Home-field advantage or a matter of ambiguity aversion? Local bias among German individual investors

This paper investigates whether familiarity induced by ambiguity aversion can help explaining the local bias phenomenon among individual investors. Using geographic closeness as a proxy for investor familiarity, we find that investors pull out of (unfamiliar) remote stocks and pour into (familiar) local stocks during times of increased market uncertainty. Moreover, the magnitude of this ‘flight to familiarity’ increases in the spread of an investor's ambiguity (about expected returns) between local and remote stocks. Our results prove robust to a number of alternative explanations of local bias. Specifically, we rule out a ‘home-field advantage’, where investors are able to translate information advantages about nearby companies into excess returns on their local stockholdings. We conclude that individual investors’ local bias is induced by ambiguity aversion in the portfolio selection process rather than a trading strategy based on superior information about local companies.     

民营企业的经营抉择:专业化或多元化

民营企业是专业化发展还是多元化经营,一直困扰着民营企业家。文章认为,目前中国的民营企业正在分化为两大趋势:一部分企业坚守岗位,深化自己产业的深度、纵度、精细化;另一部分企业则开始朝着多元化趋势发展。应根据企业规模、企业在本产业的发展潜力等具体情况,决定发展模式。     

APPLYING A GENETIC ALGORITHM TO INTERNATIONAL DIVERSIFICATION OF EQUITY PORTFOLIOS: A SOUTH AFRICAN INVESTOR PERSPECTIVE

This paper uses the genetic algorithm (GA) approach to generate a portfolio optimisation scenario of a South African investor who seeks to maximise return from investing in S&P500, FTSE100, NASDAQ, DOWJONES, CAC40 and the DAX from January 1, 2005, to January 31, 2008, but facing exchange rate risk. The GA searches for the optimal solution in the entire set of financial constraints without looking for partial derivatives of the utility function. Whereas most financial problems require a non‐linear and time‐varying model, the GA, with its survival principle of offspring chromosomes, is better suited to this type of problem than local optimisation methods. The performance of the GA is compared with two non‐linear models, namely the quadratic mean‐variance (QMV), which maximises the portfolio mean‐variance, and the quadratic variance minimisation (QVM), which minimises the portfolio variance. The results show that neither the QMV nor the QVM takes into account the domestic investors' risk attitude towards investing in foreign equities and therefore does not provide any international diversification benefits. In addition, the bootstrapping scenario of 10,000 simulations reveals that neither the QMV nor the QVM outperforms the GA in terms of Sharpe ratio and flexibility in dealing with investors' risk attitude towards investing in foreign equities denominated in foreign currencies.     

Does conglomeration really reduce credit risk?

I quantify the effects of conglomeration on credit risk by first computing theoretical default probabilities for conglomerates and their hypothetical stand‐alone counterparts and then mapping them into physical probabilities using a comprehensive database of corporate failures. Comparing the credit risk of conglomerates with that of hypothetical stand‐alone firms, I report significant reductions in the annual probability of default for small firms. My results support the proposition that managers can have a strong incentive to engage in conglomeration, even if it reduces shareholder value and show for which firms this is the case.     

论民生指数评估的必要性——兼论民生指数与幸福指数的差异

当前我国进入经济社会发展转型期,民生问题不仅影响公众的生存和生活质量,也关系社会的和谐稳定,保障和改善民生已成为党和政府以及社会各界普遍关注的重要议题。在衡量保障和改善民生方面,相对而言幸福指数存在内容过于宽泛,人为操纵因素,缺乏针对性等问题,民生指数则具有评估内容客观、更具有针对性、不易产生歧义、可操作性强和衡量标准明确等特点,积极开展民生指数评估十分必要。     

论孙中山民生思想的中国特色

孙中山先生解决民生问题的手段具有典型的中国特色,一是平均地权,一是节制资本,这是在其他任何国家都未曾有过的手段。孙中山先生认定只要实施这两个办法就可以解决中国的民生问题。在对孙中山先生民生思想的研究中,我们可以获知,这位辛亥革命的先驱者当年明确地认识到,历史的重心是社会问题,社会问题的重心是生存问题,生存问题就是民生问题,民生问题不是政治问题,而是经济问题,是社会的存在与发展必须给予解决的经济问题。     

多元化经营与经营绩效——基于中国纺织业上市公司的实证研究

本文采用2003～2005年相关数据的算术平均数，通过方差分析和相关分析相结合的方法，对我国纺织业上市公司多元化经营与其盈利能力、成长能力和绩效稳定性能力的关系进行了实证分析。理论分析和实证研究表明：适度的多元化经营对于我国纺织企业在现阶段是可行的，也是合理的。     

试论旅游企业集团的成长方向

在介绍了旅游企业集团的三种成长方向，即横向专业化（ＨｏｒｉｚｏｎｔａｌＳｐｅｃｉａｌｉｚａｔｉｏｎ）、纵向一体化（ＶｅｒｔｉｃａｌＩｎｔｅｇｒａｔｉｏｎ）和多角化（Ｄｉｖｅｒｓｉｆｉｃａｔｉｏｎ）后，结合旅游企业集团大量的成长实践，逐一对每一种成长方向的经济性与非经济性进行了剖析，以便为旅游企业集团成长方向的选择提供依据。     

实用型本科口译人才培养的对策研究

我国口译教学中存在课时少、练习量不足、课程开设与教学内容不合理等问题。为满足社会对多层次口译人才的需要,必须改革现有英语专业课程设置模式,使口译人才培养向多元化方向发展。