<Para ID="Par1">In this paper, we present a smoothing Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm for the solution of the semi-infinite programming (SIP) problem. We first reformulate the KKT system of SIP problem into a system of constrained nonsmooth equations. Then we solve this system by a smoothing...</para>

The microstructure literature offers contradicting predictions on the impact of inter-trade time on price change. In this paper, a vector autoregressive (VAR) model [Dufour, A. and Engle, R.F., 2000, Time and the price impact of a trade, Journal of Finance 55, 2467-2498.] is adopted to...

Bid-ask spread is a direct measure of information asymmetry. As such, it can be used to evaluate information efficiency. In this paper, we show that both the quoted and effective spreads on the Shanghai Stock Exchange are extremely high at the open, decrease over the trading day, and experience...

Principal component analysis (PCA) is a widely adopted multivariate data analysis technique, with interpretation being established on the basis of both classical linear projection and a probability model (i.e. probabilistic PCA (PPCA)). Recently robust PPCA models, by using the multivariate...

"Everybody talks about financial innovation, but (almost) nobody empirically tests hypotheses about it." Frame and White (2004) The financial turmoil from 2007 onwards has spurred renewed debates on the "bright" and "dark" sides of financial innovation. Using bank-, industry- and country-level...

Disability income insurance (DI) and its pricing in mainland China is discussed with a focus on the current situation, market prospects, and the pricing process. Our study concludes that (1) there is a bright future for commercial DI, but current consumers are mainly urban residents with...

This article examines price discovery with and without trading through the use of pre-opening quotes in the absence of trading and trading-day quotes in the presence of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The non-trading mechanism is found to be conducive to the price discovery process. A high...

We examine purchases of extended service contracts, which are essentially insurance products, for electronic products in a retail setting. The primary insurance purchase determinants are perceived probability of loss, extent of loss, risk aversion, and amount of insurance premium. We examine how...

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion, also known as controlled auto-ignition (CAI), has been shown to reduce substantially NOX emissions and fuel consumption in gasoline engines. However, it is still confronted with the problem of its limited operation range. One of the...