Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

To Build A Nation From The Bottom Up, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

After 45 years of economic achievement, genuine political participation has to be the next stage

Comments On “Population Aging And Economic Growth In Asia” By David Bloom, David Canning And Joycelyn Finlay, Roberto S. Mariano

Research Collection School Of Economics

No abstract provided.

Advertising Collusion In Retail Markets, Kyle Bagwell, Gea M. Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

We analyze non-price advertising by retail firms, when the firms are privately informed about their respective costs of production. In a static advertising game, an advertising equilibrium exists in which lower-cost firms select higher advertising levels. In this equilibrium, informed consumers rationally employ an advertising search rule in which they buy from the highest-advertising firm since lower-cost firms also select lower prices. In a repeated advertising game, colluding firms face a trade-off: the use of advertising can promote productive efficiency, but only if sufficient current or future advertising expenses are incurred. At one extreme, if firms pool at zero advertising, …

A Shifting Paradigm And Growth Strategies Reappraisal In Post-Crisis Asia, Winston T.H. Koh

Research Collection School Of Economics

The Financial Crisis of 2007 has had far-ranging implications for the global economy. Questions were raised if export-led growth model in Asia has hit the limits. Income growth must be inclusive and sustainable, and to be achieved alongside other goals. Asian economies need to rebalance growth toward greater reliance on domestic and regional demand with a greater emphasis on social and environmental sustainability.

Evaluating The Conditions For Robust Mechanism Design, Takashi Kunimoto, Roberto Serrano

Research Collection School Of Economics

We assess the strength of the different conditions identified in the literature of robustmechanism design. We focus on three conditions: ex post incentive compatibility,robust monotonicity, and robust measurability. Ex post incentive compatibility hasbeen shown to be necessary for any concept of robust implementation, while robustmonotonicity and robust measurability have been shown to be necessary for robust(full) exact and virtual implementation, respectively. This paper shows that whileviolations of ex post incentive compatibility and robust monotonicity do not easily goaway, we identify a mild condition on environments in which robust measurability issatisfied by all social choice functions over a residual set (i.e., …

Price Movers On The Stock Exchange Of Thailand: Evidence From A Fully Automated Order-Driven Market, Charlie Charoenwong, David K. Ding, Nattawut Jenwittayaroje

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examines trade sizes used by informed traders. The selected sample includes 73 active stocks from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), a pure limit order market, that cover two distinct market conditions of a bull and bear market. Using intraday data, the study finds that large sized trades (i.e., larger than the 75th percentile) account for a disproportionately large impact on changes in traded and quoted prices. This finding compares with the results of studies conducted on U.S. markets that show informed traders employ trade sizes falling between the 40th and 95th percentiles (Barclay and Warner 1993; Chakravarty …

Patrilocal Exogamy As A Monitoring Mechanism: How Inheritance And Residence Patterns Co-Evolve, Brishti Guha

Research Collection School Of Economics

Economists have modeled inheritance norms assuming the pattern of post-marital residence is exogenous. We model the co-evolution of these two institutions, examining how patrilineal inheritance and patrilocal exogamy reinforced each other in a patrilineal-patrilocal equilibrium. We also derive conditions for a matrilineal-matrilocal equilibrium. The endogenous choice of the old to monitor the sexual behavior of the young women who reside with them, thereby affecting the paternity confidence of the young women’s husbands and hence their incentives, is crucial. Our model fits the data on the relationship between inheritance, residence patterns and paternity confidence, and on the importance of paternity uncertainty.

Advertising Competition In Retail Markets, Kyle Bagwell, Gea Myoung Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

We consider non-price advertising by retail firms that are privately informed as to their respective production costs. We construct an advertising equilibrium, in which informed consumers use an advertising search rule whereby they buy from the highest-advertising firm. Consumers are rational in using the advertising search rule, since the lowest-cost firm advertises the most and also selects the lowest price. Even though the advertising equilibrium facilitates productive efficiency, we establish conditions under which firms enjoy higher expected profit when advertising is banned. Consumer welfare falls in this case, however. Under free entry, social surplus is higher when advertising is allowed. …

Modeling Of The Single Coil, Twin Fan Air-Conditioning System In Energyplus, Clayton Miller, Chandra Sekhar

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper outlines the conceptual development of a building energy simulation model for the Single Coil, Twin Fan Air Conditioning (SCTF) system in the whole building simulation program EnergyPlus. The SCTF system is a unitary, multi-zone system which conditions the outdoor ventilation and recirculated return air in two separate streams through a single compartmented cooling coil and supplies these unmixed streams via two variable speed fans and a dual duct arrangement to zonal mixing boxes. The main challenges addressed in EnergyPlus include the existing inability to concurrently simulate unmixed air streams within a centralized VAV system, supply and control outdoor …

Oral History Interview With Leong Kwong Sin: Conceptualising Smu, Kwong Sin Leong

Oral History Collection

The interview covere: first involvement with SMU, third university, role and responsibilities, planning, mission statement, employer engagement, faculty compensation, city campus, pioneer students, first commencement, achievements.

Biography:

Associate Professor of Accounting, SMU, 2000–present

Member of SMU start-up team

Professor Leong Kwong Sin, an SMU ‘pioneer’, joined the start-up team for the new university in 1998. Today he is an associate professor of accounting in the School of Accountancy. He was named one of the outstanding teachers in the School of Accountancy in December 2005. His research interests include the area of accounting disclosure, accounting education, corporate governance and financial reporting …

Research Data Services At Singapore Management University: Engagement Summary Report, Terrence B. Bennett

Research Collection Library

In order for Singapore Management University to provide essential support to its researchers and remain competitive with peer institutions, the Li Ka Shing Library at SMU should initiate a distinct research data services function that provides, at minimum, identification and dissemination of data resources, instruction in finding and using data, and some technical assistance with the use of specialized software. In anticipation of emerging trends in data management, these base-level data services will enable SMU to be positioned for strategic growth—the progress of which is carefully aligned with limits to funding, staffing, and other resource allocations—in order to meet the …

Peer Helpers: Bridging The Gap Between The Student Community And The University’S Counseling Service, Timothy Hsi, Ada Yee Lin Chung

Research Collection Dean of Students Office

Students helping students as a concept is widely used in colleges and universities across the United States and Canada. One study observed that up to 78% of these educational institutions employed University and College students as peer helpers, educators and para-professionals in support of various programs (Klein, Sondag & Drolet, 1994). Since 2003, the Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Centre for Counseling and Guidance (CCG) have actively promoted, trained and developed undergraduates to serve alongside the counselors as Peer Helpers. This is part of the overarching strategy of the Centre to build an "Emotional Safety Net" across the entire student community …

Smu Celebrates Its 7th Batch Of 1,514 Graduates, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases and News

No abstract provided.

Tan Ah Choon: The Singapore ‘King Of Spirit Mediums’ (1928-2010), Margaret Chan, Victor Yue

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

On 27 January 2010 Tan Ah CHOON died at the age of 82. Born in the year of the dragon (1928), Tan was the most respected spirit-medium among his peers. He became a tangki (童乩 tongji ‘child diviner’ or Chinese spirit-medium) just before the 1950s, and by the 1960s was regarded as the wisest, most powerful spirit-medium in the Singapore tangki community so that he was nicknamed “Tangki Ong” (童乩王), the “Tangki King”.Mr Tan was “caught” by deities to become a spirit medium when he was aged about 21 years. This was just after the Second World War, but Tan’s …

From Collective Memory To Commemoration, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

To have “memory” of an event, humans have to experience it themselves. Learning of an event secondhand, humans acquire knowledge, but not memory. Yet, when sociologists speak of “collective memory,” they routinely include as agents of memory those who do not have firsthand experience of a past event. This inclusion has been taken for granted ever since Maurice Halbwachs (1992) formulated his Durkheimian theory of the relationship between collective memory and commemoration in terms of group solidarity and identity: collective memory emerges when those without firsthand experience of an event identify with those who have such experience, defining …

Nationalizing International Theory: Race, Class And The English School, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Much work has been done to deconstruct the links between knowledge and power in IR as "an American Social Science". This topic has arisen again with the re- launching of the English School of IR Theory in 2001. This essay argues that although the English School is critical of the power-knowledge dynamic, it actually exacerbates the problem by deliberately "nationalising" international theory. The essay traces the emergence and logic of the English School and its key concept "International Society". It argues that the English School is tied not only to national identity but to the rules of European Empire. Using …

China's Grand Strategy In A Post-Western World, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A number of different visions of China’s future as a leading world power are competing for public attention and influence. Among them are populist ideas that challenge Beijing’s official rhetoric about “building a harmonious world”, says William A Callahan.

Reforming China's State-Owned Farms: State Farms In Agrarian Transition, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

China’s 2000 strong state-owned farms are experiencing a dual transition in the country’s economic reforms: the market transition (from state-owned enterprises embedded in the redistributive system to independent enterprises in the new market economy) and agrarian transition (from small-scale, household-based agriculture to large-scale, capitalist forms of agriculture that rely on market exchanges of land, labor and products). This paper highlights the results of a comparative analysis of the state farms and rural farming households in the agrarian transition to address the theoretical debate about agrarian transition. Using field research data from state farms in HeilongJIANG Province and drawing extensively from …

Extracting Common Emotions From Blogs Based On Fine-Grained Sentiment Clustering, Shi Feng, Daling Wang, Ge Yu, Wei Gao, Kam-Fai Wong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Recently, blogs have emerged as the major platform for people to express their feelings and sentiments in the age of Web 2.0. The common emotions, which reflect people’s collective and overall sentiments, are becoming the major concern for governments, business companies and individual users. Different from previous literatures on sentiment classification and summarization, the major issue of common emotion extraction is to find out people’s collective sentiments and their corresponding distributions on the Web. Most existing blog clustering methods take into account keywords, stories or timelines but neglect the embedded sentiments, which are considered very important features of blogs. In …

Mir Talks To Vinita Bali, Managing Director And Ceo Of Britannia Industries, Srinivas K. Reddy

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Today we live in a truly global economy, no matter whether we talk about goods, services or manpower. Whereas economic growth rates in Europe and North America remain moderate, many Asian countries are booming despite last year´s economic downturn. This is reason enough for MIR to take a closer look at one of the rising stars: India. In June 2010, MIR talked to Vinita Bali, one of the few female CEOs of leading companies, who has worked in influential marketing positions on five continents. In describing how Britannia, one of the most famous Indian brands, handles everyday business and marketing …

How Predictable Is The Chinese Stock Market?, Fuwei Jiang, David E. Rapach, Jack K. Strauss, Jun Tu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We analyze return predictability for the Chinese stock market, including the aggregate market portfolio and the components of the aggregate market, such as portfolios sorted on industry, size, book-to-market and ownership concentration. Considering a variety of economic variables as predictors, both in-sample and out-of-sample tests highlight significant predictability in the aggregate market portfolio of the Chinese stock market and substantial differences in return predictability across components. Among industry portfolios, Finance and insurance, Real estate, and Service exhibit the most predictability, while portfolios of small-cap and low ownership concentration firms also display considerable predictability. Two key findings provide economic explanations for …

Report Of The Law Reform Committee On Online Gaming And Singapore, Joyce A. Tan, Aqbal Singh, Yee Fen Lim, Wai Yee Wan, Warren B. Chik,

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The terms “gaming” and “gambling” are fairly wide and they refer to a wide range of activities. Traditionally, the term “gambling” has been used to cover lotteries, wagers and casino-style games. “Gaming” has also been used traditionally in some literature to cover not only activities involving gambling but also games of skill or games predominantly of skill. However, in recent times, certain jurisdictions such as the United States (“US”) and Australia have drawn a distinction between “online gaming” and “online gambling”. The former is used to refer to games played in an online environment which do not have the elements …

The Challenges For Asian Jurisdictions In The Development Of International Criminal Justice, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The paper reviews the different frameworks for international criminal justice in which China’s influence can be measured, or should be present, looking specifically at procedural traditions on which international criminal law and its jurisprudence are said to be based. Understanding China as a transitional hybrid criminal justice model undergoing radical transformation in its justice delivery and discourse, it is argued, assists significantly in forecasting where the synthesis of international criminal procedure may be heading. Attached to a re-interpretation and critique of individualised liability is the unpacking of China’s in principle commitment to communitarian rights and social protection as a foundation …

Profile Quasi-Maximum Likelihood Estimation Of Partially Linear Spatial Autoregressive Models, Liangjun Su, Sainan Jin

Research Collection School Of Economics

We propose profile quasi-maximum likelihood estimation of spatial autoregressive models that are partially linear. The rate of convergence of the spatial parameter estimator depends on some general features of the spatial weight matrix of the model. The estimators of other finite-dimensional parameters in the model have the regular √n-rate of convergence and the estimator of the nonparametric component is consistent but with different restrictions on the choice of bandwidth parameter associated with different natures of the spatial weights. Monte Carlo simulations verify our theory and indicate that our estimators perform reasonably well in finite samples.

Off The Cliff And Back? Credit Conditions And International Trade During The Global Financial Crisis, Davin Chor, Kalina Manova

Research Collection School Of Economics

We study the collapse of international trade flows during the global financial crisis using detailed data on monthly US imports. We show that credit conditions were an important channel through which the crisis affected trade volumes, by exploiting the variation in the cost of capital across countries and over time, as well as the variation in financial vulnerability across sectors. Countries with higher interbank rates and thus tighter credit markets exported less to the US during the peak of the crisis. This effect was especially pronounced in sectors that require extensive external financing, have limited access to trade credit, or …

Bimodal T-Ratios: The Impact Of Thick Tails On Inference, Carlo V. Fioro, Vassilis A. Hajivassiliou, Peter C. B. Phillips

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper studies the distribution of the classical t-ratio with data generated from distributions with no finite moments and shows how classical testing is affected by bimodality. A key condition in generating bimodality is independence of the observations in the underlying data-generating process (DGP). The paper highlights the strikingly different implications of lack of correlation versus statistical independence in DGPs with infinite moments and shows how standard inference can be invalidated in such cases, thereby pointing to the need for adapting estimation and inference procedures to the special problems induced by thick-tailed (TT) distributions. The paper presents theoretical results for …

Effect Of Credit Ratings On Airport Financing And Management, Kazusei Kato, Koichiro Tezuka, Joyce M. W. Low

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper analyzes the effect of airport ownership structure on management efficiency as reflected through their credit ratings. A game-theoretical model is proposed to examine the role of credit ratings in mitigating the moral hazard problem of public-owned airports. The analytical results derived from the model are then used to supplement a supporting case study. Notwithstanding the fact that the less competitive environment of a public-owned entity and its credit ratings might bring some welfare loss , this research concludes that public-owned airports have some advantages.

A Heuristic Algorithm For Trust-Oriented Service Provider Selection In Complex Social Networks, Guanfeng Liu, Yan Wang, Mehmet A. Orgun, Ee Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In a service-oriented online social network consisting of service providers and consumers, a service consumer can search trustworthy service providers via the social network. This requires the evaluation of the trustworthiness of a service provider along a certain social trust path from the service consumer to the service provider. However, there are usually many social trust paths between participants in social networks. Thus, a challenging problem is which social trust path is the optimal one that can yield the most trustworthy evaluation result. In this paper, we first present a novel complex social network structure and a new concept, Quality …

Nonparametric Testing For Asymmetric Information, Liangjun Su, Martin Spindler

Research Collection School Of Economics

Asymmetric information is an important phenomenon in many markets and in particular in insurance markets. Testing for asymmetric information has become a very important issue in the literature in the last two decades. Almost all testing procedures that are used in empirical studies are parametric, which may yield misleading conclusions in the case of misspecification of either functional or distributional relationships among the variables of interest. Motivated by the literature on testing conditional independence, we propose a new nonparametric test for asymmetric information which is applicable in a variety of situations. We demonstrate the test works reasonably well through Monte …

What Is Method Variance And How Can We Cope With It? A Panel Discussion, Michael T. Brannick, David Chan, James M. Conway, Charles E. Lance, Paul E. Spector

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A panel of experts describes the nature of, and remedies for, method variance. In an attempt to help the reader understand the nature of method variance, the authors describe their experiences with method variance both on the giving and the receiving ends of the editorial review process, as well as their interpretation of other reviewers’ comments. They then describe methods of data analysis and research design, which have been used for detecting and eliminating the effects of method variance. Most methods have some utility, but none prevent the researcher from making faulty inferences. The authors conclude with suggestions for resolving …