Experiments in the Dynamics of Preference and Choice in an Evolving Social Network. This project offers revolutionary insight into the process by which social leaders emerge and leadership evolves over time. The project improves the understanding of how decisions are made individually and at group levels with important implications for commerce, marketing, and policy. Project results foster managing network development and evolution, allowing firms and government agencies to understand how they ....Experiments in the Dynamics of Preference and Choice in an Evolving Social Network. This project offers revolutionary insight into the process by which social leaders emerge and leadership evolves over time. The project improves the understanding of how decisions are made individually and at group levels with important implications for commerce, marketing, and policy. Project results foster managing network development and evolution, allowing firms and government agencies to understand how they can use networks to disseminate information to consumers and individual citizens. The results will also inform the development of regulations targeting reductions in herding where such behaviour can cause harmful market disruptions.Read moreRead less
The paradox of choice: Unravelling complex superannuation decisions. Australia has been a world-leader in retirement savings policy, but there remains a pervasive lack of understanding about how best to communicate complex financial information to decision-makers, along with a push by government for clearer disclosure and greater financial literacy. This project will inform regulators and the superannuation industry on how choices are made and how to present clearer, better-designed information ....The paradox of choice: Unravelling complex superannuation decisions. Australia has been a world-leader in retirement savings policy, but there remains a pervasive lack of understanding about how best to communicate complex financial information to decision-makers, along with a push by government for clearer disclosure and greater financial literacy. This project will inform regulators and the superannuation industry on how choices are made and how to present clearer, better-designed information to be understood by ordinary participants, thus encouraging active, well-informed participation rather than passive 'default' decisions. More efficient investment and benefit choices will improve the economic welfare of retirees, reduce the burden on the working-age population and improve fiscal sustainability.Read moreRead less
Quantitative and qualitative aspects of Asian and Australian options. While Asian options are highly popular and traded over the counter all over the world, they are traded on an institutional basis in only very few countries. Australia is one of them. Variable purchase options (VPO's), where the payoff is determined by the quotient of a stock and its average price, are traded on the Australian stock exchange since 1992. They build an important component of the Australian derivatives market and ....Quantitative and qualitative aspects of Asian and Australian options. While Asian options are highly popular and traded over the counter all over the world, they are traded on an institutional basis in only very few countries. Australia is one of them. Variable purchase options (VPO's), where the payoff is determined by the quotient of a stock and its average price, are traded on the Australian stock exchange since 1992. They build an important component of the Australian derivatives market and are particularly interesting for foreign investors, who are not able to find this sort of financial product on their domestic markets. A better understanding of these products is necessary to maximize the benefits for Australia's financial markets and economy. Read moreRead less
The Determinants and Impacts of Analyst Activity in Australian Equity Markets. Deep and liquid markets are essential ingredients to a well functioning capital market, and can assist in capital formation and the growth of firms. A rich information environment is in turn necessary to ensure liquidity and the minimisation of cost of capital. A greater understanding of what promotes a rich information environment, specifically through the activity of financial analysts, will assist in formulation ....The Determinants and Impacts of Analyst Activity in Australian Equity Markets. Deep and liquid markets are essential ingredients to a well functioning capital market, and can assist in capital formation and the growth of firms. A rich information environment is in turn necessary to ensure liquidity and the minimisation of cost of capital. A greater understanding of what promotes a rich information environment, specifically through the activity of financial analysts, will assist in formulation of policies at both the Australian Stock Exchange and individual company level, and indeed at the government level given Federal and State Government initiatives to encourage the growth of corporate Australia.Read moreRead less
Modelling factors affecting the long-term demand for and supply of professional accounting and allied services in rural and regional Australia. Rural and regional areas accommodate more than a third of Australia's population and generate two-thirds of its net export income. This project will enable the accounting profession to establish effective strategies and policies for the education, training, and recruitment of professional staff in regional communities. Maintaining the quality and viabi ....Modelling factors affecting the long-term demand for and supply of professional accounting and allied services in rural and regional Australia. Rural and regional areas accommodate more than a third of Australia's population and generate two-thirds of its net export income. This project will enable the accounting profession to establish effective strategies and policies for the education, training, and recruitment of professional staff in regional communities. Maintaining the quality and viability of professional services is critical to the economic development of these communities and crucial to maintaining equity between city and country. This project will ensure that professional accounting and allied services can meet future regional demands with the potential for this modelling to be applied to other regional services.Read moreRead less
Innovations in Enterprise Risk Management: Risk Aggregation, Dependence, and Efficiency. Enterprise risk management is of critical importance to the successful management of business corporations. The savings from the integrated measurement and management of risk at the enterprise level allowing for diversification in business activities is massive. The Australian insurance and actuarial science profession is highly regarded internationally. Innovative contributions to the rapidly developing are ....Innovations in Enterprise Risk Management: Risk Aggregation, Dependence, and Efficiency. Enterprise risk management is of critical importance to the successful management of business corporations. The savings from the integrated measurement and management of risk at the enterprise level allowing for diversification in business activities is massive. The Australian insurance and actuarial science profession is highly regarded internationally. Innovative contributions to the rapidly developing area of enterprise risk management will benefit Australia by maintaining its high profile at an international level in this newly emerging area. This will lead to increased demand at an international level for Australian graduate students and international research students wishing to study at Australian universities in these disciplines.Read moreRead less
Boundary Crossing Analysis for Random Processes with Applications to Risk Management. Effective management of environmental, financial and superannuation investment risks is vitally important for Australia. Results of the project will add to the theoretical foundations of risk management and provide new computational tools for specialists working in the areas of financial engineering, insurance, superannuation funds. These tools will assist in improving risk profile evaluation and developing new ....Boundary Crossing Analysis for Random Processes with Applications to Risk Management. Effective management of environmental, financial and superannuation investment risks is vitally important for Australia. Results of the project will add to the theoretical foundations of risk management and provide new computational tools for specialists working in the areas of financial engineering, insurance, superannuation funds. These tools will assist in improving risk profile evaluation and developing new statistical control charts for security monitoring of epidemics, networks intrusions and other potentially dangerous changes. The research will also give Australia a competitive advantage in the area of education related to stochastic processes, mathematical finance, control theory and their applications.Read moreRead less
Illiquidity, momentum traders, incentives, and book to market: explaining and testing the factor drivers of stock market returns. I build on my new illiquidity explanation for the equity premium based on the realisation that government bonds turn over many times faster than equity and that trading is both voluntary and endogenous. By introducing these new theoretical developments and new factors such executive incentives I aim to enhance our knowledge of what drives returns in global stock marke ....Illiquidity, momentum traders, incentives, and book to market: explaining and testing the factor drivers of stock market returns. I build on my new illiquidity explanation for the equity premium based on the realisation that government bonds turn over many times faster than equity and that trading is both voluntary and endogenous. By introducing these new theoretical developments and new factors such executive incentives I aim to enhance our knowledge of what drives returns in global stock markets. As a result researchers will have a better understanding of, and controls for, market factors to enable sound empirical work and companies will be able to lower the cost of capital via greater liquidity and improve their corporate governance structures and performance.Read moreRead less
Pricing, Solvency and Capital Management in Insurance: New Perspectives from the Integration of Actuarial and Financial Economic Theory. This project will investigate the optimal level of capital, pricing and solvency for an insurance company in an equilibrium framework. It will include research on the impact of extreme events and dependence of risks on fair pricing and efficient use of capital. Billions of dollars of capital are under management in insurance companies in Australia alone. The co ....Pricing, Solvency and Capital Management in Insurance: New Perspectives from the Integration of Actuarial and Financial Economic Theory. This project will investigate the optimal level of capital, pricing and solvency for an insurance company in an equilibrium framework. It will include research on the impact of extreme events and dependence of risks on fair pricing and efficient use of capital. Billions of dollars of capital are under management in insurance companies in Australia alone. The convergence of insurance and financial markets and the recently highlighted importance of events such as the World Trade Centre Disaster on September 11, requires that these issues be addressed in an integrated research program combining actuarial and financial economic theory. New insights and understandings of optimal levels and types of capital and impacts on pricing will result. This is critical to the successful management and regulation of insurance and other financial service organisations.Read moreRead less
Risk and Prudential Regulation and Supervision of Australian Financial Institutions. The project seeks to enhance the effectiveness of prudential regulation and supervision of financial institutions (FIs) by examining the risk of FIs, as reflected in default risk premiums on FI international debt issues and variability of revenue/profitability measures, and the effect of broadening FI activities and the shift towards fee/commission income on FI risk. This forms the basis for the development and ....Risk and Prudential Regulation and Supervision of Australian Financial Institutions. The project seeks to enhance the effectiveness of prudential regulation and supervision of financial institutions (FIs) by examining the risk of FIs, as reflected in default risk premiums on FI international debt issues and variability of revenue/profitability measures, and the effect of broadening FI activities and the shift towards fee/commission income on FI risk. This forms the basis for the development and testing of statistical early warning systems of impending financial problems in Australian FIs. The models are compared with examiner rating systems currently used in prudential supervision.Read moreRead less