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In this chapter, we demonstrate that studying relevant investment information helps reduce individual investors’ disposition effect. It is prevalent that many individual investors in stock market do not form their own opinion about the investments; instead they mimic investment strategies of others. This research shows that the intention of making easy money only worsens the disposition effect. We collect 2,632 individual stock investors through nationwide surveys in Taiwan. Using regression models, we examine the effects of study on reducing investors’ inclination of holding-losers/selling-winners and the disposition effect. The findings show that investors realize losses sooner and significantly reduce the disposition effect if they choose to learn about their investments. The results also demonstrate that if the investors are willing to learn about firms in which they invest, they become more rational about their investment decisions. They are no longer influenced by the sentiment of regret resistance or misperception of the stock trend, which in turn reduces the disposition effect. This study supports that investors make better investment decisions if they perform necessary due diligence prior to investing.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that various disposition patterns in terms of the price changes are plausible under the Prospect Theory (PT), which argues that investors have a greater tendency to sell assets that have risen in value since the purchase than those that have fallen. Numerous empirical evidences have shown that investors demonstrate the disposition effect (DE). This study highlights that, when the disposition measure is defined by the stock price changes, the PT predicts the DE indeed. It also indicates other seemingly contradicting disposition patterns: the reversed disposition effect and the pattern of the symmetry over gains and losses.

To show that the disposition effect is only one of the disposition patterns under the preference of PT, as part of this study the authors apply the mental account theory and propose two decision criteria for the gain and loss accounts, respectively, (i.e. maximum loss tolerated and minimum gain required). An empirical analysis was performed from a large‐scale market survey in Taiwan to examine individual investors' disposition patterns.

The findings show that more than 50 percent of individual investors demonstrate their disposition patterns other than the disposition effect. Many investors show the reversed disposition effect or the pattern of symmetry (holding about the same magnitude of gains or losses before realization).

This study answers the questions which, to the authors' knowledge, have not been incorporated in the studies of the PT or the DE: first, when do investors sell losers which they are inclined to hold on to? Second, for how long do they hold winners which they are eager to sell? The authors' arguments allow various disposition patterns to exist simultaneously, without changing the value function in the PT of convexity over losses and concavity over gains and without requiring strict assumptions on the expected stock returns.

The science policy has been at the core business of contemporary nations, and determining how to establish a constructive contract between the wider society and the science/academia community has become a continuous challenge and major task. The purpose of this paper is to draw on Bush’s (1945) classical works and other scholarly stances in an attempt to reveal how research funding discourses and practices in Taiwanese universities have taken shape and been implemented.

Against this broader context, the authors examine the main elements of official documents and significant statistical evidence from recent years.

In summary, basic research investment has comparatively underperformed while the business sector has contributed relatively higher expenditures to the university sector at the international level. A strong state-led approach has been identified as the key characteristics of research funding policy for industrial development/economic growth or social problem solving. Although not making an effort to “save the nation,” the state has been dominant in steering the direction of priority areas and issues for university research in order to achieve better international competitiveness and, in turn, nation building.

The authors examine the impact of the interplay between science’s social contract with society and rhetorical devices on the institutionalization of the university research funding policy framework in Taiwan. The exploration of this interplay leads the authors to elaborate tensions between the government, industry, universities, and research communities in Taiwan. As in other contexts, the race between social accountability and academic autonomy has evolved to be a significant element of these tensions in Taiwan. For better reflecting the public needs or social demands, a greater autonomy for the science community is desirable and favorable for long-term development.

The science policy is a rarely addressed but critical issue for the past two decades. Along with the increasing demand on value for money publicly funded research, societal accountability, and the international competition caused by league tables and cutting-edge technology innovation, this paper draws on classical and current mainstream discourses of science’s contract with society by investigating into Taiwanese research funding in the higher education sector. All findings are highly original for theoretical and practical implications.