Prosperity without industrial democracy? Developments in industrial relations in Hong Kong since 1968

Hong Kong is often viewed as having achieved an advanced level of economic development without substantial movement towards industrial democracy. We argue that some progress towards democratisation of employment relations has been taking place although unevenly and attempt to explain why this is the case.     

Efficiency and capital adequacy in Taiwan banking: BCC and super-DEA estimation

In this study the researchers adopt two DEA methods – Banker-Charnes-Cooper and Super Efficiency – to investigate whether a bank's technical efficiency is significantly different when capital adequacy (risk) is specified compared with when capital adequacy (risk) is not specified. The information is obtained from 46 Taiwanese banks for the period 2000 to 2002. The Malmquist total factor productivity (TFP) index is employed to measure the impact of productivity change on the panel data. The empirical results from the DEA approach are summarized as follows: (1) Capital adequacy is proven to be an influential factor in evaluating the efficiency of banks. (2) The average efficiency scores of banks with high capital adequacy (>8%) are significantly higher than those of banks with lower capital adequacy (<8%). (3) The efficiency scores of banks with high risk capital requirement (above the average) are higher than those of banks with lower risk capital requirement (under the average). (4) Banks with both high capital adequacy and high risk capital requirement are superior in performance than all the other banks, while banks with both low capital adequacy and low-risk capital requirement performance are the worst by contrast. (5) Based on the Malmquist total TFP index, we find that bank productivity has not increased.     

The impact of digital finance on financial efficiency

This paper quantitatively analyzes the impact of digital finance on financial efficiency. The results show that digital finance has slightly improved the efficiency of the financial sector, but there are significant differences in the impact of provincial efficiency in China. Although financial sector efficiency positively correlates with digital financial efficiency, digital finance gives backward regions disadvantages. The efficiency score and ranking of the financial sector in the eastern region are significantly higher than noneastern region. The progressive effect of digital finance on the efficiency of the financial sector in the eastern region is better than that in the noneastern region.     

THE BROKERAGE FIRM EFFECT IN HERDING: EVIDENCE FROM INDONESIA

We examine herding behavior of domestic and foreign investors in the Indonesian stock market. We document that both domestic and foreign investors from a particular brokerage firm tend to herd. The foreign investors exhibit a greater propensity to herd than domestic investors. However, when examining investor trading across brokerage firms, we find only weak evidence of herding by domestic investors and no herding by foreign investors. Our overall findings suggest a strong brokerage firm effect on herding but a weak marketwide effect. Moreover, we find evidence that the strong brokerage effect on herding is likely driven by acting on common information.     

A social network analysis of leading semiconductor companies’ knowledge flow network

This study (1) constructs a knowledge flow network for leading semiconductor companies; (2) seeks out how leading semiconductor companies can attain knowledge competencies (through patent activities or network position) via social network analysis; and (3) proposes critical strategic suggestions regarding knowledge flow networks in the industry. The results show (1) that a knowledge flow network with no isolators and Asian semiconductor firms are closely connected with other firms all over the world; (2) that patent activities are positively associated with central network positions and firm performance; (3) that closeness centrality is helpful for patent citation activities and also helps to achieve better performance; and (4) that semiconductor companies in Asia are also closely connected with others in the world.     

The premium of dynamic trading

It is well established that, in a market with inclusion of a risk-free asset, the single-period mean–variance efficient frontier is a straight line tangent to the risky region, a fact that is the very foundation of the classical CAPM. In this paper, it is shown that, in a continuous-time market where the risky prices are described by Itô processes and the investment opportunity set is deterministic (albeit time-varying), any efficient portfolio must involve allocation to the risk-free asset at any time. As a result, the dynamic mean–variance efficient frontier, although still a straight line, is strictly above the entire risky region. This in turn suggests a positive premium, in terms of the Sharpe ratio of the efficient frontier, arising from dynamic trading. Another implication is that the inclusion of a risk-free asset boosts the Sharpe ratio of the efficient frontier, which again contrasts sharply with the single-period case.     

Influences on expatriate social networks in China

This study applied social network theory to investigate the factors influencing expatriate social networks and the consequences of expatriate social networks in China. Based on analysis of 171 Taiwanese expatriates in China, this study found that core self-evaluations and extraversion are significant for expatriates in developing expressive and instrumental ties with host country nationals. Moreover, job autonomy assists expatriates in developing instrumental ties with host country nationals. The expressive and instrumental ties of expatriates with host country nationals are significant for overseas adaptation. Finally, instrumental ties with host country nationals are significant for expatriate job performance.     

Can Corporate Divestiture Activities Lead to Better Corporate Social Performance?

Journal of Business Ethics - Prior research showed that corporate divestitures could help firms restore their strategic (versus financial) controls and long-term focus. This suggests that...     

On the complete monotonicity of the compound geometric convolution with applications in risk theory

We prove that the complete monotonicity is preserved under mixed geometric compounding, and hence show that the ruin probability, the Laplace transform of the ruin time, and the density of the tail of the joint distribution of ruin and the deficit at ruin in the Sparre Andersen model are completely monotone if the claim size distribution has a completely monotone density.     

Effects of structural changes on the risk characteristics of REIT returns

This investigation provides evidence and identifies two important structural changes in the risk characteristics of real estate investment trusts (REITs), namely, the 1993 tax reform and the inclusion of REITs in the mainstream S&P indices in 2001. Using daily data from 1989 to 2008, this study finds that institutional investors tended to increase their investment in REITs following the 1993 tax reforms, and these increases in institutional investment are significantly reducing exposure to interest rate risk, which may result from the benefits of external monitoring. Additionally, the inclusion of REITs in the Standard and Poor's mainstream indices since 2001 has increased the market risk of REITs, led to associated returns behaving more like those of stocks, and improved the market efficiency in processing new information. These observation results demonstrate these two structural changes in the risk characteristics of REIT returns. Finally, the study results confirm that the shape of the distribution of REIT returns varies among sub-samples, indicating that risk management is increasingly important.