Error analysis of finite difference and Markov chain approximations for option pricing

Mijatovi? and Pistorius proposed an efficient Markov chain approximation method for pricing European and barrier options in general one‐dimensional Markovian models. However, sharp convergence rates of this method for realistic financial payoffs, which are nonsmooth, are rarely available. In this paper, we solve this problem for general one‐dimensional diffusion models, which play a fundamental role in financial applications. For such models, the Markov chain approximation method is equivalent to the method of lines using the central difference. Our analysis is based on the spectral representation of the exact solution and the approximate solution. By establishing the convergence rate for the eigenvalues and the eigenfunctions, we obtain sharp convergence rates for the transition density and the price of options with nonsmooth payoffs. In particular, we show that for call‐/put‐type payoffs, convergence is second order, while for digital‐type payoffs, convergence is generally only first order. Furthermore, we provide theoretical justification for two well‐known smoothing techniques that can restore second‐order convergence for digital‐type payoffs and explain oscillations observed in the convergence for options with nonsmooth payoffs. As an extension, we also establish sharp convergence rates for European options for a rich class of Markovian jump models constructed from diffusions via subordination. The theoretical estimates are confirmed using numerical examples.     

Information direction, website reputation and eWOM effect: A moderating role of product type

This article examines how the electronic word of mouth (eWOM) information direction (positive vs. negative) and a website's reputation (established vs. unestablished) contribute to the eWOM effect. The article describes a study focusing on the moderating role of the product type (search vs. experience). The results of the experiment show that the eWOM effect is greater for negative eWOM than for positive eWOM, greater for established websites than for unestablished websites, and greater for experience goods than for search goods. The results support the moderating effects of product type on the eWOM information direction-website reputation-eWOM effect relationship. The impact of negative eWOM on the eWOM effect is greater for experience goods than for search goods. Similarly, the impact of website reputation on the eWOM effect is greater for experience goods than for search goods. The findings provide managerial implications for an Internet marketing strategy.     

Gender,fashion consumer group,need for touch and Korean apparel consumers' shopping channel preference

Shopping preferences are affected by the culture in which an individual grows up as well as by individual differences in consumers such as differences in gender, fashion leadership and need for touch. The current study examined the influence of consumers' need for touch and fashion leadership on preference for shopping outlets (e.g. touch and non‐touch shopping channels) between genders and within a particular culture. The purpose of this study was to examine gender, fashion consumer group, need for touch and Korean apparel consumers' shopping channel preference. Participants were a convenience sample of 262 Korean college students who were recruited in Changwon, South Korea. A questionnaire was compiled that included a request for demographic information, the Need For Touch scale, the Measure of Fashion Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership, and items assessing preference for touch and non‐touch shopping channels for clothing. Women and men did not differ in overall need for touch or instrumental need for touch. Fashion change agents and fashion followers did not differ in their preference for touch and non‐touch shopping channels. Preference for touch shopping channels was more greatly affected by variables such as need for touch, gender, and fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership than preference for non‐touch shopping channels. Preference for non‐touch shopping channels was virtually unaffected by the variables examined in the current study. Implications for theory and research are provided.     

A double-edged sword? The antipodal effects of institutional distance on partner selection in cross-border alliances

Careful partner selection is a prerequisite for successful alliances. I posit that institutional distance will influence partner selection in international technological alliances negatively for exploitation, and positively for exploration alliances. A longitudinal dataset of firms in the global tire industry confirms firms’ preference for similar cognitive, normative, and regulatory partners in exploitation alliances, and a preference for dissimilar partners in exploration alliances. However, the latter is true for differences across the regulative and cognitive pillars rather than for normative differences. These findings attest to the antipodal role of institutional differences in the selection of prospective partners for cross-border technological alliances.     

Fashion groups,gender, and boredom proneness

This study examined differences between men and women and among fashion consumer groups (fashion innovators, fashion opinion leaders, innovative communicators, and fashion followers) in propensity toward boredom. Participants (126 male, 130 female university students) completed questionnaires measuring fashion group membership, boredom proneness, and demographics. anova revealed significant effects for fashion group for two dimensions of boredom proneness: internal stimulation and constraint. Innovative communicators indicated lower propensity for boredom because of need for internal stimulation but more propensity for boredom because of constraint than fashion followers. Men indicated greater propensity for boredom because of need for external stimulation than women did.     

Power moderates the impact of desire for exclusivity on luxury experiential consumption

This research examines the effect of desire for exclusivity on evaluations of luxury experiences and proposes a boundary condition for the effect. The scarcity effect literature suggests that consumers prefer scarce products due to limited supply because they appeal to consumers’ desire for exclusive consumption. Building on this thesis, the current research argues that luxury experiences are intrinsically scarce enough to appeal to consumers’ desire for exclusivity: Consumers with a strong desire for exclusivity will evaluate luxury experiences more favorably than those with a weak desire for exclusivity. A pilot study confirms a positive correlation between consumers’ desire for exclusivity and attitudes toward luxury experiences. Study 1 demonstrates that consumers with a strong desire for exclusivity show more favorable attitudes toward luxury experiences than those with a weak desire for exclusivity. Further, Study 2 finds that consumers’ power state (powerful vs. powerless) moderates the effect of desire for exclusivity on their affinity for luxury experiences: Only when feeling powerful do consumers with a strong desire for exclusivity evaluate luxury experience more favorably than those with a weak desire for exclusivity. However, this is not the case when consumers feel powerless.     

A NOTE ON TRADE ELASTICITIES IN ASIAN COUNTRIES

This article estimates the price and income elasticities of import and export demands for India, Japan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand using annual time series data. Both price and income elasticities of import demand are found to be in the inelastic range for all five countries. Export demand is found to be price elastic for Japan, the Philippines, and Thailand and price inelastic for India and Sri Lanka. Export demand is found to be income elastic for Japan but not for the other four countries. The Marshall-Lerner-Robinson condition states that a devaluation improves the balance of trade position only if the sum of the absolute values of price elasticity of import demand and the price elasticity of export demand is greater than one. This condition is met for India, Japan, the Philippines, and Thailand but not for Sri Lanka.     

AP1000锻件制造过程中机加工问题经验总结

本文主要对AP1000锻件制造过程中机加工问题进行了经验总结，主要对于机加工过程中由于人因失误导致的质量问题扶产生的原因分析和如何进行预防进行了阐述，并且对监造人员在机加工过程中能够做出的积极应对进行了分析总结，有助于国内锻件制造商机加工相关工作水平的提高，对锻件机加工有着一定的参考和借鉴意义。     

Trade effects of the Europe agreements: A theory-based gravity approach

We analyze normalized productivity differences for 15 developing Latin American countries and four firm types: National Domestic, National Exporter, Foreign Domestic, and Foreign Exporter. There are no productivity thresholds for viability, export activity, or multinational activity, but we do find a clear size productivity premium and development productivity premium in the manufacturing sectors. We also find a clear foreign-ownership productivity premium, both for domestic firms and for exporting firms and both for manufacturing sectors and services sectors. In contrast, we only find an export productivity premium for national firms in the manufacturing sectors.     

Centrality of visual product aesthetics,tactile and uniqueness needs of fashion consumers

The purposes of this study were to determine whether fashion consumer groups (fashion followers, fashion innovators, fashion opinion leaders and innovative communicators) differ in centrality of visual product aesthetics, consumers' need for uniqueness and need for touch, and to examine possible correlations among these variables. Fashion design and merchandizing students completed the following scales: Need for Touch, Consumers' Need for Uniqueness, Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics, Measure of Fashion Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership plus demographic information. Innovative communicators had a greater need for uniqueness than followers and opinion leaders, but not than innovators. Fashion followers scored lower on Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics than did innovative communicators, innovators and opinion leaders. There was no difference in Need for Touch among fashion consumer groups. Scores on Need for Touch were positively correlated with scores on Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics and Consumers' Need for Uniqueness. Scores on Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics were positively correlated with scores on Consumers' Need for Uniqueness. Scores on Fashion Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership were positively correlated with scores on Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics and Consumers' Need for Uniqueness. Scores on Fashion Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership were not significantly correlated with those on Need for Touch. Fashion consumer groups did differ in centrality of visual product aesthetics and need for uniqueness, but not in need for touch.     

Entrepreneurial spirit among East Asian Chinese

This research showed that entrepreneurial spirit among East Asian Chinese youths is predicted by personality characteristics such as risk‐taking propensity, persistence, and internal locus of control, as well as by motivational factors such as love for money and desire for security. Generally, these characteristics are not prevalent in an East Asian culture. The underlying predictors, however, differed for Hong Kong and Singapore. Risk taking was a common predictor for both groups, while persistence was a predictor for Hong Kong, and internal locus of control and love for money were significant for Singapore. Entrepreneurial spirit was associated with beliefs in ethics and self‐indulgence for oneself, but not philanthropy. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

中国企业首次公开发行上市交易所选择策略分析

本文认为.影响我国企业首次公开发行上市交易所选择行为的因素,包括发行上市条件、发行审核上市便利性、发行上市费用、募集资金能力及风险等.选择境内外不同的交易所各有利弊,企业应根据自己的规模、所处行业、拓展领域、证券交易所特点等因素综合考虑来选择适合自己的交易所.一般而言,剔除审核时间、产品出口等不确定因素外,自身规模较小、募集资金较少的中小企业,从发行上市总费用、市盈率、市净率等角度考虑,应选择境内中小企业板发行上市,从实现最快流通的角度考虑,则可以注册离岸公司选择伦敦创业板、香港创业板或新加坡主板发行上市;自身规模较小、具有高增长潜质的企业从投资者偏好、市盈率等角度考虑,可选择美国纳斯达克资本市场发行上市;自身规模较大、募集资金较多的大型企业,从市场交易投资状况、市场容量、资金充沛的角度考虑,应选择境内A股市场、香港主板、美国纽约证券交易所、纳斯达克国内精选市场发行上市.     

Real-Time Forecasting Revisited: Letting the Data Decide

Real-time GDP forecasting, also often known as “nowcasting,” produces estimates for current-quarter real GDP growth, typically based on a centered value from a set of estimates from incoming indicators. These real-time measures are usually intended to be data-based and to not be based on forecaster judgment or add factors. Even so, estimation methodologies in this research area—and prior versions of the system we use—typically have been constrained by using various “fixed” relationships, such as a fixed historical sample horizon and fixed empirical specifications for the indicator variables. This paper describes the methodology, estimation, and software code for a more flexible real-time GDP system that allows the data to decide the best real-time GDP forecast for varying sample horizons and varying specifications for each indicator variable through time. Our system uses data on key indicators as they become available (accounting for the “jagged-edge” nature of the data in the current quarter) to generate an estimate of current-quarter real GDP growth, with weights for combining the indicator-specific estimates as determined by the strength of the indicators’ historical relationships to GDP growth. The improved system searches across a variety of specifications and across sample horizons to choose the best specification as determined by a minimum Schwarz criterion test while also searching for the best sample horizon for minimizing the mean absolute error for a recent prediction period. We illustrate the operation of the system for real-time estimates of real GDP growth over a specific quarter, and examine the properties of the estimates and the implications for predictions. We also discuss potential additional applications and demonstrate a specific application for real-time predictions of the monthly change in payroll jobs.     

Support for the Use of Deception Within the Work Environment: A Comparison of Israeli and United States Employee Attitudes

As businesses become more global, the opportunities for employees to work with individuals from different cultures increase. Research in cross-cultural interactions has increased in response to such changes. This research study considers employee attitudes and perceived organizational support for the use of deception within the work environment. In this study, two types of deception have been considered; deception for personal gain and deception for the organization's benefit. The reported likelihood for committing these two types of deception for United States and Israeli employees was gathered. The results indicate that United States employees are more likely to deceive others for personal gain than the Israeli employees. In addition, the results indicate that United States employees were more likely to perceive organizational support for the use of deception for personal gain than were the Israeli employees. No differences between the two samples were found for personal or organizational support for deception for the organization's benefit. Differences are explained using Hofstede's (1991) theory of international cultures.     

Service provider responses to anxious and angry customers: different challenges, different payoffs

Anxiety and anger, two frequently experienced emotions during service consumption, arise from different appraisals of the eliciting event, i.e., attribution to uncontrollable circumstances and low coping potential for anxiety versus attribution to providers and high coping potential for anger. These appraisal differences were hypothesized to impact the occurrence of supportive provider responses (higher for anxiety than for anger), and the value given to supportive responses by anxious versus angry customers (higher evaluation for anxiety than for anger). It was also hypothesized that, although evaluation of provider response would mediate the relationship between the intensity of both anger and anxiety and satisfaction with the service encounter as a whole, the power of this mediating effect would be stronger for anxiety than for anger. Hypotheses were confirmed in a survey of air travel passengers reporting episodes of anxiety and anger. Implications of these results for challenges and payoffs involved in the development of adaptive response strategies to anxious and angry customers are discussed.     

基于电子商务环境下的机遇搜索探究

本文探究在电子商务环境下，分析知识搜索、技术型产品、培养“弱关系”成员和形成机遇发现团队等关键因素，利用“情感认同”、“擅长发觉”和“自我效能”等自然属性，如何快速找到稀缺的市场机遇，使企业满足开发市场机遇和立足有利地位的深度需求。     

进境粮谷中截获的检疫性杂草种子生活力测定

[目的]测定进境粮谷中截获的检疫性杂草种子的生活力,为研究进境检疫性杂草种子的灭活方法提供基础理论数据.[方法]采用四唑染色测定方法(TTC)测定.[结果]测定出进境粮谷中截获的7种检疫性杂草种子的生活力.其中豚革(Ambrosia artemisifolia L.)72.0%,三裂叶豚草(Ambrosia trifida L.)73.2%,法国野燕麦(Avena ludoviciana Dur)22.0%,刺蒺藜草(Cenchrus echinatus L.)89.0%,锯齿大戟(Euphorbia dentata Michx.)30.5%,假高粱(Sorghum halepense Pers.)美国产100.0%,阿根廷产81.0%,苍耳属(Xanthium spp.)53.0%.[结论]采用种子四唑染色方法测定杂草种子的生活力,不受种子休眠限制,不需摸索其萌发所需最适宜的温湿度条件,方法简便快捷,结果准确.     

汽车市场“以旧换新”大补贴

<正>在国家对燃油税进行改革的时候,你有买车、换车的冲动吗?那么宣布购置税减半政策的时候呢?如果再来一项汽车报废补贴政策呢?     

Keywords in 2008

＂It was the best of times,it was the sorst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief,it was the epoch of incredulity,it was the season of light,it was the season of Darkness,it was the spring of hope,it was the winter of despair.