Business ethics searches: A socioeconomic and demographic analysis of U.S. Google Trends in the context of the 2008 financial crisis

A socioeconomic and demographic analysis of U.S. Google Trends for queries about Business Ethics and Greed is proposed in the context of the 2008 financial crisis. The framework is grounded in the ethical decision‐making literature. Two models using micro and macro‐type variables are tested using GLM and GEE regression techniques. The frequency of these Google queries varies positively with the ratio of females, educational attainment, younger adult age, some measures of economic hardship or inequalities, and the lesser the weight of the finance industry represented in each State. The frequency of queries intensifies for these same socioeconomic and demographic categories, in the aftermath of the financial crisis. This article is the first to study the salience of business ethics as an issue in the empirical literature using a nationwide database. It also provides a first empirical study in the specialized literature on “ethics in a time of crisis”. This study lays a preliminary groundwork to identify pro‐ethical reform segments of the population, with practical use for financial regulatory agencies.     

ON COMPONENTWISE and VECTOR STOCHASTIC INTEGRATION

We give a condition under which the componentwise stochastic integration with respect to a given R ^d -valued continuous local martingale coincides with the more general vector stochastic integration defined by Jacod (1979). We then provide a result on the equivalence between the vector and the component completeness of a financial market in a special case.     

Extracting Information from Options Markets: Smiles, State–Price Densities and Risk Aversion

In this paper, recent techniques of estimating implied information from derivatives markets are presented and applied empirically to the French derivatives market. We determine nonparametric implied volatility functions, state–price densities and historical densities from a high–frequency CAC 40 stock index option dataset. Moreover, we construct an estimator of the risk aversion function implied by the joint observation of the cross–section of option prices and time–series of underlying asset value. We report a decreasing implied volatility curve with the moneyness of the option. The estimated relative risk aversion functions are positive and globally consistent with the decreasing relative risk aversion assumption.     

On the willingness to pay to reduce risks of small losses

While willingness to pay is a common concept to measure the benefit gained from a reduction in the probability of loss, it is still questionable how it is linked to risk aversion and risk elimination behaviors, and how it is affected by the presence of an exogenous source of risk. By focusing only on risks of small losses, this article sheds light on these three issues and provides new results on the determinants of the willingness to pay.      

Ex post: The investment performance of collectible stamps

This paper uses stamp catalogue prices to investigate the returns on British collectible postage stamps over the period 1900–2008. We find an annualized return on stamps of 7.0% in nominal terms, or 2.9% in real terms. These returns are higher than those on bonds but below those on equities. The volatility of stamp prices approaches that of equities. Stamp returns are impacted by movements in the equity market, but the systematic risk of stamps remains low. Stamps partially hedge against unanticipated inflation. Estimates of average after-cost returns for individual investors show that stamps may rival equities in terms of realized performance.     

Do agricultural outputs of partly autarkic peasants affect their health and nutrition? Evidence from Rwanda

In rural areas of less developed countries because of market imperfections, the health and nutritional status of peasants may directly depend on the production levels of specific agricultural goods rather than solely on income levels. This channel of health and nutrition determination has never been studied.     

The Dutch Grey Market

When-issued trading concerns transactions in securities that have not yet been issued. This paper investigates the Dutch “grey market” for when-issued shares prior to stock splits, using a unique hand-collected data set. Market makers are more likely to set up a when-issued market when the underlying firm is larger, the relative trading volume of the stock is higher, and the stock return is less volatile. The when-issued securities trade at a small premium over the regular shares during the weeks prior to the stock split, but this when-issued premium disappears in the last days of trading.