Investor Pessimism and the German Stock Market: Exploring Google Search Queries

We analyze the relationship of retail investor sentiment and the German stock market by introducing four distinct investor pessimism indices (IPIs) based on selected aggregate Google search queries. We assess the predictive power of weekly changes in sentiment captured by the IPIs for contemporaneous and future DAX returns, volatility and trading volume. The indices are found to have individually varying, but overall remarkably high explanatory power. An increase in retail investor pessimism is accompanied by decreasing contemporaneous market returns and an increase in volatility and trading volume. Future returns tend to increase while future volatility and trading volume decrease. The outcome is in line with the conjecture of correction effects. Overall, the results are well in line with modern investor sentiment theory.     

Is Volatility the Best Predictor of Market Crashes?

The objective of this paper is to determine the best predictor of equity market crashes by focusing particularly on volatility and market liquidity. In finance, volatility has traditionally been regarded as the best measure of market risk. However, this paper shows that the forecast value of market liquidity, in particular our modified calculated market depth, predicts equity market crashes much more accurately than does the forecast values of EGARCH or Implied Volatility.     

A Dynamic Analysis of Fixed- and Adjustable-Rate Mortgage Terminations

This paper provides a side-by-side comparison of loan-level statistical models for fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgages. Multinomial logit models for quarterly conditional probabilities of default and prepayment are estimated. We find that the estimated impacts of embedded option values for prepayment and default are generally quite similar across both FRM and ARM loans, providing additional empirical support for the basic predictions of the options theory. We also find that differences in estimates of conditional probabilities of prepayment and default associated with mortgage age, origination period, original LTV, and relative loan size, indicate the continued significance of these other economic and demographic factors for empirical models of mortgage terminations.     

一类变质性物品的最优生产-库存策略

讨论了需求是时间的连续函数、允许缺货且缺货完全回补、变质率为常数、补货率有限的变质性物品在有限计划期内的生产-库存策略。同时证明了最优生产-库存策略的存在和唯一性,并给出了求最优策略的算法和算例。     

Why are there time-varying comovements in the European stock market?

This paper analyzes the dynamics of pair comovements between different domestic European stock market returns (Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) seeking to check whether there is a unique source of risk driving those dynamics. Once it is shown that the comovements are time-varying, the question is to find whether a global index such as the Euro Stoxx can be considered the main source of risk. To that end we estimate and test for time-varying global pair covariances and for time-varying remaining pair covariances once the effect of the Euro Stoxx is removed. The empirical results are obtained considering locally stationary variables, a family that includes variables with first and second time-varying moments. Under that framework time-varying means and covariances can be estimated using a spline-based procedure and Wald-type statistics can be computed to test for time-variations. A simulation study shows that the role of the mean estimation part is crucial to the good performance of the tests for second moments. The empirical results evidence that all global pair covariances for the European countries analyzed are time-varying, but also that the Euro Stoxx can be considered as the driving source of risk for these time-varying dynamics. This conclusion is very useful for modeling purpose and financial strategies. Finally, we repeat the analysis considering the Nasdaq as an alternative global index and find that it explains only a small part of the dynamics in the European pair comovements.     

Sovereign Risk Contagion in East Asia: A Mixture of Time-Varying Copulas Approach

This study analyzes sovereign risk contagion between four East Asian economies (China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea) and its structural changes through the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the European Debt Crisis (EDC) by applying the mixture of time-varying copulas to those economies’ credit default swap (CDS) spreads.

This article first finds a strong contagion from the US and PIIGS economies to the East Asian sovereign CDS markets and intraregional contagion within the East Asian markets. Second, the impact of contagion is different according to whether it is measured by the linear (Gaussian) or the upper tail dependence. Third, Japan plays an important role in increasing the linear dependence whereas China and Korea are crucial in terms of the upper tail dependence. Lastly, the GFC has structurally increased the linear dependence but not the upper tail dependence between the East Asian sovereign CDS markets.     

Capital Market Integration in the Middle East and North Africa

This paper studies capital market integration in Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries and its implications for international portfolio investment allocation. Starting with four cointegration methodologies, we significantly reject the hypothesis of a stable, long-run bivariate relationship between each of these markets and the European Monetary Union (EMU), the United States, and a regional benchmark. This indicates the existence of significant diversification opportunities for three categories of investors (EMU, world, and regional investors). A recursive analysis based on Barari (2004) suggests that recently, the MENA markets have started to move toward international financial integration. Investigating the effect of selected financial, economic, and political events on such a process, we extend the methodology and find that the markets react heterogeneously to the different categories of shocks. They should therefore not be treated as a bloc for global allocation purposes. Finally, after adjusting the integration levels by relative market capitalization, Israel and Turkey are the most promising markets in the region, followed by Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco. Tunisia and Lebanon seem to be lagging behind.     

新型农村社会养老保险对贫困群体生活的影响——基于 CHARLS2011～2015面板数据的分析

本文探讨了新型农村社会养老保险是否对低收入的贫困群体的生活产生更显著的效用,从而论证该制度是否助力扶贫工作。因为养老金是收入的组成部分,而收入有边际效用递减的特点,因此养老金对不同收入群体的效用可能存在差别。本文按家庭人均收入水平区分贫困与非贫困群体,基于CHARLS 2011 -2015年数据,采用多维贫困指标,使用断点回归发现新农保养老金对贫困参保群体在食品消费方面产生更显著的效用,有助于扶贫工作。并使用含复杂时变效应的二元变量模型,进一步发现该效用在养老金开始发放时显现。本文结论有利于认识新农保政策对扶贫的作用,并将扶贫工作和已有的社会保险政策结合,以提高扶贫工作效率。     

基于时变Copula的我国股票市场联动性研究

通过运用Copula技术,构建4种Copula-GARCH模型,讨论金融市场的相关模式问题得出的结论是Joe-ClaytonCopula比正态Copula好,动态模型比静态模型要好。表明沪港股市确实存在非对称的相关变化规律。同时表明沪、港股票市场股市相关程度较小,两个市场联动性较弱,上海股市的波动具有相对的独立性,通过组合上海股市和香港股市的方式可以较好的降低投资风险。     

货币供应、通货膨胀与经济增长的互动关系研究——基于时变参数VAR模型的实证检验

文章以我国1996年1月至2012年12月的月度数据为基础,首次建立了货币增长率、通货膨胀率和经济增长率的带随机波动的时变参数VAR模型（TVP-VAR）,以此来考察货币供应、通货膨胀和经济增长之间的互动关系。研究结果表明：货币增长短期内促进经济增长,但长期内对经济增长没有驱动效应;货币增长短期内对通货膨胀的作用不确定,而在中长期时间内货币扩张会引发通货膨胀。经济的增长并没有推动货币增长,经济增长在短期内导致通货膨胀,但在长期内经济增长对通货膨胀的影响基本不存在;通货膨胀对经济增长和货币增长的作用依状态而变化。