Convergence among the sub-markets in Australian regional building and construction sector

Studies on market convergence are well considered in the literature. However, the majority of the previous research focused on housing markets and few studies have concentrated on construction markets. Owing to a simultaneously dramatic increase in the construction prices of the sub-markets in the building construction sector in Australia, this paper aims to identify the convergence among these markets, involving house construction market, other-residential building construction market, and non-residential building construction market. To achieve it the Granger causality test and generalized response function depending on the vector error correction model with the quarterly data of Australia’s eight states from 1998 to 2010 will be applied. Based upon the econometric tests, the price diffusion patterns among these construction markets have been identified. Research on the convergences of construction markets not only helps construction firms perform well in business operations and arbitrage activities, but also provides policy makers with useful information for enacting effective construction policies for national perspectives and approaches to infrastructure planning.

An agent-based approach to value theory and wealth distribution in economics

Any attempt to model an economy requires foundational assumptions about the relations between prices, values and the distribution of wealth. These assumptions exert a profound influence over the results of any model. Unfortunately, there are few areas in economics as vexed as the theory of value. I argue in this paper that the fundamental problem with past theories of value is that it is simply not possible to model the determination of value, the formation of prices and the distribution of income in a real economy with analytic mathematical models. All such attempts leave out crucial processes or make unrealistic assumptions which significantly affect the results. There have been two primary approaches to the theory of value. The first, associated with classical economists such as Ricardo and Marx were substance theories of value, which view value as a substance inherent in an object and which is conserved in exchange. For Marxists, the value of a commodity derives solely from the value of the labour power used to produce it - and therefore any profit is due to the exploitation of the workers. The labour theory of value has been discredited because of its assumption that labour was the only ‘factor’ that contributed to the creation of value, and because of its fundamentally circular argument. Neoclassical theorists argued that price was identical with value and was determined purely by the interaction of supply and demand. Value then, was completely subjective. Returns to labour (wages) and capital (profits) were determined solely by their marginal contribution to production, so that each factor received its just reward by definition. Problems with the neoclassical approach include assumptions concerning representative agents, perfect competition, perfect and costless information and contract enforcement, complete markets for credit and risk, aggregate production functions and infinite, smooth substitution between factors, distribution according to marginal products, firms always on the production possibility frontier and firms’ pricing decisions, ignoring money and credit, and perfectly rational agents with infinite computational capacity. Two critical areas include firstly, the underappreciated Sonnenschein-Mantel- Debreu results which showed that the foundational assumptions of the Walrasian general-equilibrium model imply arbitrary excess demand functions and therefore arbitrary equilibrium price sets. Secondly, in real economies, there is no equilibrium, only continuous change. Equilibrium is never reached because of constant changes in preferences and tastes; technological and organisational innovations; discoveries of new resources and new markets; inaccurate and evolving expectations of businesses, consumers, governments and speculators; changing demand for credit; the entry and exit of firms; the birth, learning, and death of citizens; changes in laws and government policies; imperfect information; generalized increasing returns to scale; random acts of impulse; weather and climate events; changes in disease patterns, and so on. The problem is not the use of mathematical modelling, but the kind of mathematical modelling used. Agent-based models (ABMs), objectoriented programming and greatly increased computer power however, are opening up a new frontier. Here a dynamic bargaining ABM is outlined as a basis for an alternative theory of value. A large but finite number of heterogeneous commodities and agents with differing degrees of market power are set in a spatial network. Returns to buyers and sellers are decided at each step in the value chain, and in each factor market, through the process of bargaining. Market power and its potential abuse against the poor and vulnerable are fundamental to how the bargaining dynamics play out. Ethics therefore lie at the very heart of economic analysis, the determination of prices and the distribution of wealth. The neoclassicals are right then that price is the enumeration of value at a particular time and place, but wrong to downplay the critical roles of bargaining, power and ethics in determining those same prices.

Are shocks to commodity prices persistent?

This paper considers the issue of whether shocks to ten commodity prices (gold, silver, platinum, copper, aluminum, iron ore, lead, nickel, tin, and zinc) are persistent or transitory. We use two recently developed unit root tests, namely the Narayan and Popp (NP) [14] test and the Liu and Narayan (LN) [26] test. Both tests allow for two structural breaks in the data series. Using the NP test, we are able to reject the unit root null for iron ore and tin. Using the GARCH-based unit root test of LN, we are able to reject the unit root null for five commodity prices (iron ore, nickel, zinc, lead, and tin). Our findings, thus, suggest that only shocks to gold, silver, platinum, aluminum, and copper are persistent.

Three essays on financial markets

This thesis examines stock price behaviour on the New York Stock Exchange.  The thesis develops modelsto show that firms on the stock exchange are different with respect to volatility and changes in calender dates.  Moreover, the thesis shows that firm returns are affected differently by oil prices.

Cross-cultural research issues in developing international tourist markets for cultural events

Cross-cultural issues and research are fundamental to much tourism marketing and especially to developing international tourist markets for cultural events and festivals. With increasing globalization aided by developments in travel and information technology, growing international tourist markets present potentially significant and increasing market opportunities for cultural events throughout the world. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, in order to attract tourist markets, events and festivals need an understanding of these markets and the relevant marketing theories, practices, and strategies. Understanding tourists’ motivation and behavior is essential to identifying attractive tourist market segments in the first instance and then to developing appropriate marketing strategies to attract these segments. Within this environment, the importance of cross-cultural issues and research to tourism marketing and the development of tourist markets are apparent, and yet cross-cultural tourism research to date has been limited. Cross-cultural tourism research in relation to cultural events is even more limited. Cross-cultural tourism marketing research also presents some unique challenges, numerous environmental and methodological problems, and associated costs. These numerous problems, challenges, and costs may in their own right prevent cross-cultural issues and problems from being investigated. Some of these problems can also make the results of some of the existing crosscultural research suspect. Such problems could well account for the limited amount of cross-cultural tourism marketing research that has been undertaken, even though the potential benefits from such research can be great. This article examines the use and application of cross-cultural tourism research by cultural events. It also outlines some of the unique challenges, issues, and problems that need to be addressed in future crosscultural tourism marketing research to improve its application, use, and findings, and ensure the benefits outweigh the costs.

Simulating crowd phenomena in African markets

Crowd simulation is an important feature in the computer graphics field. Typical implementations simulate battle scenes, emergency situations, safety issues or add content to virtual environments. The problem stated in this paper falls in the last category. We present a crowd simulation behavioural model which allows us to simulate identified phenomena in popular local African markets such as narrow street flows and crowd formation around street performances. We propose a three-tier architecture model enable to produce intentions, perform path planning and control movement. We demonstrate that this approach produces the desired behaviour associated with crowds in an African market, which includes navigation, flow formation and circle creation.

What drives stock markets over short horizons? Evidence from emerging markets

The goal of this paper is to examine the importance of permanent and transitory shocks in explaining variations in stock prices for Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea using a trend-cycle decomposition technique. This study is novel in that in measuring the impact of shocks we not only impose common trend restrictions but also common cycle restrictions. We later undertake a post-sample forecasting exercise to confirm the efficiency gains from imposing common cycle restrictions. We find that over short horizons, transitory shocks are the dominant source of variations in stock prices for South Korea, while permanent shocks explain the bulk of the variations in stock price of Singapore and Taiwan.