Turnovers and Housing Price Dynamics: Evidence from Singapore Condominium Market

Recent real estate literature has not only proposed a few theories to explain the puzzling macro feature of the positive correlation between price and transaction volume, but also attempted to identify the causal relationships between them. However, there is little empirical evidence to explicitly illustrate how housing price dynamics measured by both past price changes and price volatility at housing unit level affect housing turnovers. Using a unique housing transaction database from Singapore condominium market, this paper reveals an interesting housing turnover pattern in response to past housing price dynamics. The results illustrate that the rise and fall of a dwelling’s price can significantly affect housing turnovers in the same direction. Higher volatility reduces housing turnovers. The effects are stronger in the domain of losses and are weakening as the cumulative housing equity rises, implying that a seller withholds the sale in the downswing of a real estate cycle in the hope that the market will rebound. The findings offer some additional micro empirical evidence to the interactions between housing price and transaction volume and imply upwardly biased repeat sales indexes.     

Auction Price Formation with Costly Occupants: Evidence Using Data from the Osaka District Court

Foreclosure properties sold at Japanese judicial auctions are delivered to buyers with an unclear title when occupants exist, because the foreclosure laws protect occupants from compulsory execution of auctions. The existence of occupants theoretically affects the auction price through two channels. First, it affects the reserve price, and this changes in auction price. Second, the number of bidders changes in response to changes in the reserve price that is controlled by occupants, and this changes the auction price. Using data from the Osaka District Court, we empirically find that the existence of occupants in properties reduces the auction price through two channels.     

Short-Sales Constraints and Price Discovery: Evidence from the Hong Kong Market

Short‐sales practices in the Hong Kong stock market are unique in that only stocks on a list of designated securities can be sold short. By analyzing the price effects following the addition of individual stocks to the list, we find that short‐sales constraints tend to cause stock overvaluation and that the overvaluation effect is more dramatic for individual stocks for which wider dispersion of investor opinions exists. These findings are consistent with Miller's (1977) intuition and other optimism models. We also document higher volatility and less positive skewness of individual stock returns when short sales are allowed.     

波动率风险及风险价格——来自中国A股市场的证据

本文应用Fama-Macbeth估计方法,以1997年2月至2009年6月中国A股股票为样本,考察股票市场波动率风险及其风险价格的特征。研究表明:波动率风险是一个显著的横截面定价因子,其风险价格为负,该结论不受流动性及市场偏度因子、待检资产改变、波动率模型设定的影响;在资产定价模型中引入波动率风险因子有利于解释规模效应和账面市值比效应异象。波动率的风险因子可以涵盖部分宏观经济变量的定价信息,规模因子是波动率风险因子的代理变量。     

Price-Formation Process of an Emerging Futures Market: Call Auction Versus Continuous Auction

This study assesses the market qualities of alternative price-formation processes for an emerging futures market—the Taiwan futures market. In 2002, the price formation process in the market changed during the period of trade between call auction and continuous auction. The performances of call auction and continuous auction are compared using intraday data. Empirical results show that the market is more liquid, and volatility is slightly lower, under continuous auction than under call auction. Also, there is robust evidence that continuous auction improves informative efficiency. The study suggests that for an emerging futures market like that of Taiwan, continuous auction offers a better trading environment for futures trading. In addition to demonstrating the virtue of continuous auction, this study also finds that the asymmetry in volatility is related to the price formation process. The asymmetry effect exists under continuous auction, but not under call auction.     

The Price of Political Uncertainty: Theory and Evidence from the Option Market

We empirically analyze the pricing of political uncertainty, guided by a theoretical model of government policy choice. To isolate political uncertainty, we exploit its variation around national elections and global summits. We find that political uncertainty is priced in the equity option market as predicted by theory. Options whose lives span political events tend to be more expensive. Such options provide valuable protection against the price, variance, and tail risks associated with political events. This protection is more valuable in a weaker economy and amid higher political uncertainty. The effects of political uncertainty spill over across countries.     

Stock Returns Under High Inflation and Interest Rates: Evidence from the Brazilian Market

We analyze the relationship of high inflation and interest rates with stock returns in Brazil from May 1986 to May 2011, during which Brazil experienced subperiods of both high inflation (May 1986-June 1994) and relative monetary stability (July 1994-May 2011). The result in the total period is dominated by high inflation volatility, and the findings suggest a bidirectional relationship between stock returns and inflation. During the high-inflation subperiod, interest rates are relevant to explain future changes in inflation and stock returns. Under low inflation, movements in interest rates are better anticipated by equity investors, suggesting higher market efficiency than in high-inflation circumstances.     

Expectations Hypothesis and Term Structure of Interest Rates: An Evidence from Emerging Market

The integration of emerging economies with developed economies has changed the behaviour of interest rates and exchange rate fluctuation. The current study tries to analyse the implication of expectation hypothesis (EH) and term structures of interest rates between India and US. Using vector auto regressive estimates, the study tries to test the dynamic interdependence of interest rates on exchange rate fluctuation. Further, the study estimates Granger causality tests and Impulse Response Functions to test the behaviour of interest rate movements for a period of nineteen years ranging from June 1996 to June 2015.The empirical results of the study show evidence in line with the existence of EH in the case of emerging market. Nevertheless, in the case of advanced economies we do not find any evidence for EH. The findings revealed that the spread between long and short rate of India is influenced by short-term interest rates and past values of Indian spread. This implies that the fluctuations in the long rate over the short rate evidenced the strong presence of EH as far as emerging economy is concerned.To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in Indian market, which tests the role of EH in interest rate fluctuations along with exchange rate. Since majority of the studies on term structure of interest rates focus on developed markets, the present study is an attempt to test the causal relationship between developed and developing economies.     

International Price Discovery for Emerging Market Stocks: Evidence from Indian GDRs

Given the rapid increase of the number of emerging market stocks being dually listed abroad, it is important to understand the role of the foreign markets in the price discovery process. We examine this issue by studying the role of the London Global Depositary Receipts (GDR) market for Indian stocks. We find that the London and the Mumbai prices are cointegrated despite arbitrage restrictions imposed by Indian government regulations. Each market contributes almost equally to price discovery, a result in contrast to the small contribution of offshore markets to price discovery of stocks based in developed economies. The GDR market's contribution to price discovery increases with the foreign ownership of the firm and GDR issue size. We also find evidence of significant volatility spillovers from the London market to the Indian market. The overall results suggest that offshore trading in emerging market stocks play a beneficial role by aiding domestic price discovery.     

银行承兑汇票:定价管制、利率传导与市场波动

在货币市场利率和管制性贷款利率的利差波动的情况下,银票成为企业替代贷款、进行利差套利的主要工具,其结果就是银票功能融资化、银票市场波动性大.实现银票市场的平稳发展,一方面要逐步放松银票的管制性定价,赋予商业银行银票定价权,加快商业信用评级市场发展;另一方面要组合实施货币政策工具,合理管理利率体系.     

非公开发行折价、大小股东利益冲突与协同

本文以2006年2月到2007年6月15日实施非公开发行的105家上市公司为样本,结合我国上市公司股权集中的制度背景,考察发行折价与大股东利益动机的关系。发现大股东财富转移动机越强,上市公司发行折价越大,表现出壕沟效应和大小股东的利益冲突;大小股东之间的利益协同程度越高,发行折价越低;实际控制人类型,特别是国有与民营之间的发行折价没有显著差别。非公开发行折价影响大小股东之间的利益分配,值得监管部门和市场主体关注,警惕大股东侵占中小股东的利益。     

Adverse Information and Dealer Spreads: Evidence from Dutch Auction Repurchases

The Dutch auction repurchase has become an increasingly popular alternative to open market repurchases and self-tender offers for the distribution of earnings to shareholders. In a Dutch auction, the repurchase price is not determined by a managerial decision, but by shareholders. The extent to which a Dutch auction signals private information is tested by examining stock returns and bid-ask spreads. Stock prices increase and bid-ask spreads widen during the announcement of a Dutch auction; prices decrease and spreads narrow at expiration. Because of the uncertainty surrounding the final repurchase price, Dutch auctions initially increase the risk to which security dealers are exposed. As information asymmetry among managers, investors, and dealers is reduced at expiration, security dealers no longer need to protect themselves from information trades.     

Commonality in Liquidity: Evidence from an Order-Driven Market Structure

Events such as the 1997 East Asian financial crisis indicate that individual firm liquidity is strongly influenced by marketwide factors. Previous market microstructure research, however, focuses almost exclusively on the firm‐specific attributes of liquidity. Our study follows the recent shift in emphasis toward commonality by examining systematic liquidity in an order‐driven market structure. Using data from the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, we show that commonality in liquidity includes both market and industry components, and is pervasive across size‐sorted portfolios. We also find a significant market and industry component in individual firms' order flow. In contrast to quote‐driven results, we do not find a positive relation between firm size and sensitivity to changes in marketwide bid‐ask spreads.     

Political Risk and Foreigners' Trading: Evidence from an Emerging Stock Market

This paper analyzes the impact of political risk on foreign investors' trading in emerging stock markets, market-wide and for industry portfolios, using quantified political risk ratings reported in the International Country Risk Guide and foreign flows data compiled by the Istanbul Stock Exchange. We also track the differential effect of political risk upgrades and downgrades. Political risk is shown to affect stock returns, net foreign flows, and macroeconomic variables. Foreigners' reaction to upgrades (downgrades) is slow (immediate) and smaller in magnitude. Foreigners' reaction to political risk varies with industry's sensitivity to market risk, except for the tourism sector, where their response is particularly salient. Local investors appear to provide liquidity to foreigners, who respond to information.     

International Cross-Listing and Order Flow Migration: Evidence from an Emerging Market

Policymakers in emerging markets are increasingly concerned about the consequences for the domestic equity market when companies list stock abroad. We show that the effects of cross-listing depend on the quality of intermarket information linkages. We investigate these issues with unique data from the Mexican equity market. The impact of cross-listing is complex—balancing the costs of order flow migration against the benefits of increased intermarket competition. These effects are exacerbated by equity investment barriers that induce segmentation of the domestic equity market. Consequently, the benefits and costs of cross-listing are not evenly spread over all classes of shareholders.     

Stock Market Volatility in an Emerging Market: Further Evidence from the Athens Stock Exchange

We investigate the time series properties of the daily and weekly returns from the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) index for the years 1987 to 1997. We investigate whether important time-series characteristics have changed significantly over time. The Greek market has recently undergone major changes including complete capital flow liberalization, the implementation of computerized trading, as well as significant increases in market volume and capitalization; we thus contrast the 1987–90 and 1991–97 periods. Our findings suggest the dynamics of the ASE composite index returns have changed as the market has developed.     

Convergence of Real Capital Market Interest Rates—Evidence from Inflation Indexed Bonds

This paper investigates the convergence of long‐term ex ante real interest rates (RIRs) obtained from Canadian, French, UK, and U.S. inflation indexed government bonds. In contrast to previous research, our evidence suggests full convergence in the long run and, hence, capital market integration. For the same sample period, global convergence is rejected for RIRs measured in conventional terms. From these results, we conclude that previous tests of the long‐run real interest rate parity might have suffered from weak measurement of real capital market interest rates.     

Bankruptcy as an Auction Process: Lessons from Sweden

The traditional U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in which financial claims are renegotiated under court protection and the firm continues to operate under existing management has long been criticized by economists as an inefficient way of dealing with financially distressed companies. In this paper, the authors make the case for a mandatory auction bankruptcy system of the kind now used in Sweden—one that requires all companies filing for Chapter 11 to be sold in open auctions soon after the filing. After discussing the notable features of and differences between the U.S. and Swedish bankruptcy systems, the authors summarize recent research (much of it their own) on the benefits and possible drawbacks of the Swedish system. Among the most notable findings of this research, there is no evidence that mandatory bankruptcy auctions in Sweden lead to “fire‐sale” discounts in auction premiums. Moreover, the fact that three‐quarters of the Swedish companies that filed for bankruptcy survived as going concerns should allay concerns that an auction system will produce excessive liquidations. At the same time, the post‐bankruptcy operating profitability of the companies that emerge from Swedish auctions as going concerns tends to be on a par with that of their (non‐bankrupt) industry peers. Such post‐operating performance, when combined with a 75% rate of reorganization (versus liquidation), suggests that allowing auction investors—instead of the bankruptcy court—decide which companies survive and how they get capitalized and restructured has been quite effective in accomplishing the two aims of a bankruptcy system: (1) preserving intact all economically viable enterprises while (2) eliminating the excess capacity that results from prolonging the existence of companies that are never expected to earn high enough returns on capital to attract private investment. Consistent with these findings, the U.S. in recent years has seen a sharp increase in the use of auctions in Chapter 11 bankruptcies, though on a voluntary rather than a mandatory basis. Such a change reflects the growing recognition of the role of auction processes in reducing bankruptcy costs and preserving going‐concern values as U.S. capital market participants push harder for private workouts, “prepackaged” Chapter 11 filings, and auction sales in Chapter 11.     

The Relationship Between Energy Commodity Prices and Electricity and Market Index Performances: Evidence from an Emerging Market

We investigate the effect of energy commodity price movements on market and electricity index returns in Turkey for the periods before, during, and after the year 2008. Although the Turkish economy is highly reliant on oil, we find that oil price does not lead either electricity or market indexes. This might be attributable to sluggish integration of financial markets in Turkey compared to developed markets. Natural gas price leads electricity index in the pre-2008 period. Its significance is reduced following the decline in natural gas usage in electricity production. This suggests that commodity dependence may be driving the link between commodity and asset prices in related sectors.     

IPO价格上限管制的激励效应与中介机构的声誉价值——来自我国新股发行市场化改革初期的经验证据(2001-2004)

本文以我国新股发行市场化改革初期独特的价格上限管制为背景,对作为市场信息中介的审计师声誉价值的建立及其有效性进行了初步考察。发现审计师声誉机制有助于降低抑价折扣,改善新股定价效率,并且高声誉审计师在新股发行过程中也确实收取了更高的审计费用;审计师声誉机制的信号价值主要体现在低于价格上限定价的样本中,而在达到价格上限的样本中,最高限价管制明显削弱了审计师声誉机制的信号价值。因此,我国市场化改革背景下的激励性价格上限管制有其合理性,较大程度上能够促使市场中介机构的声誉价值得以显现,并开始在改善市场信息环境进而提高资源配置效率方面扮演了重要角色。