A study of behavioral finance: background, theories and application

Behavioral finance, or behavioral economics, consists of a theoretical field of research stating that consequent psychological and behavioral variables are involved in financial activities such as corporate finance and investment decisions (i.e. asset allocation, portfolio management and so on). This field has known an increasing interest from scholar and financial professionals since episodes of multiple speculative bubbles and financial crises. Indeed, practical incoherencies between economic events and traditional neoclassical financial theories had pushed more and more researchers to look for new and broader models and theories. The purpose of this work is to present the field of research, still ill-known by a vast majority. This work is thus a survey that introduces its origins and its main theories, while contrasting them with traditional finance theories still predominant nowadays. The main question guiding this work would be to see if this area of inquiry is able to provide better explanations for real life market phenomenon. For that purpose, the study will present some market anomalies unsolved by traditional theories, which have been recently addressed by behavioral finance researchers. In addition, it presents a practical application of portfolio management, comparing asset allocation under the traditional Markowitz’s approach to the Black-Litterman model, which incorporates some features of behavioral finance.

Estabilidade emocional, atribuição de causalidade e dissonância cognitiva

Neste estudo foram consideradas as teorias da atribuição de causalidade e da dissonância cognitiva, tendo como referência a necessidade psíquica de auto-consistência. O exame dos principais aspectos teóricos e empíricos destas duas teorias permitiu a conclusão de que as mesmas podem ser consideradas como mutuamente compatíveis e complementares. Foi realizado um experimento no qual os sujeitos, previamente diferenciados em instáveis e estáveis emocionalmente, foram submetidos a uma condição experimental fortemente dissonante, em relação ao auto-conceito (resolução de sete itens de um teste de inteligência, sendo cinco dos mesmos insolúveis). Foi realizada uma tarefa introdutória, da mesma natureza que a experimental, porém com itens solúveis, de mediana dificuldade. Foram medidos o número de acertos esperados e estimados (antes e após cada tarefa) além de se oferecer, a cada sujeito, a escolha, em uma listagem atribuicional, do motivo que, segundo ele, concorreu para o resultado por ele estimado, após a tarefa experimental. Os resultados indicaram que não houve diferença significativa entre as médias dos resultados estimados, dos dois grupos, após a tarefa experimental. As atribuições de causalidade dos dois grupos foram significativamente distintas, inclinando-se os estáveis para a internaIidade e os instáveis para a externalidade. Foram constatados, entretanto, diferenças bastante significativas entre as médias dos resultados esperados, antes das tarefas introdutória e experimental (média dos instáveis menor que a dos estáveis). Estes resultados foram interpretados como indicando uma intensa e precoce vivência dissonante, ao nível das expectativas dos resultados, por parte dos instáveis. A redução da dissonância ocorreu, preponderantemente, através da subestimação do número de acertos esperados nas duas tarefas propostas. A conclusão mais abrangente, deste estudo, colocou em relevo a grande importância das significações pessoais sobre os estímulos percebidos para a eliciação de respostas. Foram sugeridos novos estudos para melhor compreensão do assunto.

Como gerenciar a motivação e a liderança nas organizações militares da Marinha do Brasil para alavancar a eficácia do Programa Netuno

Este estudo busca identificar os fatores que contribuem para a motivação dos indivíduos nas organizações da Marinha do Brasil e quais fatores gerenciais podem contribuir para os métodos utilizados pelo Programa Netuno nas Organizações Militares da Marinha do Brasil. A pesquisa bibliográfica foi realizada com base na literatura existente sobre o assunto e seguiu, primeiramente, uma linha histórica da procura por um Estado mais eficiente até o momento da criação dos Programas GesPública do Governo Federal e Programa Netuno da Marinha do Brasil. Foi estudado como a Motivação e a Liderança são tratadas dentro destes programas de gestão, seguindo-se uma análise de algumas das principais teorias motivacionais de processo e conteúdo: Teoria Motivacional de Abraham H. Maslow; Teoria X e Y de Douglas McGregor; Teoria de Herzberg de Dois Fatores; Teoria das Necessidades Adquiridas de McClelland; Teoria ERG de Alderfer; Teoria da Equidade de Stacy Adams; Teoria da Modificação do Comportamento Organizacional (ModCO) de Luthans e Kreitner; e Teoria da Expectância de Vroom. Além destas, foram analisadas teorias da motivação no setor público, em especial a de James Perry. Também são descritos aspectos que contextualizam as Forças Armadas no cenário mundial e o seu desdobramento na motivação do pessoal, a fim de analisar os diversos fatores que influenciam a motivação no pessoal da Marinha do Brasil, desenvolvendo-se um quadro de correlação destes fatores com os reflexos do desempenho.

Life expectancy, educational attainment, and fertility choice

This paper explores the role of mortality as a determinant of educational attainment and fertility, both during the demographic transition and after its completion. Two main points distinguish our analysis from the previous ones. Together with the investments of parents in the human capital of children, traditional in the fertility literature, we introduce investments of adult individuals (parents) in their own education, which ultimately determines productivity in both the goods and household sectors. Second, we let adult longevity affect the way parents value each individual child. Increases in adult longevity or reductions in child mortality eventually raise the investments in adult education. Together with the higher utility derived from each child, this tilts the quality-quantity trade off towards less and better educated children, and increases the growth rate of the economy. This setup can explain both the demographic transition and the recent behavior of fertility in “post-transition” countries. Evidence from historical experiences of demographic transition, and from the recent behavior of fertility, education, and growth generally supports the predictions of the model.

Life expectancy and human capital investment: the arrival of AIDS treatment in Brazil

This paper provides microevidence on the relationship between life expectancy and educational investment decisions. Human capital theory predicts an increase in life expectancy should lead to an augmenting in schooling investment. This paper uses an unique data set on AIDS patients among Brazilian inhabitants in an attempt to estimate the impact of the arrival of Antiretroviral therapy (ART) on educational outcomes. The availability of ART offsets the negative relationship between vertical HIV-transmission and schooling, around 68% and 57% for elementary and high school completion, respectively. Robustness tests indicate the results are not driven by convergence effects.

Meta-theories in research: positivism, postmodernism, and critical realism

No scholar or researcher is able to provide robust evidence that counters the scant reflection on metatheory – mostly ontology and epistemology – underlying management studies in general, and industrial marketing and purchasing research in particular. This paper is a contribution to the indispensable discussion of metatheoretical alternatives in research, and most importantly, the strengths and shortcomings thereof, and respective implications on research questions, objectives, and findings.

Paradigms in health care and its relationship to the nursing theories: an analytical test

DANTAS, Rodrigo Assis Neves; NÓBREGA, Walkíria Gomes da; MORAIS FILHO, Luiz Alves; MACÊDO, Eurides Araújo Bezerra de ; FONSECA , Patrícia de Cássia Bezerra; ENDERS, Bertha Cruz; MENEZES, Rejane Maria Paiva de; TORRES , Gilson de Vasconcelos. Paradigms in health care and its relationship to the nursing theories: an analytical test . Revista de Enfermagem UFPE on line. v.4,n.2, p.16-24.abr/jun. 2010. Disponível em < http://www.ufpe.br/revistaenfermagem/index.php/revista>.

Um estudo de aplicação das teorias da expectativa e da ancoragem na motivação para o desempemho de alunos do ensino médio

This thesis presents a study on Tversky & Kahneman s (1974) Anchoring theory, and Vroom s (1964) Expectance theory in the context of education and students motivation. It is surveyed 424 students of a secondary and agricultural technical school in Brazil Northeast (EAJ). The survey form try to capture the Vroom s Expectance Theory constructs of Valence, Instrumentality, Expectation and Motivational Force, and also the Tversky and Kahneman Anchoring effect in terms of grade expected. The main findings suggest that the minimum grade required by the school is much strong in driving the students motivation and performance than the Expectancy Theory. It was found that the different grades required drive the students to pursue different grade in the same way

Structural aspects of the fermion-boson mapping in two-dimensional gauge and anomalous gauge theories with massive fermions

Using a synthesis of the functional integral and operator approaches we discuss the fermion-buson mapping and the role played by the Bose field algebra in the Hilbert space of two-dimensional gauge and anomalous gauge field theories with massive fermions. In QED, with quartic self-interaction among massive fermions, the use of an auxiliary vector field introduces a redundant Bose field algebra that should not be considered as an element of the intrinsic algebraic structure defining the model. In anomalous chiral QED, with massive fermions the effect of the chiral anomaly leads to the appearance in the mass operator of a spurious Bose field combination. This phase factor carries no fermion selection rule and the expected absence of Theta-vacuum in the anomalous model is displayed from the operator solution. Even in the anomalous model with massive Fermi fields, the introduction of the Wess-Zumino field replicates the theory, changing neither its algebraic content nor its physical content. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. (USA).

Ghost free dual vector theories in 2+1 dimensions

We explore here the issue of duality versus spectrum equivalence in dual theories generated through the master action approach. Specifically we examine a generalized self-dual (GSD) model where a Maxwell term is added to the self-dual model. A gauge embedding procedure applied to the GSD model leads to a Maxwell-Chern-Simons (MCS) theory with higher derivatives. We show here that the latter contains a ghost mode contrary to the original GSD model. By figuring out the origin of the ghost we are able to suggest a new master action which interpolates between the local GSD model and a nonlocal MCS model. Those models share the same spectrum and are ghost free. Furthermore, there is a dual map between both theories at classical level which survives quantum correlation functions up to contact terms. The remarks made here may be relevant for other applications of the master action approach.

Generalized duality between local vector theories in D=2+1

The existence of an interpolating master action does not guarantee the same spectrum for the interpolated dual theories. In the specific case of a generalized self-dual (GSD) model defined as the addition of the Maxwell term to the self-dual model in D = 2 + 1, previous master actions have furnished a dual gauge theory which is either nonlocal or contains a ghost mode. Here we show that by reducing the Maxwell term to first order by means of an auxiliary field we are able to define a master action which interpolates between the GSD model and a couple of non-interacting Maxwell-Chern-Simons theories of opposite helicities. The presence of an auxiliary field explains the doubling of fields in the dual gauge theory. A generalized duality transformation is defined and both models can be interpreted as self-dual models. Furthermore, it is shown how to obtain the gauge invariant correlators of the non-interacting MCS theories from the correlators of the self-dual field in the GSD model and vice-versa. The derivation of the non-interacting MCS theories from the GSD model, as presented here, works in the opposite direction of the soldering approach.

Unitarity of spin-2 theories with linearized Weyl symmetry in D=2+1 dimensions

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Life Expectancy and Entropy Values for Workers of Pachycondyla striata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae)

We investigated the life expectancy and entropy value for workers of the ant Pachycondyla striata. Seven nests were excavated and these colonies were raised in laboratory conditions. The workers have a mean life-span of 74.48 days, these have a high mortality rate in the period of 1 to 85 days with a high entropy value of H = 0.611, confirming the number of deaths in the initial period.

SU(2,R)(q) symmetries of Non-Abelian Toda theories

The classical and quantum algebras of a class of conformal NA-Toda models are studied. It is shown that the SL(2,R)(q) Poisson brackets algebra generated by certain chiral and antichiral charges of the nonlocal currents and the global U(1) charge appears as an algebra of the symmetries of these models. (C) 1998 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.