前言：

商學博士學位學程本年度菲律賓籍畢業生狄強(圖右)參加在2011年紐西蘭舉辦的國際研討會「World Business and Economics Conference」，其論文“The spillover and asymmetric volatility effects of leveraged and inverse-leveraged exchange-traded funds”榮獲最佳論文獎，此篇亦同時獲選在「Accounting and Finance」當年度期刊上發表；其另一篇論文“Spillover and leverage effects of faith-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs)”也在2011年馬來西亞吉隆坡舉辦的「International Islamic Banking, Finance and Investment Conference」上大放異彩，獲得第二個最佳論文獎。他將此得之不易的榮耀歸功於他的恩師陳若暉教授(圖左)從不懈怠的叮囑及教導。

狄強在97學年度下學期正式加入中原這個大家庭，在學期間表現主動積極，在就讀中原的3年半期間，共完成16篇論文；他數次談到他感謝及愛中原的心，想以實際行動表現出來，因此他計畫舉辦座談會，將他從事研究的經驗及心得與所有研究生分享。

CYCU international student bags two best paper awards

文/狄強

I am John Francis Diaz (狄 強), a Filipino student of the College of Business, who received two best paper awards from two separate international conferences in New Zealand and Malaysia. Both papers were under the supervision of my co-author and adviser, Dr. Jo-Hui Chen of the Department of Finance.

The first paper entitled “The spillover and asymmetric volatility effects of leveraged and inverse-leveraged exchange-traded funds” earned the award for its scholarly contribution to the field of Finance and Investments at the World Business and Economics Conference in Auckland, New Zealand last December 12-13, 2011. The research was also accepted for publication in the Journal of Accounting and Finance. The award-winning paper shows that a negative bilateral relationship is evident in the spillover effects of returns, and a positive bilateral relationship is also observed in the spillover effects of volatilities that may have significant effect on the exposure to total return swaps of leveraged and inverse leveraged ETFs.

The second paper entitled “Spillover and leverage effects of faith-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs)” won the award for its contribution to the field of Islamic Finance at the International Islamic Banking, Finance and Investment Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last December 19-20, 2011. The research was also considered for publication in the Journal of Islamic Finance and Business Research. The study demonstrates that faith ETFs and non-faith ETFs have significant positive and negative relationships with their stock indices returns, respectively; and risks and returns in daily ETFs and stock indices have positive relations.

The organizer of the two conferences, World Business Institute (WBI) based in Australia, also awarded me an Associate Fellow certificate for my contributions on the above conferences and publications. I am also now an active reviewer of the WBI journals for Finance and Economics. The conferences, publications and awards that I received from the two separate international conferences provided me a stronger motivation to continue on improving my craft as a researcher and hopefully a teacher in the near future.

I just recently received my Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Business. I successfully defended my four-essay PhD dissertation entitled “Spillover effects, volatility dynamics and forecasting: Evidence from exchange-traded notes” with a rating of 94% last February 2012 within three years upon entering the program. A number of my research has focused on exchange-traded products, which are derivatively-priced pool of investment securities traded intra-daily on stock exchanges. My research interest is on International Finance and International Investments with concentration on the econometric modeling of investment instruments and determining several macroeconomic factors that affect their performance.

I am currently a full-time Research Assistant in the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) Accreditation Office of the College of Business, and doing part-time research and lectures for my adviser. I am also hoping that the college will give me the additional opportunity to extend my academic services by being an international faculty for the international program.