Noise Trading and the Management of Operational Risk; Firms,Traders and Irrationality in Financial Markets*

abstract Efficient market models cannot explain the high level of trading in financial markets in terms of asset portfolio adjustment. It is presumed that much of this excessive trading is irrational ‘noise’ trading. A corollary is that there must either be irrational traders in the market or rational traders with irrational aberrations. The paper reviews the various attempts to explain noise trading in the finance literature, concluding that the persistence of irrationality is not well explained. Data from a study of 118 traders in four large investment banks are presented to advance reasons why traders might seek to trade more frequently than financial models predict. The argument is advanced that trades do not simply occur in order to generate profit, but it does not follow that such trading is irrational. Trading may generate information, accelerate learning, create commitments and enhance social capital, all of which sustain traders' long term survival in the market. The paper treats noise trading as a form of operational risk facing firms operating in financial markets and discusses approaches to the management of such risk.     

西部大开发中的生态旅游业发展

2000年中国政府实施了西部大开发战略，几平所有西部省、市、区都将旅游产业作为支柱产业发展，奠中大部分地区为实现“双赢”提出发展生态旅游业。因此，生态旅游资源的开发已成为推动西部地区经济发展的一项重大政策和支柱性产业。     

The dynamics of moonlighting in Russia1

This paper uses the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) to analyse the dynamics of moonlighting by the working‐age population. We find that moonlighting is transitory and that a desire to switch jobs expressed in the past is positively related to moonlighting in the present and to actual job changes in the future. We also find that workers who moonlighted as self‐employed in the past represent 26.5 percent of the new self‐employed. These results suggest that moonlighting in Russia can be seen as an effective incubator for setting up new self‐employed businesses, thereby providing long‐term benefits for the economy.     

Improved estimation of portfolio value‐at‐risk under copula models with mixed marginals

Portfolio value‐at‐risk (PVAR) is widely used in practice, but recent criticisms have focused on risks arising from biased PVAR estimates due to model specification errors and other problems. The PVAR estimation method proposed in this article combines generalized Pareto distribution tails with the empirical density function to model the marginal distributions for each asset in the portfolio, and a copula model is used to form a joint distribution from the fitted marginals. The copula–mixed distribution (CMX) approach converges in probability to the true marginal return distribution but is based on weaker assumptions that may be appropriate for the returns data found in practice. CMX is used to estimate the joint distribution of log returns for the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) index and the associated futures contracts on SGX and TAIFEX. The PVAR estimates for various hedge portfolios are computed from the fitted CMX model, and backtesting diagnostics indicate that CMX outperforms the alternative PVAR estimators. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 26:997–1018, 2006     

试论市场经济条件下的经济计划

在商品货币关系广泛存在的情况下,要想恰当有效地按比例分配社会劳动时间,既离不开市场的作用,也离不开计划的作用。这既为资本主义社会的实践所证明,也为社会主义社会的实践所证明。对这个问题进行深层次的分析,可以从生产关系与生产力、上层建筑与经济基础的关系上,从计划与市场的内在统一性上。从计划与市场两种手段的不同特点上找到理论根据。在市场经济条件下,并不排斥计划的作用,但计划工作必须进行改革使之与发展市场经济相适应。     

Spreads, depths, and the impact of earnings information: an intraday analysis

For a sample of NYSE firms, we show that wide spreads are accompaniedby low depths, and that spreads widen and depths fall in responseto bigger volume. Spreads widen and depths fall in anticipationof earnings announcements; these effects are more pronouncedfor announcements with larger subsequent price changes. Spreadsare also wider following earnings announcements, but this effectdissipates quickly after controlling for volume. Collectively,our results suggest liquidity providers are sensitive to changesin information asymmetry risk and use both spreads and depthsto actively manage this risk.     

How Does a Development Moratorium Affect Development Timing Choices and Land Values?

This paper investigates how a development moratorium affects choices of development timing and land values in a framework where both the value of developed property evolves stochastically and the development costs are fully irreversible. We assume that a regulator initially announces that land is not allowed to be developed during a finite period of time in the future. A developer, thus, must decide whether to develop land before the timing ordinance is imposed, or after it expires. The development moratorium reduces the developer’s option value from waiting and, thus, accelerates development. We also use simulation analysis to demonstrate how the other factors that relate to the demand and supply conditions of the real estate market affect this accelerating effect.     

Technical innovation and 3.5 mobile phone generation: Lessons from Korea

In 1996, the Korean mobile communication market was the first in the world to commercialize the code division multiple access (CDMA). Since then, the voice-based mobile phone market has continued to grow and has now reached near saturation. Having recognized the potential of the mobile data service as a new source of profit, telecommunication operators are scrambling to evolve 3.5 generation (3.5G) technology in order to lead market competition. Recently, the Korean 3.5G mobile telecom market has faced stiff competition from CDMA-based EVDO Rev.A and global system for mobile telecommunications (GSM)-based high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA). In addition, the world's first wireless LAN-based wireless broadband internet (WiBro) service was commercialized in June, 2006. This paper reviews the current status of the 3.5G technology and analyzes the service standardization strategies from the viewpoint of technological evolutions. This paper also suggests implications for Korea's specific circumstances where different mobile telecom technologies complement and compete with one another. Korea's experiences may serve as important lessons for other countries or operators who try to introduce the 3G and look beyond mobile telecom technologies.     

黑天的故事——“文革”时代的地下手抄本

“文革”手抄本中讲述的这些故事,不过是中国革命这一台大戏的细碎片段而已。也正因为这样,我们才可以借助于它们而管窥到,那场炽烈的革命是怎样走向了自己的反面。以往这些手抄本之所以受到轻视,主要是因其太过原始和低俗,不过正如本文所证明的, 其实恰恰鉴于这种出奇的原始和低俗,反而更值得好好琢磨一番。说穿了,这些已被兀鹰啄食干净的文明骷髅,竟是在无情地警示着,经过那场彻底的浩劫,一切都只有无所遮蔽地重新开始了,再没有什么理由去讲什么“文明古国”之类的大话了。     

生活垃圾堆肥处理技术发展的几点思考

结合多年来在生活垃圾管理特别是堆肥厂的日常运行管理方面的经验，阐述了目前我国生活垃圾堆肥处理技术应用现状和堆肥厂实际运行过程中存在的具体问题，并对今后堆肥技术的发展提出几点建议，即：正确综合评价垃圾堆肥技术，给予垃圾堆肥技术正确定位，选择合理堆肥工艺，充分发挥垃圾堆肥的优势，提高堆肥质量，开拓堆肥产品市场是今后垃圾堆肥技术发展的关键。