Conflict of interest in policing : problems, practices, and principles

Examines conflict of interest across the private and public realm of the everyday lives of police officers. Outlines how the problem is an important aspect of police ethics, arguing that recognition of, and accountability for, conflict of interest may be a significant element in preventing police misconduct and corruption

The relationship between exchange rates, interest rates and Australian bank returns

Although there has been significant research on US financial intermediaries' stock returns and sensitivity to interest yields, there has only been limited research on Australian bank stock returns and key macro variables, such as interest rates and exchange rates. The aim of this article is to examine this relationship for four major Australian banks, namely the Australia New Zealand bank (ANZ), the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the National Australia Bank (NAB) and the Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC). We use the EGARCH model and examine the relationship using monthly data covering the period 1992 to 2007. The results suggest that for all four banks: (1) there is a similar and statistically significant negative relationship between interest rates and stock returns; and (2) there is evidence of an increase in returns during the period of appreciation of the Australian dollar.

Restructuring teacher education, the national interest and globalisation

This paper argues that the repositioning of Asian countries as new 'centres' for world trade and commerce and the transformation of Australian society and economy to accord with this global consolidation, includes a general restructuring of all levels of Australia's 'education industry' and specifically the (re)forming of its initial teacher and professional-education programmes. The need for such reformation arises in part from the restructuring of the work of teaching based on a broader definition of the people and educational settings that are involved in the teaching/learning process, a reworking of this teaching/learning process, the higher status given to certain substantive areas of study, such as languages other than English, and the management of education along corporatist lines. This paper suggests further that teacher-education programmes should also provide students with the resources to critically analyse these changes, giving consideration to issues such as identity, the impact of new technologies on culture and learning, the use of language in promoting particular discourses, and the repositioning of education as a tool for economic reform.

Low-frequency volatility of yen interest rate swap market in relation to macroeconomic risk

Using ‘low-frequency’ volatility extracted from aggregate volatility shocks in interest rate swap (hereafter, IRS) market, this paper investigates whether Japanese yen IRS volatility can be explained by macroeconomic risks. The analysis suggests that this low-frequency yen IRS volatility has strong and positive association with most of the macroeconomic risk proxies (e.g., volatility of consumer price index, industrial production volatility, foreign exchange volatility, slope of the term structure and money supply) with the exception of the unemployment rate, which is negatively related to IRS volatility. This finding is fairly consistent with the argument that the greater the macroeconomic risk the greater is the use of derivative instruments to hedge or speculate. The relationship between the macroeconomic risks and IRS volatility varies slightly across the different swap maturities but is robust to alternative volatility specifications. This linkage between swap market and macroeconomy has practical implications since market makers and hedgers use the swap rate as benchmark for pricing long-term interest rates, corporate bonds and various other securities.

Credit risk of interest rate swaps : a comparative study of CIR and Monte Carlo simulation approach

This paper compares the credit risk profile for two types of model, the Monte Carlo model used in the existing literature, and the Cox, Ingersoll and Ross (CIR) model. Each of the profiles has a concave or hump-backed shape, reflecting the amortisation and diffusion effects. However, the CIR model generates significantly different results. In addition, we consider the sensitivity of these models of credit risk to initial interest rates, volatility, maturity, kappa and delta. The results show that the sensitivities vary across the models, and we explore the meaning of that variation.

Australian and US interest rate swap markets : comparison and linkages

We investigate and compare the determinants of US and Australian interest rate swap spreads and the linkages between these markets. The slope of the risk-free term structure is the most significant determinant and its importance is greater for longer terms to maturity. Interest rate levels and, in Australia, the default premium also have some impact. The influences of interest rate volatility, the liquidity premium and (in the USA) the default premium are small or negligible. We hypothesise, and our evidence confirms, that the US swap market significantly affects the Australian swap market but not vice-versa.

Testing the expectations hypothesis for interest rate term structure : some Australian evidence

Many test results are found inconsistent with the expectations hypothesis of the term structure. The aim of this paper is to re-examine the expectations hypothesis of the term structure using the Australian interest rate data from 1969(7) to 1995(7). We start with the cointegration test on R_t, r_t, and S_t followed by the Granger causality test from S_t to ∇ r_t. Finally we carry out the VAR model of cross-equation restrictions test. Our findings show that there is no conclusive rejection of the expectations hypothesis of the term structure.