Stock market crash of 2008: an empirical study of the deviation of share prices from company fundamentals

The aim of this study is to investigate quantitatively whether share prices deviated from company fundamentals in the stock market crash of 2008. For this purpose, we use a large database containing the balance sheets and share prices of 7796 worldwide companies for the period 2004–2013. We develop a panel regression model using three financial indicators – dividends per share, cash flow per share and book value per share – as explanatory variables for share price. We then estimate individual company fundamentals for each year by removing the time fixed effects from the two-way fixed effects model, which we identified as the best of the panel regression models.

Based on these results, we analyse the market anomaly quantitatively using the divergence rate – the rate of the deviation of share price from a company’s fundamentals. We find that share prices on average were overvalued in the period from 2005 to 2007 and were undervalued significantly in 2008, when the global financial crisis occurred. Share prices were equivalent to the fundamentals on average in the subsequent period. Our empirical results clearly demonstrate that the worldwide stock market fluctuated excessively in the time period before and just after the global financial crisis of 2008.     

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.     

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.     

Double Bubbles in Assets Markets With Multiple Generations

We construct an asset market in a finite horizon overlapping-generations environment. Subjects are tested for comprehension of their fundamental value exchange environment and then reminded during each of 25 periods of the environment's declining new value. We observe price bubbles forming when new generations enter the market with additional liquidity and bursting as old generations exit the market and withdrawing cash. The entry and exit of traders in the market creates an M shaped double bubble price path over the life of the traded asset. This finding is significant in documenting that bubbles can reoccur within one extended trading horizon and, consistent with previous cross-subject comparisons, shows how fluctuations in market liquidity influence price paths. We also find that trading experience leads to price expectations that incorporate fundamental value.     

Uncertainty and liquidity in corporate bond market

We examine the uncertainty–liquidity connection in the corporate bond market. Using monthly corporate bond data from 2005 to 2010, we construct proxies for parameter uncertainty by using firm-level parameters generated from a structural model of corporate debt. We find that uncertainty about firm parameters decreases trading volume but increases bid-ask spreads and price bouncing in the cross-section and across time. In addition, the panel VAR results show that parameter uncertainty has negative forecasting power for future bond liquidity, with greater uncertainty in the current month leading to lower trading volume, higher bid-ask spreads and higher price fluctuations on subsequent months. We conclude that parameter uncertainty is one of the underlying factors giving rise to the high level of illiquidity in the corporate bond market.     

中国棉花期货和现货市场的价格关系研究

期货市场和现货市场之间的价格发现功能一直是监管部门和投资者十分关心的问题。本文借助信息共享模型、脉冲响应函数和方差分解等方法,对中国棉花的期、现货市场间的价格关系进行实证研究,定量刻划了期、现货市场在价格发现中的作用。研究结果表明:棉花期、现货价格之间存在显著的双向引导关系;二者存在长期均衡关系;期、现货市场都扮演重要的价格发现角色,期货市场在价格发现中处于主导地位。     

On the usefulness of intraday price ranges to gauge liquidity in cap-based portfolios

We find that easy-to-observe price ranges are useful for estimating intraday liquidity. Following the literature on range-based volatility estimators, we go beyond the use of the closing price only and rely on the full range of prices. Based on high, low, opening, and closing (HLOC) prices, we show that a greater intensity in the price discovery process (as measured by the open–close range) and a higher level of price uncertainty (as captured by the High–Low range) lower ex-ante liquidity for small, mid, and large caps. Realized volatility (RV) fails to capture these effects. Although order books have become increasingly difficult to treat, there is some good news: it has never been easier to look at price ranges.     

Dynamic Security Design: Convergence to Continuous Time and Asset Pricing Implications

An entrepreneur with limited liability needs to finance an infinite horizon investment project. An agency problem arises because she can divert operating cash flows before reporting them to the financiers. We first study the optimal contract in discrete time. This contract can be implemented by cash reserves, debt, and equity. The latter is split between the financiers and the entrepreneur and pays dividends when retained earnings reach a threshold. To provide appropriate incentives to the entrepreneur, the firm is downsized when it runs short of cash. We then study the continuous-time limit of the model. We prove the convergence of the discrete-time value functions and optimal contracts. Our analysis yields rich implications for the dynamics of security prices. Stock prices follow a diffusion reflected at the dividend barrier and absorbed at 0. Their volatility, as well as the leverage ratio of the firm, increase after bad performance. Stock prices and book-to-market ratios are in a non-monotonic relationship. A more severe agency problem entails lower price-earning ratios and firm liquidity and higher default risk.     

Market share instability and stock price volatility during the industry life-cycle: the US automobile industry

Market share instability, during certain stages of the industry life-cycle, has become a stylized fact in the industrial organization literature. In the finance literature, volatility in the form of excess volatility, i.e. the much larger volatility of stock prices than dividends (although stock prices should in theory trace the present value of future dividends), has given rise to controversies regarding stock price determination (Campbell and Shiller, 1988; Shiller, 1989). Recent evolutionary models, both theoretical and empirical, have tied the presence of market share instability to industry specific variables, such as specific periods in the industry life-cycle and specific “technological regimes”. The object of the paper is to explore whether there is a relationship between market share instability and stock price volatility and to what degree this relationship is connected to the concept of the industry life-cycle, and hence to industry specific factors. To do so, we explore the relationship in one particular industry, the US automobile industry. Since neither life-cycle nor finance theories attack this problem directly, we use insights from both approaches to build hypotheses which guide the data analysis. The empirical results confirm many of these hypotheses, suggesting that the degree of excess volatility is indeed partly affected by industry specific factors.     

我国高新技术产业上市公司的流动性提手及其对投资者的影响

高新技术产业上市公司经营风险性特征明显，需要提升二级市场流动性以稀释风险。本文考察高新技术产业上市公司资本公积金转增股本的现象，结合高频分笔数据来研究公司股价被“拆低”以后，这类公司股票是否在流动性方面有所变化？结果发现，高新技术产业公司股价“拆低”使得二级市场的流动性得到显著提升；而那些未发生股价“拆低”的配对样本在事件前后，流动性未发生明显差异。最后，通过回归发现流动性增加虽然在一定程度上可以被一些短期指标所解释，但是显著的截距项说明分拆依然会带来流动性的明显提升。流动性提升将扩大高新技术产业上市公司的投资者基础，提升其企业市场价值。     

我国高新技术产业上市公司的流动性提升及其对投资者的影响

高新技术产业上市公司经营风险性特征明显,需要提升二级市场流动性以稀释风险。本文考察高新技术产业上市公司资本公积金转增股本的现象,结合高频分笔数据来研究公司股价被"拆低"以后,这类公司股票是否在流动性方面有所变化?结果发现,高新技术产业公司股价"拆低"使得二级市场的流动性得到显著提升;而那些未发生股价"拆低"的配对样本在事件前后,流动性未发生明显差异。最后,通过回归发现流动性增加虽然在一定程度上可以被一些短期指标所解释,但是显著的截距项说明分拆依然会带来流动性的明显提升。流动性提升将扩大高新技术产业上市公司的投资者基础,提升其企业市场价值。     

IMPACT OF DIVIDEND‐PROTECTED EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTIONS ON PAYOUT POLICIES: EVIDENCE FROM TAIWAN

Abstract. This study used a sample of 1035 Taiwanese firms to examine the impact of dividend protected employee stock options on stock repurchase and cash dividend policies from 2000 to 2005. This study finds a positive relationship between cash dividends and executive options, implying that executives holding stock options might prefer to distribute cash dividends to boost the stock price. This result, unlike in earlier studies, arises from the dividend protected characteristic of Taiwanese employee stock options. Finally, free cash flow, firm profitability, level of debt, investment opportunities and firm size are found to considerably influence payout decisions.     

Convenient prices,cash payments and price rigidity

Recent works suggest that convenient prices that match monetary denominations exhibit above-average price rigidity and are set up by firms that have incentives to be paid in cash. The relationship between convenient prices and cash usage has however never been explicitly examined. This paper proposes a model that relates convenient prices to cash usage and exploits to test it a unique dataset in 2011 on cash payments and prices by a representative sample of French consumers. In line with the model, estimation results bring direct evidence that individuals' shares of cash payments increase with convenient prices. This finding confirms that price rigidity can be in part explained by the use of cash to pay convenient prices.     

中国上市公司现金股利发放的统计研究——以2007—2010年为例

在2007-2010年的四年中,中国上市公司的派现意愿呈现出平稳的态势,上市公司派现与不派现的数量大致相当;中国上市公司现金股利发放水平先升后降;盈利能力不是中国上市公司现金股利发放的首要决定因素;尽管第二至第十大股东对控股股东有着比较重要和明显的制衡作用,但是中国上市公司的控股股东还是存在通过现金股利从上市公司转移现金的行为;每股货币资金、流动比率、速动比率与现金股利的发放水平没有正相关关系,成熟市场的所谓债务协定约束现金盈利的说法在中国并不存在。为此,应完善投资者权益保护的法律法规,改革上市公司股本结构和治理结构,提高股利决策的稳定性,彻底取消红利税。     

流动性影响资产价格与消费价格的传导机制

对我国1998年1季度到2009年1季度的资产价格与消费价格的波动进行实证分析,发现货币供应量增加首先带来房地产价格上升,约两年后,消费价格指数开始上升,说明货币供应通过资产价格再传导到消费价格。在当前流动性再次增加的情况下,要考虑其对资产价格及通货膨胀预期的影响,并可实行分类增加信贷的政策,防止资产价格泡沫化。     

买卖价差与限价指令簿信息：基于时变MRR模型的实证研究

本文的主要目的是研究限价指令簿信息与买卖价差之间的关系。本文引入限价指令簿信息指标作为模型参数的状态变量．提出了时变MRR模型,并基于此模型对中国A股市场买卖价差进行了实证研究。本文实证表明,限价指令簿中所体现出的净卖出（买入）压力对原MRR模型中的流动性成本参数具有显著影响,且这种影响在买单与卖单中是非对称的;限价指令簿中的订单总量,则可以反映出交易流数据中无法反映的信息不对称程度,对原MRR模型中的信息不对称成本参数具有显著影响。另外,通过时变MRR模型估计出的隐含价差的日内走势与真实绝对价差及真实相对价差走势吻合,这说明模型可以较好地反映我国A股市场买卖价差的性质。     

Environmental disclosure and stock market liquidity: evidence from Arab MENA emerging markets

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of environmental disclosure levels on the stock market liquidity of Arab Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) companies. For that, a self-constructed disclosure index was applied to the annual reports for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 and the bid-ask spread was used as a proxy for stock market liquidity. Results indicate that levels of environmental disclosure in MENA companies are quite low. In addition, using a sample of 276 firm-year observations, multivariate analysis shows that the higher the level of environmental disclosure provided in the annual reports, the lower the spread between the market bid and ask prices, thereby indicating an increase in stock market liquidity.     

Cointegration and price discovery in US corn cash and futures markets

Using prices from 182 cash markets from seven states and the Chicago Board of Trade futures, we investigate cointegration and price discovery for corn. Analysis based on cash–futures pairs reveals that cointegration holds for 52 cash markets and failures tend to happen farther away from futures delivery locations. Cash generally are as important as futures prices as information sources in the long run and cash to futures information flow is most likely in the short run. Contributions to price discovery also are measured quantitatively for cointegrated cases. Analysis based on state-level cash prices indicates bidirectional information flow between cash and futures prices under a bivariate model, and futures to cash information flow under the octavariate model with all cash and the futures series. Comparisons of the two models show that including local cash markets in a price relationship model highlights cointegration and the futures’ price discovery role and could benefit cash price forecasting. Finally, evidence of nonlinear causality is found.     

Stock Market Fluctuations and Money Demand in Italy, 1913–2003

This paper examines the impact of stock market fluctuations on money demand in Italy from a long‐run perspective. The money demand function estimated by Muscatelli and Spinelli (2000) for a long time span is utilized as a benchmark, adding to the specification information on share prices from the Milan Stock Exchange Reform of 1913 to recent years. For a shorter time period (1938–2003), annual observations on stock market capitalization and turnover velocity are also considered. The empirical findings suggest that stock market fluctuations help to explain temporary movements in liquidity preference, rather than its secular patterns. Overall, a positive association emerges between an index of stock market prices that includes dividends and real money balances; however, the estimated long‐run relationship is unstable. In a dynamic, short‐term specification of money demand, the estimated coefficient of deflated stock prices is positive, and therefore compatible with a wealth effect, in the years 1913–1980, while in the last two decades a substitution effect has prevailed and the correlation between money and share prices has been negative. This is likely to reflect a change in financial structure and the increasing role of opportunity costs defined over a wider range of assets. These results are confirmed by data on stock market capitalization. Moreover, in the recent period, stock market turnover and money growth are positively correlated .     

Compensation schemes,liquidity provision,and asset prices: an experimental analysis

In an experimental setting in which investors can entrust their money to traders, we investigate how compensation schemes affect liquidity provision and asset prices, two outcomes that are important for financial stability. Compensation schemes can drive a wedge between how investors and traders value the asset. Limited liability makes traders value the asset more than investors. To limit losses, investors should thus restrict liquidity provision to force traders to trade at a lower price. By contrast, bonus caps make traders value the asset less than investors. This should encourage liquidity provision and increase prices. In contrast to these predictions, we find that under limited liability investors increase liquidity provision and asset price bubbles are larger. Bonus caps have no clear effect on liquidity provision and they fail to tame bubbles. Overall, giving traders skin in the game fosters financial stability.