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I have experienced a lot of difficulties during my study at LSU, and I sometimes wanted to give up pursuing my doctoral degree. Many people helped and encouraged me to finish this dissertation. I really need to appreciate them for their help and encouragement during my stay at LSU. I would like to thank my major professor, Dr. Shane Johnson, for his guidance and efforts to complete this dissertation. He was professional enough to answer any of my questions, and made the dissertation interesting and challenging to me. I extend my thanks to other committee members, Dr. Ji-Chai Lin, Dr. Harley Ryan Jr., and Dr. M. Dek Terrel. I could make this research more interesting with their constructive criticism and suggestions. I also thank other faculty members, staff, and doctoral students in Dept. of Finance for their encouragement and friendship. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the support I received from my family. I appreciate my mother, Gyusook Kim, and my father, the last, Byoungpyo Song for their support and hearty encouragement. Specially, I would like to thank my wife, Jung-A Yang, who has given up her job to be with me and has been the biggest supporter for m