Does the financial analysts' usage of non-financial information influence the analysts' forecast accuracy? Some evidence from the Belgian sell-side financial analyst

This paper examines whether the use of non-financial information by sell-side financial analysts influences the accuracy of analysts’ forecasts. The research findings, based on a survey of Belgian financial analysts, suggest that financial analysts who use more forward-looking information and more internal-structure information offer more accurate forecasts. Furthermore, the listed Belgian firms examined in this study have improved their non-financial information reporting over time. However, neither the frequency nor the quantity of non-financial information mentioned by financial analysts in their reports appears to have increased over time.     

Foreign affiliates of the world largest financial groups: Locations and governance

This paper has two objectives. The first is the documentation of the relative importance of the largest financial groups in the world. The list of top 50 financial groups ranked by total assets in 2003 is compared to a similar list available for 1986. The second objective is to examine where financial firms are expanding their operations and to document some of the factors that may explain the most-favoured locations of these financial groups.The results of this study have two important implications. First, they indicate that location-specific advantages such as size, human capital and cultural distance, do provide an explication of the internationalization of financial firms. Second, they show that good governance has a strong impact on the choice of countries by firms.     

Intra- and inter-regional spillovers between emerging capital markets around the world

In this paper, returns and volatility spillovers between emerging capital markets of Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, and South-East Asia are investigated. We distinguish between spillovers from countries located in one region (intra-regional) and in different regions (inter-regional) after controlling for shocks originating at home and on the global market. Both intra- and inter-regional spillovers are significant, with the former being more pronounced than the latter. Our findings indicate that linkages between emerging markets are not solely due to their common dependence on the global capital market and highlight the importance of common factors in intra-regional interdependencies.     

Phoenix rising: Legal reforms and changes in valuations in Finland during the economic crisis

Finland experienced an extremely severe economic depression in the early 1990s. As a part of the government's crisis management policies, significant new legislation was passed that increased supervisory powers of financial market regulators and reformed bankruptcy procedures significantly decreasing the protection of creditors. We show that the introduction of these new laws resulted in positive abnormal stock returns. The new laws also lead to increases in firms’ Tobin's q, especially for more levered firms. In contrast to previous studies, our results also suggest that public supervision of financial markets fosters rather than hampers financial market development.     

Corporate social performance, financial performance and institutional ownership in Canadian firms

This study examines the relationship of corporate social performance (CSP) to financial performance (FP) and institutional ownership. We perform our empirical analyses on a large-sample of publicly held Canadian firms and use a novel independent measure of CSP. Based on tests utilizing four years of panel data, we found no significant relationship between a composite measure of firms’ CSP and FP. However, we found significant relationships between individual measures of firms’ CSP regarding environmental and international activities and FP. Our findings indicate a significant relationship between firms’ composite CSP measure and the number of institutions investing in firms’ stock. In addition, we found significant relationships between firms’ CSP ratings regarding their international activities and product quality and the number of institutions investing in firms’ stock. These findings, while subject to the limitations inherent in the use of specific CSP measures, provide mixed support for the business case for CSP.     

Monetary Policy and Financial Markets

Monetary policy and financial markets are intrinsically linked. Central banks conduct monetary policy by influencing financial market prices. Financial market prices reflect the expectations of market participants about future economic and monetary developments. Monetary policy works primarily through expectations. Transparency and credibility render monetary policy more effective. However, they are no substitutes for action. If a credible central bank uses words with the explicit aim of substituting them for action, it will risk losing credibility. To avoid what has been described as “the dog chasing its tail” problem, central banks must exercise caution in basing their monetary policy decisions on financial market information. The information about expected future developments reflected in market prices must be continuously cross-checked against economic and monetary indicators in what amounts to a “checks and balances” approach to monetary policy.     

Financial acumen, women speculators, and the Royal African company during the South Sea bubble

Price bubbles provide a unique opportunity to study the financial acumen of shareholders. We focus on the 1720 South Sea episode as experienced by the Royal African Company whose stock was more speculative than other joint stocks. During 1720 the company had a new large stock issue. This paper examines the financial acumen of those women who traded senior and engrafted stock across 1720. We find that depending on the pricing regime, these women at worst broke even on their activities or had positive speculative gains. Our findings are consistent with a growing literature on the positive link between gender, capital gains and financial markets.     

韩国金融衍生品市场发展的经验及对我国的启示

近年来,韩国金融衍生品市场飞速发展,其独特的投资者结构和严格的管理与细致的服务,特别是股指期货、期权交易的成功经验,为我国即将开启的金融衍生品交易提供了很好的借鉴。本文主要介绍了韩国金融衍生品市场的发展历程,并总结了韩国发展金融衍生产品市场的特点。     

基于融资视角的中国金融结构与金融稳定研究

通过对中国金融运行的实证检验和分析发现,以银行中介和金融市场划分的两种金融结构各有优势,只要能够满足金融资源高效配置的金融结构都符合经济发展的需要,不必对金融结构进行人为的割裂。中国的金融体系存在着转化投资的高效率和资源配置的低效率这样一对突出矛盾,其主要原因是金融资源的配置失当,这是当前中国金融稳定的潜在威胁,解决问题的关键是要对金融体系进行市场化改革并完善基础设施建设。     

国际收支与金融市场效率问题的探讨

以“逆差 顺差”为特点的美国国际收支结构是很难长期持续的,美国经常项目很可能会经历趋向平衡的调整过程。由于中美两国国际收支结构存在较强的互补性,美国国际收支结构的调整对目前中国国际收支结构提出了严峻挑战。金融市场的行政分割、金融资源结构及流向的不合理是影响中国国际收支结构失衡的重要因素,因此中国应该完善和发展金融市场,积极主动地调整目前失衡的国际收支结构以应对美国国际收支结构调整可能给中国经济发展带来的不利影响。