Bidder behavior in repo auctions without minimum bid rate : evidence from the Bundesbank

A distinguishing feature of the ECB’s monetary policy setup is the preannouncement of a minimum bid rate in its weekly repo auctions. However, whenever interest rates are expected to decline, the minimum bid rate is viewed as too high and banks refrain from bidding, severely impeding the ECB’s money market management. To shed more light on banks’ underbidding, we perform a panel analysis of the bidder behavior in the repo auctions of the Bundesbank where no minimum bid rate was set. Our results indicate that neither bank’s participation nor the submitted bid amount is significantly affected by an expected rate cut. This suggests that abandoning the minimum bid rate might increase the efficiency of the ECB’s money market management.Nach dem Vorbild der Deutschen Bundesbank spielen wöchentliche Repo-Auktionen (die Hauptrefinanzierungsgeschäfte) eine zentrale Rolle für die Geldpolitik der Europäischen Zentralbank. Das dort bereitgestellte Refinanzierungsvolumen bestimmt die Liquidität des Bankensektors und der dabei von der EZB gesetzte Mindestbietungssatz gilt als geldpolitischer Leitzins für die Zinssätze am Interbankengeldmarkt. Ausgangspunkt dieser Arbeit ist die Beobachtung, dass die Verwendung eines Mindestbietungssatzes bei Zinssenkungserwartungen zu einem unerwünschten Unterbieten der Banken führt. Im Extremfall eines Bieterstreiks wird das Liquiditätsmanagement der EZB merklich behindert. Thema dieser Studie ist das Bieteverhalten der Banken bei den Repo-Auktionen der Bundesbank, die in den 90er Jahren bei den Zinstendern auf die Vorgabe eines Mindestbietungssatzes verzichtete. Auf der Grundlage individueller Bietedaten wird mit Hilfe panelökonometrischer Methoden untersucht, wie verschiedene Faktoren, wie zum Beispiel Zinserwartungen, Opportunitätskosten, Zinsunsicherheit oder der Bankentyp die Teilnahmeentscheidung und das Bietevolumen einer Bank bei einem Zinstender ohne Mindestbietungssatz bestimmen. Die empirischen Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Zinserwartungen, auch bei den Bundesbank Auktionen das Bieteverhalten der Banken beeinflussten. Allerdings verursachen Zinserwartungen im Gegensatz zur EZB keine abrupten Änderungen im Bieteverhalten und auch keine Bieterstreiks. Offenbar bewirkte das Fehlen eines Mindestbietungssatzes, dass sich die Gebote der Banken und damit der Reposatz und die Zinssätze am Interbankengeldmarkt graduell an ein verändertes Zinsniveau anpassen konnten

Algorithm Engineering in Robust Optimization

Robust optimization is a young and emerging field of research having received a considerable increase of interest over the last decade. In this paper, we argue that the the algorithm engineering methodology fits very well to the field of robust optimization and yields a rewarding new perspective on both the current state of research and open research directions. To this end we go through the algorithm engineering cycle of design and analysis of concepts, development and implementation of algorithms, and theoretical and experimental evaluation. We show that many ideas of algorithm engineering have already been applied in publications on robust optimization. Most work on robust optimization is devoted to analysis of the concepts and the development of algorithms, some papers deal with the evaluation of a particular concept in case studies, and work on comparison of concepts just starts. What is still a drawback in many papers on robustness is the missing link to include the results of the experiments again in the design

Managing the bullwhip effect in multi-echelon supply chains

This editorial article presents the bullwhip effect which is one of the major problems faced by supply chain management. The bullwhip effect represents the demand variability amplification as demand information travels upstream in the supply chain. The bullwhip effect research has been attempting to prove its existence, identify its causes, quantify its magnitude and propose mitigation and avoidance solutions. Previous research has relied on different modeling approaches to quantify the bullwhip effect and to investigate the proposed mitigation/avoidance solutions. Extensive research has shown that smoothing replenishment rules and collaboration in supply chain are the most powerful approaches to counteract the bullwhip effect. The objective of this article is to highlight the bullwhip effect avoidance approaches with providing some interesting directions for future research

Assessing the Impact of Road Traffic Externalities on Residential Price Values: a Case Study in Madrid, Spain

[EN] This paper describes a study of the relationship between undesired road traffic externalities and residential price values in the Spanish city of Madrid. A large database was gathered, including the price and characteristics of 21,634 flats and road traffic intensity at 3904 different points across the city. The results obtained by a hedonic model suggest that both distance from the traffic measurement point and average daily traffic are significantly related to the price of residential properties, even after controlling for structural and neighbourhood variables. Distance to traffic areas has a positive impact on dwelling prices, whilst these are negatively related to traffic intensity.Guijarro, F. (2019). Assessing the Impact of Road Traffic Externalities on Residential Price Values: a Case Study in Madrid, Spain. International Journal of Environmental research and Public Health. 16(24):1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16245149S1131624Kim, M., Chang, S. I., Seong, J. C., Holt, J. B., Park, T. H., Ko, J. H., & Croft, J. B. (2012). Road Traffic Noise. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 43(4), 353-360. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2012.06.014Sorensen, M., Hvidberg, M., Andersen, Z. J., Nordsborg, R. B., Lillelund, K. G., Jakobsen, J., … Raaschou-Nielsen, O. (2011). Road traffic noise and stroke: a prospective cohort study. European Heart Journal, 32(6), 737-744. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehq466Munzel, T., Gori, T., Babisch, W., & Basner, M. (2014). Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise exposure. European Heart Journal, 35(13), 829-836. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehu030Bodin, T., Albin, M., Ardö, J., Stroh, E., Östergren, P.-O., & Björk, J. (2009). Road traffic noise and hypertension: results from a cross-sectional public health survey in southern Sweden. Environmental Health, 8(1). doi:10.1186/1476-069x-8-38Lercher, P., Widmann, U., & Thudium, J. (2014). Hypotension and Environmental Noise: A Replication Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 11(9), 8661-8688. doi:10.3390/ijerph110908661Dzhambov, A. M., & Lercher, P. (2019). Road Traffic Noise Exposure and Depression/Anxiety: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(21), 4134. doi:10.3390/ijerph16214134De Kluizenaar, Y., Janssen, S., Vos, H., Salomons, E., Zhou, H., & van den Berg, F. (2013). Road Traffic Noise and Annoyance: A Quantification of the Effect of Quiet Side Exposure at Dwellings. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(6), 2258-2270. doi:10.3390/ijerph10062258Urban, J., & Máca, V. (2013). Linking Traffic Noise, Noise Annoyance and Life Satisfaction: A Case Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(5), 1895-1915. doi:10.3390/ijerph10051895Shepherd, D., Welch, D., Dirks, K., & McBride, D. (2013). Do Quiet Areas Afford Greater Health-Related Quality of Life than Noisy Areas? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(4), 1284-1303. doi:10.3390/ijerph10041284Del Giudice, V., De Paola, P., Manganelli, B., & Forte, F. (2017). The Monetary Valuation of Environmental Externalities through the Analysis of Real Estate Prices. Sustainability, 9(2), 229. doi:10.3390/su9020229Wilhelmsson, M. (2000). The Impact of Traffic Noise on the Values of Single-family Houses. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 43(6), 799-815. doi:10.1080/09640560020001692Baranzini, A., & Ramirez, J. V. (2005). Paying for Quietness: The Impact of Noise on Geneva Rents. Urban Studies, 42(4), 633-646. doi:10.1080/00420980500060186Kim, K. S., Park, S. J., & Kweon, Y.-J. (2007). Highway traffic noise effects on land price in an urban area. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 12(4), 275-280. doi:10.1016/j.trd.2007.03.002Blanco, J. C., & Flindell, I. (2011). Property prices in urban areas affected by road traffic noise. Applied Acoustics, 72(4), 133-141. doi:10.1016/j.apacoust.2010.11.004Łowicki, D., & Piotrowska, S. (2015). Monetary valuation of road noise. Residential property prices as an indicator of the acoustic climate quality. Ecological Indicators, 52, 472-479. doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.01.002Szczepańska, A., Senetra, A., & Wasilewicz-Pszczółkowska, M. (2015). The effect of road traffic noise on the prices of residential property – A case study of the polish city of Olsztyn. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 36, 167-177. doi:10.1016/j.trd.2015.02.011Levkovich, O., Rouwendal, J., & van Marwijk, R. (2015). The effects of highway development on housing prices. Transportation, 43(2), 379-405. doi:10.1007/s11116-015-9580-7Li, W., & Saphores, J.-D. (2012). Assessing Impacts of Freeway Truck Traffic on Residential Property Values. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2288(1), 48-56. doi:10.3141/2288-06Brandt, S., & Maennig, W. (2011). Road noise exposure and residential property prices: Evidence from Hamburg. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 16(1), 23-30. doi:10.1016/j.trd.2010.07.008Kawamura, K., & Mahajan, S. (2005). Hedonic Analysis of Impacts of Traffic Volumes on Property Values. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1924(1), 69-75. doi:10.1177/0361198105192400109Day, B., Bateman, I., & Lake, I. (2007). Beyond implicit prices: recovering theoretically consistent and transferable values for noise avoidance from a hedonic property price model. Environmental and Resource Economics, 37(1), 211-232. doi:10.1007/s10640-007-9121-8Andersson, H., Jonsson, L., & Ögren, M. (2009). Property Prices and Exposure to Multiple Noise Sources: Hedonic Regression with Road and Railway Noise. Environmental and Resource Economics, 45(1), 73-89. doi:10.1007/s10640-009-9306-4Larsen, J. E. (2012). Surface street traffic volume and single-family house price. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 17(4), 317-320. doi:10.1016/j.trd.2012.01.004Del Giudice, V., & de Paola, P. (2014). The Effects of Noise Pollution Produced by Road Traffic of Naples Beltway on Residential Real Estate Values. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 587-589, 2176-2182. doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.587-589.2176Swoboda, A., Nega, T., & Timm, M. (2015). HEDONIC ANALYSIS OVER TIME AND SPACE: THE CASE OF HOUSE PRICES AND TRAFFIC NOISE. Journal of Regional Science, 55(4), 644-670. doi:10.1111/jors.12187Le Boennec, R., & Salladarré, F. (2017). The impact of air pollution and noise on the real estate market. The case of the 2013 European Green Capital: Nantes, France. Ecological Economics, 138, 82-89. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.03.030Gallo, M. (2018). The Impact of Urban Transit Systems on Property Values: A Model and Some Evidences from the City of Naples. Journal of Advanced Transportation, 2018, 1-22. doi:10.1155/2018/1767149Del Giudice, V., De Paola, P., & Cantisani, G. (2017). Rough Set Theory for Real Estate Appraisals: An Application to Directional District of Naples. Buildings, 7(4), 12. doi:10.3390/buildings7010012Dubin, R. A. (1992). Spatial autocorrelation and neighborhood quality. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 22(3), 433-452. doi:10.1016/0166-0462(92)90038-3Chica Olmo, J. (1995). Spatial Estimation of Housing Prices and Locational Rents. Urban Studies, 32(8), 1331-1344. doi:10.1080/00420989550012492Hiller, N. (2014). The relative importance of structural and locational effects on apartment price variations in a medium-sized German city. Review of Regional Research, 35(1), 73-102. doi:10.1007/s10037-014-0086-0Inuiguchi, M., & Kume, Y. (1991). Goal programming problems with interval coefficients and target intervals. European Journal of Operational Research, 52(3), 345-360. doi:10.1016/0377-2217(91)90169-

Differences in retail strategies on the emerging organic market

Abstract: Purpose – The organic product market can be considered as an emerging market. Since the 1990s it has experienced rapid growth, and supermarket chains have become the sales channel with the largest market share and are the main driver for further growth. However, different supermarket retail groups have very different strategies concerning the marketing of organic products. The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the different strategies of retailers who are active in the organic product market and to explain the drivers which may underlie them. Design/methodology/approach – The strategies of the three most important Belgian retailers that market organic products, and in particular organic beef, are analyzed. Data were collected through interviews with the retailers' staff and through observations in retail outlets. Also, GfK-household panel data which recorded all purchases of 3,000 Belgian households and a postal survey with 529 respondents were used as data sources. Findings – The different strategies used by retailers to market organic foods are associated with the overall characteristics and marketing strategies of the retail groups. Some retail groups have clear “first mover” advantages from engaging in the organic product line, while for others an adaptive strategy is more appropriate. Research limitations/implications – The insights from this paper will help the understanding and facilitate the development of future strategies for organic and other high-value or premium products, which will be of interest to researchers and stakeholders who are active in these markets. Practical implications – The retail sector is not a single homogeneous block, but instead consists of retailers who pursue quite different strategies. This concept may have major implications for the future development of high-value markets. Originality/value – Existing relevant theories were applied to the adoption of the organic product line, a segment in the portfolio of retailers that is becoming more important. The empirical material collected sheds new light on the drivers behind retail strategies

Municipal wastewater treatment and associated bioenergy generation using anaerobic granular bed baffled reactor

This study assesses a modified anaerobic granular bed baffled reactor (GRABBR) which was assessed for municipal wastewater treatment at high organic loading rates (chemical oxygen demand ≥ 1,100 mg/l) under varying temperatures. For the two mesophilic temperatures tested (37⁰C and 25⁰C) under steady state conditions, the removal of Chemical OxygenDemand (COD) and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) was 80 to 90 %. At lower organic loadings, the reactor operated as a completely mixed system with most of the treatment occurring in the first two compartments. The GRABBR also showed very high solids retention with low effluent suspended solids concentration for all organic and hydraulic conditions. Applications ofGRABBR as a single unit, two-phase treatment system could be an economical option reducing the cost to achieve similar treatment goals for high strength wastewaters. The findings of this research suggest that the application of GRABBR is suitable for the treatment of multiple pollutants present in wastewater where each compartment acts as a specialised treatment stagewith biogas production

An overview of recent research results and future research avenues using simulation studies in project management

This paper gives an overview of three simulation studies in dynamic project scheduling integrating baseline scheduling with risk analysis and project control. This integration is known in the literature as dynamic scheduling. An integrated project control method is presented using a project control simulation approach that combines the three topics into a single decision support system. The method makes use of Monte Carlo simulations and connects schedule risk analysis (SRA) with earned value management (EVM). A corrective action mechanism is added to the simulation model to measure the efficiency of two alternative project control methods. At the end of the paper, a summary of recent and state-of-the-art results is given, and directions for future research based on a new research study are presented

Air Treatment Techniques for Abatement of Emissions from Intensive Livestock Production

Intensive livestock production is connected with a number of environmental effects, including emissions of ammonia (NH3), greenhouse gases (CH4 and N2O), odour, and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5). Possible strategies for emission reduction include feed management, adaptation of housing design, and, in case of mechanically ventilated animal houses, the application of end-of-pipe air treatment, viz acid scrubbers and bioscrubbers. Air treatment techniques can achieve very high emission reductions (up to 100% ammonia removal for acid scrubbers). Furthermore, air treatment offers the possibility to achieve removal of not just one compound but of a combined removal of a variety of pollutants (ammonia, odour and particulate matter) at the same time. The successful application of scrubbers is of increasing importance as intensive livestock operations have to comply with ever stricter regulations and emission limits. Research is needed to address topics such as reduction of costs (both investment and operational costs), improvement of process control to guarantee stable removal efficiencies, decrease of N2O production in bioscrubbers, and increase of odour removal efficienc