Transaction Cost Thresholds in International Rice Markets

Recent episodes of high and volatile prices for grains such as rice have raised concerns about their implications for hunger and poverty. We model price relationships between international rice prices and 221 domestic prices in 47 developing countries that import rice. We use a threshold vector error correction model that accounts for transaction costs of trade in spatial price transmission, and an improved regularised Bayesian threshold estimator for threshold models. Our results show that threshold values are higher after 2008 than before, which suggests that transaction costs in international rice trade have increased in recent years. Threshold values are highest for Latin American countries followed by African and Asian countries, and higher for retail than for wholesale prices. Since 2008, price transmission is slower in countries that responded to high and volatile prices with domestic market‐based interventions such as price controls and faster in countries that responded by lowering tariffs and by implementing production support measures.     

Chasing assets abroad: Ideas for more effective asset tracing and recovery in cross-border insolvency

Asset tracing and recovery (ATR) has become highly challenging in the digital age, where, with the touch of computer keys, assets can be shifted through multiple jurisdictions within minutes, creating significant challenges for recovering value. While many countries have tools to enable ATR, these tools differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and often are not recognized across borders in a manner that keeps pace with the need for rapid ATR, particularly during insolvency. This article takes stock of the myriad ATR tools available in domestic systems to discern parameters of key ATR tools that have common objectives, features, and safeguards, and that can form the basis of more standardized understanding and application of such tools. It also explores the extent to which cross-border ATR is aided by the leading frameworks for global, cross-border insolvency—the UNCITRAL Model Laws on Cross-Border Insolvency, insolvency-related judgments, and enterprise groups—in the process, revealing gaps and uncertainties. Such uncertainties can result in losses to stakeholders affected by insolvencies of different business sizes but can be particularly detrimental in small and medium enterprise (SME) cross-border insolvencies where there are typically more limited resources to chase assets. Against this backdrop, this article proposes ideas for the enhancement of the cross-border insolvency framework, to allow for effective cross-border access to information held abroad, the freezing of assets in cross-border cases, and the cross-border recovery of assets.     

Adaptive grids for the estimation of dynamic models

Quantitative Marketing and Economics - This paper develops a method to flexibly adapt interpolation grids of value function approximations in the estimation of dynamic models using either NFXP...     

Unravelling the JPMorgan spoofing case using particle physics visualization methods

On 29 September 2020, JPMorgan was ordered to pay a settlement of $920.2 million for spoofing the metals and Treasury futures markets from 2008 to 2016. We examine these cases using a visualization method developed in particle physics (CERN) and the messages that the exchange receives about market activity rather than time-based snapshots. This approach allows to examine multiple indicators related to market manipulation and complement existing research methods, thereby enhancing the identification and understanding of, as well as the motivation for, market manipulation. In the JPMorgan cases, we offer an alternative motivation for spoofing than moving the price.     

Partner country selection between development narratives and self-interests: A new method for analysing complex donor approaches

Partner country (PC) selection lies in the centre of development policy decision-making of donor countries and institutions, and plays a significant role in shaping aid patterns. This paper proposes a comprehensive analysis contrasting donor intentions in PC selection with actual aid flows. Having analysed selected members of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, namely, the European Union, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, we suggest that (1) donors might not only be either altruistic or self-interested but also motivated by an intention to contribute to the provision of global public goods; (2) self-interest in aid provision can be an explicitly-stated strategy, contrary to what has been argued in the majority of the literature, which often treats self-interest as a non-stated donor intention; and (3) donors' self-interested intentions do not always lead to a less development-oriented donor approach.