Non-standard Measures Research Articles

Understanding Independence: Board of Directors and CSR.

On August Business Roundtable (2019), the Business Roundtable redefined the purpose and social responsibility of the corporation. Yet, this statement must be followed by substantial changes in the business models of corporations for it to avoid becoming empty rhetoric. We believe that the figure of the independent director may be one of the catalysts needed for this change of paradigm for corporations. In spite of the positive correlation between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and board independence, the development of the independence of boards during the last decade has not lead to the expected CSR results. Academics and regulators point to a weak definition and the non-standardized measurement of both independence and board independence (BI) as one possible explanation, and agree that a broader definition is needed. This paper aims to contribute to this debate. We develop a second-generation definition of independence based on a positive approximation to the concept by integrating an Aristotelian perspective of virtue ethics with the best practices of corporate governance. Thus, we define independence as a virtue guided by practical wisdom, that implies autonomy and autarky and which enables a person to act with integrity, fairness and truthfulness. In the context of corporate governance, independence is associated with an honest disposition to serve. Our proposal has political implications for supervisors that make decisions relating to the suitability of board members.

О нестандартных мерах поддержки центральных банков в кризисные периоды

Pandemic of COVID-19 caused turmoil in the financial markets and crisis developments in economic in 2020. Central banks took several steps to stabilize the situation. These steps in significant scale included nonstandard measures for central banks (crediting nonbanking sector). The size of such measures was larger than during the global financial crisis 2008–2009. Now such steps were taken in a larger number of countries. The widening of central banks functions gave rise to discussions and were not implemented quite smoothly. In some countries legislative changes were required. The article observes special features of central banks’ measures during the current crisis.

How have the European central bank\u2019s monetary policies been affecting financial markets in CEE-3 countries?

This paper aims to contribute to the growing pool of literature on the spillover effects of the European Central Bank’s (un)conventional monetary policies on the exchange rate, sovereign bond and equity markets of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (CEE-3 countries), which are collectively known as the CEE-3 countries. The study is conducted using daily data from January 2010 to September 2019. Our results indicate that the financial markets of the CEE-3 countries have been strongly influenced by the nonstandard measures enacted by the European Central Bank, particularly those involving purchases of euro-area sovereign debt. The strongest spillover effects were identified for the Securities Markets Program, while the effects from the Outright Monetary Transactions program turned out to be the most durable. At the same time, the financial markets of the CEE-3 countries were found to have been largely unaffected by interest rate changes enacted by the European Central Bank.

Safety Measures of Journalists during Corona Pandemic in Bangladesh

Among other frontline fighters, journalists have been the first responders to the pandemic of the "COVID-19" virus. Because of following professional responsibilities, they have become highly vulnerable to get exposed to the risk. As a result, providing safety measures to them has received the highest priority at this time. It has been urged by national and international organizations and associations to media employers to provide safety measures to their respective journalists. This study aims to examine the management of media employers of Bangladesh in providing safety measures to journalists. The study interviews 48 journalists of 12 newspapers and 12 television channels, selecting one reporter and one copy editor from each media. The results reveal that the majority of journalists received inadequate, non-standard, irregular, imbalanced, and improper safety measures while the rest got nothing because of the employer’s total negligence and financial crisis. The study also shows that the media employers failed to distribute safety measures between reporters and copy editors equally. Based on the findings, the study concludes by calling for a proper safety plan to protect journalists from health risks.

Effect of Glass Bead Refractive Index on Pavement Marking Retroreflectivity Considering Passenger Vehicle and Airplane Geometries

Pavement marking retroreflectivity depends on several factors including but not limited to the type of retroreflective optics, binder, installation quality, marking condition, and measurement type/geometry. Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) evaluated the retroreflectivity of 19 pavement marking panels, prepared with different types of glass bead at standard 30-m and non-standard measurement geometries. The non-standard geometries represented typical commercial airplane configurations. The primary purpose of the research was to evaluate the effects of the glass bead refractive index (RI) (1.5 versus 1.9) and the measurement geometry on pavement marking retroreflectivity. Results showed a decrease in retroreflectivity with an increase in observation and entrance angles for both 1.5 and 1.9 RI. The study showed higher retroreflectivity levels for high RI beads at all the geometries evaluated. The result showed that 1.9 RI beads exhibit an average of 171% (862 mcd/m2/lx) higher retroreflectivity at standard 30-m car geometry as well as 102% (193 mcd/m2/lx) higher retroreflectivity at airplane geometry compared with 1.5 RI beads. The study found that an increase in bead RI had a larger effect on retroreflectivity than did an increase in bead size. The effect of the measurement geometry on the retroreflectivity level of the markings highlights a limitation of using the 30-m car geometry to represent the visibility of markings from a pilot’s perspective. Additional work should be conducted to better assess the visibility of markings from various vehicle platforms and how to best represent the visibility through retroreflectivity measurement.

Sequential particle filter estimation of a time-dependent heat transfer coefficient in a multidimensional nonlinear inverse heat conduction problem

In the applied mathematical modelling of heat transfer systems, the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) is one of the most important parameters. This paper proposes a combination of the Method of Fundamental Solutions (MFS) with particle filter Sequential Importance Resampling (PF-SIR) to estimate the time-dependent HTC in two-dimensional transient inverse heat conduction problems from non-standard boundary integral measurements. These measurements ensure the unique solvability of the boundary coefficient identification problem. Numerical results show high performance on several test cases with both linear and nonlinear Robin boundary conditions, supporting the synergy between the MFS and simulation-based particle filter sequential analysis methods.

Data mining for sex estimation based on cranial measurements

The aim of the present study is to develop effective and understandable classification models for sex estimation and to identify the most dimorphic linear measurements in adult crania by means of data mining techniques. Furthermore, machine learning models and models developed through logistic regression analysis are compared in terms of performance. Computed tomography scans of 393 adult individuals were used in the study. A landmark-based approach was applied to collect the metric data. The three-dimensional coordinates of 47 landmarks were acquired and used for calculation of linear measurements. Two datasets of cranial measurements were assembled, including 37standard measurements and 1081 interlandmark distances, respectively. Three data mining algorithms were applied: the rule induction algorithms JRIP and Ridor, and the decision tree algorithm J48. Two advanced attribute selection methods (Weka BestFirst and Weka GeneticSearch) were also used. The best accuracy result (91.9 %) was achieved by a set of rules learnt by the JRIP algorithm from the dataset constructed by application of the GeneticSearch selection algorithm to the dataset of standard cranial measurements. The set consisted of five rules including seven cranial measurements. Its accuracy was even better than the classification rates achieved by the logistic regression models. Concerning the second dataset of nonstandard measurements, the best accuracy (88.3 %) was obtained by using classification models learnt by two algorithms – JRIP with a dataset preprocessed by the BestFirst selection algorithm and Ridor with preprocessing by the GeneticSearch selection algorithm. Our experiments show that for the two datasets mentioned above the rule-based models contain smaller sets of rules with shorter lists of measurements and achieve better classification accuracy results in comparison with decision tree-based models.

Balance Sheet Policies in a Large Currency Union: A Primer on ECB Non-Standard Measures since 2014

Durant la crise financière, la BCE a été amenée à élargir le champ de ses instruments de politique monétaire, prenant des mesures non-conventionnelles dont le but premier était de répondre au processus de fragmentation financière entre les différentes juri-dictions de la zone euro et de restaurer un degré approprié d’assouplissement des conditions monétaires. La propagation de ces mesures au sein de l’union monétaire dépend largement de la structure du système financier des différentes régions. Cet article explore justement les canaux de transmission de certaines mesures non-conventionnelles de la BCE, tout en tenant de l’hétérogénéité au sein de la zone euro et en utilisant un modèle DSGE global avec spécification granulaire et réaliste du secteur financier. L’analyse est basée sur le modèle multi-pays à 6 régions de Darracq Pariès et al. [2019] et se concentre notamment sur l’étude d’impact macroéconomique des achats de titres de la BCE depuis 2014. Le modèle peut rendre compte à la fois du canal du crédit des politiques non-conventionnelles mais aussi de leur transmission via l’environnement international et the taux de change. Les résultats de simulations indiquent une transmission domestique significative des achats de titres par la banque centrale via le canal de crédit. L’impact macroéconomique s’avère tout de même hétérogène entre les États membre de la zone euro. L’introduction de frictions sur les choix de portefeuille d’actifs reste-du-monde modifie la transmission des politiques d’achats d’actifs par la banque centrale : cela implique une plus forte dépréciation de l’euro, renforçant les effets expansionnistes des mesures et atténuant les différences de transmission entre pays.

Big Five personality facets explaining variance in anxiety and depressive symptoms in a community sample

Background: Personality traits are risk and protective factors in affective disorders. However, few studies have investigated the role of narrow personality facets, with existing research yielding contradictory results. Previous research has mostly focused on simple correlations. Several studies have performed separate multiple regressions within each trait, and have used non-standard measures of personality, making it difficult to determine how individual facets make unique contributions.Method: This study performed secondary analysis of the NewMood data set (collected 2004–2009), comprising 264 participants from Greater Manchester. Participants provided self-reports of all NEO-PI-R personality facets, and semi-structured questionnaires of clinical depression and anxiety. All personality facets were entered into multiple regressions to explain variance in depression and anxiety.Results: Variance in both anxiety and depression were explained by a small number of personality facets, namely facet depression (referring to demotivation), facets positive emotion and assertiveness in extroversion, and facet competence in conscientiousness.Limitations: This study relies on cross-sectional data and cannot determine causation. This study uses a mostly female sample, and the results were not stratified by sex due to the small sample.Conclusion: Previous studies suggest that broad trait neuroticism positively associates with affective disorders; this study adds that the effect of neuroticism is limited to facet depression (related to demotivation). Contrary to previous studies, no facet of agreeableness or openness explained variance in affective disorders, and facet assertiveness positively associated with affective disorder scores. These findings may help to improve treatment matching and explain the mechanisms through which affective disorders develop.

The Conceptual and Methodological Mayhem of "Screen Time".

Debates concerning the impacts of screen time are widespread. Existing research presents mixed findings, and lacks longitudinal evidence for any causal or long-term effects. We present a critical account of the current shortcomings of the screen time literature. These include poor conceptualisation, the use of non-standardised measures that are predominantly self-report, and issues with measuring screen time over time and context. Based on these issues, we make a series of recommendations as a basis for furthering academic and public debate. These include drawing on a user-focused approach in order to seek the various affordances gained from “screen use”. Within this, we can better understand the way in which these vary across time and context, and make distinction between objective measures of “screen time” compared to those more subjective experiences of uses or affordances, and the differential impacts these may bring.

On the credit and exchange rate channels of central bank asset purchases in a monetary union

Throughout the euro area crisis, financial fragmentation across jurisdictions became a prime concern for the single monetary policy. The ECB broadened the scope of its instruments and enacted a series of non-standard measures to engineer an appropriate degree of policy accommodation. The transmission of these measures through the currency union remained highly dependent on the financial structure and conditions prevailing in various regions. This paper explores the country-specific macroeconomic transmission of selected non-standard measures from the ECB using a global DSGE model with a rich financial sector: we extend the six-region multi-country model of Darracq Pariès et al. (2016), introducing credit and exchange rate channels for central bank asset purchases. The portfolio rebalancing frictions are calibrated to match the sovereign yield and exchange rate responses after ECB's Asset Purchase Programme (APP) first announcement. The domestic transmission of the APP through the credit intermediation chain is significant and quite heterogenous across the largest euro area countries. The introduction of global portfolio frictions on euro area government bond holdings by international investors opens up for a larger depreciation of the euro. The interaction between international and domestic channels affect the magnitude and the cross-country distribution of the APP impact.

Reply to 'The Reg SHO Reanalysis Project: Reconsidering Fang, Huang and Karpoff (2016) on Reg SHO and Earnings Management' by Black et al. (2019)

In a 2016 paper (Fang, Huang, and Karpoff, 2016), we report that firms exposed to an increase in the prospect of short selling during the Reg SHO pilot program have lower discretionary accruals during the pilot period. Black, Desai, Litvak, Yoo, and Yu (2019, hereafter, BDLYY) argue that this result is not replicable. We show that BDLYY’s claim is incorrect. The accruals result previously was replicated in papers by Massa, Zhang, and Zhang (2015) and Heath, Ringgenberg, Samadi, and Werner (2019), and is easily replicable using data and code that we have shared widely since 2014 – including with the BDLYY team in 2015 – and that we recently posted publicly. The accruals result also is robust to a wide range of specification changes, including those implied by the BDLYY paper, which include: various measures of performance-matched discretionary accruals and total accruals; using our original 2012 Compustat data or currently available 2019 Compustat data; including both firm and year fixed effects; including or excluding other covariates in the difference-in-differences (DiD) tests; and using unbalanced rather than balanced panels. We conjecture that BDLYY’s results are inconsistent with prior results because they rely partly on non-standard accruals measures and/or use samples that differ from those used by Fang et al. (2016), Massa et al. (2015), and Heath et al. (2019). We conclude by discussing two theoretical concerns. First, we reiterate that an observed increase in short selling during the Reg SHO period is neither necessary nor sufficient to establish that the prospect of short selling has a disciplinary effect on earnings management, as managers’ endogenous adjustments affect short sellers’ opportunities and observed short selling. Second, we discuss a concern that the Reg SHO change appears to be too small to explain a wide range of firm outcomes, as recent empirical findings suggest.

A Cointegration Model of Money and Wealth

Extending the data set used in Beyer (2009) to 2017, we estimate I(1) and I(2) money demand models for euro area M3. After including two broken trends and a few dummies to account for shifts in the variables following the global financial crisis and the ECB's non-standard monetary policy measures, we find that the money demand and the real wealth relations identified in Beyer (2009) have remained remarkably stable throughout the extended sample period. Testing for price homogeneity in the I(2) model we find that the nominal-to-real transformation is not rejected for the money relation whereas the wealth relation cannot be expressed in real terms.

Economic Significance in Corporate Finance

Reporting the economic significance of findings in empirical corporate finance has become increasingly common, but a review of the literature from 2000 to 2018 reveals problems with standard practice that make it difficult to judge the importance of reported results. Common problems include making unsubstantiated absolute claims of economic significance, using nonstandardized and unreliable measures of significance, and failing to report benchmarks for evaluating significance. To help address these problems, I define standardized measures of economic significance, show which measures are reliable, and provide benchmarks for economic significance based on established findings.

Интерпретация частотных характеристик силовых трансформаторов с применением матрицы проводимостей обмоток

Frequency response analysis (FRA) is widely used to assess the mechanical and electrical conditions of the power transformer and shunt reactor windings. The requirements for the FRA and for frequency response measurement equipment have been standardized in the IEC 60076-18 standard. However, there still remain many questions concerned with interpreting the frequency response measurement results. As is well known, electrical faults and serious mechanical damages of certain transformer windings entail significant changes in the winding frequency responses. In the general case, the measured transformer winding is coupled with the other windings, a circumstance that has an effect on the frequency responses obtained for an individual winding and adds difficulty to assessing the condition of the transformer windings. It is shown—based on representing the transformer as a multiterminal circuit with the matrix of winding admittances—that the frequency responses measured according to the standard schemes are coupled with it. It is shown, taking as an example the transformer with a delta-connected winding, that the mutual influence of windings can lead in practice to an incorrectly assessed condition of individual winding phases. Matters concerned with the use of non-standard measurement schemes, including those for measuring the winding admittance matrix entries, are considered with the aim to obtain additional diagnostic information and interpreting the frequency response measurement results.

Odgovor centralnih banka na pandemiju KOVID-19

During the past few months, the world has been battling an unexpected and invisible threat. It has challenged all aspects of life in dealing with economic, humanitarian, and social consequences. At the moment, the economic impacts of the corona crisis are still a puzzle, but the fact is that the largest crisis in the recent history caused by a pandemic will lead to a global recession. In times of crisis, a policy-mix strategy is necessary and implies the inclusion of respective Central Banks in providing adequate measures of monetary policy for economic and financial recovery. The aim of this paper is to identify and analyse measures taken by respective Central Banks in order to mitigate the damage caused by the virus crisis and help national economies in recovery. Reactivation of non-standard measures applied in the previous financial crisis shows that the standard instruments and targets of such institutions are insufficient in emergency circumstance. The comparative analysis conducted will show how Central Banks of the largest economies and the region responded to the corona virus challenge, with particular reference to the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results show that Central Banks opted for unconventional monetary policy measures reflected in quantitative easing, zero interest rates, and swap lines in order to alleviate the negative effects of the emerging crisis. Exceptional measures will be needed to ensure recovery in response to the coronavirus and the rapid deterioration of the global economy. The specificity of the monetary arrangement in Bosnia and Herzegovina has once again proved to be a constraint in the implementation of economic policy measures in extraordinary circumstances.

Kredyty dla gospodarstw domowych strefy euro w okresie restrykcyjnej polityki kredytowej banków i niestandardowych działań Eurosystemu

<p><strong>Uzasadnienie teoretyczne:</strong> W artykule zostal opisany problem zróżnicowania krajów strefy euro pod względem kredytowania gospodarstw domowych przez banki w warunkach restrykcyjnej polityki kredytowej i podejmowania przez Eurosystem niestandardowych działań na rzecz jej liberalizacji. Ograniczona dostępność kredytów dla sektora niefinansowego oraz jej negatywne skutki gospodarcze były pokłosiem globalnego kryzysu finansowego.</p><p><strong>Cel artykułu:</strong> Analiza kształtowania się kredytów dla gospodarstw domowych w krajach strefy euro w okresie od sierpnia 2007 r. do grudnia 2018 r. Za ważną uznano ocenę ich zmienności w czasie oraz przestrzennego zróżnicowania w dwóch podokresach – kryzysu finansowego z utrzymującą się po nim destabilizacją rynku finansowego oraz niestandardowych rozwiązań EBC, mających na celu ożywienie działalności kredytowej banków.</p><p><strong>Metody badawcze:</strong> W badaniu wykorzystano dane liczbowe odnoszące się do należności sektorów instytucji kredytowych oraz zadłużenia sektorów gospodarstw domowych z tytułu kredytów w poszczególnych krajach strefy euro. Charakterystykę lokalnych uwarunkowań w zakresie badanych kredytów przeprowadzono na podstawie wybranych statystyk opisowych, a do identyfikacji ich podobieństwa zastosowano metodę taksonomiczną.</p><strong>Główne wnioski:</strong> Wyniki badania wykazały istotną heterogeniczność krajów strefy euro pod względem cech rynku kredytów dla gospodarstw domowych w obu okresach badania. Analiza zachodzących na nim zmian pozwoliła jednak stwierdzić zgodność ich kierunku w większości państw członkowskich.

How Repayments Manipulate Our Perceptions about Loan Dynamics after a Boom

AbstractWe propose a method to decompose net lending flows into loan origination and repayments. We show that a boom in loan origination is transmitted to repayments with a very long lag, depressing the growth rate of the stock for many periods. In the euro area, repayments of the mortgage loans granted in the boom preceding the financial crisis have been dragging down net loan growth in recent years. This concealed an increasing dynamism in loan origination, especially during the last wave of ECB’s non-standard measures. Using loan origination instead of net loans has important implications for understanding macroeconomic developments. For instance, the robust developments in loan origination in recent times explain the strengthening in housing markets better than net loans. Moreover, credit supply restrictions during the crisis are estimated to be smaller. Overall, we show that analyses of credit dynamics benefit from putting the focus on loan origination instead of net loans, especially after large booms.

Identifying predictors of probable posttraumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents with earthquake exposure: A longitudinal study using a machine learning approach

BackgroundEvidence has identified risk factors associated with individuals with trauma exposure who develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). How to combine risk factors to predict probable PTSD in young survivors using machine learning is limited. The study aimed to integrated multiple measures at 2 weeks after the earthquake using machine learning for the prediction of probable PTSD at 3 months after earthquake. MethodsA total of 2099 young survivors with earthquake exposure were included. We integrated multiple domains of variables to ‘train’ a machine learning algorithm (XGBoost). Thirty-one combination types were implemented and evaluated. The resulting XGBoost was utilized in identifying individual participants as either probable PTSD or no PTSD. ResultsAny combination type predicted young survivor probable PTSD, with prediction accuracies ranging between 66%-80% (p < 0.05). In particular, the combination of earthquake experience, everyday functioning, somatic symptoms and sleeping correctly predicted 683 out of 802 cases of probable PTSD, translating to a classical accuracy of 74.476% (85.156% sensitivity and 60.366% specificity) and an area under the curve of 0.80. The most relevant variables (e.g. age, sex, property loss and a sedentary lifestyle) revealed in the present study. LimitationsParticipants from a specific district might limit the generalizability of our results. Self-report questionnaires and non-standardized measures were used to assess symptoms. ConclusionDetection of probable PTSD according to self-reported measurement data is feasible, may improve operational efficiencies via enabling targeted intervention, before manifestation of symptoms.

Unconventional monetary policy reaction functions: evidence from the US

Abstract We specify unconventional monetary policy reaction functions for the Fed using linear and nonlinear econometric frameworks. We find that nonstandard policy measures are largely driven by the dynamics of inflation and the output gap, with the effect being particularly strong during QE rounds. Moreover, we uncover the presence of asymmetry and regime dependence in central bank’s actions since the global financial crisis, especially concerning the response of the term spread and the shadow short rate to the growth rate of central bank reserves. From a policy perspective and given the lack of a systematic response of monetary policy to asset price growth in nonstandard times, our findings seem to corroborate the view that concerns about asset price bubbles, financial sector pro-cyclicality and systemic risk should be part of the macro-prudential policy toolkit.