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The purpose of this paper is to introduce a model to measure foreign exchange (FX) rate volatility accurately. The FX rate volatility forecasting is a crucial endeavour in financial markets and has gained the attention of researchers and practitioners over the last several decades. The implied volatility (IV) measure is widely believed to be the best measure of exchange rate volatility. Despite its widespread usage, the IV approach suffers from an obvious chicken‐egg problem: obtaining an unbiased IV requires the options to be priced correctly and calculating option prices accurately requires an unbiased IV.

The authors contribute to the literature by developing a new model for FX rate volatility – the “moneyness volatility (MV)”. This approach is based on measuring the variability of forward‐looking “moneyness” rather than use of options price. To assess volatility forecasting performance of MV against IV, the in‐sample and out‐of‐sample tests are involved using the F‐test, Granger‐Newbold test and Diebold‐Mariano framework.

The MV model outperforms the IV in FX rate volatility forecasting ability in both in‐sample and out‐of‐sample tests. The F‐test, Granger‐Newbold test and Diebold‐Mariano test results consistently reveal that MV outperforms IV in estimating as well as forecasting exchange rate volatility for six major currency options. Furthermore, in Mincer‐Zarnowitz regressions, MV outperforms IV and time‐series models in predicting future volatility.

The authors’ pioneering approach in modeling exchange rate volatility has far‐reaching implications for academicians, professional traders, and financial risk analysts and managers.

This chapter develops a predictive approach to Granger causality (GC) testing that utilizes k -fold cross-validation and posterior simulation to perform out-of-sample testing. A Monte Carlo study indicates that the cross-validation predictive procedure has improved power in comparison to previously available out-of-sample testing procedures, matching the performance of the in-sample F-test while retaining the credibility of post- sample inference. An empirical application to the Phillips curve is provided evaluating the evidence on GC between inflation and unemployment rates.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the relevance of the real estate curricula being offered by the two universities in Botswana to industry.

This is a cross-sectional study in which a designed questionnaire was administered to the practitioners in real estate obtained from the membership list of the Real Estate Institute of Botswana (REIB), final-year students and former graduates of the Bachelor of Land Management programme using proportionate stratified random sampling technique. This resulted into the total population of 150 elements. Students for the Bachelor of Commerce in Real Estate (BCom RE) at Ba Isago and BSc Real Estate programme at the University of Botswana were excluded from the population because they did not have graduate degrees yet; therefore the study sample was drawn from the identified population at 90 per cent confidence level with a 10 per cent margin of error. The sampling frame composed of 122 registered property valuers and managers, 14 alumni and 14 final-year students of Land Management (150). The sample size of 60 was determined at 90 per cent level of confidence with a 10 per cent margin of error. The questionnaire was administered through e-mail using a contact list from the REIB to their members. It was also e-mailed to the alumni and physically administered to the final-year students as well. A 60 per cent response rate was achieved.

It was established that the three programmes offered at the two universities in their current form are relevant to the industry. The overall average scores out of 5 for these programmes were 4.14 for BSc Real Estate – UB, 4.10 for Bachelor Land Management – UB and 3.97 for BCom RE – Ba Isago University College. By using analysis of variance, the study further established that there were no significant differences between the two programmes that are offered at UB and the one at Ba Isago University College. This was established by looking at the computed F-test (0.89) and the critical F-test (2.36). Since the computed F-test was less than the critical F-test value, it was concluded that there is no significant statistical differences among the three programmes being offered in the two universities.

The major limitation in this study was the use of an e-mailed questionnaire to the property practitioners and alumni of the Land Management programme which is characterised by a low response rate.

Since the three overall mean scores are close to and above 4.00, it means the current programmes offered at the two universities are relevant to the industry.

The research results might be useful to the society and should be used to enhance the social uplifting of society by contributing to the decisions that are made which might affect the society as a whole.

This is the first study to be conducted in Botswana which was meant to establish if the real estate programmes offered in the two universities were relevant. It is the first study to compare and evaluate the relevance of the contents of three real estate programmes locally.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the concepts of individual and complete statistical power used for multiple testing and shows their relevance for determining the number of statistical tests to perform when assessing non-response bias.

A statistical power analysis of 55 survey-based research papers published in three prestigious logistics journals (International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, Journal of Business Logistics, Transportation Journal) over the last decade was conducted.

Results show that some of the low complete power levels encountered could have been avoided if fewer tests had been used in the assessment of non-response bias.

The research offers important recommendations to scholars engaged in survey research as they assess the effects of non-respondents on research findings. By following the recommended strategies for testing non-response bias, researchers can improve the statistical power of their findings.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a debt rating index system for small industrial enterprises that significantly distinguishes the default state. This debt rating system is constructed using the F-test and correlation analysis method, with the small industrial enterprise loans of a Chinese commercial bank as the data sample. This study establishes the weighting principle for the debt scoring model: “the more significant the default state, the larger is the weight.” The debt rating system for small industrial enterprises is constructed based on the standard “the higher the debt rating, the lower is the loss given default.”

In this study, the authors selected indexes that pass the homogeneity of variance test based on the principle that a greater deviation of the default sample’s mean from the whole sample’s mean leads to greater significance in distinguishing the default samples from the non-default samples. The authors removed correlated indexes based on the results of the correlation analysis and constructed a debt rating index system for small industrial enterprises that included 23 indexes.

Among the 23 indexes, the weights of 12 quantitative indexes add up to 0.547, while the weights of the remaining 11 qualitative indexes add up to 0.453. That is, in the debt rating of the small industry enterprises, the financial indexes are not capable of reflecting all the debt situations, and the qualitative indexes play a more important role in debt rating. The weights of indexes “X17 Outstanding loans to all assets ratio” and “X59 Date of the enterprise establishment” are 0.146 and 0.133, respectively; both these are greater than 0.1, and the indexes are ranked first and second, respectively. The weights of indexes “X6 EBIT-to- current liabilities ratio,” “X13 Ratio of capital to fixed” and “X78 Legal dispute number” are between 0.07 and 0.09, these indexes are ranked third to fifth. The weights of indexes “X3 Quick ratio” and “X50 Per capital year-end savings balance of Urban and rural residents” are both 0.013, and these are the lowest ranked indexes.

The data of index i are divided into two categories: default and non-default. A greater deviation in the mean of the default sample from that of the whole sample leads to greater deviation from the non-default sample’s mean as well; thus, the index can easily distinguish the default and the non-default samples. Following this line of thought, the authors select indexes that pass the F-test for the debt rating system that identifies whether or not the sample is default. This avoids the disadvantages of the existing research in which the standard for selecting the index has nothing to do with the default state; further, this presents a new way of debt rating. When the correlation coefficient of two indexes is greater than 0.8, the index with the smaller F-value is removed because of its weaker prediction capacity. This avoids the mistake of eliminating an index that has strong ability to distinguish default and non-default samples. The greater the deviation of the default sample’s mean from the whole sample’s mean, the greater is the capability of the index to distinguish the default state. According to this rule, the authors assign a larger weight to the index that exhibits the ability to identify the default state. This is different from the existing index system, which does not take into account the ability to identify the default state.

This paper aims to propose a strategy to analyze management governance in China.

This paper incorporates data on 989 Chinese listed firms over 2006 to 2016. A fixed effects model with panel data and an F-test are applied to exploit the relationship between management ownership and firm performance. A threshold model is introduced to explore the impacts of other governance mechanisms on management governance.

This paper finds an inverted U-shaped relationship between management ownership and firm performance. Furthermore, the threshold model demonstrates that large shareholders strengthen the positive effects of management governance and attenuate its negative effects; board size strengthens the positive effects of management governance but cannot attenuate its negative effects; and independent directors attenuate the negative effects of management governance.

This paper indicates that increasing management ownership could motivate managers to ameliorate the agent’s moral hazard problem which link the firm value premium when management ownership is less than 20.286 per cent. However, equity incentives are very rare in China. Thus, the authors expect that equity incentives will be a common phenomenon in Chinese listed firms.

This paper contributes to corporate governance literature by shedding some light on management ownership to explore the effects of management ownership. Specifically, this paper explores the effects of management ownership on firm performance and the impacts of other governance mechanisms on management governance to shape the management governance in China.

This survey research aims to investigate the level of satisfaction among children (up to 14 years) with regard to facilities and services available at the children’s section of the Jaffna Public Library (JPL, Sri Lanka).

A structured questionnaire was distributed among randomly selected members of the children’s section, JPL. Data collected via the structured questionnaire were analysed using SPSS 22.0. In addition to the descriptive analysis, independent samples t-test and f-test were conducted to observe the influence of personal variables on different facets of user satisfaction.

The response rate was 67 per cent. Descriptive analysis showed that the prime purpose of visiting the children’s section (JPL) is reading books and other materials. With regard to frequency of visit, 86 per cent of the respondents visit the library three to four times in a week or at least once a week. Results of the f-test indicated that there is no significant difference among different age groups for overall satisfaction of children’s section facilities and services. Results of the t-test revealed that female children are more satisfied with the library environment compared to males. Further, the level of satisfaction with shelf arrangement, library environment and children’s programmes differed significantly between children studying in the bilingual and the Tamil mediums.

This study reports the empirical findings of the user survey carried out at the children’s section of the JPL.

This research models the impact of patient perceptions of care quality on overall patient satisfaction in a rural healthcare organization over a three-year time period. The purpose of this paper is to determine if the factors that influence perceptions of service quality change over time and if the change affects overall patient satisfaction.

Data were collected for three fiscal years (2012-2014) using a 36-question, Likert-scaled attitudinal survey. Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify which constructs of five different service quality dimensions were statistically significant in predicting overall patient satisfaction. Paired comparison of means and ANOVA F-tests highlighted significant differences across years and demographics.

Multiple regression models of overall patient satisfaction over a three-year time period had significant repeat variables, indicating salience of the dimensions and constructs of service quality that predict patient satisfaction. However, some dimensions of service quality did not remain significant from one year to another, indicating there may be a gap in the patient service cycle over an extended time frame.

This paper explored the sequential relationship between patient satisfaction survey data and perceptions of service quality over a multi-year time frame. The research focussed on outpatient medical clinics, while the majority of previous studies have focussed on acute care or inpatient stays. A longitudinal study is especially relevant for outpatient clinics where continuity of care is important.

China’s exchange rate system remains a public concern. This paper aims to investigate the effects of the appreciation of the US dollar (or depreciation of Chinese Yuan) under China’s “managed floating exchange rate system” on the US bilateral trade deficit with China, the US exports to China and the US imports from China.

The author uses quarterly data from 2005Q3 to 2017Q3 and applies autoregressive distributed lags model to carry out the empirical analysis.

The results suggest that both the US and Chinese income are important determinants of the US bilateral trade deficit with China, the US exports to China and the US imports from China. Further, the appreciation of the US dollar with respect to Chinese currency may discourage the US exports to China, but will not considerably promote the US imports from China in the long run. Finally, the appreciation of the US dollar does not contribute significantly to the US trade deficit with China in the long run.

Policymakers may want to pay attention to the results of currency depreciation on bilateral trade flows and trade balance in both the short and the long run. The results are different. Policymakers may also want to keep the following in mind: both the US and Chinese income are vital factors of bilateral trade balance, exports and imports.