Delegation and the regulation of U.S. financial markets

We analyze the institutional determinants of U.S. financial market regulation with a general model of the policy-making process in which legislators delegate authority to regulate financial risk at both the firm and systemic levels. The model explains changes in U.S. financial regulation leading up to the financial crisis. We test the predictions of the general model with a novel, comprehensive data set of financial regulatory laws enacted specifically between 1950 and 2009. The theoretical and empirical analysis finds that economic and political factors impact Congress’ decision to delegate regulatory authority to executive agencies, which in turn impacts the stringency of financial market regulation, and our estimation results indicate that political factors may have been stronger and resulted in inefficiencies.     

Political booms and currency crises

This paper shows evidence that political booms, defined as the rise in governments’ popularity, are associated with a higher likelihood of currency crises. The reasoning behind this finding is that prudent economic policies to address underlying weaknesses in the economy may be political costly for incumbent governments in the short-term. Hence, popularity-concerned governments may not have enough incentives to take such corrective actions in a timely manner. This approach, in turn, can deteriorate economic fundamentals and increase related risks in the economy which can eventually lead to crises. This paper sheds light on this phenomenon in the case of currency crises, suggesting that currency crises can be viewed as “political booms gone bust” events. Moreover, it finds that higher international reserves, higher exports, and a higher degree of financial openness alleviate the effect of political booms on currency crises.     

Financing energy efficiency retrofits in Chilean households: The role of financial instruments,savings and uncertainty in energy transition

High firewood consumption for heating produces high levels of pollution in cities in central and southern Chile, with serious consequences for health and quality of life. Energy efficiency measures (EEMs) have been identified as the best strategy to reduce air pollution and maximize social benefits. However, their adoption has been slow. The objective of this article is to investigate household preferences for financial incentives needed to promote private investments in EEMs in Central-Southern Chilean households and study the role of energy savings and the uncertainty about potential savings in the investment decision, with the aim of finding solutions to increase the adoption of these technologies. We use a choice experiment to explore the trade-off between the investment costs, financial instruments, energy savings, and the uncertainty about achieving the theoretical savings provided by engineering and architectural models. The results show that financial instruments play the most important role in this decision, followed by the savings achieved by the retrofit. Householders prefer to finance their investments with a mix of their personal resources and medium-term credits, trying to avoid long-term commitments. Although uncertainty was found to be a significant variable, it seems to play a small role in the investment decision.     

Depletion of psychological,financial, and social resources in the hospitality sector during the pandemic

This study details how psychological, financial, and social factors shape employee deviant interpersonal behaviors during a pandemic. Data were collected with a survey of 372 front-line employees of hotels and analyzed with PLS-SEM. The findings showed social disconnectedness and perceived risk of unemployment leads to perceived isolation, which further creates depression in employees. The findings also showed that depression is positively related to employee deviance. Financial strain is a major cause of perceived isolation, depression, and deviant behaviors among front-line employees. Results also proved that social support reduces fear of isolation, depression, and employee deviance. This study provides guidelines that hotels need to understand the psychological stance of employees and design policies to overcome employee perceived fears and psychological disorders.     

违约与杠杆周期——一个带有救助的金融加速器模型

我国为应对2008年国际金融危机的冲击采取了一系列经济刺激政策,在发挥“稳增长”作用的同时,也在一定程度上导致我国企业部门杠杆水平快速上升,但与此同时,不良贷款率并没有随企业部门杠杆的上升而显著增加。为了解释企业部门违约与杠杆的周期特征,本文在金融加速器模型(Bernanke et al.,1999)基础上,引入政府对企业部门的违约救助机制,建立DSGE模型进行讨论。进一步地,本文还通过一个不合意的去杠杆政策试验表明,忽略资产价格稳定(或者说金融稳定)前提下的去杠杆政策,反而会使企业部门的杠杆和违约率同时上升到一个较高水平。最后,引入一个盯住预期资产价格的动态救助规则能够发挥稳定经济的作用,并提高社会福利水平。     

我国省域农业隐含碳排放及其驱动因素时空动态分析

[目的]我国区域农业发展模式由于气候、环境的不同存在较大的差异,而目前针对农业隐含碳的时空动态研究较为缺乏,导致对于区域减排目标的设定缺乏全面的考虑,无法实现农业碳减排的效率性和公平性。因此,有必要分析农业隐含碳排放在不同省域的特征并分析其驱动因素,为制定体现地区间公平性且有效率的碳减排政策提供依据。[方法]文章利用2002年、2007年和2012年3年的投入产出表估算我国各省(市、区)农业隐含碳排放量,根据Kaya恒等关系将其分解为经济规模、经济结构、一般农业技术进步和低碳农业技术进步4类影响因素,并利用LMDI分解分析法对这4类影响因素的驱动力进行了分析。[结果]2002—2012年我国大部分地区农业隐含碳排放量呈上升趋势,空间上呈现从西到东、从南到北逐渐增加的分布规律,经济规模效应在各省份均呈正向驱动,且在经济发展较为迅速、经济增长后劲较强的地区驱动效应逐渐增强;经济结构效应在大部分省份呈负向驱动,且在重型工业的聚集区域负向效应逐渐增强;一般农业技术因素正向驱动区域逐渐扩散,且在农业大省正向驱动效应逐渐增强;低碳农业技术进步因素在东部发达地区负向的驱动效应较强,在西部驱动效应较弱。[结论]在未来的农业减排政策制定过程中,需要充分考虑不同地区的经济发展、产业结构、农业生产等特点。     

后危机视野下福建省经济格局演变及其影响机制

［目的］后危机时代是目前我国各地区经济发展面对的一个巨大变量，也是近年来区域经济发展关注的焦点话题。［方法］选取福建省县域经济的5项指标作为解释变量，利用探索性空间分析方法和地理加权回归模型，对2010—2015年福建省县域经济格局及其驱动机制进行探讨。［结果］（1）总体上看，福建省经济空间格局变化较小，呈现东南高西北低的态势，重心向福州、莆田地区转移，省内发展均质化与极化现象并存；（2）产业结构调整与城镇化水平提升主导省内经济重心在东西方向上的移动，两者的空间格局具有相似性；（3）创新投入与金融零售业的变化主导了经济重心南北向的移动，其与各市县的经济基础和产业调整政策密切相关。［结论］在后危机时代福建省需根据市场特征推进区域协同发展、实现产业结构调整、促进区域共同富裕； 地方经济政策应与自身经济发展特征相适应，实现区域经济可持续发展。     

山东省生态用地变化及驱动因素影响评价

［目的］研究第二次土地利用现状调查以来山东省生态用地变化特点及驱动因素，评价各类驱动因素对生态用地的影响程度，为科学编制区域空间规划，保护和合理利用生态用地提供参考。［方法］文章构建了全省生态用地转移矩阵，归纳了影响生态因素变化的主要驱动因素，提出了驱动力指数计算方法，定量分析和比对了各驱动因素对生态用地的影响。［结果］2009—2017年生态用地共计转出2048万hm2，占生态用地总面积的472%； 转入316万hm2，占生态用地总面积的072%。8年来全省生态用地净减少1732万hm2，占2009年生态用地总面积的400%。生态用地的流向以耕地最多，向城镇村及工矿用地流出次之，向设施农用地的流出也有较大面积。［结论］（1）在影响生态用地变化的六大驱动因素中，耕地开发和城镇村工矿占用的驱动力指数最高，非耕农业占用对生态用地的变化有一定影响。（2）六大因素中城镇村工矿占用对当地生态环境的破坏力最强。     

Are REITs more resilient than non-REITs? Evidence from natural experiments

REITs draw attention from investors around the world, yet our understanding of the various risks associated with such securities is limited. Using the introduction of Arrowhead, a low-latency high-frequency trading platform, to the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the financial crisis of 2008 as natural experiments, we compare the resilience of REITs and equities in terms of liquidity and volatility. The results indicate that the introduction of Arrowhead improved the quality of the Japanese REIT market but also increased the probability of flash crashes. We also find that although the financial crisis significantly deteriorated overall equity market quality, the Japanese REIT market was resilient. Finally, using a difference-in-differences regression model, we show that the higher transparency and better price discovery of REITs, compared to non-REITS, protected them from the negative effects of the financial crisis and the introduction of Arrowhead. Overall, our analysis shows that REITs are more resilient than non-REITs.     

金融服务开放与制造业企业出口产品质量:影响机制与经验证据

文章从理论上分析了金融服务开放影响制造业企业出口产品质量提升的动态演变过程，并利用2004-2013年中国金融服务进出口和中国工业企业数据对理论推演进行验证。结果表明：金融服务开放显著促进了制造业出口产品质量升级，且金融服务引进来对制造业企业出口产品质量提升的作用略大于金融服务走出去所产生的作用；从不同贸易方式、不同衡量指标、不同企业所有制等方面对此进行检验均证实了金融服务开放对制造业出口产品质量升级的正向作用；影响机制检验和扩展分析显示，创新效应、金融服务"引进来"对"走出去"的推动、垂直专业化效应和本地吸收效应影响着金融开放对企业出口产品质量升级的作用。文章的研究发现有助于为进一步扩大金融服务开放来推动制造业高质量发展提供有价值的政策依据。