Broker Market Research Articles

Determinants of Market Outlets Choices among Smallholder Mango and Passion Fruit Farmers in Kenya

Aims: Mango and passion fruit farming is one of the lucrative enterprises in the areas where they are grown and marketed. However, there is need for stability in the market outlets choices made by farmers due to the negative influence of brokers and fear of postharvest loss. This study sought to identify the determinants that influence the choice of market outlet made by mango and passion fruit farmers in Machakos, Makueni, Embu, Uasin Gishu, and Trans Nzoia Counties, Kenya.
 Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used on a target population of 18750 smallholder mango and passion fruit households to get a sample size of 402 households through random cluster sampling. The study considered three market outlets: direct marketing, intermediate marketing, and collective action. A multinomial logit model was used to analyze the determinants of the choice of market outlets.
 Results: The descriptive findings revealed that most smallholder mango farmers (72.73%) and passion fruit farmers (91.67%) rely on brokers/intermediaries to market their produce. The multinomial model revealed that market distance, household size, age, and years of schooling among the independent variables led to 52.84% influence on the choice of market outlet. An increase in any of the determinants by a unit increased the likelihood of the farmers' use of broker market outlet as opposed to direct marketing or wholesaling. As farmers' years of schooling increased by one year, the propensity to trade with a broker increased by a factor of 0.027 (P-value=0.01), while the tendency to trade with exporters increased by 0.004 (P-value=0.1).
 Conclusion: There is lack of proper regulated market outlets for mango and passion fruit. The government must streamline mango and passion fruit markets to aid in dealing with brokers. Government needs also to improve roads connecting markets in mango growing areas.

The Impact of Churn on Client Value in Health Insurance, Evaluation Using a Random Forest Under Various Censoring Mechanisms

–In the insurance broker market, commissions received by brokers are closely related to so-called “customer value”: the longer a policyholder keeps their contract, the more profit there is for the company and therefore the broker. Hence, predicting the time at which a potential policyholder will surrender their contract is essential to optimize a commercial process and define a prospect scoring. In this article, we propose a weighted random forest model to address this problem. Our model is designed to compensate for the impact of random censoring. We investigate different types of assumptions on the censoring, studying both the cases where it is independent or not from the covariates. We compare our approach with other standard methods which apply in our setting, using simulated and real data analysis. We show that our approach is very competitive in terms of quadratic error in addressing the given problem. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

A game-based virtual machine pricing mechanism in federated clouds

In a federated cloud environment, diverse pricing schemes among different IaaS service providers (ISPs) form a complex economic landscape that nurtures the market of cloud brokers. Although pricing mechanisms have been proposed in the past few years, few of them address the issue of competitive and cooperative behaviours among different ISPs. In this paper, we employ the learning curve to model the operation cost of ISPs, and introduce a novel algorithm that determines the cooperative pricing mechanism among different ISPs. The cooperation decision algorithm uses the operation cost computed based on the learning curve model and price policies obtained from the competition part as parameters to calculate the final revenue when outsourcing or locally satisfying users' resource requests. Extensive experiments are conducted in a real-world federated cloud platform, and the experimental results are compared with three existing pricing mechanisms. Our experimental results show that the proposed pricing mechanism is effective to improve resource utilisation as well as reduce the profit loss caused by request rejection.

МОДЕЛЬ ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЯ СТРАХОВЫХ ПОСРЕДНИКОВ И СТРАХОВЫХ КОМПАНИЙ В ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИИ СТАБИЛЬНОГО РАЗВИТИЯ СТРАХОВОГО РЫНКА

The purpose of this paper is the investigation of the model of interaction between insurance intermediaries and insurance companies in the assurance of sustainable development of the insurance market. The methodology is based on the new studies and books. It is underlined the importance of potency and effectiveness of this model, its influence on the insurance market stability. It is analysed the European experience and specific of Ukrainian insurance market. The main ways for improving its model and ways of its practical realization are characterized. Results. The problems that exist in the broker market in general are connected with an ineffective state policy. In particular, we can say about the absence of many laws, acts, resolutions, which explain what a broker have to do in case of different problems with insurance companies, another brokers and clients. At the same time, the problem of distrust to national brokers exists. It provokes a decline of the demand for their services and so on. However, it is possible to solve these problems. Practical implications. For this, it is necessary to do some acts. The first one is to implement resolutions that regulate relationships between insurance brokers and insurance companies, clearly regulate the model of its interaction. This model affects the stability of the insurance market in general. The second is to find methods of solving problems of the increase in insurance culture of the population (for example, by the way of advertisement). The third one is to solve problems connected with the appearance of foreign brokers in the insurance market of Ukraine. Actually, the Ukrainian market of insurance brokers is not developed enough. That is why it needs big changes and reforms. Value/originality. Among alternatives of the strategic development of insurance, the method of quick liberalization and gradual development is distinguished. According to the liberal way, it is possible to transfer to the market mechanisms of functioning of insurance both in the inside and outside markets. The gradual development includes the state defence of national companies until they will be competitive.

The Impact of Broker Market Structure on Stock Liquidity

We investigate the extent to which the liquidity of listed stocks is affected by the market structure under which stockbrokers provide a combination of stock trading, research, and investment banking services. Six market structures of differing degrees of competitiveness are identified for brokers operating in the Australian equity market. We find that less competitive structures tend to associate with lower stock liquidity; and that shifts in broker market structure align with changes in liquidity over time. Further, broker market structures appear to interact with the provision of services by brokers, such that additional services improve liquidity to a greater extent under less competitive structures. Our research shows that the market structure for brokerage services acts as an additional determinant of the market liquidity of stocks.

Online Resource Scheduling Under Concave Pricing for Cloud Computing

With the booming cloud computing industry, computational resources are readily and elastically available to the customers. In order to attract customers with various demands, most Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud service providers offer several pricing strategies such as pay as you go, pay less per unit when you use more (so called volume discount), and pay even less when you reserve. The diverse pricing schemes among different IaaS service providers or even in the same provider form a complex economic landscape that nurtures the market of cloud brokers. By strategically scheduling multiple customers’ resource requests, a cloud broker can fully take advantage of the discounts offered by cloud service providers. In this paper, we focus on how a broker can help a group of customers to fully utilize the volume discount pricing strategy offered by cloud service providers through cost-efficient online resource scheduling. We present a randomized online stack-centric scheduling algorithm (ROSA) and theoretically prove the lower bound of its competitive ratio. Three special cases of the offline concave cost scheduling problem and the corresponding optimal algorithms are introduced. Our simulation shows that ROSA achieves a competitive ratio close to the theoretical lower bound under the special cases. Trace-driven simulation using Google cluster data demonstrates that ROSA is superior to the conventional online scheduling algorithms in terms of cost saving.

Equity issues and the impact of lead manager affiliation on broker market share and trading volume

This paper studies the trading volume and market share of brokers around seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) in the Australian equity market based on a unique broker ID dataset. We examine the drivers behind the behaviour of affiliated and unaffiliated brokers around SEOs. The findings contribute to the understanding of how broker affiliation impact SEO trading activity. Results show that SEO affiliation is positively related to broker trading volume and market share on both the announcement day and issuance day. However, there is no evidence suggesting that lead managers or co-manager generate additional trading volume compared to other co-underwriters. Broker reputation, market capitalization and relative SEO size of the offering firm are shown as the primary determinants influencing broker trading activity.

Asymmetric effects of sell-side analyst optimism and broker market share by clientele

This paper provides evidence for the first time on how different broker clienteles react to earnings forecast and stock recommendations. Greater trade volume is found to be associated with optimistic earnings forecasts while stock recommendations are stronger for analysts affiliated with retail brokerage firms than those affiliated with institutional brokerage firms. We also find that the market share of buy volume (that is, volume from buy orders) substantially rises on recommendation upgrades while the market share of sell volume rises on recommendation downgrades, and that this effect is stronger for retail clientele.

Análise de necessidades com base em gênero para orientar a produção de material didático em espanhol: gêneros profissionais do ramo imobiliário

Considerando que a análise de necessidades é fundamental para estruturar o ensino de línguas para fins específicos e para identificar os conteúdos a serem ensinados (DUDLEY-EVANS; ST. JOHN, 1998; RAMOS et al., 2004), este artigo objetiva trazer algumas reflexões teórico-metodológicas a respeito de uma análise de necessidades com base em gêneros de texto. Para isso, utilizamos a proposta de análise do sistema de atividades de Bazerman (2005). O resultado de tal análise permitiu identificar os conjuntos de gênero que caracterizam o contexto laboral dos profissionais do ramo imobiliário e propiciou subsídios para direcionar uma futura elaboração de material didático em torno a gêneros, já que os dados revelaram quais gêneros de texto precisam ser utilizados em espanhol pelos corretores e em quais situações comunicativas isso ocorre dentro do sistema de atividade.

Commendable Developments in Deceased Organ Donation and Transplantation in Iran

he Regional Perspective Section of Transplantationwishes to focus the attention of the international com-munity on the great strides in organ donation and trans-plantation that are being achieved in Iran.Multiple allografts are now being recovered from morethan 250 deceased donors annually in Tehran. The ShahidBeheshti University of Medical Science Organ ProcurementUnit (OPU) has transferred 281 brain-dead potential organdonors forevaluation (withinTehran and from othercities ofIran) to enable more than 800 organs and 100 tissues to betransplantedsince2004(1).TheShahidBeheshtiUniversityofMedicalScienceOPUisachievinganannualrateof30donorspmp (servicing a population of 10 million within Tehran)with a familyconsentfordonationof93%, asreported by theDirector of the OPU Dr. Katayoun Najafizadeh.The liver transplant center in Shiraz, under the di-rection of Dr. S.A. Malek-Hosseini, is performing more than400 deceased-donor liver transplants each year.The scientific and medical contributions of these de-velopments in Iran are profound. For example, such a ro-bust program of deceased-organ donation enabled the firsthand transplant to be performed from a 24-year-old brain-dead donor by the 15 Khordad Plastic Surgery Team inTehran in February 2013 (2). The Shiraz liver transplantteam has recently reported the association of specific cyto-kines interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-> in thebrain-dead donor with postoperative complications (allo-graft dysfunction) inliver transplant recipients (3). The lungtransplantation program at Masih Daneshvari Hospital iswell established, again under the leadership of pulmonolo-gist Dr. Najafizadeh.An expanded program of deceased donation in Iranpresents an opportunity for the expression of a communitysolidarityVto continue to increase the number of organdonors. The World Health Organization has urged memberstates to achieve a self-sufficiency in organ donation andtransplantation (4). The other Tehran organ procurementorganization, the Iranian Tissue Bank, has recently reporteda reduction in the rate of family refusal from 30.4% to 20%,associated with a more sophisticated donation coordinatorteam (5).Iran has a long-standing history of deceased-donorkidney transplantation but limited until now. The first kid-ney transplant from a cadaveric donor was performed inShiraz in 1968. However, the huge expansion of dialysis andthe cost of patients leaving Iran for a foreign destinationpropelled the widely known living unrelated program. Morerecently, Iranian colleagues have made a candid assessmentthat the national living unrelated program has ethical issuesthat are unacceptable to sustain. In a report from theKhuzestan Province in Southwestern Iran that assessed themotivations of the unrelated kidneydonors, the exploitationof young poor individuals for their kidneys was evident (6).Two hundred ten living kidney vendors were evaluated. Thestudy cohort consisted of approximately 80% men (167);67% (141) of the vendors were less than high school grad-uates, and 20 (9.5%) were illiterate. Not surprisingly, fi-nancial issues were the main motivation for kidney sales inthis regionofIran, butit wasimportantly noted thatmost ofthe vendors were very young and uneducated.Recently, Dr. Mahdavi-Mazdeh has written, again in amost candid manner, that the unrelated program of Iran has‘‘given rise to a black market of brokers and other forms oforgan commercialism only accessible to those with sufficientfinancial resources’’ (7). This article exposes the confronta-tional dynamic between the vendor and the recipient. De-spite an appropriation of compensation to the vendor bygovernment and charity foundations, the initial provision offunds is not the final transaction. The vendor wants more

The Iranian model of living renal transplantation

Organ shortage for transplantation remains a worldwide serious problem for kidney patients with end-stage renal failure, and several countries have tried different models to address this issue. Iran has 20 years of experience with one such model that involves the active role of the government and charity foundations. Patients with a desperate demand for a kidney have given rise to a black market of brokers and other forms of organ commercialism only accessible to those with sufficient financial resources. The current Iranian model has enabled most of the Iranian kidney transplant candidates, irrespective of socioeconomic class, to have access to kidney transplantation. The Iranian government has committed a large budget through funding hospital and staff at the Ministry of Health and Medical Education by supporting the brain death donation (BDD) program or redirecting part of the budget of living unrelated renal donation (LURD) to the BDD program. It has been shown that it did not prevent the development and progression of a BDD program. However, the LURD program is characterized by several controversial procedures (e.g., confrontation of donor and recipient at the end of the evaluation procedure along with some financial interactions) that should be ethically reviewed. Operational weaknesses such as the lack of a registration system and long-term follow-up of the donors are identified as the 'Achilles heel of the model'.

Asymmetric Effects of Sell-Side Analyst Optimism and Broker Market Share by Clientele

Asymmetric Effects of Sell-Side Analyst Optimism and Broker Market Share by Clientele

Asymmetric Effects of Sell-Side Analyst Optimism and Broker Market Share by Clientele

Using broker level data we demonstrate that relatively optimistic and relatively pessimistic analyst earnings forecasts both generate trade for their brokerage firms. This relationship is found to be asymmetric as the influence of relatively optimistic analyst forecasts on own broker market share is larger than the influence of relatively pessimistic analyst forecasts. Furthermore, upgrades and downgrades in recommendations also generate significantly higher broker market share, suggesting that sell-side institutions are rewarded for providing new information to the market. This study also provides evidence for the first time on how different broker clienteles react to earnings forecast and stock recommendations. Greater trade volume is found to be associated with optimistic earnings forecasts and stock recommendations are stronger for analysts affiliated with retail brokerage firms than those affiliated with institutional brokerage firms.

A case study: How to rationalise concert entertainment ticket pricing

This paper demonstrates how we can rationalise ticket pricing to capture the surpluses, commonly found in ticket markets, for the artist. In the past two months, ascertain-ment collected data and analysed ticket prices for Eric Clapton's sold out concert in Oklahoma City, OK. Clapton's tickets were sold at a face value of $65 and $85 through Ticketmaster. Yet the secondary market of ticket brokers found demand could yield as much as $700 per ticket. We determined that over $250,000 in surplus revenue was not captured by Clapton. The primary data we collected have generated statistical links between prices and demand for tickets. Specifically, we have found that tickets must be sold for a wider array of prices, and we have determined an exponentially priced schematic to estimate an optimal set of prices to reduce the differential between primary and secondary ticket prices, capturing more revenue for concert artists.

The Impact of Sell-Side Analyst Research Coverage on an Affiliated Broker's Market Share of Trading Volume

Using NASDAQ reported individual stock level trading volume, we find that analyst research coverage on a stock increases an affiliated broker's market share of trading volume in that stock by 0.8 percent, on average, which corresponds to an additional annual volume of about one million shares in an average stock. Optimistic recommendations increase market share by an additional 0.4 percent, on average, which suggests that analysts have an incentive to issue upwardly biased recommendations. However, affiliated brokers receive more trading volume when recommendations are provided by analysts with better reputations and when analysts report new information to the market via coverage upgrades and downgrades. Furthermore, as the length of time during which an analyst maintains the same recommendation on a stock increases, the impact of the analyst's research coverage on the affiliated broker's market share of volume in the stock declines. The latter findings indicate that sell-side institutions are rewarded for high quality research services and for providing new information to the market.

The Effect of Transaction Size on Off-the-Run Treasury Prices

AbstractThis paper examines intra-day trading data from the inter-dealer broker market for U.S. Treasury securities and measures the degree of price pressure in the off-the-run Treasury market. As is well known, securities that would appear to be very close substitutes, i.e., on-the-run and off-the-run Treasury bonds, behave as if there is some degree of market segmentation. This is the first systematic study of the off-the-run Treasury note and bond market focused entirely on a price pressure effect using intra-day data. The paper analyzes price pressure through matched pairs of securities that differ only in liquidity.

Information-Based Trading in the Treasury Note Interdealer Broker Market

Despite its pervasive presence in world financial markets, there are few studies of interdealer broker markets. This paper examines the trading behavior of primary dealers in the 5-year Treasury note interdealer broker market. The analysis examines trading patterns, announcement effects, and volatility–volume relations. The results show that trading frequency is consistent with activity motivated by public information or dealer's private knowledge of inventory or order flow information. Additionally, although the interdealer broker market is an anonymous electronic compilation and matching system without designated market makers, trade size does not appear to have any information content. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C22, G14.

The Effect of Transaction Size on Off-the-Run Treasury Prices

This paper examines intra-day trading data from the inter-dealer broker market for U.S. Treasury securities and finds that there is a price pressure effect in the off-the-run Treasury market. As is well known, securities that would appear to be very close substitutes, i.e., on-the-run and off-the-run Treasury bonds, behave as if there is some degree of market segmentation. This is the first systematic study of the off-the-run Treasury note and bond market to investigate a price pressure effect using intra-day data. It analyzes price pressure through matched pairs of securities that differ only in liquidity. JEL Classification: G12; G14