International portfolio diversification: Currency,industry and country effects revisited

We examine the relative importance of country, industry, world market and currency risk factors for international stock returns. Our approach focuses on testing the mean-variance efficiency of the various factor portfolios. An unconditional analysis does not show significant differences between country, industry and world portfolios, nor any role for currency risk factors. However, when we allow expected returns, volatilities and correlations to vary over time, we find that equity returns are mainly driven by global industry and currency risk factors. We propose a novel test to evaluate the relative benefits of alternative investment strategies and find that including currencies is critical to take full advantage of the diversification benefits afforded by international markets.     

Heterogeneity effects from market interventions

The aim of this paper is to test whether the European Commission activities generate a heterogeneity effect on the merging parties. A sample of 74 firms involved in 45 contested merger and acquisition operations during the years 1990 to 1999 is used. The methodology is based on the GARCH framework. The main result is that, globally, the DGC interventions seem not to reduce significantly the heterogeneity among investors, except for the operations where it takes strong decisions like prohibition. In these last cases, the signal coming from the DGC encompasses valuable information and is well understood by market participants.     

First steps towards cross-national transfer in integrating mobility management and land use planning in the EU and Switzerland

This paper is based on research carried out in an EU Framework project, concerning the better integration of mobility management (MM) with land use planning. The objective of the paper is to analyse how, and how far, policies in this field of action can transfer from one member state to another, and to compare this to the theory of policy transfer put forward by Dolowitz and Marsh (2000), using their theory as an analytical framework, but also informing that theory. After providing a definition of this form of integration, the paper explains how far MM and land use planning are currently integrated in the EU member and other states covered in the research (Sweden, Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland, the UK, as well as Ireland and the Netherlands). It then presents the results of planning simulation workshops in five of these countries, where a group of planning professionals from each state considered real development sites and how MM could be integrated with the development. It shows that there is scope for transfer but concludes that barriers such as language, differing planning traditions, and the problem of transferring a new policy idea within a country will limit the scope of policy transfer significantly. Nonetheless, it sees a role for EU projects of this nature in encouraging initial consideration of new policy ideas.     

Brazilian OFDI Determinants

Recently, the global economy assumed a new setting in which emerging economies began to make substantial investments in the international market. This study aimed to investigate the determinants of outward foreign direct investment from Brazil from 2002–2011. The proposed models developed included attractiveness of the host country, characteristics of home country, and firms’ strategies. The results corroborate the existing argumentations concerning adaptation of mainstream theory with respect to the realities of emerging economies. Brazilian multinationals do not internationalize their activities in pursuit of cost reduction, efficiency, or to explore new markets or natural resources of the host countries. Results show that Brazilian investments were attracted by the availability of skilled labor, openness of the host market, geographic proximity, improved financial conditions of Brazilian companies, and national companies’ strategy of reaffirmation and consolidation as global players.     

Exchange rate dynamics in economies with portfolio rigidities

This paper studies the international transmission of productivity and monetary shocks in a general equilibrium two-country monetary model with portfolio rigidities and distribution costs in trade. The model features two types of transport costs (iceberg costs and distribution costs in terms of nontradables) and incomplete markets. The specification employed here is able to generate the domestic liquidity effect, increase in the foreign–domestic interest rate differential, and the nominal depreciation after a monetary injection. Quantitatively, the model with distribution costs as in Burstein, Neves and Rebelo (2003) performs better matching some business cycle moments, but fails to generate the high volatility of exchange rates observed in the data.     

A review of: “CAPACITY UTILIZATION AND BUSINESS INVESTMENT” By Donald C. Streever University of Illinois,Urbana, Ill., 1960 Bureau of Economic and Business Research Bulletin No. 86 76 pp. $1.50

This book is a collection of papers originally written, for the most part, during the period from 1954 through June 1957, and gathered from a variety of sources. One-third of the contributed material comes from sections of other books, and another third from Harvard publications, primarily the Harvard Business Review. The remaining third is about equally divided among other professional societies and corporate manuals.     

中国加入 WTO后房地产市场与国际市场接轨的答案

中国加入WTO后房地产市场与国际接轨的答案即应构建并发展房地产的二级市场和租赁市场 ,精心培育房地产的中介服务行业 ,同时改变粗放型的经营运作方式为精耕细作 ,以形成与一级市场联动完整的房地产大市场。     

Redefining Local Government Roles In Public Services

County officials in the seven-county metropolitan area of the State of Minnesota's Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul were seeking to redefine county roles in service delivery. This article reports on a process model that was piloted on two services. The model was commissioned by officials; was based upon and informed by literature and comparative experience; began with an examination of functions performed; involved participants in focusing the study; was context-focused; and involved local stakeholders in projecting the implications of alternative county roles. These characteristics complicated the research management process because the process took more time, involved more actors, and required more coordination than traditional research. However, having stakeholders identify alternatives and bring factual material to the process was critical to the success of the model and including the comparative and contextual research both strengthened the policy conclusions and improved the probability of their adoption and implementation. A case of a Minnesota county that followed the model in an effort to reform water governance within the county illustrated adoption of the approach. The stakeholder analysis process was previously applied in Africa, China and Southeast Asia and the model should be applicable to a wide range of settings and problems.