This study explores how futures studies could engage with critical feminist perspectives in an intrinsic manner and what feminist futures might mean. The study brings attention to the less discussed subject of epistemological basis in futures studies. Literature study and semi-structured interviews with practitioners and researchers working with feminist approaches in the fields related to futures development was deployed. I’ve analyzed Wendell Bell’s discussion on epistemological foundation of futures studies from feminist epistemological perspective, and have suggested the potential of feminist epistemology of situated knowledges and partial objectivity for futures studies. Based on the findings from the semi-structured interviews, an alternative feminist scenario set in Swedish society in the year of 2050 in the format of a fiction is presented with the aim to provide a detailed and situated narrative of political and daily lives in feminist futures. The feminist futures scenario should not be understood as the singular feminist future suggested for implementation. The intention is to demonstrate how the visionary dimensions of feminist studies could be articulated in various forms of futures studies, and to open up space for rich debates on envisioning feminist futures. / Denna studie utforskar hur framtidsstudier skulle kunna anta ett kritiskt feministiskt perspektiv på ett djuplodande sätt och vad feministiska framtider skulle kunna innebära. Litteraturstudier och semistrukturerade intervjuer med utövare och forskare som arbetar med feministiska tillvägagångssätt inom fält relaterade till framtidsutveckling har genomförts. Jag har analyserat Wendell Bells diskussion om den epistemologiska grunden för framtidsstudier utifrån ett feministiskt epistemologiskt perspektiv, och har föreslagit feministisk epistemologi om situerad kunskap och partiell objektivitet som potentiell epistemologi för framtidsstudier. Utifrån fynden i de semistrukturerade intervjuerna presenteras ett alternativt feministiskt scenario för ett svenskt samhälle år 2050 i ett fiktivt format med syftet att ge ett detaljerat och situerat narrativ om det politiska och dagliga livet inom feministiska framtider. Det feministiska framtidsscenariot bör inte läsas som den enda feministiska framtiden avsedd för implementering. Avsikten är att visa hur feministiska studiers visionära dimensioner kan uttryckas på olika sätt i framtidsstudier och ge utrymme för en bred debatt om hur feministiska framtider kan gestaltas.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Economics and Finance / Master / Master of Economics

Possessing the knowledge to hedge energy price risks properly is essential and crucial for running a long-term business. In the past, many hedging instruments have been invented and widely used. By using these derivatives, decision makers reduce the price risk to a certain degree. To apply these hedging instruments to the perfect hedging strategies correctly, it is necessary to be familiar with these tools in the first place. This work introduces the financial tools widely applied in hedging, including forward contracts, futures, swaps and options. It also introduces the hedging strategies used on energy hedging. Since individuals are creating strategies according to their unique risk appetite and collected information, this work presents three risk appetites and a method of distinguishing valuable information. With the contribution of this thesis, future works can be done in the field that connect the information valuation and energy hedging by changing the behavior in each risk appetites’ hedging ratio. / text

abstract / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

Three empirical studies are conducted examining the efficiency of S&P 500 futures prices and the pricing of these futures contracts. In the first study, the ability of futures prices to predict the realized spot S&P 500 index prices on the expiration date is examined for near term contracts. The futures prices are found to be unbiased predictors of the realized spot index prices for the nineteen quarterly contracts from 1982 to 1986. Previous studies report significant deviations in S&P SOO futures prices from theoretically determined Cost of Carry Model (CCM) prices. In the second study, it is found that the CCM using the federal funds rate, a proxy for the overnight repurchase rate, provides relatively better estimates of the S&P S(x) futures prices over the 1984-1986 period. The futures mispricing also reflects the weekend effect anomaly: futures prices are "over-priced" relative to CCM prices on Mondays, whereas the opposite occurs on Fridays. The futures over-pricing (under-pricing) is characterized by "bull" ("bear") financial markets and the extent of price changes are relatively greater in the futures market. The futures under-pricing is supported by strong future market volume and open-interest positions. The basis and changes in it over the futures contract period are measures of how well integrated the futures market and the underlying spot market are. In the third study, based on daily closing prices for the S&P 500 index and index futures for the 1984-1986 period, it is found that the basis decreases over the contract period but the rate of decrease is independent of the time to expiration. The change in basis on Mondays is generally positive which also reflects the weekend effect anomaly. The daily basis is negative on 107 days, which generally occurs during strong futures market trading volume and open interest positions. It is doubtful whether the negative basis can be attributed to a negative net financing cost, where the dividend yield 0.1 the spot index exceeds the cost of financing the spot index forward.

A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2013 / This thesis presents a range of related pricing kernel models that are driven by incomplete information about a series of future unknowns. These unknowns may, for instance, represent fundamental macroeconomic, political or social random variables that are revealed at future times. They may also represent latent or hidden factors that are revealed asymptotically. We adopt the information-based approach of Brody, Hughston and Macrina (BHM) to model the information processes associated with the random variables. The market filtration is generated collectively by these information processes. By directly modelling the pricing kernel, we generate information-sensitive arbitrage-free models for the term structure of interest rates, the excess rate of return required by investors, and security prices. The pricing kernel is modelled by a supermartingale to ensure that nominal interest rates remain non-negative. To begin with, we primarily investigate finite-time pricing kernel models that are sensitive to Brownian bridge information. The BHM framework for the pricing of credit-risky instruments is extended to a stochastic interest rate setting. In addition, we construct recovery models, which take into consideration information about, for example, the state of the economy at the time of default. We examine various explicit examples of analytically tractable information-driven pricing kernel models. We develop a model that shares many of the features of the rational lognormal model, and investigate examples of heat kernel models. It is shown that these models may result in discount bonds and interest rates being bounded by deterministic functions. In certain situations, incoming information about random variables may exhibit jumps. To this end, we construct a more general class of nite-time pricing kernel models that are driven by Levy random bridges. Finally, we model the aggregate impact of uncertainties on a nancial market by randomised mixtures of Levy and Markov processes respectively. It is assumed that market participants have incomplete information about the underlying random mixture. We apply results from non-linear ltering theory and construct Flesaker-Hughston models and in nite-time heat kernel models based on these randomised mixtures.

Existing literature reports a puzzle about the forward foreign exchange rate premium over the spot foreign exchange rate. The premium is often negatively correlated with subsequent changes in the spot rate, which is considered to defy economic intuition and possibly violate market efficiency. Rational explanations include non-stationary risk premia and econometric misspecifications, and the puzzle as a guide to profitable trading. Actually, the puzzle consists of three aspects of anomalies: volatility, persistence, and unbiasedness. The puzzle has not yet solved fully thus far. / In the latter part of the thesis, we try to explore the behavioral aspects of the investors in the foreign currency markets (spot and forward markets). We discuss asset prices in an economy where investors derive direct utility from their consumption and adjust their utility based on the concept of habit formation and "catching up with Joneses", therefore explaining thus far the formidable unbiasedness anomaly to a certain extent. Simulation results exhibit properties similar to what has been observed in historical data. / This thesis suggests firstly that there may be no real puzzle. A simple model fits the data. Starting from examining the relations between the excess return of speculation in foreign currency forward markets and the change rates of the return rate on equity (stock) portfolio and the change rate of futures price on stock index as well as foreign currencies where the stock markets and futures market are active, publicly traded, and highly transparent markets, the source of the risk premia in the future change in spot rate has been analyzed in detail. We believe that the panel data analysis is in place for the puzzle based on its nature. In this thesis we find that the future change in spot foreign exchange rate correlate with both forward premium and especially the change rate in stock index or the change rate of futures settlement price on the stock index or on the currencies, which implies that the investors compare and employ the profitable opportunities across financial markets not just act in only one market such as just foreign exchange forward market, thus maximizing the utility or efficiency of their funds. In addition, the change rate of futures price has rather impacts on the excess return of speculation in forward currency markets, thus establishing the relation between OTC markets and publicly traded markets of foreign exchange. / Tan Yue. / "January 2007." / Adviser: Jia He. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-09, Section: A, page: 4006. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.