Tax arbitrage restrictions and financial leverage clienteles

This paper argues that while total short sale constraints are often introduced to rule out tax arbitrage, such constraints are both unrealistic and conceptually problematic. Instead, milder constraints are advocated, which prevent tax arbitrage while still allow short positions. It is demonstrated that a model with these constraints employed can support bond pricing as in the Miller equilibrium, although it leads to a richer set of tax clienteles.     

Political connection and leverage: Some Malaysian evidence

This paper extends prior work on the linkage between politically connected (PCON) firms and capital structure in developing countries. Specifically, this paper focuses on the association between Malaysian PCON firms and leverage, and is motivated by the results of Fraser et al. (2006) who report a positive association between leverage and political patronage. Controlling for a potential misspecification in that paper, this study documents that a significant proportion (almost 12%) of the Malaysian PCON firms have negative equity, and builds on the previous paper by providing fresh evidence that market to book ratio is positively associated with leverage, and that borrowing PCON firms have significantly lower ROA compared to non-PCON firms.     

Financial distress and corporate risk management: Theory and evidence

This paper extends the current theoretical models of corporate risk-management in the presence of financial distress costs and tests the model's predictions using a comprehensive data set. I show that the shareholders optimally engage in ex-post (i.e., after the debt issuance) risk-management activities even without a pre-commitment to do so. The model predicts a positive (negative) relation between leverage and hedging for moderately (highly) leveraged firms. Consistent with the theory, empirically I find a non-monotonic relation between leverage and hedging. Further, the effect of leverage on hedging is higher for firms in highly concentrated industries.     

Financial leverage changes associated with corporate mergers

We empirically examine whether firms increase financial leverage following mergers. Firms could increase financial leverage either because of an increase in debt capacity or because of unused debt capacity from pre-merger years. We find that financial leverage of combined firms increases significantly following mergers. A cross-sectional analysis shows that the change in financial leverage around mergers is significantly positively correlated with the announcement period market-adjusted returns. Further tests indicate that the increase in financial leverage is an outcome of an increase in debt capacity, although there is weak evidence that some of the increase in financial leverage is a result of past unused debt capacity.     

Firm- and country-level determinants of corporate leverage: Some new international evidence

This research analyzes the determinants of capital structure across 37 countries. Institutional arrangements matter for capital structure decisions; however, firm-level covariates drive two-thirds of the variation in capital structure across countries, while the country-level covariates explain the remaining one-third. The observed relationships between the country-level determinants and leverage provide strong support to the predictions of both the trade-off and the pecking-order theories. Country-level determinants serve as substitute mechanisms for the firm-level, industry-level, and macroeconomic determinants by moderating their marginal impact on leverage.     

Dividend clienteles: a global investigation

We compare the cross-sectional variation in the dividend payout policies of companies across 32 countries. Beyond the impact of firm-specific accounting and financial variables, this study investigates how the country level variations: shareholder demand due to demographic variations and consumption needs, agency problems manifested in the extent of minority shareholder protection and business disclosures, and market quality in terms of transparency and liquidity; affect the dividend payout policies. We find that firms have generous dividend payout policies when diverse shareholder demands are strong, extents of business disclosures and legal protections are weak, and the market qualities are poor. The empirical evidence supports the presence of strong dividend clienteles in a global setting.     

Institutional tax clienteles and payout policy

This paper employs heterogeneity in institutional shareholder tax characteristics to identify the relation between firm payout policy and tax incentives. Analysis of a panel of firms matched with the tax characteristics of the clients of their institutional shareholders indicates that “dividend-averse” institutions are significantly less likely to hold shares in firms with larger dividend payouts. This relation between the tax preferences of institutional shareholders and firm payout policy may reflect dividend-averse institutions gravitating towards low dividend paying firms or managers adapting their payout policies to the interests of their institutional shareholders. Evidence is provided that both effects are operative. Plausibly exogenous changes in payout policy result in shifting institutional ownership patterns. Similarly, exogenous changes in the tax cost of institutional investors receiving dividends results in changes in firm dividend policy.     

Financial development and innovation: Cross-country evidence

We examine how financial market development affects technological innovation. Using a large data set that includes 32 developed and emerging countries and a fixed effects identification strategy, we identify economic mechanisms through which the development of equity markets and credit markets affects technological innovation. We show that industries that are more dependent on external finance and that are more high-tech intensive exhibit a disproportionally higher innovation level in countries with better developed equity markets. However, the development of credit markets appears to discourage innovation in industries with these characteristics. Our paper provides new insights into the real effects of financial market development on the economy.     

Operating leverage,financial leverage,and equity risk

The analysis investigates the combined leverage effect of a fixed capacity decision (fixed cost) plus debt on the risk of equity returns. It is argued that the traditional DOL-DFL calculation is incorrect. A correct calculation is given, using the fact that the capacity decision is endogenous to the firm's decision process. The analysis reveals that the capacity decision partially offsets the effect on equity risk of increasing business risk or debt. However, this ability is lost at high levels of debt.     

Informal Financial Networks: Theory and Evidence

We develop a model of informal financial networks and presentcorroborating evidence by studying the role of property brokersin the U.S. commercial real estate market. Our model demonstratesthat service intermediaries, who do not themselves supply loans,can facilitate their clients' access to finance through informalrelationships with lenders. Empirically we find that, controllingfor endogenous broker selection, hiring a broker strikinglyincreases the probability of obtaining bank finance. Our resultsdemonstrate that even in the United States, with its well-developedcapital markets, informal networks play an important role incontrolling access to finance.     

系统金融理论:未来金融理论研究范式的演化方向——兼现代金融理论、行为金融理论、系统金融理论比较

金融理论的研究范式随着相关科学的发展而不断革新。系统科学能够全面有效解决非线性、复杂性、动态性问题,20世纪80年代系统科学理论逐步应用于金融研究中。为发展金融理论、指导金融实践,有必要构建完善的系统科学范式下的金融理论体系。系统金融理论采用非线性、复杂性和系统动力学的方法,能够更加准确地揭示金融系统的演化规律,因而较现代金融理论和行为金融理论更加接近于实际情况,是金融理论研究范式未来的发展方向。     

Productivity-based asset pricing: Theory and evidence

In a general real business cycle model, we derive a pricing kernel that involves only production function arguments. The productivity shock is the single factor and the capital stock relative to a productivity measure is the conditioning variable. The model compares favorably with the complementary consumption-based and market-based approaches and with the Fama-French three-factor model. A size premium arises from differences in unconditional sensitivities—small firms are more sensitive to productivity shocks—and a value premium from differences in conditional sensitivities to productivity shocks—growth firms are more sensitive to productivity shocks when the productivity risk premium is low.     

Financial dollarization and systemic risks: New empirical evidence

This paper explores the persistence of financial dollarization in a group of 79 economies with different levels of development. Our main hypothesis is that a high level of domestic debt combined with default risk explains this persistence, even after a decline in inflation rates. Using the generalized method of moments (GMM) in a panel data analysis, our results show that inflation risks caused by increasing probability of default account for financial dollarization more than inflation rate itself. After the decrease in inflation rates, the foreign currency-denominated deposits remain large because of the high debt-to-GDP ratios, particularly in speculative-grade economies. High public indebtedness leads to expectations of default. Dollarization is a rational response to the future inflation associated with investors' expectations of default observed in highly indebted economies.     

Financial supervision regimes and bank efficiency: International evidence

There exists a lively debate as for the appropriate architecture of the financial supervision regime, with a long list of theoretical advantages and disadvantages associated with each one of its key dimensions. The present study investigates whether and how bank profit efficiency is influenced by the central bank’s involvement in financial supervision, the unification of financial authorities, and the independence of the central bank. The results show that efficiency decreases as the number of the financial sectors that are supervised by the central bank increases. Additionally, banks operating in countries with greater unification of supervisory authorities are less profit efficient. Finally, central bank independence has a negative impact on bank profit efficiency.     

财务工具论

韩向东:ABC作业成本法作为一个精细化、高难度的工具,在国内企业的应用并不太好,究竟什么样的企业适合用ABC这样工具,要具备什么条件才能够实施,请结合自身情况,谈谈企业对ABC作业成本法这个工具的看法?曹晓风:精细化管理是我们做企业一直追求的。在我看来,财务人员的能力是我们作     

金融资源论:对金融功能观与金融机构观的综合研究

金融资源论的提出是对金融基础理论研究的一次重大挑战.从金融机构观向金融功能观的演进是金融理论对现实世界变化的一种回应,金融资源论的提出同样是如此.金融资源的三个层次其实可以分为实体部分和功能部分,这两部分的主要内容和研究思路分别与金融机构观和金融功能观相对应.由此可见,在金融资源论与金融机构观和金融功能观之间存在着某种逻辑联系,即金融资源论是对金融机构观与金融功能观的一种综合,具有更为开阔的理论研究视角.这既为金融资源论构建了更为坚实的理论基础,也为金融资源论的进一步完善拓展了空间.     

Asymmetric business cycles: Theory and time-series evidence

We offer a theory of economic fluctuations based on intertemporal increasing returns: agents who have been active in the past face lower costs of action today. This specification explains the observed persistence in individual and aggregate output fluctuations even in the presence of i.i.d shocks because individuals respond to the same shock differently depending on their recent past experience. The exact process for output, the sharpness of turning points and the degree of asymmetry are determined by the form of heterogeneity. Our general formulation, under certain assumptions, reduces to a number of popular state space (unobserved components) models. We find that on US data our general formulation performs better than many of the existing econometric models, largely because it allows sharper downturns and more pronounced asymmetries than linear models, and is smoother than discrete regime shift models. Our estimates imply that only modest intertemporal returns are needed for our model to explain US GNP, and that heterogeneity across agents plays an important role in the propagation of business cycle shocks.     

理解金融脱媒:基于金融中介理论的诠释

已有文献对金融脱媒的理解多与各国的金融实践相联系,对金融脱媒的产生、作用机理和发展趋势的讨论缺少理论支持。本文首先就国内外文献对金融脱媒的定义进行了梳理并以此为基础明确了金融脱媒的概念,然后尝试以金融中介理论发展为脉络,利用金融中介理论中各观点的互补性,从多个角度对金融脱媒进行了诠释。     

Strategy as stretch and leverage

Global competition is not just product versus product or company versus company. It is mind-set versus mind-set. Driven to understand the dynamics of competition, we have learned a lot about what makes one company more successful than another. But to find the root of competitiveness--to understand why some companies create new forms of competitive advantage while others watch and follow--we must look at strategic mind-sets. For many managers, "being strategic" means pursuing opportunities that fit the company's resources. This approach is not wrong, Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad contend, but it obscures an approach in which "stretch" supplements fit and being strategic means creating a chasm between ambition and resources. Toyota, CNN, British Airways, Sony, and others all displaced competitors with stronger reputations and deeper pockets. Their secret? In each case, the winner had greater ambition than its well-endowed rivals. Winners also find less resource-intensive ways of achieving their ambitious goals. This is where leverage complements the strategic allocation of resources. Managers at competitive companies can get a bigger bang for their buck in five basic ways: by concentrating resources around strategic goals; by accumulating resources more efficiently; by complementing one kind of resource with another; by conserving resources whenever they can; and by recovering resources from the market-place as quickly as possible. As recent competitive battles have demonstrated, abundant resources can't guarantee continued industry leadership.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

集体行为与金融稳定:以金融系统论为视角

本文依据系统科学基本思想,构建了金融系统论,区分了金融要素之间的相互联系和数量对比关系。金融系统是由处于相互联系当中的众多金融要素构成的有序整体。金融稳定是由金融结构稳定决定的并反映金融结构变化的金融功能稳定,体现为金融服务的连续性。金融系统远离均衡并维持既有结构和获得新结构的驱动力量是集体行为。由于金融稳定兼具公共产品属性和公共资源属性,如果通过私人部门集体行为来提供和维护,则金融稳定将供给不足,且会被过度耗费。金融管理部门在承担提供和维护金融稳定责任的同时,需要降低私人部门集体行为的组织成本,加强私人部门通过集体行为提供和维护金融稳定的激励,限制私人部门过度耗费金融稳定的倾向性行为。