This paper constructs a call pressure index (CP) from China's SSE 50 ETF option market and finds a robust U-shaped nonlinear predictability for directional option returns as measured by log returns. The effect reflects that extreme call pressures—whether unusually low (reversal) or high (momentum)—contain information, while moderate levels are dominated by noise trading. Robustness checks using delta-hedged returns confirm that predictability stems primarily from directional exposure rather than volatility dynamics. The predictability is stronger in high-volatility and down-market states and survives controlling for implied skewness, variance risk premium, and other common predictors. A simple timing strategy based on rolling-window forecasts achieves a Sharpe ratio of 0.97, which further increases to 2.43 after applying a prediction threshold. A parsimonious volume-based indicator captures unique predictive information beyond complex proxies, offering a feasible path for emerging markets lacking proprietary order flow data.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped regional economic landscapes. However, academic research has not yet sufficiently addressed how external investment in regions has been transformed under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its influence on industrial evolution patterns. In this paper, we integrate insights from economic geography literature and develop a conceptual framework to further theorise the relationship between external shocks, changes in the industrial heterogeneity of investment from regional core cities, and local industrial dynamics. Using the COVID-19 pandemic and the Yangtze River Delta region as a case study, we employ an intensity-based Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach and draw on business registration and enterprise investment databases to estimate the impact of the pandemic shock on the evolution of local industrial dynamics between 2018 and 2024. Our findings indicate that after the core cities underwent the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, the path dependence of industrial evolution in their surrounding areas significantly increased. The stronger the economic linkage with Shanghai, the more pronounced this effect. However, this impact also exhibits spatial heterogeneity across the Yangtze River Delta, associated with regional industrial division of labour and cooperation. This paper offers an innovative examination of how changes in the industrial heterogeneity of investment inflows from core cities—specifically, dimensions such as relatedness to local industries, industrial upgrading, and diversification—shape the mechanisms of local industrial evolution following the COVID-19 shock. Our findings offer important implications for regional development and adaptive responses in the post-pandemic era.

Firm survival, as a key indicator of regional economic resilience, has gained increasing attention in the context of global economic uncertainty and the deep adjustments in industrial structures. In the Pearl River Delta (PRD), a core region of China’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, the characteristics of firm life cycles are crucial for understanding spatial development inequalities and institutional effects in emerging economies. This study focuses on firms in the PRD, using full life-cycle data from registration, operation, to deregistration. An XGBoost regression model is employed, incorporating the SHAP explanation algorithm, to systematically analyze the main factors influencing firm survival. The results show that: (1) Firm establishment time is the primary factor influencing survival, with significant “survival threshold” and “growth leap” effects—mature firms exhibit a distinct survival advantage; (2) Among spatial structure variables, moderate industry specialization and diversity enhance firm survival rates, while excessive concentration and diversification show diminishing or negative returns, reflecting an “ecological threshold” effect; (3) External shocks have a significant suppressive impact on startups, while policy support and capital size show limited explanatory power; (4) The ownership structure, especially state-holding, has a positive moderating effect on firm survival in specific contexts, indicating that private enterprises’ flexibility and adaptability can compensate for institutional gaps. This study offers insights into the spatial heterogeneity of firm survival mechanisms, providing quantitative evidence for regional economic policy adjustments and firm resilience-building. Recommendations include promoting differentiated policies, optimizing industrial ecological spatial layouts, and piloting systems to enhance survival resilience, especially for mixed-ownership firms.

It is diffffcult to understand the risk-return trade-off in option market with observable factormodels. In this paper, we employ a latent factor model for delta-hedge option returns over a varietyof important exchange traded options in China, based on the instrumented principal componentanalysis (IPCA). This model incorporates conditional betas instrumented by option characteristics,to tackle the diffffculty caused by short lifespans and rapidly migrating characteristics of options. Ourresults show that a three-factor IPCA model can explain 19.30% variance in returns of individualoptions and 99.23% for managed portfolios. An asset pricing test with bootstrap shows that there isno unexplained alpha term with such a model. Comparison with observable factor model indicatesthe necessity of including characteristics. We also provide subsample analysis and characteristicimportance.

This paper aims to evaluate the market prospects for foreign trade enterprises in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of China in the post-COVID era. Despite challenges posed by the pandemic, the market outlook for PRD is positive with global economy projected to recover and high demand for high-tech products such as elect ronics, machinery, and chemicals from developed countries. PRD businesses have adapted to changing market conditions and disruptions in the supply chain, and the Chinese government’s “Dual Circulation” strategy presents new opportunities for PRD foreign trade enterprises by boosting domestic consumption and market demand. To maintain competitiveness, businesses in the region need to adapt to the new normal and take advantage of market opportunities. [译]本文旨在评估后疫情时代中国珠江三角洲（PRD）地区外贸企业的市场前景。尽管疫情带来了挑战，但PRD的市场前景仍然乐观，全球经济预计将复苏，发达国家对电子、机械和化学品等高科技产品的需求也很高。PRD企业已经适应了不断变化的市场条件和供应链的中断，而中国政府的“双循环”战略通过促进国内消费和市场需求，为PRD外贸企业提供了新的机遇。为了保持竞争力，该地区的企业需要适应新常态，并利用市场机遇。

Regional carbon emission efficiency has differentiated characteristics under different economic development stages and patterns, and it is significant to identify such characteristics and formulate corresponding policies for high-quality regional development. Based on input-output data related to economic development and energy consumption, a comprehensive evaluation model of Super-SBM and Malmquist-Luenberger (ML) index was constructed to evaluate the spatial and temporal changes and driving forces of CEE, on the basis of which a proposal for collaborative carbon emission reduction zoning is proposed. The results indicated that the carbon emission efficiency (CEE) of the YRD shows a fluctuating upward trend with obvious spatial agglomeration characteristics, and the changes in CEE were closely related to the stage of economic development. The annual average CEE value during each period exhibited positive changes, indicating that economic development gradually shifted toward low carbonization. Moreover, the improvement of CEE gradually shifted from being driven by efficiency change to being driven by technological change. Finally, based on the carbon emissions and CEE characteristics of different cities, a carbon-neutral synergistic path is proposed in terms of industrial transformation, green development and technological support.

This paper studies the presence of informed trading in Taiwan stock index options (TXO) and analyzes the informational role of foreign institutions in incorporating information into Taiwan stock index futures (TX). We have found that only the option-induced part (OOI) of the total TX order imbalance can predict future TX prices, and the OOI calculated from open-buy TXO, defined by Ni et al. (2008), provides incremental predictability. This finding shows that the price predictability stems from the information flow resulting from option transactions rather than from liquidity pressure. We conclude further that option transactions from foreign institutions provide the most significant predictability, out-of-the-money option transactions in particular. These empirical results show that option transactions conducted by foreign institutions have played the primary role in conveying the information inherent in the TXO market to the TX market, foreign institutions being delta-informed traders. Retail investors, the major players in both the TXO and TX markets, have done almost nothing of significance with regard to TXO information transmission into the TX market, with the exception of some near-the-money and out-of-the-money options.

We examine the effect of board members with venture capital experience (i.e., VC directors) on executive incentives at publicly listed firms. VC directors serving on the compensation committee are associated with greater CEO risk-taking incentives (i.e., vega) and greater pay-for-performance sensitivity (i.e., delta). These effects are more substantial if VC directors are from highly reputable VC firms. Using Regulation S-K requirements to disclose attributes of nominated directors as an instrument, we show that these results are causal. We also document that prior finding of greater research intensity and innovation when VC directors serve on boards of public firms are in part explained by the presence of increased risk-taking incentives of the CEO instilled by such directors. Lastly, we find that having VC directors on nominating and/or governance committees is associated with a higher likelihood of forced CEO turnover.

This paper first studies the Chinese warrant market that has been developing since August 2005. Empirical evidence shows that the market prices of warrants are much higher systematically than the Black-Scholes prices with historical volatility. The prices of a warrant and its underlying asset do not support the monotonicity, perfect correlation and option redundancy properties. The cumulated delta-hedged gains for almost all expired warrants are negative. The negative gains are mainly driven by the volatility risk, and the trading values of the warrants for puts and the market risk for calls. The investors are trading some other risks in addition to the underlying risk.

This paper investigates the pricing and hedging of a new volatility derivative in Mainland China, called volatility-linked notes. Firstly, we describe its underlying volatility-historical volatility of SHSCI and its specific clauses, then calibrate the underlying volatility using GARCH(1,1). It finds that the mean-reverting phenomenon of SHSCI volatility exists. Secondly, we propose two pricing model using replicated method and Monte-Carlo simulation, respectively. It works out similar outcomes. Finally, a Delta-hedging scheme of the volatility-linked notes is shown, however, the estimated result is not satisfactory as the absence of more efficient hedging instruments like index future.