Forecasting and turning point predictions in a Bayesian panel VAR model

We provide methods for forecasting variables and predicting turning points in panel Bayesian VARs. We specify a flexible model, which accounts for both interdependencies in the cross section and time variations in the parameters. Posterior distributions for the parameters are obtained for hierarchical and for Minnesota-type priors. Formulas for multistep, multiunit point and average forecasts are provided. An application to the problem of forecasting the growth rate of output and of predicting turning points in the G-7 illustrates the approach. A comparison with alternative forecasting methods is also provided.     

新制度主义的制度分析范式:一个归纳性述评

制度分析是当代社会科学领域一个重要的理论分析工具。20世纪70年代以来,经济学、政治学等重新发现了制度对解释现实问题的重要性,形成了新制度主义的制度分析范式。基于共同的逻辑起点、行为假设和理论工具,制度分析范式形成了不同的制度分析途径,如嵌入性制度分析、立宪制度分析、比较制度分析、历史制度分析和多中心制度分析等。制度分析拓展了社会科学的研究对象,增强了社会科学解释和解决现实问题的能力,越来越多的领域被囊括到制度分析中。     

Co-breaking,cointegration, and weak exogeneity: Modelling aggregate consumption in Japan

This paper aims to estimate a parsimonious data-congruent model for aggregate real consumption in Japan using quarterly data over the past two decades. Testing co-breaking, cointegration and weak exogeneity plays an important role in pursuing the model reduction. It is demonstrated that co-breaking removes a deterministic shift caused by the collapse of the bubble economy in Japan in the early 1990s. Multivariate cointegration analysis then reveals that inflation plays a critical role in accounting for the long-run behaviour of the aggregate consumption. Further analysis finds that inflation and aggregate income are weakly exogenous with respect to a set of parameters of interest. Finally, a parsimonious data-congruent model for the aggregate consumption is estimated conditional on the set of weakly exogenous variables.     

The interaction effect of gender and ethnicity in loan approval: A Bayesian estimation with data from a laboratory field experiment

Microfinance targets women and uses loan provision as a tool for empowerment, which translates into better household nutrition, improved education, and a scale down of domestic violence. However, ethnic discrimination in microfinance may exist in countries with a segregated indigenous population. We assessed this possibility with a field experiment in Bolivia. The controlled laboratory experiment evaluated whether credit officers rejected microloan applications based on the interaction effect of ethnicity and gender of potential borrowers. Point estimates of a Bayesian mixed‐effects logistic regression, estimated with the experimental data, indicate that nonindigenous women have double the chance of loan approval, but indigenous women have only 1.5 times the chance of loan approval when compared with men. While the findings about gender are limited, the evidence for the interaction of gender and ethnicity is more robust and suggests the existence of positive taste‐based discrimination favorable for nonethnic women in Bolivia. We conclude that the affirmative actions towards women promoted by development agencies and microfinance institutions must not overlook ethnicity as an important factor for financial policies of sustainable development. In practice, these policies should be aimed at identifying and reducing both social desirability bias and the structural barriers to financial inclusion that indigenous women may face when trying to obtain access to a loan.     

Mapinfo在区域城市环境质量评价中的应用

本文探讨了基于Mapinfo的城市环境质量评价研究思路,在明确评价单元划分和评价方法的基础上,以各个省区地级以上城市作为分析样本,通过对评价区城市环境质量状况的综合评价实证研究,结果表明:Mapin-fo的应用可以有效支持这一评价过程,它能够将数值计算与图形处理有机的结合起来,使评价工作更加简洁、直观、高效和易于操作。     

Modeling Disinterest and Dislike: A Bounded Bayesian Mixed Logit Model of the UK Market for GM Food

Mixed logit models represent a powerful discrete choice analytical model but require assumptions about the functional form of the parameter distributions. The use of unbounded distributions, such as the normal distribution, may be regarded as unsuitable where theory indicates that all are negatively affected by increases in an attribute, such as price. Bounded distributions such as the triangular and log-normal are unable to model the case where a section of the population is indifferent towards an attribute, while the remainder are negatively disposed toward it. Train and Sonnier’s bounded mixed logit model accommodates these features and is employed in this paper. A censored normal and Johnson’s S_b distribution are used to model preferences in the UK for food attributes, including price and GM technology. Bi-modal distributions are identified regarding GM food: some are unlikely to ever consume it, some are close to indifference and willing to consume at relatively small discounts while the remainder are fairly unresponsive to further price reductions.     

European systemic credit risk transmission using Bayesian networks

The analysis of systemic credit risk is one of the most important concerns within the financial system. Its complexity lies in adequately measuring how the transmission of systemic default spreads through assets or financial markets. The transmission structure of systemic credit risk across several European sectoral CDS is studied by dynamic Bayesian networks. The new approach allows for a more advanced analysis of systemic risk transmission, including long-term and more complex relationships. The modelling reveals as relevant only relationships between the original series and one- and two-lagged series. Network structure learning displays a robust and stationary underlying risk transmission structure, pointing to a consolidated transmission mechanism of systemic credit risk between CDSs. Between 5 % and 40 % of sectoral CDS series variances are explained by the network relationships. The modelling allows us to ascertain which relationships between the CDS series show positive (amplifier) and negative (reducer) effects of systemic risk transmission.     

On the test of the correction mechanism for mis-pricing between assets using a statistical yield spread model

This paper investigates the existence of a correction mechanism for mis-pricing between Japanese stock and bond. By this correction mechanism we mean that when deviations occur from the equilibrium levels of the expected return differentials between stock and bond — the risk premium differentials, the market will tend to correct the mis-pricing and bring the expected return differentials back to the equilibrium levels. We assume that the yield spread between the predicted earnings price ratio of stock and the yield to maturity of bond reflects the risk premium between stock and bond, and estimate the equilibrium risk premium differentials and mis-prices between stock and bond by modelling their behaviors with a statistical yield spread model (SYS). Empirical results strongly indicate the existence of the mis-pricing correction mechanism, suggesting the inefficiency of securities markets.     

防止桥头引道不均与沉降技术措施的探讨

针对桥头引道沉降陷的实际问题,从桥头引道的设计、施工和养护的角度出发,提出预防和治理桥梁引道不均匀沉降的措施,对保证道路的通行能力、交通安全和行车舒适性等具有重要意义。     

Determinants of the allocative,cost and scope efficiencies of Indian banks

ABSTRACT

This study aims to investigate the impact of competition on determinants of allocative, scope and cost efficiencies of Indian scheduled commercial banks (SCBs). Specifically, the study, analyzes the impact of the second round of licensing on the efficiency of Indian SCBs. This is the first paper to measure scope efficiency of Indian banks and analyze its determinants. A two-stage analysis is performed on a balanced panel dataset of Indian SCBs for the period 1999–2016. In the first stage, the allocative, cost and scope efficiencies for each bank are estimated following the data envelopment analysis approach. In the second stage, internal determinants of the stated efficiency measures are estimated following the system of the generalized method of moments approach. The findings suggest that competition has not resulted in enhancing the efficiency of Indian SCBs. Among factors that can influence efficiency, it is seen that size does matter. Larger banks can enhance the efficiency of SCBs. It is also seen that having more foreign banks improves the overall efficiency of SCBs. However, before embarking on further rounds of licensing, the study posits that market-driven correction to succeed, it is imperative to address sunspots in the form of investor or borrower repression.