The role of socially rich photos in generating favorable donation behavior on charity websites

While online retail sites succeed in reinforcing perceptions of human warmth on their websites thanks to more and more interactive technologies, the charitable sector cannot, for lack of human, technical and financial resources, make use of such technologies. This research paper demonstrates the potential of a simple tool: the socially rich photo. Although the literature has extensively documented how photos impact visitor behavior in online environments, research in the context of donations through charity websites is rare and has provided contradictory results. By focusing more closely on the role of the individual represented in such photos (the recipient of a donation versus the donor), our studies, conducted in France, offer additional insights on the subject as well as managerial advice for organizations.     

经济开放与货币需求:国际金融风险及持币成本的测度

在中国开放经济体制下的基准货币需求模型中,本文将源于国际金融市场的持币成本设为遗漏潜变量,并构建特定的国际金融综合指数(CIFI)作为该潜变量的测度。借鉴机器学习与测度理论,本文利用对数误差修正模型提出了分步降维的CIFI构造算法,构造了长期CIFI和短期CIFI。结果表明,CIFI构造中的无监督降维步骤有助于减少高维金融数据中的冗余信息。实证分析发现,国际机会成本对中国货币需求具有规律性的前导影响,而在2007至2008年国际金融危机期间,央行的应急措施对长期CIFI所代表的非均衡冲击起到明显的阻截效果,对短期CIFI的影响基本是持续不变的。通过综合指数构造与宏观货币需求模型的算法连接,可以利用CIFI的构成结构从前导时间与影响强度两方面追踪冲击货币需求的国际金融风险的具体来源,这为宏观决策者监测国际金融市场提供了颇有规律的信息。在方法论上,本研究为如何利用模型监测国际金融市场影响宏观经济开辟了一条新路。     

Cryptocurrencies and Cagan’s model of hyperinflation

The drivers of the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum are studied within a framework based on Cagan’s model of hyperinflation. In the model, the prices of the cryptocurrencies are driven by stochastic adoption and velocity shocks as well as endogenous expectations of future prices. The model is estimated with data for prices, transaction volumes, and money supplies. A majority of price fluctuations in both currencies can be attributed to shocks in adoption, velocity shocks are much less important. The money demand sensitivity to expected price changes is estimated to be larger for Bitcoin than for Ethereum, and both have higher sensitivity than fiat currencies during episodes of hyperinflation.     

On credit and output: Is the supply of credit relevant?

The consensus that changes in the supply of credit were irrelevant to making monetary policy decisions existed among macroeconomists during the second half of the twentieth century. Transmission of shocks to the real economy through changes in the supply of credit, however, played an important role in the recent U.S. financial crisis. This paper explores the extent to which policymakers should consider changes in the supply of credit when making forecasts and monetary policy decisions. More specifically, it considers whether a measure of real credit balances offers consistent and stable information, beyond that of a real interest rate and real money balances, about future output gaps during the U.S. post-war era. Results yield evidence that changes in real credit balances are the only variable, among those considered, to provide consistent and stable information about future output gaps over the entire sample period. Each information variable, however, provides relatively little value added for forecasting future output gaps, beyond a simple autoregressive model. To improve upon forecasts and monetary policy decisions, policymakers therefore should consider a broader range of information variables and occasionally reassess the relative weightings assigned to each.     

Asymmetric effects of exchange rate changes on the demand for money in Africa

In order to account for currency substitution, the exchange rate is included in the demand for money. More recent studies have demonstrated that exchange rate changes could have asymmetric effects on the demand for money or domestic currency. In this paper, we consider the experiences of 18 African countries and show that in most countries, indeed exchange rate changes have short-run asymmetric effects on the demand for money. However, short-run effects translate to long-run asymmetric effects only in a limited number of African countries.     

Style chasing by hedge fund investors

This paper examines whether investors chase hedge fund investment styles. We find that better-performing and more popular styles are rewarded with higher inflows in subsequent periods. This indicates that investors compare hedge fund styles in terms of recent performance and popularity, and they subsequently reallocate funds from less successful to more successful styles. Furthermore, we find evidence of competition between individual hedge funds of the same style. Funds outperforming the other funds in their styles and funds whose inflows exceed the average flows in their styles experience higher inflows in subsequent periods. One of the reasons for competition among same-style funds is investors’ search for the best managers. The high minimum investment required to invest in a hedge fund limits investors’ diversification opportunities and makes this search particularly important. Finally, we show that hedge fund investors’ implementation of style chasing in combination with intra-style fund selection represents a smart strategy.     

The “Euro Illusion”: Illusion or Fact?

The changeover to the euro elicited an upsurge of research on the effects of the new currency on consumers’ conversion strategies, price estimates, price evaluations, choices, and purchases. This research includes longitudinal surveys, interviews, and controlled experiments, both natural and in the laboratory. The present article starts with an overview of this research after which it more specifically focuses on research showing an influence of the nominal value, as expressed in different currencies, on price evaluations and consumer choice. For most countries, the transition to the euro led to a lower nominal value currency. A bias known as the “euro illusion” has been documented such that the subjective value of money is influenced in the direction of the nominal value (i.e., in most countries prices and salaries seem smaller when expressed in euros than in the old domestic currency). Although the term was coined in connection with the euro changeover, the nominal representation of a currency has been shown to influence the subjective value of money in unfamiliar currencies other than the euro. Thus, tourists travelling abroad may frequently be subject to such an illusion. Different mechanisms have been proposed to account for the euro illusion. One is the numerosity heuristic and another the anchoring-and-adjustment heuristic in conjunction with biased conversion strategies. The size of the euro illusion is influenced by trade-offs between accuracy and effort. Consistent with this hypothesis, task importance, time constraints, familiarity with the conversion strategy, complexity of the conversion strategy, mood, and attitude towards the country or the currency all influence the size of the euro illusion.     

通胀预期与货币需求:实际调整与名义调整机制检验

货币存量调整机制一般可分为两类设定方式:实际调整过程和名义调整过程.在实际调整机制下,预期通胀对货币需求没有独立的影响,而在名义调整机制下,通胀预期自然成为货币需求的一个解释变量.通胀预期在货币需求函数中显著可能并不意味着通胀预期直接影响了货币需求,而是表明了部分调整机制的误设.本文根据预期通胀率在货币需求函数中的显著性,比较了货币持有量名义调整和实际调整机制假说对我国的解释能力,认为名义机制比实际机制更好地描述了中国的经验.我们在一个状态空间中联合估计预期通胀以及货币需求方程,避免了传统"两步法"的不足.     

BQ分解在核心通货膨胀中的应用研究

文章对Blanchard and Quah趋势分解（BQ分解）在核心通货膨胀中的应用进行了深入的研究,并针对其在应用中所存在的问题提出相应的解决方案。 BQ分解是根据菲利普斯曲线理论发展而来的,主要用于对多维变量的趋势分解。研究表明,两维var模型的BQ分解通常是充分可解的。但是多维BQ分解由于自身的结构性原因,并不能保证一定可解出有意义的实数解。文章也证明了文献中所提出为了解决该问题的Cholesky分解,其与BQ分解相互矛盾而不可采用,所以文章推荐采用校准的方法。实证表明,由校准BQ分解所得到的核心通货膨胀完全满足理论和实践对它的要求,能够预测CPI指数的发展趋势,所以作为解决多维BQ分解无法正常求解时的备选方法,校准是一种便捷而有效的方法。     

Granger因果关系检验应用中的若干问题

分析了实践中应用Granger因果关系检验存在的一些问题,如信息遗漏,变量变换改变因果关系的性质、变量单整性对检验程序的影响以及检验模型的选择等,并提出在线性投影上有初步证据的因果概念。进而,应用单整变量之间Granger因果关系的一般检验程序对1978~2013年我国货币供给量与价格水平、产出之间的Granger因果性重新进行检验。