Developing a quality prioritization procedure for IPTV service

This study developed a procedure to determine the quality priorities of the internet protocol television (IPTV) service. First, a set of key elements of IPTV service quality was developed based on a literature review and a focus group interview. Second, analytic hierarchy process and the Kano model were applied to identify the requirements of experts and customers, respectively. The experts measured the importance and difficulty of management, whereas the customers measured the satisfaction level and importance of each quality element. Third, quality priorities were calculated through the entropy principle and scenario-based analysis. The proposed procedure is illustrated with a case study of a telecommunications company in Korea.     

Analysis and design of microfinance services: A case of ROSCA

Rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) is a well-known microfinance association widely used in many countries around the world with long histories. By considering extra profits that such a system can provide when compared to banking transactions, we develop optimization problems to achieve an optimal design of a ROSCA. We find that ROSCAs might attract investors when deposit and loan rates from formal banking systems are not favorable. Furthermore, optimal rates and optimal orders to maximize system outputs are reported.     

A bootstrap test for jumps in financial economics

An i.i.d. bootstrap is applied for the ratio test of Barndorff-Nielsen and Shephard (2006) for jumps in jump diffusion processes. Asymptotic validity is established for the bootstrap test both under the null of no jump and under the alternative of jumps. Finite sample simulation shows that the bootstrap test has more stable size than the ratio test of Barndorff-Nielsen and Shephard (2006).     

The effectiveness of fear appeals in ‘green’ advertising: An analysis of creative,consumer, and source variables*

This study focused on the effectiveness of fear appeal messages used to arouse a threat in green advertising. An experiment recruited 175 participants to test the influence of the advertising appeal (fear vs. non-fear appeal), source (for-profit vs. non-profit organizations), and involvement with the environment on attitude toward the ad (A_ad), attitude toward the product (A_p) and purchase intention (PI). Results revealed that a fear appeal in a green ad negatively affected A_ad and A_p and that participants who were highly involved with the environment were more likely to have positive attitudes toward the green ad and advertised green product as well as a stronger intent to purchase it. The source type in the green ad did not affect ad effectiveness and involvement with the environment did not moderate the effects of either appeal or source.     

Urban Sensing by Crowdsourcing: Analysing Urban Trip behaviour in Zurich

The research on which this essay is based sought to provide a deeper understanding of live urban activities. The main idea was to obtain in‐depth trip information by integrating sensing technology with crowdsourcing‐based methods. Location and acceleration sensors embedded in smartphones can deliver useful trip information. Research had previously been conducted to find an accurate data analysis algorithm for high‐level data mining, an efficient sensing method for power saving. As a proof of concept, this essay presents a case study of Zurich that successfully implemented previous research achievements in the real environment. It established that urban travel behaviour can, in fact, be collected by sensors embedded in mobile devices, and that the data thus obtained can be used to measure the characteristics of trip behaviour in cities by means of an advanced classifying algorithm and analysis. The strength of this research is its pioneering role in clearing the ground for future urban data collection methods and planning strategies. Specifically, this study could provide answers to the following key questions: How can crowdsourcing be applied to the collection of urban transportation data? What kinds of information can be extracted from the crowdsourced mobile sensing platform? What kinds of knowledge, within the transportation domain, can be derived from the above?     

Information in generalized method of moments estimation and entropy-based moment selection

In this paper, we make five contributions to the literature on information and entropy in generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation. First, we introduce the concept of the long run canonical correlations (LRCCs) between the true score vector and the moment function f(_vt,_θ0)$f(v_t,{\theta }_0)$ and show that they provide a metric for the information contained in the population moment condition E[f(_vt,_θ0)]=0$\mathrm{E}[f(v_t,{\theta }_0)]=0$. Second, we show that the entropy of the limiting distribution of the GMM estimator can be written in terms of these LRCCs. Third, motivated by the above results, we introduce an information criterion based on this entropy that can be used as a basis for moment selection. Fourth, we introduce the concept of nearly redundant moment conditions and use it to explore the connection between redundancy and weak identification. Fifth, we analyse the behaviour of the aforementioned entropy-based moment selection method in two scenarios of interest; these scenarios are: (i) nonlinear dynamic models where the parameter vector is identified by all the combinations of moment conditions considered; (ii) linear static models where the parameter vector may be weakly identified for some of the combinations considered. The first of these contributions rests on a generalized information equality that is proved in the paper, and may be of interest in its own right.     

The privatization of Korea’s Incheon International Airport

This study looks at the possible effects of the planned privatization of Incheon International Airport, Korea. To accomplish this, it uses a Delphi analysis involving nearly 50 experts to assess six possible scenarios that, for example, look at airport strategy and planning, financial, operations and approach facilities, and fees.     

Real exchange rate dynamics in the presence of non-traded goods and transaction costs

This paper studies the role of non-traded goods and transaction costs in accounting for the puzzling behavior of real exchange rates. We show that introducing the transaction costs and non-traded goods in an otherwise standard competitive model dramatically improves its ability to rationalize observed real exchange rate dynamics.     

Asymmetric capital structure adjustments: New evidence from dynamic panel threshold models

We develop a dynamic panel threshold model of capital structure to test the dynamic trade-off theory, allowing for asymmetries in firms' adjustments toward target leverage. Our novel estimation approach is able to consistently estimate heterogeneous speeds of adjustment in different regimes as well as to properly test for the threshold effect. We consider several proxies for adjustment costs that affect the asymmetries in capital structure adjustments and find evidence that firms with large financing imbalance (or a deficit), large investment or low earnings volatility adjust faster than those with the opposite characteristics. Firms not only adjust at different rates but also seem to adjust toward heterogeneous leverage targets. Moreover, we document a consistent pattern that firms undertaking quick adjustment are over-levered with a financing deficit and rely heavily on equity issues to make such adjustment.