The central research objective of the dissertation is to assess the suitability of Social Responsible Investments (SRIs) as well as alternative investments for the strategic asset allocation of German Pension Insurance Funds (Pensionskassen). Using a Vector Error Correction model, we estimate the data generating process of the underlying input variables. A bootstrap simulation allows generating future return paths of the underlying portfolios. These return distributions will subsequently be used as input for different asset allocation strategies.The empirical results of our research study offer valuable conclusions: (1) SRI-structured portfolios consistently perform better than conventional portfolios, (2) including alternative investments has a beneficial effect on the risk-return distribution and (3) derivative overlay structures mitigate downside risk exposure without impacting average fund performance. In terms of alternative allocation models, (1) high-equity portfolios lead to an increase in return volatility without sufficiently compensating investors with higher returns, (2) hedging against price increases by engineering a portfolio with inflation-suitable assets yields mixed results, (3) a portfolio composition that combines derivative overlay strategies for both equities and corporate bonds and uses SRI-screened assets as underlying generates the best results.
The central research objective of the dissertation is to assess the suitability of Social Responsible Investments (SRIs) as well as alternative investments for the strategic asset allocation of German Pension Insurance Funds (Pensionskassen). Using a Vector Error Correction model, we estimate the data generating process of the underlying input variables. A bootstrap simulation allows generating future return paths of the underlying portfolios. These return distributions will subsequently be used as input for different asset allocation strategies.The empirical results of our research study offer valuable conclusions: (1) SRI-structured portfolios consistently perform better than conventional portfolios, (2) including alternative investments has a beneficial effect on the risk-return distribution and (3) derivative overlay structures mitigate downside risk exposure without impacting average fund performance. In terms of alternative allocation models, (1) high-equity portfolios lead to an increase in return volatility without sufficiently compensating investors with higher returns, (2) hedging against price increases by engineering a portfolio with inflation-suitable assets yields mixed results, (3) a portfolio composition that combines derivative overlay strategies for both equities and corporate bonds and uses SRI-screened assets as underlying generates the best results.
R is a language and environment for data analysis and graphics. It may be considered an implementation of S, an award-winning language initially - veloped at Bell Laboratories since the late 1970s. The R project was initiated by Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in the early 1990s, and has been developed by an international team since mid-1997. Historically, econometricians have favored other computing environments, some of which have fallen by the wayside, and also a variety of packages with canned routines. We believe that R has great potential in econometrics, both for research and for teaching. There are at least three reasons for this: (1) R is mostly platform independent and runs on Microsoft Windows, the Mac family of operating systems, and various ?avors of Unix/Linux, and also on some more exotic platforms. (2) R is free software that can be downloaded and installed at no cost from a family of mirror sites around the globe, the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN); hence students can easily install it on their own machines. (3) R is open-source software, so that the full source code is available and can be inspected to understand what it really does, learn from it, and modify and extend it. We also like to think that platform independence and the open-source philosophy make R an ideal environment for reproducible econometric research.
ENGLISH Contrary to an old thesis, the dawning of the Reformation was not the end of Christian Aristotelianism. Rather, Protestants were again faced with the traditional question of the relationship between theology and philosophy. Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499-1562) counts as one of the authors who endeavored to interpret Aristotelian philosophy before the backdrop of Reformed theology. In addition to numerous exegetical and theological writings, this well respected theologian left behind a commentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, which is edited in the present volume. It not only evidences Vermigli’s intense engagement with the source material but also his struggle for an adequate understanding of the relationship between Aristotelian ethics and Protestant theology. DEUTSCH Entgegen einer althergebrachten These bedeutete der Durchbruch der Reformation nicht das Ende des christlichen Aristotelismus. Vielmehr stellte sich für Protestanten die traditionelle Frage nach dem Verhältnis zwischen Theologie und Philosophie wieder neu. Zu den Autoren, die sich um eine Deutung aristotelischer Philosophie vor dem Hintergrund reformierter Theologie bemühten, zählt Petrus Martyr Vermigli (1499-1562). Neben zahlreichen exegetischen und kontroverstheologischen Schriften hinterließ dieser zu seiner Zeit hochgeachtete Theologe auch einen Kommentar zur Nikomachischen Ethik des Aristoteles. Dieser Kommentar, welcher im vorliegenden Band in historisch-kritischer Edition herausgegeben wird, belegt nicht nur Vermiglis intensive Auseinandersetzung mit dem Quellentext, sondern auch sein Ringen um eine adäquate Verhältnisbestimmung von aristotelischer Ethik und protestantischer Theologie.
In this major new study Christian Baudelot and Roger Establet provide a timely and wide-ranging account of the changing nature of suicide in the world today. The suicide rate is soaring in the former Communist bloc, in India and in China, which now has the highest female suicide rate in the world. This rise coincides with those countries accelerated entry into a period of brutal modernization. In the developed countries of the West, suicide rates are rising fastest amongst young men and those social groups that are furthest down the social scale. How can we explain these trends and what do they tell us about modern societies? The social impact of suicide has preoccupied sociologists from Emile Durkheim onwards. For Durkheim, the rising suicide rate was an effect of the rise of modernity and the individualism, growing affluence and increased anomie that accompanied it. Baudelot and Establet draw upon Durkheim and his successor Maurice Halbwachs to argue that classic sociological theories of suicide require some modification. The link between suicide, affluence and individualism is more complex: suicide rates do reflect broad social trends but they are also influenced by the structural position and lived experience of small social groups. The notion of social well-being is demonstrated to be a key factor in changes in suicide rates. Whilst it is well-known that sociology cannot explain why individuals commit suicide, the suicide of individuals and the micro-groups to which they belong can tell us a lot about the societies in which they live.
This updated and revised second edition of “Alcohol and Tobacco” reflects the new ICD 11 and DSM V classifications and provides comprehensive descriptions of new therapeutic approaches, outlining the different interactions between personality, environment and the effects of the respective substance. In addition to new data on prevention-based therapies, especially for smoking addiction, the book also presents essential psychological and sociological strategies, and medication-based therapies. Particular attention is given to new medications and new compounds for e-cigarettes, while a broad overview of the American and European epidemiology of alcohol and nicotine addictions rounds out the coverage. Given the breadth and depth of its coverage, the book will appeal to a wide readership, from professionals to researchers and students.
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