Taming the City? Ideas,Structural Power and the Evolution of British Banking Policy Amidst the Great Financial Meltdown

We are increasingly learning more about the contingencies and independent variables that shape the structural power of business and financial interests. This paper contributes to this research by analysing factors that led to weakening in the structural power of financial interests in the City of London in the aftermath of the 2007/2008 crisis. We focus on under-researched mediators of structural power dynamics, especially the context of action and the agency and ideas of state leaders. Prior to the crisis, closed regulatory policy and a prevailing discourse premised upon the notion of market efficiency, helped to reinforce the structural power of the UK banking and financial sector. After the crisis heightened politicisation, more assertive state leadership, and especially ideational revision, has increasingly challenged the power of the City. We illustrate this through an examination of the Independent Commission on Banking's proposals in relation to the ‘ring fencing’ of investment and retail banks.     

身份“差序格局”的测量及其效应研究

文章以文献研究和深度访谈为基础,结合问卷调查所获的数据资料,编制了员工身份“差序格局”问卷。274份有效问卷的探索性因子分析表明,身份“差序格局”包括经济剥夺感、差序对待感和权力偏移感3个维度。为了进一步验证身份“差序格局”的构想效度,并考察问卷的信度与校标效度,对74家企事业单位进行了调查,获得了519份有效问卷。验证性因子分析结果支持身份“差序格局”问卷的结构,信度和多元回归分析的结果显示,身份“差序格局”问卷具有较好的信度和效度。最后,结合本土文化情境,围绕身份“差序格局”对组织不公正、组织负向认同、伤感度和反生产行为的差异化效应及其诱因进行分类梳理,强化了身份“差序格局”结构的说服力和解释力。     

我国汽车产业国际竞争力分析与研究

加入世贸给我国汽车产业带来了从来未有的机遇与挑战,运用显示比较优势指数,相对贸易竞争优势比较,贸易竞争指数和市场占有率等方面对我国汽车产业国际竞争力进行分析,对我国汽车产业国际竞争力进行系统分析评价,测度我国汽车产业国际竞争力水平,以求提升我国汽车产业国际竞争力。     

基于博弈论分析合同在降低市场力方面的作用

统一的出清电价机制对发电商持留发电容量具有激励作用 ,从而增加了发电商滥用市场力的可能。市场力的存在不利于电力市场的持续健康发展 ,而博弈论的分析是一个可以有效提供策略的方法。简述了博弈论的基本概念及发展历史 ,并采用博弈理论分析了合同在有效降低市场力方面的作用     

煤矿安全规制的纵向和横向配置：国际比较与启示

中国煤矿安全事故频发,事故数量、死亡人数、百万吨死亡率远远高于其他国家,一个重要的原因在于中国煤矿安全规制体制存在一些弊端,规制权力配置失当.本文通过对美国、南非、印度煤矿安全规制体制的分析比较,试图寻求一条中国煤矿安全规制体制变革的理想道路.     

Interpoint Distance Test of Homogeneity for Multivariate Mixture Models

Finite mixtures offer a rich class of distributions for modelling of a variety of random phenomena in numerous fields of study. Using the sample interpoint distances (IPDs), we propose the IPD‐test statistic for testing the hypothesis of homogeneity of mixture of multivariate power series distribution or multivariate normal distribution. We derive the distribution of the IPDs that are drawn from a finite mixture of the multivariate power series distribution and multivariate normal distribution. Based on the empirical distribution of the IPDs, we construct a bootstrap test of homogeneity for other multivariate finite mixture models. The IPD test is applied to mixture models for matrix‐valued distributions and a test of homogeneity for Wishart mixture is presented. Numerical comparisons show that IPD test has accurate type I errors and is more powerful in most multivariate cases than the expectation–maximization (EM) test and modified likelihood ratio test.     

Vertical separation of transmission control and market efficiency in the wholesale electricity market

This study examines how vertical separation of transmission control affects the wholesale market efficiency in the electric power industry. We analyze a unique regional electricity wholesale market in the U.S. where initially restructuring only occurred in the transmission sector. Following a commonly-used best dispatch model (Wolfram, 1999; Borenstein et al., 2002), we simulate competitive benchmark prices and compare with the best estimates available for actual prices to measure price-cost markups of the wholesale market. Empirical results demonstrate that the vertical separation of transmission control led to a significant increase in market markups in peak-load hours, documenting evidence of enhanced market power. Although we also find a reduction in the price-cost margin in low-demand hours, we reserve caution for this finding.     

Effect of CEO power and board strength on bank performance in China

Given that a powerful CEO is more likely to overcome problems and control performance in a firm, this study first focuses on exploring whether CEO power positively affects certain measures of bank performance and which sources of CEO power have these positive impacts. Next, this study further analyzes whether the positive impact of CEO power on performance is negatively mediated by board strength. Our sample includes data on the three main types of Chinese banks for 2006 to –2016.Our results show that CEO structural power significantly improves a bank’s overall profitability, risk-taking ability and lending quality, CEO ownership power significantly raises a bank’s lending quality, and CEO expert power significantly increases a bank’s overall and shareholder profitability. As considering the endogeneity, CEO prestige power significantly improves a bank’s overall profitability. Next, we use the proportion of independent directors as our measure of board strength and find that a stronger board reduces the beneficial effects of CEO structural power on a bank’s lending quality, of CEO ownership power on shareholder profitability, and of CEO expert power on lending quality. There are similar harmful mediating effects when we use the proportion of foreign investors and board size as measures of board strength. Our results can help Chinese bank authorities develop policies to appropriately raise bank CEOs’ power and reduce board supervision of CEO power.     

Market power in CEE banking sectors and the impact of the global financial crisis

The aim of this study is to undertake an up-to-date assessment of market power in Central and Eastern European banking markets and explore how the global financial crisis has affected market power and what has been the impact of foreign ownership. Three main results emerge. First, while there is some convergence in country-level market power during the pre-crisis period, the onset of the global crisis has put an end to this process. Second, bank-level market power appears to vary significantly with respect to ownership characteristics. Third, asset quality and capitalization affect differently the margins in the pre-crisis and the crisis periods. While in the pre-crisis period the impacts are similar for all banks regardless of ownership status, in the crisis period non-performing loans have a negative effect and capitalization a positive effect only for domestically-owned banks.