Board directors with foreign experience and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China

This study examines the impact of board directors with foreign experience (BDFEs) on stock price crash risk. We find that BDFEs help reduce crash risk. This association is robust to a series of robustness checks, including a firm fixed effects model, controlling for possibly omitted variables, and instrumental variable estimations. Moreover, we find that the negative association between BDFEs and crash risk is more pronounced for firms with more agency problems, weaker corporate governance, and less overall transparency. Our findings suggest that the characteristics of board directors matter in determining stock price crash risk.     

Do Islamic Stock Returns Hedge Against Inflation? A Wavelet Approach

This article makes an initial attempt to study the hedging effectiveness of Islamic stock returns against inflation for different investment horizons. We applied the wavelet analysis to measure the cross-correlations between the time series as a function of time-scales using data ranging from 2007 to early 2015. The main results tend to indicate the following: First, that for investment horizons not exceeding 3 years, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Emas Shariah Index constituent returns may potentially hedge against inflation. Additionally, the hedging ability of stock returns was absent from 2008 to 2009 following the global financial crisis. Finally, a buy-and-hold strategy exceeding 3 years may erode investments. The results are plausible and have strong policy implications.     

The Impact of Public Expenditure and International Trade on Agricultural Productivity in China

The “industry nurturing agriculture” reforms and World Trade Organization accession led to dramatic growth in public expenditure and international trade in China’s agricultural sector. This article aims to estimate the effects of public expenditure and trade on agricultural productivity in China for 2004–2015. A semi-parametric production function with shape constraints is introduced to derive more accurate productivity before the productivity determinants are analyzed with an emphasis on public expenditure and trade. The empirical result shows that public expenditure and exports can effectively improve agricultural productivity, while imports have no significant effects. Policy implications are discussed in the context of supply-side reforms.     

河北省产业承接的技术溢出效应研究

京津冀协同发展战略上升为国家战略,河北加快承接京津产业转移的步伐,对河北经济转型升级和科技创新能力提升具有重要意义。以河北省为研究对象,基于2005-2016年的数据,使用DEA的曼奎斯特指数方法测算出河北省十二年的技术进步变化情况,并以此为核心变量建立技术溢出模型实证检验了产业承接的技术溢出效应。研究结果发现,河北存在承接区际产业的技术溢出效应,但FDI的技术溢出效应并不显著;R&D经费投入对河北技术进步的促进作用最为明显,而人力资本投入对技术进步的拉升作用较小。     

Dynamic relationship between stock market trading volumes and investor fear gauges movements

This article applies multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) and multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis (MF-DCCA) to investigate cross-correlation behaviours between two kinds of stock markets trading volumes and investor fear gauges covering the data of U.S. stock markets from 2 January 2004 to 31 July 2018. The empirical results show that the dynamic relationship between stock markets trading volume fluctuations and different kinds of investor fear gauges are multifractal and find that the dynamic relationship is strongly anti-persistent. Moreover, financial crisis in 2008 has a significant impact on the cross-correlated behaviour, suggesting that stock market trading volume fluctuations and investor fear gauges are more susceptible to each other during the financial crisis period. Through the rolling windows analysis, we also find that the stock markets trading volume fluctuations and different kinds of investor fear gauges are anti-persistent dynamic cross-correlated.     

Positive Feedback Trading and Investor Sentiment

This article examines how investor sentiment affects positive feedback trading behavior. By analyzing the daily closing total return of CSI 300 index and its individual returns of stocks, we find that relatively high or low sentiment induces active positive feedback trading. With a specific indicator of sentiment, we explain the microstructure setting of the relationship between positive feedback trading and sentiment. We adopt the classical feedback model from Sentana and Wadhwani (1992) to measure positive feedback trading behavior. By adding sentiment factor to the model, we successfully explain how sentiment influences the behavior of both feedback traders and rational investors. The empirical findings suggest that positive feedback traders are more likely to trade when the prices of most securities move forward together. When the sentiment of feedback traders is at an intermediate level, the feedback trading behavior is insignificant.     

Financial development,economic growth and convergence clubs

To study the role of financial development in economic growth, we apply an array of convergence tests designed to capture nonlinear transitional dynamics to real outputs per capita. Strong evidence of multiple convergence clubs is observed, implying that the clubs are formed based on the initial level of real output per capita and average growth rate. Our empirical results show that the stage of economic growth of each country plays an important role for the composition of the convergence clubs. Furthermore, financial development emerges to be a significant determinant, albeit plays differently in the economic growth of each convergence club.