Poverty Comparisons Over Time and Across Countries in Africa

We use Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to compare “poverty” at two or more points in time within and between African countries. Our welfare measure is an index resulting from a factor analysis of various household characteristics, durables, and household heads’ education. An advantage of this measure is that for intertemporal and intraregional comparisons, we need not rely on suspect price deflators and currency conversion factors. The wide availability and similarity of questionnaires of the DHS facilitate comparisons over both time and countries. Our results generally show declines in poverty during the previous decade, largely due to improvements in rural areas.     

On the Rate of Convergence of Discrete‐Time Contingent Claims

This paper characterizes the rate of convergence of discrete‐time multinomial option prices. We show that the rate of convergence depends on the smoothness of option payoff functions, and is much lower than commonly believed because option payoff functions are often of all‐or‐nothing type and are not continuously differentiable. To improve the accuracy, we propose two simple methods, an adjustment of the discrete‐time solution prior to maturity and smoothing of the payoff function, which yield solutions that converge to their continuous‐time limit at the maximum possible rate enjoyed by smooth payoff functions. We also propose an intuitive approach that systematically derives multinomial models by matching the moments of a normal distribution. A highly accurate trinomial model also is provided for interest rate derivatives. Numerical examples are carried out to show that the proposed methods yield fast and accurate results.     

中国服务贸易推动经济增长效应研究——基于两阶段时间序列数据的实证分析

服务贸易的日益快速增长是我国入世后服务贸易的特点之一.本文通过引入贸易竞争指数,对入世前后两个阶段的服务贸易与经济增长关系进行实证的比较分析,以寻求对入世前后两个不同阶段的经济增长效应分析.分析结果说明入世以来我国对外服务贸易受到的冲击较大.对此,文章将发挥静态比较优势和培育动态比较优势相结合,就服务贸易对经济增长的推动作用提出了可行的政策建议.     

三江平原植被景观异质性分析

利用遥感数据和野外调查数据对三江平原植被进行景观异质性分析,把三江平原植被景观划分为农田、林地、草地、水域、湿地、无植被用地6种景观类型,借助FRAGSTATS景观指数计算软件,根据研究区域特征选取景观异质性指数进行计算;结果表明,景观多样性指数为1.1594,优势度指数为5.4921,聚集度指数为57.6631,表明三江平原植被景观异质性较高.     

区域生态环境质量评价指标体系的研究——以黑龙江省为例

应用PSR框架模型,制定了区域生态环境质量评价指标体系理论框架,据此建立了区域生态环境质量评价指标体系;以黑龙江省为例建立了一套黑龙江省生态环境质量评价指标体系.     

中国区域电力消费需求决定因素的实证研究

实证研究区域电力消费需求的决定因素,对我国各个地区能源(电力)供求与经济协调发展意义重大。以2004年中国省域电力消费量截面数据为电力需求的度量指标,采用截面回归分析模型和多种检验指标,分析并估计检验了经济、人口、电价及第二产业比重对区域电力需求的作用机制。结果显示:区域经济、人口、第二产业比重各增长1%,区域电力需求将分别增长0.38%、0.27%、1.91%,当电力消费价格增长1%时,区域电力需求将降低4.46%。结论表明:电力消费与区域经济及人口增长之间存在密切的内生联系,通过经济增长方式的转变和人口规模的控制对电力消费产生影响是可能的;第二产业比重和电价是影响中国区域电力消费的主要因素。     

Insider ownership and signals: evidence from stock split announcement effects

This study examines whether investors regard the level of insider ownership of a firm as useful for evaluating stock split decisions. Results show that the abnormal returns at the announcement of stock splits are positively related to the level of insider ownership. The results prevail even after controlling for other relevant factors. Further analysis indicates the positive relation exists for small firms, but not for large firms. This indicates the market evaluates stock split decisions within the context of both insider ownership and information asymmetry.     

Energy Prices and Carbon Taxes under Uncertainty about Global Warming

This paper extends the strategic interactions between producers of fossil fuels concerned about their profits and a taxing government concerned about the consumers’ welfare for uncertainty: global warming follows an Itô -process. Stochasticity requires to differentiate between reversible and irreversible emissions in contrast to the deterministic version. The unconstrained (= reversible) case allows for a closed form solution but not the more realistic and constrained case. Nevertheless interesting analytical properties (e.g. about when to stop emissions, implicit conservation due to monopolistic supply) are derived and complemented by a numerical example.     

The Effects of Uncertainty on Market Prices: Evidence from Coaching Changes in the NBA

Abstract:  This study examines the effects of uncertainty on market prices. Specifically, we use the National Basketball Association betting market to examine whether uncertainty resulting from midseason coaching changes affects the ability of bettors to accurately set betting lines. We find that uncertainty amid midseason coaching changes results in less accurate pricing, as evidenced by higher volatility and greater overall inaccuracy in betting lines. We also find that uncertainty regarding the ability of the replacement coach and/or his strategies results in less accurate pricing, again evidenced by higher volatility and greater overall inaccuracy in betting lines.