There are ten papers in this volume. They are:

1. An Empirical Examination of The Intraday Return Volatility Process.
This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the distributional and time-series properties of intraday returns. The purpose is to determine whether a GARCH model that allows for time variance in a process can adequately represent intraday return volatility.
2. The Valuation of New Product Introduction Under Uncertain Competition: A Real Option Approach.
This paper investigates how a stochastic competition process in a two-factor real option model could affect the value of future product development opportunities. Our results also indicate that product development opportunities are more valuable: (1) in a more volatile environment; (2) when the window of opportunities is longer; and (3) when the competitive intensity is lower.
3. Earnings, Dividends, and Equity Value of Multinational Firms.
This paper develops and tests a valuation model, whose main prediction is that equity value is a function of earnings, dividends and book value, where the function depends on the relative level of multinationality.
4. Benford's Law and Its Application in Financial Fraud Detection.
This paper has discussed Benford's law, which explains that the leading (first or leftmost) digit in a series of natural numbers is not evenly distributed among the digits 1 to 9. The main purpose of this study actually seeks to explore a new methodological approach to datamining that can be of some real practical value; especially to the auditors and forensic accountants in detecting financial frauds.
5. Estimation of the Degree of Integration in the U.S. MaturityRates Using Semiparametric Techniques.
This paper examines the order of integration of several U.S. Treasury maturity rates by means of using semiparametric techniques. The results show that the order of integration of the one and three year maturity rates is strictly above 1. It oscillates around one in case of the five-year rate, and the values are strictly below 1 (and thus showing mean reversion), for the seven and ten-year rates.
6. On Country-Fund Price Behavior-An Empirical Analysis of Cointegrating Factors.
This paper provides empirical evidence on the price behavior of closed-end country funds. Using the data from 47 closed-end single-country funds, we examine three Cointegrating factors to describe the long-run behavior of country-fund share prices. They are: the net asset value (NAV), foreign stock-market indexes, and the U.S. stock market index.
7. Strategic Capital Budgeting: the Abandonment Option with Political Risk.
This paper investigates the strategic role of political risk and timing in the capital budgeting process that includes both investment and disinvestments. The model developed in the paper highlights the role of the probability of an investment ending political event in the capital budgeting process.
8. Time Series Model Complexity and Firm Valuation: the Case of AR1 Firms Versus Non-AR1 Firms.
This study examines the effect of the complexity of quarterly earnings generating time series models on firm valuation. The examination is limited to the comparison between AR1 firms and non-AR1 firms, and the evaluations are based on the levels approach. Results consistently show that the association between quarterly stock prices andquarterly earnings is higher for AR1 firms than that for non-AR1 firms. The effect of firm size is also investigated.
9. Debt Covenant Violation and the Value Relevance of Accounting Information.
This study documents that investors exercise their liquidation option on firms facing less severe financial distress than bankruptcy filings. This study finds that the valuation shift from earnings to book value of equity in the violation manifestation period is reversed in the post-violation recovery period. This suggests that the valuation distortion in the pre-violation period is temporary rather than permanent.
10. What's Next: Merger in the Lebanese Banking Sector.
This paper studies banking preference and behavior of Lebanese people. If small banks are to survive, the findings of the study reaffirm the importance of vertically merging banks in Lebanon. The reliance on digital technology is increasing every day. To deepen the problem, small Lebanese banks are finding themselves in a digital environment that affects their ability to compete in a fierce environment.

This open access book provides a readable narrative of the bubbles and the banking crisis Japan experienced during the two decades between the late 1980s and the early 2000s. Japan, which was a leading competitor in the world's manufacturing sector, tried to transform itself into an economy with domestic demand-led mature growth, but the ensuing bubbles and crisis instead made the country suffer from chronicle deflation and stagnation. The book analyses why the Japanese authorities could not avoid making choices that led to this outcome. The chapters are based on the lectures to regulators from emerging economies delivered at the Global Financial Partnership Center of the Financial Services Agency of Japan.

This book considers the extent to which innovation and entrepreneurship are engines of economic prosperity. It brings together theorists and empiricists from diverse backgrounds to provides a comprehensive overview of the field of entrepreneurship, focusing specifically on entrepreneurial developments within Turkey and the surrounding regions and Europe. It looks at innovation, creativity, economic development and women's empowerment. This book considers the for-profit and the not-for-profit sectors, and examines outcome metrics such as change, sustainability and employment, in addition to economic value. This book will inspire academics and students to better understand the origins, evolution and impact of new ideas, new organizations, and new industries, and the impact on the economy. This book offers an excellent foundation for investigating and questioning current entrepreneurial practices across developed economies. It will also provide the foundations for researching and evaluating new and existing approaches to emerging technologies. Additionally, the book will offer useful insights into the real world, and will appeal to academics in economics and business as well as those studying entrepreneurship on the international scene.

This book constitutes a selection of the best papers from the 15th International Conference on Business Excellence, Digital Economy and New Value Creation, ICBE 2021, held in Bucharest, Romania, in March 2021. This book is a collection of research findings and perspectives related to the digital economy and new value creation, led by the set of improvements and changes in the economic, societal and technological structures and processes towards the effort of reaching the sustainability goals.

This 12th volume in the series discusses a variety of topics in the field of research in international business and finance.

The business of credit ratings began in the United States in the early 1900s. Over time, credit ratings have gradually taken on an expanding role, both in the United States and abroad and in official financial market regulation as well as in private capital market decisions. However, in 1999 the Bank for International Settlements (through its Committee on Banking Supervision) proposed rule changes that would provide an explicit role for credit ratings in determining a bank's required regulatory risk capital. Once implemented, this BIS proposal (often referred to as Basel 2) would vastly elevate the importance of credit ratings by linking the required measure of bank capital to the credit rating of the bank's obligors. With these regulatory changes under active discussion, research into the role for ratings and rating agencies in the global financial system is particularly apropos.
Ratings, Rating Agencies and the Global Financial System brings together the research of economists at New York University and the University of Maryland, along with those from the private sector, government bodies, and other universities. The first section of the volume focuses on the historical origins of the credit rating business and its present day industrial organization structure. The second section presents several empirical studies crafted largely around individual firm-level or bank-level data. These studies examine (a) the relationship between ratings and the default and recovery experience of corporate borrowers, (b) the comparability of credit ratings made by domestic and foreign rating agencies, and (c) the usefulness of financial market indicators for rating banks, among other topics. In thethird section, the record of sovereign credit ratings in predicting financial crises and the reaction of financial markets to changes in credit ratings is examined. The final section of the volume emphasizes policy issues now facing regulators and credit rating agencies.

This book on Applied Operations Research and Financial Modelling in Energy (AORFME) presents several applications of operations research (OR) and financial modelling. The contributions by a group of OR and Finance researchers focus on a variety of energy decisions, presenting a quantitative perspective, and providing policy implications of the proposed or applied methodologies. The content is divided into three main parts: Applied OR I: Optimization Approaches, Applied OR II: Forecasting Approaches and Financial Modelling: Impacts of Energy Policies and Developments in Energy Markets. The book appeals to scholars in economics, finance and operations research, and to practitioners working in the energy sector. This is the eighth volume in a series of books on energy organized by the Centre for Energy and Value Issues (CEVI). For this volume, CEVI collaborated with Hacettepe University's Energy Markets Research and Application Center. The previous volumes in the series are: Financial Aspects in Energy (2011), Energy Economics and Financial Markets (2012), Perspectives on Energy Risk (2014), Energy Technology and Valuation Issues (2015), Energy and Finance (2016), Energy Economy, Finance and Geostrategy (2018), and Financial Implications of Regulations in the Energy Industry (2020).

The global markets continue to be volatile and the overall economy remains uncertain.

In this environment, it's more important than ever to get familiar with risk management principles and seek out alternative investment strategies carefully to maintain and grow your capital.

Written by Raghurami Reddy Etukuru, MBA, CAIA, FRM, PRM, this guidebook introduces you to various alternative investments and risk management concepts in straightforward language. For instance, hedge funds are often seen as risky investments, but they actually provide greater diversification than traditional common stocks. If you engage in the proper hedge fund strategy, you'll also find less volatility.

In addition to hedge funds, you will find information and guidance on various phases of due diligence; risk metrics, quantitative models and exotic options; commodities, managed futures, private equities, and real estate; brokers, auditors, and legal counsel.

Get the information you need to make informed decisions about your own finances. Whether you are a businessperson, student, analyst it's imperative for you to develop a deeper understanding of "Alternative Investment Strategies and Risk Management."

Financial analysis, modellng, simulation and knowledge engineering have become essential to the survival of every enterprise. This thorough and comprehensive book looks at the development and use of financial models for analysis and decision-making, showing the reader how to apply these methods in his or her own work.

This book defines and develops the concept of data capital. Using an interdisciplinary perspective, this book focuses on the key features of the data economy, systematically presenting the economic aspects of data science. The book (1) introduces an alternative interpretation on economists' observation of which capital has changed radically since the twentieth century; (2) elaborates on the composition of data capital and it as a factor of production; (3) describes morphological changes in data capital that influence its accumulation and circulation; (4) explains the rise of data capital as an underappreciated cause of phenomena from data sovereign, economic inequality, to stagnating productivity; (5) discusses hopes and challenges for industrial circles, the government and academia when an intangible wealth brought by data (and information or knowledge as well); (6) proposes the development of criteria for measuring regulating data capital in the twenty-first century for regulatory purposes by looking at the prospects for data capital and possible impact on future society. Providing the first a thorough introduction to the theory of data as capital, this book will be useful for those studying economics, data science, and business, as well as those in the financial industry who own, control, or wish to work with data resources.

BUSINESS / SELF-HELP " Wattles offers techniques for getting in tune with one' s deeper self and thus creating a channel of communication between oneself and universal energy. His is a gentle philosophy that excludes competition, cheating, and lording it over one' s fellows when one has made it, and encourages cooperation." --Publisher' s Weekly In his bestselling book, Wallace D. Wattles explains that " universal mind" underlies and permeates all creation. Through the process of visualization, we can engage the law of attraction--impressing our thoughts upon " formless substance" and bringing the desired object or circumstances into material form. The author emphasizes the critical importance of attitude: only by aligning ourselves with the positive forces of natural law can we gain unlimited access to the creative mind and its abundant rewards.The Science of Getting Rich holds the secret to how economic and emotional security can be achieved in a practical, imaginative, and noncompetitive way, while maintaining a loving and harmonious relationship with all of life. By living in accordance with the positive principles outlined in this book, we can find our rightful place in the cosmic scheme and create for ourselves an environment in which to grow in wealth, wisdom, and happiness.WALLACE DELOIS WATTLES (1860-1911) was the author of numerous books, the best known of which is The Science of Getting Rich. He experienced failure after failure in his early life until after many years of study and experimentation he formulated a set of principles that, with scientific precision, create financial and spiritual wealth. He died a prosperousman in 1911.

This book explores three particular strategies in the extractives sector for creating shared wealth, increased labour opportunities and positive social, environmental and economic outcomes from corporate projects, namely: state wealth funds (SWF), local content policies (LCP) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. Collectively, the chapters explore the associated experiences and challenges in different parts of the world with the view to inform equitable and sustainable development for the communities living adjacent to extractives sites and the wider society and environment. Examples of LCPs, SWFs and CSR practices from 12 jurisdictions with diverse experiences offer usefull insights. The book illuminates challenges and opportunities for sustainable development outcomes of the extractives sector. It reflects the need to take on board the lessons of these global experiences in order to improve outcomes for poverty reduction, inequality reduction and sustainable development.

This book provides a comprehensive review of the Measures for Administration of Takeover of Chinese Listed Companies (the Chinese takeover law), with emphasis on the differences between the Chinese takeover law and takeover legislation in the UK, the US and Hong Kong. The Chinese M&A market has been booming at an unprecedented rate in recent years; not only domestic investors, but also foreign funds and multinational companies are actively participating on the market. For both market participants and researchers, it is crucial to understand the emerging and transitional aspects of the Chinese economy and its M&A market, and the impacts of those aspects on relevant laws. While there are ongoing academic discussions on the convergence between the Chinese takeover law and its counterparts in the UK, Hong Kong and the US, this book offers a comprehensive discussion of the divergence and focuses on key differences in the transplanted Chinese takeover law.

Equivalence in Financial Services offers a comprehensive and cross-industry examination of the rules and procedures under EU financial legislation dedicated to third-country market actors. The equivalence regime has become particularly topical after Brexit, as the United Kingdom is now a third country from the perspective of the European Union. This book investigates whether the current equivalence system is fit for its purpose, namely facilitating cross-border finance while minimizing as extensively as possible financial risks. After describing how the European Commission adopts equivalence measures, the book examines the implementation of the equivalence regime for the following entities: Credit Rating Agencies, Benchmarks, Trading Venues, Investment Firms, Investment Funds, Central Securities Depositories, Trade Repositories, and Central Counterparties. Addressing the most recent policy and legal developments, Equivalence in Financial Services provides an insightful guide into this complex area of financial regulation for scholars of financial regulation, legal practitioners, and policy makers.

Why is finance so important? How do stock markets work and what do they really do? Most importantly, what might finance be and what could we expect from it? Exploring contemporary finance via the development of stock exchanges, markets and the links with states, Roscoe mingles historical and technical detail with humorous anecdotes and lively portraits of market participants. Deftly combining research and autobiographical vignettes, he offers a cautionary tale about the drive of financial markets towards expropriation, capture and exclusion. Positioning financial markets as central devices in the organisation of the global economy, he includes contemporary concerns over inequality, climate emergency and (de)colonialism and concludes by wondering, in the market's own angst-filled voice, what the future for finance might be, and how we might get there.

The monetary system is at a turning point. The question is no longer if, but how soon countries will roll out a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This book discusses the recomposition of the money supply from the present bank money regime to a monetary system determined by CBDC. As the book sets out, the future of money is going to be digital and sovereign. Nonetheless, the relationship between the various types of money is competitive rather than being the peaceful coexistence that was officially envisaged. CBDC competes with the incumbent bank money as well as with private cryptocurrencies that are challenging both central-bank money as well as bank money. For technological and political reasons, bank money will not be able to emulate the superior properties of sovereign digital tokens. Uncovered and unwarranted cryptocurrencies, too, will not stand the competition in the long run. The shifts in the monetary system are changing the role of central banks in the interplay of monetary, fiscal and private-creditary functions and open up improved options for monetary policy. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and policymakers in monetary and financial economics, and digital currencies.

Based on interdisciplinary research into "Directional Change", a new data-driven approach to financial data analysis, Detecting Regime Change in Computational Finance: Data Science, Machine Learning and Algorithmic Trading applies machine learning to financial market monitoring and algorithmic trading. Directional Change is a new way of summarising price changes in the market. Instead of sampling prices at fixed intervals (such as daily closing in time series), it samples prices when the market changes direction ("zigzags"). By sampling data in a different way, this book lays out concepts which enable the extraction of information that other market participants may not be able to see. The book includes a Foreword by Richard Olsen and explores the following topics: Data science: as an alternative to time series, price movements in a market can be summarised as directional changes Machine learning for regime change detection: historical regime changes in a market can be discovered by a Hidden Markov Model Regime characterisation: normal and abnormal regimes in historical data can be characterised using indicators defined under Directional Change Market Monitoring: by using historical characteristics of normal and abnormal regimes, one can monitor the market to detect whether the market regime has changed Algorithmic trading: regime tracking information can help us to design trading algorithms It will be of great interest to researchers in computational finance, machine learning and data science. About the Authors Jun Chen received his PhD in computational finance from the Centre for Computational Finance and Economic Agents, University of Essex in 2019. Edward P K Tsang is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Essex, where he co-founded the Centre for Computational Finance and Economic Agents in 2002.

COVID-19 has spread around the world, causing tremendous structural change, and severely affecting global supply chains and financial operations. As such there is a need for analytic tools help deal with the impact of the pandemic on the world's economies; these tools are not panaceas and certainly won't cure the problems faced, but they offer a means to aid governments, firms, and individuals in coping with specific problems. This book provides an overview of the COVID-19 pandemic and evaluates its effect on financial and supply chain operations. It then discusses epidemic modeling, presenting sources of quantitative and text data, and describing how models are used to illustrate the pandemic impact on supply chains, macroeconomic performance on financial operations. It highlights the specific experiences of the banking system, which offers predictions of the impact on the Swedish banking sector. Further, it examines models related to pandemic planning, such as evaluation of financial contagion, debt risk analysis, and health system efficiency performance, and addresses specific models of pandemic parameters. The book demonstrates various tools using available data on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While it includes some citations, it focuses on describing the methods and explaining how they work, rather than on theory. The data sets and software presented were all selected on the basis of their widespread availability to any reader with computer links.

The study analyses the effects of the EU enlargement on the capital markets in the most advanced countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. It also investigates the impacts on the interactions between Eastern and Western capital markets that are due to the ongoing integration process. Therefore, the study should be particularly useful for financial analysts, institutional investors and academic researchers who are interested in the economic and institutional developments of capital markets in CEE countries and are looking for a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the future perspectives of these capital markets.

This book explains the theoretical structure of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and focuses on the application of PSO to portfolio optimization problems. The general goal of portfolio optimization is to find a solution that provides the highest expected return at each level of portfolio risk. According to H. Markowitz's portfolio selection theory, as new assets are added to an investment portfolio, the total risk of the portfolio's decreases depending on the correlations of asset returns, while the expected return on the portfolio represents the weighted average of the expected returns for each asset. The book explains PSO in detail and demonstrates how to implement Markowitz's portfolio optimization approach using PSO. In addition, it expands on the Markowitz model and seeks to improve the solution-finding process with the aid of various algorithms. In short, the book provides researchers, teachers, engineers, managers and practitioners with many tools they need to apply the PSO technique to portfolio optimization.

This graduate textbook offers advanced and contemporary readings in international trade and economic development and provides an overview of the fundamental topics in this area. It brings together many of the issues that are considered staple reading for a course in trade and development and it offers a systematic coverage of the relevant and state of the art research on various aspects of the subject. This includes detailed analysis of important sub-topics such as: trade and labour market, trade and public economics, the theory of the second best, foreign aid, factor mobility, and regional and global welfare. It also covers international trade and labour standards, the informal labour market, and TRIPS. Aimed at post-graduate students interested in trade theory and applications in development issues, this book should also prove a valuable resource for practicing economists, policy makers, and advanced undergraduate students studying international trade. The text balances extensive coverage of available literature in the area with substantive inclusions from new research published in leading journals and volumes. It aims to fill the gap in the teaching resources and should promote further theoretical and empirical research in the subject.

This book provides a critical analysis of the evolution of corporate disclosure. Building upon prior academic literature, it assesses the most important changes in mandatory corporate disclosure, the growing relevance of social and environmental disclosure, and revolutionary new forms of corporate communication, in particular social media. It also includes empirical analyses that shed further light on the impact of voluntary communication, i.e. social and environmental reporting and corporate social media communication, on managerial and investment decisions. Lastly, it discusses new directions for accounting and corporate governance research on the theoretical and empirical challenges of corporate disclosure. Offering a wealth of relevant and timely advice, the book will help regulators design policies that allow businesses to overcome current and emerging economic, social, and technological challenges.

This book analyses the use of qualitative and quantitative content analysis methodologies for risk disclosure practices in the European banking industry. While doing so, it assesses the level of transparency of financial and non-financial reports by focusing on the information disclosed to the public with reference to risk exposure and management. By drawing upon both qualitative and quantitative techniques, the book proposes two different methodological approaches to assess the information European financial institutions provide to the public with reference to the risk disclosure and derivative disclosure in their annual financial reports. These methodologies are subsequently employed to carry out empirical analyses on samples of European banks. By exploiting the points of strength of both qualitative and quantitative content analysis methodologies, this book offers insights into the advantages and disadvantages of these methodologies. The book is a must-read for academics and researchers that analyze disclosure practices of financial and non-financial firms, as well as financial analysts and other practitioners that are interested in assessing the level of transparency and evaluating the disclosures of financial and non-financial firms, especially, but not exclusively, with reference to risk disclosure and derivative disclosure.

From the early forms of loans to farmers up to present day credit cards, consumer credit has always been part of human life; however, ever since the Bible, controversy has reigned as to its legitimacy. It is the history of this controversy that is presented here. Outlining significant developments in different aspects of consumer credit from the Hammurabi Code through to current questions such as household overindebtedness, the authors shed historical light on modern debates.