Detecting jumps from Lévy jump diffusion processes

Recent asset-pricing models incorporate jump risk through Lévy processes in addition to diffusive risk. This paper studies how to detect stochastic arrivals of small and big Lévy jumps with new nonparametric tests. The tests allow for robust analysis of their separate characteristics and facilitate better estimation of return dynamics. Empirical evidence of both small and big jumps based on these tests suggests that models for individual equities and overall market indices require incorporating Lévy-type jumps. The evidence of small jumps also helps explain why jumps in the market index are uncorrelated with jumps in its component equities.     

50+ Years of Diversification Announcements

This paper studies announcement returns from 4,764 mergers over 57 years to shed light on several controversies concerning corporate diversification. One prominent view is that diversification destroys value because of agency problems or internal investment distortions, but we find that combined (acquirer plus target) announcement returns are significantly positive for diversifying mergers throughout the period, and no lower than the returns for related mergers. The returns from diversifying acquisitions fell after 1980, and investors rewarded mergers involving financially constrained firms before but not after 1980, consistent with the idea that the value of internal capital markets declined over time.     

Testing the CAPM revisited

This paper re-examines the tests of the Sharpe–Lintner Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). The null that the CAPM intercepts are zero is tested for ten size-based stock portfolios and for twenty five book-to-market sorted portfolios using five-year, ten-year and longer sub-periods during 1965–2004. The paper shows that the evidence for rejecting the CAPM on statistical grounds is weaker than the consensus view suggests, and highlights the pitfalls of testing multiple hypotheses with the conventional heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation robust (HAR) test with asymptotic P-values. The conventional test rejects the null for almost all sub-periods, which is consistent with the evidence in the literature. By contrast, the null is not rejected for most of the sub-periods by the new HAR tests developed by Kiefer et al. (2000), Kiefer and Vogelsang (2005), and Sun et al. (2008).     

Hedging Multiple Price Uncertainty in International Grain Trade

Commodity and freight futures contracts are analyzed for their effectiveness in reducing uncertainty for international traders. A theoretical model is developed for a trader exposed to several types of risk. OLS hedge ratio estimation is compared to the SUR and the multivariate GARCH methodologies. Explicit modeling of the time-variation in hedge ratios via the multivariate GARCH methodology, using all derivatives, and taking into account dependencies between prices, results in reductions in risk, even after accounting for transaction costs. Results confirm that while the commodity futures contracts are important for hedging risk, freight futures are a useful mechanism for reducing risk.     

Corporate political strategies and firm performance: indications of firm‐specific benefits from personal service in the U.S. government

Firms employ a variety of political strategies (e.g., lobbying, contributions) in an attempt to gain influence or access to the public policy process. A variety of benefits may accrue to firms that are successful in creating a linkage with the government: information, access, influence, reduced uncertainty and transaction costs, etc. However, the direct benefits of such strategies are difficult to observe. One political strategy is studied here—personal service (having a firm representative serve in a political capacity). Event‐study methodology results show that such linkages with the government positively affect firm value. These findings indicate that firm‐specific benefits may result from political strategies. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Drivers of brand image improvement in sports-event sponsorship

This stock-taking article re-examines 20 years of research on conditions that influence the magnitude of brand image improvement through sports-event sponsorship. The study suggests a procedure to adequately measure sponsor image change in field sponsorships and investigates potential factors related to the sponsored property, the sponsorship relationship, the sponsor, and the individual sports spectator that may affect the magnitude of sponsor image improvement. An empirical analysis in the context of a large sponsored sports event shows that some drivers influence sponsor image improvement directly in a multiple regression analysis (spectators’ perceived event image, event–sponsor fit, sponsor familiarity, and product category importance), while other drivers are related to sponsor image in bivariate analyses only (spectators’ event interest, sport interest, event exposure, and demographic characteristics). Reasons for these findings (e.g., interrelationship between drivers of sponsor image improvement), managerial implications, and consequences for the development of a comprehensive model of sponsor image formation are discussed.     

The Global Financial Crisis and Stock Market Reaction to Bank Loan Announcements

This study investigates how equity investors react to bank loan announcements in China using an event study methodology. By estimating the average Cumulative Abnormal Returns (CARs) over the event period and controlling for the impact of other factors such as borrower, lender and loan characteristics, we find that the overall reaction is negative. However, the results for the two sub-sample periods are different. After the onset of the Global Financial Crisis, the average CARs are no longer statistically different from zero, indicating higher lending standards and improvement in the quality of credit analysis of Chinese banks.     

损失分布模型在操作风险中的应用分析

随着巴塞尔协议的公布,操作风险(Operational Risk)的量化模型已经成为银行业目前研究的主要课题。本文按照巴塞尔协议规定,利用损失分布方法(Loss Distribution Approach,LDA)来度量操作风险,这种方法的优点在于分别度量损失事件发生频度以及损失幅度,然后利用组合分布方法来研究一段时间内的累积损失分布。本文主要讨论在商业银行内部如何执行LDA以及引入操作风险在险值(Valueat Risk,VaR)的概念,并且介绍了能够反映损失分布的分布函数。同时按照巴塞尔协议公布的方法和策略,从损失事件类型、业务部门以及损失分布额度的估计方法探讨利用高级度量方法的可能性和现实性以及操作中的现实问题。     

The relationship between corporate social responsibility and shareholder value: an empirical test of the risk management hypothesis

Do shareholders gain when managers disperse corporate resources through activities classified as corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Strategy scholars have recently developed a theoretical model that links such activities to shareholder value when a firm suffers a negative event; we test key portions of this theory of the ‘insurance‐like’ property of CSR activity. We posit that such activity leads to positive attributions from stakeholders, who then temper their negative judgments and sanctions toward firms because of this goodwill. We extend the risk management model by theorizing that some types of CSR activities will be more likely to create goodwill and offer insurance‐like protection than other types. We delineate several firm and event specific characteristics that we expect to influence the link between CSR activities and an insurance effect. We then test our model using an event study of 178 negative legal/regulatory actions against firms throughout the 11 years from 1993–2003. We find that participation in institutional CSR activities—those aimed at a firm's secondary stakeholders or society at large—provides an ‘insurance‐like’ benefit, while participation in technical CSRs—those activities targeting a firm's trading partners—yields no such benefits. We conclude by considering the implications of our findings for future theorizing and research into the economic value of CSR engagement. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于业务事件上下文感知的物流跟踪系统研究

对物流中的信息跟踪模式进行了分析,从信息技术的角度对信息跟踪、信息处理及追踪流程等问题进行了探讨。构建了基于业务事件上下文感知的智能追踪系统的物流方案,并通过案例分析进行了验证。