1,721,226 research outputs found

    How to control stock markets

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    This paper provides a different approach to the analysis of imperfect stock markets. The model we are concerned with is described by the interaction of three institutional classes of agents (the specialist trader, the professional trader and the non-professional trader), sharing different information. The dynamical discrete-time system obtained can be changed into a second-order linear difference equation forced by the fundamental value of the specialist trader. Using typical tools of control theory, we study the behaviour of the professional trader’s fundamental value influenced by the specialist’s one. © 1994 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

    Designing portfolios of financial products via integrated simulation and optimization models

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    We analyze the problem of debt issuance through the sale of innovative financial products. The problem is broken down to questions of designing the financial products, specifying the debt structure with the amount issued in each product, and determining an optimal level of financial leverage. We formulate a hierarchical optimization model to integrate these three issues and provide constructive answers. Input data for the models are obtained from Monte Carlo simulation procedures that generate scenarios of holding period returns of the designed products. The hierarchical optimization model is specialized for the problem of issuing a portfolio of callable bonds to fund mortgage assets. The upper level optimization program is multimodal, and a tabu search procedure is developed for its solution. Empirical results illustrate the efficacy of the developed models in designing the appropriate structure of the callable bonds and making optimal allocations of equity and debt among the designed products. Computational results with the implementation of tabu search-on both serial and parallel computers-are also presented

    Integrated simulation and optimization models for tracking international fixed income indices

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    Portfolio managers in the international fixed income markets must address jointly the interest rate risk in each market and the exchange rate volatility across markets. This paper develops integrated simulation and optimization models that address these issues in a common framework. Monte Carlo simulation procedures generate jointly scenarios of interest and exchange rates and, thereby, scenarios of holding period returns of the available securities. The portfolio manager's risk tolerance is incorporated either through a utility function or a (modified) mean absolute deviation function. The optimization models prescribe asset allocation weights among the different markets and also resolve bond-picking decisions. Therefore several interrelated decisions are cast in a common framework. Two models - an expected utility maximization and a mean absolute deviation minimization - are implemented and tested empirically in tracking a composite index of the international bond markets. Backtesting over the period January 1997 to July 1998 illustrate the efficacy of the optimization models in dealing with uncertainty and tracking effectively the volatile index. Of particular interest is the empirical demostration that the integrative models generate portfolios that dominate the portfolios obtained using classical disintegrated approaches

    A model for designing callable bonds and its solution using tabu search

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    We formulate the problem of designing callable bonds as a non-linear, global, optimization problem. The data of the model are obtained from simulations of holding-period returns of a given bond design, which are used to compute a certainty equivalent return, viz., some target assets. The design specifications of the callable bond are then adjusted so that the certainty equivalent return is maximized. The resulting problem is multi-modal, and a tabu search procedure, implemented on a distributed network of workstations, is used to optimize the bond design. The model is compared with the classical portfolio immunization model, and the tabu search solution technique is compared with simulated annealing for solving the global optimization program. It is shown that the global optimization model yields higher returns than portfolio immunization. It is also shown that tabu search is computationally more efficient than simulated annealing in solving the model, and it produces better solutions

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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