Risk-Based Capital and Credit Insurance Portfolios

This paper analyzes the risk-management practices of a vulnerable credit insurer by studying the effects of time-varying correlations, asset risks and loan maturities on the risk-based capital that backs credit insurance portfolios. Since asset correlations may change over a business cycle, we have analyzed these effects by means of a one-factor Gaussian stochastic model as part of an extended contingent claims analysis. Our results show the need to account for cyclical changes to correlations in the pricing of credit insurance. When compared with the reserve of risk-based capital recommended by the Basel II Internal Ratings-Based (IRB) approach, our model provides a better capital buffer against extreme credit losses, especially in times of recession and/or in a risky business environment. Using a risk-adjusted performance metric (RAPM), we find insurers perform better when insuring relatively short-term loans. We also make several policy recommendations on creating a reserve of risk-based capital to protect against possible loan losses.     

Limited Liability and Bonus Contracts

This paper studies the nature of incentive contracts between a risk-neutral principal and a risk-neutral agent under the constraint that the agent's liability is limited. A necessary and sufficient condition is derived for the existence of a first-best contract under this constraint, and a bonus-based contract is shown to be the most efficient contractual form. Implications of bonus contracts are also discussed.     

An empirical study of firm productivity growth based on the dynamic selection model: Effects on the recent decline in Korean exports

Export and productivity growth in the Korean manufacturing sector have both been slow since 2011. To understand this relationship, we examine the productivity distributions of manufacturing firms in Korea by applying the dynamic selection model developed by Sampson (2016). The fitness of the dynamic selection model suggests that a slowdown in the market selection mechanism may be a crucial contributor to the stagnant growth in the productivity. In addition, we find that the productivity difference between exporting firms and non-exporting firms has decreased and the low productivity growth of firms exporting to non-foreign affiliates has contributed to this trend.     

Management Behaviour in Vietnamese Commercial Banks

This study identifies managerial behaviour in Vietnamese banks between the years 2000 and 2014, based on the managerial framework of banks, as identified by Rossi et al. ( 2009 ). This framework is built on the interrelationships between efficiency, risk, capital and diversification. This study uses the Z‐score to measure insolvency risk, the SFA to estimate cost efficiency, the ratio of total equity to total assets to capture bank capital and the HHI index to measure the diversification of revenue and earning assets. The results from the 3SLS estimator indicate that revenue diversification has an insignificant impact on insolvency risk, capital ratio and cost efficiency, but earning assets diversification has a negative effect on these three variables, supporting ‘classical diversification’, ‘economic capital’ and ‘monitoring’ behaviours. Moreover, a decline in cost efficiency leads to a rise in insolvency risk, implying ‘bad management’ behaviour; an increase in risk results in a reduction in cost efficiency, indicating ‘bad luck’ behaviour; and a reduction in capital ratio in the poorly capitalised banks leads to a growth in risk, suggesting ‘moral hazard’ behaviour. The results remain strongly robust when using an alternative risk measurement (the loan loss provision ratio) and an alternative SFA model.     

Supply-chain partnership performance

We model the strategic as well as the operational dimension of performance of supplier–retailer partnerships in terms of five factors: (1) information exchange; (2) trust; (3) joint partnership management; (4) relationship-specific assets; and (5) partner asymmetry. Our paired data are from 74 supplier–retailer partnerships in the consumer-packaged goods industry. As a result we found that the factors that best model strategic performance are different from those that best model operational performance. All companies are in Korea and the retailers include international companies like Carrefour, Tesco, and Wal-Mart while suppliers include Coca-Cola, Kimberley-Clark, and Nestlé.     

Introduction

NETNOMICS: Economic Research and Electronic Networking -     

The Effects of Variations in Laxity (or Strictness) of Closure Rules on the Valuation of Deposit Insurance

The passage of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 (FDICIA), which removed some of the freedom or latitude the FDIC had in resolving and closing insolvent institutions, makes it clear that regulatory closure rules are not invariant with regard to time and events. Therefore, this paper analyzes the effects of variations in the laxity or strictness of bank closure rules on the valuation of deposit insurance. Hardly predictable state variables, such as political, economic and bureaucratic constraints, represent potential sources of uncertainty that drive changes in the stringency of closure policy. A variation of Ronn and Verma's [14] model is extended to consider situations where the insurance agency's closure rule is uncertain.     

An analysis of private loan guarantees

Loans guaranteed by private parties other than government agencies experienced an explosive growth in the early 1980s. Althoughprivate financial guarantees are widely used, models for valuing them are not well developed. Using option-pricing theory, in a discrete-time framework we obtain closed-form formulas for evaluating private loan guarantees. We conduct numerical simulations and derive comparative statics for vulnerable loan guarantees under different conditions of debt subordination in conjunction with government default-free guarantees.     

VACATION LIFESTYLE AND TRAVEL BEHAVIORS

In marketing research, tourism scholars have often developed a variety of scales and integrated them into segmentation studies. Since vacation lifestyle variables, which could be utilized as a base for marketing research, have not received much attention from market researchers, this article attempts to further purify the extant scale and use Taiwanese travelers as a case study. The study survey was conducted of 443 tourists staying at least one night at the Ken‐Ting National Park in Taiwan from April to May, 2002. This study collected 420 useful samples. Three groups of users merged from the cluster analysis: (a) Family Oriented Travelers, (b) Social Oriented Travelers, and (c) Stylish Travelers. The study shows that the differences in trip characteristics are the frequencies of domestic travel, the frequencies of international travel, the hotel preferences, and the average expenditure on accommodations. The variations in demographic characteristics relate to age, family life cycle, education, and household income. This study on vacation lifestyle subsequently renders a new assessment tool to tourism professionals in Taiwan to grasp the lifestyle profile of their customers and develop strategies to entice the travel market.