Precautionary saving under liquidity constraints: Evidence from rural Pakistan

This paper investigates precautionary saving under liquidity constraints in Pakistan using household panel data. In particular, while it estimates Kimball's [Kimball, M.S. Precautionary saving in the small and in the large. Econometrica 1990; 58; 53–73.] prudence parameter based on a framework that is similar to Dynan [Dynan, K.E. How prudent are consumers? Journal of Political Economy 1993; 101; 1104–1113.], this study deviates from the framework by explicitly considering liquidity constraints, as in Zeldes [Zeldes, S.P. Consumption and liquidity constraints: an empirical investigation. Journal of Political Economy 1989; 97; 305–346.]. By doing so, this paper attempts to differentiate the standard precautionary saving caused by uncertainty from that caused by liquidity constraints. Furthermore, endogenous liquidity constraints are used in order to resolve issues of selection biases. We find substantial evidence of the presence of precautionary saving in Pakistan. More specifically, the estimated prudence is significantly higher for liquidity-constrained households as compared with unconstrained ones. The finding suggests that the precautionary saving motives appear stronger when households see that their access to credit markets is limited.     

Basic Needs,Government Debt and Economic Growth

This paper investigates the relationships between basic needs and economic growth where the interactions between output, health, nutrition and education are explicitly simultaneous. We find a unidirectional relationship that improving basic welfare contributes strongly to labour productivity change, but a clear reverse causation only from growth to nutrition. There are substantial differences in the patterns of simultaneous interactions at different income and welfare levels. There are strong self‐reinforcing effects of literacy and debt service on poverty, making it difficult for poor countries to rectify their situation. Channelling resources towards improving health, education and nutrition could bring dramatic economic returns.     

Estimation and testing of portfolio Value‐at‐Risk based on L‐comoment matrices

This study employs L‐comoments introduced by Serfling and Xiao (2007) into portfolio Value‐at‐Risk estimation through two models: the Cornish–Fisher expansion (Draper, N. R. & Tierney, D. E., 1973) and modified VaR (Zangari, P., 1996). Backtesting outcomes indicate that modified VaR outperforms and L‐comoments give better estimates of portfolio skewness and excess kurtosis than do classical central moments in modeling heavy‐tailed distributions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 30:897–908, 2010     

The incremental value of a futures hedge using realized volatility

A number of prior studies have developed a variety of multivariate volatility models to describe the joint distribution of spot and futures, and have applied the results to form the optimal futures hedge. In this study, the authors propose a new class of multivariate volatility models encompassing realized volatility (RV) estimates to estimate the risk‐minimizing hedge ratio, and compare the hedging performance of the proposed models with those generated by return‐based models. In an out‐of‐sample context with a daily rebalancing approach, based on an extensive set of statistical and economic performance measures, the empirical results show that improvement can be substantial when switching from daily to intraday. This essentially comes from the advantage that the intraday‐based RV potentially can provide more accurate daily covariance matrix estimates than RV utilizing daily prices. Finally, this study also analyzes the effect of hedge horizon on hedge ratio and hedging effectiveness for both the in‐sample and the out‐of‐sample data. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 30:874–896, 2010     

AN ANALYSIS OF FACTORS AFFECTING CROSS DOCKING OPERATIONS

Using simulation, we examine the decisions in moving freight between inbound and outbound trailers in a cross dock. The decisions examined include direct versus indirect handling of pallets, number of open receiving doors, door layout, number of forklifts, size of cross dock and freight mix. This study provides useful insights on handling freight in a cross dock.     

The role of interactivity in e-tailing: Creating value and increasing satisfaction

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between three dimensions of interactivity (controllability, synchronicity, and bi-directionality) and consumers’ perceived value composed of utilitarian and hedonic values on e-shopping, finally determining the level of overall satisfaction on using interactivity features in e-tailing service. A total of 451 respondents participated and the usable sample size was 427 after the screening process. The results indicate that bi-directionality is a key interactivity feature for consumers’ hedonic value creation in e-tailing service settings while synchronicity is a key for utilitarian value.     

企业财务危机预警指标筛选探究

选择合适的财务指标来描述预警模型对提高预测的精度至关重要。运用显著性分析和因子分析法,对企业财务危机预警的备选指标进行筛选,并选择了76家上市公司为样本进行实证研究。通过两次筛选,最终得到由7个预警指标组成的全面互斥的财务危机预警指标体系,为进一步的财务危机预警评价提供参考。     

The Nexus between IT Investment and Banking Performance in Korea

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implications of ‘Asian Value (AV)’ discourse upon the future of ASEM. The contention here is that such discourse within ASEM is contributing to the construction of a still unidentified Asian region. Moreover, AV discourse has been initiated by individual Asian leaders in order to enhance Asia's bargaining position vis‐à‐vis Europe, emphasizing the cultural differences between the two regions.     

How close a relationship does a capital market have with other such markets? The case of Taiwan from the Asian financial crisis

In assessing how far and how close the relationships are between the Taiwan capital market and other international capital markets in Asian financial case, we examine the co-movement patterns by developing the “unequal variance test”. We find that a closer relationship exists between Taiwan and Hong Kong throughout the sample period than between Taiwan and other Asian countries and the US. It thus appears that adjacent regions with similar backgrounds in terms of their capital markets will reflect price patterns that are more similar to those of Taiwan than those of countries with which Taiwan frequently trades or cooperates.