Department of Finance

We empirically evaluate mispricing-and risk-based explanations for the negative crosssectional relation between firm-level productivity and stock returns (the 'firm-productivity effect') documented in previous studies. The evidence supports both explanations: investors over-extrapolate a firm's/stock's past performance, resulting in the mispricing of firmproductivity, and limits-to-arbitrage perpetuate the mispricing; (ii) the firm-productivity effect is related to distress risk, investment frictions, and exposure to macroeconomic shocks. Our decomposition tests show that variables related to past performance and limits-toarbitrage explain most of the firm-productivity effect, followed by those related to distress risk, favoring mispricing-based explanations.

Dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs) with discount offer shareholders the choice between receiving cash dividends or additional shares at a discount. We provide evidence on DRIP arbitrage where DRIP arbitrageurs extract the DRIP discount through short-term equity borrowing. We show the relation between equity lending, equity financing, and stock returns through DRIP arbitrage. DRIP arbitrage increases search costs in the equity lending market and creates negative price pressure in the stock market around dividend dates. Restrictions on equity lending impede DRIP arbitrage and negatively affect equity financing. Our results are more pronounced when the demand for DRIP arbitrage is higher.

In modern pedagogy, a blended approach is used comprising both face-to-face and online learning. This study investigates how undergraduate students majoring in finance view the different learning environments, and evaluates the changes in perception over the three years of the degree after controlling for gender, age, international ⁄ domestic student and English as a first language. Using a purpose designed survey instrument, students across the three years of undergraduate study rated the importance of lectures, tutorials and web-based learning environments in a blended learning model. The results indicate that there is still a strong preference for face-to-face learning. Additionally, there were significant differences in attitudes and perception by year level.

The National Australia Bank's (NAB) experience of corporate governance has been contrary to current standards of good corporate governance, accountability and risk management. Over the last few years NAB's misadventures have brought it under intensive media scrutiny with the HomeSide losses and the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the USA for breaches of auditor independence. More recently the unauthorised trading by its foreign exchange dealers violated NABs risk management practices and the subsequent board crisis resulted in significant downgrading of the share price on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). This paper briefly reviews the international history of corporate accountability and its growth in Australia. The increasing shareholder and legislative pressure to improve sustainability, accountability and board functionality have driven these issues to the forefront of Governing Boards' agendas worldwide. The board remains ultimately res...

Deposit insurance schemes were an important element in policy responses to the global financial crisis (GFC). There has been considerable debate about the nature and efficacy of such policy measures in alleviating the fallout from financial crises. The GFC highlighted problems associated with deposit insurance schemes including moral hazard, coverage limits, co-insurance, cross border issues and market distortions. Despite these shortcomings, deposit insurance schemes were able to ameliorate the financial panic experienced and reduce contagion. This paper evaluates the Australian and New Zealand experience with deposit insurance introduced in response to the GFC, and compares this to the OECD experience. It reflects on the performance of deposit insurance schemes considered against the attributes of good policy design, and evaluates the specific problems and strengths encountered during the GFC.

In modern pedagogy, a blended approach is used comprising both face-to-face and online learning. This study investigates how undergraduate students majoring in finance view the different learning environments, and evaluates the changes in perception over the three years of the degree after controlling for gender, age, international ⁄ domestic student and English as a first language. Using a purpose designed survey instrument, students across the three years of undergraduate study rated the importance of lectures, tutorials and web-based learning environments in a blended learning model. The results indicate that there is still a strong preference for face-to-face learning. Additionally, there were significant differences in attitudes and perception by year level.

In this paper, we investigative the impact of the introduction of the Euro on exchange rate exposures and the subsequent hedging practices of a sample of French corporations. Our findings indicate that the introduction of the Euro led to both a reduction in the number of firms that have significant exchange rate exposure and the absolute size of exposure. In response to these reduced exposures, French firms tend to use foreign currency derivatives less intensively although there has been no change in the number of firms that make use of the instruments. Furthermore, the use of foreign currency derivatives is found to be effective in managing exchange rate exposure but there is insufficient evidence that these instruments are more effective in post Euro periods.