An international CAPM for partially integrated markets: Theory and empirical evidence

This article proposes a theoretical testable capital asset pricing model for partially segmented markets. We establish that if some investors do not hold all international assets because of direct and/or indirect barriers, the world market portfolio is not efficient and the traditional international CAPM must be augmented by a new factor reflecting the local risk undiversifiable internationally. We also introduce a suitable framework to test this model empirically. Using a sample of six emerging markets and three mature markets, we find that the degree of stock market integration varies through time and that most of the sample emerging markets have become more integrated in the recent years. The local risk premium for emerging markets represents the most important component of the total risk premium, but its relative importance has decreased recently. Differently, the total risk premium for developed countries is largely driven by global factors.     

On the impact of macroeconomic news surprises on Treasury-bond returns

This paper investigates the impact of surprises associated with monthly macroeconomic news releases on Treasury-bond returns, by paying particular attention to the moment at which the information is published in the month. Implementing an event study on intraday data, we show that (1) the main bond market movers are based on economic activity and inflation indicators, (2) long-maturity bonds are slightly more impacted by surprises than short-maturity ones, and (3) the bond market is more sensitive to negative surprises than to positive ones. Finally, we find evidence of an empirical monotonic relationship between the surprises’ impact and their corresponding news’ publication date and/or their sign.     

Opportunistic behaviors in franchise chains: the role of cohesion among franchisees

This paper explores social processes between franchisees as a way to control franchisee opportunism. Based on the literature of socio‐psychological and interorganizational relationships, we argue that cohesion among franchisees is negatively associated with opportunistic behaviors that are potentially harmful to the whole chain. We use multilevel and multisource data to show that perceptions of cohesion among franchisees relate both to a) how franchisees apply know‐how from franchisors (i.e., deviation from chains standards), and b) whether they transfer or withhold information that could be useful to the franchise system (i.e., information withholding). Our results underscore the importance of relationships among franchisees, an underexplored component of franchising. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does crude oil move stock markets in Europe? A sector investigation

The aim of this article is to investigate the responses of European sector stock markets to oil price changes. We use linear and asymmetric models and study the association of oil and stock prices. Our findings suggest that the strength of this association varies greatly across sectors. Moreover, for some sectors we find strong evidence of asymmetry in the reaction of stock returns to changes in the price of oil.     

中国投资塞内加尔：一个SWOT分析

2005年12月,塞内加尔和中国恢复中断了10年之久的外交关系。此后,两国都在努力维持良好的双边关系并继续促进两国之间商业关系的改善。中国现已被广泛视为一个经济大国,其在塞内加尔的一些领域的市场明显可见并日益增加,特别是在农业方面。然而中国还没有享受到所有在塞内加尔投资的优势与它提供的机会。在与中国的合作中,塞内加尔还没有完全显示出它的经济吸引力上的潜能,幸好这个国家良好的技术力量和金融影响力使它有条件去开发这些机遇,也能使其踏出领导非洲发展具体化的领先一步。尽管有着这些优势,塞内加尔像其它许多非洲国家一样,也面临着发展受限的严重问题。一种以SWOT（优势、劣势、机遇、威胁）方法为基础的分析能让我们更好地了解引进中国投资塞内加尔的议题,并能帮助我们得出引进投资最好的方法。     

中国投资塞内加尔:一个SWOT分析

2005年12月,塞内加尔和中国恢复中断了10年之久的外交关系.此后,两国都在努力维持良好的双边关系并继续促进两国之间商业关系的改善.中国现已被广泛视为一个经济大国,其在塞內加尔的一些领城的市场明显可见并日益增加,特别是在农业方面.然而中国还没有享受到所有在塞內加尔投资的优势与它提供的机会.在与中国的合作中,塞內加尔还没有完全显示出它的经济吸引力上的潜能,幸好这个国家良好的技术力量和金融影响力使它有条件去开发这些机遇,也能使其踏出领导非洲发展具体化的领先一步.尽管有着这些优势,塞內加尔像其它许多非洲国家一样,也面临着发展受限的严重问题.一种以SWOT(优势、劣势、机遇、威胁)方法为基础的分析能让我们更好地了解引进中国投资塞内加尔的议题,并能帮助我们得出引进投资最好的方法.     

An explanatory analysis of perceived risk decision weights (perceived-risk attitudes) and perceived benefit decision weights (perceived-benefit attitudes) in risk-value models

Abstract

All decision making requires a trade-off between risks and values. While Markowitz defined risk as the variance of returns (thus reasoning that investors should consider it as undesirable), the more general risk–value framework allows risk to be defined as a person’s subjective judgments. Psychological risk–return models go further, decomposing observed behavior (risk taking) into two processes: (1) a judgment of benefits and risks and (2) a trade-off between perceived benefits and perceived risks, with a person-specific willingness to trade-off units of returns (benefits) for units of risk, conceptualized as attitude toward perceived risk (PRA) and attitude toward perceived benefits (PBA). PRA and PBA describe the degree to which people find perceived risks and benefits attractive, all other things being equal, and are assumed to be relatively stable across situations and domains. We test this assumption in an empirical study, checking the temporal stability of PRA and PBA (using the a Domain-Specific Risk-Taking [DOSPERT] scale ) and the cross-task stability of PBA (performing comparisons between the DOSPERT and the Columbia Card Task[CCT]). Finally, we explain both PRA and PBA using the Big Five personality dimensions and Stimulating–Instrumental Risk Inventory (SIRI), showing that PBA weights increase with openness to experience, while the negative effect of perceived risk on risk taking (PRA) increases with conscientiousness and decreases with stimulating risk taking. The results show that PBA and PRA can be treated as traits which, in some instances at least, are stable across time and tasks, and which can be partially explained by personality, providing a link to the idea of a personality dependent ‘ideal point’ for risk preference.     

Volatility spillovers between oil prices and stock sector returns: Implications for portfolio management

In this article we take a recent generalized VAR-GARCH approach to examine the extent of volatility transmission between oil and stock markets in Europe and the United States at the sector-level. The empirical model is advantageous in that it typically allows simultaneous shock transmission in the conditional returns and volatilities. Insofar as volatility transmission across oil and stock sector markets is a crucial element for portfolio designs and risk management, we also analyze the optimal weights and hedge ratios for oil-stock portfolio holdings with respect to the results. Our findings point to the existence of significant volatility spillover between oil and sector stock returns. However, the spillover is usually unidirectional from oil markets to stock markets in Europe, but bidirectional in the United States. Our back-testing procedures, finally, suggest that taking the cross-market volatility spillovers estimated from the VAR-GARCH models often leads to diversification benefits and hedging effectiveness better than those of commonly used multivariate volatility models such as the CCC-GARCH of Bollerslev (1990), the diagonal BEKK-GARCH of Engle and Kroner (1995) and the DCC-GARCH of Engle (2002).