From Origination to Renegotiation: A Comparison of Portfolio and Securitized Commercial Real Estate Loans

We examine long-run house price convergence across the twenty Paris districts using a quarterly dataset that spans from 1991 to 2014. Our approach is based on two stages. In the first stage, we apply methods of unit root testing. Our econometric modelling exercise adopts a pair wise approach that is built on a probabilistic test for convergence based on all house price differentials across the Paris districts. We find that more than 50 % of the intra-city house price differentials that can be computed are stationary. In the second stage of our investigation, we analyse the drivers of convergence. The probability of stationarity is negatively affected by unemployment differentials across districts, demographics differentials and supply-side characteristics. Our findings further reveal that the half-life of a shock to long-run price equilibrium is affected positively by unemployment, distance and housing supply. Our analysis suggests that smaller distances between Parisian districts are associated with a faster speed of adjustment back towards long-run equilibrium.     

Risk bounds for factor models

Recent literature has investigated the risk aggregation of a portfolio \(X=(X_{i})_{1\leq i\leq n}\) under the sole assumption that the marginal distributions of the risks \(X_{i} \) are specified, but not their dependence structure. There exists a range of possible values for any risk measure of \(S=\sum_{i=1}^{n}X_{i}\), and the dependence uncertainty spread, as measured by the difference between the upper and the lower bound on these values, is typically very wide. Obtaining bounds that are more practically useful requires additional information on dependence.Here, we study a partially specified factor model in which each risk \(X_{i}\) has a known joint distribution with the common risk factor \(Z\), but we dispense with the conditional independence assumption that is typically made in fully specified factor models. We derive easy-to-compute bounds on risk measures such as Value-at-Risk (\(\mathrm{VaR}\)) and law-invariant convex risk measures (e.g. Tail Value-at-Risk (\(\mathrm{TVaR}\))) and demonstrate their asymptotic sharpness. We show that the dependence uncertainty spread is typically reduced substantially and that, contrary to the case in which only marginal information is used, it is not necessarily larger for \(\mathrm{VaR}\) than for \(\mathrm{TVaR}\).     

MANAGING LOCAL PUBLIC DEBT IN TRANSITION COUNTRIES: AN ISSUE OF SELF-CONTROL

One and a half decades after the end of a centralised regime in Central and Eastern Europe, the policy literature on local debt management in transition economies reveals that there is a general confusion about the appropriate use of debt finance at the municipal level. The literature is mainly concerned with institutional borrowing restrictions and sanctions against excessive debt. Both emphasise the responsibility of the centre and consider local government unable to pursue a sound financial management without central patronage. Breaking with the traditional focus on budget  discipline , this study advocates budget  responsibility . Favourable credit ratings and compliance with legal norms are necessary but not sufficient conditions for municipalities to borrow. Successful financial management requires a more proactive attitude in which local governments adjust their investment policy to their financial capacity, assessing the costs and benefits of each investment project.     

Scenarios and Actors' Strategies:: The Case of the Agri-Foodstuff Sector

The importance of the agricultural market in France prompted BASF to seek out a new way of strengthening relations with its partners in the agrifood sector. In 1996, against a backdrop of change (EU legislation) and upheaval (Mad Cow Disease), BASF offered operations managers or officers of distribution companies an opportunity to reflect upon the future in a workshop setting. This innovative three-stage exercise, guided by Professor Michel Godet (CNAM) and the Gerpa consulting team, met with enthusiasm, and was expanded beyond the original group and time frame. In fact, the distribution chain was opened up to include various actors, for example, consumer advocacy groups, so that we speak of the agri-food channel and sector. Original questions focused on farmers' expectations and distribution problems with specific horizon lines. Environmental and genetic issues soon came to the forefront. Besides workshops and meetings, the Delphi-Régnier Abacus technique was applied, as explained in this step-by-step review of the BASF project. Overall, futures thinking has become part of the BASF France way of doing business. Indeed, the BASF “Futures Studies Group,” expanded to include mass distribution representatives, intends to continue working on the very timely theme of food safety.     

Black Spaces/White Spaces: Black Lives,Leisure, and Life Politics

Racial neutrality does not exist within digital and virtual spaces. Our racialized identities are imported into these spaces, as are the ideologies of our respective societies. This reality begs the question, how do Black people situate themselves in digital White leisure spaces, especially when these spaces maintain and replicate off-line spaces of racial discrimination and overt racism? This article presents a background on Black Internet users and highlights how Black people have used digital spaces to counter and disrupt messages that perpetuate inaccurate stereotypes and social inequalities. Examples are offered to support this claim. This article underlines how behaviors of Black people in digital spaces can demonstrate the presence of Black leisure and highlight the realities of Black life. Finally, critical technocultural discourse analysis will be introduced as a technique for advancing this discussion within the context of race and leisure.     

The impact of the use of new technologies on farmers’ wheat yield in Ethiopia: evidence from a randomized control trial

In 2013, Ethiopia's Agricultural Transformation Agency introduced the Wheat Initiative to increase smallholder productivity. In this article, we measure the impacts of the Wheat Initiative package of technologies, and its marketing assistance component alone, on yields among a promotional group of farmers. The package includes improved techniques, improved inputs, and a guaranteed market for the crop. Relying on crop‐cut measures and farmers’ own assessments, we find that full package led to an average 14% higher yields. Implementation of the Wheat Initiative was successful in making certified seed and fertilizer accessible to farmers and increasing their uptake, though only 61% of the intervention group adopted row planting and few farmers received marketing assistance. The measured yield difference may underestimate the true yield difference associated with the technology because of incomplete adoption of the recommended practices by intervention farmers and adoption of some practices by control farmers.     

Appealing to men and women using sexual appeals in advertising: In the battle of the sexes,is a truce possible?

Sexual appeals remain a very popular advertising technique yet questions regarding their use remain, including how they can be used to appeal to men and women simultaneously. Literature examining what men and women find sexually appealing and the body language used to signal relationship status guided development of two appeal types: ‘Intimate’ portrayed a couple in an intimate stable relationship, whereas ‘Objectified’ showed them as sexual objects. These were combined with different levels of nudity and product relevance and studied experimentally. As expected, both genders preferred intimate appeals though they only rated low nudity intimate adverts for relevant products positively.