Central Bank Communication and Financial Market Comovements in the Euro Area

Open Economies Review - We examine whether unscheduled communication of members of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Governing Council affects financial market comovements. To assess...     

G2P – Governmental e-Solutions for the Public: Citizen vs Corporation Aspects

International Advances in Economic Research -     

A profit-to-provisioning approach to setting the countercyclical capital buffer

In this paper, we propose a new profit-to-provisioning approach that can be used in the macroprudential decision-making process. We construct new Banking Prudence Indicators (BPI) that largely capture the risk of cyclicality of profit and loan loss provisions and should monitor the forward-looking ability of the expected credit loss approach under International Financial Reporting Standard 9. We evaluate the performance of our newly proposed BPIs using two econometric exercises. Overall, they exhibit good statistical properties, are relevant to the countercyclical capital buffer decision-making process, and might contribute to a more precise assessment of both systemic risk accumulation and risk materialization.     

Long-term dynamics of the VIX index and its tradable counterpart VXX

We study the relationship of the VIX index and the exchange-traded note VXX on various timescales. We find that changes of VIX and VXX are correlated only contemporaneously on timescales of days, but VIX leads VXX on timescales of months. Next, we construct a simple joint model for VXX and VIX which replicates all the key characteristics of these two time series, but in which VIX and VXX are related only via a correlated error term. Therefore, VIX cannot be used as a predictor of VXX and there is no apparent trading profit opportunity.     

Enhancing Statistics Education by Including Qualitative Research

In this paper, we propose to re‐examine the role of qualitative thinking in the early stages of learning statistics and, where relevant, integrate selected elements of qualitative research methods into statistics curricula. We believe that this can help to improve statistics education, deepen desired student understanding of the role of statistics in providing answers to real‐world problems and address recurring concerns about student motivation. The paper clarifies the logic underlying our proposal, examines existing connections between qualitative and quantitative research during instruction that often go unacknowledged and can be built upon, explores practical implementation issues and discusses advantages as well as limitations of the proposed approach.     

Implementation of IFRS for SMEs in Emerging Economies: Stakeholder Perceptions in the Czech Republic,Hungary, Romania and Turkey

This research investigates the perceptions of stakeholders involved in financial reporting in four emerging economies (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Turkey) regarding the possible implementation of IFRS for SMEs, in terms of costs, benefits, and strategy of adoption. In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with representatives of main stakeholders (preparers, auditors, regulators, professional bodies, and users). We find more support for IFRS for SMEs implementation in these four countries than suggested by the results of the European Commission's 2010 consultation for the European Union. Interviews reveal differences between stakeholder groups and between countries regarding the preferred implementation approach (mandatory adoption, voluntary adoption or convergence of national regulations with IFRS for SMEs). Interviews indicate the most support for the convergence approach. However, users oppose convergence and prefer the adoption of IFRS for SMEs. The convergence approach moves regulators' attention from users' needs to preparers' preferences and preparedness. This finding is relevant in the decision‐making process of national regulators, who should balance the needs of various stakeholders, but also the country's political and economic objectives.