RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CONSUMER CREDIT AND DEFAULT LITERATURE

This survey discusses recent contributions to the quantitative literature on unsecured consumer debt and default, and some ongoing challenges for the literature. Key topics include the sources of the rise in personal bankruptcies, the importance of asymmetric information and the effects of developments in information technologies on consumer credit markets, delinquency and informal bankruptcy, debt collection and restructuring of distressed debt, the cyclical behavior of consumer debt and default, and the insurance role of household debt. Implications for welfare analysis and policy design are discussed. Several theoretical contributions and approaches to modeling the consumer credit markets are also highlighted.     

A sectoral approach to Okun’s Law

The study adds to the existing literature on the relationship between output and unemployment by using a sectoral specification of Okun’s Law to capture the differential sensitivity of the unemployment rate to output developments in the services and manufacturing sectors. Using quarterly data for the period between 2000 and 2012, we show that Malta’s unemployment rate has been more sensitive to output developments in the services sector than to those in the manufacturing sector. We use different equation specifications and the youth unemployment rate to show that the impact resulting from developments in the manufacturing sector occurs mainly via lay-offs while developments in the services sector affect the unemployment rate via the hiring of new entrants into the labour market.     

Market integration and convergence to the Law of One Price: evidence from the European car market

This paper exploits the unique case of European market integration to investigate the relationship between integration and price convergence in international markets. Using a panel data set of car prices, we examine how the process of integration has affected cross-country price dispersion in Europe. We find surprisingly strong evidence of convergence towards both the absolute and the relative versions of the Law of One Price (LOOP). Our analysis illuminates the main sources of segmentation in international markets and suggests the type of institutional changes that can successfully reduce it.     

Defending Gibrat’s Law as a long-run regularity

According to Gibrat’s Law of Proportionate Effect, the growth rate of a given firm is independent of its size at the beginning of the period examined. While earlier studies tended to confirm the Law, more recent research generally rejects it. This article reconciles these two streams of literature, taking into account the role of market selection and learning in reshaping a given population of firms through time. Consistently with previous studies, we find that Gibrat’s Law has to be rejected ex ante, since smaller firms tend to grow faster than their larger counterparts. However, a significant convergence toward Gibrat-like behavior can be detected ex post. This finding is an indication that market selection “cleans” the original population of firms, so that the resulting industrial “core” does not depart from a Gibrat-like pattern of growth. From a theoretical point of view, this result is consistent with those models based on passive and active learning, and can be seen as a defense of the validity of the Law in the long-run.

美国金融监管体系的问题与变革

金融危机暴露美国金融监管出了问题,既有自由市场主义监管理念的根本问题,也有原监管体系在对付混业经营过程中的诸多缺陷和漏洞,美国政府试图通过立法对金融监管体系进行重大变革,以防范未来的系统性风险和金融危机,实现金融市场效率与风险的平衡。     

法律完备度与证券市场内幕交易监管有效性分析

本文从执法者的行动策略和内幕交易监管制度这两个方面,分析了我国内幕交易法律的完备度,并寻找我国内幕交易监管有效性相对较弱的原因。通过与发达国家证券市场执法策略和制度安排的比较,发现内幕交易法律的不完备性将直接影响到内幕交易监管的有效性。一个国家的内幕交易法律越完备,其内幕交易监管的有效性也就越强。     

大数定律与小微企业授信模式研究

贷款难一直是小微企业面临的最大问题。商业银行从自身盈利角度出发,面对日渐突出的金融脱媒现象,经营思路亟需转型,开发小微企业贷款业务以开辟新的业务增长点。本文基于大数定律,从商业银行角度出发,分析了小微企业授信模式。授信模式的选择和贷款利率确定是本文研究的两个重要方面,风险管拄贯穿整个授信过程。     

从草根版《学生教育惩戒法》解析教师惩戒权

一部草根版《学生教育惩戒法》反映了当前教师惩戒现状,进而解析教师惩戒权逐步消解的原因,探讨如何正视、解决教师惩戒的两难局面,以有效规避教育中惩戒过度与惩戒消解现象。     

我国存在最优政府规模曲线吗

本文运用格兰杰方法对我国1978-2004年政府支出与经济增长的因果关系进行检验,结果表明:经济增长是我国政府规模的格兰杰原因,但政府规模不是经济增长的格兰杰原因。这一结论说明我国并不存在最优政府规模曲线,但验证了瓦格纳定律,同时也为我国现阶段的财政政策取向提供了有益的参照。     

实施知识产权战略——我国企业应对美国337条款的有效途径

我国加入世贸组织之后,中美之间的贸易战逐渐出现一些新的变化,在反倾销措施不断加强的同时,美国正在越来越多地使用对贸易和知识产权限制更为严格的337条款作为保护其贸易的手段,使中国企业蒙受了巨大的损失。因此,实施知识产权战略,是我国企业维护自身利益,跨越美国337条款这道贸易壁垒最有效的途径。