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Articles 6991 - 7020 of 8025

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Bayesian Analysis Of Dsge Models, Sungbae An, Frank Schorfheide May 2007

Bayesian Analysis Of Dsge Models, Sungbae An, Frank Schorfheide

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper reviews Bayesian methods that have been developed in recent years to estimate and evaluate dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models. We consider the estimation of linearized DSGE models, the evaluation of models based on Bayesian model checking, posterior odds comparisons, and comparisons to vector autoregressions, as well as the non-linear estimation based on a second-order accurate model solution. These methods are applied to data generated from correctly specified and misspecified linearized DSGE models and a DSGE model that was solved with a second-order perturbation method.

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Poverty Alleviation Through Geographic Targeting, Chris Elbers, Tomoki Fujii, Peter Lanjouw, Berk Ozler, Wesley Yin May 2007

Poverty Alleviation Through Geographic Targeting, Chris Elbers, Tomoki Fujii, Peter Lanjouw, Berk Ozler, Wesley Yin

Research Collection School Of Economics

In this paper, we employ recently completed “poverty maps” for three countries as tools for an ex ante evaluation of the distributional incidence of geographic targeting of public resources. We simulate the impact on poverty of transferring an exogenously given budget to geographically defined sub-groups of the population according to their relative poverty status. We find large gains from targeting smaller administrative units, such as districts or villages. However, these gains are still far from the poverty reduction that would be possible had the planners had access to information on household level income or consumption. Our results indicate that a …

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The Relationship Between Uncertainty And Desire For Feedback: A Test Of Competing Hypotheses, Filip Anseel, Filip Lievens May 2007

The Relationship Between Uncertainty And Desire For Feedback: A Test Of Competing Hypotheses, Filip Anseel, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The relationship between uncertainty and desire for feedback was investigated in 2 studies. Results of Study 1 showed support for a curvilinear relationship. People were interested in feedback at high and low levels of uncertainty, as opposed to moderate levels of uncertainty, indicating the activation of both uncertainty reduction and self-verification motives. In Study 2, the curvilinear relationship with uncertainty was replicated for indirect feedback-seeking behavior. In contrast, we found a negative relationship between direct feedback seeking and uncertainty, moderated by certainty orientation. People seemed more motivated by self-verification vs. uncertainty reduction strivings, depending on their certainty orientation. These findings …

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Smu, Ie Singapore And Industry Partners Start New International Trading Institute, Singapore Management University May 2007

Smu, Ie Singapore And Industry Partners Start New International Trading Institute, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases

No abstract provided.

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A Unified Confidence Interval For Reliability-Related Quantities Of Two-Parameter Weibull Distribution, Zhenlin Yang, Min Xie, Augustine C.M. Wong May 2007

A Unified Confidence Interval For Reliability-Related Quantities Of Two-Parameter Weibull Distribution, Zhenlin Yang, Min Xie, Augustine C.M. Wong

Research Collection School Of Economics

Statistical inference methods for the Weibull parameters and their functions usually depend on extensive tables, and hence are rather inconvenient for the practical applications. In this paper, we propose a general method for constructing confidence intervals for the Weibull parameters and their functions, which eliminates the need for the extensive tables. The method is applied to obtain confidence intervals for the scale parameter, the mean-time-to-failure, the percentile function, and the reliability function. Monte-Carlo simulation shows that these intervals possess excellent finite sample properties, having coverage probabilities very close to their nominal levels, irrespective of the sample size and the degree …

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Unit Root Log Periodogram Regression, Peter C. B. Phillips May 2007

Unit Root Log Periodogram Regression, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

Log periodogram (LP) regression is shown to be consistent and to have a mixed normal limit distribution when the memory parameter d=1. Gaussian errors are not required. The proof relies on a new result showing that asymptotically infinite collections of discrete Fourier transforms (dft's) of a short memory process at the fundamental frequencies in the vicinity of the origin can be treated as asymptotically independent normal variates, provided one does not include too many dft's in the collection.

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Urban Rail Transit Ppps: Survey And Risk Assessment Of Recent Strategies, Sock-Yong Phang May 2007

Urban Rail Transit Ppps: Survey And Risk Assessment Of Recent Strategies, Sock-Yong Phang

Research Collection School Of Economics

The proliferation of urban rail transit public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Latin America and Southeast Asia is a recent phenomenon. This paper first reviews the theoretical literature on the public procurement versus PPP decision in the context of rail transit and assesses the risks involved in entering these partnerships. The urban rail transit PPP approaches adopted in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, Hong Kong, and London are described and classified into four broad approaches: (i) the development of new systems through Design-Build-Finance-Operate (DBFO), (ii) the concessioning of rail and subway services, (iii) the sale of state-owned operators …

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Financial Liberalization And Monetary Policy Cooperation In East Asia, Hwee Kwan Chow, Peter N. Kriz, Roberto S. Mariano, Augustine H. H. Tan May 2007

Financial Liberalization And Monetary Policy Cooperation In East Asia, Hwee Kwan Chow, Peter N. Kriz, Roberto S. Mariano, Augustine H. H. Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

As the countries in East Asia embark on financial liberalization, a key issue that confronts policymakers is the greater complexity of risks that is injected into the financial system. In particular, capital account liberalization may potentially increase the vulnerability of individual countries to external financial shocks. This paper advocates the optimally cascading of financial liberalization that is consistent across three dimensions: extent of domestic financial liberalization; the degree of exchange rate flexibility; and the scope of capital account liberalization. Unless the process of liberalization is properly managed, it could provoke destabilizing capital flows and lead to volatile exchange rates. Smooth …

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Cultural Icons And Urban Development In Asia: Economic Imperative, National Identity, And Global City Status, Lily Kong May 2007

Cultural Icons And Urban Development In Asia: Economic Imperative, National Identity, And Global City Status, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Global cities are characterized by the multiplicity of flows that they are implicated in - flows of people, goods, services, ideas, and images. Yet, global cities do not derive their status only on the basis that they are networked nodes. They also require particular forms of cultural capital. Cities with global aspirations have thus increasingly recognized the need to accumulate cultural capital, for which one means is to create new urban spaces, in particular, new cultural urban spaces (e.g. grand theatres, museums, libraries). These often monumental structures are intended to support a vibrant cultural life, in order to attract and …

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How Doctors And Patients Get Better, Knowledge@Smu Apr 2007

How Doctors And Patients Get Better, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

In Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, Atul Gawande, a surgeon who also is a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, examines both the utilitarian and the human sides of medical practice. In the book, he examines what goes right in American medical care, what goes wrong, how things either succeed or fail, and what might be done to improve the system. Among the examples he provides: A polio "mop up" in Karnataka, where Indian health care workers deployed 37,000 vaccinators to immunize 4 million children – in three days.

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Managing Stakeholders During It-Enabled Organizational Transformation: A Case Study Of E-Government In South Korea, Hyun Jeong Kim, Gary Pan, Shan Ling Pan Apr 2007

Managing Stakeholders During It-Enabled Organizational Transformation: A Case Study Of E-Government In South Korea, Hyun Jeong Kim, Gary Pan, Shan Ling Pan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The implementation of e-government is a burgeoning phenomenon across the globe. It improves and enhances the infrastructures and services provided to the citizens. However, a review of the IS literature reveals that research on the implementation of e-government is rather limited, which could be due to the general misconception of the public sectors as rigid and risk-averse establishments. The shortage of studies on e-government’s implementation presents a knowledge gap that needs to be plugged. This gap is significantly amplified by the increasing number of e-government initiatives being implemented by governments in recent years. This paper describes and analyzes South Korea’s …

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Reorganisation Of The School Of Economics & Social Sciences, Singapore Management University Apr 2007

Reorganisation Of The School Of Economics & Social Sciences, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases

No abstract provided.

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Socialization And The Business School, Stefano Harney Apr 2007

Socialization And The Business School, Stefano Harney

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

There is a new phase in the generalization of management capacities, but contrary to the assumptions of critical management educators, the investment in the business school has not been to socialize more students into this generalized management, but to seek the principle of generalization in these students themselves as part of a struggle between capital and labour. Using the insights of autonomist feminist theorists, this article attempts to analyse why critical management education has been unable to find a new object appropriate to this new generalization of management, and speculates on what the critical and political benefits might be of …

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State-Led Transborder Industrialization In Asia: A Note On Singapore's Manufacturing Enclaves In Vietnam And China, Caroline Yeoh, Wilfred Pow Ngee How Apr 2007

State-Led Transborder Industrialization In Asia: A Note On Singapore's Manufacturing Enclaves In Vietnam And China, Caroline Yeoh, Wilfred Pow Ngee How

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Singapore-based firms to expand into the region, remain controversial. This strategic initiative is promulgated on the exportability of Singapore’s state credibility, systemic and operational efficiencies as well as technological competencies, to locations where these attributes are less distinct. We present evidence culled from surveys and interviews conducted in the Singapore-styled industrial townships in Vietnam and China. Our results suggest that, while the parks have arguably been a measured success, the advantages supposedly created by the abovementioned export of Singapore’s competencies have proven either illusionary or far less significant than originally envisioned, vis-à-vis more practical economic and competitive concerns.

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Global And Regional Sources Of Risk In Equity Markets: Evidence From Factor Models With Time-Varying Conditional Skewness, Aamir R. Hashmi, Anthony S. Tay Apr 2007

Global And Regional Sources Of Risk In Equity Markets: Evidence From Factor Models With Time-Varying Conditional Skewness, Aamir R. Hashmi, Anthony S. Tay

Research Collection School Of Economics

We examine the influence of global and regional factors on the conditional distribution of stock returns from six Asian markets, using factor models in which unexpected returns comprise global, regional and local shocks. The models allow for conditional heteroskedasticity and time-varying conditional skewness, and are used to measure mean, variance, and skewness spillovers. We find that incorporating time-varying conditional skewness improves the fit of our spillover models, and can alter measurements of variance spillovers. However, time-varying conditional skewness is mostly a local phenomenon; with exceptions, there is little spillover in skewness from global and regional factors.

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A Simple Approach To The Parametric Estimation Of Potentially Nonstationary Diffusions, Federico Bandi, Peter C. B. Phillips Apr 2007

A Simple Approach To The Parametric Estimation Of Potentially Nonstationary Diffusions, Federico Bandi, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

A simple and robust approach is proposed for the parametric estimation of scalar homogeneous stochastic differential equations. We specify a parametric class of diffusions and estimate the parameters of interest by minimizing criteria based on the integrated squared difference between kernel estimates of the drift and diffusion functions and their parametric counterparts. The procedure does not require simulations or approximations to the true transition density and has the simplicity of standard nonlinear least-squares methods in discrete time. A complete asymptotic theory for the parametric estimates is developed. The limit theory relies on infill and long span asymptotics and is robust …

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Simulation-Based Estimation Of Contingent-Claims Prices, Jun Yu Apr 2007

Simulation-Based Estimation Of Contingent-Claims Prices, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

A new methodology is proposed to estimate theoretical prices of financial contingent-claims whose values are dependent on some other underlying financial assets. In the literature the preferred choice of estimator is usually maximum likelihood (ML). ML has strong asymptotic justification but is not necessarily the best method in finite samples. The present paper proposes instead a simulation-based method that improves the finite sample performance of the ML estimator while maintaining its good asymptotic properties. The methods are implemented and evaluated here in the Black-Scholes option pricing model and in the Vasicek bond pricing model, but have wider applicability. Monte Carlo …

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The Right Of Access To Justice: Judicial Discourse In Singapore And Malaysia, Gary Chan Apr 2007

The Right Of Access To Justice: Judicial Discourse In Singapore And Malaysia, Gary Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This is an essay on judicial discourse in Singapore and Malaysia pertaining to the nature and scope of the right of access to justice, including access to justice for the poor. We will examine the statements and pronouncements by the Singapore and Malaysia judiciary in case precedents and extra-judicial statements. Some of the issues explored include the legal status of this right of access to justice (namely, whether it is a right enshrined in the constitution or merely a right derived from the common law and whether it is qualified by economic and other interests) and the associated rights of …

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Trade Agreements With Domestic Policies As Disguised Protection, Gea Myoung Lee Mar 2007

Trade Agreements With Domestic Policies As Disguised Protection, Gea Myoung Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

WTO rules prohibit “disguised protection” in the form of domestic policies. How then do governments cooperate over trade and domestic policies when none can verify whether a nation's domestic tax reduction is a protective measure or a reaction to a production externality? In this paper, each government privately observes whether a production externality associated with its import-competing good is high or low. This paper finds that in an optimal agreement, disguised protection with domestic policies is never used by governments with a high externality, and is never commonly realized. Moreover, in an optimal agreement, tariffs may be conditional on domestic …

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Employer Branding In The Belgian Army: The Importance Of Instrumental And Symbolic Beliefs For Potential Applicants, Actual Applicants, And Military Employees, Filip Lievens Mar 2007

Employer Branding In The Belgian Army: The Importance Of Instrumental And Symbolic Beliefs For Potential Applicants, Actual Applicants, And Military Employees, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study conceptualizes employer brand as a package of instrumental and symbolic attributes. Using a sample of 955 individuals (429 potential applicants, 392 actual applicants, and 134 military employees), we examine the relative importance of instrumental and symbolic employer brand beliefs across different groups of individuals: potential applicants, actual applicants, and military employees (with less than three years of tenure). Results show that instrumental attributes explain greater variance in the Army's attractiveness as an employer among actual applicants compared to potential applicants or employees. In all three groups, symbolic trait inferences explain a similar portion of the variance. In addition, …

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Wealth Transfer Effects Of Analysts’ Misleading Behavior, Gus De Franco, Hai Lu, Florin P. Vasvari Mar 2007

Wealth Transfer Effects Of Analysts’ Misleading Behavior, Gus De Franco, Hai Lu, Florin P. Vasvari

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We investigate a sample of 50 firm events, identified in the Global Research Analysts Settlement, in which analysts were discovered to have acted misleadingly ex-post. In this setting, analysts' incentives caused them to issue public disclosures that differed from their private beliefs. We document that these firms' institutional holdings decline significantly during the period in which the analysts issued misleading disclosures. During this period daily small-size trades (a proxy for individual investors) are dominated by buy orders while daily large-size trades (a proxy for institutional investors) are dominated by sell orders. Short interest increases during the event period, consistent with …

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Long Run Variance Estimation And Robust Regression Testing Using Sharp Origin Kernels With No Truncation, Peter C. B. Phillips, Yixiao Sun, Sainan Jin Mar 2007

Long Run Variance Estimation And Robust Regression Testing Using Sharp Origin Kernels With No Truncation, Peter C. B. Phillips, Yixiao Sun, Sainan Jin

Research Collection School Of Economics

A new family of kernels is suggested for use in long run variance (LRV) estimation and robust regression testing. The kernels are constructed by taking powers of the Bartlett kernel and are intended to be used with no truncation (or bandwidth) parameter. As the power parameter ([rho]) increases, the kernels become very sharp at the origin and increasingly downweight values away from the origin, thereby achieving effects similar to a bandwidth parameter. Sharp origin kernels can be used in regression testing in much the same way as conventional kernels with no truncation, as suggested in the work of Kiefer and …

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Bias In Dynamic Panel Estimation With Fixed Effects, Incidental Trends And Cross Section Dependence, Peter C. B. Phillips, Donggyu Sul Mar 2007

Bias In Dynamic Panel Estimation With Fixed Effects, Incidental Trends And Cross Section Dependence, Peter C. B. Phillips, Donggyu Sul

Research Collection School Of Economics

Explicit asymptotic bias formulae are given for dynamic panel regression estimators as the cross section sample size N --> ∞. The results extend earlier work by Nickell [1981. Biases in dynamic models with fixed effects. Econometrica 49, 1417-1426] and later authors in several directions that are relevant for practical work, including models with unit roots, deterministic trends, predetermined and exogenous regressors, and errors that may be cross sectionally dependent. The asymptotic bias is found to be so large when incidental linear trends are fitted and the time series sample size is small that it changes the sign of the autoregressive …

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Examining The Socioeconomic Impacts Of Irrigation In The Southeast Anatolia Region Of Turkey, Sachiko Miyata, Tomoki Fujii Mar 2007

Examining The Socioeconomic Impacts Of Irrigation In The Southeast Anatolia Region Of Turkey, Sachiko Miyata, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

We explore the socioeconomic changes following implementation of an irrigation system in the Southeast Anatolia region of Turkey, and examines whether the improvement originally envisioned was achieved. We surveyed seven irrigated and eight non-irrigated villages in Sanliurfa Province, collecting several indicators at the household level, including crop patterns, household living standards, and access to water. Local perception of the irrigation project and decisions regarding water use also are examined. The irrigation projects have improved knowledge sharing of irrigation technology and helped to introduce the sharing of agricultural machinery. The projects also seem to have shifted the tribal hierarchy toward peer …

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Estimating Party Policy Positions: Comparing Expert Surveys And Hand-Coded Content Analysis, Kenneth Benoit, Michael Laver Mar 2007

Estimating Party Policy Positions: Comparing Expert Surveys And Hand-Coded Content Analysis, Kenneth Benoit, Michael Laver

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper we compare estimates of the left-right positions of political parties derived from an expert survey recently completed by the authors with those derived by the Comparative Manifestos Project (CMP) from the content analysis of party manifestos. Having briefly described the expert survey, we first explore the substantive policy content of left and right in the expert survey estimates. We then compare the expert survey to the CMP method on methodological grounds. Third, we directly compare the expert survey results to the CMP results for the most recent time period available, revealing some agreement but also numerous inconsistencies …

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Asian Currency Baskets: A Useful Surveillance Tool?, Charles Adams, Hwee Kwan Chow Mar 2007

Asian Currency Baskets: A Useful Surveillance Tool?, Charles Adams, Hwee Kwan Chow

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper considers whether an intra-regional currency basket and the associated divergence indicators could play a useful role in official exchange rate surveillance. Recently, proponents of an Asian currency basket have referred to the role the European Currency Unit played in constructing exchange rate divergence indicators as evidence of the usefulness of intra-regional currency baskets for exchange rate monitoring. The paper shows that such indicators have a number of features that can lead to them obscuring underlying changes in exchange rates and that the signals they emit will often be difficult to interpret. In addition, the use of regional currency …

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Benchmarks For Text Analysis: A Response To Budge And Pennings, Kenneth Benoit, Michael Laver Mar 2007

Benchmarks For Text Analysis: A Response To Budge And Pennings, Kenneth Benoit, Michael Laver

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Budge and Pennings (2007) criticize the “Wordscores” method for computerized content analysis on essentially two grounds. The first is that the best test of Wordscores accuracy is whether it can “reproduce the rich time series produced by the MRG/CMP covering a 50 year period” (Budge and Pennings, 2007: 5), which Budge and Pennings claim it does not do. The second is that Wordscores time series estimates, as implemented by Budge and Pennings, yield very little variation around mean scores for the entire time series. In this brief response we make three simple points.

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It Is Not Worth Learning If It Is Not Remembered: Designing E-Learning To Increase Memory, Paula C. Engelbrecht, Tamas Makany, Katie Meadmore, Richard Dudley, Itiel E. Dror Mar 2007

It Is Not Worth Learning If It Is Not Remembered: Designing E-Learning To Increase Memory, Paula C. Engelbrecht, Tamas Makany, Katie Meadmore, Richard Dudley, Itiel E. Dror

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The collation, storage and retrieval of information are essential components of successful learning. Whether information is retained depends on a variety of factors, including how the information fits with an individual’s existing knowledge, the way in which information is presented, and its complexity. Some of these factors are under the direct control of the e-learning designers and developers. Investigating these factors and how they impact on memory is important and can enhance the quality of e-learning. Evidence from cognitive neuroscience suggests that information is stored in a semantically meaningful manner. It follows that e-learning technologies, which either mimic how knowledge …

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Giving The Learners Control Of Navigation: Cognitive Gains And Losses, Tamas Makany, Paula C. Engelbrecht, Katie Meadmore, Richard Dudley, Edward S. Redhead, Itiel E. Dror Mar 2007

Giving The Learners Control Of Navigation: Cognitive Gains And Losses, Tamas Makany, Paula C. Engelbrecht, Katie Meadmore, Richard Dudley, Edward S. Redhead, Itiel E. Dror

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

E-learning often involves exploration of the information space that is somewhat similar to the exploration of space in the real world. Initial paths taken in any environment (be it a physical, virtual, or any other type) will not only guide the discoveries of what the environment contains, but also formulate the underlying organising principles. The suggested route in an art gallery frequently presents artworks that are either chronological or conceptually tied together. Deviating from this –and taking a route of our own, if at all possible– might be either confusing or insightful. The structure of the information, and the control …

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Romance And Sexual Initiation Among Unmarried Young People In Vietnam: A Multi-Method Approach, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan Mar 2007

Romance And Sexual Initiation Among Unmarried Young People In Vietnam: A Multi-Method Approach, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Young men represent the highest proportion of sexually experienced unmarried population in Vietnam. Increasing levels of sexual activity, combined with reported low levels of knowledge about sex, HIV/AIDS, and STIs and an aversion to using contraceptives, suggest that they are ill-prepared to deal with Vietnam's emerging HIV epidemic. This study uses a multi-method approach to assess sexual activity and attitudes concerning romantic love among never-married men. I analyze the nationally representative Survey Assessment of Vietnamese Youth to examine patterns of emotional relationships and physical behaviors preceding young men's sexual initiation as well as determinants of premarital sex and an aversion …

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