Ernest Digore, Extensions on the Fractional Differencing Methodology for Portfolio Construction, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Master's Thesis)
This paper explores an ARFIMA-based momentum trading strategy, extending the
work of Chitsiripanich et al. (2022) and aiming to refine predictive accuracy and enhance
profitability by incorporating long-memory attributes into stock returns modelling.
Our focus revolved around the Sowell (1992) Maximum Likelihood Estimation
methodology, targeting its benefits and limitations while suggesting enhancements.
Notably, the ARFIMA(2, 0.4 + d2, 2) model outperformed other advanced strategies,
showing promising risk-adjusted returns, less volatility, and minimal market
dependence. However, the results should be considered with caution due to computational
constraints and the scope of the data sample. Future research could leverage
more substantial computing resources, extend the stock selection, or apply alternate
estimation methodologies. |
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Marina Brägger, Empirische Untersuchung des FamaFrench-Dreifaktormodells bezüglich des Faktors Volatilität, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)
Diese Arbeit untersucht den Einfluss des Faktors Volatilität auf die Aktienpreisbildung. In einem ersten
Teil wird auf etablierte Finanzmarkttheorien und ihre Modelle eingegangen. Der zweite Teil behandelt
die dazugehörige Empirie und die aktuellen Untersuchungsergebnisse zum Volatilitätsfaktor.
Die Analyse des Volatilitätsfaktors stellt sechs Regressionsmodelle mit unterschiedlicher Parameterzusammenstellung
im Kontext des FamaFrench-Dreifaktormodells (Fama und French (1993)) einander
gegenüber, wobei die durchschnittlichen adjustierten R2 als Vergleichsmass genutzt werden. Die Ergebnisse
zeigen, dass der Einfluss des Volatilitätsfaktors signifikant ist, da das Bestimmtheitsmass
des FamaFrench-Dreifaktormodells kleiner ausfällt als dasjenige des Modells mit dem zusätzlichen
Volatilitäts-Faktor. Die Untersuchung zeigte zudem eine grössere Relevanz des Faktors Volatilität
gegenüber dem Value-Faktor auf. Nichtsdestotrotz ist der Faktor Volatilität kein geeigneter Ersatz
weder für das Marktrisikopremium noch den Size-Faktor. |
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Fabienne Kiener, Skill Bundles and Labour Market Outcomes: Identifying Different Types of Skills in Curriculum Texts by Applying Natural Language Processing, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Dissertation)
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Gloria Pünchera, Overcoming Blind Spots: Triggering Awareness Through Contemplation Questions, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)
Morality scandals emphasise the necessity to establish ethical catalysts to diminish immoral behaviour. This thesis uncovers possible impacts of mirror and publicity contemplation ques-tions on multiple awareness types to enhance self-regulation and mitigate cognitive motiva-tional biases. Leveraging self-regulation and self-theories, this thesis argues that contemplative questions enhance accessibility to discrepancies, raise emotional discomfort and motivate self-alignment. Mirror questions are suggested to foster objective and private self-awareness, acting as amplifying tools for individuals to examine their private self-image, while publicity questions stimulate impression management and positive self-presentation by increasing public self-awareness. Future research approaches involve empirical validation of these theoretical in-sights. |
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Jan Kobelt, Der Effekt von «flight-to-safety» auf die Portfolioperformance, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)
Diese Arbeit untersucht den Effekt von «flight-to-safety» in Gold und Staatsanleihen auf die
Portfolioperformance. Dafür wurden Benchmark-Portfolios für unterschiedliche Investortypen
und Märkte während verschiedener Krisen gebildet. Diese wurden Vergleichsportfolios mit
veränderten Anteilen der Anlagen im Portfolio gegenübergestellt. Dabei wurde der Effekt einer
Umschichtung des Portfolios auf die Rendite und die Volatilität untersucht. Die Resultate
zeigen, dass die Flucht in Gold bzw. Staatsanleihen nicht immer positiv ausfällt, sondern
markt-, krisen-, und portfoliotypspezifisch ist. Allgemein lassen die Ergebnisse darauf
schliessen, dass sich Gold besser zur Werterhaltung eignet und Staatsanleihen vorteilhafter zur
Reduktion der Volatilität eines Portfolios während Krisen sind. |
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Steve Nikitas, VALUE- UND MOMENTUM-EFFEKT IM SCHWEIZER AKTIENMARKT, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)
Diese Arbeit untersucht zwei der meistverbreiteten Aktienmarkt-Anomalien, Value und Momen-tum, im Schweizer Aktienmarkt über den Zeitraum von 1990 bis 2022. Weiter wird untersucht, wie die beiden Strategien miteinander korrelieren. Sowohl Value- wie auch Momentum-Effekt sind in der Schweiz vorhanden. Der Momentum-Effekt ist dabei mit Renditen von jährlich 13.76% deutlich stärker ausgeprägt als der Value-Effekt mit jährlich 2.06%. Value-Strategien scheinen ausserdem von 1990 bis 2010 hervorragend funktioniert zu haben, danach aber nicht mehr. Werden jedoch Faktorrenditen berechnet, die anderen Variablen gegenüber neutral sind, ist nur noch Momentum signifikant. Die Korrelation der beiden Effekte ist mit -0.1 zwar negativ, aber nicht stark. |
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Marco Käser, Rendite und Deckungsgrad von Schweizer Pensionskassen während des Zinsanstiegs 2022 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Bewertung von Aktiven und Passiven, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)
Um der hohen weltweiten Inflation im Jahr 2022 entgegenzuwirken, waren Zentralbanken dazu gezwun-gen, die Leitzinsen anzuheben. Auf die Renditen und Deckungsgrade der Schweizer Pensionskassen hatte dies einen negativen Einfluss, sodass 2022 alle untersuchten Anleger eine negative Rendite erziel-ten und der technische Deckungsgrad im Median beinahe um 15% abnahm. Positiv wirkten sich unter anderem hohe Strategieanteile in illiquiden Anlagen aus, welche durch verzögerte Bewertungen weniger stark betroffen waren. Langfristig zeigt sich dieser positive Einfluss deutlich schwächer. Es besteht die Gefahr, dass Pensionskassen ihre finanzielle Lage durch die Glättung der illiquiden Anlagen besser dar-stellen, als dies tatsächlich der Fall ist. |
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Kremena Bachmann, Thorsten Hens, Andre Lot, Xiaogeng Xu, Experimental research on retirement decision-making: evidence from replications, Journal of Banking and Finance, Vol. 152, 2023. (Journal Article)
We adapt the design of four experimental studies on retirement decision-making and conduct replications with a larger online sample from the broader population. We replicate most of the main effects of the original studies. In particular, we confirm that consumption decisions are less efficient when subjects need to borrow from the future than when they need to save from the present. When subjects collect retirement benefits as lump sum instead of annuities, they choose to retire later, as suggested by the original study. We also confirm that savings are higher when they are incentivized with matching contributions than when incentivized with tax rebates. However, when faced with varying survival risks, subjects in our replication make only partial adjustments to spending paths when ambiguity is reduced. We also propose a further experimental research agenda in related topics and discuss practical issues on subject recruitment, attrition, and redesign of complex tasks. |
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Elliot Beck, Gianluca De Nard, Michael Wolf, Improved inference in financial factor models, International Review of Economics and Finance, Vol. 86, 2023. (Journal Article)
Conditional heteroskedasticity of the error terms is a common occurrence in financial factor models, such as the CAPM and Fama–French factor models. This feature necessitates the use of heteroskedasticity consistent (HC) standard errors to make valid inference for regression coefficients. In this paper, we show that using weighted least squares (WLS) or adaptive least squares (ALS) to estimate model parameters generally leads to smaller HC standard errors compared to ordinary least squares (OLS), which translates into improved inference in the form of shorter confidence intervals and more powerful hypothesis tests. In an extensive empirical analysis based on historical stock returns and commonly used factors, we find that conditional heteroskedasticity is pronounced and that WLS and ALS can dramatically shorten confidence intervals compared to OLS, especially during times of financial turmoil. |
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Nadine Hietschold, Christian Vögtlin, Andreas Scherer, Joel Gehman, Pathways to social value and social change: An integrative review of the social entrepreneurship literature, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 25 (3), 2023. (Journal Article)
Social entrepreneurship has emerged as an important means of addressing grand challenges. Although research on the topic has accelerated, scholars have yet to articulate an overarching framework that links the different pathways taken by social entrepreneurs with the positive effects of these efforts. To address this shortcoming, we conducted a systematic literature review which enabled us to conceptually differentiate between social value and social change as distinct outcomes of social entrepreneurship and identify seven pathways for achieving these outcomes. Building on our analysis, we outline a research agenda for questions pertaining to: the dynamics between social value and social change; how contextual factors and social entrepreneurs influence various pathways; design principles of business models and innovations that facilitate social value and social change; and defining, measuring, and ensuring accountability for social value and social change. |
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Behnam Fahimnia, Meysam Arvan, Tarkan Tan, Enno Siemsen, A hidden anchor: The influence of service levels on demand forecasts, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 69 (5), 2023. (Journal Article)
Demand planning is informed by demand forecasts, service level requirements, replenishment constraints, and revenue projections. “Demand forecasts” differ from “demand plans” in that forecasts only represent the distribution (or the most likely value) of product demand. Motivated by common forecasting practices in industry, our research examines whether forecasters recognize this difference between demand forecasts and demand plans. Based on a lab experiment informed by data from two large FMCG companies, we found that forecasters factor service levels into their demand forecasts, even when they are clearly instructed to predict the most likely demand and incentivized to minimize the forecast error. We establish that this result holds for students and practitioners alike, and show that this behavior is driven by the service level information, and not some other anchor. We use data from a recent industry survey to support the external validity of our key findings. |
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Tobias Schultheiss, Uschi Backes‐Gellner, Different degrees of skill obsolescence across hard and soft skills and the role of lifelong learning for labor market outcomes, Industrial Relations, Vol. 62 (3), 2023. (Journal Article)
This paper examines the role of lifelong learning in counteracting skill depreciation and obsolescence. We differentiate between occupations with more hard skills versus more soft skills and draw on representative job advertisement data that contain machine-learning categorized skill requirements and cover the Swiss job market in great detail across occupations (from 1950 to 2019). We examine lifelong learning effects for “harder” versus “softer” occupations, thereby analyzing the role of training in counteracting skill depreciation in occupations that are differently affected by skill depreciation. Our results reveal novel empirical patterns regarding the benefits of lifelong learning, which are consistent with theoretical explanations based on structurally different skill depreciation rates: In harder occupations, with large shares of fast-depreciating hard skills, the role of lifelong learning is primarily as a hedge against unemployment risks rather than a boost to wages. By contrast, in softer occupations, in which workers build on more value-stable soft-skill foundations, the role of lifelong learning instead lies mostly in acting as a boost for upward career mobility and leads to larger wage gains. |
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Tzvetan Popov, Marius Tröndle, Zofia Barańczuk-Turska, Christian Pfeiffer, Stefan Haufe, Nicolas Langer, Test-retest reliability of resting-state EEG in young and older adults, Psychophysiology, Vol. 60 (7), 2023. (Journal Article)
The quantification of resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) is associated with a variety of measures. These include power estimates at different frequencies, microstate analysis, and frequency-resolved source power and connectivity analyses. Resting-state EEG metrics have been widely used to delineate the manifestation of cognition and to identify psychophysiological indicators of age-related cognitive decline. The reliability of the utilized metrics is a prerequisite for establishing robust brain-behavior relationships and clinically relevant indicators of cognitive decline. To date, however, test-retest reliability examination of measures derived from resting human EEG, comparing different resting-state measures between young and older participants, within the same adequately powered dataset, is lacking. The present registered report examined test-retest reliability in a sample of 95 young (age range: 20-35 years) and 93 older (age range: 60-80 years) participants. A good-to-excellent test-retest reliability was confirmed in both age groups for power estimates on both scalp and source levels as well as for the individual alpha peak power and frequency. Partial confirmation was observed for hypotheses stating good-to-excellent reliability of microstates measures and connectivity. Equal levels of reliability between the age groups were confirmed for scalp-level power estimates and partially so for source-level power and connectivity. In total, five out of the nine postulated hypotheses were empirically supported and confirmed good-to-excellent reliability of the most commonly reported resting-state EEG metrics. |
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Jonathan Schaffner, Dongqi Bao, Philippe Tobler, Todd Anthony Hare, Rafael Polania, Sensory perception relies on fitness-maximizing codes, Nature Human Behaviour, Vol. 7 (7), 2023. (Journal Article)
Sensory information encoded by humans and other organisms is generally presumed to be as accurate as their biological limitations allow. However, perhaps counterintuitively, accurate sensory representations may not necessarily maximize the organism’s chances of survival. To test this hypothesis, we developed a unified normative framework for fitness-maximizing encoding by combining theoretical insights from neuroscience, computer science, and economics. Behavioural experiments in humans revealed that sensory encoding strategies are flexibly adapted to promote fitness maximization, a result confirmed by deep neural networks with information capacity constraints trained to solve the same task as humans. Moreover, human functional MRI data revealed that novel behavioural goals that rely on object perception induce efficient stimulus representations in early sensory structures. These results suggest that fitness-maximizing rules imposed by the environment are applied at early stages of sensory processing in humans and machines. |
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Christoph Basten, Roland Füss, Petra S Häfliger, Lorenz Küng, Daniel Salzmann, Jörg Schläpfer, Insights Into Today’s Real Estate Market - A Focus on Switzerland, Swiss Finance Institute, Zürich, https://www.sfi.ch/en/publications/sfi-roundups-real-estate-market, 2023-07-01. (Published Research Report)
Real estate is at the confluence of several major transformations: higher inflation, higher interest rates, and increasing ESG risks. In this Roundup, experts from academia, industry, and regulation discuss how investors and households navigate new difficult tradeoffs in the Swiss context. Will macroeconomic uncertainties affect prices and impact the financial sector? What is the proper place of real estate in an investor's portfolio? Should homeowners rethink their financing options? And will increasingly strict energy regulations impact the market? |
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Marius Moisa, Christian Ruff, Combined neuroimaging methods, In: APA handbook of research methods in psychology, Volume 1 : foundations, planning, measures, and psychometrics, American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, p. 673 - 695, 2023-07-01. (Book Chapter)
This chapter presents an overview of methodological developments that attempt to deal with the fundamental problem as to what common 'true' brain state may underlie the method-specific observations. All of these developments focus on combinations of existing methods from the present armory of cognitive neuroscientists, an approach often referred to as multimodal imaging. The chapter discusses three such combinations: functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)–electroencephalography (EEG)/magnetoencephalography (MEG), noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS)-EEG, and NIBS-fMRI. The chapter begins with a brief description of the basic mechanisms of action for EEG/MEG, fMRI, and NIBS. It outlines only the strengths and shortcomings of each technique to motivate their multimodal combination. The chapter also describes the three multimodal combinations in detail. It presents the general rationale of each approach, gives a brief outline of technical considerations, and discusses the unique insights that can be gained with the particular methodical combination by means of illustrative studies. |
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Łukasz Tanajewski, Todd Anthony Hare, Jakub Skałbania, The interplay of hedonic appetite and attentional abilities is linked to poorer dietary self-control: two studies on young adults living in cities, Food Quality and Preference, Vol. 109, 2023. (Journal Article)
Voluntary attention supports dietary self-control, while hedonic appetite impairs it. However, hedonic processing of foods consumes voluntary attention. We therefore checked whether the interaction between hedonic appetite and attentional abilities is associated with poorer dietary self-control. Using the Power of Food Scale (PFS) we measured hedonic appetite in two samples of young adults living in cities. In Study 1 (380 participants) poor dietary self-control and attentional abilities were measured by the Uncontrolled Eating subscale of Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire and the Attentional Control Scale, respectively. In Study 2, 49 participants rated the healthiness and tastiness of foods. In the incentivized series of computerized trials, dietary self-control was defined as choosing a healthier over a tastier food item. Attentional abilities were computed as the ratio of mean to standard deviation of response time in a memory task check (a presented digit was checked against a memorized digit). The interaction between the PFS and attentional abilities was associated with poorer dietary self-control (Studies 1–2). The strength of the positive association between attentional abilities and self-control decreased with a PFS score, with no association (Study 1) and the negative association (Study 2) for high-PFS individuals. The strength of the negative association between the PFS and dietary self-control increased with attentional abilities, with no association for individuals with low attentional abilities in Study 2. The interplay between attentional skills and hedonic appetite can be harmful for dietary self-control in young adults. If hedonic appetite is strong enough, attentional abilities may be unfavorable for dietary self-control. |
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Marek Pycia, Peter Troyan, A theory of simplicity in games and mechanism design, Econometrica, Vol. 91 (4), 2023. (Journal Article)
We study extensive‐form games and mechanisms allowing agents that plan for only a subset of future decisions they may be called to make (the planning horizon). Agents may update their so‐called strategic plan as the game progresses and new decision points enter their planning horizon. We introduce a family of simplicity standards which require that the prescribed action leads to unambiguously better outcomes, no matter what happens outside the planning horizon. We employ these standards to explore the trade‐off between simplicity and other objectives, to characterize simple mechanisms in a wide range of economic environments, and to delineate the simplicity of common mechanisms such as posted prices and ascending auctions, with the former being simpler than the latter. |
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Carlos Alos-Ferrer, Gut instincts are useful shortcuts: but they can also be misleading, In: Psychology Today, 4, p. 30 - 44, 1 July 2023. (Newspaper Article)
The article focuses on the power of intuition or gut instincts and how they can be misleading or dangerous when applied in the wrong situation. It explains that intuition works well with familiarity, reinforcement or imitation, that is when faced exactly the same decision repeatedly. It cites that successful intuitive behavior is associated with expertise as the brain has been exposed to a lot of information and has internalized a series of subtle associations. |
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Angel Luis Perales Gómez, Lorenzo Fernández Maimó, Alberto Huertas Celdran, Félix J García Clemente, An interpretable semi‐supervised system for detecting cyberattacks using anomaly detection in industrial scenarios, IET Information Security, Vol. 17 (4), 2023. (Journal Article)
When detecting cyberattacks in Industrial settings, it is not sufficient to determine whether the system is suffering a cyberattack. It is also fundamental to explain why the system is under a cyberattack and which are the assets affected. In this context, the Anomaly Detection based on Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) techniques showed great performance when detecting cyberattacks in industrial scenarios. However, two main limitations hinder using them in a real environment. Firstly, most solutions are trained using a supervised approach, which is impractical in the real industrial world. Secondly, the use of black‐box ML and DL techniques makes it impossible to interpret the decision made by the model. This article proposes an interpretable and semi‐supervised system to detect cyberattacks in Industrial settings. Besides, our proposal was validated using data collected from the Tennessee Eastman Process. To the best of our knowledge, this system is the only one that offers interpretability together with a semi‐supervised approach in an industrial setting. Our system discriminates between causes and effects of anomalies and also achieved the best performance for 11 types of anomalies out of 20 with an overall recall of 0.9577, a precision of 0.9977, and a F1‐score of 0.9711. |
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