On the dihedral Euler characteristics of Selmer groups of abelian varieties

This note shows how to use the framework of Euler characteristic formulae to study Selmer groups of abelian varieties in certain dihedral or anticyclotomic extensions of CM fields via Iwasawa main conjectures, and in particular how to verify the p-part of the refined Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture in this setting. When the Selmer group is cotorsion with respect to the associated Iwasawa algebra, we obtain the p-part of formula predicted by the refined Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture. When the Selmer group is not cotorsion with respect to the associated Iwasawa algebra, we give a conjectural description of the Euler characteristic of the cotorsion submodule, and explain how to deduce inequalities from the associated main conjecture divisibilities of Perrin-Riou and Howard.Comment: 26 pages. Previous discussion of two-variable setting removed, and discussion of the indefinite setting modified accordingly. To appear in the HIM "Arithmetic and Geometry" conference proceeding

Securitization and community lending: a framework and some lessons from the experience in the U.S. mortgage market

The purpose of this article is to provide a framework for analyzing the development of securitization as a vehicle for funding community economic development (CED) loans. Broadly speaking, there are two models for funding assets: the portfolio lender model, which typically involves banks or other intermediaries originating and holding the loans and funding them mainly with debt, most often deposits, and the securitization model, which involves tapping bond markets for funds, for instance, by pooling loans and selling shares in the pools. The focus here is on broad issues of when securitization is likely to be the more economic form of funding, some specifics of how the funding might be structured, and an analysis of the experience in the U.S. mortgage market.Mortgage loans ; Asset-backed financing

Integration of Mortgage and Capital Markets and the Accumulation of Residential Capital

The securitization of fixed-rate mortgages suggests that the FRA/VA market was fully integrated with capital markets by the early l98Os and that the conventional market moved toward integration during the l98Os. Assuming full integration of FHA/VA5 via the GNMA securitization process, we first estimate equations explaining near-par GNMA prices weekly for the 1981-88 period. The price is then set equal to the new-issue price and, based upon the preferred equation, the perfect-market retail coupon rate is computed. Next we estimate equations (for three year segments of the 1971-88 period) explaining conventional commitment mortgage coupon rates in terms of current and lagged values of this perfect-market coupon rate. Finally, we examine differences between the perfect-market and actual coupon rates and compute the impact of these differences on residential capital accumulation.

Pricing Mortgages: An Interpretation of the Models and Results

Mortgages, like all debt securities, can be viewed as risk-free assets plus or minus contingent claims that can be usefully viewed as options. The most important options are: prepayment, which is a call option giving the borrower the right to buy back the mortgage at par, and default, which is a put option giving the borrower the right to sell the house in exchange for the mortgage. This paper reviews and interprets the large and growing body of literature that applies recent results of option pricing models to mortgages. We also provide a critique of the models and suggest directions for future research.

‘ICreate’: Preliminary usability testing of apps for the music technology classroom

In the world of music technology where, “music practice is challenged, mediated and redefined through performers’ and composers’ uses of ICT” (Savage, 2005, p. 168), curriculum change is necessary if the world of the classroom is to keep pace with the world outside (Cain, 2004, p. 219). For newcomers to music technology, the glittering array of increasingly sophisticated flashing, emulated, and modulated interfaces can invoke virtual interface dyslexia before giving way to options anxiety. Change is the only constant in the ever-evolving techno-scape of sound and music applications. This paper proposes that the development of an introductory tertiary music technology unit curriculum using loop-based music iPad apps may effectively engage non-traditional music (NTM) students in both music and technology. The course design was underpinned by two intentions. Firstly, the aim was to stimulate student creativity and secondly, to encourage immersion (focused attention) in sonic composition (Witmer & Singer, 1998). This paper reports on the preliminary usability testing of five loop-based music iPad applications. It is administered to a sample of one, namely the author, using the System Usability Scale (SUS) (Brooke, 1996) and is guided by the following questions: Would this testing methodology be appropriate? What factors specific to loop-based music app design might be pertinent for educators? Would this testing method indicate the potential for student immersion and creativity? While the pilot study, described here, is conducted solely by the researcher to determine the effectiveness of the method, future research intends the study to be administered to a small classroom group if determined appropriate

Momentum and House Price Growth In the U.S.: Anatomy Of a "Bubble"

This paper analyzes the bubble in property values in the U.S. in the period from 1999 through 2005. We define a bubble as a regime shift characterized by a change in the properties of house price deviations from underlying “fundamentals” that become more self-sustaining and/or more volatile than in other periods. We model the fundamentals of house price growth as lagged adjustments of prices to the expected present value of future service flows (imputed rent) from owner-occupied properties. We then study the autoregressive behavior of the errors generated from the estimated fundamentals equations with panel data from 44 Metropolitan Statistical Areas for the period of 1980-2005. We find evidence of momentum in house price growth throughout the period, but momentum increased after 1999. Breaking down the period further, we find that the bubble happened mostly after 2003; it was for a relatively short period and was characterized by a series of positive, seemingly random, shocks. Before that, price changes were reasonably well explained by the “fundamentals,” such as a decline in long term real rates in the early part of the 1999-2005 period.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61511/1/1124_VanOrder.pd