Hilferding on derivatives

Abstract

Rudolf Hilferding has always been regarded as a leading Marxist scholar. His theoretical intervention is still considered to be benchmark in Political Economy. Nevertheless, Hilferding's approach to derivatives has been left untouched. The aim of this paper is precisely to fill this gap in the literature. Hilferding realised that the development of the stock exchange was indeed parallel to another important event: the emergence of standardised derivative exchanges; he underlined their economic significance for the organisation of capitalism. In spite of how one appraises the final outcome of his analysis, the intention to incorporate futures markets in his general approach and to analyse them using Marxian theoretical categories is quite exceptional in the long tradition of political economy.     

How Do Stock Markets in the US and Europe Price Efficiency Gains from Bank M&As?

This paper examines whether the stock markets price changes in operating efficiency as a result of bank mergers and if the premiums paid by the acquiring banks also reflect these changes. The sample covers mergers and acquisitions consummated in the US and Europe during the period of 1997 to 2003. Changes in cost and profit efficiency are calculated using the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method 1 year prior and 3 years following the merger announcement. Evidence suggests a significant relation between the announcement-period abnormal returns and the post-merger profit efficiency changes. Results also indicate that bank managers are likely to pay a higher premium for those M&A transactions that can bring about greater efficiency gains, particularly on the profit side. Further, although acquirer shareholders in the US and Europe appear to react differently to the announcement of a bank merger, our results for target shareholders suggest that regional differences might be less important than the degree of capital market development in explaining wealth effects.     

A decision model for outsourcing training functions: distinguishing between generic and firm-job-specific training content

Employee training plays a crucial role in the success of most organizations. Due to its developmental aspect, training is closely linked to core competencies and strategic focus. However, it is also one of the most widely outsourced HR functions in most Western economies.

This article attempts to illustrate and propose a decision model for the factors that shape the expected benefits and subsequently the extent of outsourcing training functions. A distinction is made among generic training (for the development of competencies) and job- or company- specific training (for example, induction training, job specialization, etc.).

Two decision models are extracted with structural equation modelling. Asset specificity, market availability, in-house development of training and firm size are discussed. The factors shaping the decision to outsource, as well as the perceived benefits from outsourcing employee training, are different for each of the two types of training (generic and specific). The reasons underlying those differences are discussed. For both types of training service it is proposed that the expected quality benefits, not cost ones, induce companies to outsource training.

Thus, this study attempts to offer a useful insight into the factors shaping the extent and the expected benefits from outsourcing training services. The outcomes can further assist HRM professionals (managers and providers of HRM services), as well as academics to gain a better understanding of the nature of HRM outsourcing decisions in general, and a ‘basic’ HRM outsourcing practice – training – in particular.     

Differences in leadership behaviour and influence between public and private organizations in Greece

This paper aims at comparing certain managerial aspects which seem to affect and account for the differences in organizational performance between public and private organizations in Greece.

By presenting empirical evidence concerning leadership behaviour and influence in both types of organizations, it becomes apparent that leadership quality is not necessarily the problem in public organizations. A number of leadership substitutes and neutralizers such as bureaucratic controls, external political influence and the limited positive reward power which leaders seem to possess have to be removed in order to enhance the role of leadership in public sector organizations.     

Leadership styles, need satisfaction and the organizational commitment of Greek managers

This article presents the results of an empirical study of the relation between the leadership styles, need satisfaction and the organizational commitment of Greek managers. The findings show that there is a negative relationship between need satisfaction and organizational commitment. This relationship is stronger for the higher-order than for the lower-order needs. Furthermore, the results provide some empirical evidence regarding the relationship between the superior's leadership style and the subordinate's organizational commitment. The findings show that in most cases studied, the commitment of the Greek managers was higher when the superior adopted a consultative leadership style. This style was also the one preferred by the majority of our respondents.     

Confidence intervals of the premiums of optimal bonus malus systems

In view of the economic importance of motor third-party liability insurance in developed countries the construction of optimal BMS has been given considerable interest. However, a major drawback in the construction of optimal BMS is that they fail to account for the variability on premium calculations which are treated as point estimates. The present study addresses this issue. Specifically, nonparametric mixtures of Poisson laws are used to construct an optimal BMS with a finite number of classes. The mixing distribution is estimated by nonparametric maximum likelihood (NPML). The main contribution of this paper is the use of the NPML estimator for the construction of confidence intervals for the premium rates derived by updating the posterior mean claim frequency. Furthermore, we advance one step further by improving the performance of the confidence intervals based on a bootstrap procedure where the estimated mixture is used for resampling. The construction of confidence intervals for the individual premiums based on the asymptotic maximum likelihood theory is beneficial for the insurance company as it can result in accurate and effective adjustments to the premium rating policies from a practical point of view.     

The role of productive efficiency on entry and post‐entry performance under different strategic orientation: the case of the Greek plastics and rubber industry

The present study formulates and empirically tests the hypothesis that the post‐entry performance and growth of new firms is affected by the way in which crucial resources are combined during the decision‐making process to enter the industry or not. Further, the study empirically tests the hypothesis that multifaceted productive efficiency influences both the entry decision and the entrants' post‐entry performance. The proposed analytical framework allows for testing these hypotheses under different strategic orientations assumed to be followed by entrants. Results of the estimated partial observability model provide support to these hypotheses in almost all of the examined cases. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prediction of open market share repurchases and portfolio returns: evidence from France,Germany and the UK

This study uses logistic regression for the development of prediction models that distinguish between share-repurchasing and non-share repurchasing firms. The estimated models form the basis for an investment strategy, according to which one invests on the stock of the firms that are predicted as repurchasing ones. Using a sample of firms from the UK, France, and Germany, the results show that this strategy generates positive and statistically significant abnormal returns over different investment periods that range between 1 and 18 months.     

Profit efficiency in the European Union banking industry: a directional technology distance function approach

We employ the directional technology distance function approach and present estimates of profit efficiency in the 25 European Union (EU) member states over the period 1998–2008. This method decomposes profit efficiency into its technical and allocative components. We investigate potential efficiency differences across the old EU region and the new EU member states, across countries and across banks of different size. Our results indicate a significant level of profit inefficiency for the EU region, which is predominantly attributed to allocative inefficiency. Our findings also suggest that banks operating in the old EU region are, on average, more profit efficient than credit institutions in the new EU member states. Overall, we observe considerable variation of efficiency scores across countries and different patterns in efficiency change over time, as well as a negative relationship between bank size and efficiency.     

Current account sustainability in the US: What did we really know about it?

We analyze the sustainability of the US current account (CA) deficit by means of unit-root tests. First, we argue that there are several reasons to believe that the CA may follow a non-linear mean-reversion behavior under the null of stationarity. Using a non-linear ESTAR model we can reject the null of non-stationarity favoring the sustainability hypothesis. Second, we ask whether unit-root tests are a useful indicator of sustainability by comparing in-sample results for the 1960–2004 period to the developments observed up to the end of 2008. We find that the non-linear model outperforms the linear and random walk models in terms of forecast performance. The large shocks to the CA observed in the last five years induced a faster speed of mean reversion, ensuring the necessary adjustment to meet the inter-temporal budget constraint.