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This thesis is concerned with mortgage rationing, its causes and significance in both the mortgage and housing markets. The empirical analysis is based on quarterly time series data from the U.K. for the period 1965-1975. The early part of the thesis gives a review of the main findings of other studies on the subject, in the U.K. and elsewhere, followed by a description of the working of building societies, the main mortgage financing institutions. The thesis develops a simple theoretical model the main aim of which is to show the mechanism which generates rationing and its variation over time. The model suggests some measures of the intensity of rationing; these are compared to measures suggested by other studies, and used subsequently to investigate the significance of rationing in the mortgage and housing markets. The thesis also includes a Chapter which gives a full account of the determinants of building society shares and deposits; and another Chapter which demonstrates the short-run dynamics of mortgage supply and the importance of advance commitments. A complete econometric model of the mortgage and housing markets is presented in the later part of the thesis and its long run tracking behaviour and policy implications are demonstrated by dynamic and policy simulations. A particular concern of these simulations is to discover if there is any significant effect of changes in the availability (apart from costs) of mortgage credit on the housebuilding industry.

Commentators are almost unanimous in declaring the World Bank (hereafter ‘The Bank’) ‘powerful’, yet focus upon only one dimension of the Bank’s power, its <i>coercive</i> power. The thesis contends that this presentation of the Bank’s ‘power’ is simultaneously over- and underdeveloped, suggesting an overweening financial (coercive) power, while overlooking the Bank’s <i>discursive</i> power. To address this lacuna, the thesis draws upon the work of Gramsci and Foucault to analyse the Bank’s role in shaping Tanzanian policies. In exploring the Bank’s power, the thesis is based upon a literature review, discourse analysis and a series of semi-structured interviews. This provides the basis for a reinterpretation of the Bank’s role in two crises in Tanzania (1979-1985 and 1993-1995), apparently resolved by the Bank’s coercive power. The thesis contends that, in each case, discursive change was a precondition for policy change. Conversely, in the period thereafter (1995-2001). Tanzania appears at the forefront of the Bank’s consensual reorientation. This period is also ripe for reappraisal: ‘success’ may have been facilitated by ‘consensual’ discursive power but, it is still underpinned by coercive power. The thesis concludes that the relationship between the state and Bank may be one of inter-dependence, but that the acquiescence of states to Bank-sponsored reforms cannot be reduced to a political (and economic) calculation of the need for aid to sustain the state. Discursive (‘third order’) change within government is an important precondition and cannot be bought about by coercive power alone. The Bank’s discursive power can help but remains dependent upon wider discursive forces, over which the Bank has little control. Moreover, although discursive change may be a necessary, it is not a sufficient condition to guarantee policy reforms. Even a hegemonic neo-liberal discourse would not represent the sole discourse constitutive of political elites ‘subjectivities’ and economically ‘irrational’ policies may still be pursed to secure other ‘interests’.

The aim of this study is to provide a systematic investigation of volatility in high-frequency intra-day financial futures data. There are several motivations for such a study. First, to examine whether the empirical results achieved with daily and lower frequency data, for example, the high persistence of volatility to shocks, continue to hold with intra-day data. Second, to examine hypotheses concerning the intra-day patterns in volatility and volume, the cause of ARCH volatility clustering in financial data, and the temporal aggregation properties of intra-day data. Third, to examine some of the issues raised by other researchers currently examining such data, particularly those pertaining to the degree of non-linearity within the data, whether a model from the GARCH class can adequately account for this non-linearity and whether that result is frequency dependent. In sum, graphical and simple regression evidence suggests a 'U'-shape intra-day pattern in both volatility and volume, interspersed by spikes resulting from the release of macroeconomic news. Non-linear dependence is reported in conditional variance, this taking GARCH form with high persistence to shocks. Evidence of an asymmetric response to these shocks is, however, limited. The model orders and coefficient estimates of temporally aggregated data suggest some support for established theoretical results. Residual diagnostics for GARCH models become insignificant at the one hour and lower frequencies, but indicate remaining non-linear structure in higher frequencies and five-minute returns in particular. The inclusion of volume in the GARCH equation suggests support for the information flow hypothesis as the cause of volatility clustering, but remaining significant GARCH parameters suggest that it is not the full explanation. Non-linear dependence in conditional mean at higher frequencies is also reported, and models of smooth transition threshold behaviour prove able to account for some but not all of this structure.

The Treaty of Maastricht envisages a European System of Central Banks with the European Central Bank (ECB) as its centre-piece, designed to be independent and pursuing the primary objective of price stability. This study is concerned with the independence of central banks and its related issues. A focus is put on the question of whether the degree of central bank independence determines a country's inflation performance. Furthermore, the definition, determination, and measurement of central bank independence are developed. The results of an international survey made it possible to identify criteria which, in the eyes of the responding central bankers, are crucial in determining central bank independence. Moreover, it was possible to construct a new weighting system, based on various indices of which one is called the central bank independence index (CBI), which reacts more sensitively to a change in a central bank act than other indices. Therefore it is possible to determine independence more precisely than previous methods. Analysing this new "weighting approach" it was found that there is a negative correlation between central bank de jure independence and a nation's inflation level and, when comparing the CBI to existing indices, the former performs better in explaining a country's rate of inflation. Applying these findings to the future ECB the conclusion reached is that the ECB will have a high degree of de jure central bank independence, compared to those central banks in the study, thus it will help in achieving a low-level inflation within the European Union. Nevertheless, there is also an indication that, although granting legal independence to the ECB, the Treaty of Maastricht provides various articles, which might undermine the Bank's de jure independence.

This thesis investigates a variety of aspects of the relationship between dividend yields and returns on the London Stock Exchange. Following recent attention in the financial press, the use of dividend yields as a means of identifying undervalued stocks is investigated, and a variety of dividend yield-based investment strategies are analysed. Small portfolios of high-yielding large stocks are found to generate substantial outperformance relative to a market index. When returns are calculated on a risk-adjusted basis, the positive relation between dividend yields and returns continues, although zero dividend stocks exhibit unique characteristics which are consistent with prior US research. The positive yield-return relation is robust to controls for size and absolute share price effects, and several significant seasonal effects are detected. The results are interpreted as being inconsistent with tax-driven models of the relation between dividend yields and pre-tax returns. The stability of a stock's dividend policy is shown to have a role to play in explaining the risk characteristics of UK stocks, with a significant inverse relation being found between dividend stability and systematic risk.

There is only sparse published evidence on the behaviour of the prices of traded financial options in the UK. This thesis addresses this void in the literature by investigating several aspects of index options pricing on the London market. The efficiency of the market is tested directly by means of an event study based on the 1992 UK general election, and indirectly by examining the predictive power of the implied volatility from options. The option market appears less efficient than the stock market in its response to the public information from opinion polls, but does appear to have become more efficient since the previous election. Implied volatility is found to be inferior to historical volatility as a forecast of realised volatility over the remaining life of the option. Several other properties of implied volatility are also discussed, including the smile, the term structure and behaviour around expiry days. Forward/forward volatility is also examined as a measure of the market's expectation of future volatility. The behaviour of the underlying asset around option expiry days is also examined. The final two parts of this study offer a particular contribution by examining patterns in bid-ask spreads, returns and volatility on an intraday basis. The intraday patterns in bid-ask spreads differ slightly from the evidence from stock markets, and market structure is identified as a possible reason. The time of day return patterns reported for stock markets and US options markets are generally not replicated for the UK options market. However, a U-shaped intraday pattern in volatility is consistent with previous work.

This thesis examines the behaviour of Greek stock index futures market. We focus on various techniques to test several hypotheses. For both available stock index futures contracts of the Athens Derivatives Exchange (ADEX), we employ a variety of econometric models from simple OLS to Bivariate Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) as well as VAR models and cointegration method. The first part of this thesis, chapter 3, deals with the volatility modelling of futures prices and their asset prices. Then, we move to the quantitative analysis of market characteristics. Chapter 4 analyses the effect of futures trading on stock market volatility, the Samuelson’s hypothesis and the relationship between returns, volatility and trading volume. Furthermore in Chapter 5 we examine the efficiency of futures markets in Greece. We analyse the relationship between stock index futures prices and spot prices in terms of causality and price discovery. In addition we consider cointegration techniques to test the long-run relationship (co movement) between futures prices and trading volumes. Finally, chapter 6 explores the derivation of hedge ratios and hedging effectiveness. Using several quantitative methods, we further analyse the stock index futures contracts of the ADEX in terms of risk management. Chapter 7 concludes this thesis and proposes future research.

This research examines the practice of information resource management in the Korean (South Korean) banking industry. It analyses the perceptions of managers, employees and union representatives with regard to the manpower and work environment implications of information technology (IT), and to the impact of IT on decision-making and industrial relations. It gives particular attention to the importance of, and attention paid by, management to training/education for IT. The research method adopts a comparative analytical approach based on questionnaire survey responses from three work groups - managers, employees, and union representatives - drawn from a sample of five Korean banks. Concerning the impact of IT on the banking industry, the evidence indicates that all three groups agree that IT improves banking efficiency and reduces job repetitiveness. However, all respondents indicated dissatisfaction with IT-based work. The reasons are mainly lack of training/education and poor user manuals. The study shows that most respondents would like to get further training/education to more adequately fit them for their jobs. IT was perceived to improve working conditions while adversely affecting health & safety. IT was not thought to be a direct threat to job security, which could be explained by the facts that banks were still expanding their businesses and that the culture of lifetime employment is widely held. The results indicate that similarities and differences exist between the three responding groups. Where differences did emerge they were mainly between managers and the other two groups. Generally, broad unanimity was found with regard to the positive attitudes towards IT. Concerning training/education for IT, even though the staff members were deficient in technical skills before starting their IT jobs, respondents from banks which invested in continuing training/education showed more positive work attitudes and higher job satisfaction. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the managerial implications of the study and suggestions for future research.