The Costs, Wealth Effects, and Determinants of International Capital Raising: Evidence from Public Yankee Bonds

This paper examines the costs, wealth effects, and determinants of international capital raising for a sample of 260 public debt issues made by non-U.S. firms in the Yankee bond market. We find that investors demand economically significant premiums on bonds issued by firms that are located in countries that do not protect investors' rights and do not have a prior history of ongoing disclosure. The results provide support for the literature that suggests better legal protections and more detailed information disclosure increases the price investors will pay for financial assets. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: F3, G1.     

Financial Distortions and Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence

Conventional wisdom suggests a negative relation between financial distortions and economic growth. This paper incorporates the financial premium, a good proxy for the degree of restrictions on financial transactions, into a standard AK-type endogenous growth model. The analytical results suggest that such a relationship does not exist. Economic growth is insulated by the financial premium, contrasting with previously held beliefs. Agents' patience and the attitude of relative risk aversion are noteworthy in explaining the effects of external distortions on economic growth. Our findings may apply to economies with parallel exchange markets.     

Financial Access and Economic Growth: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

This study empirically analyzes the effects of financial access on economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. By estimating panel data on thirty-seven countries from Sub-Saharan Africa between 2004 and 2012, we examine whether improved access to financial services has contributed to economic growth in this region. The empirical results clearly indicate that financial access has a statistically significant and robust effect on increasing economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.     

Debt Structure Adjustments and Long-Run Stock Price Performance

We examine the long-run implications of debt structure adjustments using a sample of U.S. bond IPOs from 1971 to 1994. Bond IPOs result in simultaneous and pronounced changes in both debt maturity and debt ownership structures. We document that firms engaging in debt IPOs substantially underperform their size-and-book-to-market-matched benchmarks by 33.39 and 55.99% over the 3- and 5-year post-offer periods. Our results are strikingly similar to those reported for equity offers but contrast the evidence for seasoned debt offers. We find evidence that debt IPOs are timed to coincide with the market having the highest expectations concerning firms' prospects. A negative relation is documented between debt maturity and future growth opportunities. In part, the underperformance can be attributed to significantly reduced growth opportunities following the offering. Post-offer underperformance is more pronounced for (a) longer maturity issues and (b) firms that do not experience an increase in bank monitoring. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: G12, G24, G30, D82.     

Financial asset demand is elastic: Evidence from new issues of Federal Home Loan Bank debt

We estimate the slope of the demand curve for newly auctioned FHLB discount notes and investigate the impacts of arbitrage risk and heterogeneity of investor beliefs on demand elasticity. Our unique dataset of roughly 2900 observations of two price-quantity pairs—the first from a pre-auction dealer survey, the second from actual auction results—provides the quantity shift necessary to identify demand. In contrast to previous findings of downward-sloping demand curves for equities, we show that demand for newly issued FHLB notes is nearly perfectly elastic during normal market conditions. We find, however, that frictions like arbitrage risk and, to a lesser extent, heterogeneity of investor beliefs negatively affect elasticity and explain the nearly 50% drop in elasticity observed during the recent financial crisis.     

中国金融发展与经济增长研究综述

金融发展与经济增长的关系是金融发展理论的核心问题,目前,学术界对二者的关系仍存争议.本文首先从理论层面回顾了金融与经济之关系的产生和演变路径,在此基础上,梳理总结了关于金融与经济关系的主要学术观点以及实证研究领域,最后,提出了未来的研究趋势和有待深入研究的问题.     

我国经济金融运行状况和相关政策解析

本文对我国经济金融运行现状进行了分析,阐述了货币政策适时适度调整,成功进行了宏观调控,促进了经济平稳较快发展。未来一段时期,我国金融业面临难得机遇和严峻挑战,需要注意把握政策的稳定性、针对性和灵活性,维护金融稳定,促进经济结构调整和发展方式转变。