Measuring the interconnectedness of financial institutions

This paper uses sophisticated empirical methodology to measure the interconnectedness of financial institutions in five developed economies – France, Germany, Japan, UK and USA – for the period January 2000 to November 2009. The study goes beyond the conventional use of first and second moments of returns and uses the timevarying equity price of risk methodology to measure the level of convergence of the financial sectors in the countries of interest. More specifically, Kalman filter convergence tests are applied to the weekly equity price of risk data to measure the interconnectedness between these countries’ and the US finance sectors. Results indicate the presence of short-term timevarying interconnectedness of the finance sectors of France, Germany and the UK with that of the US and steady-state longer term interconnectedness only between Germany and the US. Short-term and long-term steady-state interconnectedness between Japan and the US is not evident. We conclude that going forward in an environment of increased interconnectedness of international financial markets, a coordinated global financial regulatory policy with discretionary allocation of resources and execution strategy at a national level is the preferred regulatory structure to ensure sound operations of international financial systems.     

Development of the Balkan Countries: Where Does the European Responsibility Lie?

At this stage in its development, Europe faces special challenges. A united Europe, of the form that we might describe as an ‘open workshop’, is a challenge for 21^st century management, to create a peace-oriented and prosperous Europe. The principles of solidarity, sustainability and support applied within Europe are precious contributions to global strategies. What can the Balkan experience offer? The region is rich in natural resources and labour potential for accelerated economic and agricultural development. The European and Asian civilizations meet in this region. It offers labour and production potential as well as 60 million food consumers and important tourist destinations. The Balkan challenge is to utilize the European model of development and the forthcoming period must be used to prepare for membership of the EU. In the meantime the region must take advantage of local free trade zones, encourage team work amongst domestic and foreign experts on agricultural and rural development, reform education at all levels, launch well focused programmes of agricultural and rural development, complete the process of transition and of general privatization, create domestic brands with labels offering geographical origin and ensure that changes in agricultural policy are consistent with the direction of the EU's CAP.     

Communism as the unhappy coming

We show that Eastern Orthodox believers are less happy compared to those of Catholic and Protestant faith using data covering more than 100 countries around the world. Consistent with the happiness results, we also find that relative to Catholics, Protestants and non-believers, those of Eastern Orthodox religion have less social capital and prefer old ideas and safe jobs. In addition, Orthodoxy is associated with left-leaning political preferences and stronger support for government involvement in the economy. Compared to non-believers and Orthodox adherents, Catholics and Protestants are less likely to agree that government ownership is a good thing, and Protestants are less likely to agree that getting rich can only happen at the expense of others. These differences in life satisfaction and other attitudes and values persisted despite the fact that communist elites sought to eradicate church-going in Eastern Europe, since communists maintained many aspects of Orthodox theology which were useful for the advancement of the communist doctrine. The findings are consistent with Berdyaev’s (1933, 1937) hypothesis of communism as a successor of Orthodoxy.     

Economic Cost-Effectiveness of the Implementation of the Quality Standard ISO 9001 in the Health Sector

The quality standard ISO 9001 helps and enables organizations, regardless of the sector where they exist, to implement the quality management properly. Recent years have attracted attention to the possibilities of implementing this standard in the health sector and the economic viability of that long-term investment. Health care organizations are recognizing the value system that combines all the criteria for managing quality, including management of business, compliance and management of procedural steps, and most importantly, the total quality management. In general, the implementation of ISO 9001：2008 standard for quality in health care institutions is seen as an opportunity to improve the quality of health care, and the entire process is to be completed by reducing costs and improving services in the sector. The implementation of a quality standard is directed towards patients, medical staff, and management in order to achieve reduction and complete relief from the pain, correct and professional services, conducted services with an appropriate skilled and professional care to obtain results that are comparable to known standards, and protection services with appropriate insurance policies, and the management expects the implementation of a quality system to justify and return their investments. The methods used in this paper are based on the quality standard ISO 9001：2008--Quality Management System and the Guidelines for Improving Performance, developed based on ISO 9004：2000： Quality Management System-43uidelines for Continuous Improvement. These guidelines contain a big part of the text in ISO 9004：2000, but they are supplemented with specific guidelines for their implementation in the health sector. The implementation of the system and monitoring guidelines evidently contributes to the overall resolution and closure of problems in over 50% of cases. This not only results in saving money for the institution, but it also globally leads to reduced variations in the healing process. Expected benefits     

Momentum,Reversals, and Fund Manager Overconfidence

This paper examines the role of investor overconfidence and self‐attribution bias in explaining the momentum effect. We develop a novel measure of overconfidence based on characteristics and trading patterns of US equity mutual fund managers. Stocks held by more overconfident managers experience greater momentum profits and stronger return reversals than stocks held by less overconfident managers. The difference in momentum profits is not compensation for risk nor is it attributable to stock characteristics that influence momentum. Our results are consistent with Daniel, Hirshleifer, and Subrahmanyam (1998) who argue that momentum results from delayed overreaction caused by overconfidence and biased self‐attribution.     

Marketing in an identity-threatened world: Consumer coping strategies and indulgent consumption

The ability to cope with social identity threats is a crucial consumer capacity. But are all coping methods equally beneficial? Our work examines two dominant coping strategies—where individuals either highlight positive dimensions of the self (self-focus strategy), or where they emphasize other out-groups' worse performance (others-focus strategy). We demonstrate that while the two strategies are equally effective at repairing the threatened identity, the others-focus strategy leads to greater indulgent consumption for those who hold the threatened identity strongly. We also provide evidence of the underlying mechanism, showing that accessibility drives the differences in the indulgent consumption consequences of these coping strategies, which makes it possible for marketers to externally alter such effects. Specifically, we show that if marketers externally raise the accessibility of outgroups-related concepts, for example, via an advertising message or environmental design, the impact of the others-focus strategy on indulgence is diminished.