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Yiddish
(2008)
Weitere Informationen unter: http://www.dovidkatz.net/dovid/dovid_stylistics.htm
This version of the entry for Yiddish contains a moderate number of revisions made too late for inclusion in the printed version, which appears in vol. 1, pp. 979-987 of the Yivo Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Some of these changes were made in response to helpful comments by Dr. Alexander Beider of Paris to a previous online version posted on the YIVO website
When at the end of Hans Sachs' tragedy of Tristrant, dated February 7th, 1553, the herold takes the floor, he calls to the audience to recognize that this is a tragedy, Auß der wird offentlich erkendt, Wie solche unorndliche lieb Hat so ein starck mechtigen trieb, Wo sie einnimbt ein junges hertz Mit bitter angst, senenden schmertz, Darinn sie also heftig wüt, Verkert hertz, sin, vernunft und gmüt, Wird leichtfertig, verwegen gantz, Schlecht seel, lieb, ehr, gut in die schantz, Acht fürbas weder sitten noch tugent, (184,32-185,3) (1) ....
In hindsight, the debate about presupposition following Frege’s discovery that the referential function of names and definite descriptions depended on the fulfillment of an existence and a uniqueness condition was curiously limited for a very long time. On the one hand, it was only in the 1960s that linguists began to take an interest and showed that presupposition was an allpervasive phenomenon far beyond this philosophers’ pet definite descriptions. And on the other hand, and this is our real concern, it is now only too obvious that the uniqueness condition is too restrictive to be applicable to the general case. An utterance of “The cat is on the mat” should not imply that there is only one cat and one mat in the whole world. The obvious move is to limit the uniqueness condition to some notion of utterance context.
Local interactions between particles of a collection causes all particles to reorganize in new positions. The purpose of this paper is to construct an energy-based model of self-organizing subgroups, which describes the behavior of singular local moves of a particle. The present paper extends the Hegselmann-Krause model on consensus dynamics, where agents simultaneously move to the barycenter of all agents in an epsilon neighborhood. The Energy-based model presented here is analyzed and simulated on finite metric space. AMS Subject Classifications:81T80; 93A30; 37M05; 68U20
In the following I will discuss grammatical structures of Inuktitut, an Eskimo language spoken in the Canadian Eastern Arctic. Inuktitut is a polysynthetic language exhibiting an exceedingly elaborate verbal inflectional system including polypersonal marking. Furthermore, Inuktitut features free word order and optionality of noun phrases crossreferenced with the predicate. But Inuktitut also exhibits a number of features which seem to contradict the possibility of its being a "pronominal argument language" -- or as I would prefer to express it, a morphological argument language.
Does BPO pay off at the firm-level? Although there are several studies which analyze the potential benefits of BPO, there is a virtual absence of research papers on BPO outcomes. Based on an analysis of 137 Business process outsourcing (BPO) ventures at 254 German banks in a period between 1994 and 2005, we found that the outsourcer's financial performance in terms of profitability and cost efficiency was increased significantly compared to industry peers without BPO. The increase stems not from workforce reductions but rather from increased employee productivity. Further, we show how BPO governance ensures BPO success: individually negotiated outsourcing contracts help to improve cost efficiency and profitability measures. Relational governance based on trust has only positive effects on profitability. Keywords: Business Process Outsourcing, firm performance, firm characteristics, banking, German banks, governance JEL Classifications: G21, L14, L21, L24
The syndicated loan market, as a hybrid between public and private debt markets, comprises financial institutions with access to valuable private information about borrowers as a result of close bank-borrower relationships. In this paper, we seek empirical evidence for the costs of these relationships in a sample of UK syndicated loan contracts for the time period 1996 through 2005. Using detailed financial data for both borrowers (private and public companies) and for financial institutions, we find that undercapitalized banks charge higher loan spreads for loans to opaque borrowers using various measures for borrower opaqueness and controlling for bank, borrower and loan characteristics. We further analyze this hold-up effect over the business cycle and find that it only prevails during recessions. In expansion phases, however, we do not find evidence for banks exploiting their information monopoly. This finding is consistent with theories on bank reputation in bank loan commitments. Ambiguity about borrower financial health, which induces the information monopoly in the first place, also gives banks the discretion to exploit or not exploit informational captured borrowers. Our findings are both statistically and economically significant and robust to alternative bank and macroeconomic risk proxies. We address potential concerns about unobserved borrower heterogeneity exploiting the panel data nature of our sample. Using firm-bank fixed effect regressions, we find supporting evidence for our theoretical framework. JEL Classifications: G14, G21, G22, G23, G24 Keywords: Syndicated loans; Hold-up; Lending relationships; Business cycle
Over the last four decades the literature on bond rating changes and its effects on security prices increased significantly with almost all studies not controlling for the respective reason for those. We therefore investigate the impact of rating events on the stock and the credit default swap (CDS) market incorporating rating reviews and rating changes together with the reason mentioned by the rating agency. Our results for the general effects are in line with prior findings but conditioning on the respective reason shows that the markets’ anticipation of rating actions is largely driven by events due to changes in firms’ operating performance. Furthermore, we provide empirical evidence for the hypothesis in prior literature that a surprise downgrade does not necessarily have to be bad news for stockholders when wealth is transferred from bondholders, but negative rating actions are always bad news for bondholders. The results additionally reveal increasing rating announcement effects by declining credit quality of firms for both rating reviews and changes. JEL Classification: D82, G14, G20. Keywords: Credit Default Swaps, Credit Ratings, Credit Rating Reasons, Event Study.
Applying an investment perspective to higher education, the paper presents detailed empirical evidence on the rate of return to higher education and its determinants. Employing a sample of 17,180 higher education graduates derived from the German Labor Force Survey 2004, we show considerable variation in the rates of return to higher education across the different subjects, with some subjects on average not representing attractive private investments from an economic point of view. We find that the decision what to study is worth several hundred thousand Euros. Applying regression analysis, we find gender- and degree-specific return advantages only in certain subjects. Comparing the return of an investment in higher education and the production cost of higher education, we show that more expensive subjects (apart from Medicine) yield a lower return. When considering the cost of study, the overall order of attractiveness of the different forms of education remains stable, but the investment in further subjects is no longer clearly attractive. Keywords: Returns to Education, Human Capital, Higher Education Earnings Capacity.
This paper addresses the question whether close borrower-lender relationships, so called hausbank-relationships, facilitate the funding and beneficial development of SME. To this end, we derive a model which relates a firm's growth rate to its need for external funds and subsequently compute the firms that exceed their predicted growth rate. We then use this measure to identify specific characteristics that are associated with long- and short-term financing of firm growth, in particular the influence of relationship lending. We find that close ties with savings banks predict firms' access to external finance to fund growth. Moreover, the long-term liabilities of firms with hausbank-relationships almost double those with multiple relationships while the overall leverage is about the same. In turn, we find an strong empirical relationship between the provision of long-term funds and firm growth. Keywords: small business lending, credit access, public banks JEL Classifications: G21, D21
The paper will focus on the early texts of Galileo Galilei (1613~1623) and Daniel Bernoulli (1738) as examples of pure combinatorical analysis and perspectively considerations within the mathematical discipline of probability theory. It is argued that Bernoulli's approach needed to be developed further in order to achieve a successful and satisfactory theory of risk. In modern economy the need for a proper definition of a notion of risk is seen and currently discussed within the frame of ISO standards. But as already mentioned this interest is mainly owed to the governmental demands of the Basel II and Solvency standards and therefore an external demand. On the other hand an intrinsic understanding of the meaning of risk, as could be provided by a conclusive theory, could lead to a better success in modelling various risks and help to achieve better prognosis.
Detailed mass balance food web models were constructed to compare ecosystem characteristics for three Alaska regions: the eastern Bering Sea (EBS), the Gulf of Alaska (GOA), and the Aleutian Islands (AI). This paper documents the methods and data used to construct the models and compares ecosystem structure and indicators across models. The common modeling framework, including biomass pool and fishery definitions, resulted in comparable food webs for the three ecosystems which showed that they all have the same apex predator—the Pacific halibut longline fishery. However, despite the similar methods used to construct the models, the data from each system included in the analysis clearly define differences in food web structure which may be important considerations for fishery management in Alaska ecosystems. The results showed that the EBS ecosystem has a much larger benthic influence in its food web than either the GOA or the AI. Conversely, the AI ecosystem has the strongest pelagic influence in its food web relative to the other two systems. The GOA ecosystem appears balanced between benthic and pelagic pathways, but is notable in having a smaller fisheries catch relative to the other two systems, and a high biomass of fish predators above trophic level (TL) 4, arrowtooth flounder and halibut. The patterns visible in aggregated food webs were confirmed in additional more detailed analyses of biomass and consumption in each ecosystem, using both the single species and whole ecosystem indicators developed here.
Several classes of chemicals that are known or suspected contaminants were found in bed sediment in Rock Creek, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalate esters, organochlorine pesticides, dioxins and furans, trace metals and metalloids (mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, nickel, silver, and zinc), and polychlorinated biphenyls (total PCBs and selected aroclors). Concentrations of many of these chemicals consistently exceeded thresholdor chronic-effects guidelines for the protection of aquatic life and often exceeded probable effects levels (PELs). Exceedance of PELs was dependent on the amount of total organic carbon in the sediments. Concurrent with the collection of sediment-quality data, white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) were evaluated for gross-external and internal-organ anomalies, whole-body burdens of chemical contaminants, and gut contents to determine prey. The histopathology of internal tissues of white sucker was compared to contaminant levels in fish tissue and bed sediment. Gut contents were examined to determine preferential prey and thus potential pathways for the bioaccumulation of chemicals from bed sediments. Male and female fish were tested separately. Lesions and other necroses were observed in all fish collected during both years of sample collection, indicating that fish in Rock Creek have experienced some form of environmental stress. No direct cause and effect was determined for chemical exposure and compromised fish health, but a substantial weight of evidence indicates that white sucker, which are bottom-eeding fish and low-order consumers in Rock Creek, are experiencing some reduction in vitality, possibly due to immunosuppression. Abnormalities observed in gonads of both sexes of white sucker and observations of abnormal behavior during spawning indicated some interruption in reproductive success.
Seabirds in the UK were generally more productive in 2005 than in 2004, when productivity for many species reached an all-time low. A presumed scarcity of sandeels in 2004, especially in the North Sea, led to widespread starvation of chicks in the Northern Isles and in many places along the east coast of Britain (there is also recent evidence that prey fish were of unusually low energy content in 2004 around SE Scotland). The likely knock-on effect for 2005 was that there were few larger sandeels present (those that hatched in 2004) and it is thought that feeding on these fish allow adults to attain breeding condition in spring. This food scarcity and a cold spring led to what was among the latest breeding seasons on record. However, a late appearance of young sandeels allowed some chicks to fledge, and alternative prey species (such as sprat and small haddock) were taken also. However, it is thought that some chicks starved in this late season, as sandeels become unavailable in late summer, when they settle on the seabed. Unusually, 2005 was a very poor breeding season for many species in NW Scotland, which was spared the food shortages of 2004 and previous years; preferred prey during chick rearing were scarce in this region in 2005.
Using molecular tools to differentiate closely related blackfly species of the genus Simulium
(2008)
Biodiversity data are the foundation for conservation and managemet and taxonomy provides the reference system, skills and tools used to identify organisms. Species level data such as species richness, composition and diversity are common metrics. However, species level identification of organisms tends to be neglected within ecological work, especially within monitoring programmes, but also in conservation biology (Giangrande, 2003). This is because collection of species level data is time consuming, with identification of species-specific characteristics traditionally involving lengthy examination of samples using microscopy. In addition it is costly and species level data is almost impossible to collect if the taxa involved are species rich and difficult to identify (Báldi 1999). Other reasons why species level identification is neglected include the fact that sample collection can damage organisms, so diagnostic morphological features are lost, or that individuals may be in a life history stage or of a sex that does not have diagnostic morphological characteristics. Furthermore, the numbers of available expert taxonomists needed for species identification are in decline and have been for several decades. Species identification using molecular taxonomy where DNA is used as a marker is championed as a tool for resolving a range of morphological problems, such as the association of all life history stages, correlating male and female specimens to the same species and identifying partial specimens. Traditional taxonomy is built around morphological variations between species, with systematic inferences based upon shared physical characters. In molecular taxonomy on the other hand, proteins and genes are used to determine evolutionary relationships. ’DNA barcoding’ aims to provide an efficient method for species-level identification and it is thought that it will provide a powerful tool for taxonomic and biodiversity research (Hajibabaei et al. 2007). Cited strengths of a molecular based approach to species identification include the potential universality and objective nature of DNA data as taxonomic information, the usefulness of molecular data in animal groups characterized by morphological cryptic characters and the use of DNA sequence information to determine otherwise ‘unidentifiable’ biological material (such as incomplete specimens or immature specimens). Its aim is to increase the speed, precision and efficiency of field studies involving diverse and difficult to identify taxa and it has the potential to be automated to provide a rapid and consistently accurate supplementary identification system to traditional taxonomy. This project was a proof-of-concept study that investigated the feasibility of using DNA barcodes to differentiate closely related blackfly species of the genus Simulium. The longer term objective would be to apply such molecular approaches to organisms used in water quality monitoring and to biodiversity studies to provide a quick, robust but practical and cost effective tool for species identification. Great Britain is currently home to 33 morphospecies of blackfly many of which are morphologically close to other species and have been the cause of much systematic revision. In addition to evaluating the use of DNA barcodes in species identification, a non-destructive DNA extraction method was developed to preserve voucher pecimens that will allow a complete morphological classification to be carried after DNA extraction. Using molecular tools to differentiate closely related blackfly species of the genus Simulium v Finding an effective DNA barcode for an individual species involves accurate taxonomic identification and the retention of voucher specimens for future morphological studies. A rapid non-destructive method for DNA extraction from small insects was developed where no clean-up step was required prior to amplification and it was possible to extract DNA of sufficient quality in minutes retaining diagnostic morphological characteristics. For any molecular tool used for species discrimination, an important consideration is defining the specific genetic loci (e.g. the position of genes on a chromosome) to be monitored. All blackfly species in this study were successfully amplified with the standard barcoding coxI gene primer pair LCO1490 5'-GGT CAA CAA ATC ATA AAG ATA TTG G-3' and HCO2198 5'-TAA ACT TCA GGG TGA CCA AAA AAT CA-3' (Folmer et al. 1994) and we did not need to optimise or redesign the primer sequence.
Nestling growth and development studies have been a topic of interest for a greater part of the last century (Sutton 1935, Walkinshaw 1948) and continue to be of interest today. This is not surprising since studies on nestling growth can provide a wealth of biological information that has larger implications for avian management and conservation. Despite this history of studying nestling development, basic information is still limited or absent for many species. Many questions remain unanswered, and contradictory conclusions are often found in the literature (Starck and Ricklefs 1998a). Therefore, much information on aging and development can still be gained from studying the development patterns of similar species and from comparative studies, across avian orders (Minea et al. 1982, Saunders and Hansen 1989, Carsson and Hörnfeldt 1993). Additionally, nestling growth studies can yield insight into the effects of different nesting strategies on productivity (O’Connor 1978), as well as the impacts of parental effort and environmental variables on fitness (Ross 1980, Ricklefs and Peters 1981, Magrath 1991). Since low reproductive success may play a significant role in the declines of many North American passerines (Sherry and Holmes 1992, Ballard et al. 2003), a better understanding of the factors that influence reproductive success is a vital component of avian conservation (Martin 1992). Data on nestling aging can be used to improve nest survival estimates (Dinsmore 2002, Nur et al. 2004), providing information that can be used to more precisely age nests (Pinkowski 1975, Podlesack and Blem 2002), (Jones and Geupel 2007). Indeed, the relatively short time period young spend developing in the nest is a critical part of a bird’s life cycle and a nestling’s developmental path can affect its survival to independence, its survival as an adult, and its future reproductive success.
For the efficient management of large image databases, the automated characterization of images and the usage of that characterization for searching and ordering tasks is highly desirable. The purpose of the project SEMACODE is to combine the still unsolved problem of content-oriented characterization of images with scale-invariant object recognition and modelbased compression methods. To achieve this goal, existing techniques as well as new concepts related to pattern matching, image encoding, and image compression are examined. The resulting methods are integrated in a common framework with the aid of a content-oriented conception. For the application, an image database at the library of the university of Frankfurt/Main (StUB; about 60000 images), the required operations are developed. The search and query interfaces are defined in close cooperation with the StUB project “Digitized Colonial Picture Library”. This report describes the fundamentals and first results of the image encoding and object recognition algorithms developed within the scope of the project.
The prevention of credit card fraud is an important application for prediction techniques. One major obstacle for using neural network training techniques is the high necessary diagnostic quality: Since only one financial transaction of a thousand is invalid no prediction success less than 99.9% is acceptable. Due to these credit card transaction proportions complete new concepts had to be developed and tested on real credit card data. This paper shows how advanced data mining techniques and neural network algorithm can be combined successfully to obtain a high fraud coverage combined with a low false alarm rate.
A tale of two lost archives
(2009)
This paper surveys the growth and various phases of and influences on the concept of democracy in the Islamic political thought of the last two centuries. Among the thinkers covered in the survey are Rifa'a Tahtawi (1801-73), Khairuddin at-Tunis (1810-99), Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani (1838-97), Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905), Abdurrahman al-Kawakibi (1849-1903), Rashid Rida (1865-1935), Hasan al-Banna (1904-49), Ali Abd Ar-Raziq (1888-1966), Sayyid Qutb (1906-66), Sa'id Hawwa, and Malik Bennabi (1905-73). Reference is made to the influence of Sayyid Mawdudi (1903-79), on the thought of Sayyid Qutb. The paper traces also the bearing of Bennabi's thought on Rachid Ghannouchi and on the Islamic movements of our times.
Quantificational determiners in Japanese can be marked with genitive case. Current analyses (for example by Watanabe, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, to appear) treat the genetive case marker in these cases as semantically vacuous, but we show that it has semantic effects. We propose a new analysis as reverse partitives. Following Jackendoff (MIT-Press, 1977), we assume that partitives always contain two NPs one of which is phonologically deleted. We claim that, while in normal partitives the higher noun is deleted, in reverse partitives the lower noun is deleted.
Decomposing questions acts
(2006)
Compositionality
(2007)
In late 2006/early 2007, the Cultural Research Centre (CRC), with financial and technical support from the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda, carried out research in Iganga and Namutumba districts to gauge the impact of the introduction of the local language as a medium of instruction in ‘pilot’ lower primary school classes. Our research was in response to new circumstances in Uganda’s education sector, with Government introducing teaching in local languages in lower primary classes from February 2007. This was accompanied by a “thematic curriculum”, to develop early childhood skills that are fundamental to continuing educational performance in numeracy, literacy and life skills. This was a departure from the earlier emphasis on the acquisition of facts in various subjects in primary schools, mostly focusing on recall, and mostly taught in English. This nationwide policy followed a pilot initiative in four districts, including Iganga (later split into Iganga and parts of Namutumba districts), where 15 pilot schools had been chosen. Instruction in Lusoga in Primary 1 to 3 classes started there in 2005, following a period of teacher training. From the outset however, parents, teachers, pupils and others raised questions: was teaching in the local language possible, and would it make a positive difference to learning?
In Lango, Northern Uganda, 20 years of war, cattle rustling and HIV/AIDS have resulted in widespread loss of life, population displacement, and loss of property. In spite of this turmoil, some traditional cultural practices, such as widow inheritance, early child marriage, and widow cleansing continued, although they were increasingly seen to conflict with ‘modern’ development thinking, especially when infringing women and children’s rights. External development actors first tried to address this situation by ‘sensitising’ communities, but with limited success. It however soon became evident that clan leaders were instrumental in perpetuating cultural practices: in the early 2000’s, they became increasingly identified as key actors to address harmful traditions and to resolve conflicts. With the many trials faced by local communities, women’s roles in supporting the family institution and upholding cultural values had however expanded too. Several development organisations were established to address the challenges related to these changes and one was the Lango Female Clan Leaders’ Association, with a focus on promoting girls’ education and access to justice for women. This case study examines the role that these female clan leaders have successfully played in tackling current gender- related challenges. It explores the interface between traditional and modern gender concepts and the value of working with cultural resource persons to address cultural challenges. The study involved desk research, field based semistructure interviews, focus group discussions with 30 respondents and key informants, and a validation write-shop, all held in the course of 2008.
A remarkable indictment and conviction following the sale of an ‘obscene’ comic book invites us to examine arguments brought forth to describe a specifically childlike reception of new media, as usually suggested by those who would motivate legal restrictions for such media. Trying to explain some perceived contradictions on the surface of these arguments, we discuss whether it is the failure or rather the extreme success of texts that is marked as ‘dangerous’ in such contexts.
The main goal of this article is to define the problem of vowel duration in Civili (H12a). It shows that the so-called Civili vowel-length desperately needs to be re-examined, because previous works on the sound system of this language hardly explain a number of phonological phenomena, such as vowel lengthening, on the basis of data at hand. Demonstrating the problem in question, the author first reviews previous works that all identify a vowel lengthening in Civili. From different analyses the complexity of the phenomenon is found out by observing differences from an analysis to another, and by regarding difficulties the different phonologists came up against. Then, the problem is also seen through the weakness of each analysis results. This eventually shows more aspects of the vowel duration issue, and leads the author to make a clear distinction between vowel length and vowel lengthening that can be all regarded as only vowel duration. Finally, the article shares a possible way for a solution through an experimental approach of the Civili sound system.
The goals of Zionism today
(1998)
The Arab-Israeli wars
(2003)
Lexicon of Zionism
(2003)
This review describes how the constraints of limited water resources and an arid and semi-arid environment were overcome by a leadership capable of defining future needs and identifying and implementing appropriate solutions. Advanced technologies proved indispensable in this process. Yet, in recent years, the continuously increasing demand for water, mainly for domestic use, has created a chronic situation in which all available water from natural sources is being used up. The only solution to ensuring a dependable supply of water for both domestic and agricultural use requires that several steps be taken concurrently to implement regulations and measures for saving water and to construct immediately large-scale plants for desalination of seawater and reclamation of urban effluents.
The Druze in Israel
(2002)
The bedouin in Israel
(1999)
The redeemers of the land
(1999)
Jan Snyman papers
(2007)
Biographical history and context: Professor Jan Snyman spent most of his life researching the lesser known and marginalised San languages of Botswana and South West Africa (now Namibia). Together with O. Kohler, E. Westphal and A. Traill, he pioneered linguistic studies on these endangered languages of Africa. He contributed significantly in collection of the data that helped classify and understand the grammar of San languages. Snyman also wrote several grammars in the form of monographs and notes on these languages. By the time he died, in 2002, a draft for the Tshwaa and Kua languages had been completed. Content: Linguistic, phonetics and orthography research materials including fonts for phonetic languages. Covering dates: 1967-2000
In this paper I argue in favor of a Matching Analysis for German relative clauses. The Head Raising Analysis is shown to fail to account for parts of the reconstruction pattern in German, especially cases where only the external head is interpreted and the absence of Principle C effects. I propose a Matching Analysis with Vehicle Change and make consistent assumptions about possible deletion operations in relatives so that the entire pattern can be captured by one analysis which therefore proves superior to previous ones.
In April 2002 the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Center for Financial Studies (CFS) launched the ECB-CFS Research Network to promote research on “Capital Markets and Financial Integration in Europe”. The ECB-CFS research network aims at stimulating top-level and policy-relevant research, significantly contributing to the understanding of the current and future structure and integration of the financial system in Europe and its international linkages with the United States and Japan. This report summarises the work done under the network after two years. Over time the network formed a coherent and growing group of researchers interested in the integration of European financial markets, while using light organisational structures and budgets. The members of this evolving group met repeatedly at the events organised by the network to present the latest results of their research and to share views on policy options. In this sense, the “network of people” intended at the start was created. Overall, the network aroused great interest, as leading academic researchers, researchers from the main policy institutions and high-level policy makers participated actively in it by presenting research results, through speeches and in policy panels. It also stimulated a new research field on securities settlement systems, an area of high policy relevance and interest to the ECB that had not attracted much interest in the research community beforehand. Also, the network seems to have triggered several related outside initiatives by international institutions, such as the IMF or the OECD. During its first two years the network was organised around three workshops and a final symposium on 10-11 May 2004. To focus research resources and to ensure medium-term policy relevance, a limited number of areas have been given top priority: bank competition and the geographical scope of banking; international portfolio choices and asset market linkages between Europe, the United States and Japan; European bond markets; European securities settlement systems; and the emergence and evolution of new markets in Europe (in particular start-up financing markets). In order to stimulate further research focused on the priority fields of the network, the ECB Lamfalussy research fellowships were established. These fellowships sponsor projects proposed by young researchers, both a dvanced doctoral students and younger professors. Five Lamfalussy fellowships were granted in 2003 and five more in 2004. The first papers from this program have already been issued in the ECB working paper series or are forthcoming. One of them won the prize for the best paper written by a Ph.D. student at the 2004 European Finance Association Meetings in Maastricht. Results of the network in the five top priority areas can be summarised as follows: Bank competition and the geographical scope of banking. First, integration does not appear to be very advanced in many retail banking markets. Second, some of the inherent characteristics of traditional loan and deposit business constrain the cross-border expansion of commercial banking, even in a common currency area. Hence, the implementation of some policies to foster cross-border integration in retail banking may be ineffective. Third, theoretical research suggests that supervisory structures may not be neutral towards further European banking integration. Finally, a stronger role of area-wide competition policies could be beneficial for further banking integration. This would also stimulate economic growth, as more competition in the banking sector induces financially dependent firms to grow more. European bond markets. While the government bond market has integrated rapidly with the EMU convergence process, its full integration has not yet been achieved. The introduction of a common electronic trading platform reduced transaction costs substantially, but yield spreads of long-term sovereign bonds of the euro area are still heterogeneous. This is largely explained by different sensitivities to an international risk factor, whereas liquidity differentials only play a role in conjunction with this latter factor. Somewhat surprisingly in this context, the dynamically developing corporate bond market exhibits a relatively high level of integration. There is also increasing evidence that the introduction of the euro has contributed to a reduction in the cost of capital in the euro area, in particular through the reduction of corporate bond underwriting fees. As a result, firms may wish to increase bond financing relative to equity financing. The development of a larger corporate bond market is also important for monetary policy. For example, US evidence suggests that the rating of corporate bonds may contribute to the persistence of recessions, as rating agencies´ policies affect firms asymmetrically in their access to the bond market over the business cycle. US evidence also suggests that liquidity conditions in stock and bond markets tend to be positively correlated. European securities settlement systems. European securities settlement infrastructures are highly fragmented and further integration and/or consolidation would exploit economies of scale that could greatly benefit investors. It is not clear, however, whether direct public intervention in favour of consolidation would lead to the highest level of efficiency, for example because of the existence of strong vertical integration between trading and securities platforms (“silos”). In contrast, promoting open access to clearing and settlement systems could lead to consolidation and the highest level of efficiency. Finally, regarding concerns about unfair practices by Central Securities Depositories (CSDs) toward custodian banks, regulatory interventions favouring custodian banks should be discouraged, as long as CSDs are not allowed to price discriminate between custodian banks and investor banks. The emergence and evolution of new markets in Europe (in particular start-up financing markets). While fairly well integrated, “new markets” and start-up financing are less developed and integrated in Europe than in the United States. However, new markets and venture capitalists are the most important intermediaries for the financing of projects with high risk but with potentially very high return. The analysis carried out within the network reveals that European start-up financiers are mostly institutional investors, while US venture capitalists are mostly rich individuals. Also, new markets are essential for the development of start-up finance in Europe, as they provide an exit strategy for start-up financiers who can then sell new successful projects using initial public offerings. Finally, the legal framework affects the development of venture capital firms. For example, very strict personal bankruptcy laws constrain early stage entrepreneurs, reducing demand for venture capital finance. International portfolio choices and asset market linkages between Europe, the United States and Japan. At a global scale, asset market linkages have increased recently. For example, major economies such as the United States and the euro area have become more financially interdependent. This phenomenon can be observed in stock and bond markets as well as in money markets, where the main direction of spillovers has recently been from the US to the euro area. Country-specific shocks now play a smaller role in explaining stock return variations of firms whose sales are internationally diversified. Increases in firmby-firm market linkages are a global phenomenon, but they are stronger within the euro area than in the rest of the world. Various other phenomena also increase market linkages and therefore the likelihood that financial shocks spread across countries. One example is the use of global bonds. Finally, the nowadays more direct access of unsophisticated investors to financial markets may increase volatility. Other areas. Financial integration affects financial structures, but it does not need to lead to their convergence across countries. Financial structures matter for growth, as market-oriented financial systems benefit all sectors and firms, whereas bank-based systems primarily benefit younger firms that depend on external finance. Moreover, good corporate governance increases firms’ value. In particular, the dual board system, where the monitoring and advising roles of the board of directors are separated, is found to dominate the single board structure. Therefore, the further development of the European single market should strongly require good corporate governance. In general, well designed institutions foster entrepreneurial activity, partly by relaxing capital constraints. The results of the network clearly illustrated the substantial effects the introduction of the euro had on euro area financial markets. In addition to the effects on bond markets, stock markets and the cost of capital summarised above, research produced showed that the single currency had its strongest effects on money markets, whose unsecured segment is now completely integrated. Without any doubt the euro generally enhanced the liquidity and efficiency of euro area financial markets, and ongoing initiatives such as the European Union’s Financial Services Action Plan will help to continue this process. In sum, in the first two years the network has established itself as the hub for the research debate on European financial integration. Some of the best papers produced by the network, leading to the conclusions mentioned above, are currently being considered for publication in two special issues of academic journals. An issue of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy on “European financial integration” is published contemporaneously with this report, and an issue of the Review of Finance is planned for next year. The current policy context, the gradual progress of integration as well as the creation of other related non-ECB or non-CFS initiatives on financial integration suggest that this topic will remain high on the agendas of policy makers and academics for the years to come. Therefore, the ECB Executive Board and the CFS decided to continue the network, refocusing its priorities. Three priority areas have been added: 1) The relationship between financial integration and financial stability, 2) EU accession, financial development and financial integration, and 3) financial system modernisation and economic growth in Europe. These three areas have become particularly important at the current juncture, but have not received particularly strong attention in the first two years of the network. For example, the area of financial stability research was highlighted by the ECB research evaluators as an area deserving further development. Moreover, despite the results found in the first two years of the network, new developments remain to be further explored in the earlier priority areas. A three-year extension is envisaged, running from after the May 2004 symposium until 2007, with two events to be held per year. The threeyear period is long enough to consider the first effects of the Financial Services Action Plan. It also constitutes a realistic horizon for the ambitious agenda implied by the three new priorities. The generally light organisational structure and working of the network will not be changed. In addition, given the value of the Lamfalussy fellowship research program in inducing further research in the areas of the network, the program has also been extended for all the research topics in the area of the network.
When Angela Merkel arrives at the United Nations for the opening of the 62nd session of the General Assembly on Tuesday [25 September] to deliver her first address as German chancellor she will be very well received. Just after two years in power she has already become something like a foreign policy legend...
Bency Eichorn learns in kollel and, on the side, has been researching about various segulos. For his wedding he authored a book, Simchas Zion, discussing the segulah of keeping the afikomom from year-to-year. The post below is a small part of a much larger project on this segulah and has been adapted for the blog.
Exploring elites and their relations to institutions can assist understanding the day-to-day realities of politics in Africa (Chabal and Daloz 1999, Amundsen 2001, Lindberg 2003). This review is a scoping exercise in what has been written on the subject in recent years. The main task of the review is to summarise current understandings of how elites work with and through political institutions in Africa. There is a huge literature in this subject area. We have tried to pick out a) that which is most pertinent and non-repetitive, and b) that which raises as many questions as it provides answers. On the whole we have focused on literature published in the last five to ten years and we have inclined towards the literature on Anglophone Africa. The review is presented as follows: Section 1 is an introduction to Africa’s recent political landscape and it introduces some of the major issues that appear in the literature. Section 2 provides some working definitions of elites, institutions and democratisation as three of the recurring themes in the review. Section 3 reviews literature broadly on democratisation in Africa and specifically on elections and elites. Section 4 examines how political parties have evolved over the last 15 years. Section 5 reviews the three branches of government and Section 6 briefly examines decentralisation and its relation to elites and politics. The remaining sections of the review move outside the more formal political structures to examine the media (Section 7), civil society (Section 8), women’s movements (Section 9), Trades unions (Section 10) and business associations (Section 11). The final Section 12 pulls out a number of gaps in the research that we have identified in the course of the review. Section 13 contains a complete bibliography of citations used in the review. It is crucial to remember that Africa’s experiences of democratisation are no more than 15 years old, and many scholars have cautioned that it is still very early to draw any definite conclusions (Amundsen 2001; Randall and Svasand 2002). Inhaltsverzeichnis: 1. Africa’s political landscape 3 * Diversity of ‘Africa’ 4 * Elections do not mean democracy 4 * Presidentialism 4 * Ethnicity 5 * Personal rule and patronage 5 2. Definitions 6 * Elites 6 * Political institutions 7 * Democratisation 8 3. Democratisation and elites 8 * Elections 9 * Elites and elections 13 4. Political parties 16 5. Branches of government 17 * The executive 17 * The legislature 18 * The Judiciary 20 6. Decentralisation 20 7. Media 21 * Radio 25 * Television 25 * Newspapers 25 * Internet 26 8. Civil society 26 9. Women’s movements 29 10. Trade unions 32 11. Business associations 34 12. Gaps in the research 36 13. Bibliography 38
The basic problem of primary audio and video research materials is clearly shown by the survey: A great and important part of the entire heritage is still outside archival custody in the narrower sense, scattered over many institutions in fairy small collections, and even in private hands. reservation following generally accepted standards can only be carried out effectively if collections represent critical mass. Specialised audiovisual archives will solve their problems, as they will sooner or later succeed in getting appropriate funding to achieve their aims. A very encouraging example is the case of the Netherlands. The larger audiovisual research archives will also manage, more or less autonomously, the transfer of contents in time. For a considerable part of the research collections, however, the concept of cooperative models and competence centres is the only viable model to successfullly safeguard their holdings. Their organisation and funding is a considerable challenge for the scientific community. TAPE has significantly raised awareness of the fact that, unless action is swiftly taken, the loss of audiovisual materials is inevitable. TAPE’s international and regional workshops were generally overbooked. While TAPE was already underway, several other projects for the promotion of archives have received grants from organisations other than the European Commission, inter alia support for the St. Petersburg Phonogram Archive, and the Folklore Archive in Tirana, obviously as a result of a better understanding of the need for audiovisual preservation. When the TAPE project started its partners assumed that cooperative projects would fail because of the notorious distrust of researchers, specifically in the post-communist countries. One of the most encouraging surprises was to learn that, at least in the most recent survey, it became apparent that this social obstacle is fading out. TAPE may have contributed to this important development.
This article generalizes Schwinger’s mechanism for particles production in the arbitrary finite field volume. McLerran-Venugopolan(MV) model and iterative solution of DGLAP equation in the double leading log approximation for small x gluon distribution function were used to derive the new formula for initial chromofield energy density. This initial chromofield energy is distributed among color neutral clusters or strings of different length. This strings are stretched by receding nucleus. From the proposed mechanism of string fragmentation or color field decay based on exact solution of Dirac equation in the different finite volume, the new formulae for esimated baryon kinetic energy loss and rapidity spectrum of produced partons were derived.
In the article, a travel sketch of Danish playwright Kaj Munk (1898 – 1944) is analytically considered. The analysis of this text allows drawing at least three conclusions: 1. Explicit motive of seasickness, figuring here as antithetic modification of implicite present free-standing posture motive, symbolizes idea of disintegrating personality. 2. Such a symbolism is deeply rooted in that of Danish identity. 3. From literary styles and trends history point of view, the sketch appears to be typical of that line in expressionism, which continues tradition of symbolism as artistic and literary trend of late 19th century.
When one considers the results of social scientific surveys, secularisation in Germany seems to be a more or less linear process of erosion of what is traditionally named religiosity. The percentage of citizens who affirm that they are “religious”, believe in God or otherworldly beings, hope for life after death or participate regularly in the praxis of a religious community has been – by and large – steadily declining for decades. This decline has occurred over the succeeding generations: The younger the generation, the fewer “religious” people in it. But the process of secularisation is apparent not only in this persistent quantitative shrinkage from generation to generation. Above all it also manifests itself – this is the thesis of the article – in the transformation of the habitus formations and contents of faith of the generations. The essence of ongoing secularisation naturally is reflected most clearly in its contemporary state of development which is represented in the youngest adult generation. Therefore the analysis of this generation is particularly interesting for the sociology of religion. But the article does not confine to analyze this generation. After indicating some basic premises of the sociology of generations and the notion of secularisation presupposed in this paper, the succession of generations in Germany is outlined hypothetically, from the so-called generation of ´68 to the youngest adult generation, concluding with some remarks about the progress of secularisation.
This paper documents the experiences of assurance evaluation during the early stage of a large software development project. This project researches, contracts and integrates privacy-respecting software to business environments. While assurance evaluation with ISO 15408 Common Criteria (CC) within the certification schemes is done after a system has been completed, our approach executes evaluation during the early phases of the software life cycle. The promise is to increase quality and to reduce testing and fault removal costs for later phases of the development process. First results from the still-ongoing project suggests that the Common Criteria can define a framework for assurance evaluation in ongoing development projects.
We review arguments for and against reserve requirements and conclude that the main question is whether a distinction between money creation and intermediation can be made. We argue that such a distinction can be made in a money-in-advance economy and show that if the money-in-advance constraint is universally binding then reserve requirements on checkable accounts have no effect on intermediation. We then proceed to show that in a model in which trade is uncertain and sequential, a fractional reserve banking system gives rise to endogenous monetary shocks. These endogenous monetary shocks lead to fluctuations in capacity utilisation and waste. When the money-in-advance constraint is universally binding, a 100% reserve requirement on checkable accounts can eliminate this waste.
The European Strategy on Invasive Alien Species T-PWS(2002) 8 mandates intensified research by member nations on invasive species. This research will not be restricted solely to the biology and remediation of invasive species, but will also evaluate their adverse health effects and economic impact. Previous studies of these issues have only been carried out in the Unites States of America, or in a limited, regional manner. Consequently, 20 plant and animal species from various problem areas (species which pose a threat to public health; losses to agriculture, fisheries, and forestry; damage to public roads and waterways; costs associated with the protection of native species threatened by non-native species as mandated by Recommendation 77 of the Bern Convention were assessed in Germany nation-wide. The accruing costs were sorted into 3 categories: a) direct economic losses, such as those caused by destructive pest species; b) ecological costs, in the form of extra care and protection of native taxa, biotopes, or ecosystems threatened by invasive species; c) costs of measures to combat invasive species. Because of the nature of available data, as well as the different biology and ecology of the invasive species, each had to be treated individually, and the associated costs vary greatly from species to species. Moreover, not all of the species investigated cause economic losses. Accordingly, a nuanced approach to alien species is essential. Cost assessment of losses deriving from ecological damage was only possible in a few cases. Ongoing, multi-year studies incorporating cost/benefit analysis will be necessary to resolve remaining issues.
Left dislocation in Zulu
(2004)
This paper examines left dislocation constructions in Zulu, a Southern Bantu language belonging to the Nguni group (Zone S 40). In Zulu left dislocation configurations, a topic phrase in the beginning of the sentence is linked to a resumptive element within the associated clause. Typically, the resumptive element is an incorporated pronoun (cf. Bresnan & Mchombo 1987), as illustrated by the examples in (1) and (2). In these examples, the object pronoun (in italics) is part of the verbal morphology and agrees with the noun class (gender) of the dislocate. This situation is schematically illustrated in (3), where co-indexation represents agreement: ...
In this paper I discuss the properties of particle verbs in light of a proposal about syntactic projection. In section 2 I suggest that projection involves functional structure in two important ways: (i) only functional phrases can be complements, and (ii) lexical heads that take complements and project must be inflected. In section 3, I show that the structure of particle verbs is not uniform with respect to (i) and (ii). On the one hand, a particle always combines with an inflected verb; in this respect, particle verbs look like verb-complement constructions. On the other hand, the particle is not a functional phrase and therefore is not a proper complement, which makes the combination of the particle and the verb look more like a morphologically complex verb. I argue that syntactic rules can in fact interpret the node dominating the particle and the verb as a projection and as a complex head. In section 4, I show that many of the characteristic properties of particle verbs in the Germanic languages follow from the fact that they are structural hybrids.
In this paper, I examine the potential of mobile alerting services empowering investors to react quickly to critical market events. Therefore, an analysis of short-term (intraday) price effects is performed. I find abnormal returns to company announcements which are completed within a timeframe of minutes. To make use of these findings, these price effects are predicted using pre-defined external metrics and different estimation methodologies. Compared to previous research, the results provide support that artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression are good estimation models for forecasting price effects also on an intraday basis. As most of the price effect magnitude and effect delay can be estimated correctly, it is demonstrated how a suitable mobile alerting service combining a low level of user-intrusiveness and timely information supply can be designed.
Multiplayer games have become very popular in the PC market. Almost none of the current games are shipped without some support for multiplayer gaming. At the same time mobile devices are becoming more powerful and popularity of games on these platforms increases. However, there are almost no games that support multiplayer gaming despite the multiple options of these devices to connect with each other and build mobile ad hoc networks. Reasons for this lack of multiplayer support are the high diversity of mobile devices as well as the different protocols and their properties that these devices support. With “SmartBlaster” we developed a multiplayer game for several different platforms that is using several different channels (Bluetooth, IrDa, 802.11 and other networks supporting TCP/IP) to communicate between them.
Serial correlation in dynamic panel data models with weakly exogenous regressor and fixed effects
(2005)
Our paper wants to present and compare two estimation methodologies for dynamic panel data models in the presence of serially correlated errors and weakly exogenous regressors. The ¯rst is the ¯rst di®erence GMM estimator as proposed by Arellano and Bond (1991) and the second is the transformed Maximum Likelihood Estimator as proposed by Hsiao, Pesaran, and Tahmiscioglu (2002). Thereby, we consider the ¯xed e®ects case and weakly exogenous regressors. The ¯nite sample properties of both estimation methodologies are analysed within a simulation experiment. Furthermore, we will present an empirical example to consider the performance of both estimators with real data. JEL Classification: C23, J64
The effects of vocational training programmes on the duration of unemployment in Eastern Germany
(2005)
Vocational training programmes have been the most important active labour market policy instrument in Germany in the last years. However, the still unsatisfying situation of the labour market has raised doubt on the efficiency of these programmes. In this paper, we analyse the effects of the participation in vocational training programmes on the duration of unemployment in Eastern Germany. Based on administrative data for the time between the October 1999 and December 2002 of the Federal Employment Administration, we apply a bivariate mixed proportional hazards model. By doing so, we are able to use the information of the timing of treatment as well as observable and unobservable influences to identify the treatment effects. The results show that a participation in vocational training prolongates the unemployment duration in Eastern Germany. Furthermore, the results suggest that locking-in effects are a serious problem of vocational training programmes. JEL Classification: J64, J24, I28, J68
Comparison of MSACD models
(2003)
We propose a new framework for modelling time dependence in duration processes on financial markets. The well known autoregressive conditional duration (ACD) approach introduced by Engle and Russell (1998) will be extended in a way that allows the conditional expectation of the duration process to depend on an unobservable stochastic process which is modelled via a Markov chain. The Markov switching ACD model (MSACD) is a very flexible tool for description and forecasting of financial duration processes. In addition, the introduction of an unobservable, discrete valued regime variable can be justified in the light of recent market microstructure theories. In an empirical application we show that the MSACD approach is able to capture several specific characteristics of inter trade durations while alternative ACD models fail. JEL classification: C22, C25, C41, G14
We propose a new framework for modelling the time dependence in duration processes being in force on financial markets. The pioneering ACD model introduced by Engle and Russell (1998) will be extended in a manner that the duration process will be accompanied by an unobservable stochastic process. The Discrete Mixture ACD framework provides us with a general methodology which puts the idea into practice. It is established by introducing a discrete-valued latent regime variable which can be justified in the light of recent market microstructure theories. The empirical application demonstrates its ability to capture specific characteristics of intraday transaction durations while alternative approaches fail. JEL classification: C41, C22, C25, C51, G14.
In recent methodological work the well known ACD approach, originally introduced by Engle and Russell (1998), has been supplemented by the involvement of an unobservable stochastic process which accompanies the underlying process of durations via a discrete mixture of distributions. The Mixture ACD model, emanating from the specialized proposal of De Luca and Gallo (2004), has proved to be a moderate tool for description of financial duration data. The use of one and the same family of ordinary distributions has been common practice until now. Our contribution incites to use the rich parameterized comprehensive family of distributions which allows for interacting different distributional idiosyncrasies. JEL classification: C41, C22, C25, C51, G14.
We propose a new framework for modelling the time dependence in duration processes being in force on financial markets. The pioneering ACD model introduced by Engle and Russell (1998) will be extended in a manner that the duration process will be accompanied by an unobservable stochastic process. The Discrete Mixture ACD framework provides us with a general methodology which puts the idea into practice. It is established by introducing a discrete-valued latent regime variable which can be justified in the light of recent market microstructure theories. The empirical application demonstrates its ability to capture specific characteristics of intraday transaction durations while alternative approaches fail. JEL classification: C41, C22, C25, C51, G14.
In recent methodological work the well known ACD approach, originally introduced by Engle and Russell (1998), has been supplemented by the involvement of an unobservable stochastic process which accompanies the underlying process of durations via a discrete mixture of distributions. The Mixture ACD model, emanating from the specialized proposal of De Luca and Gallo (2004), has proved to be a moderate tool for description of financial duration data. The use of one and the same family of ordinary distributions has been common practice until now. Our contribution incites to use the rich parameterized comprehensive family of distributions which allows for interacting different distributional idiosyncrasies. JEL classification: C41, C22, C25, C51, G14
We propose a new framework for modeling time dependence in duration processes. The ACD approach introduced by Engle and Russell (1998) will be extended so that the conditional expectation of the durations depends on an unobservable stochastic process which is modeled via a Markov chain. The Markov switching ACD model (MSACD) is a flexible tool for description of financial duration processes. The introduction of a latent information regime variable can be justified in the light of recent market microstructure theories. In an empirical application we show that the MSACD approach is able to capture specific characteristics of inter trade durations while alternative ACD models fail. JEL classification: C41, C22, C25, C51, G14
During the last decade, there has been a significant bias towards bond financing on emerging markets, with private investors relying on a bail-out of bonds by the international community. The bias has been a main cause for recent excessive fragility of international capital markets. The paper shows how collective action clauses in bonds contracts help to involve the private sector in risk sharing. It argues that such clauses, as a market based instrument, will raise spreads for emerging market debt and so help to correct a market failure towards excessive bond finance. Recent pressure by the IMF to involve the private sector is facing a conflict between the principle to honour existing contracts and the principle of equal treatment of bondholders.
Structural positions are very common in investment practice. A structural position is defined as a permanent overweighting of a riskier asset class relative to a prespecified benchmark portfolio. The most prominent example for a structural position is the equity bias in a balanced fund that arises by consistently overweighting equities in tactical asset allocation. Another example is the permanent allocation of credit in a fixed income portfolio with a government benchmark. The analysis provided in this article shows that whenever possible, structural positions should be avoided. Graphical illustrations based on Pythagorean theorem are used to make a connection between the active risk/return and the total risk/return framework. Structural positions alter the risk profile of the portfolio substantially, and the appeal of active management – to provide active returns uncorrelated to benchmark returns and hence to shift the efficient frontier outwards – gets lost. The article demonstrates that the commonly used alpha – tracking error criterion is not sufficient for active management. In addition, structural positions complicate measuring managers’ skill. The paper also develops normative implications for active portfolio management. Tactical asset allocation should be based on the comparison of expected excess returns of an asset class to the equilibrium risk premium of the same asset class and not to expected excess returns of other asset classes. For the cases, where structural positions cannot be avoided, a risk budgeting approach is introduced and applied to determine the optimal position size. Finally, investors are advised not to base performance evaluation only on simple manager rankings because this encourages managers to take structural positions and does not reward efforts to produce alpha. The same holds true for comparing managers’ information ratios. Information ratios, in investment practice defined as the ratio of active return to active risk, do not uncover structural positions.
Hackethal and Schmidt (2003) criticize a large body of literature on the financing of corporate sectors in different countries that questions some of the distinctions conventionally drawn between financial systems. Their criticism is directed against the use of net flows of finance and they propose alternative measures based on gross flows which they claim re-establish conventional distinctions. This paper argues that their criticism is invalid and that their alternative measures are misleading. There are real issues raised by the use of aggregate data but they are not the ones discussed in Hackethal and Schmidt’s paper. JEL Classification: G30
Empirical evidence suggests that even those firms presumably most in need of monitoring-intensive financing (young, small, and innovative firms) have a multitude of bank lenders, where one may be special in the sense of relationship lending. However, theory does not tell us a lot about the economic rationale for relationship lending in the context of multiple bank financing. To fill this gap, we analyze the optimal debt structure in a model that allows for multiple but asymmetric bank financing. The optimal debt structure balances the risk of lender coordination failure from multiple lending and the bargaining power of a pivotal relationship bank. We show that firms with low expected cash-flows or low interim liquidation values of assets prefer asymmetric financing, while firms with high expected cash-flow or high interim liquidation values of assets tend to finance without a relationship bank.
Tractable hedging - an implementation of robust hedging strategies : [This Version: March 30, 2004]
(2004)
This paper provides a theoretical and numerical analysis of robust hedging strategies in diffusion–type models including stochastic volatility models. A robust hedging strategy avoids any losses as long as the realised volatility stays within a given interval. We focus on the effects of restricting the set of admissible strategies to tractable strategies which are defined as the sum over Gaussian strategies. Although a trivial Gaussian hedge is either not robust or prohibitively expensive, this is not the case for the cheapest tractable robust hedge which consists of two Gaussian hedges for one long and one short position in convex claims which have to be chosen optimally.
We study the approximability of the following NP-complete (in their feasibility recognition forms) number theoretic optimization problems: 1. Given n numbers a1 ; : : : ; an 2 Z, find a minimum gcd set for a1 ; : : : ; an , i.e., a subset S fa1 ; : : : ; ang with minimum cardinality satisfying gcd(S) = gcd(a1 ; : : : ; an ). 2. Given n numbers a1 ; : : : ; an 2 Z, find a 1-minimum gcd multiplier for a1 ; : : : ; an , i.e., a vector x 2 Z n with minimum max 1in jx i j satisfying P n...
To preserve the required beam quality in an e+/e- collider it is necessary to have a very precise beam position control at each accelerating cavity. An elegant method to avoid additional length and beam disturbance is the usage of signals from existing HOM-dampers. The magnitude of the displacement is derived from the amplitude of a dipole mode whereas the sign follows from the phase comparison of a dipole and a monopole HOM. To check the performance of the system, a measurement setup has been built with an antenna which can be moved with micrometer resolution to simulate the beam. Furthermore we have developed a signal processing to determine the absolute beam displacement. Measurements on the HOM-damper cell can be done in the frequency domain using a network analyser. Final measurements with the nonlinear time dependent signal processing circuit has to be done with very short electric pulses simulating electron bunches. Thus, we have designed a sub nanosecond pulse generator using a clipping line and the step recovery effect of a diode. The measurement can be done with a resolution of about 10 micrometers. Measurements and numerical calculations concerning the monitor design and the pulse generator are presented.
Although the commoditisation of illiquid asset exposures through securitisation facilitates the disciplining effect of capital markets on the risk management, private information about securitised debt as well as complex transaction structures could possibly impair the fair market valuation. In a simple issue design model without intermediaries we maximise issuer proceeds over a positive measure of issue quality, where a direct revelation mechanism (DRM) by profitable informed investors engages endogenous price discovery through auction-style allocation preference as a continuous function of perceived issue quality. We derive an optimal allocation schedule for maximum issuer payoffs under different pricing regimes if asymmetric information requires underpricing. In particular, we study how the incidence of uninformed investors at varying levels of valuation uncertainty and their function of clearing the market effects profitable informed investment. We find that the issuer optimises own payoffs at each valuation irrespective of the applicable pricing mechanism by awarding informed investors the lowest possible allocation (and attendant underpricing) that still guarantees profitable informed investment. Under uniform pricing the composition of the investor pool ensures that informed investors appropriate higher profit than uninformed types. Any reservation utility by issuers lowers the probability of information disclosure by informed investors and the scope of issuers to curtail profitable informed investment. JEL Classifications: D82, G12, G14, G23
Asset securitisation as a risk management and funding tool : what does it hold in store for SMES?
(2005)
The following chapter critically surveys the attendant benefits and drawbacks of asset securitisation on both financial institutions and firms. It also elicits salient lessons to be learned about the securitisation of SME-related obligations from a cursory review of SME securitisation in Germany as a foray of asset securitisation in a bank-centred financial system paired with a strong presence of SMEs in industrial production. JEL Classification: D81, G15, M20
As a sign of ambivalence in the regulatory definition of capital adequacy for credit risk and the quest for more efficient refinancing sources collateral loan obligations (CLOs) have become a prominent securitisation mechanism. This paper presents a loss-based asset pricing model for the valuation of constituent tranches within a CLO-style security design. The model specifically examines how tranche subordination translates securitised credit risk into investment risk of issued tranches as beneficial interests on a designated loan pool typically underlying a CLO transaction. We obtain a tranchespecific term structure from an intensity-based simulation of defaults under both robust statistical analysis and extreme value theory (EVT). Loss sharing between issuers and investors according to a simplified subordination mechanism allows issuers to decompose securitised credit risk exposures into a collection of default sensitive debt securities with divergent risk profiles and expected investor returns. Our estimation results suggest a dichotomous effect of loss cascading, with the default term structure of the most junior tranche of CLO transactions (“first loss position”) being distinctly different from that of the remaining, more senior “investor tranches”. The first loss position carries large expected loss (with high investor return) and low leverage, whereas all other tranches mainly suffer from loss volatility (unexpected loss). These findings might explain why issuers retain the most junior tranche as credit enhancement to attenuate asymmetric information between issuers and investors. At the same time, the issuer discretion in the configuration of loss subordination within particular security design might give rise to implicit investment risk in senior tranches in the event of systemic shocks. JEL Classifications: C15, C22, D82, F34, G13, G18, G20
s.a. Deutsche Fassung: Rechtshistorisches Journal 15, 1996, 255-290 und in: Eric Schwarz (Hg.) La théorie des systèmes: une approche inter- et transdisciplinaire. Bösch, Sion 1996, 101-119. Italienische Fassung: La Bukowina globale: il pluralismo giuridico nella società mondiale. Sociologic a politiche sociali 2, 1999, 49-80. Portugiesische Fassung: Bukowina global sobre a emergência de um pluralismo jurídico transnacional. Impulso: Direito e Globalização 14, 2003. Georgische Fassung: Globaluri bukovina: samarTlebrivi pluralizmi msoflio sazogadoebaSi. Journal of the Institute of State and Law of the Georgian Academy of Sciences 2005 (im Erscheinen)
In the last years, much effort went into the design of robust anaphor resolution algorithms. Many algorithms are based on antecedent filtering and preference strategies that are manually designed. Along a different line of research, corpus-based approaches have been investigated that employ machine-learning techniques for deriving strategies automatically. Since the knowledge-engineering effort for designing and optimizing the strategies is reduced, the latter approaches are considered particularly attractive. Since, however, the hand-coding of robust antecedent filtering strategies such as syntactic disjoint reference and agreement in person, number, and gender constitutes a once-for-all effort, the question arises whether at all they should be derived automatically. In this paper, it is investigated what might be gained by combining the best of two worlds: designing the universally valid antecedent filtering strategies manually, in a once-for-all fashion, and deriving the (potentially genre-specific) antecedent selection strategies automatically by applying machine-learning techniques. An anaphor resolution system ROSANA-ML, which follows this paradigm, is designed and implemented. Through a series of formal evaluations, it is shown that, while exhibiting additional advantages, ROSANAML reaches a performance level that compares with the performance of its manually designed ancestor ROSANA.