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The aim of this paper is to investigate the contagion across real estate markets of four countries: Hong Kong, China, U.S. and U.K., during the financial tsunami in 2008. We use the Forbes-Rigobon test, the coskewness test and the cokurtosis test. We propose a new cokurtosis test constructed by extending the method of constructing the coskewness test to further higher order moments. It can show additional channels of contagion that other tests fail to show, and hence can provide more information on the direction of contagion, and reflect a more complete picture of the contagion pattern. The coskewness and cokurtosis tests show that contagion exists between the four countries, and the contagion effect is stronger between Hong Kong and China, and between U.S. and U.K. This provides clues for investors on how to diversify their investment to reduce their risk. This paper bridges the gap that previous works on contagion across real estate markets give mixed results, and gives a first insight into the contagion pattern of global real estate markets during the financial tsunami. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'obscenity' has no universal definition. It is often ill -defined, subjective and highly dependent on the culture of the communities in question and between communities. Nevertheless, the aim of the law on obscenity is to prevent publication and distribution of materials, which are potentially harmful to its readers, viewers and audience. The purpose of this paper is three fold. Firstly, it briefly considers the law on obscenity in the United Kingdom, and in the United States. Secondly, the paper discusses and evaluates the law relating to obscenity in Hong Kong in the light of the recent publication and distribution of materials which could be argued to fall within the realm of obscenity. Finally, it considers whether the law on obscenity would ever be able to fit into an "acceptable community standard". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the cooperative strategies between two firms in an overseas country. In Part 1, we examine the circumstances under which foreign firms would cooperate with another foreign firm in a third country market. Drawing upon existing literature, we develop and test a set of hypotheses using a longitudinal data set from China. The types of cooperative arrangements include all the major modes of operation. In Part 2, we further investigate what types of operation and level of control exist among the cooperative arrangements between two foreign firms in China. We used a sample of 483 cooperative arrangements between two firms from Hong Kong, the U.S., Japan, Germany, or Britain. This study offers interesting insight as to why foreign firms form cooperative arrangements in an overseas country and what types of cooperative arrangements these firms prefer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]