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"This paper analyzes the performance of the commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) market before and during the recent financial crisis. Using a comprehensive sample of CMBS deals from 1996 to 2008, we show that (unlike the residential mortgage market) the loans underlying CMBS did not significantly change their characteristics during this period, commercial lenders did not change the way they priced a given loan, defaults remained in line with their levels during the entire 1970s and 1980s and, overall, the CMBS and CMBX markets performed as normal during the financial crisis (at least by the standards of other recent market downturns). We show that the recent collapse of the CMBS market was caused primarily by the rating agencies allowing subordination levels to fall to levels that provided insufficient protection to supposedly "safe" tranches. This ratings inflation in turn allowed financial firms to engage in ratings arbitrage"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site

"This book is an investigation of the 300 year old model of global journalism used by the Western news media. It argues that the framework of localization is fragile and unable to cope with the issues, events, agents and institutions of globalization that exist, and that the current model of news gathering and reporting requires rethinking"--Provided by publisher

Current pricing of ABX.HE indexed credit default swaps (CDS) imply levels of forecasted losses for sup-prime residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) that are substantially greater than realized credit events in these securities. Regression results, controlling for the correlational structure of the common underlying mortgage pools, indicate that the credit performance of the referenced sub-prime RMBS is uncorrelated with observed fluctuations in the ABX.HE indexed CDS returns. Although we find some evidence that volatility shocks, as measured by VIX, have also negatively impacted ABX.HE returns, these effects are not consistently associated with devaluations on higher credit rated ABX.HE indexed CDS. Instead, the returns on ABX.HE indexes of all credit qualities are consistently and statistically significantly related to short-sale demand imbalances in the option and equity markets of the publicly-traded builders, the commercial banks, the investment banks and the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). The combined effect of the unique settlement structure of the ABX.HE indexes, the lower short sales constraints in the indexed credit default swap market, and the important supply limitations in the cash market for BBB and BBBtranches appear to have significantly amplified arbitrage imbalances between the cash market for tranches and the ABX.HE indexed derivatives. Our results indicate that dislocations associated with aggregate short-selling imbalances in the mortgage related capital markets rather than credit events in the outstanding stock of sub-prime RMBS, per se appear to be central to the substantial price devaluations of the ABX.HE indexed credit default swaps. Our finding that the short-selling strategies of arbitrageurs have exacerbated the effects of negative economic shocks in the sub-prime RMBS market leads us to conclude that the ABX.HE indexed CDS are imperfect benchmarks for marking-to-market mortgage portfolios because the indexed market does not efficiently aggregate information concerning the credit performance of referenced sub-prime mortgage obligations.

Australia has over 1.5 million ha of plantation forests. Governments and industry share a goal of doubling this area by 2020, with most new plantations to be established on previously-cleared agricultural land. Plantations currently supply over half of the raw material required by the forest products industry and also provide a range of environmental and social services. The ownership and management structure of Australian forest plantations and plantation-based forest industries has changed considerably over the past decade, and plantation growing, processing and marketing sectors are becoming increasingly globalised. This paper reviews the major forces driving development of forest plantations in Australia and the key policy and management issues to be considered if plantations are to meet varied expectations of the Australian community. Our assessment is based on papers and discussion at the 'Prospects for Australian Forest Plantations 2002' conference. The wide-ranging papers to the conference considered opportunities for Australia's forest plantations and plantation-based industries in changing global wood markets. They discussed alternative and emerging markets for wood and other plantation products and environmental services, the potential for plantations to provide environmental benefits such as salinity mitigation and biodiversity conservation, effects of plantations on water yield and quality, and the effects of plantation development on rural and regional communities. The role of plantations in providing a broader range of environmental and social benefits emerged as a major focus of discussion. Lessons learned from Australia's experience with plantation development are relevant in a wider global context where plantations will be expected to supply products for, and benefits to, society that historically have been supplied by native forest.