Compared with its ASEAN neighbors, Vietnam appears to have weathered the Asian crisis quite well. Official statistics indicate a GDP growth rate of 6.6 per cent for the first half of 1998; export growth remains positive, and the dong has depreciated by only 20 per cent against the USD. But the relatively favorable picture has more to do with controls than with sound economic fundamentals. In th...

The odds of a current syndicate relationship between two lenders depend upon their previous alliances. The odds are significantly higher [lower] and strongest for a current lead–participant relationship with a continuation [reversal] of their previous roles. To illustrate, the odds are nearly four times higher when two lenders have allied in the previous 5 years. The strength of lead–participan...

This paper investigates how financial, trade, institutional and political liberalization policies have affected financial efficiency in Africa. It uses updated data to appraise second generation reforms in order to gather fresh evidence and derive more updated policy implications. The ‘freedom to trade’ and ‘economic freedom’ indices are also employed. The following findings are established. (1...

In this paper I analyze whether restrictions to capital mobility reduce countries’ vulnerability to major external shocks. More specifically, I ask if countries that restrict the free flow of international capital have a lower probability of experiencing a sudden stop and being subject to contagion than countries that have a freer degree of capital mobility. I use three new indexes on the degre...

Increased concern for the environment has increased the number of investment opportunities in mutual funds specialized in promoting responsible environmental attitudes. This paper examines the performance and risk sensitivities of US green mutual funds vis-à-vis their conventional peers. We also analyze and compare this performance relative to other Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) mutual f...

We explore some generalizations of fullerenes Fv (simple polyhedra with v vertices and only 5and -gonal faces) seen as (d−1)dimensional simple manifolds (preferably, spherical or polytopal) with only 5and 6-gonal 2-faces. First, finite and planar (infinite) 3-fullerenes are described. Three infinite families of spherical 4fullerenes are presented in Sections 4-6. The Construction A gives 4-poly...

This paper analyses data for the aggregate daily trading of all foreign investors in six Asian emerging equity markets and provides two new findings. First, foreigners’ flows into several markets show positive-feedback trading with respect to global, as well as domestic, equity returns. In particular, foreigners tend to be buyers in these markets on the day after rises in these markets or in US...

This paper studies the dynamic relationship between returns in the Russian stock market and global equity markets in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis. We apply dynamic the Russian and global equity returns after the crisis outbreak. The Russian stock market clearly decoupled from both de veloped and emerging markets, as shown by a 30–50% decline in returns correlation. In view of dram...

We investigate how the elimination of intra-European exchange risk may affect international financial markets using a conditional version of the International CAPM. We estimate the EMU and non-EMU components of aggregate currency risk and document significant exposures to both. The premium for EMU risk is positive and associated with exposure to the French, Italian and Spanish currencies. The p...

Forward exchange rate unbiasedness is rejected in tests from the current floating exchange rate era. This paper surveys advances in this area since the publication of Hodrick's (1987) survey. It documents that the change in the future exchange rate is generally negatively related to the forward discount. Properties of the expected forward forecast error are reviewed. Issues such as the relation...