Insurance activity,real output,and geopolitical risk: Fresh evidence from BRICS

This paper fills some empirical gaps by evaluating the causal associations among insurance premiums, real output, and geopolitical risk in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) from 1985 to 2017. We utilize a newly-developed Granger-causality quantile analysis to assess the causal relationships among the series under consideration in each distribution quantile. Our empirical results reveal unidirectional causality that runs from real output and geopolitical risk to insurance activities in Brazil and South Africa. We also observe bi-directional lower-tail causality among real output, insurance premiums, and geopolitical risk in Russia. Findings also present bi-directional causality among real output, insurance premiums, and geopolitical risk at different quantiles. Knowledge of these causal relationships can prevent governments from conducting a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy.     

Death spiral PIPEs: a reconsideration of the evidence

We challenge the view that PIPEs lead to unfavourable outcomes for issuing firms. We show that structured PIPEs do not have significant negative CARs when a matched firm benchmark is used for computing CARs and when sample selection bias is taken into account. Indeed, structured PIPEs have significantly higher positive skewness, indicating superior optionality, consistent with the real option argument. We also show that the 2002 intervention by the Securities and Exchange Corporation (SEC) has led to unintended consequences, with the substitution of ‘mom and pop’ investors for hedge fund investors in the structured PIPE market.     

行为经济学视角下的社会保障理论演进

社会保障系统通过社会与个体的风险共担，增进了个人、家庭和社会的福利水平，对就业、消费、投资均有显著影响。过去社会保障理论侧重信息约束和跨期决策下的机制设计，通过政府干预来实现有效的风险和成本共担，进而有效化解社会成员所面临的各种风险。但这些干预机制有可能会对就业等产生负面影响。近年来，行为与实验经济学开始进入社会保障理论的研究，新的理论试图从理性约束视角来理解社会保障系统的性质及其影响，并提出了全新的助推机制的设计理念与思路。迄今的研究发现，干预机制和助推机制各有千秋，通过合理的互补与替代，能够更好地实现社会保障系统的有效运行。     

金融创新如何缓解信任品市场失灵?——中国食品安全责任强制保险的自然实验

信任品市场(如食品、医药等)存在的问题一直困扰着中国和世界很多国家。关于产品和服务质量的信息不对称(道德风险和逆向选择)会导致信任品市场失灵。缓解信任品市场失灵,一种常见的解决方案是政府监管;而经济学家认为更加基于市场的解决方案(例如强制责任保险等金融创新)可能更为有效。在理论上,强制责任保险有两种相反的效应:保险公司的监督减少了道德风险 vs. 保险加剧了企业的道德风险,但一直亟待实证检验。幸运的是,中国食品安全责任强制保险的改革实验走在了世界的前列。本文利用了中国在不同地区、不同时间推行的这个自然实验,通过双重差分的方法识别出责任保险对于信任品市场的因果效应。本文的研究发现,强制责任保险能显著降低食品安全事故发生概率。这表明政府强制推行的金融创新可以成为信任品市场失灵的一种有效的替代性解决方案。     

中国医疗保险体系中的自选择与医疗费用——基于灵活就业人员参保行为的研究

我国社会医疗保险已实现全覆盖,现阶段的主要问题在于医保基金能否实现可持续运行。在现行制度安排下,灵活就业群体参加城镇职工医疗保险可能存在逆选择问题,随着就业形态日趋多样化,这将加剧基金运行的不平衡。本文基于2012-2014年中国家庭追踪调查数据(CFPS),利用中国特有的制度特征,在实证上将逆选择效应同道德风险相区分,验证了选择参加城镇职工医保的人群是医疗费用较高的人群。估计表明,自愿选择参加城镇职工医保的人群医疗支出明显高于强制参保群体,大约高78%;而选择参加城镇职工医保的人群医疗支出比选择参加城乡居民医保高约45%。灵活就业人员参加城镇职工医保提升了他们的福利,但如何规避潜在的基金运行风险,是医保制度设计中不可忽视的问题。     

证券虚假陈述民事诉讼行政前置条件的取舍

保护投资者权益是推进资本市场基础制度改革的重点方向。长期以来,证券虚假陈述民事诉讼前置条件给投资者寻求司法救济设置了巨大的阻碍。为了更好地保护投资者利益和顺应改革方向,最高人民法院在处理涉及该前置条件的案件时,审判思路也从注重前置条件的程序性功能转变为强调其证据功能。取消行政处罚作为硬性前置条件是证券民事诉讼发展的方向,但应以金融司法的发展与协调、前置条件初步证据功能的完善、多元化投资者保护路径的构建为前提,恰当平衡好投资者权益保护与司法资源整合的天平,再适时开放证券虚假陈述民事诉讼的闸口。     

Developments in accounting regulation: A synthesis and annotated bibliography of evidence and commentary in the 2016 academic literature

In this paper key regulation-related findings and commentaries in the 2016 academic literature are synthesized in annotated form. This paper is one in a series of previously published annotated bibliographies published in this journal. Papers published in academic outlets including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting Horizons, The Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Journal of Business, Finance & Accounting, The Journal of Financial Reporting, Auditing A Journal of Practice and Theory, and Research in Accounting Regulation were reviewed for potential inclusion. The 2016 literature featured strong regulation-related threads as follows: financial accounting regulation, analysis of individual pronouncements, SEC regulatory activity and its impact, international financial reporting standards, income tax reporting, and auditing.     

预期寿命、生育率变动与基本养老保险统筹账户调整

在构建三期世代交叠模型的基础上，通过选取相关制度指标来模拟分析在未来预期寿命和生育率变动下，基本养老保险统筹账户如何基于参数调整来维持收支平衡。研究结果表明：（1）我国居民预期寿命增长过快，统筹账户收支平衡受预期寿命变化影响较大；（2）在现阶段的预期寿命和生育率条件下，统筹账户能实现自身收支平衡，而且可在短期内通过阶段性降低缴费率来促进制度长远发展；（3）在长期内需通过提高缴费率或降低养老金替代率来保证统筹账户收支平衡，预期寿命为87.828岁且总和生育率为1.79作为参数调整临界点；（4）以现有制度设计为基准，参数调整临界点之前保证35%的基础养老金平均替代率不降，临界点之后保证20%的缴费率不升可以最大程度促进经济和社会发展。     

The synergistic effect of insurance and banking sector activities on economic growth in Africa

It is widely understood that the insurance and banking sectors of every economy perform some functions in driving economic growth. What is not yet well documented is whether their roles are complimentary or substitutive. With the aid of the dynamic panel generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation technique, this paper evaluates the synergistic effect of both sectors on economic growth in a panel of 10 African countries that are responsible for most of the activities in the continent’s financial sector. The insurance-banking-growth nexus was also examined through bootstrap panel causality tests. The results show that the life insurance market and the banking sector, as well as the non-life insurance market and the banking sector, are complimentary. We find that, overall, the relationship between the insurance and banking sectors in Africa is a complimentary one and that their synergistic impact on economic growth is positive. The feedback hypothesis was also confirmed in the relationship between the insurance sector and economic growth and between the banking sector and economic growth.     

WHAT DETERMINES VACATION LEAVE? THE ROLE OF GENDER

Vacation leave is introduced in workplaces to improve the working environment. Surprisingly, it has been observed that a large number of workers do not use all of their entitled vacation days. This paper provides a novel set of facts about the gender differences in taking vacation time using the Canadian Workplace Employee Survey, which is a linked longitudinal employer‐employee dataset. The results show considerable differences between men and women in the estimated effects of some demographic characteristics after controlling for job and workplace characteristics. However, they reveal significant implications of work arrangements (e.g., part‐time work, flexible work schedules, and home‐based work), job promotion, supervisory tasks, and union membership for vacation use, for both men and women. This paper provides further insights on the use of fringe benefits that may be useful to policymakers and businesses.