How the financial crisis sundered the dream of the autonomous subject

The article discusses the effect of the 2008 economic meltdown on self-reliance. Banks are noted to have honored credit default swaps and purchase mortgages as collateralized debt obligations (CDO) with the option of buy back at face value. Also discussed are the Wall Street Bailout, the Australian banking system and the overseas debt of Australia.

Volatility spillover between New Zealand stock market returns and exchange rate changes before and after the 1997 Asian financial crisis

Researchers in the last decade have been investigating the interdependence of stock returns and exchange rate changes within the same economy. Kanas (2000) and Yang and Doong (2004) find that for the G-7 countries, in general, the volatility of the stock market spills over to the exchange rate market but that volatility spillovers from the exchange rate market to the stock market are insignificant. Chen, Naylor, and Lu (2004) find that NZ individual firm returns are significantly exposed to exchange rate changes. This study complements their work by investigating the volatility spillover between the stock market and the foreign exchange market within the NZ economy.

Determinants of capital structure of A-REITS and the global financial crisis

This paper contributes to the capital structure literature by investigating the determinants of capital structure of Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts (A-REITs) over the period 2006-2009. By using a panel approach and a Global Financial Crisis (GFC) dummy variable, our analysis incorporates the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) shock which appears to have affected the market after December 2007. We find that A-REIT size, profitability, tangibility, operating risk and number of growth opportunities impact similarly to many previous studies of international entities upon the degree of leverage. We also find mixed support for prevailing capital structure theories of Pecking Order, Trade-off and Agency Theory, but find that Market Timing Theory can be rejected over our sample period. With specific focus after onset of the GFC, we find that the relationship between capital structure and our independent variables is somewhat distorted. Consequently, the postulations of theory also become distorted whereby changes to capital structure come about because of the primary goal to survive, rather than managerial opportunism.

Implied volatility smiles, option mispricing and net buying pressure : evidence around the global financial crisis

Using the recent global financial crisis as an exogenous setting, we examine the presence and source of implied volatility smile phenomena in Australian S&P ASX 200 index options. We find a pronounced implied volatility smile for index puts in both bull and bear markets and a smile for index calls in the bear but not bull market. Implied volatilities of out-of-the money puts tend to be upwards biased whilst those of calls tend to be downwards biased. We also find that the bias in implied volatilities yields excess returns based on unhedged and delta-neutral trading strategies, suggesting that implied volatilities are related to option mispricing. Net buying pressure from market participants appears to be a source of mispricing in the case of out-of-the-money index puts with excess demand particularly pronounced during the bull period before the global financial crisis unfolded.

Thai hedging practices post-Asian financial crisis

This paper provides survey evidence captured from a sample of 113 respondents to a 2008 questionnaire sent to 344 companies in Thailand. The study examines Thai hedging practices following the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. Thai companies, like their international counterparts, rely predominantly on matching and forward contracts to hedge transaction exposure. Thai companies, however, appear to be less rigorous when it comes to internal control and supervision of derivative activity. It is recommended that Thai companies improve their risk management practices by putting into place a documented hedging policy, which includes a requirement that senior staff be actively engaged in the risk management activities of the firm.

The effects of the late 2000s global financial crisis on Australia's construction demand

An accurate measurement of the impacts of external shocks on construction demand will enable construction industry policymakers and developers to make allowances for future occurrences and advance the construction industry in a sustainable manner. This paper aims to measurethe dynamic effects of the late 2000s global financial crisis on the level of demand in the Australian construction industry. The vector error correction (VEC) model with intervention indicators is employed to estimate the external impact from the crisis on a macro-level construction economic indicator, namely construction demand. The methodology comprises six main stages to produce appropriate VEC models that describe the characteristics of the underlying process. Research findings suggestthat overall residential and non-residential construction demand were affected significantly by the recent crisis and seasonality. Non-residentialconstruction demand was disrupted more than residential construction demand at the crisis onset. The residential constructionindustry is more reactive and is able to recover faster following the crisis in comparison with the non-residential industry. The VEC model with intervention indicators developed in this study can be used as an experiment for an advanced econometric method. This can be used to analyse the effects of special eventsand factors not only on construction but also on other industries.

Agency issues surrounding A-REITS and the global financial crisis

 This thesis examines the optimal balance of debt and equity undertaken by Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts, the incentive-driven pay structure utilized to compensate management, and the factors of A-REIT composition and performance that appeal to large, powerful shareholders who are able to influence market prices.

Did the late-2000s financial crisis influence construction labour productivity?

The late-2000s global financial crisis has wrought dramatic impacts on the construction industry. However, the issue of whether the crisis influenced the behaviours of the construction industry has not been addressed yet. This research presents an econometric approach to investigating the effects of the recent global financial crisis on construction labour productivity. By employing the error correction model and panel regression methods, the direct and indirect effects of the financial crisis on the changes in Australian construction labour productivity are explored at national and state levels. Neither the direct nor the indirect effects appear statistically significant. The results indicate that the direct effect of the financial crisis drives up construction labour productivity at the national level, while the indirect effect diminishes productivity. The effects of the financial crisis on the state construction labour productivity vary from state to state. The financial crisis influenced construction labour productivity directly and significantly in the northern and eastern regions, while the direct effects appear not significant in the other states and territories. The indirect effects of the financial crisis on productivity are statistically significant in three regions: the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. By comparison, the model with the financial effects fails to provide more accurate simulating results. As such, this research concludes that the influence of the late-2000s financial crisis on Australian national and state construction labour productivity is limited.

Time-varying herding behavior, global financial crisis, and the Chinese stock market

In this paper, we examine the evidence of herding behavior on the Chinese stock market. Our main findings are as follows. First, we find strong evidence of herding behavior on both the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. Second, we document evidence of asymmetric herding behavior with greater magnitude of herding behavior on up markets than on down markets. Third, our findings suggest that herding behavior is sector-specific and predominant in the industrial and properties sectors. Finally, we unravel strong evidence suggesting that herding behavior is time-varying and in some sectors time-varying herding behavior is more prevalent than in other sectors.