How to measure mutual fund performance: economic versus statistical relevance

In the present paper a comprehensive assessment of existing mutual fund performance models is presented. Using a survivor‐bias free database of all US mutual funds, we explore the added value of introducing extra variables such as size, book‐to‐market, momentum and a bond index. In addition to that we evaluate the use of introducing time‐variation in betas and alpha. The search for the most suitable model to measure mutual fund performance will be addressed along two lines. First, we are interested in the statistical significance of adding more factors to the single factor model. Second, we focus on the economic importance of more elaborate model specifications. The added value of the present study lies both in the step‐wise process of identifying relevant factors, and the use of a rich US mutual fund database that was recently released by the Center for Research in Security Prices.     

The cost of collusion：economic thinking on the uniform accommodation price of the hotel industry in Kunming,Yunnan

This paper studies the case of the collusive price of the hotel industry in Kunming by economically analyzingthe unsustainability of the collusive price and instability of collusive organizations, doubts about the collusive behavior,and thinks that the collusive price is not helpful to the development of tourism industry, the pillar industry in YunnanProvince.     

Tari–tax reforms and market access

Reducing taris and increasing consumption taxes is a standard IMF advice to countries that want to open up their economy without hurting government finances. Indeed, theoretical analysis of such a tari–tax reform shows an unambiguous increase in welfare and government revenues. The present paper examines whether the country that implements such a reform ends up opening up its markets to international trade, i.e. whether its market access improves. It is shown that this is not necessarily so. We also show that, comparing to the reform of only taris, the tari–tax reform is a less efficient proposal to follow both as far as it concerns market access and welfare.     

“一保一控”政策背景下的房地产业发展研究

在未来一段时期,我国经济要实现“一保一控”的宏观调控目标,扩大内需是关键。国际经验表明,每一次的房价大幅度下降,都可能伴随着消费的停滞和经济的衰退。政府的宏观调控,既要有利于避免房价大幅上涨带来泡沫,也要防止房地产市场的过度波动对宏观经济稳定的冲击。因此,防止我国房地产业出现“大落”,应包含在“一保一控”宏调政策的内容之中。     

论我国农村金融监管制度的改革与完善

对我国农村金融监管制度的完善应紧密结合我国农村金融自身所具有的鲜明特性。金融监管应追求安全与效率的和谐统一。金融监管的方式应从单纯的合规性监管、统一监管更新为以风险性监管和分类监管、差别监管为主。在健全农村金融监管法规的基础上应有针对性地对民间金融合法化。多元化的监管体系和足够的监管资源、均衡投入的监管力量也是成熟的农村金融监管制度必不可少的。     

US elections and monthly stock market returns

Using monthly market returns over a period of 104 years, we investigate possible relationships between stock market performance and various occurrences in American elections. Unlike most prior studies, we find little relationship between the two. In the relatively few cases where we do find statistically significant relationships, the degree of explanatory power is quite small. Specifically, market returns do not appear to vary based on partisan control of the government, a result that is robust to the inclusion or exclusion of macroeconomic control variables. Further, the often-discussed “second-half” effect, which predicts higher returns during the second half of a given presidential term, turns out to be both weaker and less straightforward than is commonly believed. Overall, neither election results nor the election cycle appears to offer much help in predicting stock market returns.      

The Exploitation of Sports Market Forces： Case Study of American Professional Franchises

Three market forces play into the hands of American professional sports franchises, which are leagues, cities and monopoly power. In consideration of the American professional franchises, this paper studies how teams exploit the three market forces and achieve the optimal revenue.     

The desired level of market orientation and business unit performance

Existing studies of market orientation have hypothesized that the strength of the market orientation/performance relationship depends on environmental variables such as market turbulence, technological turbulence, and competitive intensity. To date most empirical studies have failed to confirm these hypotheses; however, these studies (1) assumed that performance is a linear function of the achieved level of market orientation and (2) tested whether environmental uncertainty moderates this relationship. A complementary explanation for the impact of environmental variables on a firm’s market orientation arises from studies of organizational behavior that link the need for coordination and control to environmental uncertainty and organizational strategy. Building on this perspective, the authors argue that (1) environmental uncertainty influences the desired level of market orientation and (2) the gap between the desired and achieved levels of market orientation influence business unit performance. The authors test these hypotheses with data collected from multiple respondents in 308 US firms. The data analysis confirms that the desired level of market orientation is a function of market turbulence, competitive intensity, technological turbulence, and innovation strategy. In addition, the desired level of market orientation positively influences the achieved level. Finally, when the achieved level of market orientation is less than the desired level, business unit performance is a negative function of the gap between the desired and achieved levels of market orientation.

论中国政府干预股票市场的法律体系构建

当下,我国政府在干预股票市场的过程中起到积极作用的同时,其不可避免的缺陷也凸现出来,如何在法律的框架下规制政府行为,克服其缺陷将对我国股票市场平稳健康的发展起到举足轻重的作用.本文通过在宏观层面对政府权力干预股票市场的宏现法律体系的设计,在微观层面完善信息披露制度和操作层面制度实施保障机制的构建,以避免中国政府干预股票市场的缺陷,以保障股票市场高效、安全、健康和稳定地发展.     

Geodemographic and socioeconomic characterization of the retail attraction of leading hypermarket chains in Spain

This paper aims at examining the impact on demand of the competitive positioning strategies developed by the leading hypermarket chains in Spain. Specifically, the purpose is to carry out a geodemographic and socieconomic characterization of the potential consumers of each chain. As retail attraction has traditionally been divided into three components, distance, mass and image, a gravitational model is proposed which distinguishes them and facilitates the evaluation of existing differences across any a priori segmentation base. The empirical test identifies significant geodemographic differences in the retail attraction of hypermarket chains. Chains seem to target the whole market by developing an image balanced against the advantages and disadvantages derived from the spatial coverage strategy. Social class is not as good an indicator of hypermarket choice as expected, although some interesting patterns have been detected.