Stock (geology)

About: Stock (geology) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 31009 publications have been published within this topic receiving 783542 citations.

Mutual Banks and Stock Banks

Abstract: MUTUAL associations are something of an oddity in a capitalist economy, but they have long been significant in banking in the United States.1 Mutual savings banks, credit unions, and most savings and loans are mutual associations, while national banks, state banks, trust companies, and some savings and loans are stock companies.2 I will refer to the two categories as mutual banks and stock banks. The difference between mutual and stock banks lies in who controls the bank and receives the profits. A stock company is owned by stockholders, who vote for the firm's managers, distribute its profits, and are free to sell their privileges. Depositors are merely customers. A mutual association is "owned" by its depositors but not controlled by them. As I discuss below, the managers are effectively self-controlling, limited only by government intervention. In savings and loan associations (hereafter called S&Ls) and credit unions, each depositor has the rarely exercised right to vote for the managers of the bank. In mutual savings banks, authorized in only seventeen states (including the New England states and New York), the depositors lack even the fiction of control since they lack the right to

Sin Stock Returns

Abstract: In this article, the authors examine the issue of how social values affect economic values. Based on a small subset of the stock universe that has been generally associated with sin-seeking activities, such as alcohol consumption, adult services, gaming, tobacco, weapons, and biotech alterations, the authors find that a sin portfolio produced an annual return of 19% over the study period, unambiguously outperforming common benchmarks in terms of both magnitude and frequency. Several likely reasons for the positive excess returns in sin stocks are identified. The authors argue that trustees or fiduciaries who develop institutional investment policy statements should fully understand the economic consequences of screening out stocks of companies that produce a product inconsistent with their value systems. In addition, institutional investors should question if the cost to uphold common social standards is worthwhile.

Puzzles in the Chinese Stock Market

Abstract: Many companies on China's stock markets have traditionally had separate, restricted classes of shares for domestic residents and foreigners. These shares are identical other than for who can own them, but foreigners have generally paid only about one-quarter the price paid by domestic residents. We argue that the generally higher level (and volatility) of domestic share prices is consistent with the simplest asset pricing model, assuming plausible differences-about four percentage points-in expected rates of return by foreign and domestic investors. We attribute low Chinese expected returns to the limited alternative investments available in China. We then estimate how various company characteristics (including capital asset pricing model (CAPM) betas, company size, market liquidity, and other characteristics) affect the relative price paid by foreigners in a panel of companies. We find, for example, that foreigners pay a lower relative price for companies with a higher proportion owned by the state-refle...

Selecting macroeconomic variables as explanatory factors of emerging stock market returns

Abstract: Emerging stock markets have been identified as being at least partially segmented from global capital markets. As a consequence, it has been argued that local factors rather than global factors are the primary source of equity return variation in these markets. This paper seeks to address the question of whether local macroeconomic variables have explanatory power over stock returns in emerging markets. Moderate evidence is found to support this contention. Furthermore, using a principal components approach, two types of commonality in returns are examined. Evidence is found that supports commonality in the factors that drive return variation across emerging markets. A test is also conducted for identical sensitivity to a common set of extracted factors. While little evidence of common sensitivities is found when emerging markets are considered collectively, considerable commonality is found at the regional level. These results have implications for international investors as they suggest that the benefits from diversification are enhanced when the allocation of funds is spread across, rather than within, regions.