Redesigning Banking with Behavioral Economics in Mind - Technology Review
Book Indicates Wrigley Faithful Care More About Beer Prices Than Winning: Chicagoist
Is Texas Instruments Overpaying? - NYTimes.com
Casey B. Mulligan: Why People Pay Income Taxes - NYTimes.com
Why privatisation is not the panacea for Greece
How should Greece try to reduce its debt? Some say Greece should privatise some of its ports and tourist hotspots. While on paper such a move might significantly reduce the debt, this column argues that these calculations rely on some shaky assumptions. Such a sale could make Greece worse off overall.
Full Article: Why privatisation is not the panacea for Greece
Can competition pull along the public sector? Evidence from Indian railways
Since the late 1990s, India has liberalised its economy to an extent unthinkable even 20 years ago. This column looks at the effect that private sector competition can have on the countryâs still large public sector. Using plant-level data from the main provider of steel for Indiaâs railways it finds that when the publicly-owned company faced the risk of closure, productivity dramatically increased.
Full Article: Can competition pull along the public sector? Evidence from Indian railways
The Habsburg Empire and the long half-life of economic institutions
For centuries, Europe was ruled by empires wielding global influence. This column shows that these empires can leave behind a long-lasting legacy through cultural norms. Comparing individuals on opposite sides of the long-gone Habsburg Empire border within five countries, it shows that firms and people living in what used to be the empire have higher trust in courts and police.
Full Article: The Habsburg Empire and the long half-life of economic institutions
The ECBâs stealth bailout
The Eurozone crisis lingers on. This column argues that the Eurozone payments system has been operating as a hidden bailout whereby the Bundesbank has been lending money to the crisis-stricken Eurozone members via the Target system on the order of â¬300 billion. Urgent corrective action is needed, the author argues, as the scope for this sort of transfer is limited. If markets sense the end of the line, the Eurozone may face a crisis like the one Britain faced in 1992.
Full Article: The ECBâs stealth bailout
Houston, we have a problem: Icelandâs capital controls
The global crisis has brought many countries to their knees, none more so than the small island of Iceland whose losses amount to seven times its GDP. Yet while Icelandâs recovery has in many ways been remarkable, this column argues that the countryâs capital controls stand in the way of further progress.
Full Article: Houston, we have a problem: Icelandâs capital controls
Full catalogue of Vox eBooks now available
Starting with The First Global Financial Crisis of the 21st Century in June 2008, Vox has published 12 titles with combined downloads of over 125,000. These books are now available in print format. This column outlines their main contributions.
Full Article: Full catalogue of Vox eBooks now available
Egyptâs demographic pressure â Where and how to create jobs?
After the drama of Egyptâs revolution comes the economic reality â one of the catalysts for regime change was the countryâs high unemployment. This column shows that the growing number of young people entering the job market will only add to the pressure. It argues that job creation in the private sector should be the number one priority for stimulating Egyptâs economic growth.
Full Article: Egyptâs demographic pressure â Where and how to create jobs?
Can money buy happiness? Evidence from industrial wage dispersion
Economists have been venturing into the realm of human emotions for some years now. This column provides a unique approach to investigating the link between income and happiness. It finds that while money really can buy happiness, there are many other factors that can get in the way.
Full Article: Can money buy happiness? Evidence from industrial wage dispersion
Numerix and Microsoft: Meeting Todayâs Risk Challenges Event
âItâs very impressive to see the caliber of people and partners that Numerix can bring to us,â --Sroothi Jaikumar, from Bank of the West On February 24th, Microsoft and Numerix hosted a joint event in San Francisco, focused on meeting todayâs risk challenges for financial institutions. This was the first event hosted by Numerix and Microsoft HPC on the West Coast to meet the industry's growing demand. Ted Pendleton, Senior Vice President at Numerix, shared his insights on tackling todayâs inconsistency challenges by unifying pricing and risk for OTC derivatives. Tom Quinn, Partner Account Manager for Microsoft, presented on the...
Numerix and Hyper Rig Publish White Paper on the Framework for RealâTime Risk Aggregation
The white paper was prepared jointly by both partnering firms and entitled, âA Framework For Real-Time Risk Aggregation.â The study captures a real need in today's market by outlining how to capture the information required to understand risks and opportunities in a format and timeframe that enables effective decision making. Often times due to disparate systems and locations, banks are unable to see their risk exposures in real time. They have no consistent view of aggregated risk across asset classes, no single view of market risk, no consolidated view of exposures by counterparty and no consolidated view of market and...
Numerix Hosts Webinar Honoring Top Winners of the Annual Structured Innovation Awards
Top Honors went to Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley at the U.S. Structured Products Association's (SPA) Second Annual Structured Innovation Awards, held last week in New York City. This yearâs winning transactions will be highlighted in a post-awards webinar sponsored by Numerix and Structured Edge on Tuesday, March 22nd at 10:00 AM EST. The webinar will provide insight into the award-winning strategies and innovations exhibited by this yearâs winners. To sign up for the webinar please register now. The 2011 Awards commemorated sixteen of the best Structured Investments transactions issued to U.S. investors in 2010 across...
Numerix Celebrates the Opening of Our New Vancouver Office with Geoff Meggs, Vancouverâs Deputy Mayor
On Wednesday April 6th, Vancouverâs Deputy Mayor, Geoff Meggs, joined Numerix executivesâDr. Gregory Whitten, CEO, and Steven R. OâHanlon, President and COOâin a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the official office opening of the Numerix Vancouver office. In this photo from left to right: Steven R. OâHanlon, Numerix President & COO, Vancouverâs Deputy Mayor, Geoff Meggs, and Dr. Gregory Whitten, Numerix CEO The new Vancouver office expands Numerixâs existing sales force and quantitative development presence in North America. Our Global Inside Sales team will sell and support our new LiquidAsset product for the pricing, valuation and risk analysis of OTC vanilla...
Instrument Valuation Management Is a Concern, Says Xenomorph...
Our partner, Xenomorph, last week released an interesting white paper entitled: âInstrument Valuation Management: management of derivative and fixed income valuations in a multi-asset, multi-model, multi-datasource and multi-timeframe environmentâ. The paper describes how, despite the increasing importance of instrument valuation to investment, trading and risk management decisions--valuation management is not yet formally and fully addressed within data management strategies and remains a big concern for many financial institutions. You can download a copy of the paper from the following link: www.xenomorph.com/downloads/whitepapers/instrument-valuation-management/. This paper is a follow-up to an earlier one on the management of the complex datasets that feed pricing...