The impact of equity ownership groups on investment: Evidence from Ukraine

We empirically investigate the impact of different ownership groups on companies’ investment in Ukraine with a novel dynamic investment model where investment is based on present and historical levels of profitability (market-to-book value of equity) and lagged investment. Groups include state, insider, non-domestic, financial and financial and industrial group (FIG) ownership. Contrary to the literature, we find that the past level of profitability significantly affects investment; the majority presence of and increases in state ownership have a negative impact on firms’ investment, as is the case for non-domestic and financial companies’ ownership. Insider and FIG ownership have no impact on investment. We explain the results by the extent of liquidity concerns (hard and soft budget constraints), measured by cash flow interacted with a dummy variable of majority ownership of the respective group, and the extent of asset stripping for the corresponding ownership group and relate them to over- and under-investment, and to the free cash flow or cash constraint hypothesis.     

Will future land based food and fibre production be in family or corporate hands? An analysis of farm land ownership and governance considering farmer characteristics as choice drivers. The New Zealand case

Family farming in various guises has been the dominant ownership and governance system in primary production over recorded history. This outcome has been controlled by farmers and their families, possibly due to tradition, opportunities, personal characteristics, skill sets and the nature of primary production. Of these, it is hypothesised that the farmers’ personal characteristics play a major part in the choice, and continuance, of current ownership and governance systems. Equally as important, they, and therefore the land ownership system, play a part in the efficiency of production systems and improvement of the biological and production environment.The benefits and difficulties of commonly used ownership systems in Western society are reviewed. Using a sample of New Zealand (NZ) farms, a comparison of the managers’ features for owner/operator, partnership and corporate based systems is presented. There were significant differences in many variables including the farmers’ age, education, number of children, asset levels, years on the current farm, and similar, but more importantly, the farmers in the ownership system groups had differing personal characteristics. Significantly, despite the corporate based farms employing more professional assistance, the profit levels were similar across ownership systems leaving the farmers’ characteristics the main factors correlating with system choice. However, governance systems per se are only marginally correlated with production systems and efficiency.As successive generations of farmers are unlikely to have different characteristics, and corporate based systems continue to exhibit similar profit levels, relatively simple family based systems will continue to dominate farm land ownership and control. The trends suggest family farms will increase in size and involve family conglomerates facilitating the management of larger, and in many cases multiple, farms. While currently there are few differences in biological efficiency between ownership systems, given the efficiency benefits of size and scale, this could well change with the increase of family conglomerates. Relative to increasing corporatisation, the continuance of family based ownership and governance will also be of benefit to the environment. When developing land policies, these highlighted relationships should be taken into account. This study is a first to consider personal characteristics relative to ownership.     

Airport ownership and financial performance: Evidence from Italy

In the past few decades many countries have increased the presence of various forms of private sector involvement in airport ownership and management. This paper focuses on the financial performance of Italian airport companies. We present empirical evidence separately for two groups where public or private management majority prevails. The main findings indicate that companies with a private majority outperform the others in terms of financial indicators that are related to operating income.     

城市化、政府财政支出、就业所有制结构与城乡收入差距

基于1985-2012年的数据,建立以城市化、政府财政支出、就业的所有制结构为内生变量的向量误差修正模型,并且用协整检验考察城市化水平、政府财政支出、就业的所有制结构的长期均衡与短期动态关系。实证分析发现:四者不仅存在长期的均衡关系,而且存在短期动态关系。具体而言,城市化、政府财政支出、就业的所有制结构在长期会扩大城乡收入差距,在短期则会缩小城乡收入差距。     

Corporate Ownership and Environmental Proactivity

The present paper advances knowledge of the drivers of firms' proactive environmental strategies. In particular, it explores the relationship between different corporate ownership structures and firms' green proactivity, in order to see whether some types of shareholder act as a stimulating driver for firms' proactive environmental behaviors. The study examines the explanatory power of corporate governance issues, such as a firm's ownership structure, as potential determinants of companies' environmental proactivity. Attention is focused on the European firms included into the Carbon Disclosure Project questionnaire 2012. The results show that ownership structure matters in firms' environmental proactivity. In particular, firms with a higher percentage of state ownership present superior green proactivity, while ownership concentration appears negatively related to proactive environmental strategy. The paper offers theoretical and practical implications. It focuses attention on a still underdeveloped research area, namely organizations and their relationship with the natural environment, including corporate ownership as a driver of a company's proactive environmental strategy. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

改善民生是中国城乡统筹改革实践的原动力

民生是中国城乡统筹改革实践的原动力。改革起始期,是民生呼唤下的自发改革与政策调整;改革深入期,是民生推动下的体制转轨与制度创新;改革攻坚期,是民生引导下的统筹发展与新农村建设。30年农村改革历程,致使民生问题的不断解决与改革的渐进式节奏相互吻合,推动着"人本"式的农村改革健康有序地发展。     

宏观经济波动对工业所有制结构的影响——"国进民退"的回顾与前瞻

本文利用1998—2008年的样本数据,通过实证方法研究宏观经济波动对工业所有制结构的影响,结果表明经济增长速度、货币存量、出口增长率以及通货膨胀与国有工业比重下降速度均呈负相关关系,这说明国进民退是宏观经济景气度影响的结果。因此,我们认为宏观调控政策应从优化国有与非国有企业的融资环境、对微观结构影响的程度等方面去改善国有与非国有工业企业的经营环境。     

市场分割条件下的混合所有制经济竞争模型与规制策略

通过构建市场分割条件下的混合所有制经济竞争模型,本文对全国性国有企业在中国改革发展过程中的作用提供了新的解释。全国性国有企业在参与区域竞争的过程中,具备一种区域整合的功能:它面向全体市场的决策与分别面向各区域市场的决策等价,全社会总剩余最大化目标也可以分解为各区域社会剩余最大化的子目标之和,在其效率较高的情况下,将迫使地方企业改进成本或者退出市场,而只有当地方企业有足够高的效率的时候,全国性国有企业才会选择退出策略。国有企业事实上可以作为一种内部规制工具对市场分割的负面效应进行一定程度的制衡,在明确规制规则的条件下,我们可以通过动态调整企业目标函数以实现整体市场福利的最大化。     

Corporate governance,accounting and finance: A review

We review accounting and finance research on corporate governance (CG). In the course of our review, we focus on a particularly vexing issue, namely endogeneity in the relationships between CG and other matters of concern to accounting and finance scholars, and suggest ways to deal with it. Given the advent of large commercial CG databases, we also stress the importance of how CG is measured and in particular, the construction of CG indices, which should be sensitive to local institutional arrangements, and the need to capture both internal and external aspects of governance. The ‘stickiness’ of CG characteristics provides an additional challenge to CG scholars. Better theory is required, for example, to explain whether various CG practices substitute for each other or are complements. While a multidisciplinary approach to developing better theory is never without its difficulties, it could enrich the current body of knowledge in CG. Despite the vastness of the existing CG literature, these issues do suggest a number of avenues for future research.     

试论农村信用社体制改革及路径选择

本文从农村信用社的民主管理制度本身进行探讨,研究民主管理制度与当前农村金融的相容性问题。本文的基本判断是：正如自由竞争可能导致垄断一样,合作制所体现的民主管理是一种一厢情愿的制度构想,其所导致的内部人控制是民主制的悖论。因此,如果要继续坚持农村信用社继续为“三农”服务的基本方向,必须在现实上放弃空想式的民主制度,近期实行治理结构的准国有化,远期实行所有制的民营化,并在整体金融领域实行“反向剪刀差”。