Multigrid for American option pricing with stochastic volatility

The paper describes an implicit finite difference approach to the pricing of American options on assets with a stochastic volatility. A multigrid procedure is described for the fast iterative solution of the discrete linear complementarity problems that result. The accuracy and performance of this approach is improved considerably by a strike-price related analytic transformation of asset prices and adaptive time-stepping.

Chattels: I have bought it all for you

Outlines the ways by which personal property can be acquired through the gift of chattels, referring to case law including the Court of Appeal rulings in Re Cole (A Bankrupt) and Re Kirkland, and through the declaration of trust, with reference to the Chancery Division ruling in Rowe v Prance. Compares this to the use of constructive trusts or proprietary estoppel to secure assets and considers the need to prove detrimental reliance.

Socialising young literacy learners into a discourse of failure: Dominant discourses in literacy teaching and assessment and their impact on the progression of young literacy learners into employment

This paper argues that contemporary literacy programmes are a mismatch for the expectations of both the government and employers as well as the goals of learners. It submits that the dominant discourses in literacy provision have led to the emergence of a learning culture which not only fails the learners but is also incapable of meeting the aspirations of both the government and employers. To support this argument, the paper reports a small scale research project that analyses the perceptions of learners, teachers and employers who were involved in a work placement scheme for young literacy learners in a college of further education. Data for the study were collected through focus group and face to face interviews and analysed using the framework of discourse analysis provided by Gill (2000) with findings codified and analysed thematically. The study found that teachers were aware that their learners were not adequately prepared for the world of work because of the demands of the dominant discourses of quality and performance measurement which were most obviously manifested in their assessment, teaching methods and the attitudes of learners. It found that employers perceive young learners as inadequate in terms of the workplace expectations. Learners in the study revealed that their workplace culture and expectations were totally different from the culture to which they had been socialised in their studies. The study concludes that unless the dominance of these discourses is ameliorated, young literacy learners will continue to be socialised into a discourse of failure.

[Organiser of Stirling's Red Buildings Conference for the Twentieth Century Society]

The aim of the conference is to review the three 'Red Buildings' with experts who have studied their history and their performance, and to discuss their future. Work is due to take place on the Leicester and Oxford buildings in the relatively near future, and technical knowledge can be shared in a context of understanding the design intention. Also to celebrate Stirling and Gowan's careers from a broader perspective and to assert the value of looking after these special buildings as assets for the future. The speakers in the afternoon session are people who knew the two architects well, and in some cases worked for them. [From University of Leicester]

Relational dimensions of corporate governance in translation: networked governance in China and India

The effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms has been a subject of academic research for many decades. Although the large majority of corporate governance studies prior to mid 1990s were based on data from developed market economies such as the U.S., U.K. and Japan, in recent years researchers have begun examining corporate governance in transition economies. A comparison of China and India offers a unique environment for analyzing the effectiveness of corporate governance. First, both countries state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform strategies hinges on the Modern Enterprise System characterized by the separation of ownership and control. Ownership of an SOE’s assets is distributed among the government, institutional investors, managers, employees, and private investors. Effective control rights are assigned to management, which generally has a very small, or even nonexistent ownership stake. This distinctive shareholding structure creates conflict of interest not only between management (insiders) and outside investors but also between large shareholders and minority investors. Moreover, because both governments desire to retain some control—in part through partial retained ownership of commercialized SOEs, further conflicts arise between politicians and firms. Second, directors in publicly listed firms in both countries are predominantly drawn from institutions with significant non-market objectives: the government and other state enterprises, particularly in China, and extended families, particularly in India. As a result, the effectiveness of internal governance mechanisms, such as the number of independent directors on the board and the number of independent supervisors on the supervisory committee, are likely to be quiet limited, although this has yet to be fully evaluated. Third, because of the political nature of the privatization process itself, typical external governance mechanisms, such as debt (in conjunction with appropriate bankruptcy procedures), takeover threats, legal protection of investors, product market competition, etc., have not been effective. Bank loans have traditionally been viewed as grants from the state designed to bail out failing firms. State-owned banks retain monopoly or quasi-monopoly positions in the banking sector and profit is not their overriding objective. If political favor is deemed appropriate, subsidized loans, rescheduling of overdue debt or even outright transfer of funds can be arranged with SOEs (soft budget constraints). In addition, a market for private, non-bank debt is limited in India and has yet to be established China. There is no active merger or takeover activity in Chinese stock markets to discipline management. Information available in the capital markets is insufficient to keep at arm’s length of the corporate decisions. In light of the above peculiarities, China and India share many of the typical institutional characteristics as a transition economy, including poor legal protection of creditors and investors, the absence of an effective takeover market, an underdeveloped capital market, a relative inefficient banking system and significant interference of politicians in firm management. Su (2005) finds that the extent of political interference, managerial entrenchment and institutional control can help explain corporate dividend policies and post-IPO financing choices in this situation. Allen et al. (2005) demonstrate that standard corporate governance mechanisms are weak and ineffective for publicly listed firms while alternative governance mechanisms based on reputation and relationship have been remarkably effective in the private sector. Because the peculiarities are significant in this context, the differences in the political-economies of the two countries are likely to be evident in such relational terms. In this paper we explore the peculiarities of corporate governance in this transitional environment through a systematic examination of certain aspects of these reputational and relationship dimensions. Utilising the methods of social network analysis we identify the inter-organisational relationships at board level formed by equity holdings and by shared directors. Using data drawn from the Orbis database we map these relations among the 3700 largest firms in India and China respectively and identify the roles played in these relational networks by the particularly characteristic institutions in each case. We find greatly different social network structures in each case with some support in these relational dimensions for their distinctive features of governance. Further, the social network metrics allow us to considerably refine proxies for political interference, managerial entrenchment and institutional control used in earlier econometric analysis.

The exposure to verbal abuse of student nurses gaining placement experience

Clinical placement experience has a key role to play in the socialisation and preparation of future members of the nursing profession. Aggression experienced by healthcare workers is currently receiving considerable attention and student nurses have been identified as a group vulnerable to experiencing workplace abuse (Little 1999). The primary aim of the study is to gain a greater understanding of the nature, severity, frequency and sources of verbal abuse experienced by student nurses in health care settings in the south east of England, using as a definition, “the use of inappropriate words… causing distress” (Department of Health 2003). A convenience sample of 156 third year student nurses of all four branches of one preregistration nursing programme in the south east of England was studied with questionnaires distributed retrospectively; 11 4 student nurses returned the questionnaires equating to a response rate of 73%. Results 46% of respondents reported experiencing verbal abuse, 39% had witnessed other students experiencing verbal abuse and 61% reported that they were aware of other students experiencing verbal abuse. Students reported experiencing threats to kill, racial abuse, sexually orientated verbal abuse and bullying while gaining placement experience. Student nurses are a high risk group for experiencing verbal abuse whilst gaining placement experience.In the literature, mental health and learningdisability settings are viewed as high risk areasfor experiencing aggression (Beech and Leather 2003); this study suggests that student nurses experience verbal abuse in a variety of settings and verbal abuse may be more prevalent on general medical and surgical wards than previously expected.