Time series momentum and moving average trading rules

We compare and contrast time series momentum (TSMOM) and moving average (MA) trading rules so as to better understand the sources of their profitability. These rules are closely related; however, there are important differences. TSMOM signals occur at points that coincide with a MA direction change, whereas MA buy (sell) signals only require price to move above (below) a MA. Our empirical results show MA rules frequently give earlier signals leading to meaningful return gains. Both rules perform best outside of large stock series which may explain the puzzle of their popularity with investors, yet lack of supportive evidence in academic studies.     

中国地区工业绿色全要素生产率增长:——基于方向性距离函数的经验分析

结合方向性距离函数和跨期数据包络分析法,测度绿色全要素生产率增长时尽可能地避免了出现技术倒退结论。中国省份工业的经验分析表明:忽略非期望产出的全要素生产率增长被高估,并混淆了技术进步和技术效率变化的相对贡献;技术无效率普遍存在且省际差异和年际波动性大,但这与经济发展水平无关;绿色全要素生产率变化也存在省际差异和年际波动特点,其中技术进步是其增长的主要源泉,而技术效率恶化是其倒退的根本原因;绿色全要素生产率增长存在明显的倒U型趋势和趋同性,而且外资利用印证了"污染天堂"假说。     

Conditional performance evaluation for German equity mutual funds

We investigate the conditional performance of a sample of German equity mutual funds over the period from 1994 to 2003 using both the beta-pricing approach and the stochastic discount factor (SDF) framework. On average, mutual funds cannot generate excess returns relative to their benchmark that are large enough to cover their total expenses. Compared to unconditional alphas, fund performance sharply deteriorates when we measure conditional alphas. Given that stock returns are to some extent predictable based on publicly available information, conditional performance evaluation raises the benchmark for active fund managers because it gives them no credit for exploiting readily available information. Underperformance is more pronounced in the SDF framework than in beta-pricing models. The fund performance measures derived from alternative model specifications differ depending on the number of primitive assets taken to calibrate the SDF as well as the number of instrument variables used to scale assets and/or factors.     

Very fast money: High-frequency trading on the NASDAQ

This paper provides evidence regarding high-frequency trader (HFT) trading performance, trading costs, and effects on market efficiency using a sample of NASDAQ trades and quotes that directly identifies HFT participation. I find that HFTs engage in successful intra-day market timing, spreads are wider when HFTs provide liquidity and tighter when HFTs take liquidity, and prices incorporate information from order flow and market-wide returns more efficiently on days when HFT participation is high.     

城乡居民收入性质对城乡消费差距的影响研究

针对中国城乡居民消费差距高位徘徊、消费结构二元并行格局的研究要突破收入数量视角,从收入性质视角予以深刻剖析。基于经典消费理论核心思想,引申出收入的暂时性、流动性、相对性、可预期性和跨期支配性等性质,并采用1991—2013年中国29个省份的相关数据,运用固定效应变系数面板模型实证分析收入性质对城乡消费差距的影响,研究表明：在收入量既定的条件下,收入性质对城乡消费差距的影响显著;农村居民持久收入增长幅度超过城镇居民、收入向上流动幅度大于城镇居民,才能使城乡消费差距缩小;农村居民对正向不确定收入的消费倾向于抑制,而对负向不确定收入的消费则存在棘轮效应;农村居民收入跨期支配性对城乡消费差距具有弥合效应。因此,在增加农民收入数量的同时,也应注重其收入性质的改善,才能有效缩小城乡消费差距。     

S&P 500 Affiliation and Stock Price Informativeness

Abstract

When firms are added to a stock index, more information should be discovered, traded on, and incorporated into their stock prices, making them more informative. We test this hypothesis using a large sample of additions to the S&P 500 index. Using two alternative statistical tests, we find that the stocks added experience more random, less predictable return and, thus, appear to be priced more efficiently information-wise. We further find concurrent increases in institutional ownership and investor awareness, which tend to contribute to the higher pricing efficiency, adding to the literature. These findings should be of interest to academics and practitioners.     

On the predictive power of the surplus consumption ratio

This paper shows that the surplus consumption ratio, specified by Campbell and Cochrane [1999. Journal of Political Economy 107, 205–251], is a good predictor of excess returns at long horizons. We also provide empirical evidence that this variable captures a component of expected returns, not explained by the proxies for the consumption to wealth ratio, cay and cdy, proposed by Lettau and Ludvigson [2001a. Journal of Finance 56, 815–849; 2001b. Journal of Political Economy 109, 1238–1286; 2005. Journal of Financial Economics 76, 583–626]. Moreover, used as a conditioning information for the Consumption based Asset Pricing Model (C)CAPM, the resulting linear model helps to explain for the variation in average returns across the Fama–French (25) portfolios sorted by size and book-to-market characteristics.     

The Gilt-Equity Yield Ratio and the Predictability of UK and US Equity Returns

A number of financial variables have been shown to be effective in explaining the time-series of aggregate equity returns in both the UK and the US. These include, inter alia , the equity dividend yield, the spread between the yields on long and short government bonds, and the lagged equity return. Recently, however, the ratio between the long government bond yield and the equity dividend yield – the gilt-equity yield ratio – has emerged as a variable that has considerable explanatory power for UK equity returns. This paper compares the predictive ability of the gilt-equity yield ratio with these other variables for UK and US equity returns, providing evidence on both in-sample and out-of-sample performance. For UK monthly returns, it is shown that while the dividend yield has substantial in-sample explanatory power, this is not matched by out-of sample forecast accuracy. The gilt-equity yield ratio, in contrast, performs well both in-sample and out-of-sample. Although the predictability of US monthly equity returns is much lower than for the UK, a similar result emerges, with the gilt-equity yield ratio dominating the other variables in terms of both in-sample explanatory power and out-of-sample forecast performance. The gilt-equity yield ratio is also shown to have substantial predictive ability for long horizon returns.     

Performance of French intensive care units: A directional distance function approach at the patient level

By using a novel adaptation of the free-disposable hull analysis of productivity, we assess the medical and technical efficiency of patient care in 25 Parisian intensive care units (ICUs) during 2000. The robust free disposable hull (RFDH) as defined by [Cazals et al., 2002. Nonparametric frontier estimation: a robust approach. Journal of Econometrics 106, 1–25] reduces the impact outliers may have on findings by employing Monte-Carlo techniques and repeated sample selection. Among our key findings, there was no overall significant correlation between medical and technical efficiencies for all the ICUs, therefore performing well in one does not guarantee good performance in the other. We also found that over 80% of inefficiency is concentrated in less than 20% of the sampled patients.