We examined the presence of volatility at the Karachi Stock Exchange (recently changed the name to Pakistan Stock Exchange) (KSE) by fitting Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) model to 25 years' index data. We found that the ARCH effects are present in the data indicating the stock market cluster volatility during the period under study. We found persistent high volatility in the stock market and presence of negative leverage effect. Moreover, we tried to identify the factors causing stock market volatility by collecting and analyzing the primary data obtained from 246 individual investors of stock market and 28 brokers listed with KSE. Our results show that investors consider political situation as the most important factor causing turbulence in the stock market. Interviews with the brokers also confirmed this. The second most important factor identified by investors is the herd behavior among investors that results in over-and underpricing of stocks and the overall market shows a volatile behavior. Our findings suggest that individual investor's behavioral dimensions of involvement, risk attitude, and overconfidence are significantly associated with factors causing market volatility.

This study aims to observe the gender role portrayal in food and non-food television advertisement in Pakistan, in order to find out gender discrimination (if any) and association of gender with different content variables. Content analysis of selected TV commercials was used to fulfill the purpose of this study. Services of two independent coders (business graduates) were utilized to code content variables for a sample of 103 commercials (54 food and 49 non-food commercials). Based on the extant literature, seven content variables were selected for this study including: main product user, voiceover, primary character, end comment, soundtrack level, activity level and aggression level. The gender role portrayals in both food and non-food commercials have been compared and discussed. There exists gender discrimination in Pakistani television advertisement, where males dominate more. The reason behind this phenomenon is expected to lie in social and cultural values. This male dominance is higher in food advertisement as compared to non-food advertisement. Results also favor the association of male character with the relatively higher activity and aggression levels in television commercials. The findings of this study are supportive for key players in advertising industry like advertisers and advertising agencies, for self-regulation of their advertising campaigns with respect to gender role. However, more important implication for them is to know about the forces of traditional cultural values and preferences of target audience, for effective planning of the commercials and forecasting their impact. Such knowledge can provide them a better base to assess the need for self-regulation of their advertising campaigns, guiding them towards making more successful commercials. This study reflects the true picture of gender discrimination in Pakistani television advertisement. It has been concluded using a well defined methodology, provides original data for Pakistan and can be considered a good reference for further analysis.

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Purpose: Market bubbles and crashes remain unexplainable by classical finance theories. Because the history of the Pakistan Stock Exchange has been marked by occasional market bubbles and crashes, a behavioral study is conducted to investigate the impact of investor’s behavioral biases on investment performance. Design/Methodology/Approach: Our research investigates behavioral biases and examines the role of such biases in the selection of investment decision methods. We then investigate the direct impact of behavioral biases on investors' investment performance, as well as how investment analysis methods play a role in mediating the impact of behavioral biases on investment performance. We identified 11 irrational behavior biases based on existing literature and in-depth interviews with brokers, and two decision analysis methods are used: fundamental and technical. Findings: Our findings show that PSX investors exhibit moderately high levels of irrational behavior. Despite their moderately high level of irrationality, investors can use fundamental analysis to make better decisions and achieve better results. Since they use fundamental analysis method, they are boundedly rational rather than completely irrational. Implications/Originality/Value: The fundamental analysis does not fully mediate three determinants of irrationality, namely anchoring, control, and overconfidence. Individual investors and brokers are concerned about reducing the impact of these three biases in order to achieve optimal performance. Brokerage firms and fund managers are recommended to consider the behavioral aspects of investors to predict the future because behavioral factors of investors can not only shape the investment trend of individuals but also the market at large.