The impact of time duration between trades on the price of treasury note futures contracts

Recent research in finance has indicated that the institutional structure in which financial asset prices are determined can have a nontrivial impact on pricing. This report examines transaction level data for Treasury Note futures contracts traded at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) to identify institutional, or market microstructure, impacts on the pricing of these contracts. Relatively few articles have conducted empirical research on the microstructure of U.S. futures trading due to the limited availability of comprehensive transaction level data from the futures exchanges. This report uses the CBOT's Computerized Trade Reconstruction database, a comprehensive transaction level dataset, to identify the price impact of the time duration between trades in a manner analogous to that of A. Dufour and R. F. Engle (2000). Unique differences from prior research include the application to futures contracts with their relative higher frequency of trading, as well as the investigation of the price impact of the number of active traders present on the trading floor and the trading volume. Subsequent price and sign of trade significantly relate to the time duration between trades, the number of floor brokers, and the trading volume. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl. Fut Mark 24:965–980, 2004     

New evidence on the convergence of international income from a group of 29 countries

This paper updates and extends the time-series evidence on the convergence of international incomes using a set of 29 countries over the period 1900–2001. Time-series tests for stochastic convergence are supplemented with tests which provide evidence on the notion of “β-convergence” predicted by the Solow model. The evidence indicates that the relative income series of 21 countries are consistent with stochastic convergence, and that β-convergence has occurred in at least 16 countries at some point during the twentieth century. Further examination of the properties of the β-convergence test provides anecdotal evidence of conditional convergence in three additional countries for which the convergence hypothesis was initially rejected. Consideration of convergence clubs strengthens the evidence in favor of convergence. Analysis of the cross-country dispersion of incomes over time also suggests that convergence has occurred over the 1900–2001 period, particularly within certain clubs, with structural breaks associated with World War II in many countries causing a break in the convergence process.      

Performance Analysis of Lodging REITs in Relation to Market Segments

This article examines the financial performance of lodging real estate investment trusts (REITs) in relation to their market focus. Secondary data were collected for from 2004 to 2008 from lodging REITs that were traded on major U.S. stock exchanges. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to assess the efficiencies of market segments to generate financial performance. The results showed that two lodging REITs were consistently efficient during the study period relative to other lodging REITs. In particular, lodging REITs investing and/or operating in one or more relatively similar market segments and those focusing on the upper-upscale segment were more efficient than others. This study could provide managers, owners, and investors of lodging REITs preliminary evidence of the relationship between market segments and firm performance. This article also proposes a framework for future investigations to assess the performance of REITs.     

Strategic trade and delegated competition

Strategic trade theory has been criticized on the grounds that its predictions are overly sensitive to modeling assumptions. Applying recent results in duopoly theory, this paper considers three-stage games in which governments choose subsidies, firms' owners choose incentive schemes for their managers, and then the managers compete in the product market. We show that if firms' owners have sufficient control over their managers' behavior, then the optimal strategic trade policy does not depend on the mode of product-market competition, i.e., whether firms compete by setting prices or quantities.     

Social Media Index Valuation: Impact of Technological,Social, Economic,and Ethical Dimensions

Marketing practitioners have recognized a growing need to measure consumer-generated social media in a standard way since there are numerous social media indicators in use, making intra- and inter-company comparisons difficult. This paper identifies four social media dimensions for measurement and evaluation: technological, social, economic, and ethical; and, subsequently, measures social media. The study makes a contribution to social media literature by using analytic hierarchy process of developing a mathematical model for social media index valuation. The “social media composite index number” will serve as an industry benchmark signifying the organization's share and commitment to social media.     

When an NGO Takes on Public Participation: Preparing a Plan for a Neighborhood in East Jerusalem

It is often non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) that promote empowered participation processes, and assume active roles in leading them. However, the ability of NGOs to take on such processes is under‐theorized. In many cases empowered participation involving NGOs takes place without political support from above (or with limited or conditional support). Our goal in this article is to use a case study of participatory planning in East Jerusalem to theorize processes of empowerment in an oppositional political environment. We argue that it is useful to analyze such processes of empowered participation through the concept of power. We describe the process of empowerment as a speculative process in which the NGO has to hedge two mediums of power: it has to build the power of the community to discuss its own goals; and it has to simultaneously manage the transfer of decision‐making power from government bodies to the community.     

Epistemic communities and the global alliance against tobacco marketing

The World Health Organization's (WHO's) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is a major blow to the worldwide expansion strategies and marketing practices of transnational tobacco companies. As expected, the industry vehemently opposed the treaty, lobbying instead for voluntary agreements and regulation by the market. However, in spite of bitter and persistent opposition by the tobacco industry, the FCTC was adopted by WHO. If the tobacco industry “lost” its battle to prevent FCTC from being institutionalized, who “won” and how? Our research suggests that the efforts of the epistemic community—a like‐minded network of professionals whose authoritative claim to consensual knowledge provides them with a unique source of power in public policy decision making—won the battle by being able to better convince the decision makers as to the needs of the FCTC by relying on, and successfully disseminating, its knowledge, expertise, and ideas. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The role of a firm's strategic orientation dimensions in determining market orientation

Little is known about how various strategic orientation dimensions determine market orientation. The authors identify four key dimensions of a firm's strategic orientation as critical antecedents to market orientation: the firm's aggressiveness, its future orientation, the extent of marketing formalization, and risk proclivity. Moderating effects of two environmental forces, competitive intensity and technology turbulence, are also considered in light of their relationship with various dimensions of strategic orientation and market orientation. Using a survey with firms spanning multiple industries, the proposed effects are tested with latent class analysis with multiple regimes. The results, based on an optimal two-regime solution, show that that although market orientation is significantly impacted by these strategic orientation dimensions, the pattern of influence differs based on a firm's membership in one of two regimes.     

Israeli cellular telecommunications policy

Recent research has emphasized the role of regulatory measures in the adoption of new technologies, specifically mobile telephony. This study describes in detail the three phases of cellular licensing in Israel. It surveys policy changes and questions their contribution to the public interest, while discussing their underlying objectives. It reveals a pattern by which Israeli regulatory policy has shifted from a public interest focus to a government interest/corporate interest focus.     

International Evidence on the Stability of the Optimizing IS Equation*

We provide international evidence on the issue of whether the optimizing IS equation is more stable than a backward‐looking alternative. This evidence consists of estimates of IS equations on quarterly data for the UK and Australia, both for the full sample of the last 40 years and for the period following major monetary policy shifts in 1979–80. Results suggest the parameters in the optimizing IS equations are more empirically stable than those of the backward‐looking alternative. The use of dynamic general equilibrium modelling in empirical work does deliver material benefits, in the form of equations more suitable for policy analysis.