Time-Varying Leverage and Basel III: A Look at Canadian Evidence

Why did the conventional leverage indicators not pick up any meaningful signal of the mounting systemic risk before the subprime crisis? They remained almost unchanged in recent decades, whereas the banking landscape underwent a tremendous metamorphosis. Market-oriented banking is characterized by a new type of systemic risk, a risk which essentially evolves off the radar screen, i.e., off-balance sheet (OBS) (Calmès and Théoret Journal of Banking and Finance 34 (7): 1719–1728, 2010, 2011). In this article, we argue that the standard leverage indicators are not fitted to capture this kind of new banking risk. We introduce a new empirical framework which enables us to exploit the cyclical properties of elasticity leverage measures, while at the same time controlling for the noisy information they usually deliver. In a nutshell, thanks to the Kalman filter, we are able to compute optimal levels of bank leverage. This methodology delivers cyclical, forward-looking measures signalling systemic risk bubbles years before their burst. By properly accounting for all activities, including market-oriented banking, these time-varying leverage measures tend to systemically capture regulatory capital arbitrage and the OBS risk it entails.     

Consistent risk management: Three models outlined

This article introduces three models on how to understand the demand for consistent risk management. The first model, which accords with traditional risk analysis, is called the Standard Model. In this model, the decisive criterion of whether or not to accept a risk is if the total benefit exceeds the total cost. Since this model cannot protect the individual from unfair risk exposure two more models are outlined. The arguments in the Model of Inviolable Rights and in the Model of Procedural Justice evolve around the separateness of individuals, rights and fair risk taking. It is argued that risk management needs to acknowledge a variety of morally salient factors to avoid exposing people unfairly to risks.     

Solvable local and stochastic volatility models: supersymmetric methods in option pricing

In this paper we provide an extensive classification of one- and two-dimensional diffusion processes which admit an exact solution to the Kolmogorov (and hence Black–Scholes) equation (in terms of hypergeometric functions). By identifying the one-dimensional solvable processes with the class of integrable superpotentials introduced recently in supersymmetric quantum mechanics, we obtain new analytical solutions. In particular, by applying supersymmetric transformations on a known solvable diffusion process (such as the Natanzon process for which the solution is given by a hypergeometric function), we obtain a hierarchy of new solutions. These solutions are given by a sum of hypergeometric functions, generalizing the results obtained in a paper by Albanese et al. (Albanese, C., Campolieti, G., Carr, P. and Lipton, A., Black–Scholes goes hypergeometric. Risk Mag., 2001, 14, 99–103). For two-dimensional processes, more precisely stochastic volatility models, the classification is achieved for a specific class called gauge-free models including the Heston model, the 3?/?2-model and the geometric Brownian model. We then present a new exact stochastic volatility model belonging to this class.     

Portfolio optimization under model uncertainty and BSDE games

We consider robust optimal portfolio problems for markets modeled by (possibly non-Markovian) Itô–Lévy processes. Mathematically, the situation can be described as a stochastic differential game, where one of the players (the agent) is trying to find the portfolio that maximizes the utility of her terminal wealth, while the other player (“the market”) is controlling some of the unknown parameters of the market (e.g., the underlying probability measure, representing a model uncertainty problem) and is trying to minimize this maximal utility of the agent. This leads to a worst case scenario control problem for the agent. In the Markovian case, such problems can be studied using the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman–Isaacs (HJBI) equation, but these methods do not work in the non-Markovian case. We approach the problem by transforming it into a stochastic differential game for backward stochastic differential equations (a BSDE game). Using comparison theorems for BSDEs with jumps we arrive at criteria for the solution of such games in the form of a kind of non-Markovian analogue of the HJBI equation. The results are illustrated by examples.     

Household Food Consumption and Quality Differentiation in Demand System: An Approach for Endogenous Prices

The authors surveyed consumers for preferences on allergen advisory statements on food labels (N = 1,243). They also conducted an experiment to assess how consumers use advisory statements (N = 4,049) to make food consumption decisions. Results show that food allergic individuals, including caregivers to food allergic individuals, and a control group of nonallergic people preferred “Allergen Information: May Contain …” over three other statements tested. The experiment revealed measurable differences among the statements in how they are used to make food consumption decisions. Statements rated as more believable and more helpful also received higher ratings on a “likelihood of eating/serving” measure.     

Toward a Model to Enhance Synergy of Out-of-Home Advertising Media Integration Strategies

ABSTRACT

For media planners to combine multiple media across platforms to maximize synergy is a critical challenge within integrated marketing communication. For this study, in-depth interviews were conducted with experienced media specialists in leading agencies to explore how they integrate different out-of-home advertising media platforms in IMC strategies. The feedback of these experts was then used to propose a model of strategies to enhance synergy within out-of-home advertising campaigns. This model is a first of its kind for planning out-of-home advertising media across platforms and bridges a gap in the existing literature on media synergy and out-of-home advertising media strategy.     

Acquisition of managerial knowledge from foreign parents: evidence from Korean joint ventures

This paper contributes to the literature on intra- and inter-firm knowledge transfer by examining knowledge acquisition by Korean international joint ventures from their foreign parents. A conceptual model is presented which identifies the factors that have been found to influence knowledge transfer, organised into variables related to the local recipient firm, the foreign sender firm and the relationship between the two. The model is examined by means of a series of multiple regressions using a sample of 128 Korean international joint ventures. We find that: (1) the international joint ventures intent to learn and international experience; (2) the level of trust between parents and their business relatedness; and (3) the active managerial engagement of the foreign parent are the most important factors explaining the level of knowledge acquisition within the international joint ventures.     

Model-independent bounds for option prices—a mass transport approach

In this paper we investigate model-independent bounds for exotic options written on a risky asset using infinite-dimensional linear programming methods. Based on arguments from the theory of Monge–Kantorovich mass transport, we establish a dual version of the problem that has a natural financial interpretation in terms of semi-static hedging. In particular we prove that there is no duality gap.     

Managing Ethically Cultural Diversity: Learning from Thomas Aquinas

Cultural diversity is an inescapable reality and a concern in many businesses where it can often raise ethical questions and dilemmas. This paper aims to offer suggestions to certain problems facing managers in dealing with cultural diversity through the inspiration of Thomas Aquinas. Although he may be perceived as a voice from the distant past, we can still find in his writings helpful and original ideas and criteria. He welcomes cultural differences as a part of the perfection of the universe. His systemic approach leads one to place the problem in its proper context, and to reflect on it from the perspective of virtue ethics, with a central role for practical wisdom and giving primacy to neighborly love and natural moral law. Rather than a set of rigid standards with no consideration of diversity Aquinas focuses on the common human ground, which allows for the indispensable dialogue between different positions. When dealing with practical questions, the problem is one of finding the right balance between general principle and cultural specifics, tolerance, and dialogue, always guided by practical wisdom. In this way, Aquinas’ approach is neither rigid ethical universalism with no consideration for diversity nor moral relativism with no place for any transcultural and absolute morals.     

Production and financial policies under asymmetric information

We propose an extension of the standard general equilibrium model with production and incomplete markets to situations in which (i) private investors have limited information on the returns of specific assets, (ii) managers of firms have limited information on the preferences of individual shareholders. The extension is obtained by the assumption that firms are not traded directly but grouped into ‘sectorial’ funds. In our model the financial policy of the firm is not irrelevant. We establish the existence of equilibria and discuss the nature of the inefficiencies introduced by the presence of asymmetric information. We also illustrate the properties of the model in three simple examples. We would like to thank Alberto Bisin, Armando Dominioni, Piero Gottardi, Tito Pietra, Paolo Siconolfi, and an anonymous referee for useful suggestions and comments.