Gold price risk and the returns on gold mutual funds

A model is presented for estimating the theoretical gold price elasticity of the value of mutual funds investing in gold mining companies. The theoretical elasticity shows that if the funds invest in companies whose assets are comprised primarily of operating gold mines, then the return of an investment in the fund will be at least as great as an investment in gold (i.e., the gold price elasticity of the gold fund is greater than 1). Empirical tests of the above propositions are presented. Empirical tests also show, however, that the gold mutual funds contain a substantial amount of risk which is not explained either by market risk or gold price risk. Accordingly, gold mutual funds and gold bullion do not bring identical risks to an investor's portfolio.     

The Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis (MAMCA) application in the Flemish long-term decision making process on mobility and logistics

The Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis (MAMCA) is a methodology to evaluate different policy measures whereby different stakeholders’ opinions are explicitly taken into account. This paper describes the MAMCA methodology and how it has been used in the “Flanders in Action Process”. One of the objectives of this process is to turn Flanders into a top region in terms of mobility and logistics by attracting logistic activities with a large added value, realizing fluent and widely accessible mobility, a huge increase in traffic safety and a decrease of the environmental impact of transport. As there are a wide range of actors with different interests involved in this process, the MAMCA methodology was applied to evaluate a set of possible policy measures being proposed to reach this objective. An important advantage of this methodology is that it is able to support the decision maker in his final decision as the inclusion of different points of view leads to a general prioritisation of the proposed policy measures.     

No Arbitrage in Discrete Time Under Portfolio Constraints

In frictionless securities markets, the characterization of the no-arbitrage condition by the existence of equivalent martingale measures in discrete time is known as the fundamental theorem of asset pricing. In the presence of convex constraints on the trading strategies, we extend this theorem under a closedness condition and a nondegeneracy assumption. We then provide connections with the superreplication problem solved in Föllmer and Kramkov (1997).     

ASYMPTOTICS OF IMPLIED VOLATILITY IN LOCAL VOLATILITY MODELS

Using an expansion of the transition density function of a one‐dimensional time inhomogeneous diffusion, we obtain the first‐ and second‐order terms in the short time asymptotics of European call option prices. The method described can be generalized to any order. We then use these option prices approximations to calculate the first‐ and second‐order deviation of the implied volatility from its leading value and obtain approximations which we numerically demonstrate to be highly accurate.     

Why Do We Care What Others Pay? The Effect of Other Consumers’ Prices on Inferences of Seller (Dis)Respect and Perceptions of Deservingness Violation

Comparisons to other consumers have been identified as particularly meaningful in shaping price fairness judgments, but why they should be so is not clear. The current work argues that fairness judgments reflect both the extent to which consumers receive what they believe they deserve and inferences about seller respect. We suggest that comparisons to consumers paying lower prices are a particularly potent source of unfairness because they highlight the violation of deservingness and readily communicate information about sellers’ opinions of consumers. Three experiments investigate these ideas. Implications for fairness theory and marketing are discussed.     

How to take customers into consideration in service innovation projects

At a time of great change within the higher education sector, this paper focuses on the challenges facing marketers in the UK's higher education industry. Specifically, the research identifies the extent to which university marketing managers are conscious of the importance of market segmentation particularly with regard to the growing mature learner segment, and to what extent such marketers are using the web to engage and influence this older segment. The evidence presented in this study suggests that the sample universities display an inadequate state of readiness to respond to the marketing challenges arising in the changing environment and that the opportunity to influence the growing and affluent mature learner market through online communication remains largely unexploited. A general lack of a marketing orientation within the sector prevails.     

Jan Luiten van Zanden and Arthur van Riel. The Strictures of Inheritance: The Dutch Economy in the Nineteenth Century. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004. xv + 377 pp. ISBN 0-691-11438-2, $55.00 (cloth).

The economic history of the Netherlands during the nineteenthcentury demonstrates some remarkable features when comparedwith other countries such as the United Kingdom or Belgium.Dutch industrialization is "slow," "late," and even "different,"often attributed to a lack of natural resources (like coal andore) and/or entrepreneurial spirit. This protracted developmentgenerated some debate between Dutch historians, but no consensuswas reached until the publication in 1968 of J. A. de Jonge’sbook on Dutch industrialization between 1850 and     

It was 60 years ago today! Reflections on change in China: A decade framed by two parades

The lyrics below are mine but the tune is “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Though you may have been born after this song hit the airwaves, this Beatles standard should be one of those melodies that is indelibly etched in your mind … so sing, and sing it loud:

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Chinese tax changes and offshore comparisons

Lipsher delivered the following observations and remarks in Shanghai to a group consisting primarily of Chinese tax professionals. The size and composition of the group marked an achievement that validated the close to two decades that Lipsher has lived in China—especially since January 1, 1994, when the first national tax law came into effect. He was in China here when the first, six‐page tax law went into effect. Simultaneously, on that very same day, a new U.S. tax law came into effect. Only that law was 1,447 pages long! His remarks offer an overview of tax‐law changes in China and the advantages of offshore tax benefits from the perspective of an American who has lived and worked in the Chinese business environment as a tax expert as it has evolved and matured. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.