Are exchange rates serially correlated? New evidence from the Euro FX markets

This paper examines the serial uncorrelatedness hypothesis in the Euro FX markets by testing for autocorrelation in daily FX returns of 82 countries over the period of 1999–2010. We use three newly developed tests that are robust to conditional heteroskedasticity of unknown forms and that do not choose a lag parameter arbitrarily. They are Escanciano &; Lobato (2009)'s automatic Box–Pierce Q_p test, Nankervis &; Savin (2010)'s generalized Andrews–Ploberger test and Deo (2000)'s robust Durlauf test. We find no significant autocorrelation in the FX returns of around 58 to 62 countries, suggesting that majority of the Euro FX markets are weak-form efficient.     

Toward an Understanding of Tourists’ Authentic Heritage Experiences: Evidence from Hong Kong

Authenticity in tourism has been a topic of discussion since the 1960s, but the concept is still to be fully developed. This study focuses on tourists’ perceptions of authenticity, and in particular how they evaluate authentic heritage experiences. The appearance and physical settings of attractions were found to be the initial and most important indicators of authentic or inauthentic experiences. Other criteria for assessing the authenticity of heritage experiences include the presence of local culture and customs, constructed elements, commodification, and atmosphere.     

The Response of Hotels to Increasing Food Costs due to Food Shortages

During 2008–2009 the hotel industry in Hong Kong had to respond to a steady price increase in general food items and in basic food commodities. As most hotels in Hong Kong predict their food cost budgets a year in advance, these sudden and unexpected increases in food commodities came at a time when there was a downturn in the global economy in the wake of the financial crisis and a worldwide influenza A (H1N1) epidemic. There have been articles published in hospitality and tourism journals that have discussed the issue of food cost and control in hotels resulting from poor storage and purchasing, portion control, and preparation and production methods. However, none of the previous studies has examined the sudden and rapid increases in the cost of foods and the impact that this has had on the hotel industry. The measures adopted by Hong Kong hotels of different tiers to control or reduce expected food costs are analyzed in this study. This study employed a cross-sectional exploratory design, encompassing in-depth personal interviews with food and beverage managers and executive chefs in high-, mid- and low-tier hotels in Hong Kong. Empirical findings revealed that mid- and low-tier hotels found the increases in commodity prices challenging and thus employed innovative methods to combat rising food costs. High-tier hotels were more concerned about satisfying customers' needs by maintaining high-quality food products and services. The findings indicate that hotels and restaurants at all points of the market adopted functional strategies to increase their efficiency and profitability. Based on the operating experience of existing hotels, this study demonstrates that enhancing the quality of suppliers' commodities, good staff communication and training practices, and innovative ideas can improve a hotel's financial situation.     

Hong Kong Residents' Adoption of Risk Reduction Strategies in Leisure Travel

For decades risk has been identified as a major concern for traveling. Although some recent studies focused on studying consumers' perceived travel risks, only a few prior studies literally discussed consumers' risk reduction strategies in the context of travel-related services. To fill this gap, this study aims to investigate the travel-related risk reduction strategies that Hong Kong residents adopt to strengthen their confidence during leisure travel. This study also explores if travelers of different travel-related and sociodemographic characteristics adopt different risk reduction strategies. Among different risk reduction strategies—“purchase travel insurance,” “bring extra cash,” and “search for latest information about the destination”—are the ones which Hong Kong residents are likely to adopt when they travel for leisure. Results revealed that travel-related and sociodemographic characteristics influenced travelers' likelihood to risk reduction strategies differently. Specifically, travel experience of travelers, age, and household income displayed significant differences in the likelihood of adopting most of the risk reduction strategies.     

导游工作满意度对其离职倾向的影响

旨在研究导游工作满意度对其离职倾向的影响．首先对导游工作满意度量表数据进行探索性主成分因子分析,以导游工作满意度因子分数为自变量,离职倾向为因变量进行多元回归分析。研究发现,导游工作满意度表现为组织支持、工作收获与个人工作自主3个维度,其中工作收获与个人工作自主对离职倾向有显著负向影响．通过研究识别出导游工作满意度中对离职倾向的影响因素,同时讨论了提升导游工作满意度减少其离职行为的管理建议。     

On the discounted aggregate claim costs until ruin in dependent Sparre Andersen risk processes

In this paper, a dependent Sparre Andersen risk process in which the joint density of the interclaim time and the resulting claim severity satisfies the factorization as in Willmot and Woo is considered. We study a generalization of the Gerber–Shiu function (i) whose penalty function further depends on the surplus level immediately after the second last claim before ruin; and (ii) which involves the moments of the discounted aggregate claim costs until ruin. The generalized discounted density with a moment-based component proposed in Cheung plays a key role in deriving recursive defective renewal equations. We pay special attention to the case where the marginal distribution of the interclaim times is Coxian, and the required components in the recursion are obtained. A reverse type of dependency structure, where the claim severities follow a combination of exponentials, is also briefly discussed, and this leads to a nice explicit expression for the expected discounted aggregate claims until ruin. Our results are applied to generate some numerical examples involving (i) the covariance of the time of ruin and the discounted aggregate claims until ruin; and (ii) the expectation, variance and third central moment of the discounted aggregate claims until ruin.     

An institutional perspective on consumers' environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavioral intention: Evidence from 39 countries

We adopted an institutional approach to examine the relationship between environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavioral intention at the individual level. We also compared the moderating effects of regulative, normative, and cognitive social institutions on this relationship. Based on survey data representing 42,962 consumers from 39 nations, we found that consumers' environmental awareness promoted their pro-environmental behavioral intention. Moreover, we found that normative social institutions negatively moderated the relationship between environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavioral intention, whereas cognitive social institutions positively moderated this relationship. This paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these empirical findings.     

Periodic threshold-type dividend strategy in the compound Poisson risk model

In this paper, the compound Poisson risk model is considered. Inspired by Albrecher, Cheung, & Thonhauser. [(2011b). Randomized observation periods for the compound Poisson risk model: dividend. ASTIN Bulletin 41(2), 645–672], it is assumed that the insurer observes its surplus level periodically to decide on dividend payments at the arrival times of an Erlang(n) renewal process. If the observed surplus is larger than the maximum of a threshold b and the last observed (post-dividend) level, then a fraction of the excess is paid as a lump sum dividend. Ruin is declared when the observed surplus is negative. In this proposed periodic threshold-type dividend strategy, the insurer can have a ruin probability of less than one (as opposed to the periodic barrier strategy). The expected discounted dividends before ruin (denoted by V) will be analyzed. For arbitrary claim distribution, the general solution of V is derived. More explicit result for V is presented when claims have rational Laplace transform. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effect of randomized observations on V and the optimization of V with respect to b. When claims are exponential, convergence to the traditional threshold strategy is shown as the inter-observation times tend to zero.     

China's Outward Direct Investment in Africa

The empirical determinants of China's outward direct investment (ODI) in Africa are examined using an officially approved ODI dataset and a relatively new OECD–IMF format ODI dataset. China's ODI is found responding to the canonical economic determinants that include the market seeking motive, the risk factor, and the resources seeking motive. It is also affected by the intensity of trade ties and the presence of China's contracted projects. A host country's natural resources have an impact on China's decision on how much to invest in the country rather than on whether to invest in the country or not. China's drive for Africa's natural resources is mainly a recent phenomenon and, probably, became prominent after the “Going Global” policy adopted in 2002.