Evaluation on the Effects of Differential Housing Finance Policy： An Empirical Research in Guangxi

差别化住房信贷政策是我国房地产金融调控的新举措之一,国内运用实证分析差别化住房信贷政策实施效果的研究并不多见。本文在已有研究的基础上,深入研究差别化住房信贷政策的相关理论及演进过程,并以广西为实证研究的样本,以抽样调查数据检验政策落实情况,重点考察政策在房地产市场的区域实施效应,分析影响政策实施效果的主要因素,有针对性地提出政策建议。     

What Are the Research Standards for Full Professor of Finance?

Based on a sample of 126 recently promoted faculty, different standards for full professor are observed between top 20 finance departments and lower ranked departments. Full professors affiliated with a top 20 department place an average of 1 out of 3 articles in either Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies , or Journal of Financial Economics compared to 1 out of 6 articles for professors at lower-ranked schools. Total citations and cites per year are also significantly different between top- and lower-ranked departments, but total articles and articles per year are not significantly different between these two groupings.     

Poxvirus‐vectored Vaccines Call for Application of the Precautionary Principle

Genetically engineered viruses (GEVs) used as live vaccines are, and will increasingly become, important for prevention of disease in human as well as animal populations. Poxviruses have a number of attractive theoretical and practical advantages as gene expressing vaccine vectors: their large genomes render construction of multivalent vaccines feasible, the vaccines are easy to produce, the virus particles are very thermostable, and inoculation is followed by long‐lasting, protective immune responses. On the other hand, administration and environmental release of GEVs may represent potential unintended harms to human, animal and ecosystem health. We will argue that a strict application of risk‐cost/benefit analyses do not cope appropriately with the current lack of scientific understanding and the complexity of ecosystems that will become GEV recipients, and fail to take into account the deeper ethical groundings that shape the scientific and public opinions. To avoid serious, unintended ecological effects of GEVs, it may be necessary to elaborate the ethical basis for protecting health and the environment. The Precautionary Principle (PP) may provide a basis for adequate consideration of ecological and ethical issues of vital importance to protection of health and environment from unforeseen adverse effects of poxvirus‐vectored vaccines. To operationalise the PP, we suggest that there is a need to identify and systematise lack of scientific understanding, and to acknowledge uncertainty by initiating research with a broad focus involving interdisciplinary research. In this paper we present three main issues related to the employment of the PP: i) identification of scientific uncertainty and its ethical significance in risk assessment and risk management processes, ii) the need for broad risk assessment as a response to scientific uncertainty, and iii) the need for transparency and public involvement to enhance the debate about normative standards concerning acceptability of benefits, risks and uncertainty with regard to GEV use and release.     

Job Market Signaling: What Drives the Productivity of Finance Ph.D.s?

We study the research productivity of new finance Ph.D.s as measured by the number of quality publications. A commonly accepted notion is that the highest ranked schools produce the candidates with the greatest potential for high‐quality publications. Our results, however, find publications or revisions in top‐tier journals during the doctoral program are a stronger measure of potential research productivity than the school attended. Our findings demonstrate how candidates outside of the top schools can signal their future research productivity. Even though we examine the specialized labor market, our results have broader implications for markets outside academics.     

“Analysis of Incremental Returns of Canadian Mutual Funds”, J. F. Carrière; C. F. Hill,April 2001

Abstract

The determination and allocation of economic capital is important for pricing, risk management, and related insurer financial decision making. This paper considers the allocation of economic capital to lines of business in insurance. We show how to derive closed-form results for the complete markets, arbitrage-free allocation of the insurer default option value, or insolvency exchange option, to lines of business for an insurer balance sheet. We assume that individual lines of business and the surplus ratio are joint log-normal although the method we adopt allows other assumptions. The allocation of the default option value is required for fair pricing in the multiline insurer. We discuss and illustrate other methods of capital allocation, including Myers-Read, and give numerical examples for the capital allocation of the default option value based on explicit payoffs by line.     

The Modigliani and Miller Propositions: The History of a Failed Foundation for Corporate Finance?

The Modigliani and Miller (MM) propositions provide a foundation for corporate finance theory. Nevertheless, this paper argues that their adoption has led to a disengagement of such theory from the humanity of business, as well as, more broadly, from concepts of corporate strategic management. As a result, the context within which textbooks allow corporate investment and financial decisions to take place is severely distorted from reality. The paper argues that we require the context of behavioural and strategic corporate management if we are to accommodate the reality of business, the behaviour of formalised groups, and an ethical dimension to business.