The monetary appreciation of paintings: from realism to Magritte

This study investigates how investments in paintings comparewith those in stocks in terms of risk–return trade-offusing Sharpe and Treynor ratios and Markowitz efficient frontiers.A large database was analysed consisting of more than 10,500auction prices of Belgian paintings over the period 1970–97.These paintings are the auctioned oeuvre of 71 internationallyrecognised painters representing the main artistic schools (fromsocial realism to surrealism) over the period 1850–1950.Hedonic art returns are corrected for auction location and auctionhouse, artistic school, painters' reputation, medium, signatureand painting size. Surrealism and luminism have been the mostpopular currents of art (in monetary terms), while expressionismand symbolism have gained (financial) esteem. This study concludesthat art investments underperform equity market investmentsowing to the high risk of investing in art and its high transactioncosts, resale rights and insurance premia. In addition, theMarkowitz efficient frontier shows limited diversification potentialfor art.     

艺术品的金融属性：投资收益与资产配置*

本文基于2000—2014年中国艺术品拍卖市场近现代国画的微观数据,在资产配置中引入市场交易机制中的佣金变量,加入艺术品市场规模约束,采用重复交易法实证计量嵌入艺术品市场的投资收益特征并量化其资产配置效应,以测度其市场功能。优质的艺术精品具备金融资产风险和收益的基本特征,本文对艺术品资产与资本资产定价模型的适应性进行讨论。研究表明：在样本期内,剔除通胀和佣金成本因素后收益率更加贴近现实,中国艺术品投资的实际收益率水平为1308%,表现出高于欧美市场的投资溢价;艺术品投资与传统的股票、债券等金融资产之间表现出相对独立性,并能有效改善投资者资产组合的风险边界,可以成为资产配置优化和多样化的重要选择。中国艺术品市场的长期稳健发展将为投资者提供更多的资产优化产品和工具。     

Cointegration and spatial price transmission among wheat and wheat-flour markets in Afghanistan

This article examines cointegration and spatial price transmission among Afghan wheat and flour markets as well as their linkages with those of supplier countries and global markets. Unit root tests, consistent momentum threshold autoregressive (M-TAR) models and vector error correction models (asymmetric and symmetric) are employed to achieve research objectives. The results suggest that provincial wheat and flour markets may have a long-run relationship with principal market of Kabul. Afghan wheat and flour markets may also be cointegrated with their respective global, Kazakh and Pakistani markets. While provincial wheat markets might adjust to divergence from their long-run equilibrium with Kabul wheat market, some of the provincial flour markets may not respond to deviation from their long-run equilibrium with Kabul flour market. The speed of adjustment towards the long-run Afghan–Pakistani and Afghan–Kazakh equilibrium may be faster for Afghan flour than wheat markets. The equilibrium adjustment coefficients are generally small and market imperfections may exist, however. A shock in Kabul wheat and flour markets may have long-lasting effect on the respective provincial markets whereas a shock in global wheat and Pakistani, and Kazakh wheat and flour markets might have transitory effect on the corresponding Afghan markets.     

Cointegration networks in stock markets

We use a novel approach based on a combination of network and cointegration analysis to examine linkages between stock markets across market cycles. Our results show that long-run linkages are likely to be global rather than regional and that market turbulence increases linkages. However, we find no widespread common stochastic trends between markets and neither are we able to draw a conclusion that major financial markets display influences network linkages.     

What can wavelets unveil about the vulnerabilities of monetary integration? A tale of Eurozone stock markets

The study has two main objectives: (i) to investigate whether there is pure contagion or fundamental-based contagion/interdependence among the Eurozone equity markets (Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Netherlands), attributable to the shocks stemming from nine major crises around the world (ii) to investigate the evolution of market integration, whether mainly short-run or long-run. Wavelet decompositions, in both its discrete and continuous forms, are employed to unveil the multi-horizon nature of co-movements, volatility and lead–lag relationships. This is to unveil the path of linkages and the behavior underlying the transmission mechanism of financial shocks across major Eurozone stock markets. Evidence also supports the presence of common shocks whereby equity markets in Eurozone are significantly affected by episodic crisis events globally. Prior to the recent subprime crisis, contagion effects have generated short-term shocks that may potentially involve, among other factors, excessive channels. In stark contrast, the most recent US subprime crisis and EMU sovereign debt crisis reveal the evidence of fundamental-based contagion. We also find the increasing short-run and long-run stock market integration, driven by several stages of the establishment of EMU. Policy implications for regulators and investors are discussed in the context of continued monetary integration.     

Art Auctions and Art Investment in the Golden Age of British Painting

We analyse the evolution of the price of paintings in London auctions with a unique data set of over 200,000 sales in the period 1780–1840. We build a price index for the representative painting through hedonic regressions controlling for the characteristics of auctions and paintings and for the artists’ fixed effects. The emergence of an efficient secondary art market was an important opportunity for portfolio diversification. Estimating a CAPM model for art investment suggests that British paintings could deliver a higher return compared to imported paintings and an attractive source of diversification relative to the contemporary stock market. This contributed to increase the demand for British art and, possibly, to promote the innovations of its Golden Age. While the representative painting of the British school was initially undervalued, new British painters reached foreign prices by the beginning of 1800s.     

Transmission of shocks across global real estate and equity markets: An examination of the 2007–2008 housing crisis

This study analyses the impact of the 2007–2008 U.S. financial crisis on the structure of interdependence among several major global real estate and equity markets. Moreover, it performs a step-by-step comparative analysis to evaluate similarities and differences in the convergence patterns of global real estate markets vis-à-vis global equity markets. Long-run results indicate that global real estate markets were less integrated than global equity markets prior to the crisis. Since the crisis, however, both global real estate and global equity markets have become highly integrated with the U.S. real estate and equity markets, respectively, and have fully converged. Short-run analyses indicate that during the pre-crisis period, global real estate markets were highly exogenous and independent. In contrast, global equity markets were comparatively more interdependent with one another and more endogenous. After the crisis, however, both global real estate and equity markets reacted strongly to shocks emanating from the U.S. markets, although the impact of the U.S. real estate market on the global real estate market is more pronounced than the effect of the U.S. equity market on the global equity markets. Finally, the study shows that U.S. real estate and equity markets are the channels of transmission or the sources of trends that drive global markets over the long-run and the short-run.     

Analysis of long-run benefits from international equity diversification between Taiwan and its major European trading partners: an empirical note

This paper employs four cointegration test approaches, PO, HI, JJ and KSS, to test for pairwise long-run equilibrium relationships between Taiwan's stock price index and each of the stock price indexes of four European markets – French, German, Dutch, and British stock markets. The results from these four tests are robust and clearly consistent in suggesting that the Taiwan stock market is not pairwise cointegrated with the four European stock markets. This provides strong evidence that there exist long-run benefits for Taiwan investors diversifying in the equity markets of Taiwan's major European trading partners, France, Germany, Holland, and the UK, over the sample period considered from 6 January 1998 to 30 May 2002. These findings could be valuable to Taiwan individual investors and financial institutions holding long-run investment portfolios in the equity markets of France, Germany, Holland, and the UK.     

A spatial–temporal analysis of East Asian equity market linkages

This paper examines East Asian equity market linkages in and out of the Asian and global financial crises using a novel econometric approach. The market dependence structure and shock transmission mechanism are explored spatially in the time domain, thus offering new insights into the dynamic regional market linkage patterns. Results show that East Asian equity markets are characterized by linkages through significant spatial effects, crises are conducive to increased cross-border linkages especially in the case of China, and Japan is a dominant driver of market linkages in the region.     

Financial integration and the ASEAN-5 equity markets

The existence of long-run relationships among the ASEAN-5 equity markets is empirically investigated. This study utilized weekly data spanning January 1988 to August 1999. The results of Granger noncausality test due to Toda and Yamamoto (Journal of Econometrics,66, 225–50, 1995) reveal that the Singapore equity market was not affected by other markets except by the Philippines in the long run. This result shows that there exist opportunities for beneficial international portfolio diversification within the context of the Asean-5 equity markets.     

Stock and credit market expansion and economic development in emerging markets: further evidence utilizing cointegration analysis

This paper empirically investigates the relationship between equity and credit market development and economic growth, in a sample of five very important ‘emerging’ markets. In particular, employing a multivariate time-series methodology to test for long-run trends and causality between variables that proxy for stock market development, credit market development and economic development. The results seem to suggest that equity markets have a role to play only in relatively liberalized economies, like Chile and Mexico. In financially repressed economies, like India, the equity market does not affect real sector growth. Furthermore, the banking crises in the 1980s and 1990s in Chile and Mexico resulted in a negative relation between economic growth and the credit market. In South Korea, equity and credit markets both affect economic growth, but not vice versa. In countries where the nature of the stock market has been speculative, like Taiwan, a negative relationship is detected between equity market development and economic development.     

COINTEGRATION OF STOCK MARKETS BETWEEN NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA AND THE G7 ECONOMIES: SEARCHING FOR CO-MOVEMENT UNDER STRUCTURAL CHANGE

This paper examines whether the New Zealand equity market is integrated with the equity markets of Australia and the G7 economies by applying both the Johansen (1988 ) and Gregory and Hansen (1996 ) approaches to cointegration. The Johansen (1988 ) test suggests that there is no long-run relationship between the New Zealand stock market and any of the other stock markets considered in the study. The Gregory and Hansen (1996 ) test finds that the New Zealand and United States stock market is cointegrated, but the New Zealand stock market is not cointegrated with the other stock markets in the study. This suggests that in order to avoid some of the risk through international portfolio diversification there is potential for investors to purchase shares in the New Zealand market and either the Australian market or most of the world's leading equity markets.     

How pervasive is the effect of culture on stock market linkages? Evidence across regions and economic cycles

We conduct a comprehensive study on the effect of culture on stock market linkages. With data on 25 national stock markets, a quantile regression model is used to estimate the determinants of market linkages using culture variable/s such as language, religion and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions while controlling for distance, economic and legal variables. Further, we test whether these effects hold across regions and if changes are detected during periods of market crisis. We also test if market liquidity, an indicator of market efficiency, diminishes the impact of culture on market linkages. The main conclusion is that culture preferences shape investor choices, which affects integration between stock markets. The equity markets with similar cultural traits tend to increase market linkages; however, we observe differences across regions. Furthermore, liquidity and economic uncertainty fail to have an impact on the significance of culture variable/s as determinants of market linkages.     

探析明清时期的闺阁绘画

作为一个女性绘画的潮流,明清闺阁绘画群体性特征在我国历史中绝无仅有,对于我们重新解读中国古代绘画史具有不可或缺的价值。文章从明清时期的闺阁画家入手,探析明清闺阁绘画产生的原因、风格和艺术特点,讨论这些女性绘画之于中国绘画史及女性艺术史的价值与局限性。     

Short-run and long-run dynamic linkages among international stock markets

This paper investigates the dynamic linkages among the U.S., Japan, U.K. and German stock market indices using daily data for the April 1, 1984 to May 31,91 period. In contrast to previous studies, a vector error correction model of cointegrated variables as developed by Johansen (1988, 1991) and Johansen and Juselius (1990) is employed to examine both short-run and long-run intermarket relationships among these four stock markets. Significant evidence is found in support of both short-run and long-run relationships among these four stock market indices. The U.S. stock market leads other stock markets in short-run in the pre and post October 1987 crash, but leads all other markets in the long-run in all periods examined. The presence of a one long-run cointegrating equilibrium relationship among the four stock market indices implies a limited role of international diversification for investors with long holding periods. However, because the US-Japan-Germany stock market indices, and Japan-UK-Germany indices are not cointegrated with each other, these indices may yield international portfolio diversification in the long-run. Finally, the conflicting results from multivariate cointegration tests found in this study can not be used to provide conclusive evidence on international stock market efficiency.     

Equity market information and credit risk signaling: A quantile cointegrating regression approach

Investigating linkages between credit and equity markets, we consider daily aggregate U.S. CDS spreads as well as well-chosen equity market and implied volatility indexes over ten years. We describe such robust (to spurious correlation) relationship with the quantile cointegrating regression approach. Such approach handles extreme quantiles/CDS values and their behavior with respect to the equity market's influence. Heteroskedastic patterns such as time-varying variance, but also autocorrelation, skewness and leptokurtosis are captured. Thus, the sensitivity of aggregate CDS spreads to equity market price and volatility channels is accurately measured across quantiles and spreads. Such quantile-dependent sensitivity exhibits asymmetric responses to equity market shocks. A sub-period analysis investigates potential regime shifts in estimated quantile cointegrating regressions. Quantile cointegrating coefficients vary over time and quantiles, and exhibit different magnitudes across sub-periods and spreads. Therefore, the relationship is unstable over time. We also propose a scenario analysis and risk signaling application for credit risk management prospects. Under specific risk levels, credit risky situations are described conditional on the equity market's information over time, and related expected aggregate CDS spreads are computed. Estimated conditional quantiles/CDS spreads act as credit alert triggers.     

An Application of Hedonic Regression to Evaluate Prices of Polish Paintings

As the global financial crisis hit the world-wide stock markets, investors looked for alternative investments to diversify their portfolios. One of the more attractive alternate investment opportunities has been investment in art. However, in order to consider artworks as investment assets, the performance of the artworks must be evaluated in order to compare it to other financial instruments. Therefore, hedonic art price indexes are constructed for different art markets. The art market in Poland is characterized by a limited scale since it has only been developing since 1989. The aim of our research is evaluation of the hedonic art price indexes for Polish paintings. Hedonic regression models are estimated using data from auctions of paintings that took place in Poland in the years 2007–2010.     

The OECD's new global model

This paper provides a summary of the OECD's new global macroeconometric model, including an overview of model structure and a selection of simulations illustrating its main properties. Compared with its predecessors, the new model is more compact and regionally aggregated, but gives more weight to the focus of policy interests in global trade and financial linkages. The country model structures typically combine short-term Keynesian-type dynamics with a consistent long-run neo-classical supply-side. While retaining a conventional treatment of international trade and payments linkages, the model has a greater degree of stock-flow consistency, with explicit modelling of domestic and international assets, liabilities and associated income streams. Account is also taken of the influence of financial and housing market developments on asset valuation and domestic expenditures via house and equity prices, interest rates and exchange rates. As a result, the model gives more prominence to wealth and wealth effects in determining longer-term outcomes and the role of asset prices in the transmission of international shocks both to goods and financial markets.     

Dynamics of fine wine and asset prices: evidence from short- and long-run co-movements

This article examines short- and long-term price linkages among the majority of fine wine and equity markets over the period of 2003 to 2012. We do not consider the price index (LIV-EX 100 or 500), as is typically undertaken in previous studies, but rather examine the auction price series of the world’s most traded wine-vintage pairs (5 Bordeaux first growth, 8 Bordeaux second growth, 5 Burgundy, 3 Rhone, 4 Italian, 5 Californian, 1 Australian and 1 Portuguese). A global equity index is also included using the Morgan Stanley Capital International World. Cointegration procedures, the Granger non-causality test, and ECM are used to analyse short- and long-run relationships among these markets. The results indicate a strong effect of financial markets on wine prices and short-term causality for certain wines. Moreover, the findings indicate short-run causality between the wines themselves, revealing a leader (exogenous) or follower (endogenous) status of certain fine wines in price dynamics, and also long-run causality for endogenous wines. This approach is relevant to portfolio diversification strategies and allows price movements to be anticipated more accurately than using an index approach.     

On the dynamic effects of global commodities on stock market blocks in Africa

This article explores the commodity–equity links in the Africa markets by distinguishing between short- to long-run co-movements driven by market shocks. Using the value-weighted average method, available Africa’s stock markets are aggregated into four market blocks. Global oil and gold returns are used as proxies for commodities. Coherency between pairs of markets is examined with the use of continuous Morlet wavelet transform. Results reveal abstemiously high degree of co-movements between the commodity–equity markets in the short- to medium-term frequencies with nonhomogenous lead–lag nexuses, signifying greater benefits of diversification in the long-term. These findings provide investors with relevant strategies for hedging.