I examine whether a stock’s inclusion in green exchange traded funds and mutualfunds (GMFs) affects liquidity and analyst following. I base these predictions on prior literature that establishes that a firm’s pro-ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) orientation can spur investors’ interest and mitigate investors’ agency concerns (by signaling that managers are pro-social). I test these predictions using difference-indifferences models of monthly turnover, bid-ask spread, and analyst coverage to examine whether firm liquidity, trading costs, and analyst following improve post-GMF inclusion. I find support for all three predictions, even though GMF ownership in my sample is exceedingly modest. Importantly, I identify my treatment effects as incremental to the liquidity boost firms receive when added to conventional mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs). Together, these results suggest that GMF inclusion is perceived as an informative signal of a firm’s green credentials, which leads to more trading volume, lower trading costs, and more analyst participation.

Over the years from 2009 to 2017, the people of Arizona witnessed the state consistently defunding the schools, its students academically underperforming, and as a result, the poverty achievement gap widening. Even with the efforts in recent years to re-invest in education, Arizona’s education funding falls below its level at 2008 and the national average. Among Arizona’s funding sources is the Public School Tax Credit, a unique legislation for the state that allows for taxpayers to donate money to certain programs at Arizona public schools and reduce their state income tax liability dollar-for-dollar. Because of the already severe achievement gap in Arizona, this funding source which relies on surrounding neighborhoods’ income raises the concern that, instead of helping Arizona students, it is exacerbating the existing achievement gap. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between income and donations received by schools to determine the validity of this concern. To ensure a comprehensive examination of the relationship between income and donations received, regression tests are run on both the aggregate level and individual level. The tests find that, although income does have a statistically significant correlation with the donations received, it is only positive for the effect of total income on total donations, negative for the effect of average income per return on average donation per donor, and negative for average income per return on total donations. The results imply that to garner high donations, it matters less to be located in a high-earning neighborhood and more important to be located in a moderate-earning neighborhood with a lot of people donating using this credit. Therefore, the concern of income’s effect on donations is valid, but perhaps not in the straightforward way that we would expect.

There is a need within the Phoenix Metropolitan area to solve the complex issue of
veteran homelessness. According to the Veterans Affairs, over 500,000 veterans live
in Arizona, which comprises about 2.5% of the nation’s veteran’s population as of
September 30, 2017. Many veterans have neither the skills nor resources necessary
to integrate back into society after their tour of duty thus leading them into
homelessness.

The goal of this thesis is to research organizations in the Phoenix Metropolitan area
that help to prevent veteran homelessness and/or assist homeless veterans in
obtaining stable housing. Programs and services provided by various organizations
are discussed, along with an analysis which reveals insufficient money, labor, and
space to fully address veteran homelessness, as well as a trend where most
organizations are trying to solve this issue on their own. Recommendations are
provided which include identifying synergies between entities to create greater impact
through partnerships, so society can improve the veteran homelessness situation and
help those who bravely served our country find stability in their personal lives.

In 2004, the American Jobs Creation Act allowed a yearlong repatriation holiday for corporations in the United States. The corporations could bring their earnings back to the United States at a considerably reduced tax rate under this repatriation holiday. Despite some criticisms of the original repatriation holiday, there have been attempts to recreate the repatriation holiday. I created an estimate of what the companies who participated in the first repatriation holiday would pay in taxes and what amount of previously permanently reinvested earnings they would be able to bring back to the United States under a second repatriation holiday. This revealed $744 billion in post-tax earnings that could be brought back to the United States. The data is a good starting point for expanded research on the impacts and implications of a new repatriation holiday, despite the hypothetical nature of the data and its potential for obsolescence.

This paper will discuss the creation of account level basis pooling in order to measure the basis of transactions occurring within virtual worlds. The paper examines the history of virtual worlds and how they impact the debate on virtual taxation. Furthermore, it addresses the difference in virtual world taxation proposals and how they affect tracing basis through virtual worlds. The proposal will address the administrability concerns that face tracing basis through virtual property.

In this study, I test whether firms reduce the information asymmetry stemming from the political process by investing in political connections. I expect that connected firms enjoy differential access to relevant political information, and use this information to mitigate the negative consequences of political uncertainty. I investigate this construct in the context of firm-specific investment, where prior literature has documented a negative relation between investment and uncertainty. Specifically, I regress firm investment levels on the interaction of time-varying political uncertainty and the degree of a firm's political connectedness, controlling for determinants of investment, political participation, general macroeconomic conditions, and firm and time-period fixed effects. Consistent with prior work, I first document that firm-specific investment levels are significantly lower during periods of increased uncertainty, defined as the year leading up to a national election. I then assess the extent that political connections offset the negative effect of political uncertainty. Consistent with my hypothesis, I document the mitigating effect of political connections on the negative relation between investment levels and political uncertainty. These findings are robust to controls for alternative explanations related to the pre-electoral manipulation hypothesis and industry-level political participation. These findings are also robust to alternative specifications designed to address the possibility that time-invariant firm characteristics are driving the observed results. I also examine whether investors consider time-varying political uncertainty and the mitigating effect of political connections when capitalizing current earnings news. I find support that the earnings-response coefficient is lower during periods of increased uncertainty. However, I do not find evidence that investors incorporate the value relevant information in political connections as a mitigating factor.