It becomes apparent that growing disparity in China is highly associated with regional variation of productivity, and that productivity is significantly impacted by financial deepening process. After identifying and estimating the share of bank lending to non-state sector, this paper finds a...

The financial intermediation-growth nexus is a widely studied topic in the literature of development economics. Deepening financial intermediation may promote economic growth by mobilizing more investments, and lifting returns to financial resources, which raises productivity. Relying on...

This dissertation consists of four essays on pricing fixed income derivatives and risk management. The first essay presents pricing and duration formulas for floating rate bonds and interest rate swaps with embedded options. It combines Briys et al.'s approximation with the extended Vasicek term...

This paper generalizes the M-square and M-vector models (Fong and Fabozzi [1985] and Nawalkha and Chambers [1997]) by using a Taylor series expansion of the bond return function with respect to simple polynomial functions of the cash flow maturities. The classic M-vector computes the weighted...

Hedging and valuing multi-asset options are analyzed using the Optimal Hedge Monte-Carlo method. The average cost of hedging and the residual risks are related to the stochastic description of the underlying assets, their dependence structure, and to the option contract details. A long position...

Z<sc>hang</sc> J. Related variety, global connectivity and institutional embeddedness: Internet development in Beijing and Shanghai compared, <italic>Regional Studies</italic>. This paper employs the notion of 'related variety' to compare the emerging Internet industry in China's two largest city-regions: Beijing and...

Depression is a serious mental disorder which affects more than 350 million people of all ages worldwide in the 2012 and physical activity is generally believed to be effective in combating depressive symptoms. This study investigates the effects of regular physical activity and sociodemographic...