence such relation around the world including legal, cultural, and developmental. I uncover that for more developed countries and those with a higher quality of institutions a positive impact of social connectedness is more pronounced. In addition, I show the importance of CEOs’ connections characteristics for their impact on stock price informativeness. I find that if CEOs’ connections come from developed countries or countries that have better formal and informal institutions which affect information transparency, CEOs’ social capital becomes more important for informativeness.
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Date Issued: 2022
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013973
Subject Headings: Chief executive officers, Social capital (Sociology), Stocks--Prices
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: THE EFFECT OF COMMUNITY SOCIAL CAPITAL ON NON-PROFITS’ GOVERNANCE AND DISCLOSURE QUALITY.
Creator: Subedi, Meena, Farazmand, Ali, Florida Atlantic University, School of Public Administration, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Social capital is critical to the entities' disciplinary environment and the ability to produce high quality financial reports. Although prior literature on for-profit setting indicates that social capital impacts both governance (Ferris, et al., 2017) and financial reporting quality (Jha & Chen, 2015; Jha, 2019), this area has received less attention in non-profit literature. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the impact of the social capital of a non-profit organization's (NPO)...
Show moreSocial capital is critical to the entities' disciplinary environment and the ability to produce high quality financial reports. Although prior literature on for-profit setting indicates that social capital impacts both governance (Ferris, et al., 2017) and financial reporting quality (Jha & Chen, 2015; Jha, 2019), this area has received less attention in non-profit literature. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the impact of the social capital of a non-profit organization's (NPO) headquarter area (also known as community social capital) on the NPO governance and disclosure quality (i.e., the quality of Form 990). The study hypothesizes and finds that the community social capital of an NPO headquarter area has a positive impact on its governance. The positive relationship suggests that NPO social capital and governance play a complementary role, where managers in high social capital face strong disciplinary environment and enjoy strong social connections and professional reputations and thus have fewer incentives to resist the adoption of sound governance practices. Similarly, the study also hypothesizes and finds that the community social capital of an NPO headquarter area has a positive impact on its disclosure quality. This finding suggests that community social capital disciplines NPO self-interested managers' behavior to manipulate financial numbers in Form 990 disclosures.
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Date Issued: 2021
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013740
Subject Headings: Social Capital, Governance, Nonprofit organizations, Financial disclosure
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Investor Connections and Non-GAAP Reporting.
Creator: Harwood, Chad, Kohlbeck, Mark, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, School of Accounting
Abstract/Description: I investigate whether a firm’s social capital with investors impacts its non-GAAP reporting decisions. Critics of non-GAAP reporting suggest that non-GAAP earnings are incomplete, inaccurate, and can be misleading (Derby, 2001; Dreman, 2001; Elstein, 2001; Black et al., 2007). Firms might be hesitant to provide non-GAAP information if other means are available to transfer information. Social capital provides an alternate method of informing investors. However, social capital might also play...
Show moreI investigate whether a firm’s social capital with investors impacts its non-GAAP reporting decisions. Critics of non-GAAP reporting suggest that non-GAAP earnings are incomplete, inaccurate, and can be misleading (Derby, 2001; Dreman, 2001; Elstein, 2001; Black et al., 2007). Firms might be hesitant to provide non-GAAP information if other means are available to transfer information. Social capital provides an alternate method of informing investors. However, social capital might also play another role in the information environment by building trust between managers and investors (Gabarro, 1978; Gulati, 1995). This trust may reduce investor skepticism of non-GAAP information, enhancing the value of non-GAAP disclosures. Additionally, I examine what impact social capital might have on investors’ investment decisions with respect to non-GAAP reporting. Despite critics’ concerns over non-GAAP reporting, prior literature suggests investors’ reactions are more aligned with the non-GAAP definition of earnings (Bradshaw and Sloan, 2002; Bhattacharya et al., 2003), suggesting other factors might influence investors’ decisions. I investigate whether social capital plays a role in reducing skepticism in non-GAAP information leading to reduced information asymmetry and increased investor reaction to non-GAAP disclosures. I find that non-GAAP reporting is increasing in social capital with investors. However, I find no evidence that investor reactions to non-GAAP earnings information differ based on firms’ social capital with investors. I also find information asymmetry around earnings announcements is higher for non-GAAP reporting firms with greater social capital with investors in comparison to non-GAAP reporters with lower social capital. Taken together, my results suggest social capital impacts the decisions of firms in reporting non-GAAP earnings information, but not the decisions of investors. My results are relevant to the current disclosure environment in that non-GAAP reporting is a current topic of interest for regulators with several updates to non-GAAP guidance having recently occurred.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013214
Subject Headings: GAAP (Accounting), Investors, Social capital (Economics)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Living Capital: Situating Animals within Capitalist Modes of Production in Science Fiction.
Creator: Cervone, Skye, Hagood, Taylor, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: This study addresses the relationship between animals and capitalism in Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s We3, and Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy. These texts and their authors attempted to change the conversation surrounding animals and imagine alternatives to traditional thinking surrounding animal subjectivity. Despite their intentions, however, the authors fail to depict non-exploitative relationships with animals within...
Show moreThis study addresses the relationship between animals and capitalism in Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s We3, and Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy. These texts and their authors attempted to change the conversation surrounding animals and imagine alternatives to traditional thinking surrounding animal subjectivity. Despite their intentions, however, the authors fail to depict non-exploitative relationships with animals within capitalist systems, suggesting an inherently exploitative relationship between animals and biopolitical capitalism.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013364
Subject Headings: Animals, Capitalism, Atwood, Margaret, 1939- MaddAddam trilogy, Quitely, Frank, 1968-, Dick, Philip K Do androids dream of electric sheep?, Science fiction
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: THE IMPACT OF CEO PAST PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE AND SOCIAL CAPITAL ON CORPORATE POLICIES AND FIRM PERFORMANCE.
Creator: Faulkner, Matthew, Garcia-Feijoo, Luis, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, Department of Finance
Abstract/Description: Increasing evidence suggests the personal traits of chief executive officers (CEOs) can influence corporate policies. We examine how one dimension, past professional experiences, can affect corporate payout policy. Exploiting exogenous CEO turnovers and future employment, we hypothesize that CEOs experiencing a distress event in their past career alter the corporate payout policy at their subsequent firm of employment. We discover that CEOs having experienced prior professional career...
Show moreIncreasing evidence suggests the personal traits of chief executive officers (CEOs) can influence corporate policies. We examine how one dimension, past professional experiences, can affect corporate payout policy. Exploiting exogenous CEO turnovers and future employment, we hypothesize that CEOs experiencing a distress event in their past career alter the corporate payout policy at their subsequent firm of employment. We discover that CEOs having experienced prior professional career distress are less likely to pay dividends and use repurchases and pay out lower levels for each type of payout. Additionally, when CEOs with distress do have a payout policy greater than zero dollars, there exists a preference toward the use of repurchases in the payout policy, adding to the literature of substitution and differences between the two forms of payout. We find that dividend smoothing is reduced by CEOs that have past professional distress.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013305
Subject Headings: Chief executive officers, Social capital (Sociology), Experience, Dividends, Payouts
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A Network of Ideas: Brokerage and Success Among Visual Artists in South Florida.
Creator: Hoyos, Patricia, Brown, Clifford T., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
Abstract/Description: This study looks at artists’ careers as paths defined by their relative position in a dynamic professional network where innovation and creativity are highly regarded. Today, the theoretical and empirical study of networks has demonstrated that in some professions the individuals’ position in the network can facilitate or constrain their success. In studies about diffusion of information, for instance, some authors have found that individuals connected to a greater variety of sources are more...
Show moreThis study looks at artists’ careers as paths defined by their relative position in a dynamic professional network where innovation and creativity are highly regarded. Today, the theoretical and empirical study of networks has demonstrated that in some professions the individuals’ position in the network can facilitate or constrain their success. In studies about diffusion of information, for instance, some authors have found that individuals connected to a greater variety of sources are more creative and perform better. I explored this idea by looking at a network of visual artists and art institutions in Miami, and found a positive correlation between position and success, though, not explained by variety exclusively. In the network, artistic success is a function of connecting both across artistic categories and a hierarchical system; therefore, in an art world, creativity and innovation are mediated by key members, who distribute information and resources through affiliation, prominence and brokerage.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004605, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004605
Subject Headings: Art and society., Arts and society., Popular culture., Arts--Psychological aspects., Social capital (Sociology), Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.), Art patronage--United States--Florida.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: From Farm to Market: The Political Economy of the Antebellum American West.
Creator: Salcito, Matthew, Engle, Stephen D., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines the dynamic change the market revolution had on social and cultural institutions in the American West. Specifically, it investigates how market forces influenced rural life patterns for farmers, urban mercantile culture and regional commercial interests. Davenport, Iowa is the focus for the narrative’s hinge, as this midsized western marketplace represented a link between its farmers and the regional markets in Chicago. This project uses wheat and the prairie region in...
Show moreThis thesis examines the dynamic change the market revolution had on social and cultural institutions in the American West. Specifically, it investigates how market forces influenced rural life patterns for farmers, urban mercantile culture and regional commercial interests. Davenport, Iowa is the focus for the narrative’s hinge, as this midsized western marketplace represented a link between its farmers and the regional markets in Chicago. This project uses wheat and the prairie region in antebellum Iowa and Illinois as a case study and examines the cultural and social development of farmers and merchants in the marketplace. Following wheat from farm to market, both locally and regionally, helps to explain how Americans understood the commodity at each economic level. Time and place were central to the American West's economic, social, and cultural development and this thesis considers just a moment in its history. A intersect of rural, agricultural, technological, and environmental histories are at the project's core, but it also attempts to make sense of frontier capitalism and the ramifications it had on farming and the grain industry. The market revolution gradually influenced and shaped the nation’s agricultural economy and the people that preformed its labor and production.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004630, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004630
Subject Headings: West (U.S.)--History., West (U.S.)--Historiography., West (U.S.)--Social conditions--19th century., United States--Economic conditions--To 1865., United States--Civilization--1783-1865., Capitalism--United States--Social aspects--History.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Entropic Considerations of Efficiency in the West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil Futures Market.
Creator: Sagul, Ryan, Yuhn, Ky-hyang, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, Department of Economics
Abstract/Description: For the last fifty years, the efficient market hypothesis has been the central pillar of economic thought and touted by all, despite Sanford Grossman’ and Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz’ objection in 1980. Andrew Lo updated the efficient market hypothesis in 2004 to reconcile irrational human behavior and cold, calculating automatons. This thesis utilizes 33 years of oil futures, GARCH regressions, and the Jensen-Shannon informational criteria to provide extensive empirical objections to...
Show moreFor the last fifty years, the efficient market hypothesis has been the central pillar of economic thought and touted by all, despite Sanford Grossman’ and Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz’ objection in 1980. Andrew Lo updated the efficient market hypothesis in 2004 to reconcile irrational human behavior and cold, calculating automatons. This thesis utilizes 33 years of oil futures, GARCH regressions, and the Jensen-Shannon informational criteria to provide extensive empirical objections to informational efficiency. The results demonstrate continuously inefficient oil future markets which exhibit decreased informational efficiency during recessionary periods, advocating the adaptive market hypothesis over the efficient market hypothesis.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004730, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004730
Subject Headings: Capital market -- Psychological aspects, Energy industries -- Risk management, Financial risk management -- Mathematical models, Futures, Investment analysis, Petroleum industry and trade -- Economic aspects, Stocks -- Mathematical models
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Agency costs and accounting quality within an all-equity setting: the role of free cash flows and growth opportunities.
Creator: Cabán, David, Kohlbeck, Mark, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, School of Accounting
Abstract/Description: I investigate if all-equity firms are a heterogeneous group as it relates to agency costs and accounting quality. All-equity firms are a unique group of firms that choose a “corner solution” as their capital structure. Extant research, supported by well-established theories such as trade-off theory, free cash flow theory, and Jensen’s (1986) control hypothesis, generally conclude that agency conflicts motivate such structure. Research also supports the alternative argument that poor...
Show moreI investigate if all-equity firms are a heterogeneous group as it relates to agency costs and accounting quality. All-equity firms are a unique group of firms that choose a “corner solution” as their capital structure. Extant research, supported by well-established theories such as trade-off theory, free cash flow theory, and Jensen’s (1986) control hypothesis, generally conclude that agency conflicts motivate such structure. Research also supports the alternative argument that poor accounting quality makes debt so prohibitive that such firms are driven to this capital structure. I propose that an all-equity structure is not necessarily symptomatic of agency conflicts and poor accounting quality overall. I investigate if different motivations, within an all-equity setting, reflected by free cash flows and growth opportunities, result in different levels of agency cost and accounting quality. By anchoring on theories that link implicit costs of debt to free cash flow levels and growth opportunities, I hypothesize that free cash flows and growth opportunities are strongly linked to the justification or lack thereof for the pursuit of such strategy. I hypothesize and show that firms in the extremes of the free cash flow to growth rate spectrum exhibit significantly different levels of agency cost and accounting quality within the all-equity setting. These results support my main prediction that there exists agency costs and accounting quality differences within the all-equity setting which are associated with free cash flow levels and growth opportunities and that the pessimistic conclusions for pursuing an all-equity strategy reached by prior research should not be generalized to all such firms.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004432, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004432
Subject Headings: Business enterprises -- Valuation, Cash management, Corporations -- Finance, Corporations -- Growth, Financial risk management, Strategic planning, Venture capital
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Managerial reputation and Non-GAAP earnings disclosures.
Creator: Cheng, Yun, Kohlbeck, Mark, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, School of Accounting
Abstract/Description: I examine how managerial reputation affects the quality of non-GAAP earnings disclosures and how the market reacts to non-GAAP earnings disclosures associated with managerial reputation. Although there was an initial dip in the frequency of non-GAAP earnings disclosures after SOX and Regulation G, the frequency of non-GAAP earnings disclosures has increased in recent years (Brown, Christensen, Elliott and Mergenthaler 2012). Motivated by the efficient contracting theory and managerial...
Show moreI examine how managerial reputation affects the quality of non-GAAP earnings disclosures and how the market reacts to non-GAAP earnings disclosures associated with managerial reputation. Although there was an initial dip in the frequency of non-GAAP earnings disclosures after SOX and Regulation G, the frequency of non-GAAP earnings disclosures has increased in recent years (Brown, Christensen, Elliott and Mergenthaler 2012). Motivated by the efficient contracting theory and managerial reputation incentives, I investigate whether reputable managers are associated with higher quality non-GAAP earnings disclosures. I also investigate whether the market is more responsive to non-GAAP earnings disclosed by reputable managers. Using empirical models modified from prior research, I find that reputable managers are less likely to disclose non-GAAP earnings, which is consistent with the efficient contracting explanation. I also find that reputable managers exclude more recurring items that are related to future operating earnings when they disclose non-GAAP earnings, which is consistent with the rent extraction explanation in prior research. Finally, I find that managerial reputation has an incremental effect on the market reaction and that the market is more responsive to non-GAAP earnings disclosed by reputable managers if the unexpected earnings are positive. The study contributes to both non-GAAP earnings disclosures literature and managerial reputation incentives literature. It also has implications for investors, managers, and regulators.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004185, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004185
Subject Headings: Capital productivity -- Measurement, Disclosure in accounting, Industrial management, Investment analysis, Risk management
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Long-term post-Katrina volunteerism: the ethics of an imported solidarity.
Creator: D'Aloia, Susan., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
Abstract/Description: The trauma and devastation that resulted from Hurricane Katrina's landfall on August 29, 2005, produced a wide spread public perception of government neglect and ineptitude. Subsequently, a period of nationwide shame and concern for those most affected by the disaster elicited a wave of financial generosity from all social sectors. Yet, by late 2005 the media declared that the majority of Americans had become desensitized to the tragedy and its consequences, coining this shift in public...
Show moreThe trauma and devastation that resulted from Hurricane Katrina's landfall on August 29, 2005, produced a wide spread public perception of government neglect and ineptitude. Subsequently, a period of nationwide shame and concern for those most affected by the disaster elicited a wave of financial generosity from all social sectors. Yet, by late 2005 the media declared that the majority of Americans had become desensitized to the tragedy and its consequences, coining this shift in public perception as "Katrina fatigue." Thousands of volunteers contradicted this phenomenon, however, by performing service in the devastated city of New Orleans. Long-term volunteers defied "Katrina fatigue" by redirecting the trajectory of their lives so they could provide service. Conventionally accepted volunteer theory predicts that volunteers provide service and that their labor operates in conjunction with institutionally supported mechanisms of security and services., However, for the volunteer subjects in this study, Katrina and its immediate aftermath shattered the trust in such institutions. These volunteers did not assume that their service operated in conjunction with state sponsored agencies or corporations. Rather, they viewed their own acts of service as the means of promoting the recovery. This qualitative case study examines the deliberated choices and actions performed by long-term volunteers between the years 2005 and 2009. The primary subjects in this investigation include 15 volunteers who performed long-term and/or repeat delegations of service within organized networks. Volunteer subjects believed that if they did not perform the services they did, these services might not get done. Volunteers internalized contours of the larger political economy and their own perceived role within them. Performing service functioned partially to counteract this internalization and simultaneously redirect their lives., Second Line, a New Orleans street tradition of neighborhood processions, reveals more of what drives the long-term volunteer's desire. The root practice of Second Line processions embodies a form of cognitive liberation for the disenfranchised as the processions interrupt normal arrangements of order and power in the city, albeit temporarily. Volunteers desire to connect with poor and working class Black people in this capacity, and their attempts to do so played out in contexts that sometimes disrupted institutional or corporate power, constituting a demand for change on behalf of Katrina victims.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3360619
Subject Headings: Hurricane Katrina, 2005, Social aspects, DIsaster relief, Emergency management, Social capital
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: More social capital please!: a study of a Brazilian immigrant community.
Creator: Esteves, Jessica., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: Researchers who study Brazilian immigrants in the United States have noted a lack of camaraderie and social networks among Brazilians. Based on recent research conducted in Broward County, Florida, Manuel Vâasquez argues that while there are clear structural impediments to community formation among Brazilian immigrants, Brazilians do form social networks. This thesis examines the survey and ethnographic data from Vâasquez's sample to test a series of hypotheses about which factors impact...
Show moreResearchers who study Brazilian immigrants in the United States have noted a lack of camaraderie and social networks among Brazilians. Based on recent research conducted in Broward County, Florida, Manuel Vâasquez argues that while there are clear structural impediments to community formation among Brazilian immigrants, Brazilians do form social networks. This thesis examines the survey and ethnographic data from Vâasquez's sample to test a series of hypotheses about which factors impact levels of social capital and the potential for network creation and mobilization among Brazilian immigrants. Analysis of the data suggests that religious participation and levels of perceived discrimination are correlated with higher levels of social capital in this sample. For a group of immigrants characterized by a lack of collective solidarity and facing an increasingly hostile economic and social climate, religious organizations may be essential locales for achieving sufficient social capital for social, economic, and political integration.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3335017
Subject Headings: Social capital (Sociology), Infrastructure (Economics), Social networks, Brazilian Americans, Social conditions, Brazilian Americans, Cultural assimilation, Brazilian Americans, Ethnic identity, Emigration and immigration
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Effects of Social Structure on Individual Actions: a Social Cognition and Social Structure Approach.
Creator: Knoche, Harry "Trip", Castrogiovanni, Gary J., Florida Atlantic University
Abstract/Description: This study examines the effects of epistemic motives and individual social structure (strength of social ties) on individual actions. lt has been suggested that the informal structure of relations that develops within firms affects the actions of individuals e effects of both epistemic motives and social structure are considered. The findings of this study suggest that information about the epistemic motives of employees can provide insight into the fonnation of the individual social...
Show moreThis study examines the effects of epistemic motives and individual social structure (strength of social ties) on individual actions. lt has been suggested that the informal structure of relations that develops within firms affects the actions of individuals e effects of both epistemic motives and social structure are considered. The findings of this study suggest that information about the epistemic motives of employees can provide insight into the fonnation of the individual social structures and the intrinsic desire of employees to take interdependent or independent actions. The effects of epistemic motives and individual social structure on individual actions, the organizing process and the formulation and implementation of strategies are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000309
Subject Headings: Motivation (Psychology)--Social aspects, Social networks--Psychological aspects, Social capital (Sociology), Managerial economics, Economics--Moral and ethical aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Old enough to kill ; too young to die?: evaluating public opinion of the juvenile death penalty.
Creator: Chase, Kristen., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: In 2005, the United States Supreme Court found the execution of juvenile offenders to be unconstitutional, based in part on a "national consensus" against the death penalty for juveniles. The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the flaws in existing methods of measuring public opinion and to determine the correlation between the age of an offender and the sentencing recommendation received. It was the hypothesis of my project that there would not be a statistically significant...
Show moreIn 2005, the United States Supreme Court found the execution of juvenile offenders to be unconstitutional, based in part on a "national consensus" against the death penalty for juveniles. The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the flaws in existing methods of measuring public opinion and to determine the correlation between the age of an offender and the sentencing recommendation received. It was the hypothesis of my project that there would not be a statistically significant correlation between the offender's age and sentencing recommendation. To test this hypothesis, I asked 156 Florida Atlantic University students. This method of analysis was considered the best way to accurately determine public sentiment towards the juvenile death penalty, after a thorough review of existing methods revealed significant flaws. My results suggest that there is no correlation between the age of an offender and sentencing recommendations.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/209986
Subject Headings: Criminal justice, Administration of, Juvenile justice, Administration of, Capital punishment, Punishment (Philosophy), Sentences (Criminal procedure)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Asymmetric information in fads models in Lâevy markets.
Creator: Buckley, Winston S., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Mathematical Sciences
Abstract/Description: Fads models for stocks under asymmetric information in a purely continuous(GBM) market were first studied by P. Guasoni (2006), where optimal portfolios and maximum expected logarithmic utilities, including asymptotic utilities for the informed and uninformed investors, were presented. We generalized this theory to Lâevy markets, where stock prices and the process modeling the fads are allowed to include a jump component, in addition to the usual continuous component. We employ the methods of...
Show moreFads models for stocks under asymmetric information in a purely continuous(GBM) market were first studied by P. Guasoni (2006), where optimal portfolios and maximum expected logarithmic utilities, including asymptotic utilities for the informed and uninformed investors, were presented. We generalized this theory to Lâevy markets, where stock prices and the process modeling the fads are allowed to include a jump component, in addition to the usual continuous component. We employ the methods of stochastic calculus and optimization to obtain analogous results to those obtained in the purely continuous market. We approximate optimal portfolios and utilities using the instantaneous centralized and quasi-centralized moments of the stocks percentage returns. We also link the random portfolios of the investors, under asymmetric information to the purely deterministic optimal portfolio, under symmetric information.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3337187
Subject Headings: Investments, Mathematical models, Capital market, Mathematical models, Finance, Mathematical models, Information theory in economics, Capital asset pricing model, Lâevy processes
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Delivery failure close-out: an event study on the effects of newly adopted regulation SHO amendments.
Creator: Scherle, Richard., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: A generally illegal form of short selling in United States equity markets, called "naked shorting," occurs when a seller of stock sells shares that do not exist. This type of short selling has negative consequences that result from the tactic's ability to be used as a tool to artificially inflate an issuer's stock supply, which introduces significant harm to the integrity of the market's natural forces of supply and demand. Newly adopted amendments to the Securities and Exchange Commission's...
Show moreA generally illegal form of short selling in United States equity markets, called "naked shorting," occurs when a seller of stock sells shares that do not exist. This type of short selling has negative consequences that result from the tactic's ability to be used as a tool to artificially inflate an issuer's stock supply, which introduces significant harm to the integrity of the market's natural forces of supply and demand. Newly adopted amendments to the Securities and Exchange Commission's short sale governance regulation, called Regulation SHO, required the mandatory purchasing of shares by certain market participants in order for those participants to close-out previously excused delivery failures, called "grandfathered" failures. This study examines the consequences of this new regulation, in terms of share price and volume, for those few securities that had the most persistent delivery failure problems. Because the regulation mandates the purchase of shares by certain influential market participants, I examine if the stock markets of these securities exhibited unusual volatility which may be indicative of the market maker trying to cover at low cost. Using technical analysis techniques, such as volume surge detection (using moving volume averages), the performance of the target securities will be compared with appropriate benchmark indices for the purpose of detecting unusual activity. Unusual activity may be consistent with my hypothesis that market makers may encourage additional volatility to cause liquidity problems for marginal investors which forces them to sell part or all of their position. As discussed in great detail, the extra marginal shares injected into the market by the action of forced selling by these marginal investors may be used by the market makers to lower their cost of regulation compliance.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/210002
Subject Headings: Securities industry, Investment analysis, Short selling, Capitalism, Moral and ethical aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Soil of misfortune: Education, poverty, and race in a rural south Florida community.
Creator: Gonzalez, Juan Carlos., Florida Atlantic University, Kirsch, Max H.
Abstract/Description: This dissertation addresses the structural components of education in the United States and how they have hindered the ability of a community's black and brown children to obtain the knowledge and resources needed to succeed and adapt to the changing circumstances of their region and beyond. It will do so through a case study of a small community in the American South, where the failure of education to provide access to the American dream has been clearly demonstrated in persistent poverty...
Show moreThis dissertation addresses the structural components of education in the United States and how they have hindered the ability of a community's black and brown children to obtain the knowledge and resources needed to succeed and adapt to the changing circumstances of their region and beyond. It will do so through a case study of a small community in the American South, where the failure of education to provide access to the American dream has been clearly demonstrated in persistent poverty and lack of opportunity available to its residents. Belle Glade, Florida is a rural community centrally located within the Everglades Agricultural Area. Fifty years after the historic 1954 Brown vs. Board decision, which outlawed school segregation and the separate but equal claims of Plessy vs. Ferguson, little has changed in this poor rural community. This study shows that this community, rather than representing an isolated case, is reflective of many small non-metro communities of the American South. Though integration initially intended to balance the great disparity that existed between the schools for black children and schools for white children in regards to facilities, materials, and curriculum, in Belle Glade and throughout the South those same disparities still exist today. This study argues that current state education policies, modeled after the federal government's "No Child Left Behind Plan," are a veneer for a separate and unequal educational policy and practice in the state of Florida. It seeks to explore and document why this has occurred, and place this case study within the larger context of structural inequalities on the local, national and global levels. How is it that the "freest nation in the world" with the largest gross national product has yet to fulfill its most fundamental promise to this community---equal opportunity and access to quality education? Thus, this dissertation asks why regardless of the policies, plans, curricula and tests the district and state adopt, at times with the best of intentions, nothing seems to improve the conditions of these black citizens? More importantly, when these issues are addressed, who speaks, under what conditions and for whom?
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Date Issued: 2005
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12161
Subject Headings: Social capital (Sociology)--United States, Segregation in education--Florida--Belle Glade, African Americans--Education--History--20th century, Educational change--Florida--Belle Glade, Race relations in school management--Florida, Discrimination in education--Florida
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Offshoring and wage convergence.
Creator: Brigida, Matthew David., Florida Atlantic University, Yuhn, Ky-hyang
Abstract/Description: The recent advances in communication technology are changing the structure of the labor market in the United States. Jobs, which previously had to be done in the United States, can now be done offshore and thus American companies can take advantage of the wage differentials between countries. To see the potential effects that such a structural change may have on economic growth, we first examine the 19th century convergence between Europe and the New World countries. Thereafter we introduce a...
Show moreThe recent advances in communication technology are changing the structure of the labor market in the United States. Jobs, which previously had to be done in the United States, can now be done offshore and thus American companies can take advantage of the wage differentials between countries. To see the potential effects that such a structural change may have on economic growth, we first examine the 19th century convergence between Europe and the New World countries. Thereafter we introduce a model of economic growth that will take into account a particular aspect of present day offshoring. Many of the workers being brought into the United States labor market are highly skilled. After this, we introduce Skill-Biased Technological Change and look at how it may be affected by offshoring.
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Date Issued: 2004
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13125
Subject Headings: Convergence--19th century, Wages--Effect of technological innovations on, Human capital--Econometric models, Labor supply--Effect of technological innovations on
Format: Document (PDF)

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