Liquidity,default, taxes,and yields on municipal bonds

We examine the effects of liquidity, default and personal taxes on the relative yields of Treasuries and municipals using a generalized model with liquidity risk. The municipal yield model includes liquidity as a state factor. Using a unique transaction dataset, we estimate the liquidity risk of municipals and its effect on bond yields. Empirical evidence shows that municipal bond yields are strongly affected by all three factors. The effects of default and liquidity risk on municipal yields increase with maturity and credit risk. Liquidity premium accounts for about 9–13% of municipal yields for AAA bonds, 9–15% for AA/A bonds and 8–19% for BBB bonds. A substantial portion of the maturity spread between long- and short-maturity municipal bonds is attributed to the liquidity premium. Ignoring the liquidity risk effect thus results in a severe underestimation of municipal bond yields. Conditional on the effects of default and liquidity risk, we obtain implicit tax rates very close to the statutory tax rates of high-income individuals and institutional investors. Furthermore, these implicit income tax rates are quite stable across bonds of different maturities. Results show that including liquidity risk in the municipal bond pricing model helps explain the muni puzzle.     

Value Relevance of Environmental Provisions Pre‐ and Post‐IFRS

The purpose of this paper is to compare the value relevance of environmental provisions as recorded under Canadian/U.S. GAAP and IFRS accounting frameworks with consideration of the impact of voluntarily issuing stand‐alone sustainability reports. The value relevance of environmental provisions is tested using a modified Ohlson (1995) model. We exploit IFRS reconciliations as a quasi‐experimental setting to conduct this comparison. Results indicate that environmental provisions recorded under either framework only act as liabilities for oil and gas firms that release stand‐alone sustainability reports. For other firms in the oil and gas industry, and the mining industry, the liability nature of these provisions appears to be discounted by the market. Furthermore, for firms in the oil and gas industry that do not have stand‐alone CSR reports, provisions appear to be interpreted by the market as a costly signal about future growth. Instead of downwardly affecting market values, this information is associated with higher market values. In terms of the transition to IFRS, we find that, while the IFRS provisions are significantly higher than under former GAAP, they do not improve value relevance for investors. Accounting standard setters should consider examining the changes in the current standards from the original Canadian environmental provision reporting requirements under Capital Assets section 3060.39, as it was rightfully shown to be a relevant proxy for unbooked liabilities (Li and McConomy, 1999; Bewley, 2005) rather than earnings expectancy. The study builds upon prior research to examine the value of accounting standards that have gone through significant changes.     

Public Revenue‐Expenditure Nexus in South Africa: Are there Asymmetries?

This paper re‐examines the government revenue and expenditure relationship in South Africa using Enders and Siklos' Threshold adjustment and Granger causality tests. The paper allows for structural breaks in the unit root and cointegration tests. The results indicate the absence of any asymmetries in both the threshold autoregression and momentum threshold autoregression specifications of adjustments in the South African's budgeting process. The estimated symmetric error‐correction models provide support for the fiscal synchronization hypothesis of government revenues and expenditures for long‐run and short‐run dynamic equilibrium. These findings indicate that the South African fiscal authorities should try to maintain or even improve the control of their fiscal policy instruments to sustain the prudent budgetary process.     

基于WT588D语音提示系统设计

文事设计了基于WT588D语音芯片的语音提示系统,分析、设计了系统的软硬件,介绍了语音单片机WT588D的结构、功能以及工作模式,通过AT89S51单片机控制,实现语音播报。     

Options and efficiency in spaces of bounded claims

In a seminal contribution, Ross (1976) showed that a static finite state-space market can be completed by supplementing the primitive securities with ordinary call and put options. Galvani (2009) extends this result to norm separable _Lp$L_p$-spaces, with 1≤p<∞$1\le p<\infty$. This study concludes that options maintain the same spanning power in the space of bounded payoffs topologized by the duality with the space of the state price densities. In particular, under mild assumptions on the probability space, options written on a claim that is a.s. equal to an injective function complete the market.     

基于LINGO的快递企业物流节点布局规划方法

研究快递企业物流节点布局问题,首先分析快递业务流程,然后在此基础上建立了混合非线性0-1规划模型,即在确定的业务网点备选地点中选出恰当的网点,使系统总费用最低。最后,结合武汉某快递公司实例,使用Lingo软件具体分析了建模、求解过程,结果显示其是一种有效的求解物流节点布局最优化的方法,对快递企业物流节点布局规划过程有一定的帮助。     

一种基于时间轴小波变换的鲁棒性水印算法研究

针对视频水印常见的攻击和视频压缩攻击,文章提出了一种时间轴小波域的视频水印算法。该算法选取每个场景中连续的8帧视频嵌入水印,让8帧视频图像进行3重时间轴小波变换得到一个低频帧,通过自适应的方式将水印嵌入低频帧的DCT中低频系数中,从而有效地保证了水印的抗攻击性。实验结果表明,该视频水印系统在不可见的同时具有很强的鲁棒性和安全性。     

Investor Attention and Earnings Management around the World

This study examines the determinants of earnings management in an international setting using the limited investor attention model of Hirshleifer and Teoh ( 2003 ). The model predicts that investor attention reduces earnings management. I use analyst following, institutional ownership, and Big N auditor choice to proxy for investor attention. I have four key findings. First, I document that financial analysts curb earnings management in U.S. firms but not in non‐U.S. firms. Second, I document that institutional block‐holdings curb earnings management across the world. Third, Big N auditors reduce earnings management in U.S. firms but not in non‐U.S. firms. Fourth, I document that corporate governance mechanisms reduce earnings management in U.S. firms but not in non‐U.S. firms.     

Fuzzy logic,trading uncertainty and technical trading

From the market microstructure perspective, technical analysis can be profitable when informed traders make systematic mistakes or when uninformed traders have predictable impacts on price. However, chartists face a considerable degree of trading uncertainty because technical indicators such as moving averages are essentially imperfect filters with a nonzero phase shift. Consequently, technical trading may result in erroneous trading recommendations and substantial losses. This paper presents an uncertainty reduction approach based on fuzzy logic that addresses two problems related to the uncertainty embedded in technical trading strategies: market timing and order size. The results of our high-frequency exercises show that ‘fuzzy technical indicators’ dominate standard moving average technical indicators and filter rules for the Euro-US dollar (EUR-USD) exchange rates, especially on high-volatility days.     

A. Palmström

Abstract

1. Mr R. Frisch has recently ¹ Ragnar Frisch: Sur les semi-invariants et moments employés dans l'étude des distributions statistiques, Oslo, 1926 (Det Norske VidenskabsAkademis Skrifter, II N:o 3), p. 26. established the interesting identity