Econometric Modeling to Measure the Efficiency of Sharpe’s Ratio with Strong Autocorrelation Portfolios

Sharpe’s ratio is the most widely used index for establishing an order of priority for the portfolios to which the investor has access, and the purpose of this investigation is to verify that Sharpe’s ratio allows decisions to be made in investment portfolios considering different financial market conditions. The research is carried out by autoregressive model (AR) of the financial series of returns using Sharpe’s ratio for evaluations looking over the priority of financial assets which the investor can access while observing the effects that can cause autocorrelated series in evaluation measures for financial assets. The results presented in this study confirm the hypothesis proposed in which Sharpe’s ratio allows decisions to be made in the selection of investment portfolios under normal conditions thanks to the definition of a robustness function, whose empirical estimation shows an average 73% explanation of the variance in the degradation of the Spearman coefficient for each of the performance measures; however, given the presence of autocorrelation in the financial series of returns, this similarity is broken.

Decision-Making Styles of the Next Generation of Chinese Business Leaders

This study seeks to explore the relationships between decision-making styles, academic performance, and gender of educated Chinese millennials. As the millennial generation of college graduates in China comes of age, they will move into leadership roles in public and commercial organizations. They will have influence over considerable financial assets as well as economic and public policy which translates into global impact. There is a gap in the existing literature on the topic. This study utilized online self-report questionnaires to gather data, and the general decision-making style test to assess respondents' decision-making models culminating in correlation analysis and t-test. Based on the findings of related research, the authors hypothesized that there would be a difference in the decision-making styles based on gender and that there would be a significant difference in academic performance based on the decision-making styles. The findings may be of interest to a variety of those interested in decision-making styles, Chinese millennials, and future leaders of China.

Applying Neural Networks for Modeling of Financial Assets

The purpose of this chapter is to develop an analytical system for forecasting prices of financial assets with the use of artificial neural networks technology. Proposed by the authors, the analytical system consists of several neural networks, each of which makes the forecast of financial assets prices. The system includes recurrence (with feedback) neural networks with sigmoidal activation formula. This allows the networks to “remember” a sequence of reactions to the same stimulus. The learning process of neural networks is performed using an algorithm of back propagation of error. The key parameters of forecast for this analytical system are the indicators presented by the terminal MetaTrader 4-broker Forex Club: Average Directional и Movement Index; Bollinger Bands; Envelopes; Ichimoku Kinko Hyo; Moving Average; Parabolic SAR; Standard Deviation; Average True Range; and others.

Towards Sustainable Retirement Planning of Wageworkers in Thailand: A Qualitative Approach in Behavioral Segmentation and Financial Pain Point Identification

Thailand recently reached “aged” society status, signifying that over twenty percent of the population is over sixty. Considering that Thailand has a low literacy rate, a fractured pension system, and no regulations that could provide sufficient income to cover basic needs after retirement, there will be economic repercussions if the situation is not handled soon. The government and financial institutions have been encouraging Thai citizens to prepare retirement plans but lack understanding of the root causes of being unprepared for retirement. The objectives of this qualitative research were to explore the behavior, knowledge, and preparedness towards retirement in governmental and private wageworkers. Moreover, the study aims to identify the pain points of being unprepared for retirement and deliver the optimal solutions and sustainable retirement plans suitable for each segment. This article employed a sample of 46 wageworkers in Khon Kaen, Thailand with ages ranging from 20 to 59 years old. Qualitative semi-structured in-depth interviews and qualitative content analysis were conducted with the respondents asking about their income, expenses, pains, and problems towards saving for retirement, their desired outcome after they retire, and how they would achieve it. The framework used for the in-depth qualitative interview was by utilizing the customer, problem, and solution zoom tool. The research contributions were to facilitate Thai citizens being ready for retirement stages and overcome post-retirement risks sustainably. The results revealed that the sample could be divided into four segments by their characteristics. Two low-income segments share the same traits and behaviors that can prove that financial literacy plays an essential role in retirement readiness. Lower-income wage workers do not have their money put in place to prepare for retirement. Additionally, this article discussed the study’s implications for wageworkers, employers, and the Thai government. This article recommended that Thai citizens should accumulate wealth in various ways, including investment in financial assets and earning additional income from a second job. Employers should provide suitable retirement contribution schemes. The government should launch a policy enabling above-60-year-old seniors to continue working.

Cotton production for the sustainable livelihoods in Punjab Pakistan: a case study of district Muzaffargarh

Purpose This study aims to analyze access of cotton growers to Sustainable Livelihoods Assets Pakistani Punjab. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the department for international development (DFID’s) sustainable livelihoods framework (DFID) (1999). Where data collection was done by using a well-structured questionnaire from 200 randomly selected cotton growers of the district Muzaffargarh. There are five livelihood assets (human assets, natural assets, financial assets, physical assets and social assets) in the SLF, this study has used three different indicators/proxies for each asset except natural assets, where four indicators were used to capture the salient features of the respondents’ access to that assets. Each indicator was given a weight by using the entropy technique to keep the consistency of the quantification. Livelihood assets indices were calculated in case of each livelihood asset for conducting Livelihood Assets Pentagon Analysis. Value of livelihood index ranged from 0–4. Findings Livelihoods Assets Pentagon analysis shows that cotton growers do not have proper access to all five livelihood assets. The asset with the highest capacity were social assets (sustainable livelihood index value = 0.3994), followed by natural assets (0.3294), financial assets (0.2511), human assets (0.2143) and physical assets (0.0897). Originality/value This study uses the SLF developed by DFID for analyzing factors affecting access to livelihoods assets of cotton growers in Pakistani Punjab. Sustainable agriculture and sustainable rural livelihoods lead to sustainable livelihoods where environment quality is taken into consideration. The study contains significant and new information.

The Impact of Movement Control Order on Rural Livelihood in Malaysia

In 2020, the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) had a global impact on normal daily life. The Government of Malaysia officially declared the Movement Control Order (MCO), an official national lockdown, to reduce the virus’s spread. In the face of the unprecedented global health pandemic, Malaysia had struggled to protect its citizens’ welfare and livelihoods, particularly in the hardest-hit rural areas. Therefore, this study uses the sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) focusing on the aspect of financial assets and government intervention to enhance understanding on the vulnerability in rural area’s livelihood. Pasir Puteh, Kelantan was identified as the rural area for this study. The analysis was performed on a questionnaire survey based on convenience sampling of 62 respondents. Cross table analysis and a correlation test were used to examine the livelihood of the rural area concerning the financial assets, government intervention and vulnerability. The findings indicated that the MCO had a substantial impact on the rural area regarding the vulnerability toward the financial assets, such as employment status, job loss, increasing living costs, and an insufficient response to rural economic challenges. At the same time, there is no substantial government intervention in the welfare of rural areas. According to the results, the study concluded that the government should set up training courses to assist in the long-term recovery of rural areas due to the enforced lockdown, which has adversely affected rural livelihoods.

The features of the legal status of the operator of the information system in which digital financial assets are issued, and of the operator of the exchange of digital financial assets as organizations that provide digital financial technologies

The rapid development of digital technologies has led to the emergence of several new types of financial institutions in Russia recently, which, by using digital financial technologies, create additional opportunities for recipients of financial services. Such entities, in particular, include the operator of the information system in which the digital financial assets are issued, and the operator of the exchange of digital financial assets. The article analyzes the features of their legal status as a new type of non-banking financial organizations. Particular attention is paid to the requirements of the current legislation to these organizations. The article also analyzes the role of Bank of Russia in the supervision of their activities.