The purpose of this thesis is to integrate behavioral finance with market microstructure and financial decision-making. Specifically, I focus on two issues concerning the integration of psycho-physiological mechanisms and the informational content of prices in financial markets: firstly, the role of...

Closed integrals in physics lead to equations for sources and vortices in fluid mechanics, electrodynamics and thermodynamics. In economics, the Stokes integral of economic circuits leads to new fundamental equations of macro-econophysics. These equations differ significantly from the laws of neoclassical theory. Entropy of markets replaces of the economic Cobb Douglas function and leads to stochastic processes and micro-econophysics of financial markets.

By using an existing and a new convergence measure, this paper assesses whether bank loan and bond interest rates are converging for the non-financial corporate sector across the euro area. Whilst we find evidence for complete bond market integration, the market for bank loans remains segmented, alb...

With the completion of the single European market and the full liberalization of capital markets two separate trilemmas emerged in the early 1990s: a monetary trilemma between free capital movements, fixed exchange rates, and national monetary autonomy; and a financial trilemma between free capital movements, financial stability, and national financial supervision autonomy. The paper argues that although these two trilemmas stem from the same root cause, financial integration, the financial trilemma is particularly acute for countries that have chosen to resolve the monetary trilemma by entering into a monetary union. The lesson from the recent crisis is that eurozone countries need to replace their national financial supervision institutions by supranational institutions capable of managi...

This paper examines several US monthly financial time series data using fractional integration and cointegration techniques. The univariate analysis based on fractional integration aims to determine whether the series are I(1) (in which case markets might be efficient) or alternatively I(d) with d <...

...information management, financial and shared services...the Office of Financial Operations, the...Administration), the Statement of Organization...integrated policy analysis and strategic...the Agency's financial statements for...

The Paper investigates the role of the real exchange rate in relationships between consumption growth rates across countries when financial markets are integrated. The real exchange rate introduces a wedge between real marginal utilities of consumption in different countries and this wedge plays a p...

One key focus of the on-going debate on the integration of international financial markets have been measures to lengthen the maturity of foreign debt, as short-term debt is typically considered to be highly volatile. The transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe are one group of countries ...

Abstract in english Capital Flows, External Fragility and Currency Regimes: A Theoretical Review. The major integration and deregulation of the international financial markets increased the degree of interdependence and risk of incompatibility between the financial and monetary policy adopted by different countries. The consequences of these facts are the financial instability and the currency crisis. In this article we develop arguments advocating that independent of the currency regime ado (more) pted the national policy makers should take into account, between other factors, the major capital mobility and the integrations of markets. One of the corollaries of our analyses is that countries should pursue policies that reduces the degree of short-term capital volatile by the adoption of capital controls or though measures of prudential supervision.

In this paper, we investigate the effects of euro area and US macroeconomic news on financial markets in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland (CEEC-3) from 1999 to 2006. Using a GARCH model, we examine the impact of news on daily returns of 3-month interest rates, stock market indices, exchange rates versus the euro, and the US dollar. First, both US and European macroeconomic news has a significant impact on CEEC-3 financial markets. Second, the process of European integration is accompanied by an increasing importance of euro area news relative to US news. Third, there are country-specific differences: for example, the Czech stock market is relatively more affected by foreign news since the Copenhagen Summit in December 2002. In general, our results support the hypothesis of a deepeni...

...Industry and Financial Markets Association...investment analysis tools (proposed...Organization's Statement of the Terms...through its statements summarized...Communication Without Financial or Investment...firms to file financial statements that...

...Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety...resilient national housing finance markets...associations or through affordable housing groups...Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety...charters of the Enterprises reflect their...resilient national housing finance markets...association, an affordable housing......

The article examines how renewable electricity (RES-E) producers are integrated into the electricity market under the support legislations and regulatory frameworks of Germany, Spain, and the UK. Focus is on wind power, which faces the highest market integration challenge of all RES-E. The analysis shows that the three countries follow contrasting approaches of exposing RES-E producers to the market risks of forward electricity markets, balancing markets and system planning requirements. Risk exposure is highest in the UK and lowest in Germany. From a policy maker's perspective, there is a trade-off between a 'high risk' and a 'low risk' approach. When RES-E face high market risks, a higher level of financial support is required to stimulate RES-E development than in a low risk environment, but the exposure to market risks may also give an incentive to make efficient use of the respective market, thus limiting the indirect costs to society. The special characteristics of wind energy, however, put natural limits to the response of wind power plants to market prices and locational price signals and will increasingly influence electricity markets and grid infrastructure. These interdependencies should be recognised in the design of RES-E policies and market regulations.

Integrated risk management for financial institutions requires an approach for aggregating risk types (such as market and credit) whose distributional shapes vary considerably. The financial institutions often ignore risks' coupling influence so as to underestimate the financial risks. We constructed a copula-based Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) model for market and credit risks. This technique allows us to incorporate realistic marginal distributions that capture essential empirical features of these risks, such as skewness and fat-tails while allowing for a rich dependence structure. Finally, the numerical simulation method is used to implement the model. Our results indicate that the coupled risks for the listed company's stock maybe are undervalued if credit risk is ignored, especially for the listed company with bad credit quality.

A paradigm of statistical mechanics of financial markets (SMFM) is fit to multivariate financial markets using Adaptive Simulated Annealing (ASA), a global optimization algorithm, to perform maximum likelihood fits of Lagrangians defined by path integrals of multivariate conditional probabilities. Canonical momenta are thereby derived and used as technical indicators in a recursive ASA optimization process to tune trading rules. These trading rules are then used on out-of-sample data, to demonstrate that they can profit from the SMFM model, to illustrate that these markets are likely not efficient. This methodology can be extended to other systems, e.g., electroencephalography. This approach to complex systems emphasizes the utility of blending an intuitive and powerful mathematical-physics formalism to generate indicators which are used by AI-type rule-based models of management.

This paper investigates the impact of major world equity markets on four founding countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). With a population of 1.47 billion, SAARC is the largest regional organization in the world. However, the issue of global integration of equity markets of the SAARC nations has largely been ignored. This study fills this important gap, adding results towards the ongoing debate concerning the issue of global market integration. After the onset of the financial crises of 2008, this issue is imperative. VAR analysis is used to determine whether there is any dependency of SAARC return on the performance of world equity markets. Further, GARCH-in-mean modeling is used to determine whether there is any evidence of Volatility spillover. It is ...

We investigate the impact of fi…nancial crises on two fundamental features of stock returns, namely, the risk-return tradeoff and the leverage effect. We apply the fractionally integrated exponential GARCH-in-mean (FIEGARCH-M) model for daily stock return data, which includes both features and allows the co-existence of long memory in volatility and short memory in returns. We extend this model to allow the …financial parameters governing the volatility-in-mean effect and the leverage effect to change during fi…nancial crises. An application to the daily U.S. stock index return series from 1926 through 2010 shows that both …financial effects increase signi…cantly during crises. Strikingly, the risk-return tradeoff is signi…cantly positive only during financial crises, and insigni…cant during non-crisis periods. The leverage effect is negative throughout, but increases signi…cantly by about 50% in magnitude during …financial crises. No such changes are observed during NBER recessions, so in this sense …financial crises are special. Applications to a number of major developed and emerging international stock markets confi…rm the increase in the leverage effect, whereas the international evidence on the risk-return tradeoff is mixed.

This work briefly describes the Brazil-Bolivia natural gas project giving special attention to strategic issues such as: the fulfill of the consumer market demand; the supply of an alternative energy source; the economic development; the industrial sector competitiveness; the quality of life; the regional integration; and the business opportunities. Also presented and discussed are the risks associated to the project in several strategic areas and the alternatives for their mitigation. The project viability is also discussed. A financial evaluation is presented

This article investigated the influences of structural breaks on the fractionally integrated time-varying volatility model in the Malaysian stock markets which included the Kuala Lumpur composite index and four major sectoral indices. A fractionally integrated time-varying volatility model combined with sudden changes is developed to study the possibility of structural change in the empirical data sets. Our empirical results showed substantial reduction in fractional differencing parameters after the inclusion of structural change during the Asian financial and currency crises. Moreover, the fractionally integrated model with sudden change in volatility performed better in the estimation and specification evaluations.

Purpose - Commercial and Islamic banks are important players in the UAE financial market. However, little is known about their financial distress because these financial institutions usually resolve financial distress within their own organisations, which means that outsiders cannot explicitly observe distress. The purpose of the research is therefore to identify the main drivers of financial institutions' financial distress. Design/methodology/approach - The paper estimates a probability distress prediction model using the BankScope Database and the annual reports of UAE financial institutions submitted to UAE Security Exchange Authority. The paper also analyses the impact of macroeconomic information for forecasting financial institutions' financial distress. Findings - The fundamentals ...

Fair trade aims at humanising the capitalist economy by serving the community, instead of simply striving for financial profit. The current fair trade sector is an excellent example of an innovation where networks based on ethical principles can help to effectively serve this market. Our analysis is based on 48 interviews amongst fair trade innovators in France and illustrates the advent of a new type of entrepreneur, one that is grounded in the social and solidarity economy (SSE). Based on a service-dominant logic, these innovators aim to construct a ?new world? centred on trade relationships by integrating the role of multiple-player networks into the creation of value in the market.

We analyse the financial crash in 2008 for different financial markets from the point of view of log-periodic function model. In particular, we consider Dow Jones index, DAX index and Hang Seng index. We shortly discuss the possible relation of the theory of critical phenomena in physics to financial markets.

An initial assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing thermal energy from a waste-to-energy facility as a heat source for the developing district heating system in St. Paul is provided. Based on the engineering estimates of total annual costs of a 1000 ton-per-day (TPD) - 10.5 kg/s - capacity resource recovery facility, the required revenues from industrial steam customers, district heating sales and community disposal (tip) fees are developed for a 1986 facility start-up. The economic analysis develops the relationship of disposal fees and costs of thermal energy for district heating for several specific combinations of St. Paul industrial markets, district heating and cogenerated electric power sold to NSP under marginal electric production cost conditions. The results of the preliminary market and systems analyses indicate that, for industrial markets that do not use the total output of a 1000 TDP facility, sale of available thermal energy to the St. Paul district heating utility at costs equivalent to coal-based thermal energy can lower the required disposal fee - or indifference value - compared with a market mix of industrial steam and cogenerated electric power. The political, developmental, environmental, and financial advantages and disadvantages of integrating the district heating market with industrial markets are discussed. The major conclusion of the study is that a moderate amount of district heating market could be supplied from a resource recovery facility at competitive energy costs if facility siting, financing, and integrated marketing of energy products issues could be resolved.

...under the Chief Financial Officers Act, the Federal Managers Financial Integrity Act...management and provides analysis of the impact on...structures, functional statements, job structures...fulfilling AoA's Chief Financial Officer...

This article deals critically with the call for a comprehensive harmonization of legal rules, against the background of the lessons from the recent financial crisis. Before coming to the topic of harmonization of legal rules, it first briefly deals with the question of why rules are necessary at all, and what the functions of rules are. Then it deals with the lessons from the recent financial crisis for the topic mentioned. The article conducts a kind of cost-benefit analysis of legal harmonization by looking at arguments in favor of and against uniform rules. It shows that not only the arguments in favor have increased after the recent financial crisis, but also the arguments against. It also shows that integration of global markets has not only increased the need for new uniform rules bu...

The efficiency of the Iberian Energy Derivatives Market in its first five and a half years is assessed in terms of volume, open interest and price. The continuous market shows steady liquidity growth. Its volume is strongly correlated to that of the Over The Counter (OTC) market, the amount of market makers, the enrolment of financial agents and generation companies belonging to the integrated group of last resort suppliers, and the OTC cleared volume in its clearing house. The hedging efficiency, measured through the ratio between the final open interest and the cleared volume, shows the lowest values for the Spanish base load futures as they are the most liquid contracts. The ex-post forward risk premium has diminished due to the learning curve and the effect of the fixed price retributi...

The present article studies the dynamic linkages between the LIBOR-OIS spreads of major currencies for the period of March 1, 2006 to November 12, 2008. The Dynamic Conditional Correlation model is employed to examine the impact of the global financial crisis on the cross-currency correlations of the spreads. The overall evidence suggests that the crisis increased the degree of money market integration of the Australian dollar, the Euro and the Sterling with the US dollar. The Japanese Yen appears to have been insulated from the US dollar shortage shocks throughout the period. In addition, the FX swap market liquidity plays an important role in explaining the market integration, whereas the credit worthiness difference between the LIBOR panel banks is a less significant factor.

This paper examines the impact of financial stress on labour productivity in two broad sectors: production and market services. The results indicate that, while both sectors are affected by financial stress, the channels through which this happens differ.

...exchanges in the U.S., London, Hong Kong, or Singapore. Each of the United...the Financial Services Authority, Hong Kong's primary financial markets regulator...Company participant, and in each case, must have executed an...

...exchanges in the U.S., London, Hong Kong or Singapore. Each of the United...the Financial Services Authority, Hong Kong's primary financial markets regulator...Company participant, and in each case, must have executed an...

Tradable emission permits share many characteristics with financial assets. As on financial markets, speculators are likely to be active on large markets for emission permits such as those developing under the Kyoto Protocol. We show how the presence of speculators on a market for emission permits a...

Prices observed in the European sovereign credit default swap (CDS) market have severely increased since the beginning of the financial crisis. We document that the state of a country's financial system and, since the beginning of the crisis, also the state of the world financial system have strong explanatory power for the behavior of CDS spreads, and the magnitude of this impact depends on the importance of a country's financial system pre-crisis. Furthermore, Economic and Monetary Union member countries exhibit higher sensitivities to the health of the financial system. Our results suggest the presence of a private-to-public risk transfer through which market participants incorporate their expectations about financial industry bailouts.

The new field of Econophysics applies the powerful methods of statistical physics and non linear dynamics to macroeconomic modeling and financial market analysis using the physical point of view in dealing with financial problems. Financial markets represent a typical example of complex system where the price changes, apparently random, are the result of interactions among a high number of agents (the market operators). Therefore, financial markets can be studied using the same paradigms and techniques developed in statistical physics for the study of complex systems. (orig./GL)

The number of innovative financial solutions introduced to markets has grown considerably in the past decade owing to emerging digital technologies, deregulation and market fragmentation. Examples are abundant in the worldwide markets for insurance, credit products and transaction processing services. A question of growing interest is how firms should price these innovations. The optimal introductory pricing of financial innovations may vary as a function of factors such as price sensitivity of the market and competitors’ ability to introduce competing financial solutions. In this article, we examine the role of these factors in the optimal pricing of a financial innovation. Using an agent-based simulation framework, introductory pricing strategies that maximize profitability under v...

Financial information from TransAlta Corp. was presented along with a review of their operations throughout 2000 and a summary of the how the electric utility is doing in terms of power generation, independent power producers, transmission and energy marketing. The utility has changed from a regulated vertically integrated utility into one of Canada's largest non-regulated electric power generators. The utility sold its retail businesses in Alberta and New Zealand and now focuses on coal and hydro generation, gas generation, high-voltage transmission and energy marketing. The newly constructed Centralia, Washington generation facility was brought on line with 1,340 MW in May 2000, on time and on budget. This was the platform to diversify their generation into the United States. The utility reported a solid financial year with $177.9 million in earnings from continuing operations, an 83 per cent increase from 1999, driven mostly by the results of Centralia and power marketing and trading businesses. A financial loss was suffered when the Wabamum power plant in Alberta was shut down for several months to repair a boiler. The utility made excellent progress toward their goal of 15,000 megawatts by 2005 by starting with the construction of what will be one of Canada's largest cogeneration facilities at Sarnia, Ontario. TransAlta also commissioned a 360 MW cogeneration facility at Poplar Creek at Suncor's Fort McMurray oil sand facility. TransAlta also has an excellent track record in developing power generation projects internationally. refs., tabs., figs.

...Inc. (MGEX) Newedge USA, LLC (Newedge USA) Nicole Provo Peter J. Carini Petroleum Marketers Association of America (PMAA) Rebecca Washington Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) U.S. Senator Carl Levin West...

Purpose - To examine the difficulties associated with transferring legal governance mechanisms and shareholder rights protection from countries with developed financial markets to newly emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach - Contrasts the development of China's stock markets and strong f...

This paper describes a proposed stand alone company, the Solar Development Corporation (SDC), to be a business development and financing entity for photovoltaic operations with the potential to be commercially sustainable. SDC will have a fully integrated policy advocacy link to the World Bank. SDC will define target countries where the potential exists for significant early market expansion. In those countries it will provide: market and business development services that will accelerate the growth of private firms and deepen the penetration of Solar Home Systems (SHS) and other rural PV applications in the market; and access to pre-commercial and parallel financing for private firms to (1) expand their capability in PV distribution businesses, and (2) strengthen their ability to provide credit to end users. SDC itself will not engage in direct financing of the final consumer. It is intended that as far as possible SDC`s finance will be provided in parallel with financing from Financial Intermediaries.

To investigate the universal structure of interactions in financial dynamics, we analyze the cross-correlation matrix C of price returns of the Chinese stock market, in comparison with those of the American and Indian stock markets. As an important emerging market, the Chinese market exhibits much stronger correlations than the developed markets. In the Chinese market, the interactions between the stocks in a same business sector are weak, while extra interactions in unusual sectors are detected. Using a variation of the two-factor model, we simulate the interactions in financial markets.

The FSA seeks to address the putative financial incompetence of the borrowing public by improving its financial capability. The response of rational agents to asset price inflation in the UK is one indication of the competence with which many people use innovations in the financial services industry. The FSA succeeds only in shielding government failures in the money and housing markets.

The thesis consists of empirical studies on currency market as well as US equity market. A new volatility estimator using wavelets is proposed and used to analyze financial markets. Currency tick data are analyzed to determine the effects of economic releases on foreign exchange market. Behavioral f...

Innovation is crucial to long-term economic growth, even more so in the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis. In this volume, the OECD and the World Bank jointly take stock of how globalisation is posing new challenges for innovation and growth in both developed and developing countries, and how countries are coping with them. The authors discuss options for policy initiatives that can foster technological innovation in the pursuit of faster and sustainable growth. The various chapters highlight how the emergence of an integrated global market affects the impact of national inno

Many industries are exposed to weather risk which they can transfer on financial markets via weather derivatives. Equilibrium models based on partial market clearing became a useful tool for pricing such kind of financial instruments. In a multi-period equilibrium pricing model agents rebalance thei...

We merge a financial market model with leverage-constrained, heterogeneous agents with a reduced-form version of the New-Keynesian standard model. Agents in both submodels are assumed to be boundedly rational. The financial market model produces endogenously arising boom-bust cycles. It is also capa...

"As the world has witnessed the worst financial crisis and climate crisis of our age, during the period of 2007-2009, the issues surrounding the emergence and development of financial markets and carbon markets is becoming an increasingly significant area of research and debate worldwide. By engag...

Thesis political risk in Finland will explain the real nature of the financial crisis in Finland in the beginning of 1990’s. Before 1990’s Finland used to be a closed and controlled market. The liberalisation of the financial market began in 1980’s. This process caused the depression in Finland. ...

Although the economies of East Asia emerged from the global financial crisis of 2008 in comparatively strong positions, they remain structurally embedded within global markets. The degree of regional integration that has occurred within East Asia is thus predicated on the on-going interdependence with the economies of Europe and North America. Moves to advance East Asian regional cooperation in the wake of the crisis reflect this global interdependence, as well as intra-regional differences in interests and a lack of strong leadership within the region. Modest cooperation on an East Asian basis has continued since 2008 but the region is very far from realising a substantive regional governance model on economic and financial issues and does not appear to be pursuing a distinctive governanc...

As deregulation and customer choice loom on the horizon, many energy utilities and other energy suppliers are scrambling to find new services that add value for consumers. Many are also seeking opportunities for increasing efficiency to ensure that costs remain competitive. Integrating weather derivatives with marketing programs and financial management can produce attractive new services and increase efficiency. Weather derivatives can be used to create innovative consumer services, such as a guaranteed annual energy bill which is unaffected by weather and energy price changes. They can also be used to protect the earnings of energy suppliers from one of their most significant financial risks, unpredictable weather. There are three basic types of weather derivatives available today. Option or insurance based derivatives (options), swaps or hedge based derivatives (swaps) and packages where other services are combined with one or both of the above.

Abstract in english This article has the gold of summarize the institutional modifications of the US housing finance system between the 60's and the end of the 90's. Those changes narrowed the bonds between this segment of the credit market and the securitized financial markets, encouraging the foundation and diffusion of financial innovations that are in the core of the current financial crises.

This teaching guide contains learning objectives that focus on the following: how to design a personal financial plan; how financial markets work; how to select among various saving and investment options; how to find out and use investment information; and how to recognize and protect oneself against investment fraud. The guide can be the framework of a course or a supplement to existing high school courses in social studies, economics and consumer economics, business education, personal finance, and mathematics. Each unit contains learning objectives, background information for teachers and students, suggested activities, overheads, handouts, and worksheets. Appendices contain a glossary of terms and resource lists. The guide is divided into the following units: (1) "Financial Decisions" (personal financial planning, factors that influence decisions, a plan to reach financial goals, protection against financial risk); (2) "How Financial Markets Work" (types of financial markets, how securities are bought and sold, regulation of financial markets, factors that affect price); (3) "Investment Choices" (why people save and invest, types of savings and investments, selecting savings and investments; how long will it take to double your money?); (4) "Investment Information" (information about markets and securities, selecting financial professionals); and (5) "Investment Fraud" (scams, schemes and swindles, how telemarketing fraud works, inside Boiler Rooms"; "Types of Investment Scams; fraudulent sales techniques, how to victim-proof yourself; protecting the investor). (BT)

CRE is the French commission for energy regulation. CRE's remit is to assist in ensuring the proper operation of the electricity and natural gas markets for the benefit of the end-user. In particular, CRE ensures that the conditions of access to electricity and natural gas transmission and distribution systems do not hinder the development of competition. It monitors, for the electricity and natural gas sectors, all transactions made between suppliers, traders and producers, all transactions made on the organised markets and cross-border trading. It ensures that suppliers, traders and producers propose offers that are consistent with their financial and technical constraints. It monitors the implementation of and compliance with regulations giving consumers the right to choose their supplier in a competitive market, and allowing new suppliers to enter the market. This document is the 2008 activity report of CRE. Content: A - How CRE works: CRE regulatory authority and organisation: Powers, Organisation; Budget resources; Personnel; B - The Standing Committee for Dispute Settlement and Sanctions (CoRDiS) activity: Admissibility, Authority; C - Building a single European energy market: Overview; Organisation and coordination of the main European regulators (Work carried out collectively by European regulators, Regulator organisation and development, CRE's relations with European Community institutions, Development of CEER activities outside the European Union); CRE's European activities (The contribution of European regulators to the Third Energy Package, Integration of gas markets, Integration of electricity markets, Operation of the European interconnected electricity grid and security of supply, Opening up markets to benefit consumers); European Community activities (The European Commission's proposals for the internal energy market: the Third Energy Package, The European Commission's proposals for fighting climate change: the Climate Package, Infringement proceedings initiated against France by the European Commission); D - CRE action at national level: Regulation of systems and infrastructures (General information, Electricity grids, Natural gas networks and other infrastructures); Electricity and natural gas markets (Changes in the regulatory and legislative context, Electricity markets, Natural gas markets, Monitoring open market operations); Support measures: electricity generation, vulnerable customers and TaRTAM (Supporting cogeneration and renewable energy sources, Public electricity service costs, Collection of public electricity service contributions (CSPE), TaRTAM-related costs, Costs related to the special solidarity tariff for natural gas supply); E - Appendices: Glossary, Acronyms, Council of European Energy Regulators, Units and conversions.

27 overheads/viewgraphs outline the presentation. Firstly an overview is given of the electric power industry in the USA at present, discussing power prices, power market's objectives and challenges to meeting market objectives. The outlook for coal markets is discussed. ICF's integrated approach to power markets is presented - this interlinks electric power markets, fuel markets and environmental markets.

Drawing on a critical political economy perspective on European integration, this article argues that organized labour at the European level, mainly through the form of the ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation), has been over-reliant on the institutional structures of the European state formation, and concomitant hopes for a European social model, rather than questioning the social basis of the hegemonic project of neoliberal integration that has fundamentally engendered the current form of the EU. This argument is then revisited in the light of recent developments; even before the current crisis fault lines in this strategy have emerged, and have subsequently become more pronounced. The analysis examines the role and strategies of organized labour in the process of European integration, focusing on the shifts and continuities in its position from broad support for the Single Market project to an increasingly critical relationship with the European state formation in the context of financial and economic crisis.

This article analyses financial markets' reaction to European Central Bank's (ECB) communication. We apply a novel indicator that quantifies the contents of the ECB's introductory statements and allows disentangling ECB statements on prices, the real and the monetary sector. We provide evidence that it matters what issue the ECB is speaking about: especially, the ECB's statements on price developments represent important news to financial markets. It also matters when the ECB affects markets: communication drives maturities above 4 months.

In this paper we present an econophysic model for the description of shares transactions in a capital market. For introducing the fundamentals of this model we used an analogy between the electrical field produced by a system of charges and the overall of economic and financial information of the shares transactions from the stock-markets. An energetic approach of the rate variation for the shares traded on the financial markets was proposed and studied.

With the introduction of a cost recovering energy feeding law, new possibilities open up for the building integration of photovoltaics and for the solar power generation at the ''Point of sale ''. Still, the appropriate Swiss market is marginal. Not all legal, technical and financial hurdles are removed. Here the photovoltaics with its building integration is in touch with an emotional factor of revaluation: An integration of photovoltaics adresses the building owner beyond their technical-economic value at a culturally abstract level - a wing of a butterfly oscillating in the sunlight also touches on a completely different level. Exactly the same the integration of photovoltaics makes the building to a unique piece of jewellery. In the pioneer phase of the photovoltaics market, architectonically successful integrations of photovoltaics succeeded in a break-through of the solar power generation. Photovoltaics at building coverings is more than a ''fashion '': it becomes a lever arm, with which the solarization of our society transports significant values. Apart from rational-technical considerations this effect has to be used to favour a broad application of photovoltaics with the building integration more purposefully.

Summary We address the issue of how early retirement may interact with limited use of financial markets in producing financial hardship later in life, when some risks (such as long-term care) are not insured. We argue that the presence of financially attractive early retirement schemes in a world of imperfect financial and insurance markets can lead to an `early retirement trap'. Indeed, Europe witnesses many (early) retired individuals in financial distress. In our analysis we use data on 10 European countries, which differ in their pension and welfare systems, in prevailing retirement age and in households' access to financial markets. We find evidence that an early retirement trap exists, particularly in some Southern and Central European countries: people who retired early in life are ...

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) is being proclaimed as ''a new direction in forest conservation'' (Anglesen, 2009: 125). This financial incentives-based climate change mitigation strategy proposed by the UNEP, World Bank, GEF and environmental NGOs seeks to integrate forests into carbon sequestration schemes. Its proponents view REDD+ as part of an adaptive strategy to counter the effects of global climate change. This paper combines the theoretical approaches of market environmentalism and environmental narratives to examine the politics of environmental knowledge that are redefining socio-nature relations in the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania to make mangrove forests amenable to markets. Through a case study of a ''REDD-readiness'' climate change mitigation and adapt...

Purpose - This paper aims to explore public perceptions on marketing-related issues of Islamic mortgages, which can help to identify the contents of the best marketing strategies for financial institutions wishing to promote Islamic mortgages among the Muslim community in the UK. In doing so, the access issues of the Islamic mortgages and how to effectively raise awareness among the Muslim community is discussed. The paper also aims to discuss the integration of the Islamic mortgage and to investigate the importance of staff confidence and the acceptability of promoting the Islamic mortgage by a non-Muslim sales person. Furthermore, the role of religion, the Muslim households' consumer preferences and the prospect of Islamic mortgage providers' cross-selling Islamic mortgage products to th...

A corporate overview of Falconbridge was presented. Falconbridge, founded in 1928 is a leading producer of nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals at low cost. A map displaying its worldwide locations was shown. In Canada, Falconbridge operates in Ontario and Nunavik Territory. The experience in Norway was briefly described, touching on market volatility, market intelligence, portfolio management, and risk management guidelines. The author then explained the purpose of the Energy Project Team, which was responsible for preparing for deregulation, developing strategies for purchasing energy, and minimizing the cost of purchased energy in a competitive market. The plan was described, and the emphasis placed on the core Ontario team. Communication played a large part. The management system functions were reviewed, and analysis provided. The financial integration model was presented. Risk management was dealt with, followed by market intelligence and operational hedge. Division impact was discussed. The major Falconbridge issues were: budget exposure to electricity price variability, how much fixed-price power supply and how long should the contracts be, regulatory structure, market purchase timing, and adhere to corporate risk management policy. The procurement process was described. The author concluded that the product must be kept simple and the number of products limited. A realistic schedule must by adhered to, and a short bidding period of four hours proved ideal. Supplier relationship must be consumer driven. The importance of communication plan was emphasized. Getting pre-approval to make the deal is important. tabs., figs.

We study the emergence of instabilities in a stylized model of a financial market, when different market actors calculate prices according to different (local) market measures. We derive typical properties for ensembles of large random markets using techniques borrowed from statistical mechanics of disordered systems. We show that, depending on the number of financial instruments available and on the heterogeneity of local measures, the market moves from an arbitrage-free phase to an unstable one, where the complexity of the market—as measured by the diversity of financial instruments—increases, and arbitrage opportunities arise. A sharp transition separates the two phases. Focusing on two different classes of local measures inspired by real market strategies, we are able to analytically compute the critical lines, corroborating our findings with numerical simulations.

Abstract The conventional view holds that the current global financial crisis was caused by extraordinarily high liquidity, reckless lending practices, and the rapid pace of financial engineering, which created complex and opaque financial instruments used for risk transfer. There was a breakdown of the lender-borrower relationship and informational problems caused by a lack of transparency in asset market prices, particularly in the market for structured credit instruments. There was outdated, lax, or absent regulatory-supervisory oversight; faulty risk management and accounting models; and the emergence of an incentive structure that not only encouraged excessive risk taking but also created a complicit coalition of financial institutions, real estate developers and appraisers, insurance...

We study exchange market pressures (EMP) and using international reserves by emerging markets (EMs) during the 2000s. We find that financial considerations dominated trade factors. The impact of gross short-term external debt quintuples during the crisis. Capital outflows and deleveraging was the force behind EMP rise during the global financial crisis. Greater FDI (greater portfolio debt) inflows prior to the crisis were associated with a lower (higher) crisis EMP, respectively. The severity of the financial shock was exacerbated by financial ties to the U.S., while the trade shock was more severe in EMs with a larger commodity export share.

Leverage is strongly related to liquidity in a market and lack of liquidity is considered a cause and/or consequence of the recent financial crisis. A repurchase agreement is a financial instrument where a security is sold simultaneously with an agreement to buy it back at a later date. Repurchase agreement (repo) market size is a very important element in calculating the overall leverage in a financial market. Therefore, studying the behavior of repo market size can help to understand a process that can contribute to the birth of a financial crisis. We hypothesize that herding behavior among large investors led to massive over-leveraging through the use of repos, resulting in a bubble (built up over the previous years) and subsequent crash in this market in early 2008. We use the Johansen...

Market participants often suspect that large traders have a disproportionate effect on financial markets, increasing the aggressiveness of market responses. Prior studies have shown that the impact of a large trader on a currency crisis depends positively on his size and informational position. By c...

Abstract A formal home loan is onerous to subprime borrowers in efficient markets. This can deter homeownership for financially strapped individuals, leading to a market failure. This paper proposes a special form of cooperative mortgage financing (practiced in Oman) to overcome this market ...

Financial markets (share markets, foreign exchange markets and others) are all characterized by a number of universal power laws. The most prominent example is the ubiquitous finding of a robust, approximately cubic power law characterizing the distribution of large returns. A similarly robust featu...

An examination of recent and historic trends in the public government and corporate bond markets, how these trends and changed conditions affect the way utility companies assess bond markets, and how utility financial officers already facing profound changes in their industry will be affected by these changed bond markets suggests that the job of the financial officer is more complicated than previously. Financial officers in the future will add new roles of restricting their balance sheets, investing internal cash, and planning for future capital budgeting. 4 figures.

This report summarizes the work performed by Polydyne, Inc. for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) under Contract RP 128-15. The objectives of this study are (1) to assess both the near- and long-term market potential and penetration of sodium-sulphur batteries for electric utility storage and load leveling; and (2) based upon this analysis, to develop a feasible strategy for commercialization of this technology. This report documents the results of an integrated commercialization analysis of sodium-sulphur batteries for electric utility storage applications. The analysis represents an integration of market, economic, risk, and financial considerations, culminating in a dynamic market penetration potential for sodium-sulphur battery storage plants. This potential is derived over time under conditions of uncertainty as part of an overall portfolio approach to generation planning. The resulting commercialization strategy involves forward-pricing of the first twelve 100-MWh sodium- sulphur battery storage plants in high-value markets at an average price reflecting learning costs and portfolio considerations. This forward price is commensurate with the portfolio valuation or risk-premium of the sodium-sulphur battery in high-value utility markets. Subsequent to these first twelve plants, the marginal cost of sodium-sulphur battery storage plants is projected to become increasingly attractive in comparison to other alternatives for peaking and intermediate load applications as a result of further production learning and technological innovation cost reductions. Based upon generation portfolio considerations, the potential portfolio market for mature sodium-sulphur batteries for electric utility applications was assessed to be one-third of the peaking capacity (approximately 5% of the total US installed generation capacity), or 45 GW by 1990 to 60 GW by the year 2030. 30 refs., 35 figs., 13 tabs.

Whonka Candy Company (Whonka) is a case study dealing with internal control and corporate governance. The company has grown rapidly over the last few years and achieved a large share of the wholesale chocolate market. The growth has caused many changes to corporate operations and financial reporting. Your responsibility as a new member of Whonka's board of directors is to evaluate the company's current system of control. Use the knowledge you have obtained regarding the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act (2002) (Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 2002, July 30. Available at http://www.sec.gov/about/laws/soa2002.pdf) and the COSO Internal Control-Integrated Framework (1992 and 2012) (Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Tre. (1994). INTERNAL CONTROL - INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK. Jersey City, NJ: AICPA. Re...

In this timely book, financial consultant and experienced college administrator Mike Townsley examines the financial and strategic resources that private colleges and universities must have in place to withstand the storm. Small college presidents, CFOs, planners, chief academic officers, and board members all have a hand on the tiller and will find substantive guidance here on analyzing financial condition, reshaping strategy, implementing best practices, weathering rocky periods, and designing turnarounds. Readers will learn: (1) Current financial conditions and statistics for private colleges and universities; (2) Economics of markets, prices, and constraints that drive private institutions; (3) Common financial structures; (4) Model practices employed in a well-run business office; (5) Typical business models that are the framework for strategy, operations, and finance; (6) Recommended policies and procedures to safeguard against disaster; (7) Strategic planning for optimum performance; (8) Leadership qualities and characteristics; (9) Warning signs of financial distress; (10) Comparative case histories of private colleges that have succeeded and failed; (11) Lessons learned from college closures and steps for dramatic turnarounds; and (12) A set of principles for building and sustaining strategic momentum. Looking ahead to looming financial pressures, Townsley offers advice on maintaining a forward momentum detailing specific measures for monitoring performance and posing top-of-mind questions that will help financial officers maintain the vigilance required to turn a problem into an opportunity. Well illustrated and documented with the latest statistics, "Small College Guide to Financial Health: Weathering Turbulent Times" includes a CD with several tools and templates for analyzing and designing a winning financial strategy. Appended are: (1) Strategic Planning Components; (2) Financial, Marketing, and Management Diagnostics; (3) Financial Measures; (4) Financial Management Ratios; (5) Financial Benchmarks; (6) Financial Aid: Net Tuition Rates and Net Tuition Revenue; (7) Composite Financial Index; (8) Data Sources; and (9) Massey and Hopkins's Economic Model. A bibliography and an index are included. Individual chapters contain endnotes. (Contains 14 figures and 34 tables.)

This paper examines the ways in which credentials from a range of education providers are used to (re)produce transnational financial elites in London's international financial district. Extant research has examined the long-standing relationship between educational background and entry into these financial labour markets. Far less attention has been paid to how the relationship between education and financial elites has changed more recently as financial labour markets have become increasingly transnational in nature and education and learning increasingly extend beyond higher education into the workplace. In response, this paper combines work on transnational elite labour markets with work from the sociology of education on the intersection between work and workplace education in order t...

In this paper, we use the generalized Hurst exponent approach to study the multi-scaling behavior of different financial time series. We show that this approach is robust and powerful in detecting different types of multi-scaling. We observe a puzzling phenomenon where an apparent increase in multifractality is measured in time series generated from shuffled returns, where all time-correlations are destroyed, while the return distributions are conserved. This effect is robust and it is reproduced in several real financial data including stock market indices, exchange rates and interest rates. In order to understand the origin of this effect we investigate different simulated time series by means of the Markov switching multifractal model, autoregressive fractionally integrated moving average processes with stable innovations, fractional Brownian motion and Levy flights. Overall we conclude that the multifractality observed in financial time series is mainly a consequence of the characteristic fat-tailed distribution of the returns and time-correlations have the effect to decrease the measured multifractality.

The goal of the Fuel Cell Power Systems for Remote Applications project is to commercialize a 0.1--5 kW integrated fuel cell power system (FCPS). The project targets high value niche markets, including natural gas and oil pipelines, off-grid homes, yachts, telecommunication stations and recreational vehicles. Phase 1 includes the market research, technical and financial analysis of the fuel cell power system, technical and financial requirements to establish manufacturing capability, the business plan, and teaming arrangements. Phase 1 also includes project planning, scope of work, and budgets for Phases 2--4. The project is a cooperative effort of Teledyne Brown Engineering--Energy Systems, Schatz Energy Research Center, Hydrogen Burner Technology, and the City of Palm Desert. Phases 2 through 4 are designed to utilize the results of Phase 1, to further the commercial potential of the fuel cell power system. Phase 2 focuses on research and development of the reformer and fuel cell and is divided into three related, but potentially separate tasks. Budgets and timelines for Phase 2 can be found in section 4 of this report. Phase 2 includes: Task A--Develop a reformate tolerant fuel cell stack and 5 kW reformer; Task B--Assemble and deliver a fuel cell that operates on pure hydrogen to the University of Alaska or another site in Alaska; Task C--Provide support and training to the University of Alaska in the setting up and operating a fuel cell test lab. The Phase 1 research examined the market for power systems for off-grid homes, yachts, telecommunication stations and recreational vehicles. Also included in this report are summaries of the previously conducted market reports that examined power needs for remote locations along natural gas and oil pipelines. A list of highlights from the research can be found in the executive summary of the business plan.

The document summarizes the Houston Summit Communique - Actions taken by the United States regarding (1) Climate Change, (2) Ozone Protection, (3) Forests, (4) Marine Pollution, (5) Resource Protection, (6) Development and Financial Assistance, (7) Market...

...foreign market researcher's statement during the telephone interview...In addition, based on the analysis of AICO's financial statements, the domestic interested...2010, submission at 13. Analysis Based on our analysis of...

...market participants and lower litigation risk during times of significant...Background The recent financial crisis, particularly the tumultuous...by minimizing the potential litigation when such resolution authority is exercised. Minimizing litigation risk is important for...

Financial markets have undergone a dramatic technological transformation. Electronic and centralized limit order books dominate the organized securities exchange landscape. Banks and fund companies have invested in trading technology to improve their trade generation and monitoring processes. The au...

...voting shares of NBRS Financial Bank, both in Rising Sun, Maryland. B. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (Kenneth Binning, Vice President, Applications and Enforcement) 101 Market Street, San Francisco, California 94105-1579: 1....

companies face growing demands to improve process efficiencies, comply with environmental regulations, and meet corporate financial objectives. Given the increasing age of many industrial systems and the dynamic industrial manufacturing market, intell...

This 2004 annual evaluation of the french RTE company (electric power transport network) provides information on the 2004 results on: institutional information, financial results, customers and market, industrial resources, environment and consultation, human resources and international aspects. (A.L.B.)

HRS is a national panel study based on biennial interviews. The study provides a portrait of an aging America's physical and mental health, insurance coverage, financial status, family support systems, labor market status, and retirement planning....

Annual report of the Corporation, presenting an overview of the year's operations, including marketing, woodlands, the Carrot River Sawmill/Planer Mill Complex, and the Hudson Bay Plywood Plant. A financial statement is included with notes.

Annual report of the Corporation, presenting an overview of the year's operations, including marketing, woodlands, the Carrot River Sawmill/Planer Mill Complex, and the Hudson Bay Plywood Plant. A financial statement is included with notes.

The recent theoretical research on the informational effect of insider trading in the spirit of Kyle (1985) and Jain and Mirman (1999) was mainly interested in the interaction between the financial and real decisions of the insider, taking into consideration different market structures in both the real and financial markets. However, none investigated the importance of the competition structure in the financial market modeled alone, on the dissemination of information. In this paper, we highlight the effect of the competition structure in the financial market on information revelation. For this purpose, we first extend Jain and Mirman (1999) to incorporate: (i) Cournot competition among the insiders (Model I) and (ii) Stackelberg competition between the insiders (Model II). We then add a r...

This annual report presents the activities and results of TOTAL S.A., french society on oil and gas. It deals with statistics, the managers, key information on financial data and risk factors, information on the Company, unresolved Staff Comments, employees, major Shareholders, consolidated statements, markets, security, financial risks, defaults dividend arrearages and delinquencies, controls and procedures, code of ethics and financial statements. (A.L.B.)

This paper investigates the common intuition suggesting that during crises the shape of the financial market clearly differentiates from that of random walk processes. In this sense, it challenges the analysis of the nature of financial markets proposed by Fama and his associates. For this, a geometric approach is proposed in order to define the patterns of change of the market and a measure of multivariate kurtosis is used in order to test deviations from multinormality. The emergence of crises can be measured in this framework, using all the available information about the returns of the stocks under consideration and not only the index representing the market.

In this paper, we propose a state-dependent VaR (SDVaR) to estimate spill over effects among different financial institutions. We permit spill-over effects to change depending on the state of financial markets. We show that spill-over effects only exist during crisis periods; in calm times spill ove...

This document is a synthesis of a study concerning the environmental and financial stakes in France of the use of fuel cells for a stationary use: the markets in the next ten years, the financial aspects, the fuel cells technology assessment, the results impacts in term of carbon dioxide emissions. (A.L.B.)

In this paper, we describe solutions how pixel-based visualization techniques can support the decision making process for investors on the financial market. We especially focus on explorative interactive techniques where analysts try to analyze large amounts of financial data for long-term investmen...

This paper concentrates on the credit element of Farmer Support Programmes (FSP) and the financial environment in which FSP cedit is applied with a view to assess the importance of the credit component in the FSP. First, the theory on rural financial markets and intermediation is briefly reviewed. T...

Background: The financial crisis of 2007-2010 had a massive impact on the financial markets worldwide. The crisis was partly blamed on the credit derivatives collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps. These instruments were used to create leverage and speculation, which led to uncerta...

We propose an equilibrium framework within which to price financial securities written on non- tradable underlyings such as temperature indices. We analyze a financial market with a finite set of agents whose preferences are described by a convex dynamic risk measure generated by the solution of a b...

This annual report of the SNET (National Society of Electricity and thermic) presents the society activities and the financial report for the year 2003. The society position in the market, the environmental policy, the performance, the workers and financial data are detailed. (A.L.B.)

The severity of the financial and economic crisis which started in 2007 cannot be understood without examining the medium- to long-run developments in the world economy since the early 1980s. The following long-run causes for the crisis can be identified: inefficient regulation of financial markets,...

Islamic finance is acquiring a growing respected place in the world financial system and its market share has been growing by more than 15 percent annually for the last ten years. Sukuk is the financial instrument which is considered to be the icon of the Islamic finance now. It is now one of the fa...

We extend Kirman’s model by introducing variable event time scale. The proposed flexible time scale is equivalent to the variable trading activity observed in financial markets. Stochastic version of the extended Kirman’s agent based model is compared to the non-linear stochastic models of long-range memory in financial markets. The agent based model providing matching macroscopic description serves as a microscopic reasoning of the earlier proposed stochastic model exhibiting power law statistics.

We assume that an individual invests in a financial market with one riskless and one risky asset, with the latter's price following a diffusion with stochastic volatility. In the current financial market especially, it is important to include stochastic volatility in the risky asset's price process. Given the rate of consumption, we find the optimal investment strategy for the individual who wishes to minimize the probability of going bankrupt. To solve this minimization problem, we use techniques from stochastic optimal control.

This paper seeks to solve the difficult nonlinear problem in financial markets on the complex system theory and the nonlinear dynamics principle, with the data-model-concept-practice issue-oriented reconstruction of the phase space by the high frequency trade data. In theory, we have achieved the differentiable manifold geometry configuration, discovered the Yang-Mills functional in financial markets, obtained a meaningful conserved quantity through corresponding space-time non-Abel localization gauge symmetry transformation, and derived the financial solitons, which shows that there is a strict symmetry between manifold fiber bundle and guage field in financial markets. In practical applications of financial markets, we have repeatedly carried out experimental tests in a fluctuant evolvement, directly simulating and validating the existence of solitons by researching the price fluctuations (society phenomena) using the same methods and criterion as in natural science and in actual trade to test the stock Guangzhou Proprietary and the futures Fuel Oil in China. The results demonstrate that the financial solitons discovered indicates that there is a kind of new substance and form of energy existing in financial trade markets, which likely indicates a new science paradigm in the economy and society domains beyond physics.

Interconnections can be an effective way to increase competition and improve market integration in concentrated wholesale electricity markets with limited number of participants. This paper examines the potential for interconnections and increasing market integration in the Irish Single Electricity Market (SEM). We use a time-varying Kalman filter technique to assess the degree of market integration between SEM and other large, mature and interconnected wholesale electricity markets in Europe including Great Britain (GB). The results indicate no market integration between SEM and other European markets except for Elspot and GB. We show that the current state of market integration between SEM and GB is just 17% indicating potential to improve market integration via increased interco...

Restructuring of the electricity market has affected all aspects of the power industry from generation to transmission, distribution, and consumption. Transmission circuits, in particular, are stressed often exceeding their stability limits because of the difficulty in building new transmission lines due to environmental concerns and financial risk. Deregulation has resulted in the need for tighter control strategies to maintain reliability even in the event of considerable structural changes, such as loss of a large generating unit or a transmission line, and changes in loading conditions due to the continuously varying power consumption. Our research efforts under the DOE EPSCoR Grant focused on Integrated Computing, Communication and Distributed Control of Deregulated Electric Power Systems. This research is applicable to operating and controlling modern electric energy systems. The controls developed by APERC provide for a more efficient, economical, reliable, and secure operation of these systems. Under this program, we developed distributed control algorithms suitable for large-scale geographically dispersed power systems and also economic tools to evaluate their effectiveness and impact on power markets. Progress was made in the development of distributed intelligent control agents for reliable and automated operation of integrated electric power systems. The methodologies employed combine information technology, control and communication, agent technology, and power systems engineering in the development of intelligent control agents for reliable and automated operation of integrated electric power systems. In the event of scheduled load changes or unforeseen disturbances, the power system is expected to minimize the effects and costs of disturbances and to maintain critical infrastructure operational.

The synthesis and design of processing networks is a complex and multidisciplinary problem, which involves many strategic and tactical decisions at business (considering financial criteria, market competition, supply chain network, etc) and engineering levels (considering synthesis, design and optimisation of production technology, R&D, etc), all of which have a deep impact on the profitability of processing industries. In this study, an integrated business and engineering framework for synthesis and design of processing networks is presented. The framework employs a systematic approach to manage the complexity while solving simultaneously both the business and the engineering aspects of problems, allowing at the same time, comparison of a large number of alternatives at their optimal points. The results identify the optimal raw material, the product portfolio and select the process technology for a given market scenario together with the optimal material flows through the network and calculate the corresponding performance and sustainability metrics. The framework includes a software infrastructure for integrating different methods and tools needed for problem definition, formulation and solution of the design problem as a MINLP, reducing thereby the time and cost needed to generate and solve the design/synthesis problems and providing efficient data transfer between the tools. A generic structural process model has been implemented within the framework to describe the multidimensional engineering issues allowing thereby fast and flexible model development for various production processes.A case study from vegetable oil industry is used successfully to demonstrate the applicability of the integrated framework for making optimal business and engineering decisions.

The cycle of boom and crash is a “natural” element in financial market history, and numerous research works have provided evidence that market prices spend far more time deviating from postulated theoretical equilibrium than actually tending towards it. In particular, nonmean-reverting dynamism in financial markets may be produced by mass psychological dynamics in the patterns of human aggregate behavior, which result from nonrational herding impulses sensed by market participants in complex and uncertain situations. Based on a literature review and the analysis of several case studies, this paper elucidates postulated mechanisms behind, and characteristics of, herding in financial markets. The main goal is to raise awareness of the often little-understood point that collecti...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how non-finance departmental involvement in the management of exchange rate risks impacts the extent of foreign exchange speculation in non-financial firms. Design/methodology/approach – We survey non-financial firms in a small open economy (Denmark) to investigate the extent of foreign exchange speculation and how it is related to the degree of non-finance departmental involvement in the management of exchange rate risks. We employ binary and ordered probit regression analysis. Findings – We find a positive link between 1) the extent to which other departments than the finance department is involved in the management of exchange rate risks and 2) the extent to which the firm is likely to speculate – whether in the form of selective hedging or active speculation – on the foreign exchange market. Practical implications – Our findings indicate that the trend towards a more integrated risk management approach in which the finance department is not the only department responsible for risk management may have the (unforeseen) consequence that foreign exchange speculation increases. Originality/value – The findings are important because the link between the extent of foreign exchange speculation and a more integrated risk management approach has not been addressed previously.

Using aggregate balance sheet data from banks across the EU-25 over the period from 1997 to 2005 we provide empirical evidence that national banking market concentration has a negative impact on European banks' financial soundness as measured by the Z-score technique while controlling for macroeconomic, bank-specific, regulatory, and institutional factors. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that Eastern European banking markets exhibiting a lower level of competitive pressure, fewer diversification opportunities and a higher fraction of government-owned banks are more prone to financial fragility whereas capital regulations have supported financial stability across the entire European Union.

...Commission [Docket No. ER12-1013-000] Physical Systems Integration, LLC; Supplemental Notice That Initial Market-Based Rate...in the above-referenced proceeding of Physical Systems Integration, LLC's application for market-based rate...

We investigate the relative market efficiency in financial market data, using the approximate entropy(ApEn) method for a quantification of randomness in time series. We used the global foreign exchange market indices for 17 countries during two periods from 1984 to 1998 and from 1999 to 2004 in order to study the efficiency of various foreign exchange markets around the market crisis. We found that on average, the ApEn values for European and North American foreign exchange markets are larger than those for African and Asian ones except Japan. We also found that the ApEn for Asian markets increase significantly after the Asian currency crisis. Our results suggest that the markets with a larger liquidity such as European and North American foreign exchange markets have a higher market efficiency than those with a smaller liquidity such as the African and Asian ones except Japan.

We have devised two special modules for De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) Household Survey to measure financial literacy and study its relationship to stock market participation. We find that the majority of respondents display basic financial knowledge and have some grasp of concepts such as interest compounding, inflation, and the time value of money. However, very few go beyond these basic concepts; many respondents do not know the difference between bonds and stocks, the relationship between bond prices and interest rates, and the basics of risk diversification. Most importantly, we find that financial literacy affects financial decision-making: Those with low literacy are much less likely to invest in stocks.

Common asset holdings are widely believed to have been the primary vector of contagion in the recent financial crisis. We develop a network approach to the amplification of financial contagion due to the combination of overlapping portfolios and leverage, and we show how it can be understood in terms of a generalized branching process. By studying a stylized model we estimate the circumstances under which systemic instabilities are likely to occur as a function of parameters such as leverage, market crowding, diversification, and market impact. Although diversification may be good for individual institutions, it can create dangerous systemic effects, and as a result financial contagion gets worse with too much diversification. Under our model there is a critical threshold for leverage; below it financial networks are always stable, and above it the unstable region grows as leverage increases. The financial system exhibits "robust yet fragile" behavior, with regions of the parameter space where contagion is ra...

Abstract in english The paper investigates the recent financial crisis within a historical and comparative perspective having in mind that it is ultimately a confidence crisis, initially associated to a chain of high risk loans and financial innovations that spread thorough the international system culminating with impressive wealth losses. The financial market will eventually recover from the crisis but the outcome should be followed by a different and more disciplined set of international (more) institutions. There will be a change on how we perceive the widespread liberal argument that the market is always efficient, or at least, more efficient than any State intervention, overcoming the false perception that the State is in opposition to the market. A deep financial crisis brings out a period of wealth losses and an adjustment process characterized by price corrections (commodities and equity price deflation) and real effects (recession and lower employment), and a period of turbulences and end of illusions is in place.

As a market segment for solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption, new homes have a number of attractive attributes. Homebuyers can easily roll the cost of the PV system into their mortgage and, with rebates or other financial incentives, potentially realize an immediate net positive cash flow from the investment. PV system performance can be optimized by taking roof orientation, shading, and other structural factors into account in the design of new homes. Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), which are subject to fewer aesthetic concerns than traditional, rack-mounted systems, are well-suited to new construction applications. In large new residential developments, costs can be reduced through bulk purchases and scale economies in system design and installation. Finally, the ability to install PV as a standard feature in new developments - like common household appliances - creates an opportunity to circumvent the high transaction costs and other barriers typically confronted when each individual homeowner must make a distinct PV purchase decision.

To study the house price dynamics in China, this paper extends the traditional life-cycle model by incorporating land supply, regime shifts and government regulation factors. The models are estimated with an error correction framework using quarterly data from 2000 to 2007 in Beijing. The conclusions are as follows. (1) There exits a stable co-integration relationship between house price and fundamentals; land supply and financial regimes are also important determinants of long-run equilibrium house prices. (2) Short-run dynamics depend on changes of fundamentals and the adjustment process of housing market. Land supply has a significant impact on house price fluctuations while demand factors such as user costs, income and residential mortgage loan have greater influences. The adjustment s...

Dwindling fossil fuel resources and pressures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will result in a more diverse range of generation portfolios for future electricity systems. Irrespective of the portfolio mix the overarching requirement for all electricity suppliers and system operators is to instantaneously meet demand, to operate to standards and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore all electricity market participants will ultimately need to use a variety of tools to balance the power system. Thus the role of demand side management with energy storage will be paramount to integrate future diverse generation portfolios. Electric water heating has been studied previously, particularly at the domestic level to provide load control, peak shave and to benefit end-users financially with l...

On 16-17 March 2009 the Energy Pact Foundation will be holding the Energy Pact Conference in Geneva. The Conference is organised with the support of the Republic and Canton of Geneva and has the Financial Times as its media partner. It will address for the first time in a comprehensive and integrated manner the key issues of energy needs and environmental and developmental challenges. Some 800 stakeholders and experts on these issues are expected. These will include high-level government officials, opinion leaders and representatives from the United Nations, NGOs, industry, civil society and the academic world. Gerhard Schröder, former Chancellor of Germany, will chair the Conference. Speakers with different backgrounds and expertise will include Dr. Carlo Rubia, Nobel Prize Winner, Ali Al-Naimi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia, Gholam Hossein Nozari, Oil Minister of Iran, Gary Ross, CEO of PIRA Energy, a world-renowned energy market specialist, Ashok Khosla, President of the In...

The objective of the Gasification Product Improvement Facility (GPIF) project is to provide a test site to support early commercialization of the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology. The design of this facility will by based on PyGas{trademark}, a patented air blown fixed bed gasification process. The GPIF will be capable of processing run-of-mine high swelling coals that comprise 87% of all Eastern US coals. The GPIF project is expected to deliver a gasifier design that will satisfy the criteria for good process performance and cost effectiveness. The PyGas{trademark} process was conceived to handle high swelling coals, crack tars, and reduce ammonia and trace metal emissions. The GPIF program will generate useful scale up data. Initially, the PyGas{trademark}-IGCC systems will be offered as modular units for the repowering markets which will reduce the financial burden on utilities in comparison to large plants. In addition, modular designs will also reduce the plant construction schedules.

Dufour and Engle (J. Finance (2000) 2467) find evidence of an increased presence of informed traders when the NYSE markets are most active. No such evidence, however, can be found by Manganelli (J. Financial Markets (2005) 377) for the infrequently traded stocks. In this paper, we fit a nonlinear lo...

The launch of financial reforms in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) at the beginning of the 1990s stimulated increased interest of investors and academics in the newly-born stock markets of this region. Most of the existing studies, however, consider a group of the CEE markets, stressing their commo...

This paper provides a quantitative account of the tri-party repo market during the recent financial crisis. Using data from July 2008 to January 2010, we show that the level of haircuts and the amount of funding were surprisingly stable in this market. The stability of the haircuts contrasts with ev...

Market Indices are perhaps one of the most well known concepts in finance. They have also a crucial role in the professional financial field: hundreds of institutional investors, pension funds or investment banks use, follow and create market indexes. Since 1880, indexes have spread over the world d...

This paper investigates the relationship between asset markets and business cycles with regard to the United States economy. We consider the Goldman Sachs approach (2003) developed to study the dynamics of financial balances. By means of a small econometric model we find that asset market dynamics a...

Bayesian learning provides a core concept of information processing in financial markets. Typically it is assumed that market participants perfectly know the quality of released news. However, in practice, news’ precision is rarely disclosed. Therefore, we extend standard Bayesian learning allowing ...

In this paper, we study the effects of euro area and US macroeconomic news on financial markets in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland (CEEC-3) from 1999 to 2006. Using a GARCH model, we examine the impact on daily returns of three-month interest rates, stock market indices, exchange rates versu...

This letter investigates the time-varying behavior of long memory in sovereign and corporate bond indices of seven European Union countries from July 1998 to November 2011. We compute the Hurst exponent and detect that the current financial crisis affects more the informational efficiency of the corporate bond market than the sovereign bond market.

Inspired by the theory of social imitation (Weidlich 1970) and its adaptation to financial markets by the Coherent Market Hypothesis (Vaga 1990), we present a behavioral model of stock prices that supports the overreaction hypothesis. Using our dynamic stock price model, we develop a two factor gene...

This thesis applies insights from psychology and other behavioral sciences to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional finance approach (which assumes that agents and markets are rational) and improves our understanding of financial markets and its participants. More specific, this thesis provid...

The conference was related with some of the major questions concerning global energy governance today, the role of the different international organizations dealing with energy, the rules of the game between market and state players, the efforts to deal with climate change, and the integration of emerging countries in global energy governance, the roles of the different international organizations dealing with energy (will we see further fragmentation or more cooperation between them?). Tatsuo Masuda in his contribution discussed global energy governance from an oil perspective. Andre Mernier noted the particular nature of the Energy Charter, which, as it is founded upon an international treaty, is unlike other organizations in being legally binding. The legal basis of the organization means that agreements are especially powerful. Then Richard H. Jones underlined that last summer's volatility in oil markets, the ensuing financial and economic crisis, the major disruption in gas supplies to European markets this winter and the upcoming climate change negotiations have led to increasing calls for a stronger global dialogue on energy issues. This dialogue should deal with prices and investment, energy security and climate change

Access to affordable and reliable electricity supplies is a basic prerequisite for economic and social development, prosperity, health, education and all other aspects of modern society. Electricity can be generated both near and far from the consumption areas as transmission lines, grid interconnections and distribution systems can transport it to the final consumer. In the vast majority of countries, the electricity sector used to be owned and run by the state. The wave of privatisation and market introduction in a number of countries and regions which started in the late 1980's has in many cases involved unbundling of generation from transmission and distribution (T and D). This has nearly everywhere exposed transmission bottlenecks limiting the development of well-functioning markets. Transmission on average accounts for about 10-15% of total final kWh cost paid by the end-user but it is becoming a key issue for effective operation of liberalised markets and for their further development. An integrated and adequate transmission infrastructure is of utmost importance for ensuring the delivery of the most competitively priced electricity, including externalities, to customers, both near and far from the power generating facilities. In this report, the role of interconnectivity in the development of energy systems is examined with the associated socio-economic, environmental, financial and regulatory aspects that must be taken into account for successful interconnection projects.

The increase in liquefied natural gas trade has accelerated the integration of previously segmented markets in North America, Europe, and Asia. This paper provides evidence on the integration of the transatlantic natural gas market. We test the theoretical proposition that in integrating markets com...

Foreign banks have increased their market share in many emerging markets since the mid-1990s. We analyse the stability implications of foreign banks for cross-border and domestic bank lending in the global financial crisis. Our results suggest that a higher foreign bank presence was associated with more stable cross-border bank flows. This result is largely driven by two regions: Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. However, we fail to find similar evidence for domestic bank lending. This indicates that the financial stability benefits of a stronger foreign bank presence in emerging markets did not spill over from cross-border flows to domestic lending.

Adopting a grounded theory perspective, this research investigates the roles and interactions between marketing, customer services and human resources (HR) in driving success in UK financial services brands. CEOs/MDs, Directors of Marketing, HR and Customer Services, their line reports, front line staff and their agencies from 2 successful and 4 less successful financial services corporations participated in depth interviews for this project. Marketing strategically defining the brand, HR aligning policies behind the brand and customer services staff being brand exemplars enhances brand success. Organizations should abhor power struggles as no one department is critical ? rather working together is key. The brand fulcrum model helps managers and researchers appreciate the harmonious activi...

This paper investigates the dynamic impacts of financial institutions on economic growth based on a panel data set comprised of 13 countries in European Union (EU) over the period of 1976-2005. We found several important results. First, there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship among banking development, stock market development and economic development, and stock market capitalization and liquidity have positive long-run effects on economic development. Second, financial depth may have a negative long-run effect on real output, but improving risk diversification and information services of commercial banks results in stable economic development. Finally, stock market liquidity has a negative short-term influence on economic growth.

In this paper we build an open economy extension of the Gordon (1962) valuation model that suggests a simple forecasting system for three macroeconomic variables; the real growth, inflation and real exchange rate. All the forecasting equations in our system utilize current financial market information in the form of dividend yields and short-term interest rate. Our empirical results indicate that these simple forms of financial market information are relevant for forecasting the time-varying underlying trends in the macroeconomic data for the U.K., Eurozone and Japan, when treating the U.S. as the world market.

The Asia-Pacific region's currency markets are generally efficient within-country when tested using the Johansen (1991, 1995) cointegration technique whereas market efficiency fails to hold when tested using Fama's (1984) conventional regression. Using the Pilbeam and Olmo (2011) model, we reconcile these conflicting findings. The Pilbeam and Olmo (2011) model confirms within-country market efficiency. It further confirms that free-float currency markets are more resilient than managed-float currency markets among 12 Asia-Pacific economies. From the across-country perspective, the foreign exchange markets are mostly efficient and the results show that the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis was a more disturbing event than the 2008-2009 global financial crisis in the region.

Quantum theory is used to model secondary financial markets. Contrary to stochastic descriptions, the formalism emphasizes the importance of trading in determining the value of a security. A generic quantum mechanical construction is used for the temporal evolution of probabilities. All possible realizations of investors holding securities and cash is taken as the basis of the Hilbert space of market states. The temporal evolution of an isolated market is unitary in this space. Linear operators representing basic financial transactions such as cash transfer and the buying or selling of securities are constructed and simple model Hamiltonians that generate the temporal evolution due to cash flows and the trading of securities are proposed. The Hamiltonian describing financial transactions becomes local when the profit/loss from trading is small compared to the turnover. This approximation may describe a highly liquid and efficient stock market. The lognormal probability distribution for the price of a stock wi...

In this article, the concept of a tax on financial transactions in Europe is discussed. In the wake of the financial crisis of 2007, the European Union (EU) as well as single Member States are considering imposing a tax on financial transactions to mitigate short-term speculative trading and to generate substantial tax revenue to refinance the costs incurred during the crisis. The implementation of a tax on financial transactions would, from an economic perspective, have a range of consequences for the participants in the global financial markets, which must be considered. The authors analyse the potential economic consequences of a financial transaction tax (FTT) and derive solutions to mitigate negative effects. This article also intends to derive suggestions concerning the structure of ...

Low volume MEMS/NEMS production is practical when an attractive concept is implemented with business, manufacturing, packaging, and test support. Moving beyond this to high volume production adds requirements on design, process control, quality, product stability, market size, market maturity, capital investment, and business systems. In a broad sense, this chapter uses a case study approach: It describes and compares the silicon-based MEMS accelerometers, pressure sensors, image projection systems, and gyroscopes that are in high volume production. Although they serve several markets, these businesses have common characteristics. For example, the manufacturing lines use automated semiconductor equipment and standard material sets to make consistent products in large quantities. Standard, well controlled processes are sometimes modified for a MEMS product. However, novel processes that cannot run with standard equipment and material sets are avoided when possible. This reliance on semiconductor tools, as well as the organizational practices required to manufacture clean, particle-free products partially explains why the MEMS market leaders are integrated circuit manufacturers. There are other factors. MEMS and NEMS are enabling technologies, so it can take several years for high volume applications to develop. Indeed, market size is usually a strong function of price. This becomes a vicious circle, because low price requires low cost - a result that is normally achieved only after a product is in high volume production. During the early years, IC companies reduced cost and financial risk by using existing facilities for low volume MEMS production. As a result, product architectures are partially determined by capabilities developed for previous products. This chapter includes a discussion of MEMS product architecture with particular attention to the impact of electronic integration, packaging, and surfaces. Packaging and testing are critical, because they are significant factors in MEMS product cost. These devices have extremely high surface/volume ratios, so performance and stability may depend on the control of surface characteristics after packaging. Looking into the future, the competitive advantage of IC suppliers will decrease as small companies learn to integrate MEMS/NEMS devices on CMOS foundry wafers. Packaging challenges still remain, because most MEMS/NEMS products must interact with the environment without degrading stability or reliability. Generic packaging solutions are unlikely. However, packaging subcontractors recognize that MEMS/NEMS is a growth opportunity. They will spread the overhead burden of high-capital-cost-facilities by developing flexible processes in order to package several types of moderate volume integrated MEMS/NEMS products on the same equipment.

Continuous time random walks are a well suited tool for the description of market behaviour at the smallest scale: the tick-to-tick evolution. We will apply this kind of market model to the valuation of perpetual American options: derivatives with no maturity that can be exercised at any time. Our approach leads to option prices that fulfil the financial formulas when canonical assumptions on the dynamics governing the process are made, but it is still suitable for considering more exotic market conditions.

This paper summarizes the main issues concerned to natural gas supply and demand in Brazil, pointing out the great market share growth in terms of energy matrix, although it is necessary to improve some institutional issues in order to contribute to the market development. It presents how BNDES has adjusted its procedures and financial conditions to follow market changes. Finally, it prospects future BNDES actions on financing several links of the natural gas economic chain. (author)

It is now recognized that Benoit Mandelbrot's fractals play a critical role in describing a vast range of physical and social phenomena. Here we focus on two systems, earthquakes and finance. Since 1942, earthquakes have been characterized by the Gutenberg-Richter magnitude-frequency relation, which in more recent times is often written as a moment-frequency power law. A similar relation can be shown to hold for financial markets. Moreover, a recent New York Times article, titled "A Richter Scale for the Markets" [1] summarized the emerging viewpoint that stock market crashes can be described with similar ideas as large and great earthquakes. The idea that stock market crashes can be related in any way to earthquake phenomena has its roots in Mandelbrot's 1963 work on speculative prices in commodities markets such as cotton [2]. He pointed out that Gaussian statistics did not account for the excessive number of booms and busts that characterize such markets. Here we show that both earthquakes and financial crashes can both be described by a common Landau-Ginzburg-type free energy model, involving the presence of a classical limit of stability, or spinodal. These metastable systems are characterized by fractal statistics near the spinodal. For earthquakes, the independent ("order") parameter is the slip deficit along a fault, whereas for the financial markets, it is financial leverage in place. For financial markets, asset values play the role of a free energy. In both systems, a common set of techniques can be used to compute the probabilities of future earthquakes or crashes. In the case of financial models, the probabilities are closely related to implied volatility, an important component of Black-Scholes models for stock valuations. [2] B. Mandelbrot, The variation of certain speculative prices, J. Business, 36, 294 (1963)

In the light of current market conditions, the financial services industry has been reshaped, requiring new marketing knowledge to provide guidelines for successful practice. To that end, corporate social responsibility, green marketing and a green brand image (GBI) have attracted considerable interest in the banking sector, although no framework has yet been established relating these constructs to one another. In this article, the authors present exploratory research as a basis for developing a model of green bank marketing. The model was tested to confirm the dimensions of green bank marketing and investigate its impact on a GBI, thus providing statistical evidence of the relationship between the two variables.

We examine the impact of transaction costs, short selling restrictions and divisibility of assets on market efficiency in experimental asset markets. We find that transaction costs do not exacerbate the inefficiency of the market. They reduce the magnitude of bubbles and push prices closer to fundamentals. More divisible assets exhibit smaller deviations of prices from fundamentals. Short selling restrictions contribute to prolonged bubbles, while relaxing them increases the occurrence of -bust cycles.- We also find that experimental real estate markets display larger deviations of prices from fundamental values, longer boom and bust cycles and smaller turnover than experimental financial markets.

Summary / Conclusions: Challenges and opportunities. I). Liberated energy markets increase effectiveness and enhance economic growth. EU's internal electricity market is going to be the largest integrated electricity market in the world. Nordic market players have the longest experience. II). Increased complexity due to interaction of fuel markets, electricity markets, allowance markets, certificate markets. New challenges for companies' risk management. New challenges for authorities, politicians, etc. III). High uncertainties due to short term national and international climate policies. Post-Kyoto policies may change the whole energy system . Huge markets for clean technologies in the long run. (AG)

The electric and gas utility reform in eastern Canada jurisdictions, specifically in New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario were reviewed. Progress towards a more competition-oriented operation was the principal theme. With regard to New Brunswick, the financial and operational crisis of NB Power, the provincially owned utility, was described. It was argued that in keeping with the trend towards privatization it would be preferable to privatize NB Power rather than allowing it to become an even larger monopoly by taking control of Sable Island gas distribution. In Quebec, two government-owned utilities, Hydro-Quebec and Gaz Metropolitain, were consolidated to strengthen the government`s monopoly. In view of the lack of competition and unequal access to meet the criteria of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Hydro-Quebec`s main challenge is to retain access to the US market. The US FERC order is a major barrier to Hydro-Quebec. In the Ontario portion of the review, the financial crisis facing Ontario Hydro received extensive coverage. Ontario Hydro was accused of protecting its monopolistic power to control provincial power users, and to prevent independent producers to do business in the province. By contrast, in the Ontario natural gas sector competition is growing, led by initiatives of the Ontario Energy Board and supported by all major gas utilities. Energy Probe is advocating an Independent System Operator (ISO) for the gas system, a concept universally accepted as necessary in competition-oriented integrated electric power systems.

ETSO and EuroPEX have previously published separate proposals for congestion management and market operation across borders in Europe. ETSO has described a 'vision' in which Transmission System Operators (TSOs) would support trade between a variety of different markets by taking explicit account of the physical flows of electricity between them ('flow-based modelling'). EuroPEX has described 'Decentralized Market Coupling' as a method to integrate regional energy markets with cross-border congestion management. In most respects the ETSO and EuroPEX proposals are consistent and complementary. In particular, both organisations agree that market-based congestion management mechanisms should be used at all borders wherever possible, and that they should be co-ordinated to take account of the interdependence of physical flows. Furthermore, both ETSO and EuroPEX recognize that integrated markets are in general more efficient than separate ones, but accept that coupling of regional markets is the most realistic way of achieving efficiency benefits in the short and medium term. The commonalty between the ETSO and EuroPEX proposals has been noted by the 'Florence' Regulators' Forum, which has therefore encouraged ETSO and EuroPEX to work together to develop joint proposals. They have responded by setting up a Joint Working Group, which has produced this report to describe its progress to date. Currently, there exists a wide variety of organisational structures and operational practices in Europe. Consequently, ETSO and EuroPEX agreed at an early stage that, although a joint vision of a flow-based market coupling (FMC) model should be developed, it was equally important to identify how the current arrangements could evolve towards it in a series of practical steps. The work is not yet complete. This is an interim report designed to expose ideas at an early stage to enable Regulators, Users and other interested parties to join the debate and provide feedback. In particular, it does not attempt to put forward a prescriptive 'blueprint' for a particular market model, but rather to signal a general direction. It is assumed that implementation of changes in practice would proceed through a series of regional initiatives, governed where necessary by the EU Regulation on Cross-border Exchanges of Electricity, together with the associated Guidelines. The FMC model describes arrangements for day-ahead trading. This needs to be part of a broader set of arrangements including, on one side, effective opportunities for participants to hedge price risk and, on the other side, complementary adjustment and balancing arrangements. FMC is compatible with price risk being hedged via a variety of forward physical or financial markets. The minimum set of regulatory/contractual arrangements necessary to implement FMC has been identified. Some issues concerning the status of power exchanges in some Member States remain to be resolved, particularly regarding the designated nature of the proposed day-ahead market. The transmission modelling and market co-ordination processes remain to be specified in technical detail. Both should be as transparent as reasonably possible, and the latter is likely to be an iterative process, introducing the possibility of convergence issues. Subject to the response to this interim report from other parties, ETSO and EuroPEX agree that the FMC concept should be developed further. Eventual deliverables should include inputs for consideration under the EU Comitology procedure, and advice for consideration by local implementation projects.

This article presents an interview with Ray Gonzalez, a risk consultant at Deloitte & Touche LLP, in Houston, Texas, about the financial reporting responsibilities of top, middle, and frontline managers in large and medium-size firms. This interview spotlights the necessity for timely and accurate reporting of financial information relating to revenue generation and recognition. The responsibility for reporting timely financial information is present at all three tiers of management. The integrity of financial information reported to key stakeholders is crucial to the firm's survival. Culpability for accuracy is with top management; however, controls on accuracy assurances is the message from top to bottom. Both internal and external stakeholders play a key role in the sorts of financial information being reported. Managers must now anticipate what financial information is critical to key stakeholders as a major goal for avoiding litigation and protecting top management from criminal complaints. Company managers are keenly aware of the consequences of misinterpreted financial information messages.

In this paper, we propose an efficiency index and multifractality degree for financial markets, and investigate the dynamics of the relationship between the two indices for the Shanghai stock market employing the technique of rolling window. By using the DCCA cross-correlation coefficient, we find that, for the Shanghai stock market, the increase in the degree of market multifractality can lead to a lower degree of market efficiency before the equity division reforms, whereas it can result in a lower degree of market efficiency in the short-term and a higher degree of market efficiency in the long-term after the equity division reforms. This finding reflects the process of development of the Shanghai stock market and also provides strong evidence which supports Liu's argument that the incr...

The continuous flux of a capital costs in modern fnancial markets presents unique opportunites to highly levered companies such as public utilities. A company using the principles described in this article can realize substantial long-range benefits by reacting appropriately to money-market changes, the author says. Such benefits are possible, but they require a new perspective and a reorientation to the capital markets. Money managers can no longer afford to seek funds only when operations or construction projects generate the need. They may be failing in their custodial functions if they are not aggressively responding to money-market movements as the movements occur. In a step-by-step illustration, this article carries the reader through the analysis that leads from a simple market even affecting a single company into the dynamic financial management concept and introduces ramifications that should fascinate financial managers. 6 figures.

Results of a set of four regression models applied to recent survey data of farmers in eastern Nebraska suggest the causes that drive farmer intentions of using weather and climate information and forecasts in farming decisions. The model results quantify the relative importance of attitude, social norm, perceived behavioral control, and financial capability in explaining the influence of climate-conditions information and short-term and long-term forecasts on agronomic, crop insurance, and crop marketing decisions. Attitude, serving as a proxy for the utility gained from the use of such information, had the most profound positive influence on the outcome of all the decisions, followed by norms. The norms in the community, as a proxy for the utility gained from allowing oneself to be influenced by others, played a larger role in agronomic decisions than in insurance or marketing decisions. In addition, the interaction of controllability (accuracy, availability, reliability, timeliness of weather and climate information), self-efficacy (farmer ability and understanding), and general preference for control was shown to be a substantive cause. Yet control variables also have an economic side: The farm-sales variable as a measure of financial ability and motivation intensified and clarified the role of control while also enhancing the statistical robustness of the attitude and norms variables in better clarifying how they drive the influence. Overall, the integrated model of planned behavior from social psychology and derived demand from economics, that is, the “planned demand model,” is more powerful than models based on either of these approaches alone. Taken together, these results suggest that the “human dimension” needs to be better recognized so as to improve effective use of climate and weather forecasts and information for farming decision making.

We build a model of the euro area incorporating financial market frictions at the level of firms and households. Entrepreneurs borrow from financial intermediaries in order to purchase business capital, in the spirit of the ''financial accelerator'' literature. We also introduce two types of households that differ in their degree of time preference. All households have preferences for housing services. The impatient households are faced with a collateral constraint that is a function of the value of their housing stock. Our aim is to provide a unified framework for policy analysis that emphasises financial market frictions alongside the more traditional model channels. The model is estimated by Bayesian methods using euro area aggregate data and model properties are illustrated with simula...

Annual report of Petro-Canada, formed by an Act of Parliament in 1975 and wholly owned by the Government of Canada. The company is mainly engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, and the transportation, refining, and marketing of hydrocarbons for Canadian needs. It is the largest Canadian-owned company in the petroleum industry and the only Canadian-owned oil and gas company with a national marketing network. This report gives highlights of the year's activities; current opportunities in the natural gas business and the effects of deregulation; financial and operating summaries of the resources and products divisions; corporate responsibilities; a financial review and statement; a glossary of financial terms; information on reserves; and a five-year financial and operating summary.

Integrated micro-CHP (Cooling, Heating and Power) system solutions represent an opportunity to address all of the following requirements at once: conservation of scarce energy resources, moderation of pollutant release into our environment, and assured comfort for home-owners. The objective of this effort was to establish strategies for development, demonstration, and sustainable commercialization of cost-effective integrated CHP systems for residential applications. A unified approach to market and opportunity identification, technology assessment, specific system designs, adaptation to modular product platform component conceptual designs was employed. UTRC's recommendation to U.S. Department of Energy is to go ahead with the execution of the proposed product development and commercialization strategy plan under Phase II of this effort. Recent indicators show the emergence of micro-CHP. More than 12,000 micro-CHP systems have been sold worldwide so far, around 7,500 in 2004. Market projections predict a world-wide market growth over 35% per year. In 2004 the installations were mainly in Europe (73.5%) and in Japan (26.4%). The market in North-America is almost non-existent (0.1%). High energy consumption, high energy expenditure, large spark-spread (i.e., difference between electricity and fuel costs), big square footage, and high income are the key conditions for market acceptance. Today, these conditions are best found in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, New England states. A multiple stage development plan is proposed to address risk mitigation. These stages include concept development and supplier engagement, component development, system integration, system demonstration, and field trials. A two stage commercialization strategy is suggested based on two product versions. The first version--a heat and power system named Micro-Cogen, provides the heat and essential electrical power to the homeowner. In its proposed embodiment, the system has a 2kW prime mover integrated to a furnace platform. The second version is a Micro-Trigen system with heating, cooling and power. It has the same Micro-Cogen platform integrated with a 14kW thermally activated chiller. A Stirling engine is suggested as a promising path for the prime mover. A LiBr absorption chiller is today's best technology in term of readiness level. Paybacks are acceptable for the Micro-Cogen version. However, there is no clear economically viable path for a Micro-Trigen version with today's available technology. This illustrates the importance of financial incentives to home owners in the initial stage of micro-CHP commercialization. It will help create the necessary conditions of volume demand to start transitioning to mass-production and cost reduction. Incentives to the manufacturers will help improve efficiency, enhance reliability, and lower cost, making micro-CHP products more attractive. Successful development of a micro-CHP system for residential applications has the potential to provide significant benefits to users, customers, manufacturers, and suppliers of such systems and, in general, to the nation as a whole. The benefits to the ultimate user are a comfortable and healthy home environment at an affordable cost, potential utility savings, and a reliable supply of energy. Manufacturers, component suppliers, and system integrators will see growth of a new market segment for integrated energy products. The benefits to the nation include significantly increased energy efficiency, reduced consumption of fossil fuels, pollutant and CO{sub 2} emissions from power generation, enhanced security from power interruptions as well as enhanced economic activity and job creation. An integrated micro-CHP energy system provides advantages over conventional power generation, since the energy is used more efficiently by means of efficient heat recovery. Foreign companies are readily selling products, mostly in Europe, and it is urgent to react promptly to these offerings that will soon em

Arbitrage as an inevitable component of financial markets is due to the robust interplay between the continuous and the discontinuous stochastic variables appearing in the underlying dynamics. We present empirical evidence of such an arbitrage through the laboratory experiment on a portfolio management in the Japan-United States financial markets over the last several years, under the condition that the asset allocation was updated every day over the entire period. The portfolio management addressing the foreign exchange, the stock, and the bond markets was accomplished as referring to and processing only those empirical data that have been complied by and made available from the monetary authorities and the relevant financial markets so far. The averaged annual yield of the portfolio counted in the denomination of US currency was slightly greater than the averaged yield of the same physical assets counted in the denomination of Japanese currency, indicating the occurrence of arbitrage pricing in the financial markets. Daily update of asset allocation was conducted as referring to the predictive movement internal to the dynamics such that monetary flow variables, that are discontinuously stochastic upon the act of measurement internal to the markets, generate monetary stock variables that turn out to be both continuously stochastic and robust in the effect.

The U.S. Orphan Drug Act provides R&D incentives to drug-makers that go beyond statutory patent protection. The study explores the acts effect on financial returns to innovation and on the strategy of orphan drug development. Results indicate that the financial return to orphan drug development is positive. The findings suggest that when market size is small and cumulative innovation is an important phenomenon the policy that extends effective patent duration or subsidizes R&D activity improves incentives to innovate.

In this paper we present a rather general phenomenological theory of tick-by-tick dynamics in financial markets. Many well-known aspects, such as the Lévy scaling form, follow as particular cases of the theory. The theory fully takes into account the non-Markovian and non-local character of financial time series. Predictions on the long-time behaviour of the waiting-time probability density are presented. Finally, a general scaling form is given, based on the solution of the fractional diffusion equation.

 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a term has existed for only a couple of decades but in practice CSR has existed for more than 100 years. Through the 90's, CSR became common among businesses while evolving from a philanthropic to a pragmatic dimension. Recent research suggests a transformation of CSR, which combines CSR with the core business of the company in order to increase and maintain societal legitimacy. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are organization tools of a company's resources. The most basic parts concern finance and payments. Today, these ERPs are widely customized and integrated with respect to human resources such as time-accounting, map of competencies, and other events related to employee-care. We propose a new concept on ERP called environmental ERP, which combines the climate aspect of CSR with the ERP-system. The purpose of this is to integrate climate friendly events into the business processes, particularly for large-scale companies. The value of such a module or integration has many dimensions. It creates a green CSR-profile within the core business of the ERP-producer, who has a potential marketing focus. An environmental ERP-module will additionally create financial and social value to the company that utilizes ERP which will retain for example optimization of logistics and a decrease of CO2 emission.  Finally, a legal regulation in 2009 requires the 1000 largest companies in Denmark to inform about their CSR-activities, which could be managed through this ERP-module.

In this paper, we reexamine the relative merits of bank-based and market-based financial systems in promoting long-run economic growth, which has been debated since the 19th century. We find that in the U.S., the U.K., and Japan, the stock market played an important role in financing economic growth, whereas the banking sector played a more important role in Germany, France, and Korea. A more detailed subsample analysis shows that for all countries, the banking sector played an important role in the early years of economic growth. Regarding the causal relation between financial systems and economic growth, except for Korea, all countries show that the financial system leads economic growth. A further analysis shows that the banking sector and the stock market in each country were complemen...

This paper presents an integrated approach for portfolio selection in a multicriteria decision making framework. Firstly, we use Support Vector Machines for classifying financial assets in three pre-defined classes, based on their performance on some key financial criteria. Next, we employ Real-Coded Genetic Algorithm to solve a mathematical model of the multicriteria portfolio selection problem in the respective classes incorporating investor-preferences.

The Financial Guarantee System is aimed at assuring compliance with contractual obligations. Currently, there are several forms of financial instruments with a variety of attributes available in the market, providing optimum flexibility for the players to meed financial assurance requirements. This article provides a brief conceptual analysis of this mechanism and describes the financial assurance system adopted by the Brazilian Petroleum Agency. This system is aimed at ensuring compliance to bidding process obligations involving areas of marginal accumulations. In principle, such systems should provide reasonable compliance protection with low regulatory costs and acceptable impact of new entrants. The requirement for Financial Guarantees should not produce additional obstacles in the maintenance of investment flow within this emerging segment, which should be kept attractive and competitive. The authors intend to contribute by proposing a fundamental basis for the discussion of the subject within the Brazilian regulatory framework. (author)

In these excerpts from The Squam Lake Report, fifteen distinguished economists analyze where the global financial system failed, and how such failures might be prevented (or at least their damage better contained) in the future. Although there were many contributing factors to the crisis-including -agency- problems throughout the financial system and a bankruptcy code poorly suited for reorganizing financial firms-at the core of the problem is a potential conflict between the risk-taking proclivity of financial institutions and the interests of the economy at large that must be managed at least in part through more effective regulation. The Squam Lake Report provides a nonpartisan plan to transform the regulation of financial markets in ways designed to limit systemic risk while preserving...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore better use of pharmacists in rural communities as a partial solution to scarcity of physicians and other health care providers. It discusses expected reduction in public subsidies for rural health care and the changing market for pharmacists. The paper emphasizes the use of pharmacists as a backdrop for description of Medication Therapy Management (MTM). A pilot study of MTM is also reported. Methods: This article explores rural health access, the market for pharmacists and MTM using the literature, and economic concepts to provide historical context for this new form of health care delivery. A small case study from a university-based clinic provided primary data to demonstrate viability. Findings: MTM can augment rural health by providing care for patients who receive increasing numbers of complex medications. It helps better integrate pharmacists into primary care and holds promise as a cost-effective, if not cost-saving alternative. Conclusion: More constrained fiscal conditions are a virtual certainty going forward. The rural health community needs cost-effective health care alternatives that can prosper with lower levels of public financial support. MTM is one such option. PMID:23083089

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is seen as an important solution to solve the twin challenge of reducing GHG emissions, while utilizing fossil fuel reserves to meet future energy requirements. In this study an innovation systems perspective is applied to review the development of CCS technologies in the US between 2000 and 2009 and to come up with policy recommendations for technology managers that wish to accelerate the deployment of CCS. The analysis describes the successful built-up of an innovation system around CCS and pinpoints the key determinants for this achievement. However, the evaluation of the system's performance also indicates that America's leading role in the development of CCS should not be taken for granted. It shows that the large CCS R and D networks, as well as the extensive CCS knowledge base, which have been accumulated over the past decade, have not yet been valorized by entrepreneurs to explore the market for integrated CCS concepts linked to power generation. Therefore, it is argued that the build-up of the innovation system has entered a critical phase that is decisive for a further thriving development of CCS technologies in the US. This study provides a clear understanding of the current barriers to the technology's future deployment and outlines a policy strategy that (1) stimulates technological learning; (2) facilitates collaboration and coordination in CCS actor networks; (3) creates financial and market incentives for the technology; and (4) provides supportive regulation and sound communication on CCS. (author)

In today's challenging healthcare environment, clinicians need to understand the fundamentals of financial analysis, which are the underpinnings of their clinical programs, especially when seeking administrative support for new initiatives. The business plan for new clinical program initiatives is composed of diverse elements such as the mission statement, market and competitive analyses, operations plan, and financial analysis. Armed with a basic knowledge of financial analysis of clinical programs, as well as forward-looking analysis of an initiative's added value, the healthcare provider can work much more effectively with administration in developing or creating new healthcare program initiatives. PMID:21815550

Convexity arises naturally in financial risk management. In risk preferences concerning random cash-flows, convexity corresponds to the fundamental diversification principle. Convexity is a basic property also of budget constraints both in classical linear models as well as in more realistic models with transaction costs and constraints. Moreover, modern securities markets are based on trading protocols that result in convex trading costs. The first part of this paper gives an introduction to certain basic concepts and principles of financial risk management in simple optimization terms. The second part reviews some convex optimization techniques used in mathematical and numerical analysis of financial optimization problems.

Many healthcare organizations that acquired group practices to enhance their market share have found that the practices have not met their financial goals. Turning around a financially troubled, hospital-owned group practice is challenging but not impossible for healthcare organizations that take certain basic actions. Direction, data, desire, dedication, and drive must be present to effect the financial turnaround of a group practice. The healthcare organization needs to evaluate the practice's strategy and operations and identify the issues that are hindering the practice's ability to optimize revenues. Efforts to achieve profitable operations have to be ongoing. PMID:11258274

This paper investigates the effects of two financial crises (the 1997 Asian currency crisis and the 2000 Turkish financial crisis) on the forward discount bias in 14 emerging-market economies using a robust two-stage procedure. This unique sample of less researched currencies displays: (i) high persistence in forward discount equations; and (ii) varying variance ratios between changes in exchange rates and the forward premium. The findings provide new insights into the forward discount puzzle: financial crises exert considerable power on the forward discount bias and uphold the forward rate unbiasedness hypothesis (FRUH) by reverting the negative sign into positive.

Models that aim to optimize the design of supply chain networks have become a mainstream in the supply chain literature. This paper aims to fill a gap in the literature by introducing a mathematical model that integrates financial considerations with supply chain design decisions under demand uncertainty. The proposed Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem enchases financial statement analysis through financial ratios and demand uncertainty through scenario analysis. The applicability of the model is illustrated by using a case study along with a sensitivity analysis on financial parameters expressing the business environment. The model could be used as an effective and convenient strategic decision tool by supply chain managers.