Real option valuation of public sector R&D investments with a down-and-out barrier option

This paper presents a real options approach for valuing public-sector research and development projects, using a down-and-out barrier option. Specifically, it considers the potential savings to the tax payer for investing in technology to be purchased by a national government. The valuation is performed with stretched trinomial lattices. Government-driven demand for this technology is equated with the underlying asset, and valuation measured in terms of potential government savings. Two variables, volatility of demand for the technology and unit cost, are treated as uncertain. A Monte Carlo simulation is performed to understand the effects of these variables on the valuation. Other variables are estimated, and a parametric analysis is performed to understand the effects of these variables. To illustrate how this approach could be used, the development of a new sensor, to be used in large networks that track greenhouse gas fluxes, is considered as an example.     

Real options and MNE strategies in Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific offers a lot of promising growth opportunities, but it also presents high levels of uncertainty for multinational enterprises (MNEs). In this paper, we introduce real options theory as a theory of investment under uncertainty, and we discuss its implications for MNEs and their strategies with a focus on the emerging economies in Asia Pacific. We suggest that MNEs must recognize the various sources of uncertainty, as well as the various options embedded in their investments, and real options theory can help them structure and design their investments to benefit from uncertainty. In particular, MNEs need to develop the dynamic capabilities of managing real options in their investments to respond to the evolving economic and institutional environment in the region. This paper also provides several implications for policy makers in Asia Pacific to stimulate investment activities in the region and to help their firms venture successfully in the international market place.

利益集团与制度变迁的“陷阱”——兼论转型的合法性危机

文章主要讨论制度变迁过程中那些无效率的制度均衡是如何形成的.在时利益集团经济行为进行分析的基础上,主要考察了Dayis和North理论意义上的第一和第二行动集团在制度变迁中的作用.研究表明,由于利益集团自身利益与社会利益之间存在着冲突,因此即使是启动和推进制度变迁过程的第一和第二行动集团,也有可能妨碍制度变迁迭至最优点,使其掉入"陷阱"之中.     

自然垄断产业市场化改革与利益集团博弈陷阱

自然垄断产业市场化改革的动态演进是利益集团博弈的结果,建立了一个自然垄断产业利益集团两阶段动态博弈模型,对自然垄断产业市场化改革的演进机理与利益格局进行分析。首次提出了自然垄断产业改革中的"利益集团博弈陷阱"的概念。     

Interest and profit

This paper argues that it is important to distinguish between the real rate of interest on money and the profitability of business enterprise. The former is a purely financial or monetary phenomenon （as claimed by Keynes） and the latter is in the nature of a surplus over and above the costs of production, including financing costs. There is an inverse relationship between the real rate of interest on money and the average mark-up or profit share. A synthetic theory of profit illustrates these points.     

市场和政府:扩大内需的约束条件

七次降息未能扭转通货紧缩现象,其原因在于以间接融资为主的金融市场,利率机制自发调节存在 失灵的区域,而宏观调控缺乏运作的基础,也存在盲目性。应加快利率市场化进程,促进金融市场直接融 资的迅速发展,才能有效实现币值稳定和经济增长。     

人民币汇率弹性的增大对利率稳定性的影响

汇率改革前后,汇率与利率之间的动态关系发生了系统性的改变。在均值意义上讲,人民币汇率弹性的增大降低了利率波动的幅度,利率对汇率的反馈机制有了一定的加强。实证检验证明,汇率改革后人民币汇率弹性的增大能稳定利率波动的假设只在长期内存在,而短期内人民币弹性的增大实际上加剧了利率的波动。     

Evidence on the contrarian trading in foreign exchange markets

This paper investigates the existence and price impacts of contrarian behavior in the foreign exchange markets. By utilizing a nonlinear behavioral model where the chartists and fundamentalists coexist, evidence obtained from two sample periods significantly supports the existence of contrarian trading in the British pound, the Japanese yen and the German mark markets. The contrarian trading can only partially offset the price impacts of trend-followers, therefore the price impact of the chartists as a whole is destabilizing. The ability that the contrarians can counterbalance the extrapolation of the trend-followers differs across markets. Traders in the BP market have the highest tendency to contrarian strategy, which in turn contributes to the least deviations of the BP exchange rates departing from its PPP fundamentals. The fundamentalists' confidence in trade fades during large misalignments, which make the mean reversion function of the fundamentalists weak under the circumstances. We find the magnitudes of interventions will be affected by the price impacts of contrarians and their abilities on market stabilization.     

Risk management instruments for debt driven conservation efforts: The case of India's Project Tiger

Project Tiger has been India's premier case of conservation success. Since mid 1990s select Project Tiger Reserves in India were chosen for intensive funding by the Global Environment Facility, the International Development Agency (IDA) and the Government of India under the ‘India Eco-Development Project’. This project marked a modest shift towards debt based funding. The GEF Project has become a benchmark for tiger conservation in India both in terms of management outcomes and scale and scope of funding. However in the absence of large-scale budgetary support or self-generating income flows, it becomes difficult for the GEF type of project to be replicated in other tiger reserves of the country. Debt instruments hold promise as enablers of conservation finance. The paper proposes issue of ‘tiger bonds’ to meet the financial requirements of tiger reserves. Though attractive as a debt instrument, a ‘tiger bond’ could nevertheless entail interest rate and default risks.Bioprospecting activities form good revenue sources for tiger reserves to pay off their debts. However bioprospecting activities do not provide assured returns to tiger reserves. Pharmaceutical companies that prospect for genetic resources and practice ‘real options’ approach to R&D investment planning, adopt multi-phased investment systems and sequential searches that gives them the flexibility to abandon R&D projects. From the point of view of genetic resource providing entities like Project Tiger Reserves, the ‘postponement value’ generated by real options, enables a drug company to tap substitutes for the genetic resources that form the subject matter of bioprospecting contracts. To obviate possible repayment risks by tiger reserves, the paper advocates the institution of ‘put bonds’ as a risk management tool for Project Tiger Reserves in order to hedge themselves against loan defaults arising from possible loss in bioprospecting income. The paper also brings out the mechanics of the issue of tiger bonds in the Indian context. It is argued that a put bond not only hedges default risks but would also aid ‘value discovery’ and payment for ecosystem services as far as the Project Tiger Reserves of India are concerned.