Spillovers through backward linkages from multinationals: Measurement matters!

We argue that the measures of backward linkages used in recent papers on spillovers from multinational companies are potentially problematic, as they depend on a number of restrictive assumptions, namely that (i) multinationals use domestically produced inputs in the same proportion as imported inputs, (ii) multinationals have the same input sourcing behaviour as domestic firms, irrespective of their country of origin, and (iii) the demand for locally produced inputs by multinationals is proportional to their share of locally produced output. We discuss why these assumptions are likely to be violated in practice, and provide alternative measures that overcome these drawbacks. Our results, using plant level data for Ireland, clearly show that the choice of backward linkage measure and thus, the assumptions behind it, matters greatly in order to draw possible conclusions regarding the existence of foreign direct investment (FDI)-related spillovers. Using the standard measure employed in the literature we fail to find robust evidence for spillovers through backward linkages. However, when we use alternative measures of backward linkages that relax assumptions (i)–(iii), we find robust evidence for positive FDI backward spillover effects.     

Idiosyncratic risk matters! A regime switching approach

The evidence on the inter-temporal relation between idiosyncratic risk and future stock returns is conflicting and confusing. We shed new light on the issue using a more flexible econometric approach based on [Hamilton, J.D. 1989. A new approach to the economic analysis of nonstationary time series and the business cycle. Econometrica, 57, 357–384.] regime switching model that accommodates the parameter instability of the forecasting relation between returns and financial variables. We find strong evidence suggesting that idiosyncratic risk is related to future stock market returns only in the low variance regime.     

Momentum and reversals in Taiwan index futures returns during periods of extreme trading imbalance

The study analyzes the relation between a trading imbalance metric that captures data observable by investors, and future momentum and reversals in Taiwan index futures returns. Standard regression analyses do not show any significant dynamic relations between daily index futures returns and the trading imbalance, regardless of whether the trading imbalance metric is lagged, contemporaneous, or leads the index futures return. However, when the analyses are focused on periods with extreme trading imbalances I find that the daily index futures returns exhibit significant reversals following periods of extreme (low) trading imbalances and low returns. I also find some evidence of residual momentum in consecutive daily index futures returns following periods of extreme (high) trading imbalances and high returns. Trading simulation, directional accuracy, and market timing tests show these effects to be economically significant, even after accounting for transaction costs.     

Modelling seasonality in innovation diffusion

The ability to forecast new product growth is especially important for innovative firms that compete in the marketplace. Today many new products exhibit very strong seasonal behaviour, which may deserve specific modelling, both for producing better forecasts in the short term and for better explaining special market dynamics and related managerial decisions. By considering seasonality as a deterministic component to be estimated jointly with the trend through Nonlinear Least Squares methods, we have developed two extensions of the Guseo–Guidolin model that are able to simultaneously describe trend and seasonality. Such models are based on two different but equally reasonable approaches: in one case we consider a simple additive decomposition of a time series and design a model in which seasonality is directly added to the trend and jointly estimated with it; in the other we design a more complex structure, mimicking that of a Generalized Bass model and embed two separate seasonal perturbations within the dynamic market potential and the corresponding adoption process. The different characteristics of two products, a pharmaceutical drug and an IT device, make it possible to appreciate empirically various modelling options and performances. Both models are quite simple to implement and to interpret from a managerial point of view.     

公用事业改革的动因:财务约束假说

目前对为什么要进行公用事业改革多是以效率假说为分析前提的.本文认为,效率假说存在较严重的片面性.公用事业改革是地方政府在财力匮乏,无力继续提供经营公用事业所需的巨额特质性投资这一状况下的无奈选择.从这一认识出发,将为公用事业改革提供新的思路.     

Emotions Matter: Sentiment and Momentum in Foreign Exchange

The author introduces news sentiment as a variable that can explain and predict subsequent changes in the USD/EUR exchange rate and therefore close a gap in the foreign exchange literature. By applying the concept of frequency filtering from the domain of electrical engineering, the author shows an innovative way of filtering for noise not only in news sentiment, but also in price momentum. The author finds that news sentiment is not correlated to price momentum, and that trading strategies based on news sentiment achieve around twice as high information ratios (up to 0.9) than with trading strategies based on price momentum.     

Modelling seasonality in residential water demand: the case of Tunisia

This article proposes to model seasonal patterns of residential water demand using the techniques of seasonal integration and cointegration. The methodology is applied to quarterly aggregate time series data for Tunisia (1980–2007), applying the same increasing, multi-step pricing scheme in the whole country. First, a seasonal cointegration analysis demonstrates the relevance of a pricing policy that increases the size of the lower consumption block in summer. Second, the nonseasonal cointegration analysis reveals a relatively high price elasticity for the highest consumption block. Therefore, we also propose to increase the tariff progressivity to promote water savings. This modified pricing scheme will help to achieve goals of environmental protection and social equity.     

Modelling movie attendance with seasonality: evidence from China

High-frequency data improves the timeliness of movie attendance forecasts, but also results in the issue of seasonality. The main objective of this article is to build and test a novel movie attendance model that considers seasonality. Based on the Bass model, we combine an intertemporal demand shift pattern and the binary elements of seasonality – weekends and holidays – and propose a model called DISBM. We chose a sample of 58 movies released in China in 2013 to evaluate our proposal. The empirical results suggest that DISBM has better performance than other seasonal models. We demonstrate that the intertemporal demand shift results in weekend fluctuations, while the extra demand causes the seasonal holiday effect. The intent of this study is to better understand various movie attendance diffusions given different seasonal effects, in order to develop corresponding marketing strategies.     

Gender and competition in adolescence: task matters

We look at gender differences among adolescents in Sweden in preferences for competition, altruism and risk. For competitiveness, we explore two different tasks that differ in associated stereotypes. We find no gender difference in competitiveness when comparing performance under competition to that without competition. We further find that boys and girls are equally likely to self-select into competition in a verbal task, but that boys are significantly more likely to choose to compete in a mathematical task. This gender gap diminishes and becomes non-significant when we control for actual performance, beliefs about relative performance, and risk preferences, or for beliefs only. Girls are also more altruistic and less risk taking than boys.     

沪市“风格惯性”与“价格惯性”比较之实证研究

本文以1997～2003年沪市261支A股为样本．实证对比了＂风格惯性策略”和“价格惯性策略”的盈利性。结果表明．在我国股市上运用传统的价格惯性策略不能获利，而运用“风格惯性策略”，特别是买入过去6、9、12个月内收益最高的赢家组合．则能够获利。本文从行为金融学角度对这一现象作了理论分析。     

Intra-day seasonality in foreign exchange market transactions

This paper examines the intra-day seasonality of transacted limit and market orders in the DEM/USD foreign exchange market. Empirical analysis of completed transactions data based on the Dealing 2000-2 electronic inter-dealer broking system indicates significant evidence of intra-day seasonality in returns and return volatilities under usual market conditions. Moreover, analysis of realised tail outcomes supports seasonality for extraordinary market conditions across the trading day.     

Return seasonality in the foreign exchange market

I examine return seasonality in the foreign exchange market using currency futures during the period 1973?2015. All the G10 currency futures yield negative returns in January and this effect happens more often in the countries that have a tax year ending in December. In contrast, returns offered in April are positive. To exploit these anomalies, I use a seasonality strategy that selects portfolios based on their historical same-calendar-month returns. I find that this strategy does not work in the currency market, although I find consistent results with Keloharju et al. in the stock portfolios.     

Bandwagons and Momentum in Sequential Voting

In this paper I show that an equilibrium exists to the sequential voting game in which a bandwagon begins with probability 1. These bandwagons are driven by a combination of beliefs and the desire of voters to vote for the winning candidate. Significantly, in this equilibrium the pivot probability for each voter is non-zero, even in an infinite population. Consequently, the bandwagons do not always start after one (or at most two) favourable decisions (as do economic cascades) and varying levels of informative voting are observed, consistent with observations from sequential voting in U.S. presidential primaries. Further, voters are exposed to counterintuitive incentives, referred to as "buyers' remorse", that have been attributed to real primary voters.
I also derive equilibrium behaviour in this environment when voting is simultaneous and compare the quality of information aggregation within each mechanism. I relate the conclusions to U.S. presidential primaries and find they are consistent with a common conclusion about the front-loading of the primary process: that in tight elections (with no front-runner) simultaneous voting is preferred, whereas in lopsided elections sequential voting is preferred. The superior performance of sequential voting in lopsided races is precisely because bandwagons occur.     

Immigrant earnings: age at immigration matters

A correlation between age at immigration and earnings is observed in Canadian census data. The evidence supports three underlying sources of the effect; first, work experience in the source country yields virtually no return in the host country; second, the return to education varies with age at immigration, and, finally, an 'acculturation' effect is observed for immigrants who are visible minorities or whose mother tongue is not English. Further, it is found that educational attainment, and relatedly earnings, vary systematically across age at immigration with those arriving around age 15 to 18 obtaining fewer years of education. JEL Classification: J61, J31     

Conceptualising environmental collective action: why gender matters

This paper demonstrates how institutions for natural resourcemanagement (such as community forestry groups), which appearto be participative, equitable and efficient, can be found lackingon all three counts from a gender perspective. It also examinespossible gender differences in social networks, values and motivations.Although there is little to suggest that women are inherentlymore conservationist than men, the distinctness of women's socialnetworks embodying prior experience of successful cooperation,their higher dependence on these networks (as also on the commonsin general), and their potentially greater group homogeneityrelative to men, could provide an important (and largely ignored)basis for organising sustainable environmental collective action.The paper also outlines the factors that can constrain or facilitatewomen's participation in formal environmental management groups.Illustrative examples are drawn from rural South Asia.     

中国股市的惯性与反转效应研究

由于中国股市具有政策市的特征,本文在Hong和Stein(1999)模型的基础上,研究政策市背景下的中国股市的惯性与反转效应。我们的主要结果有:中国股市的反转效应相对于惯性效应要更明显一些,并且除了中期惯性与长期反转外,还存在一个超短期的惯性与短期的反转;同时,小公司股票相对大公司股票,惯性运动的趋势较弱,更容易发生反转,成交量大的股票相对于成交量小的股票,惯性运动的趋势较弱,更容易发生反转。最后通过实证分析,在中国股票市场对上述结果进行了检验,实证结果支持了我们的结论。     

我国个人投资发展:金融创新的推进力

随着中国市场经济的发展,我国居民的个人收入大幅度提高,除保证当前基本生活以外,拥有一定个人资产的人已不在少数;另一方面,计划经济下国家统一的福利也逐渐被市场运作所代替.因此,个人为了一定的经济目标,以投资的形式处置个人资产已不是少数"资本家"的专利,个人投资正逐渐成为一种大众经济行为,这不仅将影响人们的传统思维方式、影响整个中国经济的发展,更为现实的是它对于理财产品、金融工具、金融制度提出了更高的要求,将在很大程度上推进我国金融创新的实现.     

中国股市惯性交易策略的实证研究

本文运用随机占优理论对中国股票市场上的赢家组合、输家组合以及惯性交易策略的有效性进行了实证检验,研究发现在排序期中赢家组合和输家组合的年度收益率分别为48.9%和-39.8%,但持有期的赢家组合和输家组合的年度收益率的绝对值低于排序期,分别为9.76%和-0.89%.运用Barrett-Donald KS的二阶和三阶随机占优检验结果也显示对于不同的样本排序期和持有期,赢家组合确实随机占优于输家组合,从而验证了中国股票市场上"强者恒强、弱者恒弱"的股市定律及"追涨杀跌"交易策略的有效性.     

Modelling changes in seasonality in Indian manufacturing production: an application of the STAR model

This paper attempts to identify the factors responsible for changes in seasonal patterns in manufacturing production in India. This is done in the framework of the Smooth Transition Autoregressive (STAR) models. We find that the variations in seasonal patterns in manufacturing production are driven by the rate of growth of rainfall. The gradual changes in the structure of the economy have not yet had any discernible effect on the seasonality, although the overall dynamics of this variable have been affected.