The Financial Accelerator: Evidence from International Housing Markets

This paper shows novel evidence on the mechanism through which financial constraints amplify fluctuations in asset prices and credit demand. It does so using contractual features of housing finance. Among agents whose housing demand is constrained by the availability of collateral, those who can borrow against a larger fraction of their housing value (achieve a higher loan-tovalue, or LTV, ratio) have more procyclical debt capacity. This procyclicality underlies the financial accelerator mechanism. Our study uses international variation in LTV ratios over three decades to test whether (a) housing prices and (b) demand for new mortgage borrowings are more sensitive to income shocks in countries where households can achieve higher LTV ratios. The results we obtain are consistent with the dynamics of a collateral-based financial accelerator in international housing markets.We wish to thank an anonymous referee, Adam Ashcraft, Long Chen, Luigi Guiso (CEPR discussant), Steve Malpezzi, Walter Novaes, Marco Pagano (the editor), Raghuram Rajan, Luigi Zingales, and participants at the CEPR conference on Financial Structure and Monetary Policy Channels (Barcelona, July 2003) for helpful comments and suggestions. We also thank Olimpia Bover, Maria Chiuri, Nathalie Girouard, Tullio Jappelli, Steve Malpezzi, Felipe Morande, Marco Pagano, and Shiawee Yang for kindly providing us with data. The usual disclaimer applies.     

The Reversal of the Monday Effect: New Evidence from US Equity Markets

This article re-examines the Monday effect in the US stock market from 1964–1999 using daily returns from three large-cap indexes and two small-cap indexes. In the period before 1987, Monday returns are significantly negative in all five US stock indexes, confirming previous empirical findings. In the post-1987 period, we uncover a significant reversal of the Monday effect in the large-cap indexes (NYSE, S&38;P500 and DJCOMP), since Monday returns are significantly positive. Furthermore, significant differences in the persistence and reversal of the Monday effect are found between large-cap and small-cap stock indexes.     

Public Information Arrival and the Fisher Effect in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Stock and Bond Markets in Turkey

We examine the impact of inflation on nominal stock returns and interest rates in Turkey's emerging economy, which has a moderately high, persistent, and volatile inflation rate. Empirical evidence indicates that Turkey's inflation increased more than nominal stock returns and interest rates, implying that real returns to investors declined during our sample period. Among the different sector indexes we study, the financials sector serves as the best hedge against expected inflation, and the Fisher effect appears to hold only for this sector. We also find that public information arrival plays an important role, especially in the stock market.     

Empirical Analysis of Stock Returns and Volatility: Evidence from Seven Asian Stock Markets Based on TAR-GARCH Model

This paper investigates the time-series behavior of stock returns for seven Asian stock markets. In most cases, higher average returns appear to be associated with a higher level of volatility. Testing the relationship between stock returns and unexpected volatility, the evidence shows that four out of seven Asian stock markets have significant results. Further analyzing the relationship between stock returns and time-varying volatility by using Threshold Autoregressive GARCH(1,1)-in-mean specification indicates that the null hypothesis of no asymmetric effect on the conditional volatility is rejected for the daily data. However, the null cannot be rejected for the monthly data.     

推出卖空机制对证券市场波动率的影响

一直以来,理论界和实务界对于证券市场上是否允许卖空存在很大争议,争议的焦点之一就在于引入卖空机制是否会加大市场的波动性甚至引发市场危机.本文运用非对称GARCH模型探讨了香港市场推出卖空机制前后市场波动率的变动情况,发现推出卖空机制不仅不会加大证券市场的波动,反而使权证券市场的波动率有所降低.     

Housing Prices and Maturing Real Estate Markets: Evidence from Uganda

Uganda, a less developed but rapidly growing East African nation, continues to correct the economic mismanagement of past governments. One important legacy of this mismanagement is the Land Decree of 1975, issued by then President Idi Amin Dada. This decree nationalized all land and made illegal all private real estate market transactions. This paper uses a rich, but little known, dataset to show that real estate markets appear to have continued operating reasonably efficiently in spite of the 1975 Decree. The Land Act of 1998 repealed the 1975 Decree. Our results suggest the recent Act has a high likelihood of success because its primary goal is to codify guarantees of security, transparency, and enforceable property rights in private real estate markets that appear to already exist.     

杠杆投资者融资交易行为模式研究——来自A股市场的经验证据

自2010年证监会推出融资融券方案以来,A股市场上融资交易和融资余额都出现了较为显著的增长.目前A股市场上融资余额总量已达到万亿元的水平,对于中国股市的重要性日趋增加.有鉴于此,有必要对杠杆投资者的融资交易行为模式以及其对A股定价机制的影响进行更加深入地研究.本文通过实证研究检验杠杆投资者的融资交易行为模式与市场回报率、流动性等重要指标之间的相关关系.研究发现,滞后股票收益与杠杆投资者的净融资交易额之间存在着显著的正相关关系,说明我国杠杆投资者总体而言是追涨杀跌的趋势追逐者.股票价格下跌对融资交易的影响显著大于股票价格上涨所带来的影响,且这种不对称性在很大程度上是由市场收益而非个股异质性收益所引起的.此外,杠杆投资者的融资交易行为与未来股票周度收益之间存在负相关关系,这种负相关主要是由融资净卖出所引起的.     

The Sensitivity of Tests of Asset Pricing Models to the IID-Normal Assumption: Contemporaneous Evidence from the US and UK Stock Markets

Standard tests of asset pricing models are based on the iid -normal assumption. We compare standard test results with those obtained from procedures that do not require iid -normality. Analysing unconditional and conditional asset pricing models, we find that the use of tests that consider departures from the iid -normal assumption affect probability values, sometimes by a considerable amount but that test outcomes are not affected. The results also suggest that issues surrounding the testing of joint hypothesis influence probability values and that the use of appropriate tests may be more important when analysing US data than when analysing UK data.     

Regulation Change and Volatility Spillovers: Evidence from China's Stock Markets

This paper investigates the structural changes of volatility spillovers between Chinese A-share and B-share markets induced by a regulation change on February 19, 2001, that allowed Chinese domestic investors to trade in the B-share market. The empirical results of the study, using high-frequency intraday data collected from a sample of seventy-eight firms issuing both A-shares and B-shares and employing a bivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model, show that after the regulation change, the volatility in A-shares increases the volatility in B-shares, thus increasing the risk of the whole market, whereas the latter reduces the former, thus reducing the risk of the whole market. A further investigation of the determinants influencing these structural changes shows that the following factors can encourage structural changes that reduce overall market risk: government ownership, institutional ownership, firm size, B-share proportion, and market-to-book ratio. Conversely, the following factors can encourage structural changes that increase overall market risk: dual roles of chief executive officer and chairman and the joint effect of firm size and B-share proportion.     

会计可靠性原则的盈余相关性及市场定价——来自沪、深股市的经验证据

本文以中国证券市场2001至2004年期间的上市公司为对象,考察了公司会计可靠性原则的盈余相关性及其市场定价。我们首先考察基于收付实现制的现金收益和基于权责发生制的应计总额的相对盈余相关性,并考察市场定价是否对两者的计量可靠性差异做出反映。在此基础上,我们进一步着重考察具有较高可靠性的非融资性流动负债和较低可靠性的非融资性流动资产,考察其盈余相关性及市场定价。研究发现,基于收付实现制的现金收益具有更高的盈余相关性,但市场表现出存在利润“功能锁定”现象,并未对其做出反映。非融资性流动负债具有正的盈余相关性,非融资性流动资产具有负的盈余相关性。二者相比较,会计可靠性计量原则与盈余相关性具有显著正相关关系。从市场定价角度看,市场给予了非融资性流动负债正的定价、非融资性流动资产负的定价。即市场符合“幼稚投资者”假说,市场给予了会计可靠性原则正的定价,但其显著程度尚比较弱,在加入各种控制变量之后,其显著程度进一步弱化。     

The Wealth Effect of Domestic Joint Ventures: Evidence from Taiwan

This study presents important international evidence by examining the wealth effect of domestic joint ventures by Taiwanese firms. In opposite to United States evidence, we find that announcements of domestic joint ventures by Taiwanese firms are, on average, associated with significantly negative abnormal stock returns. We also find that the stock market response to announced domestic joint ventures is significantly positively related to the announcing firms' investment opportunities, size of investment and debt ratio, and is significantly negatively related to the business relatedness variable. In contrast, free cash flow, firm size, relative firm size and managerial ownership are found to have no significant power in explaining the market response. Our results support the investment opportunities, synergy and complementarity hypotheses as well as a broad interpretation of the free cash flow hypothesis, but reject the absolute size, relative size and alignment-of-interests hypotheses. This study makes valuable contributions to the literature by providing the first direct evidence on the role of investment opportunities, synergy and alignment-of-interests in explaining the wealth effect of domestic joint ventures     

Interest Rates and Stock Prices: Evidence from Central and Eastern European Markets

We provide empirical evidence regarding the responses of Central and Eastern European capital markets to monetary policy via domestic and international short-term interest rate shocks. The analysis is conducted using a four-variable structural vector error correction model identified by means of permanent-transitory restrictions. The results indicate a noticeable effect of the international interest rate on stock market indexes in the cases of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Since no monetary policy autonomy exists in Bulgaria, Latvia, and Lithuania, we find support only for the inverse relationship between foreign interest rate and stock index prices.     

The Impact of Monetary and Fiscal Policy Shocks on Stock Markets: Evidence from China

We study the impact of Chinese monetary and fiscal policy shocks and the interaction of the two policies on stock markets. We find that, first, when we focus on the contemporaneous correlation, Chinese fiscal policy has significant, negative contemporaneous relationships with stock market performance, while monetary policy’s impact on stock market performance varies, depending on the fiscal policy. Second, with respect to the lagged variables, Chinese monetary and fiscal policy both have a significant and direct positive effect on stock market performance. Meanwhile, interaction between the two policies plays an extremely important role in explaining the development of stock markets.     

Asymmetric Price and Volatility Adjustments in Emerging Asian Stock Markets

This paper tests the hypothesis that stock returns in emerging stock markets adjust asymmetrically to past information. The evidence suggests that both the conditional mean and the conditional variance respond asymmetrically to past information. In agreement with studies dealing with developed stock markets, the conditional variance is an asymmetrical function of past innovations, rising proportionately more during market declines. More importantly, the conditional mean is also an asymmetrical function of past returns. Specifically, positive past returns are more persistent than negative past returns of an equal magnitude. This behaviour is consistent with an asymmetric partial adjustment price model where news suggesting overpricing (negative returns) are incorporated faster into current prices than news suggesting underpricing (positive returns). Furthermore, the asymmetric adjustment of prices to past information could be partially responsible for the asymmetries in the conditional variance if the degree of adjustment and the level of volatility are positively related.     

The Dividend Pricing Model: New Evidence from the Korean Housing Market

It is generally conceded that dividend pricing models are poor predictors of asset prices. This finding is sometimes attributed to excess volatility or to a dividend process manipulated by firm managers. In this paper, we present rather powerful panel tests of the dividend pricing relation using a unique data set in which dividends are set by market forces independent of managers' preferences. We rely on observations on the market for condominium dwellings in Korea—perhaps the only market in which information on dividends and prices is publicly and continuously available to consumers and investors. We extend the “dividend-price ratio model” to panels of housing returns and rents differentiated by type and location. We find broad support for the dividend pricing model during periods both before and after the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–1998, suggesting that the market for housing assets in Korea has been remarkably efficient. Previous versions of this paper were presented at the Hong Kong-Singapore International Real Estate Research Symposium, August 2004, Hong Kong and the meeting of the Hong Kong Economic Association, January 2005. We are grateful for the comments of Ashok Bardhan, Yuming Fu, Chinmoy Ghosh, Lok Sang Ho, Charles Ka Yui Leung, Sau Kim Lum and Seow Eng Ong. Son's research was supported by the Konkuk University and Hwang's research was supported by the National University of Singapore.     

上市公司权益资本成本的测度与评价——基于我国证券市场的经验检验

权益资本成本(CofEC)是公司筹资和投资决策时需要考虑的重要问题。然而,如何测定公司的权益资本成本,目前尚未得出统一的结论。本文在现有研究的基础上,从事后和事前两个角度测度了我国上市公司的权益资本成本,并从经济和统计两个角度对不同的测度进行了评价。研究得出,不同方法得出的权益资本成本测度差异明显,最大差异达到了12.13%,这些差异对我国公司融资顺序(偏好)是否主要基于资本成本考虑的判断会造成重大影响。从经济角度看,事前权益资本成本测度要优于CAPM和Fama-French三因子模型下事后权益资本成本,在事前权益资本成本测度中,国内外文献中普遍运用的GLS模型下的CofEC表现不够理想,而PEG和MPEG模型下的CofEC能更好地捕捉各风险因素的影响,尽管其时间序列计量误差方差相对较大。     

Trading Behaviour of Foreign Institutional Investors: Evidence from Indian Stock Markets

Asia-Pacific Financial Markets - The existence of behavioural bias such as positive feedback trading (PFT) and herding is well researched for advanced economies. This paper explores whether foreign...     

Corporate Focus and Stock Performance International Evidence from Listed Property Markets

Does corporate focus translate into superior stock performance? We use 17 years of international data on 275 property companies from the U.S., British, French, Dutch and Swedish listed property share markets to answer this question. After analyzing corporate structures, we document significant differences in corporate focus strategies both between nations and firms and over time. By linking these focus profiles to risk-adjusted performance measures, we show that companies with high levels of geographical focus perform significantly better than the overall market. With regard to industrial focus, our results are mixed but again imply a positive relationship between corporate focus and stock outperformance. At the same time, our results show that the firm-specific risk of a company increases with higher levels of corporate focus. Hence, our results imply that within the real estate sector a focused strategy mildly increases both a firm’s return and risk.     

Informed Futures Trading and Price Discovery: Evidence from Taiwan Futures and Stock Markets

This article focuses on the information effects between the futures market and its spot market. Intraday data are used to investigate the lead-lag relationships between the returns and trading activity of Taiwan stock index futures and the spot returns. We focus on the transmission direction and the sources of information. Consistent with most previous studies, our results show that other than the contemporaneous relationship predicted by carry-cost theory and efficient market theory, futures returns significantly lead spot returns, which implies that informed trades may occur in the futures market. Using private transaction information, net open buy, as a proxy for futures trading activity and distinguishing different types of futures traders, we find that foreign institutional traders are the major source of informed trades because their trading has predictive power for future movements in both spot and futures prices. Traders in other categories are information laggards.