Discussion of ‘Strange bedfellows? Voluntary CSR disclosure and politics’

This article discusses the paper by Griffin and Sun (2013). Griffin and Sun (2013) investigate (i) the association between the company individuals and stakeholders political interests and the intensity of voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures, and (ii) investors response to these CSR disclosures. This discussion focuses on issues relating to five key areas of Griffin and Sun (2013), namely, the relationship between political interests and CSR disclosure intensity, the relationship between political interests and investors reactions to CSR disclosure, the political interest proxies employed, sample selection and the empirical analyses.     

Is there useful information in the ‘use of proceeds’ disclosures in IPO prospectuses?

This study contributes evidence on the valuation relevance of the ‘use of proceeds’ disclosure in the initial public offering (IPO) prospectus. This article develops a classification of ‘use of proceeds’ disclosures that aims to capture information embedded in the disclosures relating to the purpose (growth, production, financing) and amount committed to specific assets. These measures are then related to IPO underpricing, survival prediction and expected and realised prospects of the IPOs. The results suggest the ‘use of proceeds’ disclosure categories have incremental information over other sources of information for underpricing, for predicting firm survival and in the case of some disclosure categories, for investors’ evaluation of the firms’ prospects and risks in the early years after listing.     

Company duplication – plain fraud or a ‘poor man's’ bankruptcy? A case study in the financial distress of small businesses

Two possible solutions to corporate financial distress are traditionally considered: commencing a formal bankruptcy proceeding or arranging an out‐of‐court capital restructuring. Corporate bankruptcy scholarship has largely ignored a third solution occasionally undertaken by small businesses, that is, resorting to self‐help measures. The purpose of this paper is to start filling the gap using a unique case study. The paper describes and analyses an existing phenomenon among small firms in Israel experiencing financial distress – company duplication. A typical scenario unfolds as follows. An entrepreneur who controls the financially distressed Company A registers a new Company B in an attempt to avoid a complete shutdown of her creditors' disturbed business. The assets of Company A are transferred to Company B in what appears to be fraudulent conveyance. Company B serves as a vehicle through which the original business is kept running. If necessary, the entrepreneur will also register Company C and repeat the process. Israeli law regulates company duplication in an ambivalent manner. On the one hand, conventional wisdom considers company duplication to be tantamount to fraud against Company A's unaware creditors. Accordingly, company duplication has been recently denounced by the Israeli Supreme Court as an illegitimate way of conducting business. The Court held that notwithstanding the principle of limited liability, an entrepreneur resorting to company duplication is personally liable to pay any debt of Company A that was not serviced by it. On the other hand, company duplicators do not face criminal charges. To the extent that company duplication is practiced by insolvent entrepreneurs, deterrence is therefore suboptimal, as insolvent duplicators are not sanctioned at all. Against this backdrop, this paper advances two normative arguments. First, a more sympathetic explanation should be considered to account for company duplication. An entrepreneur resorting to company duplication might actually be arranging for a ‘home‐made’ bankruptcy proceeding (i.e. buying time which could help the business establish its viability and regenerate). According to this narrative, the duplication mimics the role of a formal bankruptcy stay on unsecured creditors' collection efforts, thus suggesting that company duplication serves as ‘a poor man's’ bankruptcy proceeding. Second, this new explanation of company duplication, combined with the current level of suboptimal deterrence, mandates a re‐evaluation of this business pattern to assess its relative efficacy. I argue that at least in the Israeli context because of its special features, company duplication should be tolerated with regard to small businesses, assuming that the entrepreneur is not defrauding creditors or attempting to rescue a business that has failed due to economic rather than merely financial factors. To that end, company duplicators should be held personally liable to debts of the duplicated companies and be pursued with criminal sanctions only selectively, as explained in the paper. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The environment in an ‘information society’: A transition stage towards more sustainable development?

Social scientists and futurists have suggested that societal development is advancing to a novel stage, to an ‘information society’. However, the crucial qualifiers of this ‘new’ society are ambiguous. Furthermore, environmental goals have created new challenges for information society studies. This paper examines the interaction and dynamics between the information society and sustainable development, which most often manifest themselves as competing scientific and socio-political discourses. On the one hand, there is the potential for reducing the stress on the environment: the emergence of information technologies and services can lead to a dematerialisation of production and immaterialisation of consumption. On the other hand, there are risks: positive environmental effects might be overcome by the ‘rebound effect’ caused by excessive economic growth. It is concluded that further theoretical and empirical studies are needed in order to examine the complex and contradictory relationship between the information society and environmental issues.     

Discussion of ‘Is the objectivity of internal audit compromised when the internal audit function is a management training ground?’

This article provides a critique of the Rose, Rose, and Norman (2013) article. It focuses on four issues: (i) whether institutional details have been appropriately captured; (ii) whether experiments are an appropriate method to answer the authors' research question; (iii) whether the authors' hypotheses should predict an interaction; and (iv) whether the authors have relied on the appropriate theory.     

Do ‘Good Governance’ Codes Enhance Financial Accountability? Evidence from Managerial Pay in Dutch Charities

This paper examines the initial impact of a ‘good governance’ code for charitable organisations that was promulgated in the Netherlands in 2005. Data are gathered from publicly available annual reports of 138 charities in the post‐implementation phase of the code (2005–2008). We first examine whether the code altered charities’ governance structures. Next, we investigate managerial pay as a key aspect of discharging financial accountability because prior literature focused on ‘excessive’ compensation. The findings indicate that a strengthened governance structure positively affects the likelihood of disclosing information concerning managerial pay, as well as mitigating managerial pay level.     

Who selects the ‘right’ directors? An examination of the association between board selection,gender diversity and outcomes

Using a sample of companies from the top 500 listed firms in Australia, we investigate whether the presence of a designated nomination committee and female representation on the nomination committee affect board gender diversity. We also examine whether gender diversity on the board affects firm risk and financial performance. We find that board gender diversity is significantly and positively associated with the presence of a designated nomination committee and that female representation on the nomination committee is a significant explanatory factor of increasing board gender diversity following the release of the 2010 Australian Securities Exchange Corporate Governance Council (ASXCGC) recommendations. Further, our results support the business case for board gender diversity as we find greater gender diversity moderates excessive firm risk which in turn improves firms' financial performance. Our results are robust after correcting for selection bias and controlling for other board, firm and industry characteristics.     

房价上涨对P2P网络借贷成本的影响分析——来自“人人贷”的经验证据

本文利用中国P2P行业代表企业“人人贷”网络贷款平台的交易数据和中国70个大中城市的房价数据,实证研究了房价上涨对P2P网络借贷市场上的借款利率所产生的影响。实证结果表明,房价上涨显著增加了P2P借贷市场上的借款利率。进一步分析发现,房价上涨对P2P借贷市场上生产经营类、买房类和其他消费类借款项目的借款利率均具有显著的正向影响,且这一增加效应在生产经营类和买房类借款项目中体现得更为明显。此外,基于异质性的分析还发现,相比于一二线城市,房价上涨对三四线城市借款项目的借款利率影响更大。本文的研究发现,房价上涨对新兴互联网信贷市场的影响机制存在,这为相关部门制定房价调控和互联网金融监管政策提供了参考和补充。     

测量中国的金融不确定性——基于大数据的方法

本文基于 Jurado et al.(2015)提出的大数据分析方法,采用280个月度经济金融变量构造了2002-2017的中国金融不确定性指数,并从股票市场波动和金融机构系统性风险两个方面对中国的金融不确定性指数进行了实证分析。本文发现,在控制了滞后波动率后,金融不确定性指数仍然对股票市场的波动率有显著的预测作用;同时,金融不确定性的增加会显著提升金融机构的系统性风险,尤其是规模较大的金融机构。实证结果表明,金融不确定性是金融市场波动的一个重要来源。     

风险传染的信息识别——基于网络借贷市场的实证

基于清华大学金融科技研究院互联网金融研究中心网络借贷平台数据库与网贷之家相关平台统计数据,通过构建Logit模型与Cox比例风险回归模型来研究2015年12月e租宝事件和2018年6月备案延期后的“爆雷”现象,本文着重考察投资者是否具备根据信息披露程度识别问题平台和正常平台的能力。本文发现,第一,信息披露程度是影响平台风险的重要因素:信息披露程度越高的平台,其运营时间越长,出现问题的可能性越低。第二,信息披露程度越高的平台对抗风险的能力越强。风险传染期内,信息披露程度较高的平台,其成交量受市场负面情绪的影响较小。上述两点表明,总体而言,投资者重视平台披露的信息,并具备一定的信息识别能力。最后本研究也发现,上述两次风险事件期出现的问题平台是市场出清所需,它们和正常运营平台存在较大差异,尚无证据表明大量正常平台被拖累成问题平台。     

现金贷果如洪水猛兽?——来自断点回归设计的证据

现金贷具有高利率、无抵押、无场景、线上放款的特性,近两年来饱受争议。一方面,现金货因其服务对象为中低收入者和弱势群体而具有一定的普惠特性,但另一方面,部分从业者无节制放贷则让行业逐步成为监管严管的对象。为了衡量现金贷利率对于贷款者贷款数量与逾期表现的影响,本文使用某现金贷公司2017年6月-9月全部贷款数据,利用其使用连续信用分对申请者进行分级、对不同信用等级赋予不同利率的特性,进行断点回归设计。研究发现贷款申请人对于利率有稳健的敏感性,同时道德风险并不明显,之后进一步从不同角度分析影响贷款人利率敏感性的因素,并依据实证结果提出相关政策建议。     

金融发展与企业创新产出——基于不同融资模式对比视角

本文从股票市场规模、银行业规模和银行业市场化三个维度衡量金融发展,发现股票市场相比于银行业更有利于促进企业专利创新,特别是对创新含量较高的发明专利影响更为显著。对影响渠道的分析表明,股票市场促进创新的渠道是通过缓解外部融资约束,促进高科技企业的创新产出。在知识产权保护程度更高的地区,股票市场对创新的促进作用更加显著。进一步研究表明,专利创新显著提高了公司未来五年的市场价值。本文的政策含义是,大力发展直接融资市场并辅之以较完善的知识产权保护,有利于提高企业创新产出,进而提升公司长期价值。     

“I Do”: Does Marital Status Affect How Much CEOs “Do”?

This paper explores whether a CEO's marital status reveals unobservable risk preferences which influence their firm's investment and compensation policies. Using biographical data for CEOs of large domestic companies, we find that corporate deal‐making activity (e.g., mergers, joint ventures, major capital expenditures, etc.) and overall firm riskiness both increase significantly with personal life restructuring (e.g., marriages and divorces). This relation is supported by an instrumental variables analysis and also an investigation surrounding CEO turnover. Finally, the link between a CEO's marital status and preference for option‐based compensation further suggests that personal restructuring may be an indicator of executive risk appetites.     

What Do Consumers’ Fund Flows Maximize? Evidence from Their Brokers’ Incentives

We ask whether mutual funds’ flows reflect the incentives of the brokers intermediating them. The incentives we address are those revealed in statutory filings: the brokers’ shares of sales loads and other revenue, and their affiliation with the fund family. We find significant effects of these payments to brokers on funds’ inflows, particularly when the brokers are not affiliated. Tracking these investments forward, we find load sharing, but not revenue sharing, to predict poor performance, consistent with the different incentives these payments impart. We identify one benefit of captive brokerage, which is the recapture of redemptions elsewhere in the family.     

金融科技对传统银行行为的影响——基于互联网理财的视角

本文使用2011-2015年263家银行的年报数据和北京大学数字金融研究中心基于蚂蚁金服用户数据构建的地市级数字金融普惠指数,探究金融科技的发展对银行行为的影响。研究发现金融科技的发展实质上推动了一种变相的利率市场化,改变了银行的负债端结构,使得银行负债端越来越依赖于同业拆借等批发性资金。负债端结构的改变导致银行资产端风险承担偏好上升,但是借贷利率和净息差都有所下降。即银行选择了更高风险的资产来弥补负债端成本上升所造成的损失,但并没有将成本向下游企业转移。此外,本文还发现规模越大的银行受到金融科技的冲击越小。     

言之有物:网络借贷中语言有用吗?——来自人人贷借款描述的经验证据

本文以“人人贷”平台的388522条借款标的为样本,基于借款描述文本构造P2P网络借贷词典,并探究文本中六种类型词语比重对网络借贷行为的影响,实证结果表明:首先,各类词语比重发出的信号对贷款人的投资决策有显著影响,积极类词语和金融类词语比重与借款成功率呈正相关,消极类词语比重、强语气词语比重和弱语气词语比重均与借款成功率呈负相关关系;其次,不同年龄层次和不同收入水平的借款人提供的描述性文本中词语信号对贷款人行为的影响存在较大差异,而性别差异和学历高低基本不影响词语信号作用的发挥;最后,各类词语比重发出的质量信号是部分有效的,金融类词语比重发出的信号有效且被投资者正确识别,强语气词语比重发出的信号同样有效却未被投资者准确识别,其他类别词语比重不是有效质量信号。     

金融可及性、互联网金融和家庭信贷约束——基于CHFS数据的实证研究

本文基于中国家庭金融调查(CHFS)数据,选择工具变量,采用极大似然估计方法发现,金融可及性可显著增加家庭信贷需求,同时显著降低家庭信贷约束的概率。进一步,本文发现金融可及性可显著降低家庭需求型信贷约束和供给型信贷约束的概率。本文引入互联网金融变量后发现,在正规金融不可及的情况下,互联网金融可显著促进家庭信贷需求,并降低家庭信贷约束的概率。本文政策含义是,提高金融可及性,推广互联网金融,对于释放家庭信贷需求,缓解家庭信贷约束,提升家庭消费水平具有积极意义。     

数字普惠金融发展是否显著影响了居民消费——来自中国家庭的微观证据

本文就数字普惠金融的发展对居民消费的影响进行了理论探讨和实证检验。研究结论表明:(1)数字普惠金融的发展显著促进了样本期的居民消费,且这一促进效应在农村地区、中西部地区以及中低收入阶层家庭更为明显,同时数字普惠金融发展中除覆盖广度外,使用深度以及使用深度指标中支付、保险与货币基金这三个子指标均显著促进居民消费;(2)数字普惠金融主要通过缓解流动性约束、便利居民支付两种机制促进了样本期的居民消费;(3)使用工具变量法以及将数据集替换为中国劳动力动态调查数据的估计结果表明结论比较稳健和可靠;(4)人力资本差异的分样本回归结果显示,当户主的受教育程度越高、认知能力越强时,数字普惠金融对样本期居民消费的促进效应更为明显;(5)数字普惠金融的发展显著促进衣着、居住、日用品、交通通信以及其他商品和服务的消费支出;(6)家庭债务收入比的分样本回归结果显示,数字普惠金融的发展仅仅促进了中低债务收入比家庭的消费支出,而对高债务收入比家庭的消费支出却存在不显著的抑制效应,同时数字普惠金融的发展确实增加了家庭的债务收入比,因此在积极推动数字普惠金融发展的同时,也需提防居民家庭债务的过度和过快增长。