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It would seem that an individual's ability to invest could have something to do with genetics.

Stephan Siegel of Arizona State University and Henrik Cronqvist of Claremont McKenna College (via The Economist) studied the investment patterns of 15,208 pairs of Swedish twins, of which 4,636 pairs were identical twins.

The Swedish Twin Registry is the largest twin registry in the world. The Swedish Tax Authority also maintains robust records of individuals' financial portfolios, including all transactions during the year.

According to Siegel and Cronqvist's findings, identical twins display investing patterns that are more similar than those of fraternal twins.

Because identical twins are genetically identical whereas fraternal twins share around 50 percent of each others genes, the researchers argue that genetics can explain up to 50 percent of the variation in investment behavioral biases, including the reluctance to realize losses, performance chasing, and home bias.

From their abstract:

...We find no evidence that education is a significant moderator of genetic investment behavior. Genetic effects on investment behavior are correlated with genetic effects on behaviors in other domains (e.g., those with a genetic preference for familiar stocks also exhibit a preference for familiarity in other domains), suggesting that investment biases is only one facet of much broader genetic behaviors. Our evidence provides a biological basis for non-standard preferences that have been used in asset pricing models, and has implications for the design of public policy in the domain of investments.

You can download their findings at SSRN.

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This Fascinating Study Of 15,208 Pairs Of Swedish Twins Sheds New Light On Investor Behavior

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the 'AAA' ratings assigned to the following auction market preferred shares (AMPS) issued by Pioneer Municipal High Income Trust (NYSE: MHI - News) and Pioneer Municipal High Income Advantage Trust (NYSE: MAV - News), both of which are leveraged municipal closed-end funds advised by Pioneer Investments Management (Pioneer):

Pioneer Municipal High Income Trust (MHI):

--$50,000,000 of auction market preferred shares, series A, with a liquidation preference of $25,000 per share;

--$51,000,000 of auction market preferred shares, series B, with a liquidation preference of $25,000 per share.

Pioneer Municipal High Income Advantage Trust (MAV):

--$75,000,000 of auction market preferred shares, series A, with a liquidation preference of $25,000 per share;

--$75,000,000 of auction market preferred shares, series B, with a liquidation preference of $25,000 per share.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

The 'AAA' rating affirmations reflects:

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Fitch Affirms Preferred Share Ratings of 2 Pioneer Municipal Closed End Funds at 'AAA'

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the 'AAA' ratings assigned to the following auction market preferred shares (AMPS) issued by two leveraged closed-end funds advised by Pioneer Investments Management Inc. (Pioneer):

Pioneer Floating Rate Trust (NYSE: PHD - News): --$60,850,000 of auction market preferred shares, series M7 with a liquidation preference of $25,000 per share; --$60,800,000 of auction market preferred shares, series Th7 with a liquidation preference of $25,000 per share; --$60,800,000 of auction market preferred shares, series W7 with a liquidation preference of $25,000 per share.

Pioneer High Income Trust (NYSE: PHT - News): --$50,500,000 of auction market preferred shares, series M, with a liquidation preference of $25,000 per share; --$50,500,000 of auction market preferred shares, series W, with a liquidation preference of $25,000 per share; --$50,000,000 of auction market preferred shares, series TH, with a liquidation preference of $25,000 per share.

KEY RATING DRIVERS The affirmation of the 'AAA' ratings reflects: --Sufficient asset coverage provided to the AMPS by the underlying portfolios of assets; --The structural protections afforded by mandatory de-leveraging provisions in the event of asset coverage declines; --The legal and regulatory parameters that govern the funds' operations; --The capabilities of Pioneer as investment advisor.

Fitch's ratings assigned to the AMPS speak only to the credit risk of the securities and not to potential liquidity in the secondary market.

LEVERAGE As of Jan. 27, 2012, PHD's total assets were approximately $507 million, and total leverage, consisting of AMPS, was approximately $182 million, or 35% of total assets. As of the same date, PHT's total assets were approximately $526 million and total leverage, consisting of AMPS was approximately $151 million, or 29% of total assets.

ASSET COVERAGE At the time of the rating affirmations, the funds' asset coverage ratios, as calculated in accordance with the Fitch total and net overcollateralization tests (Fitch OC tests) per the 'AAA' rating guidelines outlined in Fitch's applicable criteria, were in excess of 100%, which is the minimum asset coverage amount deemed consistent with an 'AAA' rating. The funds' governing documents require that asset coverage for the ARPS, as calculated in accordance with the Fitch OC tests, be maintained in excess of 100%. As such, should the asset coverage decline below 100%, the governing documents require the funds to restore compliance within a 40 business day period.

Additionally, as of the same date, the funds' asset coverage ratios for total outstanding AMPS, as calculated in accordance with Pioneer's interpretation of the Investment Company Act of 1940, were in excess of 200%, which is also a minimum asset coverage required by the funds' governing documents.

PIONEER FLOATING RATE TRUST (PHD): PHD is a diversified, closed-end management investment company, registered under the 1940 Act that commenced operations in December 2004. The fund's investment objective is to seek high current income with a secondary objective of capital preservation. The fund seeks to achieve these objectives by investing at least 80% of its assets in senior floating-rate loans, all or any portion of which may be below investment-grade. The fund also may invest in other floating- and variable-rate instruments, including senior loans, second lien loans and high-yield corporate bonds. The fund does not have a policy of maintaining a specific average credit quality, or a minimum portion of its portfolio that must be rated investment grade.

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Fitch Affirms Preferred Share Ratings of 2 Pioneer Corporate Fixed-Income Closed End Funds at 'AAA'

After weeks of vocal worries from some residents that a local blight designation could lead to eminent domain abuse, city leaders and area legislators want to clarify state law to bar that from happening.

Regional Economic Development Inc. Director Mike Brooks is asking area legislators to change the state statute governing enhanced enterprise zones so that a local government's declaration of blight, required to create an EEZ, can't be used to meet the blight requirement for other laws.

The proposal comes after the Columbia City Council passed a resolution declaring much of the eastern half of the city blighted as a step toward establishing an EEZ.

City leaders want to create the EEZ to offer business incentives to attract companies, especially manufacturers. The EEZ statute allows a local government to designate an area where certain industries can qualify for state income tax credits and local property tax abatement after meeting thresholds for new jobs and investment. But the blight designation is what galvanized many residents, mainly in regard to eminent domain. "We're simply listening to the people's concerns and understand that anything that can be done to address those concerns, we want to do that," Brooks said.

Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, said he thinks there is a good chance the language can be added to the EEZ statute. "I think it probably takes care of the problem," he said.

Indeed, blight has been used for the taking of property by Missouri municipalities, and courts have almost always deferred to local governments in defining what constitutes a blighted area. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld local governments' broad authority to condemn property in Kelo v. New London, the Missouri General Assembly sought to tighten its eminent domain statutes in 2006.

Some parts of the law turned out well, such as a requirement that homeowners be paid 125 percent of fair market value for their property, said Dale Whitman, a University of Missouri law professor who studies property law. Other parts were not written tightly, such as the requirement that municipalities must find that a "preponderance" of property in a large blighted area meets the state's definition before condemning, he said.

In 2007, a Missouri appeals court ruling found that local governments need not "make a specific finding for each parcel" when taking eminent domain action on a large blighted area. And the court defined "preponderance" as the square footage of the whole area, not a preponderance of the total parcels.

Missouri courts are "among the worst in the country in terms of giving governments almost unquestioned deference" in defining blight for eminent domain use, said Dave Roland, director of litigation for the Freedom Center of Missouri.

Whitman said courts have become "a bit more demanding" in terms of the evidence they require from municipalities to prove blight. "The courts are very aware of the interest in the subject that was generated by the Kelo case," he said. "Judges read the newspaper, too, and I think they're simply more willing to take a closer look at what cities do than they were pre-Kelo."

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Officials seek change in EEZ statute

Industry and government leaders attending the International Telecommunications Unions (ITU) Connect Arab Summit, which closed yesterday, have identified market opportunities worth over $46bn for new projects designed to enhance ICT access, applications and services throughout the region. The investment opportunities focus around key priorities for the region, including building a regional Arab ICT highway, developing e-services, empowering local people through training and human capacity building, leveraging ICTs for youth job creation, strengthening cyber security, and protecting Arab heritage and culture. The Summit was convened to forge regional consensus on new strategies to boost infrastructure deployment, extend access to marginalised populations, and stimulate innovation and employment across the region. The Summit closed with a communique endorsed by all participating governments from across the region, which set out four key development goals around access and infrastructure; digital content; cyber security; and innovation. Connectivity commitments and partnerships announced during the event included a project between ITU and the League of Arab States to establish a dot Arab domain name (UAE announced that it would host this important new domain); a womens literacy project involving ITU, ALESCO and UAE, designed to empower women in the region with ICT skills in Arabic; a project between ITU and the Linux Professional Institute to promote open source software training and certification; a broadband toolkit to be developed by the World Bank, along with a regional broadband connectivity study to support additional infrastructure investment and an employment study focusing on the West Bank/Gaza. At the national level, Egypt proposed a raft of projects for investment, and made three announcements with ITU: a project to enhance access to Arab digital content through the Memory of the Arab World project; a project to strengthen Arab statistical indicators to better inform policy-making in the region; a project to leverage the power of ICTs to help persons with disabilities. The Arab Information and Communication Technologies Organisation (AICTO) proposed several projects, including a regional cyber security initiative to promote safe and secure e-transactions; a digital broadcasting project; a new project to establish e-accessibility centres to provide education, training and retrofitting of Arab websites in partnership with W3C; and a common legal framework on e-accessibility in Arab region. In addition, a number of counties, including Djibouti, Mauritania and Sudan, put forward exciting ICT investment opportunities for which they are seeking partners. In his closing remarks, Brahima Sanou, director, ITUs telecommunication development bureau, hailed the Summit as an outstanding success in bringing countries from right across the region and the world to share ideas and identify opportunities for business partnership.

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New investment projects worth $46bn identified