Did financial deregulation help consumers? Access to market-yield instruments

The maturity effect (ME) of futures prices postulated by Samuelson (1965) is re-examined using three nonparametric tests. The consistent entropy asymmetry test by Racine and Maasoumi (2007) indicates that variance is an appropriate risk or uncertainty measure for ME, and value-at-risk and expected shortfall are also adopted. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov dominance test and Wilcoxon rank sum and signed rank test are employed to rank the estimates of the three risk measures under a moving-window framework. The testing outcomes are contingent on futures type, testing method and risk measures. The testing outcomes show mild support for ME.     

THE IMPACT OF FOREIGN CAPITAL ON MACROECONOMIC PERFORMANCE IN CENTRAL ASIA

This paper investigates the short‐run impact of shocks in international capital flows channeled through foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign aid on national output and export performance in five Central Asian economies under a dynamic multivariate structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) framework. The identification of structural shocks is implemented by AB model based on IS‐LM‐BP postulates. The main message is that external capital shocks are persistent and small open economies are weak to absorb them. Overall, the aid shocks reduce national outputs, while FDI increase it, on average. The expansion of global demand (G20) leads to an increase in domestic GDPs, notably in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The impact is augmented by a positive effect of FDI on export channel (and net exports) that shift the IS curve upwards. We cannot find any significant aid‐FDI nexus in the region, except in Kazakhstan. The structural variance decomposition (SFEVD) results suggest that external flows and foreign demand together explain the bigger part of variability in domestic GDP and exports. Finally, variations in foreign capital, aid and FDI, are mainly explained by series themselves. The role of domestic activities is found to be weaker for aid and greater for FDI. The results could be attributed to rigid exchange rates, high trade dependence, and necessity for foreign capital to explore natural resources in Central Asian region. Our results provide some valuable suggestions to improve an investment climate for boosting economic growth.     

中国建成区绿地率区域差异的多尺度分析

建成区绿地率区域差异具有显著的尺度依赖性,基于多尺度视角对其进行分析、综合研判不同尺度间关系,可更确切且全面地揭示其特征,为探寻最佳研究尺度,以及制定兼具差异化和协调性的城市绿地建设决策提供科学依据。综合运用标准差、变异系数、锡尔指数和尺度方差等方法,将地带、省、市3个尺度纳入统一的分析框架,探究1996—2015年中国建成区绿地率区域差异。1)差异测度研究表明,自1996年以来,我国建成区绿地率区域差异在3个尺度上长期存在,均呈现缩小趋势,并表现出明显的尺度效应。2)尺度方差分解结果显示,建成区绿地率尺度方差及构成由大到小依次为市级、省级、地带级,即尺度越小,其尺度方差越大,对区域差异的贡献份额越大。     

Blocked-Error-R 2: A Conceptually Improved Definition of the Proportion of Explained Variance in Models Containing Loops or Correlated Residuals

Bentler and Raykov (2000, Journal of Applied Psychology 85: 125–131), and Jöreskog (1999a, http://www.ssicentral.com/lisrel/column3.htm, 1999b http://www.ssicentral. com/lisrel/column5.htm) proposed procedures for calculating R ² for dependent variables involved in loops or possessing correlated errors. This article demonstrates that Bentler and Raykov’s procedure can not be routinely interpreted as a “proportion” of explained variance, while Jöreskog’s reduced-form calculation is unnecessarily restrictive. The new blocked-error-R ² (beR ²) uses a minimal hypothetical causal intervention to resolve the variance-partitioning ambiguities created by loops and correlated errors. Hayduk (1996) discussed how stabilising feedback models – models capable of counteracting external perturbations – can result in an acceptable error variance which exceeds the variance of the dependent variable to which that error is attached. For variables included within loops, whether stabilising or not, beR ² provides the same value as Hayduk’s (1996) loop-adjusted-R ². For variables not involved in loops and not displaying correlated residuals, beR ² reports the same value as the traditional regression R ². Thus, beR ² provides a conceptualisation of the proportion of explained variance that spans both recursive and nonrecursive structural equation models. A procedure for calculating beR ² in any SEM program is provided.     

人口—经济—空间视角的东北城市化空间分异研究

城市化是一个"人口—经济—空间"三维一体的过程——其中人是行为主体,经济是驱动力,空间是载体,据此构建城市化综合测度指标,运用均方差赋权法,对东北34个地级市城市化水平进行综合测度,并运用自然断裂法进行空间表达,结果表明东北地区城市化具有如下特征:①人口、经济、空间及其综合城市化水平空间分异明显,其中经济城市化的空间分异程度最为明显,且主导着人口、空间城市化的演变,但效益不是最佳;②综合城市化水平表明东北地区正处于城市化的加速发展阶段;③人口、经济和空间城市化的空间吻合性较差,其中经济城市化呈现出由南往北依次递减的趋势,而人口城市化呈黑龙江省>辽宁省>吉林省,空间城市化的规律性不明显;④哈大铁路沿线城市其经济、空间及综合城市化空间演变趋势相同——由南往北依次递减,而人口城市化恰好相反,即由南往北依次递增;⑤基于城市化视角的城市群发育程度表现出辽中南城市群>哈长城市群的特征。对东北地区城市化发展道路具有重要的指导意义和实践价值。     

Forecast of realized covariance matrix based on asymptotic distribution of the LU decomposition with an application for balancing minimum variance portfolio

We derive the asymptotic distribution for the LU decomposition, that is, the Cholesky decomposition, of realized covariance matrix. Distributional properties are combined with an existing generalized heterogeneous autoregressive (GHAR) method for forecasting realized covariance matrix, which will be referred to as a generalized HARQ (GHARQ) method. An out-of-sample forecast comparison of a real data set shows that the proposed GHARQ method outperforms other existing methods in terms of optimizing the variances of portfolios.     

沪深300股指期货市场弱式有效性检验

市场有效性是衡量股指期货市场发展质量的最重要指标之一。本文采用2010年4月16日－2014年4月17日的日频交易数据,运用 wild bootstrap 自动方差比检验、广义谱检验和Dominguez－Lobato检验等方法,对沪深300股指期货市场的弱式有效性进行检验。这些方法允许未知形式的条件异方差和小样本的存在,能够检测出序列的线性相关性和非线性相关性。检验结果表明我国股指期货市场达到了弱式有效,这主要归因于风险控制的有效实施、长期资金的入市和市场效率的提升。     

货币供给、通货膨胀和粮食价格波动互动关系研究

在VAR模型和方差分解基础上,利用1997年以来的月度数据,分析货币供应量、通货膨胀和粮食价格之间的关系。结果显示：通货膨胀对粮食价格有显著影响,存在货币供应量、通货膨胀到粮食价格变动这一传导途径,同时发现通货膨胀有较强的自身惯性,通过抑制粮食价格来控制通货膨胀是无效的。     

Accurate Short-Term Yield Curve Forecasting using Functional Gradient Descent

We propose a multivariate nonparametric technique for generatingreliable short-term historical yield curve scenarios and confidenceintervals. The approach is based on a Functional Gradient Descent(FGD) estimation of the conditional mean vector and covariancematrix of a multivariate interest rate series. It is computationallyfeasible in large dimensions and it can account for nonlinearitiesin the dependence of interest rates at all available maturities.Based on FGD we apply filtered historical simulation to computereliable out-of-sample yield curve scenarios and confidenceintervals. We back-test our methodology on daily USD bond datafor forecasting horizons from 1 to 10 days. Based on severalstatistical performance measures we find significant evidenceof a higher predictive power of our method when compared toscenarios generating techniques based on (i) factor analysis,(ii) a multivariate CCC-GARCH model, or (iii) an exponentialsmoothing covariances estimator as in the RiskMetrics^TM approach.     

The Effects of Oil Price on the Korean Economy: A Global VAR Approach

This article empirically explores the effects of oil price on the Korean economy using a Global VAR model. First, we evaluate the average connectedness of oil price with the Korean domestic variables over the precrisis period. We then investigate the time-varying contribution of oil price to the Korean financial and real sectors during and after the global financial crisis through recursive estimation. It is found that the contribution of oil price becomes very large in the case of real exports, equity prices, and real output, but plays a much less prevalent role in the remaining cases. In the meantime, the time-varying contribution of oil price to the Korean economy has not changed during and after the global financial crisis. Interestingly, we find that the Korean economy is affected mostly by overseas financial conditions in the short-term but it becomes more susceptible to oil price fluctuations in the long run, suggesting that Korea’s reliance on energy imports leaves the economy exposed to volatility in energy prices.