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Adopting stochastic frontier analysis, this article studies the pricing model and underpricing phenomenon of the initial public offerings (IPOs) in Taiwan and further elucidates the potential impact of offering mechanisms on underpricing. The sampling period is from 1996 to 2003, in which 647 IPOs are selected. Empirical results suggest that issuing firms with greater earning potentials, less risk or less asymmetric information have lower underpricing. Furthermore, the variables included to explain underpricing are mostly significant, especially the proxy variable for flotation method. Observed mean IPO underpricing is 20.59% in the sample period, compared to 17.12% for the subgroup using the auction method. This statistically significant difference implies that the introduction of the auction method can help reduce IPO underpricing.

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of shareholding stability of institutional investors on firm performance. We analyze 647 sample companies listed in the Taiwan Stock Exchange from 2005 to 2009 using the coefficient of variance of institutional holding proportion as the measure for ownership stability. The empirical results show that increasing stability of institutional holdings is related to better firm performance. The low-risk and younger firms with higher CEO incentive compensation, larger insider holdings, and higher growth usually have better performance. Furthermore, when the long-term institutional shareholdings, particularly of foreign institutions, are higher, the firm performance is better.

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Using the eruption of Argentina debt crisis in 2001 as a natural experiment, we investigated the correlated default at the sovereign level for some Latin American countries. Daily closing market quotes for sovereign Credit Default Swaps (CDS) of Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela were obtained from CreditTrade database. Using copula approach, we observed increased dependences among sovereign CDS markets during the crisis period. Their dependence structures were found to be asymmetric. Moreover, the degree of credit contagion was related to the creditworthiness of the country. This study also discussed the implications of these findings for policymakers.

This empirical study utilizes four static hedging models (OLS Minimum Variance Hedge Ratio, Mean-Variance Hedge Ratio, Sharpe Hedge Ratio, and MEG Hedge Ratio) and one dynamic hedging model (bivariate GARCH Minimum Variance Hedge Ratio) to find the optimal hedge ratios for Taiwan Stock Index Futures, S&P 500 Stock Index Futures, Nikkei 225 Stock Index Futures, Hang Seng Index Futures, Singapore Straits Times Index Futures, and Korean KOSPI 200 Index Futures. The effectiveness of these ratios is also evaluated. The results indicate that the methods of conducting optimal hedging in different markets are not identical. However, the empirical results confirm that stock index futures are effective direct hedging instruments, regardless of hedging schemes or hedging horizons.