Extreme daily changes in U.S. Dollar London inter-bank offer rates

The likelihood of extreme daily changes in London Interbank Offer rates are estimated using the peaks-over-threshold method developed from extreme value theory. Value at risk and expected shortfall for high quantiles are produced for the left and right tails of the distributions for each maturity. The Generalized Pareto distribution of the peaks-over-threshold method is found to be unsuitable for modeling exceedances above a high threshold for samples of simple daily changes in the LIBOR. When the series are transformed to logarithmic daily changes, extreme value analysis proceeds smoothly and yields useful information about the relative frequency or magnitudes of extreme events. The main consequence of this is that the risk statistics associated with a given change in the LIBOR depend on the initial rate level; at higher (lower) interest rates, changes of a given size are more (less) likely to occur.     

The effect of underreporting on LIBOR rates

On May 29, 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported that several large international banks were reporting unjustifiably low LIBOR rates. Since then two large banks, Barclays and UBS, have paid significant fines for manipulating their LIBOR rates, and additional banks are expected to be fined. This paper investigates whether the underreporting of LIBOR rates by some banks significantly affected the reported LIBOR rate by testing whether there was a significant change in the relationship between the LIBOR rate and another rate that reflects the default risk of banks.     

The pricing and hedging of structured notes with systematic jump risk: An analysis of the USD knock-out reversed swap

Most of the interest rate derivative pricing models are jump-diffusion models, where the jump risk is assumed diversifiable. In this paper, we propose a Heath–Jarrow–Morton model with systematic jump risk to derive the no-arbitrage condition using Esscher transformation. Based on the Heath–Jarrow–Morton model with systematic jump risk, the dynamic process of the LIBOR market model with systematic jump risk is then developed. By decomposing the USD knock-out reversed swap into three derivative components, i.e., interest rate swap, interest rate digital call (IRDC) and cap, the pricing of the swap can be obtained from the dynamic process of the LIBOR market model with systematic jump risk. We show how the swap issuers/investors can hedge the swap risk using these three derivative components. The numerical analyses are conducted to show the impact of jump risk on the values of IRDC, cap and swap.     

Linearized Hamiltonian of the LIBOR market model: analytical and empirical results

The linearized Hamiltonian model is proposed to extend the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) Market Model (LMM). Firstly, we studied the Hamiltonian of LMM in the framework of quantum finance, and the nontrivial upper triangle form of LIBOR drift is derived. The linearized Hamiltonian is derived to improve the explanatory capability of the model for market data. Our approach uses one more parameter to explain the initial condition and the model can be used to calibrate LIBORs with extremely high accuracy. Furthermore, the market time index is required for applying the model to multi-LIBOR, and the results imply that the LIBOR future time lattice becomes shorter as one goes from near future to distant future.     

Testing uncovered interest rate parity using LIBOR

We test uncovered interest rate parity (UIP) using London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR) interest rates for a wide range of maturities. In contrast to other markets, LIBOR markets have minimal frictions. Whereas most previous studies reject UIP, we find that UIP holds for several short-term LIBOR maturities using block bootstrap panel unit root tests suggested by Palm et al. (2011) and cointegration techniques by Westerlund (2007). Furthermore, the estimation results suggest that the speed of adjustment to the long-run equilibrium marginally differs across the maturity of the underlying instrument, thus supporting the efficient market hypothesis.     

Term structure and forward guidance as instruments of monetary policy

This paper studies a simple monetary model with a Ricardian fiscal policy in which equilibria are indeterminate if monetary policy consists solely of a rule for fixing the short-term interest rate. We introduce explicitly into the model the agents’ expectations of inflation which create the indeterminacy and show that there are two types of policies—a term structure rule or a forward guidance rule for the short rate—which lead to determinacy. The first consists in fixing the interest rates on a family of bonds of different maturities as function of realized inflation; the second consists in fixing the short-term interest rate and the expected values of the short-term interest rate for a sequence of periods into the future as a function of realized inflation. If the monetary authority chooses an inflation process that satisfies conditions derived in the paper and applies one of these rules, it anchors agents’ expectations to this process, in the sense that it is the unique inflation process compatible with equilibrium when the interest rates or expected future values of the short rate are those specified by the term structure or forward guidance rule.     

Allowing for Household Preferences in Emission Trading – A Contribution to the Climate Policy Debate

In the context of emission trading it seems to be taken as given that people's preferences can be ignored with respect to the whole process of fixing emission targets and allocating emission permits to polluters. With this paper we want to reopen the debate on how citizens can be involved in this process. We try to show how citizen preferences can be included in the process of pollution control through emission trading. We propose an emission trading system where all emission permits are initially allocated to households who are then allowed to sell them in the permit market or to withhold (at least some of) them in order to reduce total pollution. This proposal tries to overcome the fundamental disadvantage of traditional permit systems which neglect consumer preferences by solely distributing emission permits to producers / polluters. In our system the property right to nature is re-allocated to the households who obtain the opportunity of reducing actual emissions according to their personal preferences by withholding a part or all of the emission permits allotted to them. Such a change in environmental policy would mark a return to the traditional principles of consumer sovereignty by involving households (at least partially) in the social abatement decision process instead of excluding them. Another advantage of admitting households to the TEP market as sellers or buyers of permits is that this increases the number of agents in the permit market and thus significantly reduces the possibilities of strategic market manipulations.     

Bubble measures in experimental asset markets

We review bubble measures which are commonly used in the experimental asset market literature. It seems sensible to require that measures of mispricing should (i) relate the fundamental value and price, (ii) be monotone in the difference between fundamental value and price, and (iii) be independent of the total number of periods and the absolute level of fundamental value. We show that none of the measures currently used fulfills all these criteria. To facilitate comparability across different experimental settings with different parameterizations we propose two alternative measures which fulfill all evaluation criteria. The measure for mispricing, RAD (relative absolute deviation), is calculated by averaging absolute differences between the (volume-weighted) mean price and the fundamental value across all periods and normalizing it with the absolute value of the average FV of the market. The measure for overvaluation, RD (relative deviation), is calculated analogously, but uses raw difference between (volume-weighted) mean prices and fundamental values. Hence, it provides information on whether the mispricing stems from over- or undervaluation of the asset.     

关于黄菖蒲和再力花固定西湖底泥中 重金属Cd和Pb能力的研究

利用植物对重金属元素的累积和固定能力来修复和净化污染水体是一种环境友好的生态修复方式,黄菖蒲和再力花作为一种观赏价值较高、生物量较大、适应性很强的多年生挺水草本植物被广泛应用于湿地景观设计中。为了验证黄菖蒲和再力花固定水体Cd和Pb的能力,本研究通过探索盆栽试验和野外试验,分析了黄菖蒲和再力花地上部分和地下部分中Cd和Pb的累积浓度,结果表明,黄菖蒲地上和地下部分吸收Cd的能力都较强,具有净化和固定底泥中Cd的能力;而再力花地下部分吸收固定Pb的能力较强,具有净化和固定底泥中Pb的能力。因此,可以在湿地景观设计中配置一定比例的黄菖蒲和再力花,成熟期后收割地上部分进行适当处理,能够起到净化水体、固定底泥中重金属Cd和Pb的作用。     

Bounded dividends, earnings and fundamental stock values

This paper applies a model of fundamental share prices based on a bounded dividends process, with earnings as the upper bound, to assess the deviations of actual prices for over- and under-valuations. The fundamental model extends the traditional present value of future dividends analysis to allow for the effect of an earnings-dividends trade-off effect. The simple fundamental model includes a closed form share price solution which may be calibrated to generate fundamental values from which to assess actual prices for over or under valuations. The properties of the model are explored with a simulation example. The empirical example is based on S&P data and the analysis provides evidence of persistent over-valuations since the late 1990’s. Expressed another way, the analysis highlights the role of factors, other than dividends and earnings in the determination of actual asset prices since the late 1990s.     

固化农村集体经济组织成员权的理论思考

在家庭承包制基础上实施以确权颁证为主要内容的农村产权改革,并且维持这一土地关系"长久不变",是破解"三农难题"在重点领域的基础性制度变迁,而固化集体经济组织成员权,则是推行这一土地关系"长久不变"的逻辑前提。家庭承包制在财产权结构上对不同成员权的包容性,决定了以新增人口来持续调整土地这一绝对平均主义的伪公平性。固化成员权不仅是建立排他性农民家庭土地财产权的基础,而且还需要在固化成员权过程中充分表达农民主体意志,实行用手投票的公共选择,完善村级治理机制。     

Property insurance risk map in determining bonuses and maluses

This project presents a proposal to build the Insurance Risk Map based on such taxonomy measures as similarity measure of the objects (_io) and the distance measure between objects (d_io). Practical usefulness of the presented construction has been illustrated by means of indicating areas where the a/m Insurance Risk Map can be used by insurance companies. These activities are mainly connected with the process of tariff construction as well as fixing the amount of discounts (bonuses) and surcharges (maluses). In this project, the emphasis has been put on the particular process of fixing bonuses and maluses.     

制造业产业基础能力的内涵、维度及量表开发——以轨道交通装备制造业为例

产业基础能力关乎国家产业安全、竞争力和综合国力,其重要性愈发受到业界和学界关注,但是关于产业基础能力的研究尚处于起步阶段。针对现有研究缺口,以轨道交通装备制造业为研究对象,基于价值链视角,探索制造业产业基础能力的内涵、维度及量表。运用扎根理论研究方法,对产业基础能力进行解构,提炼出4个维度的能力,即技术支撑能力、生产组织能力、市场营销能力和产业驱动能力,并开发出相应测量体系。基于问卷调查数据的因子分析结果表明,开发的测量量表具有较高信效度,可弥补现有研究对产业基础能力测量量表开发的不足,对后续研究具有一定参考价值。     

The impact of instructions and procedure on reducing confusion and bubbles in experimental asset markets

In 1988 Smith, Suchanek, and Williams (henceforth SSW) introduced a very influential model to test the efficiency of experimental asset markets. They and many subsequent studies observe that bubbles are robust to many treatment changes. Instead, bubbles are avoided only when subjects are experienced in the same setting, when the dividend-process is experienced by subjects beforehand, or when the fundamental value-process (FV) is presented in a well understandable context to reduce subjects’ confusion. We extend this line of research and show that even marginal changes in the experimental instructions/procedure can eliminate bubbles in the SSW-model. In particular, we show that mispricing is significantly reduced and overvaluation is eliminated completely (i) when the fundamental value process is displayed in a graph instead of a table or (ii) when subjects are asked about the current fundamental value at the beginning of each period. From a questionnaire conducted at the end of the experiment we infer that these treatment changes help to improve subjects’ understanding of the FV-process. We conclude that all bubble reducing factors have one common feature: they allow subjects to understand the non-intuitive declining FV-process of the SSW-model better and thus reduce subjects’ confusion about the FV-process.     

Welfare implications of strategic economic policy in eastern Europe

This paper evaluates the welfare effects in a block of selected eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Romania, former Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and former Yugoslavia) emerging from the possibility to participate in the European integration process and to act as strategic players in dynamic games. The results of the cooperative and noncooperative dynamic game scenarios are compared with fixed policy solutions. The McKibbin-Sachs global model (MSG2 model), which incorporates rational expectations, is used as a framework. A global supply-side shock and a fixed exchange rate regime are considered under the alternative policy layouts. It is shown that international economic cooperation may be advantageous over noncooperation. For the anchor currency of the European Monetary Union (EMU), fixing the eastern European block currencies to the EMU may lead to significant destabilization.     

Overreactions,Momentum, Liquidity,and Price Bubbles in Laboratory and Field Asset Markets

Laboratory asset markets provide an experimental setting in which to observe investor behavior. Over more than a decade, numerous studies have found that participants in laboratory experiments frequently drive asset prices far above fundamental value, after which the prices crash. This bubble-and-crash behavior is robust to variations in a number of variables, including liquidity (the amount of cash available relative to the value of the assets being traded), short-selling, certainty or uncertainty of dividend payments, brokerage fees, capital gains taxes, buying on margin, and others.

This paper attempts to model the behavior of asset prices in experimental settings by proposing a "momentum model" of asset price changes. The model assumes that investors follow a combination of two factors when setting prices: fundamental value, and the recent price trend. The predictions of the model, while still far from perfect, are superior to those of a rational expectations model, in which traders consider only fundamental value. In particular, the momentum model predicts that higher levels of liquidity lead to larger price bubbles, a result that is confirmed in the experiments. The similarity between laboratory results and data from field (real-world) markets suggests that the momentum model may be applicable there as well.     

Price Bubbles in Laboratory Asset Markets with Constant Fundamental Values

We construct asset markets that are similar to those studied by Smith, Suchanek and Williams (Econometrica. 56, 1119–1151) in which bubbles and crashes tended to occur. The main difference between the markets studied here and those studied by Smith et al. is that in the markets studied here, the fundamental value of the asset is constant over the entire life of the asset. In four of the eight sessions reported here, we observe bubbles, which are prices considerably higher than fundamental values. The data suggest that the frequent payment of dividends is a major cause of bubble formation. The property that the fundamental value remains constant over the course of the trading horizon is not sufficient to eliminate the possibility of a bubble.     

Exchange rate fluctuations in an economy with noise traders

This paper analyzes the stability of the exchange rate in an economy with noise traders. Noise trading is restricted to agents investing in the domestic stock market. The agents pricing foreign exchange hold rational expectations. Monetary policy is affected by the behavior of investors in the domestic stock market and in turn affects fundamental stock evaluations as well as noise trading. We show that when monetary policy affects only fundamentalists bifurcation appears in the exchange rate. When monetary policy also affects noise trading, fixing the exchange rate or switching to a low money growth rule imply stock bubbles converge to zero.     

When is the Greek Nation? The Role of Enemies and Minorities

This paper questions the importance and usefulness of identifying, through theoretical analysis and empirical study, an historical moment when a nation comes into being. In the first part of our study, we discuss briefly the theoretical background of the question 'when is the nation?'. The second part addresses this question with reference to the Greek case. We first look at the process of consolidation of Greek national identity during the first two decades of the twentieth century. The role of Turks, Bulgarians and other neighbouring countries in the development and crystallisation of Greek nationhood is highlighted. We show that although the Greek nation-state was established in 1829, the Greek nation has been in the process of becoming through the nineteenth century until the 1920s, when its ethnic and territorial components were brought together and irredentism was abandoned. However, as we show in the section that follows, the Greek nation has been further reshaped through its interaction with the Muslim minority of western Thrace, its fundamental 'Other within' during the twentieth century. In the concluding section, we look at more recent developments, such as the Greece-FYROM controversy, that have further influenced the definition of the Greek nation. By analysing the dynamic and constantly evolving nature of nation formation as a socio-political process, we show that fixing an historical moment when a nation comes into being is an analytic exercise for which there is little empirical grounding. Rather, we argue, scholarly research should concentrate on 'how' is the nation.