RAISE YOUR GLASS: WINE INVESTMENT AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

This paper uses auction hammer prices over the period 1996-2009, with a special emphasis on periods of economic downturns, to examine risk, return and diversification benefits of fine wine. Our research shows evidence that the wine market is heterogeneous with wine regions and price categories evolving differently in terms of volume and turnover. We construct wine indices for various wine regions and prices using repeat-sales regressions and find out that fine wine yields higher returns and has a lower volatility compared to stocks especially in times of economic crises. Forming portfolios for typical investors and taking risk aversion, different financial assets and various wine indices into consideration we confirm that the addition of wine to a portfolio as a separate asset-class is beneficial for private investors. Not only are returns favourably impacted and risk being minimised but skewness and kurtosis are also positively affected. Particularly, during the recent financial crisis these effects are most pronounced and improve portfolio diversification when it is most needed. Most importantly, balancing a portfolio with fine wine has resulted in added return while reducing volatility with the most prestigious and expensive vintages and estates outperforming the General Wine Index (GWI) during the entire research period. Results from the CAPM show that alpha is significantly positive over the period 1996- 2009 while showing a low beta coefficient. The use of a conditional CAPM model allows us to clarify the time-variance of alphas and betas depending on the economic environment that is not generally captured by the traditional CAPM. The time-varying dynamics of alphas and betas are in particular best explained by the spread between BAA- and AAA-rated bonds and the USD/EUR foreign exchange rate. Our findings confirm that wine returns are primarily related to economic conditions and not to the market risk.wine, alternative assets, financial contagion, portfolio diversification, conditional CAPM, Financial Economics, Risk and Uncertainty,

Wine as an Alternative Asset Class

Using a dataset that spans the period 1996 to 2007 and contains transaction prices for all reported auctions at the Chicago Wine Company, we analyze how the prices of high-end wines have evolved during this time period. The best wines according to characteristics like vintage, rating and ranking earn higher returns and tend to have a lower variance than poorer wines. Nevertheless, the different categories of wines seem to follow a rather similar trend over the long run. Wine returns are only slightly correlated with other assets and can consequently be used to reduce the risk of an equity portfolio. Wine looks even more attractive when the investor also has concerns about the skewness of his portfolio. However, the part to be invested in wine is reduced once the kurtosis is included into the analysis. Finally, it seems advisable to diversify across different wine categories as their short-run movements are partially independent of each other. First growths and wines rated as extraordinary by Robert Parker deliver the best tradeoff in terms of portfolio expected returns, variance, skewness and kurtosis for most investor preference settings under consideration. (JEL Classification: C60, G11, Q11

Influence of pH and stirring on the hydrogen production by a pure Clostridium strain.

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Optimisation of culture conditions for biological hydrogen production by Citrobacter freundii CWBI952 in batch, sequenced-batch and semicontinuous operating mode

Investigations were carried out to determine the effect of the pH, the nitrogen source, iron and the dilution rate (h 1) on fermentative hydrogen production from glucose by the newly isolated strain Citrobacter freundii CWBI952. The hydrogen production rate (HPR), hydrogen yield, biomass and soluble metabolites were monitored at 30 C in 100 mL serum bottles and in a 2.3 L bioreactor operated in batch, sequenced-batch and semicontinuous mode. The results indicate that hydrogen production activity, formate biosynthesis and glucose intake rates are very sensitive to the culture pH, and that additional formate bioconversion and production of hydrogen with lower biomass yields can be obtained at pH 5.9. In a further series of cultures casein peptone was replaced by (NH4)2SO4, a low cost alternative nitrogen source. The ammonia-based substitute was found to be suitable for H2 production when a concentration of 0.045 g/L FeSO4 was provided. Optimal overall performances (ca. an HPR of 33.2 mL H2/L h and a yield of 0:83 molH2 =molglucose) were obtained in the semicontinuous culture applying the previously optimized parameters for pH, nitrogen, and iron with a dilution rate of 0.012 h 1 and degassing of biogas by N2 at a 28 mL/min flow rate.Micro-H2 : Production microbiologique d’hydrogène : Etude des processus microalgal et bacterie

Did wine consumption change during the Covid-19 lockdown in France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal?

This article documents how the COVID-19 crisis has affected the drinking behavior of Latin European wine consumers. Using a large online survey conducted during the first lockdown inFrance, Italy, Portugal, and Spain (n= 7,324 individuals), we reconstruct the purchasing and consumption patterns of the respondents. The number of people who maintained their wine consumption frequency is significantly higher than those who increased or decreased their consumption. Wine consumption frequency held up better than other types of alcohol (beer andspirits). We analyze heterogeneities among countries and individuals by employing the Marascuilo procedure and an ordered logit model. The latter identifies the impact of demographic, commercial, and psychosocial factors on wine consumption frequency. The results shed light on changes in wine consumer behavior during the first lockdown and consider possible post-lockdown trends that could be useful to industry players

Physical characteristics of the back are not predictive of low back pain in healthy workers: A prospective study

Background. In the working population, back disorders are an important reason for sick leave and permanent work inability. In the context of fitting the job to the worker, one of the primary tasks of the occupational health physician is to evaluate the balance between work-related and individual variables. Since this evaluation of work capacity often consists of a physical examination of the back, the objective of this study was to investigate whether a physical examination of the low back, which is routinely performed in occupational medicine, predicts the development of low back pain (LBP). Methods. This study is part of the Belgian Low Back Cohort (BelCoBack) Study, a prospective study to identify risk factors for the development of low back disorders in occupational settings. The study population for this paper were 692 young healthcare or distribution workers (mean age of 26 years) with no or limited back antecedents in the year before inclusion. At baseline, these workers underwent a standardised physical examination of the low back. One year later, they completed a questionnaire on the occurrence of LBP and some of its characteristics. To study the respective role of predictors at baseline on the occurrence of LBP, we opted for Cox regression with a constant risk period. Analyses were performed separately for workers without any back antecedents in the year before inclusion ('asymptomatic' workers) and for workers with limited back antecedents in the year before inclusion ('mildly symptomatic' workers). Results. In the group of 'asymptomatic' workers, obese workers showed a more than twofold-increased risk on the development of LBP as compared to non-obese colleagues (RR 2.57, 95%CI: 1.09 - 6.09). In the group of 'mildly symptomatic' workers, the self-reports of pain before the examination turned out to be most predictive (RR 3.89, 95%CI: 1.20 - 12.64). Conclusion. This study showed that, in a population of young workers wh no or limited antecedents of LBP at baseline, physical examinations, as routinely assessed in occupational medicine, are not useful to predict workers at risk for the development of back disorders one year later

Planet Formation Imager (PFI): science vision and key requirements

The Planet Formation Imager (PFI) project aims to provide a strong scientific vision for ground-based optical astronomy beyond the upcoming generation of Extremely Large Telescopes. We make the case that a breakthrough in angular resolution imaging capabilities is required in order to unravel the processes involved in planet formation. PFI will be optimised to provide a complete census of the protoplanet population at all stellocentric radii and over the age range from 0.1 to ~100 Myr. Within this age period, planetary systems undergo dramatic changes and the final architecture of planetary systems is determined. Our goal is to study the planetary birth on the natural spatial scale where the material is assembled, which is the "Hill Sphere" of the forming planet, and to characterise the protoplanetary cores by measuring their masses and physical properties. Our science working group has investigated the observational characteristics of these young protoplanets as well as the migration mechanisms that might alter the system architecture. We simulated the imprints that the planets leave in the disk and study how PFI could revolutionise areas ranging from exoplanet to extragalactic science. In this contribution we outline the key science drivers of PFI and discuss the requirements that will guide the technology choices, the site selection, and potential science/technology tradeoffs.S.K. acknowledges support from an STFC Rutherford Fellowship (ST/J004030/1) and Philip Leverhulme Prize (PLP-2013-110). Part of this work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Analysis of financial time series using wavelet methods

This chapter presents a set of tools, which allow gathering information about the frequency components of a time series. In a first step, we discuss spectral analysis and filtering methods. Spectral analysis can be used to identify and to quantify the different frequency components of a data series. Filters permit to capture specific components (e.g., trends, cycles, seasonalities) of the original time series. Both spectral analysis and standard filtering methods have two main drawbacks: (i) they impose strong restrictions regarding the possible processes underlying the dynamics of the series (e.g., stationarity) and (ii) they lead to a pure frequency-domain representation of the data, i.e., all information from the time-domain representation is lost in the operation. In a second step, we introduce wavelets, which are relatively new tools in economics and finance. They take their roots from filtering methods and Fourier analysis, but overcome most of the limitations of these two methods. Their principal advantages derive from (i) combined information from both time domain and frequency domain and (ii) their flexibility as they do not make strong assumptions concerning the data- generating process for the series under investigation

Comment faire briller un vin ? ::ajoutez-y une pincée de manipulation !

La recherche en dégustation, évaluation et expertise du vin s’est développée de manière significative ces vingt dernières années. Cela est dû au fait que le vin offre un laboratoire passionnant pour étudier des questions de recherche qui s’étendent au-delà de cette noble boisson

A lifecycle perspective on the pricing of fine wines

The market for fine wines is characterized by the presence of a variety of players: amateurs, connoisseurs, investors and collectors. These clienteles chose their wines according to their positioning along two complementary dimensions: liquidity vs. rarity, and value-for-money vs. prestige. As a consequence, some fine wines are regarded as “good-value” whereas other are said to be “investable” or even “collectible”. The article then examines the implications of this segmentation on the pricing and performance of fine wines. Our results show that the most investable wines are often too expensive when they start being traded and they consequently tend to underperform during their first ten years on the market, whereas less prestigious wines are initially more fairly-priced. In general, investable and collectible wines deliver higher returns but are also more sensitive to broad economic and financial conditions than good-value wines