Uncovering asset stripping during China's privatization

This paper empirically studies the occurrence and extent of asset stripping via undervaluing public assets during the mass privatization of state-owned and collectively owned enterprises in China. Using three waves of a national survey of private firms, we provide evidence that state-owned and collectively owned assets were substantially underpriced, indicating the presence of corruption during privatization. Further analysis shows that the extent of underpricing is more severe in regions with less market competition or weaker property rights protection, and more pronounced for intangible assets such as intellectual property rights and land use rights. When comparing firm efficiency between privatized firms and de novo private firms, we find that the former group continues to enjoy considerable preferential treatments, yet significantly underperforms the latter, possibly due to continued government control and intervention. Finally, we provide evidence that insider privatization is an important source of corruption during the privatization process.     

Measuring Farm and Market Level Economic Impacts of Improved Maize Production Technologies in Ethiopia: Evidence from Panel Data

While it is often recognised that agricultural technology adoption decisions are intertwined and best characterised by multivariate models, typical approaches to examining adoption and impacts of agricultural technology have focused on single technology adoption choice and ignored interdependence among technologies. We examine farm‐ and market‐level impacts of multiple technology adoption choices using comprehensive household survey data collected in 2010/11 and 2012/13 in Ethiopia. Economic surplus analysis combined with panel data switching endogenous regression models are used to compute the supply shift parameter (K‐shift parameter), while at the same time controlling for the endogeneity inherent in agricultural technology adoption among farmers. We find that our improved technology set choices have significant impacts on farm‐level maize yield and maize production costs, where the greatest effect appears to be generated when various technologies are combined. The change in maize yield and production costs results in an average 26.4% cost reduction per kilogram of maize output (the K‐shift parameter). This increases the producer and consumer surpluses by US$ 140 and US$ 105 million per annum, respectively. These changes in economic surplus help to reduce the number of poor people by an estimated 788 thousand per year. We conclude that deliberate extension efforts and other policies that encourage integration of technologies are important for maize technologies to yield their full potential at both farm and market levels.     

The antecedents of tourists’ gaming spend: does the brand prestige matter?

This study endeavors to empirically analyse the influential effect among brand prestige, service quality, casino visitor satisfaction and spend. Data from 304 tourists who had travelled to Macau and had participated in gambling activities were used and structural equation modelling and multi-group analysis were employed in hypotheses testing. The findings demonstrated that both brand prestige and perceived service quality are determinants of satisfaction and gaming spend, and that brand prestige also affects service quality positively. Furthermore, past experience moderates the service quality and visitors’ satisfaction relationship, also service quality and visitors’ gaming spend relationship.     

金融支持国防知识产权成果转化问题及策略研究

国防知识产权成果转化应用是国防科技创新体系建设落地见效的关键环节，引入现代金融体系能够有效促进国防知识产权成果转化。目前我国国防知识产权转化工作在组织管理体制、工作运行体系、法规政策制度和信息化建设等方面初显成效，但仍面临整体转化形势不容乐观、金融支持体系尚未成熟等问题，根本原因在于国防知识产权与发明人割裂导致一般金融产品难以通过审核，使融资渠道狭窄；其保密性进一步加大了与金融机构间的信息不对称，使得金融资源配置效率低下；国防知识产权专用性较强，相应抬高了融资成本。为有效解决上述问题，提出3条改进措施，以实现对国防知识产权转化的金融支持，即①从顶层设计上优化解密脱密流程，明确发明人与知识产权的权属关系，细化财税优惠等支持措施；②加强政府财政税收政策支持，引导创新利用多元社会资本进入支持转化领域；③建立各主体参与的金融服务协调保障机制、监测评估体系，启动国防知识产权转化的金融支持试点工作，构建符合国情的国防知识产权转化金融支持体系。     

三种不同蒸馏仪器测定食品中二氧化硫含量的对比

目的:比较传统玻璃蒸馏瓶蒸馏装置、二氧化硫测定仪、自动凯氏定氮仪3种仪器测定食品中二氧化硫的效果及适用性,为设备选型提供参考.方法:选取番薯干、咸菜、香菇干,分别用上述3种蒸馏装置测定样品中的二氧化硫含量,分析测定结果和过程控制.结果:使用3种不同蒸馏仪器测定结果无显著性差异,两次独立测定结果的绝对差值小于算术平均值的10%,回收率均在85%~95%.结论:二氧化硫测定仪自动化程度高,安全性高,基本可以替代传统玻璃蒸馏瓶蒸馏,实现大部分食品的批量检测,对于香菇干等蒸馏过程易倒吸食品,可采用自动凯氏定氮仪检测,提高实验的准确性和可靠性.     

荷兰农业绿色转型经验与政策启示

[目的]与我国的农业资源禀赋条件相似,荷兰人多地少,农业资源贫乏,却是世界农业强国,其20世纪80年代开始的农业转型之路对促进我国当前农业绿色发展具有重要借鉴意义。[方法]结合实地调研与文献研究,文章梳理了荷兰40年来在农业环境治理方面的具体政策设计和实施效果,并分析了其主要经验做法及对我国发展的启示。[结果]从畜禽养殖数量控制到化学投入品控制、再到农业资源全管理,荷兰始终坚持以种养结合的可持续发展模式应对农业资源环境挑战,不断强化循环利用技术推广应用,逐步建立了严格的农业资源环境监管体系和政府支持体系,在农业污染得到有效治理的同时,依然很好地保持了国际市场竞争力。[结论]荷兰曾经面对的养殖业污染、化学品过度投入等问题也是我国当前农业环境的突出问题,其当时采取的转型思路与我们目前的绿色发展理念高度一致,借鉴荷兰经验,加快推进我国农业绿色发展,亟需创新循环农业发展模式,加强绿色发展技术支撑,建立并完善农业绿色发展制度体系,协同推进农业资源环境保护和农业竞争力提升。     

农地流转市场中的土地流向及效果分析

［目的］我国农地流转市场发展迅速，农村土地呈现集中趋势。准确把握农村土地流动方向，探析农地流转对农业生产效率及农民收入的影响，对保障农地流转市场健康发展，实现农业现代化的关键，具有重要的现实意义。［方法］基于文献研究法对相关研究进行梳理和总结。［结果］（1）有效的农地流转市场使土地从低效率生产者流转至高效率生产者，从高收入农户流转至收入两端的农户，并有提高农业生产效率和增加农民收入的作用。转入户中存在显著的异质性差异，一部分是缺乏资金和人力资本的小规模农户，另一部分则是具有丰富资金和人力资本的大规模农户。（2）农业比较收益劣势易造成农地流转市场扭曲，改变土地流动方向，导致农业生产效率下降，并加剧农民收入的不平等。［结论］有效的农地流转市场有助于提高农业生产效率并增加农户收入。然而，农业较低的比较收益及政府的过度干预易造成农地流转市场扭曲，农业生产效率提升潜力难以发挥，增收效应减弱，农村收入差距加大。建议政府对农地流转进行有序引导，并注重劳动力市场及信贷市场的配套完善。     

众筹平台对创业融资的影响:前沿研究述评与未来展望

关于众筹平台对创业融资的影响，国内外研究主要集中在同一平台内不同项目之间的特征差异方面，即平台内特征分析，且研究结论并不统一；相较之下，关于不同平台之间的特征差异，即平台间特征，现在才开始受到重视。通过对众筹平台与创业融资前沿研究的系统梳理，一方面针对众筹平台内特征，从资金筹措和资金回报两个层面阐释了影响创业融资成功的关键因素，涉及项目特征、创业者特征、投资者互动等；另一方面，针对众筹平台间特征，从平台类型、平台机制、融资渠道3个层面阐释了影响创业融资成功的关键因素。未来，可以从众筹平台间特征对资金回报的影响、综合平台内和平台间特征对资金筹措的影响、众筹平台动态变化机制等多个角度展开深入研究。     

Economic policy uncertainty and stock price crash risk

This paper studies the impact of economic policy uncertainty on stock price crash risk using data from China. We develop a new index to measure Chinese economic policy uncertainty and find that economic policy uncertainty has a remarkable positive effect on stock price crash risk. However, the effect reverses later. The results also indicate that the positive effect of economic policy uncertainty on stock price crash risk is more prominent for state‐owned enterprises. Moreover, this effect is more prominent for firms with higher information asymmetry and firms with greater disagreement among investors, indicating that economic policy uncertainty affects crash risk through two mechanisms: managers’ concealment of bad news and investors’ heterogeneous beliefs.     

Doing more and doing better are two different entities: Different patterns of family control and environmental performance

Family firms bear two types of agency costs, including type I and type II agency problems, in corporate environmental practices: (1) Outside executives at family firms hesitate to engage in environmental strategies, which can lead to drops in profits; (2) Controlling families employ opportunistically environmental management to achieve their interests. We argue that a primary cause for the agency problems lies on ineffective internal corporate governance at family firms, which can cause loss of managerial (or power) balance between outside executives and family executives. Our findings show that family firms with ownership and strategic control (FSC), which family executives and outside executives monitor and constrain each other, can achieve the highest environmental performance. Moreover, external controls, including product market competition and provincial environmental regulations, substitute effective internal control of FSC. The environmental performance premium of FSC is more prevalent when the production market competition is lower. Family firms with ownership, operational, and strategic control (FOSC) can achieve higher environmental performance within a province with more stringent environmental regulations.