The effect of capital structure on a firm's liquidation decision

A firm's liquidation can impose costs on its customers, workers, and suppliers. An agency relationship between these individuals and the firm exists in that the liquidation decision controlled by the firm (as the agent) affects other individuals (the customers, workers, and suppliers as principals). The analysis in this paper suggests that capital structure can control the incentive/conflict problem of this relationship by serving as a pre-positioning or bonding mechanism. Appropriate selection of capital structure assures that incentives are aligned so that the firm implements the ex-ante value-maximizing liquidation policy.     

On the relation between ownership structure and capital structure

The agency relationship between managers and shareholders has the potential to influence decision-making in the firm which in turn potentially impacts on firm characteristics such as value and leverage. Prior evidence has demonstrated an association between ownership structure and firm value. This paper extends the literature by examining a further link between ownership structure and capital structure. Using an agency framework, it is argued that the distribution of equity ownership among corporate managers and external blockholders may have a significant relation with leverage. The empirical results provide support for a positive relation between external blockholders and leverage, and non-linear relation between the level of managerial share ownership and leverage. The results also suggest that the relation between external block ownership and leverage varies across the level of managerial share ownership. These results are consistent with active monitoring by blockholders, and the effects of convergence-of-interests and management entrenchment.     

On the nonlinear relation between product market competition and earnings quality

The literature documents conflicting results regarding the influence of product market competition on earnings quality. We extend this stream of literature by incorporating competition’s effect on both the opportunities and the incentives to manage earnings. The combination of both effects results in a nonlinear relation between product market competition and earnings quality. At low competition levels, additional information associated with one more rival helps reveal earnings irregularity and deter earnings management to a larger extent than its effect on the incentives to manage earnings, suggesting a positive relation between competition and earnings quality. At high competition levels, the latter effect dominates the former. We thus predict a positive (negative) relation between competition and earnings quality at low (high) competition levels. Consistent with our hypothesis, we document an inverted U-shaped relation between earnings quality and product market competition.     

Corporate ownership and the value of a vote in an emerging market

Empirical evidence suggests that the voting premium in the Korean securities market is strongly related to the structure of corporate ownership. We find that the premium attached to voting stock is positively and significantly associated with the control value of a block of shares held by minority shareholders. We also find that the premium is negatively related to both the fraction of shares that are voting shares and the market value of equity. Empirical results indicate that private benefits of control in Korea are worth about 10% of the value of equity.     

Changes in insider ownership and changes in the market value of the firm

The empirically-observed cross-sectional relation between the level of insider share ownership and the level of firm value has often been interpreted to mean that a change in share ownership can lead to a change in firm value. Such an interpretation has been criticized for ignoring potential endogeneity. In this paper, we perform two sets of tests to circumvent this alleged endogeneity. First, we measure changes in value over the 6-day interval around announcements of insider share purchases and find that the cross-sectional variability in changes in value is described by a curvilinear relation between firm value and insider ownership where the value of the firm first increases, then decreases, as insider share ownership increases. Second, we conduct tests to determine (1) whether the insider purchases are a response to changes in firm characteristics that require a new optimal equilibrium ownership level or (2) whether insiders are purchasing shares to signal that the firm is undervalued. We find no evidence to support these interpretations. Overall, our results are consistent with a causal interpretation of the empirical relation between insider ownership and firm value.     

On the relation between predictable market returns and predictable analyst forecast errors

We investigate the relation between predictable market returns and predictable analyst forecast errors. Perfect correlation between predictable components of forecast errors and abnormal returns would lend credence to the view that pricing anomalies are not merely an artifact of inadequately controlled risk. Our evidence implies an imperfect correlation. Moreover, we find that while the predictable component of abnormal returns is significantly associated with future forecast errors, trading strategies based directly on the predictable component of forecast errors are not profitable. Further implications of our findings are that predictable components of analysts’ forecast errors are robust with respect to loss functions and analysts’ earnings forecasts may significantly diverge from the market expectations.     

The conditional relation between dispersion and return

The main goal of this paper is to examine the conditional pricing effect of return dispersion on the cross section of returns. We observe a systematic conditional relation between dispersion and return even after controlling for market, size and book-to-market factors. However, we find that return dispersion risk is asymmetrically priced with a significantly positive premium observed during periods of large market gains only. The findings are found to be robust to alternative conditional specifications of market returns, suggesting asymmetric pricing effect of the return dispersion factor. We provide alternative explanations for the systematic risk captured by the return dispersion factor and discuss implications for portfolio management and corporate decisions.     

The relationship between earnings' yield,market value and return for NYSE common stocks: Further evidence

The empirical relationship between earnings' yield, firm size and returns on the common stock of NYSE firms is examined in this paper. The results confirm that the common stock of high E/P firms earn, on average, higher risk-adjusted returns than the common stock of low E/P firms and that this effect is clearly significant even if experimental control is exercised over differences in firm size. On the other hand, while the common stock of small NYSE firms appear to have earned substantially higher returns than the common stock of large NYSE firms, the size effect virtually disappears when returns are controlled for differences in risk and E/P ratios. The evidence presented here indicates that the E/P effect, however, is not entirely independent of firm size and that the effect of both variables on expected returns is considerably more complicated than previously documented in the literature.     

The implication of unrecognized asset value on the relation between market valuation and debt valuation adjustment

Review of Accounting Studies - Under SFAS No. 159, U.S. firms can measure debt liabilities at fair value, which results in recognition of unrealized gains and losses from debt valuation adjustments...     

Does ownership structure affect value? A panel data analysis for the Spanish market

This paper analyzes the influence of ownership structure on firm value. We find a non-significant relationship between the ownership of large blockholders and firm value. We also find a positive effect of the degree of control with regard to firm value. Endogenous treatment of these variables then reveals a positive effect for the ownership by major shareholders on firm value, although the opposite relationship is not significant; and a positive effect of the degree of control on Tobin's Q and vice versa. A positive effect is seen when the major shareholders are individuals.     

State ownership and market liberalization: Evidence from China's domestic M&A market

We study how state ownership affects the post-merger performance of Chinese acquirers, and find that state owned acquirers (SOEs) experience a significantly larger long-term performance improvement following mergers compared to their non-state-owned (NSOE) counterparts. When partitioning the sample period into acquisitions made prior to and following China's split-share reform of 2005, we find that the post-merger performance improvement of SOE acquirers is largely attributed to the post reform period in which controlling shareholders converted their non-tradable shares into tradable status. Our results are consistent with the interpretation that state intervention in the form of capital market liberalization and alleviation of governance problems, combined with political connections and privileged access to financing, may have a positive effect on M&A performance that outweighs the inefficiency cost of state ownership in China.     

高校教师教学质量评价研究

随着中国教育体制建设和改革的深入,高等教育事业发展迅速,不仅在数量和规模上获得了巨大的发展,而且在质量和效益上也得到显著的提高,特别是普通本科院校的发展,从数量到质量都取得了极大的发展成就.因此,对普通本科院校教师教学质量评价的研究就显得尤为重要.本文综合层次分析法和模糊综合评价法对X大学教师教学质量进行实证研究,实现了多主体、全方位的综合评价,弥补了以往评价方法的不足,完善了高校教师教学质量评价体系,对高校教学质量提高,实现内涵发展具有借鉴和指导意义.     

Blockholder ownership: Effects on firm value in market and control based governance systems

In this study, Granger tests are used to examine the relationship between blockholder ownership and the values of the largest companies in the European Union and the US. Previous studies on US data have found that blockholder ownership has no systematic effect on performance. We propose that these results may not apply to Continental Europe, where ownership concentration is typically higher, the level of investor protection is lower, and influential blockholders may have objectives other than shareholder value. In accordance with previous research, we find no significant association between blockholder ownership and prior or subsequent firm value in either the US or the UK. Nonetheless, in Continental Europe we find a negative association between blockholder ownership and firm value or accounting returns in the next period. Further analysis reveals that this association is significant only for companies with high initial levels of blockholder ownership (> 10%). We interpret this finding as evidence of conflicts of interest between blockholders and minority investors. The percentage of blockholder ownership in Continental Europe may be too high from a minority shareholder value viewpoint.     

中国经济增长集约化程度研究

在我国经济发展方式转变的新形势下,有必要对经济集约化发展问题进行深入研究.论文基于经济增长理论,以中国过去六十多年经济数据为样本,划分为1952-1978、1979-1997、1998-2015年三个发展阶段,构建计量回归模型,测算经济增长的集约度,即全要素生产率(TFP)增长对经济增长的贡献度,研究资本积累及城镇化对我国经济增长的影响.运用实证研究法和经济增长余值分析法构建模型,通过二元线性回归,估计资本和劳动要素变量参数值,进而测算资本、劳动要素及全要素生产率增长对经济增长的贡献度.研究发现,过去六十多年,我国经济增长集约度还比较低,经济增长主要依靠资本和劳动投入的增加,资本积累和城镇化是中国持续高速经济增长的主导因素.而当前我国大量资本密集型产业出现产能过剩,人口老龄化致使大量劳动密集型产业人力成本上升,传统粗放式增长方式难以为继,亟需加快经济发展方式的集约化转变,努力实现技术进步和人力资本投资驱动的可持续发展.     

2017年大中华区将保持全球最活跃IPO市场地位

2016年全球IPO市场回顾 大中华区逆势领跑 2016年全球有很多地缘政治因素影响全球IPO的活动,包括英国脱欧,全球化面临挑战;年末美国总统选举,至落幕后才解除市场的不确定性,美元得以重拾强势走势.对于整个资本市场来讲,英国脱欧、美国总统选举其实对于中国外围的资本市场以及IPO活动都有一些影响,但最终结果较为乐观,包括对美国资本市场的影响,总体尚算温和.     

On the empirical relationship between market value and residual income in the U.K.

This paper examines the empirical cross-sectional relationship between residual income and market value for U.K. firms. It does so because of recent claims that RI is a better measure for use by firms in internal planning and control activities than, say earnings. If such is the case then, presumably, we would expect that RI has a stronger association with market value than, for example, earnings. We conclude that the relationship between RI and market value is by no means perfect. Nonetheless, RI has a stronger association with market value, in conjunction with RD expenditures and opening and closing book value, than does earnings in conjunction with RD expenditures and closing book value. As a consequence, the capital charge element of RI does appear to add explanatory power to equations involving merely earnings, RD expenditures and closing book value. Our view, therefore, would be that the evidence presented in the paper provides some support for advocates of the use of RI for planning and control.