scholarly journals The Applicability of Self-Play Algorithms to Trading and Forecasting Financial Markets

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Alexander Posth ◽  
Piotr Kotlarz ◽  
Branka Hadji Misheva ◽  
Joerg Osterrieder ◽  
Peter Schwendner
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Winning Strategy ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Bond Markets ◽  
Central Research ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Winning Strategies ◽  
Economic Forecasts ◽  
Optimal Behaviour

The central research question to answer in this study is whether the AI methodology of Self-Play can be applied to financial markets. In typical use-cases of Self-Play, two AI agents play against each other in a particular game, e.g., chess or Go. By repeatedly playing the game, they learn its rules as well as possible winning strategies. When considering financial markets, however, we usually have one player—the trader—that does not face one individual adversary but competes against a vast universe of other market participants. Furthermore, the optimal behaviour in financial markets is not described via a winning strategy, but via the objective of maximising profits while managing risks appropriately. Lastly, data issues cause additional challenges, since, in finance, they are quite often incomplete, noisy and difficult to obtain. We will show that academic research using Self-Play has mostly not focused on finance, and if it has, it was usually restricted to stock markets, not considering the large FX, commodities and bond markets. Despite those challenges, we see enormous potential of applying self-play concepts and algorithms to financial markets and economic forecasts.

Room to Move: International Financial Markets and National Welfare States

2000 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 737-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Layna Mosley
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Financial Market ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
International Financial Markets ◽  
Central Research ◽  
Market Participants

A central research question in international political economy concerns the influence of financial markets on government policy outcomes. To what extent does international capital mobility limit government policy choices? I evaluate the relationship between international financial markets and government policy outcomes, with a focus on the government bond market in developed democracies. Evidence includes interviews with financial market participants and a cross-sectional time-series analysis of the determinants of interest rates. This evaluation suggests that governments of developed democracies face strong but narrowly defined financial market pressures. Financial market participants are concerned with a few macroeconomic policy indicators, including inflation rates and government deficit/GDP ratios, but not with micropolicy indicators, such as the distribution of government spending across functional categories. In these areas, governments retain policymaking autonomy. I conclude by exploring the role of financial market influences within domestic politics and offering suggestions for further research.

Analyst Information Processing, Financial Regulation, and Academic Research

2009 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 1073-1083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark T. Bradshaw
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Financial Regulation ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Earnings Forecasts ◽  
Stock Recommendations ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Regulatory Changes ◽  
Similarities And Differences

ABSTRACT: Changes in regulations governing capital markets always provide a rich setting for archival researchers to examine how such changes affect the behavior of market participants. Barniv et al. (2009; hereafter, BHMT) and Chen and Chen (2009; hereafter CC) examine the impacts of recently enacted regulations aimed at curbing perceived abused by sell-side analysts. There were no less than six significant regulations issued between 2000 and 2003 that affected the activities of analysts. BHMT and CC emphasize different regulations, but both predict that analysts' recommendation will be less biased as a result of the collective regulatory changes. The evidence in both studies is strong and convincing that the association between analysts' earnings forecasts and stock recommendations has changed, consistent with analysts' personal conflicts of interest having less impact on their analyses. However, the attribution of what regulation, if any, effected this change is less clear. Collectively, the similarities and differences in the studies provide a nice setting to understand how different authors approach the same research question.

Does Recent Academic Research Support Changes to Audit Reporting Standards?

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Bédard ◽  
Paul Coram ◽  
Reza Espahbodi ◽  
Theodore J. Mock
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Support ◽  
The Public ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Information Gap ◽  
Public Company ◽  
Reporting Process

SYNOPSIS The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), and the U.K. Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have proposed or approved standards that significantly change the independent auditor's report. These initiatives require the auditor to make additional disclosures intended to close the information gap; that is, the gap between the information users desire and the information available through the audited financial statements, other corporate disclosures, and the auditor's report. They are also intended to improve the relevancy of the auditor's report. We augment prior academic research by providing standard setters with an updated synthesis of relevant research. More importantly, we provide an assessment of whether the changes are likely to close the information gap, which is important to financial market participants and other stakeholders in the audit reporting process. Also, we identify areas where there seems to be a lack of sufficient research. These results are of interest to all stakeholders in the audit reporting process, as the changes to the auditor's report are fundamental. Additionally, our summaries of research on the auditor's report highlight where there is limited research or inconsistent results, which will help academics identify important opportunities for future research.

University as a vehicle to achieve social innovation and development: repositioning the role of the university in the society

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lwando Mdleleni
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The University

Purpose This paper aims to explore the role of university in promoting, generating and sustaining social innovation (SI). It aimed to understand how higher education institutions have extended their contribution beyond the traditional function of teaching and research to perform in socio-economic problem-solving. It looks at the kinds of contributions which universities potentially make to SI processes, and the effects that this has on the direction and magnitude of SI, and by implication social development. This was done by drawing lessons from a SI project that the University of the Western Cape has been involved in, i.e. Zenzeleni Networks Project. Design/methodology/approach To address the research question with this framework, the author adopted an exploratory research design using a case study. This research is qualitative, exploratory and descriptive, based on a case study built with secondary data. Findings This paper submits that universities can potentially function as key role players in promoting SI initiatives and fostering social transformations. Universities contribute with different kinds of resources and inputs to foster new SI ideas. Originality/value The paper suggests that socially innovative university projects may contribute to community social sustainability maintaining social cohesion by increasing social capital and providing resources for the empowerment of the marginalised communities. In so doing, they contribute to overcome social exclusion and promote more sustainable forms of development at community level. More research is needed on how universities can build community networks with local community partners, who can use the insights of academic research to replicate interventions and move to scale.

The Capital Market Authority Effectiveness in the Regulation of Financial Markets perspectives from the financial sector actors

2012 ◽  
Vol 02 (11) ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
Charles Kombo Okioga
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Financial Market ◽  
Capital Markets ◽  
Capital Market ◽  
Financial Regulation ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Financial Market Regulation ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
New Business

Capital Market Authority in Kenya is in a development phase in order to be effective in the regulation of the financial markets. The market participants and the regulators are increasingly adopting international standards in order to make the capital markets in sync with those of developed markets. New products are being introduced and new business lines are being established. The Capital Markets Authority (Regulator) is constantly reviewing existing regulations and recommending changes to regulate the market properly. Business lines and activities are being harmonized by market participants to provide a one stop solution in order to meet the financial and securities services needs of the investors. The convergence of business lines and activities of market intermediaries gives rise to the diversity of a firm’s business operations to meet multiplicity of regulations that its activities are subject to. The methodology used in this study was designed to examine the relationship between capital markets Authority effective regulation and the performance of the financial markets. The study used correlation design, the study population consisted of 30 employees in financial institutions regulated by Capital Markets Authority and 80 investors. The study found out that effective financial market regulation has a significant relationship with the financial market performance indicated by (r=0.571, p<0.01) and (r=0.716, p≤0.01, the study recommended a further research on the factors that hinder effective financial regulation by the Capital Markets Authority.

Strategic Communication in the C-Suite

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Argenti
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Elevated Level ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Central Research ◽  
Corporate Communications ◽  
Leadership Communication ◽  
The Past ◽  
Communication In Organizations

This article explores the ways in which C-suite executives are using corporate communications to execute strategy. Over the past two decades, we have seen a profound shift in how leaders view communications within organizations. This shift has moved from a tactical and superficial focus (speech writing, media placements) to a more strategic and elevated level (developing and implementing strategy through communication, sophisticated measurement using big data to understand constituencies and influence reputation). Thus, the central research question in this article is focused on the following theme: “How do leaders use communications to execute strategy in the 21st century?” Through a review of current literature on the topic and synthesis of both published and newly conducted interviews, the article provides a snapshot of leadership communication in organizations today as it relates to the execution of strategy.

scholarly journals What is a 'Real' Transaction? Infrastructures, relations and Spoofing in High-Frequency Trading

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Pardo Guerra
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
High Frequency Trading ◽  
Market Behavior ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Market Participants

Although an old and rare practice, spoofing has re-emerged as a subject ofintense debate within modern financial markets. An activity entailing thefraudulent creation of orders to buy and sell securities with the purposeof manipulating the market, spoofing highlights the multiple and complexmoral valences of contemporary, automated, finance. In this paper, I studyspoofing as an opportunity to understand markets and their relations ofexchange. In particular, by extending Weberian metaphors of markets asmoral and organizational communities, I examine how the courts and marketparticipants distinguish the ‘false’ transactions of spoofing from the‘real’ exchanges of 'normal' market behavior. Combining Marilyn Strathern’stheoretical discussion of the anthropological relation with recentliteratures on infrastructures and markets, I argue that the perceivedreality of transactions is a product of how novel forms of economicknowledge are able to make sense of ‘taken for granted’ behavioral patternswithin digital platforms of market action. The intent that constitutes‘real’ trades is therefore a product of how market participants, economicexperts and the courts interpret the operational underbelly of markets andthe relations that they produce.

scholarly journals The Antecedents and Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intention among Business Students in Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cuong Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Business Students ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Entrepreneurial Intention ◽  
Business Graduates ◽  
Entrepreneurial Intent ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
The World

For recent decades, entrepreneurial intent and start-up movement have gained the intensive attention from business graduates and policymarkers around the world. Recently, Vietnam strategized to become a “start-up” nation and entrepreneurship has emerged as an important issue for both academic research and economic development policies. This fact has drawn scholar’s attention to what intrinsic and extrinsic antecedents and determinants might shape such decision-making away from seemingly more secure corporate and government jobs toward an entrepreneurial career. Since that phenomenon, the entrepreneurial intention is widely discussed and studied worldwide. Across emerging economies in Asia, entrepreneurial intention studies have been conducted in many countries. However, the reason and determinants of entrepreneurial intention still lack empirical. The call for further research in entrepreneurial intention encourages the research question: “What intrinsic and extrinsic determinants impact the decision (intent and agency) of business students in Vietnam to become entrepreneurs?”. This book chapter provides the answers and implications for the research question mentioned.

scholarly journals Pandemic challenges and models of democracy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 196-205
Author(s):  
Leszek Koczanowicz
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Democratic Society ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Central Research ◽  
Democratic Development ◽  
Democratic Societies ◽  
Political Form ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Models Of Democracy

Abstract This article examines the impact of a pandemic on democratic societies. The central research question is the extent to which a pandemic can alter the trajectory of social and ethical democratic development nationally and internationally. Therefore, the article examines contemporary controversies in democratic society in the aftermath of a pandemic. The leading hypothesis is that the pandemic should reinforce the need for social solidarity, but it is unclear what political form this need will take: populism or deliberative/nonconsensual democracy.

scholarly journals The State of Play: An Exploration of Games and Their Value in  museum Exhibitions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anton Berndt
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Museum Studies ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Central Research ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Museum Exhibitions ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Museum Practice ◽  
New Museology

<p>In the field of museum studies there has been very little consideration of games and their application to exhibiting practice. This represents a significant gap in the theory on current museum practice given the frequency of games in exhibitions and the scale of the commercial games industry in contemporary culture. This study begins to redress this issue by exploring how a significant and influential museum operating within the paradigm of the new museology views the role of games in its exhibitions. The thesis considers the central research question: what do practitioners currently think about games in museum exhibitions and how could museum games be improved. Following an interpretivist methodology the study seeks to answer this question through a case study of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Seven practitioners affiliated with this museum were interviewed about their understanding of games and their application in a museum context. The research findings illuminate the current understanding of games held by these practitioners and factors that inhibit the successful implementation of games at Te Papa. It was found that the practitioners’ opinions had not been influenced by the available theoretical literature on games. It was also found that practitioners thought games in exhibitions at the museum have not been particularly successful in achieving either the goals of exhibitions or the potential that games offer. It is concluded that the introduction of theories on play and on games into museum theory and practice has potential for significant advances in this area of exhibition development. In contemporary museums there is a shift away from presenting absolute, positivist understandings of knowledge toward the subjective, construction of meaning. Museums are also increasingly required to maintain economic efficacy while offering a valuable service to the populace. This thesis responds to this situation by proposing that a greater knowledge and utilisation of games in exhibitions offers a valuable approach in negotiating these two trends. By presenting an understanding of games, their potential value for museums and perspectives on what currently inhibits their successful application this research offers the field of museum studies a basis from which to develop knowledge of this under-theorised aspect of museum practice.</p>

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