Markets

In this note, Dr. Tiemann analyzes the assertion that Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, passed in the aftermath of the financial crisis, has contributed to a decline in the liquidity in the bond market.  Dodd-Frank set out to moderate the risks that banks might take with their balance sheets but Wall Street has tried to argue that the law’s restrictions impair the profitability of bond dealing, resulting in declining liquidity of the bond market and therefore could cause a market disruption.  Dr. Tiemann utilizes the underlying data of bond trading before and after to evaluate Wall Street’s assertion and used the show boxplot to show how bond trading liquidity has increased since Dodd-Frank was implemented.

Dr. Tiemann reviews how Bitcoin, the new “crypto-currency,” works and shows that, while designed to not require the participation of banks or other trusted financial intermediaries, nevertheless, Bitcoin does require a form of verification that can be established by ordinary people, which is not yet available.

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Dr. Tiemann’s note on market competition. He writes: “It’s an attempt to dig a little deeper than the stylized models we study in economics courses, and think a bit about how competition operates in the real economy.”

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This note helps readers understand how corporate management thinks about and makes deliberate choices about their capital structure, depending upon market conditions, discount rates, level of employment in the economy and other factors. A refresher on Modigliani and Miller, and assessment of why companies appear to be doing better yet unemployment remains high.

What is money? You might as well ask, “What is time?”  It’s one of those concepts we all think we understand until we really examine them. After all, we use money in its various form to buy things every day. But where does it come from? What does it represent? And most important of all, what stands behind our confidence that if we use our money to pay for something, the seller will accept it? This note answers all of those questions, and more.

Explains how illiquid portfolios played a role in the violent plunge in global equity markets in the recent past, why prudent use of liquidity is an element that investors can use to their advantage in generating returns and why understanding liquidity can also help us to interpret market activity.

 Discusses the philosophical framework of the Obama Administrations' stimulus plan and places it into an historical context, discussing its Keynesian economic impact and Hamiltonian design, revealing the coherence and consistency of the ideas behind it.

Increases in the market risk premium analyzed, with assessment of implications for individual investment strategies relative to risk tolerance and investment timeframes, as well as risks to corporations with and without access to capital, in their abilities to prosper and produce superior returns.

Review of the more than run-of-the-mill market corrections and diagnoses of actions by the government to stem the failures by such entities as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while permitting the collapse of Lehman and Bear Stearns. Implications of the political uncertainty in light of the upcoming presidential elections and market reactions.

Reflections on the power of the dialectic within the academic approach for diagnosing and solving the vexing issues relating to investing for individuals. Further reinforcement for upholding the principle of working to best solve the specific individual needs of each investment client, rather than contorting clients' portfolios to fit into existing products.