Organization and efficiency in the international insurance industry: A cross-frontier analysis

This paper employs cross-frontier analysis, an innovative tool based on data envelopment analysis, to provide new insight into the relationship between organization and efficiency in international insurance markets. We are the first to empirically test the expense preference hypothesis and the efficient structure hypothesis in a large cross-country study. For this purpose, we consider 23,807 firm-years for 21 countries from northern America and the European Union—a dataset not previously analyzed in this context. We find evidence for the efficient structure hypothesis in selected market segments, but we find no evidence for the expense preference hypothesis. Our results provide insight into the competitiveness of stock and mutual insurers from different countries. At the country level, the results can be used to compare different insurance markets. Our findings are especially interesting for the strategic management of insurance companies as well as for regulators and boards of national insurance associations.     

Time-varying long range dependence in market returns of FEAS members

We study the time-varying efficiency of nineteen members of the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS – an international organization comprising the main stock exchanges in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia) by generalized Hurst exponent analysis of daily data with a rolling window technique. The study covers the six years of time period between January 2007 and December 2012. The results reveal that all FEAS members exhibit different degrees of long range dependence varying over time. We present an efficiency ranking of these members that provides guidance for investors and portfolio managers. Results show that the least inefficient market is Turkey followed by Romania while the most inefficient markets are Iran, Mongolia, Serbia and Macedonia. Throughout the considered time period, Turkey’s stable Hurst exponent around 0.5 differs from others and shows characteristics of a developed financial market. For the federation members, strong positive relationship between efficiency and market liquidity is revealed. In the light of this fact, alternatives are suggested to improve market efficiency.     

Patterns in stock market movements tested as random number generators

This paper shows that tests of Random Number Generators (RNGs) may be used to test the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH). It uses the Overlapping Serial Test (OST), a standard test in RNG research, to detect anomalous patterns in the distribution of sequences of stock market movements up and down. Our results show that most stock markets exhibit idiosyncratic recurrent patterns, contrary to the efficient market hypothesis; also that OST detects a different kind of non-randomness to standard econometric long- and short-memory tests. Exposure of these anomalies should contribute to making markets more efficient.     

再论中国股票市场的弱有效性

本文利用检验鞅差序列的非参数统计量来检验中国股票市场的弱有效性问题,本文给出的方法不同于文献中已有的方法,实证分析表明本文使用的检验股票市场弱有效的方法比文献中的大多数方法更有效。实证结果显示,中国的股市在发展过程中,表现山渐进有效的态势;中国A股市场比B股市场更有效率:沪市比深市更趋于有效。文中的有些结论是以前的实证研究所没有的。另外,本文比较了中国股市和境外成熟股市之间有效性程度的差异,并得出香港市场对深市影响显著的结论。     

Cross-correlations between volatility,volatility persistence and stock market integration: the case of emergent stock markets

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of the two pairs of relationship, respectively volatility/market integration and volatility persistence/market integration, in the case of 20 emerging stock markets during the period 1999–2013. Employing the rolling windows approach we find that on most markets the persistent positive trend in volatility and volatility persistence is associated with the same trend in market integration. We use the detrending moving-average cross-correlation coefficients and we find positive cross-correlation that appears particularly in the long term and can only partly be attributed to the global financial crisis. The cross-section analysis shows that the markets which are more integrated display stronger volatility and volatility persistence, especially after 2005, when the level of market integration is higher. Our findings have several important implications for international portfolio management and security valuation.     

On the number of securities which constitute an efficient portfolio

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relationship between the number of securities which constitute an efficient portfolio as defined by the standard mean-variance portfolio selection model and the number of periods used to compute the efficient portfolio. It is shown that the number of data gives the upper bound of the number of securities which constitute an efficient portfolio, when each efficient portfolio is unique for a given expected return. Empirical tests based on actual return data show that this upper bound is very tight when the number of data is small. However, when more data are used, the upper bound becomes looser. This result is incompatible with the market efficiency. These empirical tests also indicate that a very tight upper bound often causes a degenerate case ensuring zero-variance portfolios.     

Use of DEA cross-efficiency evaluation in portfolio selection: An application to Korean stock market

We propose a way of using DEA cross-efficiency evaluation in portfolio selection. While cross efficiency is an approach developed for peer evaluation, we improve its use in portfolio selection. In addition to (average) cross-efficiency scores, we suggest to examine the variations of cross-efficiencies, and to incorporate two statistics of cross-efficiencies into the mean-variance formulation of portfolio selection. Two benefits are attained by our proposed approach. One is selection of portfolios well-diversified in terms of their performance on multiple evaluation criteria, and the other is alleviation of the so-called “ganging together” phenomenon of DEA cross-efficiency evaluation in portfolio selection. We apply the proposed approach to stock portfolio selection in the Korean stock market, and demonstrate that the proposed approach can be a promising tool for stock portfolio selection by showing that the selected portfolio yields higher risk-adjusted returns than other benchmark portfolios for a 9-year sample period from 2002 to 2011.     

一般M-V模型中的有效证券组合及无套利分析

本文研究了协方差阵奇异时一般M-V模型中的有效证券组合, 得到了证券市场存在有效证券组合的充要条件, 并给出了有效证券组合的通解和有效前沿的性质. 最后, 本文还在奇异协方差阵下进行了无套利分析, 得到了证券市场无套利的充要条件, 从而证明了Szeg\"{o}的猜想.     

条件收益率下的VaR投资组合研究

本文以新的VaR风险控制体系和价格条件的VaR理论为基础,建立了一种新的最优投资组合模型——μ_s-VaR_s模型。其主要特点有:首先,μ_s-VaR_s模型主要关注相对价格的预期收益和风险,在没有股指期货对冲大盘指数风险的条件下,该模型可以为投资组合跑赢大盘提供了科学思路;其次,在μ_s-VaR_s风模型中,仿照夏普指数创建出了新的选股指标γ_s_i(t),使投资组合更有效率;最后,μ_s-VaR_s模型充分考虑了沪深股票市场的交易成本和交易条件限制,使模型具有较强的现实可用性.经过对沪深股票市场的实证分析发现:μ_s-VaR_s模型明显优于马柯威茨的M-V模型;应用μ_s-VaR_s模型所构建的投资组合的累积收益率显著高于大盘的同期累积收益率.     

我国居民资产配置行为的随机模拟研究

近两年来,证券市场高涨下的居民资产配置行为备受关注。本文以最优资产选择模型为基础,讨论了2005年7月至2007年5月利率、风险偏好、沪深股市相关性、股市收益波动与居民资产选择的数量关系,采用Monte-Carlo与Bootstrap等方法模拟牛市时期各因素对资产配置行为的影响。研究发现:牛市时期以储蓄存款为主的单一型金融资产结构格局并未改变;从收益率的角度,股市对储蓄的影响比利率大;从风险的角度,利率对储蓄的影响比股市大;利率、沪深股市的之间的相关性大小对居民储蓄投资的影响不容忽视。     

On relations between DEA-risk models and stochastic dominance efficiency tests

In this paper, several concepts of portfolio efficiency testing are compared, based either on data envelopment analysis (DEA) or the second-order stochastic dominance (SSD) relation: constant return to scale DEA models, variable return to scale (VRS) DEA models, diversification-consistent DEA models, pairwise SSD efficiency tests, convex SSD efficiency tests and full SSD portfolio efficiency tests. Especially, the equivalence between VRS DEA model with binary weights and the SSD pairwise efficiency test is proved. DEA models equivalent to convex SSD efficiency tests and full SSD portfolio efficiency tests are also formulated. In the empirical application, the efficiency testing of 48 US representative industry portfolios using all considered DEA models and SSD tests is presented. The obtained efficiency sets are compared. A special attention is paid to the case of small number of the inputs and outputs. It is empirically shown that DEA models equivalent either to the convex SSD test or to the SSD portfolio efficiency test work well even with quite small number of inputs and outputs. However, the reduced VRS DEA model with binary weights is not able to identify all the pairwise SSD efficient portfolios.     

奇异协方差阵下证券组合的有效子集

Szeg\"{o}曾猜想当协方差阵奇异时可能存在有效子集, 本文在奇异协方差阵下利用有效组合的通解, 给出了证券组合有效子集的一个等价定义, 并得到了在证券全集中存在有效子集的充要条件,还给出了证券子集为有效子集的一些新的充要条件.     

中国股票市场有效性的复合评价

本文以2000年1月4日至2011年4月1日的上证综指(000001)和深圳综指(399106)的日收盘价和日收益率为研究对象,根据随机游走假设,采用对数动态自回归模型、游程检验和单位根检验,对上海股票交易所和深圳股票交易所的市场有效性分别进行检验,结果表明沪深两市都基本达到弱式有效。由于上述检验无法证明两股市之间是否存在影响,价格水平是否互相包含,因此有必要验证沪深两市是否为联合有效。本文采用Johansen协整检验和Granger因果关系检验,结果表明上证综指的日收益率对深圳综指的日收益率有一定的预测作用,但沪深两市的价格不存在长期均衡关系,因此可判断沪深股市基本达到联合的弱式有效。     

考虑投资者异质信念和目标优先级的投资组合问题研究

考虑证券市场的模糊不确定性及投资者的模糊决策特征,以资产收益、下方风险及流动性为模糊投资目标,构建考虑投资者异质信念和目标优先级的多目标投资组合模型。进一步,以我国主板、中小板和创业板市场为背景,采用CPT-TOPSIS交互式算法进行实证分析。研究发现:乐观、理性和悲观投资者权衡收益、风险和流动性目标时偏好的优先顺序不同,导致资产配置结构、最优决策和绩效表现存在差别。结果表明模糊多目标模型能够满足不同投资者权衡多目标的差异化投资需求,取得优于基准随机投资组合的投资效果,可作为投资者投资决策的参考依据。     

Optimal mean–variance efficiency of a family with life insurance under inflation risk

We study an optimization problem of a family under mean–variance efficiency. The market consists of cash, a zero-coupon bond, an inflation-indexed zero-coupon bond, a stock, life insurance and income-replacement insurance. The instantaneous interest rate is modeled as the Cox–Ingersoll–Ross (CIR) model, and we use a generalized Black–Scholes model to characterize the stock and labor income. We also take into account the inflation risk and consider our problem in the real market. The goal of the family is to maximize the mean of the surplus wealth at the retirement or death of the breadwinner and minimize its variance by finding a portfolio selection. The efficient frontier and optimal strategies are derived through the dynamic programming method and the technique of solving associated nonlinear HJB equations. We also present a numerical illustration to explore the impact of economical parameters on the efficient frontier.     

证券市场正反馈交易与收益自相关

正反馈交易是非理性投资者的一种交易策略,正反馈交易者通常依据证券前一期收益的高低决定其当期买卖行为。在正反馈交易存在的情况下,证券市场收益会表现出不同于有效市场假设所假定的特征,使证券市场表现出超常的波动性。本文建立了一个正反馈交易者和理性交易者参与的市场模型,分析了该市场中证券收益时间序列呈现出的正自相关性。     

基于高斯核支持向量机和遗传算法的优化组合研究

选用2008~2015共8年数据,首先基于高斯核的支持向量机在沪市A股上构建周期性的投资组合,并通过误差图和评价指标与BP神经网络、广义回归神经网络进行比较,结果表明了支持向量机在股票预测上更具有优势.再将改进遗传算法运用于上证股票市场构建最优投资组合,以上证指数作为基准进行比较,得出混合遗传算法优化组合的模型相比单一模型更为有效.     

中国股市基本面价值加权投资组合研究

基本面价值加权投资组合是近年来在美国兴起的新型投资理论和技术.其基础是噪声市场假说和价格回归价值。本文回顾了基本面投资组合的相关文献,解释了其建立的理论基础和模型.本文还根据平滑市值权重技术,构建了基于中国股票市场的基本面投资组合,并和传统的市值加权投资组合进行比较。本文的主要结论是,中国市场1992年到2002年和美国市场类似呈现平稳价格噪声,基本面投资组合总体优于市值加权组合.股权分置改革初期市场低落,市场价格过度低估基本面价值,市值组合占优势。2005年下半年来股市呈现一定泡沫特征,市场价格对基本面价值有过度高估趋势,间接地证明了相关部门对股市过热的警告和监管是合理的.     

Stochastic Nonstationary Optimization for Finding Universal Portfolios

We apply ideas from stochastic optimization for defining universal portfolios. Universal portfolios are that class of portfolios which are constructed directly from the available observations of the stocks behavior without any assumptions about their statistical properties. Cover [7] has shown that one can construct such portfolio using only observations of the past stock prices which generates the same asymptotic wealth growth as the best constant rebalanced portfolio which is constructed with the full knowledge of the future stock market behavior.In this paper we construct universal portfolios using a different set of ideas drawn from nonstationary stochastic optimization. Our portfolios yield the same asymptotic growth of wealth as the best constant rebalanced portfolio constructed with the perfect knowledge of the future and they are less demanding computationally compared to previously known universal portfolios. We also present computational evidence using New York Stock Exchange data which shows, among other things, superior performance of portfolios which explicitly take into account possible nonstationary market behavior.     

沪深股市的相关结构分析与投资组合风险度量——基于ARFIMA-GARCH-Copula模型

金融资产收益率不仅具有尖峰厚尾性、异方差性,还具有长记忆性。基于此,本文建立ARFIMA-GARCH-Copula模型来研究沪深股市的相关结构和等权重投资组合风险值VaR,利用上证指数和深成指数收益率的组合来进行实证研究。首先采用经典R/S分析法检验各个资产收益率的长记忆性,经过分数阶差分后选用GARCH模型建模得到边缘分布。然后选择Copula函数来刻画两资产之间的相关结构,建立联合分布模型。进而采用Monte Carlo方法模拟产生各资产的收益率序列,计算出投资组合的风险值VaR。实证研究表明:沪深股市具有长记忆性,且两者具有对称的尾部相关性;Kupiec检验说明ARFIMA-GARCH-Copula模型较之于GARCH-Copula模型能更准确地度量投资组合风险。