Evaluating the effectiveness of inter-regional trade and storage in Malawi’s private sector maize markets

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the private sector maize marketing system in Malawi using threshold autoregression models. Two dimensions of maize market performance are evaluated: (1) inter-regional trade and spatial price transmission; and (2) storage and seasonal price relationships. In both cases, threshold autoregression models which account for nonlinearities predicted by economic theory are applied. Results indicate that spatial price transmission and seasonal price patterns in private sector maize markets in Malawi are generally consistent with long-run competitive inter-regional trade and storage behavior, and that in most cases shocks to long-run equilibrium are arbitraged away quickly. This suggests the private sector in Malawi is generally doing a good job of transporting maize from surplus to deficit regions and smoothing maize consumption between harvests.     

The impact of exchange rate risk on international asset pricing under various market structures

This article derives international equity pricing relations by taking into account inflationary exchange risk under various forms of market segmentation/integration. In a mean-variance framework, a two-country, two-period, two-goods model is analyzed under three different market structures: segmented, mildly segmented and integrated. It is found that as long as investors are consuming imported goods, in the presence of market frictions, inflationary exchange risk is an important determinant of real equity prices. This is the case because inflationary exchange rate affects the real purchasing power of investors.

Market ambiguity and individual investor information demand

We examine whether ambiguity in the market leads to an increase in information demand by individual investors. Drawing on the asset-pricing model proposed by Mele and Sangiorgi (2015), which incorporates market ambiguity, we measure individual information demand using daily Google searches and measure market ambiguity using a metric based on the market trades of institutional investors. We find that individual investors increase their information demand during periods of greater market ambiguity. We also provide evidence that information demand from individual investors spikes around earnings announcement days primarily when market uncertainty is driven by net-selling activity. Overall, these results suggest that the disagreement among institutional investors either represents uncertainty or contributes to the uncertainty related to a stock, leading to increased demand for information from individual investors.     

Barriers to investment in the informal venture capital sector

Much of the government intervention into the market ‘gap’ for start-up and early-stage equity finance in the UK is based on the belief that the problem is on the supply side. Based on an analysis of the informal venture capital market this paper argues that there is no shortage of finance available. A survey of business angels reveals that many are willing to allocate a higher proportion of their investment portfolio to investments in unquoted companies, with recent tax incentives having a positive effect on their willingness to invest. Over 90% are currently looking to make more investments. However, there are constraints on their ability to invest: they do not see enough deals that meet their investment criteria, the majority of the investment proposals that they receive are of poor quality, and they are often unable to negotiate acceptable investment terms and conditions with entrepreneurs. The implication is that there is a need for further interventions by policy-makers to remove these barriers so that more small firms can take advantage of the substantial pool of angel finance that is available.     

企业性质、多元化内部市场与并购绩效

本文以2003年至2007年所有A股上市公司的并购事件为样本,实证分析了我国不同类型企业多元化并购的市场反应。结果发现:我国民营企业多元化并购存在溢价现象,市场反应显著优于相关并购(累计超额收益率高出2.4);我国国有企业(地方国企和中央国企)多元化并购不存在溢价现象,市场反应与相关并购没有显著差异;我国民营企业相对于国有企业更易实施多元化并购。这些研究结果支持多元化的内部市场理论。     

The transition of the global financial markets' connectedness during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study contributes to the literature on financial research under the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fresh evidence emerges from using two novel approaches, namely network analysis and wavelet coherence, to examine the connectedness and comovement of financial markets consisting of stock, commodity, gold, real estate investment trust, US exchange, oil, and Cryptocurrency before and during the COVID-19 onset. Moreover, unlike the previous studies, we seek to fill a gap in the literature regarding the ex-post detection of COVID-19 crises and propose the Markov-switching autoregressive model to detect structural breaks in financial market returns. The first result shows that most financial markets entered the downtrend after January 30, 2020, coinciding with the date the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 pandemic as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Thus, it is reasonable to use this date as the break date due to COVID-19. The empirical result from network analysis indicates a similar connectedness, or the network structure, in other words, among global financial markets in both the pre-and during COVID-19 pandemic periods. Moreover, we find evidence of market differences as the MSCI stock market plays a central role while Cryptocurrency presents a weak role in the global financial markets. The findings from the wavelet coherence analysis are quite mixed and illustrate that the comovement of the financial markets varies over time across different frequencies. We also find the main and most significant period of coherence and comovement among financial markets to be between December 2019 and August 2020 at the low-frequency scale (>32 days) (middle and long terms). Among all market pairs, the oil and commodity market pair has the strongest comovement in both pre-and during the COVID-19 pandemic phases at all investment horizons.     

Forecasting methods for marketing: Review of empirical research

This paper reviews the empirical research on forecasting in marketing. In addition, it presents results from some small scale surveys. We offer a framework for discussing forecasts in the area of marketing, and then review the literature in light of that framework. Particular emphasis is given to a pragmatic interpretation of the literature and findings. Suggestions are made on what research is needed.     

上海证券交易市场量价关系的分位回归分析

传统回归估计往往错估真实的量价关系,且高估的情况多于低估的情况。本文在区分收益率与收益率绝对量的基础上,采用分位回归模型方法对沪市的量价关系进行深入分析。结果表明,沪市存在显著的量价关系;收益率与交易量存在显著的非对称V型量价关系,且正向量价关系强于负向量价关系;收益率绝对量与交易量存在显著的正向关系,且价格波动越大时量价关系越强。     

淮海经济区的城市经济联系格局分析

运用重力模型和综合客运模型,对淮海经济区城市间的经济联系势能及经济联系流强度进行测度,据此分析该区的城市经济辐射与经济隶属情况.结果表明,淮海经济区城市间的经济联系势能结构表现为以徐州、商丘、临沂、淮安为重要节点呈放射状分布.经济联系流强度的空间分异格局以徐州为中枢,形成徐州、济宁、临沂、阜阳、蚌埠五大网络结点,构成"开"字型架构.经济联系势能和经济联系流强度在徐州与周边城市的联系上表现出明显的一致性.最终将淮海经济区划分为核心、汴商、莱泰、临照、盐淮5个城市经济区.