Do global financial crises validate assertions of fractal market hypothesis?

The frequent occurrence of crises in recent decades has triggered a debate between the proponents of Efficient market hypothesis and Fractal market hypothesis. While, the proponents of Efficient market hypothesis view crises as non-existent and highly improbable, the advocates of Fractal market hypothesis view crises as the dominance of certain investment horizons. We test whether the assertion of Fractal Market hypothesis regarding the dominance of certain frequencies during financial crises hold for the global stock markets. Following Kristoufek (Sci Rep 3:2857, 2013) the wavelet power spectra based on continuous wavelet framework are used to test the said hypothesis. It is shown that stock markets around the globe indicate the dominance of higher frequencies during the crises periods, hence, validate the assertions of Fractal market hypothesis. The results drawn are robust to the use of different countries as well as different crises.     

Composing Urban Orders from Rubbish Electronics: Cityness and the Site Multiple

What do cities look like when rubbish electronics are the vehicle with which they are explored? This article is an experiment designed to offer a response to that question, and in doing so to productively intervene in the conversation about ‘cityness', ‘metrocentricity' and ‘subaltern urbanism'. We intervene by following flows of rubbish electronics and the action that enacts them as waste and value, drawing on fieldwork in Dhaka, Singapore, Accra and Canada's Greater Golden Horseshoe. Our intervention is an experiment in writing an urban geography of rubbish electronics as a site multiple. We show how following the circulation of rubbish electronics offers a manyfolded synopsis of cities: urban enclaves of high finance and the information economy are also industrial waste producers. Peri‐urban industrial zones are also managers of brands, legal liability and corporate public relations. Cities off the map are also urban innovation systems, while waste is rekindled as value and accumulated as poison. Thereby we suggest how a sensitivity to the site multiple may be a helpful way of grappling with shifting ontology and the performativity of our research practices in urban studies.     

The predictive power of yield spread: evidence from wavelet analysis

This paper examines whether the spread between long- and short-terminterest rates contains information about future economic activity in India. Using the yields on securities with maturities ranging from three months to ten years, we construct five different yield spreads at shorter end, longer end, and policy relevant area of the yield curve. We study the predictive power of each of these spreads for output growth within aggregate and time scale framework using wavelet methodology. We find that predictive power holds only at lower frequencies for the spreads which are constructed at shorter end and policy relevant areas of yield curve. However, spreads which are constructed at the longer end of the yield curve do not seem to have predictive information for output growth.     

Is gold a weak or strong hedge and safe haven against stocks? Robust evidences from three major gold-consuming countries

In this article, we test nexus between gold and stocks for the three major gold consumers by using the range of methodologies. First, we assess if there is any time-varying correlation between the two assets. We fail to find any significant time-varying correlation between gold and stock returns in India and the United States. Second, we attempted to investigate the safe-haven property of gold by analysing the decile-wise conditional correlation between stock returns and gold returns at different deciles of stock returns. Third, in order to test the robustness of the results drawn from the decile-wise correlation, we employ wavelet coherence in continuous wavelet framework to test the time and frequency varying nexus between the pair of assets. The range of methodologies employed seems to indicate the weak hedge and safe haven-property of gold for stocks.