@phdthesis{8731500,
  abstract     = {{This dissertation mainly intended to offer a broader approach on issues in the context of the unexpected shocks in the oil industry, risk management policy by hedge fund and CTA managers, and explaining the market participants’ behavior in line with the theory of market efficiency. The thesis proceeds as follows: the introductory chapter details the general background, motivation, and briefly explains the outline and contributions of this dissertation to literature. It will be followed by the first empirical research article that examines the impact of oil spills on firm market returns. Then, we will jump up to the second research article that investigates the association between managers' features and their motivation to engage in tournament behavior. Third research article document the differences between the hedge fund and CTA managers' risk-shifting choices. The final chapter concludes and summarizes and also provides some practical implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research. The purpose of this dissertation is to answer the questions to what extent investors react rationally to exogenous shocks and how fund manager adjusts their risk after the weak performance. Even though this thesis can be summed up under the scope and context of risk management and the theory of market efficiency, however, the methodologies and databases shift from using event study methodology to investigate the effect of oil spills on the market value of oil companies in the first paper to using panel regression analysis to examine the risk-shifting policy in hedge funds and CTAs in the second and these essays. 
The first research investigates the impact of a large sample of oil spills on the stock price of oil industry portfolio and alternative energy industry portfolio by using the event study methodology. The event study methodology is formed on the cumulative assessment of investors who consider all available information in evaluating each firm’s stock price. This essay attempts to answer, the question, to which extent oil spills, in general, affect stock prices in the oil sector and alternative energy industry, and which characteristics matter for a potential impact of oil spill accidents. The second research attempt to seek how tournament behavior is related to hedge fund and CTA manager's features including location, total asset under management, and gender. This chapter also addresses the response of investors’ flow to performance and explores whether manager location, gender, and total asset under management have any significant influence on the flow-performance relationship. In the fourth chapter, we conduct an in-depth comprehensive survey to investigate risk-shifting policy from various aspects. First, we investigate the probability of a non-linear relation between risk shifting and mid-year performance. Second, we identify the main factors for hedge fund and CTA managers when making decisions about their level of risk. Third, we explore the relation between the time span of poor performance and fund managers’ risk-shifting policy. We are eager to see to what extent the duration of past performance can change the severity of tournament behavior among fund managers.}},
  author       = {{Ahmadpour, Kobra}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{XVI, 169}},
  publisher    = {{Ghent University. Faculty of Economics and Business Administration}},
  school       = {{Ghent University}},
  title        = {{Essays in behavioral finance : investor response to oil spills, and hedge fund and CTA managers' risk shifting behavior}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}