Intraday futures patterns and volume–volatility relationships: the German evidence

This paper examines the intraday behavior of 5-min DAX futures return volatility, volume and transactions, employing data from between January 1999 and September 2011, thus covering major market up and down trends. We focus on the interplay of the above variables finding a W-shape due to US macroeconomic news releases and the opening of US markets. By carefully modeling regular but infrequent events, we show that the last trading days of the FDAX and ODAX have significant impact on volatility and alter the intraday patterns. Additionally, we pay special attention to interactions between the futures and cash market caused by different trading hours at the Eurex. Thereby, we discover a uW-shape lending support for Daigler’s (J Futures Markets 17:45–74, 1997) extended market closure theory. Focusing on possible changes in the interplay of volume and volatility, we empirically analyze the implications of different volume–volatility theories. Finally, we model simultaneously the main volatility components—intraday calendar effects, macroeconomic announcement effects and interday volatility clustering—employing the framework of Andersen and Bollerslev (J Finance 53:219–265, 1998) to quantify and compare the impact of macroeconomic news announcements during contractions and expansions and focus on the economic impact of the crisis 2007/2008 on intraday volatility.     

Wer interessiert sich für eine Coachingweiterbildung?

The article describes the findings of a study of the motivations for pursuing extended vocational training, phases of career development and the structure of addressees based on professional training as a coach. The study showed that the central motive for a coaching training is supporting other people. Overall, instrumental motives are the most prevalent in this group of addressees. Looking at their individual career development, a clear picture emerges which places most of them in the professional establishment and maintenance phase. The addressees are predominantly highly qualified, as well as professionally and financially well positioned. A result of the training type classification indicates that the main incentive is to achieve work-related improvements from a stable personal career context.     

The Impact of Privatization on the Earnings of Restructured Workers: Evidence From the Oil Industry

We study the long-term impact of job displacement from a big state owned enterprise as a result of its privatization in a developing country. Our results suggest large reductions in earnings, which persist throughout the years. However, we also find that the displaced worker’s post-displacement earnings are in line with competitive market wages, and unrelated to sector of employment or to tenure losses, indicating that the long-term reduction in earnings as a result of displacement because of privatization can be traced to the loss of wage rents. Our results indicate that job displacement in SOEs may have very large redistributive implications for the workers involved but that this loss does not necessarily reflect the loss of specific human capital associated to these jobs.

Exploring Differences in National and International Poverty Estimates: Is Uganda on Track to Halve Poverty by 2015?

This paper explores causes of differences in estimates of poverty incidence in Uganda since the early 1990s as measured by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics and the World Bank. While both sets of estimates from the two organisations show a declining trend in poverty incidence there are important differences in the levels of poverty, the speed of the decline and the direction of change in the early 2000s. Methodological differences linked to the determination of the poverty line and adjustments for household composition are found to play a role. Assessing the effect of other potential causes is complicated by limitations in the World Bank’s meta-data.     

Predicting above-median and below-median growth rates

Multiannual periods of consecutive above-median or below-median growth rates in operating performance, called runs, have a substantial influence on firm valuations. For estimating the probability of an above-median or below-median run and utilizing information efficiently, we employ a stepwise regression to automatically identify the parsimonious indicator-specific set of economically and empirically meaningful variables. Our novel approach uses logit models to distinguish firms that will persistently grow above or below the median over a period of up to 6 years. The predictive power for sales growth rates is highest to discriminate between above-median and below-median growth rates, while the future behaviour of operating income and net income growth rates can partially be explained for below-median growth rates.     

Strategic Development of Business Models: Implications of the Web 2.0 for Creating Value on the Internet

There is virtually a consensus that, to remain competitive, firms must continuously develop and adapt their business models. However, relatively little is known about how managers can go about achieving this transformation, and how, and to what extent, different types of business models should be adapted. To illustrate the differential effect of environmental changes on different business model types, this article draws from the ‘4C’ Internet business model typology to elaborate on how a recent wave of changes on the Internet – the emergent Web 2.0 phenomenon – is affecting each of its four business model types. We argue that Web 2.0 trends and characteristics are changing the rules of the ‘create and capture value’ game, and thus significantly disrupt the effectiveness of established Internet business models. Since systematic empirical knowledge about Web 2.0 factors is very limited, a comprehensive Web 2.0 framework is developed, which is illustrated with two cases and verified through in-depth interviews with Internet business managers. Strategic recommendations on how to what extent different Web 2.0 aspects affect each business model type are developed. Executives can use the ideas and frameworks presented in the article to benchmark their firm's efforts towards embracing the changes associated with the Web 2.0 into their business model.     

Welfare, labor supply and heterogeneous preferences: evidence for Europe and the US

Following the report of the Stiglitz Commission, measuring and comparing well-being across countries has gained renewed interest. Yet, analyses that go beyond income and incorporate non-market dimensions of welfare most often rely on the assumption of identical preferences to avoid the difficulties related to interpersonal comparisons. In this paper, we suggest an international comparison based on individual welfare rankings that fully retain preference heterogeneity. Focusing on the consumption-leisure trade-off, we estimate discrete choice labor supply models using harmonized microdata for 11 European countries and the US. We retrieve preference heterogeneity within and across countries and analyze several welfare criteria which take into account that differences in income are partly due to differences in tastes. The resulting welfare rankings clearly depend on the normative treatment of preference heterogeneity with alternative metrics. We show that these differences can indeed be explained by estimated preference heterogeneity across countries—rather than demographic composition.     

GIFT EXCHANGE AND WORKERS' FAIRNESS CONCERNS: WHEN EQUALITY IS UNFAIR5

We study how different payment modes influence the effectiveness of gift exchange as a contract enforcement device. In particular, we analyze how horizontal fairness concerns affect performance and efficiency in an environment characterized by contractual incompleteness. In our experiment, one principal is matched with two agents. The principal pays equal wages in one treatment and can set individual wages in the other. We find that the use of equal wages elicits substantially lower efforts. This is not caused by monetary incentives per se because under both wage schemes it is profit‐maximizing for agents to exert high efforts. The treatment difference instead seems to be driven by the fact that the norm of equity is violated far more frequently in the equal wage treatment. After having suffered from violations of the equity principle, agents withdraw effort. These findings hold even after controlling for the role of intentions, as we show in a third treatment. Our results suggest that adherence to the norm of equity is a necessary prerequisite for successful establishment of gift‐exchange relations. (JEL: J33, D63, M52, C92, J41)