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In this paper we employ a GMM‐based approach to test the restrictions imposed by a two‐factor ‘market and oil’ pricing model when a risk‐free asset is assumed to exist. We examine the Australian market which has several interesting features including self‐sufficiency in relation to oil, a large concentration of natural resource companies, susceptibility to the ‘Dutch disease’ and a diverse industry base. We extend previous literature by examining industry sector equity returns as different industry groups are likely to have different exposures to an oil factor, particularly in Australia. In the formal tests, we find evidence in favour of the model, particularly for industrial sector industries. The preferred model includes a domestic portfolio proxy for market returns in addition to the oil price factor and we find evidence of a positive market risk premium as well as a significantly priced oil factor.

This paper applies the variable forgetting factor and the fixed forgetting factor to financial time-series analysis, and establishes the linkage for the first time between the variable forgetting factor approach and kernel smoothing. We then demonstrate the use of the proposed variable forgetting factor approach to undertake forecasting of the Euro's exchange rates and the CRSP monthly net asset values (NAV). For both applications, the findings show that the kernel bandwidth so determined can improve the forecasting performance.

Terrorism, an important component of Political risk as a possible determinant of ADRs (American Depository Receipts) returns have received little attention in academic literature. To address this issue and examine whether political risk is a major determinant of ADR returns of emerging market countries, this paper empirically examines market valuation of Indian ADRs around acts of terrorism. Using a sample of 52 such events in the sample period Jan 2003‐Dec 2003 we empirically analyze returns of Indian ADRs. The results from our study indicate a marginally negative significant effect, failing to indicate that event of terrorist attacks severely affect the Indian ADRs listed on the US stock market. This may be explained by a combined effect of; (a) the optimism of US investors towards emerging markets, and (b) market participants becoming more resilient and making informed choices around the “general” events of terrorism.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of ownership structure and corporate governance on capital structure decisions of firms on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).

To analyze the impact of ownership structure and corporate governance on firms' financing decisions, unbalanced panel data covering a period from 2002 to 2007 is employed using the seemingly unrelated regression approach to mitigate the effects of multicollinearity among the regressors.

The regression results reveal that managerial shareholding significantly positively influences the choice of long‐term debt over equity. Among the corporate governance variables, board size is found to be positively and statistically significantly related to capital structure choices. Firm level factors such as volatility in earnings, asset tangibility, dividend payout ratio and profitability are significant determinants of corporate capital structure decisions on the GSE. The findings are largely consistent with theories of capital structure decisions observed in the literature.

The main value of this paper is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of forms of ownership and other governance practices on capital structure decisions of firms from an emerging market perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the reason for faculty and staff (N=657; 35 percent males; M _age=45.20) at a large Southern university, for either using or not using the free fitness facilities on campus.

Participants identified themselves as either current (n=306), former (n=213), or never-users (n=138) of the facilities, and completed an on-line self-report qualitative questionnaire asking them to describe their reasons for using or not using the campus fitness facilities.

Thematic coding revealed that motives fell into three broad categories for all user types: personal (i.e. cost, location, social support), facility-specific (i.e. quality and amount of equipment, class variety, hours of operation), and motivational climate (i.e. feeling valued, welcomed, best effort was emphasized). Current users highlighted positive aspects of each category whereas former and never users described each category as a barrier to their exercise routines.

The identified themes offer campus administration specific suggestions to entice more non-users and former-users to exercise in the fitness facilities available on campus.

While researchers have considered barriers to exercise in past studies, the barriers identified were not specific to fitness facilities. The current work not only examines individuals’ reasons for choosing or not choosing a campus fitness facility for their exercise, but also compares the perspectives of former- and never-users to current-users.