Assessing time-varying stock market integration in Economic and Monetary Union for normal and crisis periods

In this paper, we examine the stock market integration process amongst 17 Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) countries from January 2002 to June 2013 over a normal period as well as for the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and Eurozone Debt Crisis (EDC) periods. We classify the economies in three groups (A, B and C) based on their GDP to examine whether the economic size influences financial integration. Seven indicators are used for the purpose, namely, beta convergence, sigma convergence, variance ratio, asymmetric DCC, dynamic cointegration, market synchronisation measure and common components approach. The results suggest that large-sized EMU economies (termed as Group A) exhibit strong stock market integration. Moderate integration is observed for middle-sized EMU economies with old membership (termed as Group B). Small-sized economies (termed as Group C) economies seemed to be least integrated within the EMU stock market system. The findings further suggest presence of contagion effects as one moves from normal to crisis periods, which are specifically stronger for more integrated economies of Group A. We recommend institutional, regulatory and other policy reforms for Group B and especially Group C to achieve higher level of integration.     

太行山区耕地整理适宜性评价及障碍因子诊断——以河北省涞源县为例

[目的]耕地整理适宜性评价是土地整治规划的基础,可以为划定耕地整理重点区域、确定耕地整理项目和整理时序提供依据。[方法]文章以位于太行山区的涞源县为研究区域,以现状耕地图斑为评价单元,经独立性分析后选取地形坡度、表层土壤质地、灌溉保证率、耕地系数、与道路距离、与城镇中心距离、地质灾害易发性7个评价指标,运用贝叶斯概率模型计算各指标权重及未整理耕地的整理后验概率,并得到研究区未整理耕地的适宜性空间分布。同时根据改进的障碍因子诊断模型,分析了各适宜整理区的障碍因子并提出相应的整理措施。[结果](1)在影响涞源县耕地整理的各因素中,影响程度从小到大依次是表层土壤质地、与城镇中心距离、耕地系数、地形坡度、与道路距离、地质灾害易发性和灌溉保证率;(2)在涞源县未整理耕地中,高适宜整理区与较适宜整理区占未整理耕地的20.79%,可作为涞源县下一步耕地整理的选择;(3)制约涞源县全域耕地质量的障碍因子是灌溉保证率,整理过程中应根据实际情况科学寻找灌溉水源、结合地形条件采用蓄、引、提相结合的方式合理布设农田水利设施,提高水资源利用率。[结论]该文可为太行山区更科学合理地开展耕地整理项目提供依据。     

Information Contents in Japanese OTC Drug Advertising from Elaboration Likelihood Model Perspective: Content Analysis of TV Commercials and OTC Drug Websites

Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the current study investigates information types that are cross-promoted in Japanese pharmaceutical advertising. The results from a quantitative content analysis of OTC drug brands' TV commercials broadcasted in Japan between 2014 and 2015 and their corresponding product websites (n = 150) show that Japanese OTC drug promotions feature more informational cues in the latter; cues such as price, safety, quality, components, and guarantees/warranties are particularly prominent. Furthermore, product websites tend to focus more on rational appeals, whereas TV commercials emphasize emotional appeals. No difference is found between these media types regarding celebrity and noncelebrity endorser usage.     

Assessment of land use compatibility and noise pollution at Imam Khomeini International Airport

This study aimed to investigate land use planning around airports, by employing Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), in conjunction with an optimization algorithm using an Integrated Noise Model (INM) software, to establish the potential effects of aircraft noise at Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) in Tehran. We also checked for land use compatibility with the noise levels around IKIA and the residents' reaction to the noise. The research was carried out in three stages: a) the establishment of Strategic Noise Map (SNM) scenarios of the airport operation in the years 2011, 2020 and 2030 using the INM software; b) the assessment of the results with emphasis on the study area land uses and application of RS and GIS and the exposure of residents at different levels of environmental noise; and c) the assessment of the intensity of aircraft noise annoyance at various times of day and night. The results indicated that developing IKIA together with the residential development will increase airport noise. Hence proper management and control of noise at IKIA is essential.     

Decision-making in incomplete markets with ambiguity—a case study of a gas field acquisition

We apply utility indifference pricing to solve a contingent claim problem, valuing a connected pair of gas fields where the underlying process is not standard Geometric Brownian Motion and the assumption of complete markets is not fulfilled. First, empirical data are often characterized by time-varying volatility and fat tails; therefore, we use Gaussian generalized autoregressive score (GAS) and GARCH models, extending them to Student’s t-GARCH and t-GAS. Second, an important risk (reservoir size) is not hedgeable. As a result, markets are incomplete which makes preference free pricing impossible and thus standard option pricing methodology inapplicable. Therefore, we parametrize the investor’s risk preference and use utility indifference pricing techniques. We use Least Squares Monte Carlo simulations as a dimension reduction technique in solving the resulting stochastic dynamic programming problems. Moreover, an investor often only has an approximate idea of the true probabilistic model underlying variables, making model ambiguity a relevant problem. We show empirically how model ambiguity affects project values, and importantly, how option values change as model ambiguity gets resolved in later phases of the projects. We show that traditional valuation approaches will consistently underestimate the value of project flexibility and in general lead to overly conservative investment decisions in the presence of time-dependent stochastic structures.     

城镇就业市场上劳动力工资扭曲程度测度

本文利用CHIPS2007数据库，基于随机前沿模型对我国城镇就业市场上劳动力的工资扭曲程度进行测度。研究结果表明：（1）在城镇就业市场上，由于工资扭曲现象的存在，劳动力实际获得的工资要比他们的边际生产率低45％～60％；（2）已婚、子女个数较少、本地、拥有失业保险、男性、大中型企业的劳动力工资扭曲程度要低于未婚、子女个数较多、外来、没有失业保险、女性、小型企业的劳动力；（3）中低工资水平的劳动力工资扭曲程度要比高工资水平的劳动力严重，且中低工资水平劳动力工资扭曲程度的方差更大。由此，本文提出推进就业市场的市场化改革，完善就业市场信息网络，从而减轻劳动力工资扭曲程度。     

Value at risk forecasting for volatility index

Forecasts of values at risk (VaRs) are made for volatility indices such as the VIX for the US S&P 500 index, the VKOSPI for the KOSPI (Korea Stock Price Index) and the OVX (oil volatility index) for crude oil funds, which is the first in the literature. In the forecasts, dominant features of the volatility indices are addressed: long memory, conditional heteroscedasticity, asymmetry and fat-tails. An out-of-sample comparison of the VaR forecasts is made in terms of violation probabilities, showing better performance of the proposed method than several competing methods which consider the features differently from ours. The proposed method is composed of heterogeneous autoregressive model for the mean, GARCH model for the volatility and skew-t distribution for the error.     

我国最低工资政策的就业效应——基于北京市和重庆市建筑业的分析

VAR模型对最低工资就业效应的分析结果显示:北京市的最低工资标准与建筑业就业只是在数理统计上存在关系,并没有实际的经济意义;最低工资对重庆市建筑业的微弱负影响可以忽略不计。最低工资的就业效应并不明显,可以紧密联系行业平均工资来调整最低工资标准,以保障劳动者的基本生活。     

深圳国际低碳城“营城模式”的启示

深圳国际低碳城应对发展面临的创新、资金筹集和合作创新等需求,构建了一体化营城的模式,通过完善低碳城管理体制,探索构建多方合作及利益共享机制;通过发挥综合运营平台优势,提供全方位、全过程的专业服务;通过推进资源、资产、资本综合管理,创新多元化的筹资机制,在低碳城建设运营中取得了良好成效,并在创新新型园区建设运营、正确处理政府和企业在发展新兴产业中的关系方面,提供了有益的借鉴。     

基于DEA模型的安徽省区域创新效率研究

以安徽省16个地级市的数据为依据,对不同城市的创新效率进行了实证研究。首先测度了2012年安徽省16个地级市区域创新的综合效率、技术效率和规模效率,并把安徽省分为皖北、皖中和皖南3个区域进行创新效率对比研究,最后根据DEA模型的优化目标值来探讨提高各地级市的区域创新效率的途径。