Effects of Risk-Based Capital Requirements and Asymmetric Information on Banks' Portfolio Decisions

This paper examines if asymmetric information about earnings prospects caused low-capital banks to reduce assets rather than raise capital between 1989 and 1992, the transition period from the leverage ratio to the risk-based capital requirement. The measure of asymmetric information here is the residual of an earnings prediction model based on publicly available information. If managers are significantly better informed than outside investors, a large residual indicates that inside information is more favorable and that the bank's stock is undervalued. The empirical results show an insignificant effect of asymmetric information on banks' portfolio decisions.     

Reflections on the Double Dividend Debate

We survey the history of carbon taxation, the range of market-based instruments (MBIs) of environmental control, and the state of the double dividend debate, in order to suggest directions for future research into MBIs. Returning MBI revenues as lower distortionary taxes rather than as lump sums raises aggregate welfare, but we favour MBIs which raise little or no revenue, for reasons of political acceptability to interest groups. At the same time, the overall case for any environmental improvement is weaker because of general equilibrium interactions with prior distortionary taxes. Research seems most necessary on quantifying the efficiency benefits of market control of heterogeneous polluters, the benefits of environmental improvement, the tax interaction effect, and the various information costs of an MBI, all on a case-by-case basis for different pollutants and places.     

Strategic alignment and performance of market-seeking MNCs in China

This study explores the environment–strategy–performance relation of foreign firms, especially those with a market-seeking mandate, in China. The results indicate that the Analyzer orientation is best suited to the turbulent Chinese market, which has been undergoing an economic transition in recent years. There is also a significant difference in financial performance among market-seeking MNCs depending on strategic orientations, with the Analyzer orientation producing the highest performance. The Prospector and the Defender orientations lead to poor financial performance because of the mismatch with China's market, which is highly dynamic and complex. Our findings reiterate the importance of understanding local market traits and opportunities and developing proper strategic configurations for market-seeking MNC subsidiaries, especially in an emerging economy like China. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Why Do Price Limits Exist in Stock Markets? A Manipulation‐Based Explanation

Numerous stock market regulators around the world impose daily price limits on individual stock price movements. We derive a simple model that shows that price limits may deter stock market manipulators. Based on our model's implications, we predict that regulators impose price limit rules for markets where the likelihood of manipulation is high. We present empirical evidence consistent with this hypothesis. Our study is the first to formally propose a manipulation‐based rationale for the existence of price limits in stock markets.     

Equity market valuation of human capital and stock returns

We investigate whether and how well firms’ stock market valuations reflect their employees’ collective skills and effectiveness relative to that of their industry peers and competitors. We devise a relative stock market valuation measure of human capital intangibles (EVHC) and find that portfolios of low EVHC firms systematically outperform portfolios of high EVHC firms by an average 1.34% per month. However, this is primarily a small firms effect, because for large firms the excess returns of the arbitrage portfolio that is long on the low EVHC stocks and short on the high EVHC stocks is zero. Our results suggest that reliance on human capital intangibles may proxy for risk not fully accounted for by conventional asset pricing models, or alternatively, that the market cannot correctly price human capital intangibles for small size firms.     

Harming Depositors and Helping Borrowers: The Disparate Impact of Bank Consolidation

A model of multimarket spatial competition is developed wheresmall, single-market banks compete with large, multimarket banks(LMBs) for retail loans and deposits. Consistent with empiricalevidence, LMBs are assumed to set retail interest rates uniformlyacross markets, have different operating costs, and have accessto wholesale funding. If LMBs have significant funding advantagesthat offset potential loan operating cost disadvantages, thenmarket-extension mergers by LMBs promote loan competition, especiallyin concentrated markets. However, such mergers reduce retaildeposit competition, especially in less concentrated markets.Prior empirical research and our own analysis of retail depositrates support the model's predictions.     

Does institutional activism increase shareholder wealth? Evidence from spillovers on non-target companies

This paper presents evidence of the shareholder wealth effect of institutional activism using its spillovers on non-target companies. The spillovers are instructive because they are a response to an exogenous shock and thus create an environment to conduct a clean event study. In particular, we examine the spillover effects of the first target announcement of the Korea Corporate Governance Fund. As the very first sign of institutional activism in the country, this announcement creates an expectation of similar governance efforts even in non-target companies, especially in those companies whose governance is currently poorer and thus the scope for future activism is greater. Consistent with institutional activism contributing to shareholder wealth, we find that, among non-targets, those firms granting fewer rights to outside shareholders experience a more positive stock price reaction. Further analysis lends additional support to the positive wealth effect of institutional activism.     

Normal Values and Average Values

This essay discusses the implications of the idea that the Keynesian premise implies deviations between the normal and the average degrees of utilization. A system of equations called the ``average system'' is proposed for the study of average values, as distinct from normal values, by way of a hypothetical steady- state growth path for each sector. A long-period implication of the short-period under-utilization of productive capacity is presented in terms of a two-sector model.     

Effects of risk tolerance,financial literacy,and financial status on retirement planning

In this study, we investigate the effects of retirement planning on the economic and psychological factors of consumers using a large sample drawn from the 2012 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Specifically, we examine the combined impact of risk tolerance, financial literacy, savings, income, and debt on consumers’ retirement planning behavior. Risk tolerance, financial literacy, income, and savings are all found to have positive relationships with retirement planning, though debt has no significant relationship with retirement planning. Also, higher levels of risk tolerance weaken the relationship between savings and retirement planning. Implications of these findings for the literature and the financial planning industry are provided as well as directions for future research.

     

Contests for catch shares

Review of Economic Design - We study contests in which fishers (or players), in a fishery managed under a catch-share program, compete over catch shares by expending irreversible effort, and the...