GLOBALIZATION OF CAPITAL MARKETS AND THE ASIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS

This article has three basic aims: (1) to analyze the impact of the opening of their capital markets on the economies of host countries; (2) to investigate the causes of the Asian financial crisis; and (3) to evaluate the likely effects of the South Korean government's recent attempts to restructure its corporate sector. Although the recent Asian financial crisis has led some to question the merits of open capital markets and to call for regulatory restraints on capital flows across international borders, the scientific evidence suggests that the opening of stock markets to foreign investors has been largely beneficial for emerging economies. On average, stock market liberalization has been accompanied by increases in stock prices and reductions in stock return volatility, reductions in inflation, and reductions in the rate of currency depreciation. Much of the blame for the Asian currency crises is assigned to Asian policymakers' futile attempts to defy market forces by trying to maintain their currencies at artificially high levels. But a more fundamental cause of Asia's economic problems has been the widespread value destruction by Asian corporations, which has led to a lower value for the overall economy and weakened the banking sector. The government-directed banking systems and weak corporate governance structures (including managerial incentives to increase size and market share at the expense of shareholders) that characterize most Asian economies have resulted in systematic overinvestment, bloated payrolls, and sharp declines in corporate profitability. While applauding most of the Korean government's recent measures to reform the economy, the article expresses skepticism about the government-mandated restructuring of the chaebol known as the “big deal.” Rather than trying to direct the process of restructuring, Korean policymakers should limit their efforts to improving the market mechanism by increasing competition in the markets for capital, corporate control, and goods and services. The Korean market for corporate control transactions could be greatly improved by increasing the efficiency of bankruptcy proceedings and by allowing hostile takeovers by foreign as well as domestic investors. To increase the productivity of capital, Asian companies should seek to realign managerial with shareholder interests by tying compensation to measures of value creation like EVA.     

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN GERMAN CAPITAL MARKETS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Financial economists continue to point to Germany as a relatively successful model of a "bank-centered," as opposed to a market-based, economy. But few seem to recognize that, in the years leading up to World War I, German equity capital markets were among the most highly developed in the world. Although there are now only about 750 companies listed on German stock exchanges, in 1914 there were almost 1,200 (as compared to only about 600 stocks then listed on the New York Stock Exchange).
Since German reunification in 1990, there have been signs of a possible restoration of the country's equity markets to something like their former prominence. The last 10 years have seen important legal and institutional developments that can be seen as preparing the way for larger and more active German equity markets, together with a more "shareholder-friendly" corporate governance system. In particular, the 1994 Securities Act, the Corporation Control and Transparency Act passed in 1998, and the just released Takeover Act and Fourth Financial Market Promotion
Act all contain legal reforms that are essential conditions for well functioning equity markets. Such legal and regulatory changes have helped lay the groundwork for more visible and dramatic milestones, such as the Deutsche Telekom IPO in 1996, the opening of the Neuer Market in 1997, and, perhaps most important, the acquisition in 2000 of Mannesmann by Vodafone, the first successful hostile takeover of a German company.     

金融市场体系的关联性与社会资金配置格局

任何一种市场现象都是市场主体在特定的市场环境下一系列市场行为的反映,资金趋利避险的本能及其跨市场、跨品种、跨时段的套利行为,构成了金融市场运行的永恒的推动力.本文以诠释近期债券市场运行中的若干现象为出发点,循着社会资金流动的主线,透过经济主体的资金运作行为,时以信贷市场、债券市场和股票市场为支柱的金融市场体系间的资金互动关系进行了研究,从贴近现实经济生活的角度,分析了近年来较具代表性的金融市场行为的内在动机、市场背景和行为效果,对我国社会资金配置格局和金融市场运行效率作了初步的探讨,并提出相关政策建议.     

资本市场尽享文化大餐

党的十七届六中全会明确提出,“十二五”期间,要推动文化产业成为国民经济的支柱性产业。面对难得的历史发展机遇,文化产业的大发展被提到前所未有的政治高度。刚刚闭幕的两会上,温家宝总理在政府工作报告中再次强调加强文化建设,并提出推动文化产业成为国民经济支柱产业。在政策扶持的滚滚春雷之后,各界人士热烈期盼着金融资本的“春雨”能够随之而至。     

让地方资本市场更具活力——访全国政协委员、广东证监局局长侯外林

3月9日下午,阳光明媚。北京会议中心34组外的走廊里,广东证监局局长侯外林点燃一支烟,思绪在其担任政协委员的5年间来回穿梭：“担任全国政协委员的经历,是我非常难忘的一段时光。”提及履行政协委员职责的五年,侯外林似乎有说不完的话。     

SOME EVIDENCE THAT BANKS USE INTERNAL CAPITAL MARKETS TO LOWER CAPITAL COSTS

To the extent raising external capital is especially costly for banks (as the preceding article suggests), bank managers have incentives to manage their internal cash flow in ways that minimize their need to raise external equity. One way to accomplish this is to establish bank holding companies that set up internal capital markets for the purpose of allocating scarce capital across their various subsidiaries. By “internal capital market” the authors mean a capital budgeting process in which all the lending and investment opportunities of the different subsidiaries are ranked according to their risk-adjusted returns; and all internal capital available for investment is then allocated to the highestranked opportunities until either the capital is exhausted or returns fall below the cost of capital, whichever comes first. As evidence of the operation of internal capital markets in bank holding companies, the authors report the following set of findings from their own recent studies:

• ? For large publicly traded bank holding companies, growth rates in lending are closely tied to the banks' internal cash flow and regulatory capital position.
• ? For the subsidiaries of bank holding companies, what matters most is the capital position and earnings of the holding companies and not of the subsidiaries themselves.
• ? The lending activity of banks affiliated with multiple bank holding companies appears to be less dependent on their own earnings and capital than the lending of unaffiliated banks.

The authors also report that, after being acquired, previously unaffiliated banks increase their lending in local markets. This finding suggests that, contrary to the concerns of critics of bank consolidation, geographic consolidation may make banks more responsive to local lending opportunities.     

金砖国家牵手资本市场

自2001年,高盛集团全球经济研究部主管吉姆·奥尼尔首次抛出金砖四国的概念,到2011年金砖国家的扩容——非洲第一大经济体南非的加入,这个合作机制越来越吸引国际的目光。在这样的关注下,金砖国家资本市场的发展日新月异,实现了新一轮的突破与跨越。在2011年金砖国家三亚峰会上,金砖五国签署了《金砖国家银行合作机制金融合作框...     

R&D investment and systematic risk

The present study investigates the relationship between a firm's R&D intensity and the risk of its common stock, by analysing a sample of firms which are more profitable, larger in market capitalization and more R&D intensive than the universe of US‐listed firms. The results from the portfolio analysis, Monte Carlos simulations and correlation analysis of our sample show that: (i) R&D intensity is positively related to systematic risk in the stock market; (ii) the greater systematic risk is largely attributable to the greater intrinsic business risk and the greater operating risk of R&D‐intensive firms; (iii) R&D‐intensive firms carry marginally less financial leverage but they do not differ from other firms in terms of operating leverage; and (iv) our results are particularly strong in the manufacturing sector. For the non‐manufacturing sector, the results are not robust for different study periods.     

Exchange rate undervaluation and R&D activity

We examine how real exchange rate undervaluation policy affects research and development (R&D) activity. Using a panel data set comprising 49 developed and developing countries covering 1996–2011, we show that undervaluing the exchange rate retards technological innovation. Such a negative impact is particularly prominent for developed countries. This paper provides new insights into the real effects of undervaluation policy on the economy. An implication of our work is that countries implementing exchange rate undervaluation policy should be mindful of its potential negative effects on research and development activity.     

对央行数字货币研发的几点思考

近年来各主要国家和地区央行及货币当局均在对发行法定数字货币开展研究,市场上对央行数字货币利弊的讨论也在不断升温。央行数字货币具有传统货币无法比拟的优势,但风险也不容忽视。目前,数字人民币研发进展处于世界前列且受到国内外高度关注。在复杂的国际关系背景下,宜高度关注其潜在风险,有策略地推动数字人民币研发工作。     

R&D productivity following first-time CIO appointments

Prior studies find that firms announcing the appointment of a new chief information officer (CIO) are rewarded by stock price increases, suggesting that the market expects new CIOs to add longterm value to the firm. In this paper, we examine whether first-time CIO appointments result in improved R&D productivity. We focus on R&D investments because one role of IT management is to aid in discovery and management of growth opportunities. Successful R&D activities are designed to create the type of knowledge-based, growth-critical assets (new or improved products, better distribution methods, etc.) that effective IT management would be expected to assist. After controlling for industry performance, we find that the productivity of R&D improves significantly after the appointment of a new CIO for appointments before 1999 (1997–1998) but not for appointments in later years (1999–2007), and that productivity improvements over the entire sample period occur for CIO appointments by firms with superior IT capabilities. Our results for R&D investments suggest that new CIOs improve the way IT is managed and improve their firms' approach to knowledge management.