Covered interest parity in non-dollar euromarkets

Zusammenfassung Gedeckte Zinsparit?t auf Nicht-Dollar-Eurom?rkten. —- In diesem Aufsatz werden die Beziehungen zwischen Zinss?tzen und Wechselkursen auf den Eurom?rkten für andere W?hrungen als den U.S.-Dollar untersucht. Dabei zeigt sich, da\ Heteroskedastizit?t ein wichtiges Problem in den Daten ist. Tests, die mit der Heteroskedastizit?t konsistent sind, werden unter Benutzung der Korrektur nach White durchgeführt. Aus diesen Tests ergibt sich, da\ die These von der gedeckten Zinsparit?t abgelehnt werden k?nnte. Doch liegen die beobachteten Abweichungen von der gedeckten Zinsparit?t innerhalb der Grenzen, die sich aus den Transaktionskosten ergeben.

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Résumé Parité d’intérêt couverte en euro-marchés non-dollar. — Les auteurs examinent les relations entre des taux d’intérêt et des taux de change en euro-marchés non-dollar. Ils trouvent que la hétéroscédasticité est un problème significatif regardant les données. Des tests hétéroscédasticité-consistants sont conduits en utilisant la correction de White. Ces tests démontrent que la parité d’intérêt couverte (PIC) pourrait être refusée. Cependant, les auteurs trouvent que les déviations de la PIC observées sont dans des limites déterminées par les frais de transaction.

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Resumen La paridad de tipos de interés con seguro de cambio en los Euromercados alternativos al del dólar. — Se examinan las relaciones entre los tipos de interés y los tipos de cambio en los Euromercados alternativos al del dólar. La muestra presenta problemas de heteroscedasticidad. Se llevan a cabo tests consistentes con la heteroscedasticidad utilizando la corrección de White. Estos tests demuestran que la paridad de tipos de interés con seguro de cambio podría ser rechazada. Las deviaciones observadas, empero, permanecen dentro de los límites impuestos por los costos de transacción.

     

Regional sustainability: How useful are current tools of sustainability assessment at the regional scale?

Sustainability assessment methods are primarily aimed at global, national or state scales. However, modelling sustainability at finer spatial scales, such as the region, is essential for understanding and achieving sustainability. Regions are emerging as an essential focus for sustainability researchers, natural resource managers and strategic planners working to develop and implement sustainability goals. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of current sustainability assessment methods - ecological footprint, wellbeing assessment, ecosystem health assessment, quality of life and natural resource availability - at the regional scale. Each of these assessment methods are tested using South East Queensland (SEQ) as a case study. It was selected because of its ecological and demographic diversity, its combination of coastal and land management issues, and its urban metropolitan and rural farm and non-farm communities. The applicability of each of these methods to regional assessment was examined using an evaluation criteria matrix, which describes the attributes of an effective method and the characteristics that make these methods useful for regional management and building community capacity to progress sustainability. We found that the methods tested failed to effectively measure progress toward sustainability at the regional scale, demonstrating the need for a new method for assessing regional sustainability.     

Experiential Learning – A Case Study of the Use of Computerised Stock Market Trading Simulation in Finance Education

Abstract

Finance is a popular programme of study in UK higher education despite it being a challenging subject that requires students to understand and apply complex and abstract mathematical models and academic theories. Educational simulation is an active learning method found to be useful in enhancing students’ learning experience, but there has been limited pedagogic research attention on its use in finance education within the UK. This paper, utilising an on-line survey, provides a snapshot of the current usage of finance-related simulations across the 97 UK universities offering finance programmes. The paper also reports the findings of a case study that offers insights into the effectiveness of introducing computerised simulation into a postgraduate finance course from both a student and tutor perspective. It highlights an enhancing learning experience for students through concrete experience and reflective observation, increasing their understanding of difficult and complex finance concepts.     

What is Different about Socially Responsible Funds? A Holdings-Based Analysis

Using samples from the U.S. and Puerto Rico, we examine cross-cultural differences in cultural value dimensions, and relate these to act and rule utilitarian orientations, and ethical decision making of business professionals. Although these places share the same legal environment, culturally they are distinct. In addition to tests of between-group differences, a model in which utilitarian orientation mediates the influence of cultural values on ethical decisions was evaluated at the individual level of analysis. Results indicated national culture differences on three cultural values, but no between-group differences on utilitarian orientations and ethical decisions. Significant indirect effects were found; act utilitarian orientation mediated the effects of two values activity orientation and universalism on ethical decision making. Implications for international management practices and business ethics are discussed.     

Experimental analysis of choice

Experimental choice analysis continues to attract academic and applied attention. We review what is known about the design, conduct, analysis, and use of data from choice experiments, and indicate gaps in current knowledge that should be addressed in future research. Design strategies consistent with probabilistic models of choice process and the parallels between choice experiments and real markets are considered. Additionally, we address the issues of reliability and validity. Progress has been made in accounting for differences in reliability, but more research is needed to determine which experiments and response procedures will consistently produce more reliable data for various problems.Sawtooth SoftwareDecision Research     

Honesty, Individualism, and Pragmatic Business Ethics: Implications for Corporate Hierarchy

The boundaries of honesty are the focal point of this exploration of the individualistic origins of modernist ethics and the consequent need for a more pragmatic approach to business ethics. The tendency of modernist ethics to see honesty as an individual responsibility is described as a contextually naive approach, one that fails to account for the interactive effects between individual choices and corporate norms. By reviewing the empirical accounts of managerial struggles with ethical dilemmas, the article arrives at the contextual preconditions for encouraging the development of reflective moral agents in modern corporations.     

The effect of experience with a brand imitator on the original brand

Imitating the look of an existing successful brand is a common occurrence in today's crowded marketplace. It was found that a negative experience with an imitator brand increased the evaluations of the original brand. A positive experience with the imitator was shown to have the opposite effect, and there was a decrease in the evaluations of the original brand. Subjects also indicated they would be likely to purchase the positive imitator over the original at only a 10 percent price reduction.     

Ethics and service work

Service work is now a very wide ranging sector, where some forms of service work have different connotations to others, but some forms are still tainted with the degradations of domestic service. Much of the difference revolves around the personal nature of the service and the expectations of customers towards the service worker. Hence the importance of thinking about the ethics of the service relationship in a modern economy, and the need to put this on the right footing in terms of respect and dignity. The ethics of service work are explored in this article. Prior to this however, the nature of service work and the degree of degradation that can be experienced by those who do this kind of work are identified. It will be argued that service work ought to be morally evaluated according to the degree to which it helps to form and maintain the virtues of employees or whether it leads to the erosion of virtue and the active development of vices.     

GSE Activity and Mortgage Supply in Lower-Income and Minority Neighborhoods: The Effect of the Affordable Housing Goals

I estimate the credit supply effect of the Underserved Areas Goal (UAG), which establishes GSE purchase goals for mortgages to lower-income and minority neighborhoods. Taking advantage of discontinuous census tract eligibility rules and abrupt changes in tract eligibility, I find some evidence of a small UAG effect on GSE purchases and mortgage originations, without crowding-out of FHA and subprime lending. The results also suggest that the GSEs exploit the law??s lack of precision-targeting, yielding effects that might diverge from the law??s intent.