The A-H Gene and
Individual Optimization
Having now read, in the Times Higher Education Supplement, Tony Antoniou's resignation letter, which he wrote after he was discovered to have plagiarized almost everything he ever published, UD finds herself more convinced than ever of the results of a study published here.
She first reminds readers of the study's findings, and then offers excerpts from Antoniou's letter, which seem to her to offer the strongest evidence so far of the plausibility of the study's claims.
In 1993, Lawrence L. Kupper, of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, published an article titled The AH Gene: Implications for Genetic Counseling, in which he wrote:
It is the purpose of this paper to discuss evidence supporting the existence of a gene (henceforth called the AH gene) that predisposes an individual to chronic behavior in an obnoxious, boorish, selfish, overbearing, and generally offensive manner. In our terminology, such an individual will be said to be acting like an AH. ... Following classical genetic theory, I postulate the existence of four alleles ...which I henceforth refer to as rectalleles ... Each pair of rectalleles constitutes a genotype; with four alleles there are 10 possible genotypes (disregarding allele order). An individual carrying the AH genotype will be referred to as a "complete AH"...
Professor Antoniou, who "declined to comment to The Times Higher," wrote last September that he resigned with a "heavy heart."
'I was appointed to raise the research profile of the school and, with the RAE submission now almost completed, I feel that we have achieved that objective. I am convinced that the school's RAE return will be an excellent one.
"I feel privileged to have led this school over the past few years. We now have excellent students, outstanding staff and a friendly and supportive working environment.'
Only an individual carrying the genotype would be able to write this letter.
Excerpts from the THES article:
'The full extent to which a leading business school head lifted material from papers published by his peers has emerged.
Tony Antoniou quit his post as dean of Durham Business School at the beginning of September for what were described as "personal reasons", amid unspecified allegations of plagiarism. He remains a professor of finance at the university.
An investigation by The Times Higher reveals that large quantities of material in Professor Antoniou's 1986 DPhil thesis, and a later journal article, are copied from a number of other sources.
The Times Higher has established that substantial parts of the professor's York University DPhil thesis, Futures Markets: Theory and Tests, take material from at least three other sources.
The introduction to Professor Antoniou's thesis begins identically to that of a paper by American academic Gary Koppenhaver "Risk Aversion and Futures Market Behaviour".
Both papers start with the same quote, attributed to an anonymous futures market analyst, and both are identical until the sixth line of the first paragraph.
Large sections of two chapters in the DPhil are also taken from Mr Koppenhaver's paper.
The DPhil also uses material from two other theses: Stephen Taylor's Time Series Properties and Models of Commodity Prices, Lancaster University, 1978, and Dosung Chung's Individual Optimisation and Market Equilibrium in Futures, Washington University, 1982.
Substantial duplication of other work is also apparent in a paper Professor Antoniou wrote in 1988 for the Journal of Business and Society.
Professor Antoniou's paper, "Futures Market Efficiency and the Time Content of the Information Set", borrows heavily from a paper, "Futures Market Efficiency and the Time Content of the Information Sets" written in 1983 by US student David Goldfarb and two Israeli academics, David Bigman and Edna Schechtman, for The Journal of Futures Markets.
... Professor Taylor said: "I am personally satisfied that Professor Antoniou's 1986 DPhil thesis contains several sentences and paragraphs that are identical to material in my 1978 PhD thesis."
"As Antoniou does not include any of my research output in his list of references, it is easy to see why people may believe that plagiarism has occurred."'
The THES offers an example:
INTRODUCTION
"Of course, the real reason the market reacts one way or the other is because many traders are irrational and emotional."
Anonymous futures market analyst.
Seemingly "irrational and emotional" behaviour of futures market participants can often reflect optimal economic decisions. Assessment of trader behaviour and the benefit of futures market, as well as sensible market regulation and policy, requires a through understanding of market participation decision-making.
Antonios Antoniou
"Futures Markets: Theory and Tests"
York University 1986
CHAPTER 1
THESIS MOTIVATION INTRODUCTION
"Of course, the real reason the market reacts one way or the other is because many traders are irrational and emotional."
Anonymous futures market analyst.
Seemingly "irrational and emotional" behaviour of futures market participants can often reflect optimal economic decisions. Assessment of trader behaviour and the benefit of futures markets, as well as sensible market regulation and policy, requires a through understanding of market participation decision-making.
Gary Koppenhaver
"Risk Aversion and Futures Market Behaviour"
University of Iowa 1980.
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