Session A: 9AM – 10:30AM
Business. Session A – Oral Presentations, Boyer Conference, Alumni House
SESSION A (9:00-10:30AM)
Location: Boyer Conference (2nd floor), Alumni House
Evaluating Loan-to-Value Ratios of Post-War/Contemporary Art as Collateral
Bennett Blake, University of Utah
Faculty Mentor Jeffery Coles, University of Utah
SESSION A 9:00-9:15AM
Boyer Conference (2nd floor), Alumni House
Business
Gallerists to art market theorists maintain that art is a stable asset, but private banks, who create loans with art as collateral, reject this belief considering other asset-backed loans receive higher loan-to-value (LTV) ratios. The current industry standard that private banks use for an art-secured loan is 50% of the value of a piece/collection. For other tangible assets, such as real estate, LTV ratios can soar over 80%. With the number of high-net-worth art collectors increasing, and their desire for private banking to be a one-stop shop for their finances, private banking’s historical position on art-secured lending is being challenged by current necessity. While art lending is not thought of as a revenue generating practice for private banks, it is important for the purpose of retaining clients and engaging in more lucrative deals. I examine how banks have arrived at the LTV ratio of 50% and whether banks could safely increase that ratio. Using a multidisciplinary literature review, I analyze the trade cycle of art-secured lending, focusing on the terms of loans, insurance requirements, and the securitization of art. While many researchers talk about the advantages and obstacles to art-secured lending, their work has not examined the 50% LTV ratio, nor the possibility of increases. A statistical analysis of art’s volatility over the period of 2000-2022 examines the extent of stability of art as an asset. I examine practical limitations around keeping art on a balance sheet, including concerns about the liquidity of art as well as legal/financial issues such as ownership, authenticity, and attribution. I anticipate that data from art indexes will suggest that art exhibits a lower volatility than U.S. equity indexes, but due to the complexities around securitizing and selling art it is likely that lenders will continue to be hesitant about lending at higher LTV ratios.
How does SSI influence employment of disabled people?
Olga Krylova, Southern Utah University
Faculty Mentor Joshua Price, Southern Utah University
SESSION A 9:20-9:35AM
Boyer Conference (2nd floor), Alumni House
Business
It seems that researchers have riched an agreement that corruption is detrimental for country development. However, there is no consensus on what is the ideal candidate for a president post. For instance, in American history incumbents varied from those with no graduate degree (William Henry Harrison, Abraham Lincoln, Harry S. Truman) to those with degrees in different fields (e.g. law school, Business school). Woodrow Wilson was the only person who earned PHD. At the same time, it seems that education can be a predictor of the success of the president or lower level governor. In addition to knowledge, education teaches a person academic ethics and the wish to prefer long run benefits to short term ones (Abalkina 2020, Ravanilla 2016). It can be crucial for involvement of a person in office into corruption. Thus, I can use level of corruption as a proxy for the quality of the governer. My research asks how education influences the involvement of governer in corruption? This effect depends on the number of factors. According to (Abalkina 2020, governers with plagiarized PHD dissertations aren’t subject to this effect of an education as a constraint on corruption. (I’ll exclude these governors from my sample.) Besides, if country’s education system is corrupt the education has positive effect of corruption (Kaffenberger, 2012). It means I should control for the country where education was acquired by governor. My results can help in implementing anticorruption policies and policies of electing officials. The concern that voters rely on education when electing an official while education plays minor role in governor’s success was expressed by (Freier, 2016). I’m exploring what insentives make officials refrane from corruptions. Whether these insentives are formed by education or by some laws and punishments for corrupted official. Even if the country has invented the best laws, and system of checks and ballances, there still exists a human factor that’s why citizens would like to elect a governer who is not only competent but also responsible and honest.
Coming of Age: Young Investors and the Rise in Riskier Investments
Kacey Tollefson, University of Utah
Faculty Mentor Nathan Seegert, University of Utah
SESSION A 9:40-9:55AM
Boyer Conference (2nd floor), Alumni House
Business
As our society has progressed and evolved with technology, an increasing number of individuals have access to security exchange markets than ever before. Low commission trading costs coupled with social media trends have led to much higher participation from young investors, more especially those who may not know about the risks of investing. As the composition of participants in the investment sphere skews young, the quality of investments being made can be called into question. Currently, young investors have the largest economic power than any other preceding generation due to higher earnings, larger savings accounts, and earlier participation in security trading. While market participation has grown, 60% of Millennial and Gen Z investors are also turning to alternative investment forms as a means of wealth creation. According to Motley Fool, 91% of Gen Z have used social media as a credible information source when making investments. Evident in the GameStop boom of 2021, social media has a significant impact on their financial decision-making behavior. My current research incorporates changes in investor demographics coupled with the quality of investments being made. This includes analyzing social media movements and just how impactful influencers, whether of an educated background or not, are encouraging people to take on high risks. Credible sources include my own analytical research comparing stock prices with social media trends, a survey of University of Utah students and their risk preferences/social media usage, and incorporation of peer-reviewed research by financial analyst professionals. In this analysis, I am challenging the assumption that uneducated, riskier investments are being made by Gen Z/newer generations because of ‘get rich quick’ trends and movements on social media. I believe risk tolerances have changed and up-and-coming investors will carry a large impact on market