Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Dating The Timeline Of Financial Bubbles During The Subprime Crisis, Peter C. B. Phillips, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

A new recursive regression methodology is introduced to analyze the bubble characteristics of various financial time series during the subprime crisis. The methods modify a technique proposed in Phillips, Wu, and Yu (2011) and provide a technology for identifying bubble behavior with consistent dating of their origination and collapse. The tests serve as an early warning diagnostic of bubble activity and a new procedure is introduced for testing bubble migration across markets. Three relevant financial series are investigated, including a financial asset price (a house price index), a commodity price (the crude oil price), and one bond price (the spread …

Double Asymptotics For An Explosive Continuous Time Model, Xiaohu Wang, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper develops a double asymptotic limit theory for the persistent parameter (θ) in an explosive continuous time model with a large number of time span (N) and a small number of sampling interval (h). The limit theory allows for the joint limits where N → ∞ and h → 0 simultaneously, the sequential limits where N → ∞ is followed by h → 0, and the sequential limits where h → 0 is followed by N → ∞. All three asymptotic distributions are the same. The initial condition, either fixed or random, appears in the limiting distribution. The simultaneous …

Mncs And The Labour Crunch: Local Jobs May Suffer If Foreign Supply Is Curbed, Hian Teck Hoon

Research Collection School Of Economics

No abstract provided.

A Pomdp Model For Guiding Taxi Cruising In A Congested Urban City, Lucas Agussurja, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We consider a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) model for improving a taxi agent cruising decision in a congested urban city. Using real-world data provided by a large taxi company in Singapore as a guide, we derive the state transition function of the POMDP. Specifically, we model the cruising behavior of the drivers as continuous-time Markov chains. We then apply dynamic programming algorithm for finding the optimal policy of the driver agent. Using a simulation, we show that this policy is significantly better than a greedy policy in congested road network.

Exploring Tweets Normalization And Query Time Sensitivity For Twitter Search, Zhongyu Wei, Wei Gao, Lanjun Zhou, Binyang Li, Kam-Fai Wong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper presents our work for the Realtime Adhoc Task of TREC 2011 Microblog Track. Microblog texts like tweets are generally characterized by the inclusion of a large proportion of irregular expressions, such as ill-formed words, which can lead to significant mismatch between query terms and tweets. In addition, Twitter queries are distinguished from Web queries with many unique characteristics, one of which reflects the clearly distinct temporal aspects of Twitter search behavior. In this study, we deal with the first problem by normalizing tweet texts and the second by capturing the temporal characteristics of topic. We divided topics into …

Coping With Distance: An Empirical Study Of Communication On The Jazz Platform, Renuka Sindhgatta, Bikram Sengupta, Subhajit Datta

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Global software development - which is characterized by teams separated by physical distance and/or time-zone differences - has traditionally posed significant communication challenges. Often these have caused delays in completing tasks, or created misalignment across sites leading to re-work. In recent years, however, a new breed of development environments with rich collaboration features have emerged to facilitate cross-site work in distributed projects. In this paper we revisit the question "does distance matter?" in the context of IBM Jazz Platform -- a state-of-the-art collaborative development environment. We study the ecosystem of a large distributed team of around 300 members across 35 …

When It Comes To Poverty Reduction, Less May Be More, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

It is a widely accepted belief that people should be better off as the economy expands: The greater the growth, the greater the likelihood that poverty numbers will decline. While there are many good and valid reasons to hold this to be true, exceptions exist, where the lives of the poor have improved rapidly despite slow growth, or where poverty actually increases along with strong economic growth.

Watching The Clock: Challenges For The World's Fastest Growing Economies, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Double-digit economic growths that are set to propel it to the second biggest economy in the world, overtaking Japan, has made people see China’s rise as remarkable. So confident are the pundits that they have dubbed this to be an “Asian century” and many more are urging for the world to learn Chinese in anticipation of a new world order. But, to renowned historian Wang Gungwu, this fast-paced growth associated with China is not something that is peculiar to the Asian giant only.

Growing In Asia: P&G Turns To Market Research, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

“Create excitement in the market with new products; entice the competitors to play, and together, we can grow the market,” said Medhee Jarumaneeroj, the 'influencer marketing & external relations leader' for Procter & Gamble (P&G) Asia's male grooming outfit. Speaking at the Marketing Excellence Speaker Series, a monthly talk organised by SMU's Centre of Marketing Excellence, Jarumaneeroj expressed excitement about Asia as a huge growth market for the American multinational.

Ingredients For Creating And Sustaining Growth For The Long Term, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

It is easy to explain why organisations need and want to grow. This applies not only to bottom line-oriented companies, but also non-profit entities. Just like the same way business management skills can and should be applied to public sector and not-for-profit set-ups, these organisations do seek growth too. However, while it is easy to engineer short spurts of growth one way or another, what differentiates a successful organisation from one less so, is whether this organisation can sustain growth over the long-term and achieve continuous success.

Leadership In A Multinational Corporation: Going Beyond Stereotypes And Expectations, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

"There are plenty of good managers but finding a real leader is not that easy." Fabio Landazabal, vice president and regional director for Asia Pacific at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), said this at a CEO talkorganised by Singapore Management University's Wee Kim Wee Centre. With some 3,800 (and growing) employees in the region alone, the world's number three pharmaceutical player (by revenue) is paying greater attention than ever in building up its leadership capabilities for its future.

Predictions For Protection: A System To Measure And Detect Asset Bubbles, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

The damage wrecked by the bursting of asset bubbles can have a devastating impact on investors' fortunes. In the Internet bubble, some US$8 trillion of shareholder wealth was destroyed. What is even more pertinent, however, is how the popping of a bubble can create a financial crisis, impacting nations and their economies. As a result, understanding how to identify bubbles is an important first step in combating these speculative bubbles, with interested parties ranging from the academic and investment community to central bankers and policy makers.

Designing Low-Cost Mobile Websites For Libraries, Tiffini Travis, Chee Hsien Aaron (Zheng Zhixian) Tay

Research Collection Library

As smartphone ownership rises, usage patterns are expanding. Libraries face an increasing demand for online content delivered in a mobile compatible format while being constrained by financial and staffing limitations. Solutions are readily available through free and low-cost products to create mobile web pages and existing design models from which to draw inspiration. Platform-specific apps can easily support the kinds of content most commonly delivered on library mobile pages: basic contact information and outbound links to the catalog, databases, and other resources. Two software platforms for creating simple pages were tested, the free software from WordPress with mobile detection formatting …

Unmet Social Needs In Singapore: Singapore's Social Structures And Policies, And Their Impact On Six Vulnerable Communities, Braema Mathi, Sharifah Mohamed

Lien Centre for Social Innovation: Research

In line with Lien Centre’s vision to catalyse positive social change, this research was carried out to understand social gaps in Singapore and how our society’s ability to meet social needs can be enhanced. Despite basic social needs in Singapore being essentially met through direct government interventions and the contributions of non-governmental social service activities, there are today some vulnerable groups that remain or have become more prominent. This research project aims to identify some of these needs and the possible approaches to addressing them.

It is hoped that some of the recommendations of this report will be helpful for …

Evaluating Energy Security Performance From 1990 To 2010 For Eighteen Countries, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Ishani Mukherjee, Ira Martina Drupady, Anthony L. D' Agostino

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study provides an index for evaluating national energy security policies and performance among the United States, European Union, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the ten countries comprising the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Drawn from research interviews, a survey instrument, and a focused workshop, the article first argues that energy security ought to be comprised of five dimensions related to availability, affordability, technology development, sustain-ability, and regulation. The article then breaks these dimensions down into 20 components and correlates them with 20 metrics that constitute a comprehensive energy security index. We find that the …

Economic Inequality Is Linked To Biased Self-Perception, Steve Loughnan, Peter Kuppens, Juri Allik, Katalin Balazs, Soledad De Lemus, Kitty Dumont, Rafael Gargurevich, Istvan Hidegkuti, Bernhard Leidner, Jennifer Yuk-Yue Tong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

People’s self-perception biases often lead them to see themselves as better than the average person (a phenomenon known as self-enhancement). This bias varies across cultures, and variations are typically explained using cultural variables, such as individualism versus collectivism. We propose that socioeconomic differences among societies—specifically, relative levels of economic inequality—play an important but unrecognized role in how people evaluate themselves. Evidence for self-enhancement was found in 15 diverse nations, but the magnitude of the bias varied. Greater self-enhancement was found in societies with more income inequality, and income inequality predicted cross-cultural differences in self-enhancement better than did individualism/ collectivism. These …

Perceptions Of Fairness, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Peter Clark, European Cities And Towns 400-2000, F. Williamson

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Peter Clark is undoubtedly one of the leading experts on urban history. Playing a major role in some of the most dynamic forums for urban studies, including the British Urban History Group, the Centre for Urban History at Leicester, and the European Association for Urban History, Clark has for many years been a central f igure in raising the profile of urban historiography and in furthering its evolution. His research has brought esteem as well as provoking critical debate; his works are deemed essential reading for any student of the topic. Hence, a new title from Clark is exciting news.

Singapore Management University And Singapore University Of Technology And Design Ink Memorandum Of Understanding For Education, Research And Exchange, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases and News

No abstract provided.

Have You Restructured For Global Success?, Nirmalya Kumar, Phanish Puranam

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The organizational structures of many multinational corporations are inadequate to the task of capitalizing on opportunities in emerging markets. Locating customer-facing processes in each country-and even using transnational structures that exploit location-specific advantages-just doesn't cut it anymore. So argue Kumar and Puranam, of London Business School. The authors show how the growth of China and India as lead markets and as talent pools, coupled with advances in technology, enable companies to optimize their organizations by segmenting R&D both vertically and horizontally, thereby creating T-shaped structures.The greatest challenge of the T-shaped structure is managing integration across countries. The solution is to …

Examining The Chinese Approach To Crisis Management: Cover-Ups, Saving Face, And Taking The “Upper Level Line”, Lan Ye, Augustine Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In 2008, the Sanlu Group, a former giant in the Chinese dairy industry and a quintessential Chinese organization, was confronted with the melamine-contaminated milk crisis. Its products were blamed for causing at least six babies' deaths and damaging the kidneys of about 294,000 babies. Sanlu was criticized for its crisis handling, which resulted in its collapse several months later. Using the contingency theory of strategic conflict management and Coombs' typology of crisis communication strategies, this study explored Sanlu's crisis management as a mirror to understanding the Chinese approach to crisis management. Findings showed that influenced by political, social, and cultural …

How To Test Cultural Theory: Suggestions For Future Research, Marco Verweij, Shenghua Luan, Mark Nowacki

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This symposium highlighted the relevance of the cultural theory (CT) pioneered by anthropologists Mary Douglas, Steve Rayner, and Michael Thompson and political scientists Aaron Wildavsky and Richard Ellis for explaining political phenomena. In this concluding article, we suggest ways in which CT can be further tested and developed. First, we describe how the theory has been applied thus far and some of the achievements of these applications. Then, we examine some of the challenges revealed by this research. Finally, we discuss ways of applying CT that promise to help meet these challenges. These methods include nesting case studies and combining …

Optimal Jackknife For Discrete Time And Continuous Time Unit Root Models, Ye Chen, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

Maximum likelihood estimation of the persistence parameter in the discrete time unit root model is known for su§ering from a downward bias. The bias is more pronounced in the continuous time unit root model. Recently Chambers and Kyriacou (2010) introduced a new jackknife method to remove the Örst order bias in the estimator of the persistence parameter in a discrete time unit root model. This paper proposes an improved jackknife estimator of the persistence parameter that works for both the discrete time unit root model and the continuous time unit root model. The proposed jackknife estimator is optimal in the …

Non-Parametric Regression Under Location Shifts, Peter C. B. Phillips, Liangjun Su

Research Collection School Of Economics

Recent work by Wang and Phillips (2009b, 2011) has shown that ill-posed inverse problems do not arise in non-stationary non-parametric regression and there is no need for non-parametric instrumental variable estimation. Instead, simple Nadaraya–Watson non-parametric estimation of a cointegrating regression equation is consistent irrespective of the endogeneity in the regressor. The present paper shows that some closely related results apply in the case of structural non-parametric regression with independent data when there are continuous location shifts in the regressor. Some interesting cases are discovered where non-parametric regression is consistent, whereas parametric regression is inconsistent even when the true regression functional …

Diving Into The New Innovation Landscape: The Eastern Current, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Thirty years ago, when the business world sought innovation, most eyes looked West – mainly to the OECD countries considered to be the most economically advanced. We focused on technology-based product innovations, which were conceived for Western customers, developed in laboratories close to the headquarters of Western companies, and rolled out in the world’s wealthiest markets: North America, Western Europe and Japan, an honorary member of the Western club. This is no longer the case. Now, when the business world asks where the next innovative product or process will come from, what it will consist of, where it will be …

Tilted Nonparametric Estimation Of Volatility Functions With Empirical Applications, Ke-Li Xu, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

This article proposes a novel positive nonparametric estimator of the conditional variance function without reliance on logarithmic or other transformations. The estimator is based on an empirical likelihood modification of conventional local-level nonparametric regression applied to squared residuals of the mean regression. The estimator is shown to be asymptotically equivalent to the local linear estimator in the case of unbounded support but, unlike that estimator, is restricted to be nonnegative in finite samples. It is fully adaptive to the unknown conditional mean function. Simulations are conducted to evaluate the finite-sample performance of the estimator. Two empirical applications are reported. One …

Mate-Selection And The Dark Triad: Facilitating A Short-Term Mating Strategy And Creating A Volatile Environment, Peter K. Jonason, Katherine A. Valentine, Norman P. Li, Carmelita L. Harbeson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The current study (N = 242) seeks to establish the relationship between traits known collectively as the Dark Triad – narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism – and mating standards and preferences. Using a budget-allocation task, we correlated scores on the Dark Triad traits with mate preferences for a long-term and short-term mate. Men scoring high on the Dark Triad may be more indiscriminate than most when selecting for short-term mates in order to widen their prospects. Furthermore, those high on the Dark Triad – psychopathy in particular – tend to select for mates based on self-interest, assortative mating, or a predilection for …

The Informal Economy And Bribery In North Korea, Byung-Yeon Kim, Yumi Koh

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper uses the data of 227 North Korean refugees who have settled in South Korea to investigate the relationship between working in the informal economy (market component of the economy) and bribe-giving, and between bribe-giving and the number of hours worked in the formal sector (planned component of the economy). The first relationship is positive, and the second relationship is negative. These results imply that widespread informal economy activities in North Korea have been undermining the socialist regime through bribery.

Family Background And Economic Outcomes In Japan, Ken Yamada

Research Collection School Of Economics

There has been increasing concern about the influence of elements of family background on children’s future outcomes in Japan. This paper empirically examines the long-term impact of family background, including sibling composition and parental attributes, and reveals how these elements of Japanese women’s family backgrounds affect their educational attainment and investment, labor market outcomes, family formation, and spousal characteristics.

Mining Direct Antagonistic Communities In Explicit Trust Networks, David Lo, Didi Surian, Zhang Kuan, Ee Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

There has been a recent increase of interest in analyzing trust and friendship networks to gain insights about relationship dynamics among users. Many sites such as Epinions, Facebook, and other social networking sites allow users to declare trusts or friendships between different members of the community. In this work, we are interested in extracting direct antagonistic communities (DACs) within a rich trust network involving trusts and distrusts. Each DAC is formed by two subcommunities with trust relationships among members of each sub-community but distrust relationships across the sub-communities. We develop an efficient algorithm that could analyze large trust networks leveraging …