Splines for financial volatility

Summary.  We propose a flexible generalized auto-regressive conditional heteroscedasticity type of model for the prediction of volatility in financial time series. The approach relies on the idea of using multivariate B -splines of lagged observations and volatilities. Estimation of such a B -spline basis expansion is constructed within the likelihood framework for non-Gaussian observations. As the dimension of the B -spline basis is large, i.e. many parameters, we use regularized and sparse model fitting with a boosting algorithm. Our method is computationally attractive and feasible for large dimensions. We demonstrate its strong predictive potential for financial volatility on simulated and real data, and also in comparison with other approaches, and we present some supporting asymptotic arguments.     

Household debt and financial assets: evidence from Germany, Great Britain and the USA

Summary.  We explore the determinants of debt, financial assets and net worth at the household level by using survey data for Germany, Great Britain and the USA. To identify which households are potentially vulnerable to adverse changes in the economic environment, we also explore the determinants of a range of measures of financial pressure: the probability that a household has negative net worth; the debt-to-income ratio; mortgage income gearing; the saving-to-income ratio. Our empirical findings suggest that the poorest and the youngest households are the most vulnerable to adverse changes in their financial circumstances.     

Driven mechanisms of board commitment: A modified corporate CANE model

The study employs a sample of US S&P 100 firms to explore the driving factors affecting the level of board commitment. We modified Clark’s (1998) CANE model and developed a corporate CANE model that is applicable for board commitment. Supporting our model, we find that primary drivers of board commitment (through board personal agency) are non-financial factors including board independence, size, gender diversity, professional experience/skills, industrial and financial experiences, senior executives' compensation, and strictly board independence. These board compositions significantly enhance the level of board commitment, except the board size. On the other hand, whilst we find significant impact for the market-based factors, i.e. board commitment level tends to increase with market value (Tobin's Q), we find weak or no evidence on the effects of accounting-based factors. This suggests that the board task value is influenced by the actual perception of the market participants rather than ‘documented’ figures.     

新会计准则下金融衍生品的风险管理

本文从金融衍生品的风险出发,主要介绍了金融衍生品风险的定义、分类,包括市场风险、流动性风险、操作风险、法律风险,信用风险,结合新会计准则,阐述了金融衍生品新的特点,如金融衍生品核算办法的改变,金融衍生工具使用难度较大、金融衍生品披露的改变,并在建立及时有效的信息披露制度、加强内部控制和风险管理、完善我国金融衍生品市场建设、提高投资者素质等方面提出了一些关于如何更好地进行金融衍生品风险管理的建议。     

Theorizing income inequality in the face of financial globalization

Based on an extended post-Keynesian model, we find that the association between the savings rate and income inequality is negative if savers’ funds are borrowed by spending households for consumption but positive if savings are channeled to investing firms for production. A negative association, such as the one that exists in the U.S., hinges on an income illusion created by an asset bubble and cheap credit. Thus, financial globalization leads consumption and income inequality to diverge, and the divergence is more extreme if lower-income groups have higher debt ratios. A positive association, such as the one that exists in China, relates to liquidity constraints faced by consumers such that consumption inequality closely follows income inequality. Our results imply that income inequality must be reduced in both types of countries to increase savings in deficit economies with negative associations and to reduce savings in surplus economies with positive associations.     

促进小额贷款公司健康发展的政策体系研究

小额贷款是金融制度的创新,是对现代金融体系的提升和扬弃。小额贷款公司等微型金融是国家金融系统的必要组成部分,是国家普惠金融体系的一个特殊机构。小额贷款公司的出现延伸了金融服务的广度和深度,在一定程度上缓冲了银行的信贷风险,也使得金融体系更具包容性,从而完善了金融支持经济的功能。小额信贷不仅能促进一国的经济增长,也会丰富金融体系和金融监管的内涵。应设计出更加符合发展需求的政策体系,使小贷公司有更好的发展愿景。     

Modelling financial satisfaction across life stages: A latent class approach

We explore the determinants of financial satisfaction using a modelling framework which allows the drivers of financial satisfaction to vary across life stages. Given that financial satisfaction is measured as an ordered variable, our modelling approach is based on a latent class ordered probit model with an ordered probit class assignment function. Our analysis of household survey data indicates that four life stages are supported by the data. Our results suggest that such flexibility is important in understanding the drivers of financial satisfaction over the life cycle since there is a substantial amount of parameter heterogeneity across the four classes.     

Nonparametric Methods in Continuous Time Model Specification

Some popular parametric diffusion processes have been assumed as such underlying diffusion processes. This paper considers an important case where both the drift and volatility functions of the underlying diffusion process are unknown functions of the underlying process, and then proposes using two novel testing procedures for the parametric specification of both the drift and diffusion functions. The finite-sample properties of the proposed tests are assessed through using data generated from four popular parametric models. In our implementation, we suggest using a simulated critical value for each case in addition to the use of an asymptotic critical value. Our detailed studies show that there is little size distortion when using a simulated critical value while the proposed tests have some size distortions when using an asymptotic critical value in each case.     

不动产投资信托与房地产结构性缺陷问题研究——基于金融共生理论的视角

根据金融共生理论,房地产市场中地产开发商、个人投资者和商业银行间存在一种金融共生关系。通过构建三者的金融共生模型,可以得知房地产市场存在结构性缺陷。而不动产投资信托这种投资方式可以解决房地产市场所具有的这种结构性缺陷,从而可以规避房地产投资的金融风险,避免美国＂次贷危机＂式金融危机的发生。     

产业结构调整下的区域金融发展 ——基于中部地区的实证分析

运用中部地区1995年—2008年的省际面板数据,通过双向固定效应模型,实证研究了产业结构调整对金融发展的影响。实证结果显示,地方政府的保护和发展偏好,扭曲了产业结构调整的市场机制,以重工业和大型企业为核心的中部地区工业化进程对区域金融发展产生了负面影响,而以市场机制为发展基础的第三产业以及地区产业结构升级有力的推动了区域金融发展。