Problems and Countermeasures for Present China＇s Independent Board of Directors＇ System

The independent director system has implemented in Chinese mainland listed companies and has achieved much progress, but there are still many problems to be solved in present system, such as the qualification define of independent directors, their selection methods, information symmetry, serving number restriction and remuneration, and so on. How the problems come out and how to solve them？ This paper puts forward some idea including ensuring the qualification of independent directors, reforming their selection methods, increasing the ratio of independent directors in the Board of Directors, reducing the number which independent directors serve for, redefining their mission and establishing organizations of their own.     

The Cause of Turnovers of Top Management -An Empirical Research on the Special Treatment Companies in China

The turnover of top management is important for both foreign stock market and corporate management. China has developed its own stock market for more than ten years. During this period, a lot of listed companies＇ top managers were on the move. Based on 97 Chinese ST companies of 2004, this paper invesdgates the main factors, which causes the top management turnovers in the ST companies. The results of regression analysis show that the turnover of top management in Chinese ST companies is highly positively related to the change of large shareholder and are negatively related to the rate of net profit to total assets. We also find that net cash flow that is provided from operations per share, the proportion of state-owned shares and the type of audit views have no influence on the top management turnovers in such ST companies in China.     

Calm Consideration of Prosperous Growth of Convertible Bond

As a re-financing instrument for listed companies, convertible bond has been greatly promoting the prosperity of China capital market. However, due to the institutional defect of stock ownership is severe, convertible bond has also inevitably caused the negative effect on the situation that the non-negotiable shareholders are frantically depriving the negotiable shareholders of equity when enriching the financial products and releasing the financial risk. Taking ShanYing convertible bond as an example, the article researches the reasonableness in the market pricing by using the Single-Index Model and further analyze reasonable activities of the present listed companies＇ tending to issuing convertible bond.     

Implementing the Independent Director System in China: Issues and Considerations

Independent Directors (IDs), also known as outside directors or non-executive directors, are those who are independent of the company's shareholders and who hold no post in a joint-stock company. Unlike internal directors who are under the control of dominant shareholders and a company's leading group, IDs are in a position to play a favorable role for the company to independently judge and determine its business. The introduction of the ID system in the corporate     

Capital structure： The Italian market perspective

This article first investigates the determinants of＂capital structure＂ and the extent to which financial structure policy contributes to the creation of shareholder value in Italian companies through a survey of 76 CFOs of Italian listed non-financial companies, and revealed that the key driver is the quest for financial flexibility, necessary to combine effectively capital structure policy with the other two levers of value creation, investment policy and payout policy. These three value creation drivers are autonomous, but this empirical study reveals a clear hierarchy that links liability policy （capital structure and payout） to asset policy （investments） leading companies to make sub-optimal financial structure decisions that may not minimize the weighted average cost of capital, though ensuring the financial flexibility necessary to activate their principal lever of value creation, investment policy, effectively and without excessive constraints. A major finding in a subsequent benchmarking exercise is that Italian ＂family capitalism＂ affects corporate governance and therefore capital structure decisions. This finding may not be restricted to the Italian market, but could apply to all countries in which ownership structures are centered on very few shareholders with weak financial market control and where banks often play a crucial role in the governance of companies.     

Is China up to the Test？ A Review of Theories and Priorities for Education Investment for a Modern China

This paper reviews the key theories relating to the role of education in economic development and social change and how education, as a critical component of total factor productivity, contributes to sustained economic growth. It examines how China ＂s education policy reflects the country＇s unique dual economy. Focusing on the post-reform period, the paper contends that while progress has been made, there are risks to China＇s future growth prospects from failing to reap the benefits of sound education policy. It argues that if the Chinese education system is to continue to be a driver of rather than a drain on economic growth, and if China is to successfully manage its transition towards more inclusive, sustainable and equitable growth, reforms will be needed to improve the quality of education at all levels and to create an environment in which China＇s extensive human capital is duly recognized and respected. Crucially, the education system should be transformed to ensure it promotes a comprehensive range of human capabilities, including those that go beyond the part humans play in augmenting production possibilities.     

How Good Is Corporate Governance in China？

Based on the revised OECD Principles of Corporate Governance of 2004 and China＇s regulatory framework, we develop a corporate governance index （ CGI） to measure overall corporate governance and disclosure practices of the 100 largest listed companies in China. The results show that Chinese companies have been making progress in corporate governance reform and there is significant difference in CGI between the top and the bottom companies＇ performance. Among the six parts of CGl, Chinese listed companies perform better in disclosure and transparency, but show weakness in board of supervisor and stakeholders roles. Further tests show that the improvements in corporate governance of state-owned enterprises have resulted in some initial signs of success.     

China＇s Regional Disparity and Its Policy Responses

The fruits of China＇s rapid economic development over the 3 decades have not been distributed fairly across different regions. Using data from a sample of 815 Chinese listed firrns during 1998-2004, our error-correction investment model showes evidence of different financial constraints on firms＇ investment in different regions. We argue that China＇s regional development policies have contributed greatly to the regional inequalities. To control the rising inequality, China has shifted its focus from the coast to the interior regions. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the government to direct the economy, as market mechanisms now have afar greater influence on the economy than the government does. The people-centered approach of the current leadership has meant that substantial attention has been placed on regional development disparities in an attempt to build a ＂harmonious society. ＂ China needs further extensive reforms if all the measures for reducing regional disparity are to be effective.     

Comparative Analysis of Capital Productivity in China＇s High-Tech Industries

While labor productivity is a topic of constant debate and has been studied extensively, far less attention has been devoted to the question of capital productivity. Productive use of physical capital is an important source of economic growth and investment return. This paper presents a comparative study of capital productivity in China‘s high-tech industry. Using a version of the perpetual inventory method (PIM), new estimates have been made of the physical capital stock by sector. Capital productivity in China‘s high-tech industry is higher than in total manufacturing, but the gap between them has been shrinking. Comparison with high-tech industries in the US., highlights that China‘s high-tech industries could play a more important role in the growth of manufacturing and the whole economy.     

Socialism Market Economy： Innovations on the Way Which Brings China to Prosperity

Only when a country creates a unique market economy pattern that is suitable for its own, will it be able to head for prosperity. China has created its socialist market economy pattern. From the history of the social development pattern of major countries and areas in the world, this paper expounds and proves the scientific character of innovations on the way which brings China into prosperity; forecasts and differentiates China＇s three development stages in the future according to the appraisal index; and finally concludes that in order to complete the first stage, that is the transforming transition period, transformation of four patterns must be done.     

Chinese Offshore RMB Currency and Bond Markets： The Role of Hong Kong

This paper discusses the role of Hong Kong in China’s grand scheme to build up the RMB as a global reserve currency.We highlight the economic importance of Hong Kong to China in terms of channeling foreign direct investment into China,some of which,in the future,will be denominated in the RMB.We discuss the development of China’s RMB currency swap and deposit markets in Hong Kong.These offshore markets enable the RMB to trade freely, setting the stage for the RMB to become fully convertible and allowing market forces to play a role in pricing the value of the RMB,and help in the development of the RMB-denominated bond(or dim sum bond)market in Hong Kong.Finally,we present evidence of the phenomenal growth of the dim sum bond market in Hong Kong,which can further enhance and strengthen the use of the RMB outside China.     

Low Inflation,Pass-through,and a Discrete Inflation-targeting Framework for Monetary Policy in China

The performance of inflation in China over the past few decades has been remarkable. This paper characterizes the statistical nature of the inflation series in China over the past quarter of a century and presents an interesting scenario of large decline in inflation pass-through accompanied with low inflation since the end of the 1990s. How should monetary policy in China be conducted under these new economic conditions? We propose a discrete inflation-targeting framework for monetary policy,which is likely to be suitable for the regime of low inflation and inflation pass-through. The advantages and caveats of adopting such a framework are also discussed.     

Growth and Common Prosperity in China

This paper introduces a decomposition method that quantifies the contributions to common prosperity of labor market performance and social policies and extends the idea of shared prosperity to a new measure of inequity in opportunities.The resulting common prosperity indices and opportunity equality indices are then applied to five waves of the Chinese Household Income Project data from 1988 to 2018.This paper shows that the labor market performance and social policies have been improving over the last 30 years and have helped China move towards common prosperity for everyone.The indices developed in this paper allow us to quantify the extent of shared prosperity that a country has achieved and to carry out empirical studies on which policy is working and which is not.It can also help us identify the fundamental causes of inequality and aid us in achieving equality in opportunity among all members of society.     

Foreign Value-added in China＇s Manufactured Exports： Implications for China＇s Trade Imbalance

Economists have recently become interested in weighting how much domestic value-added is actually included in China’s exports.Formally,the proportion of foreign and domestic contents could be identified by calculating the vertical specialization share using non-competitive input-output tables.Applying such a method to the Chinese case,however, would result in a big measurement bias because China has a large share of processing exports,which utilize a disproportionately high percentage of imported intermediates.This paper,by directly employing 2008 trade data for which imported intermediates in both processing and non-processing trade could be identified by means of various trade patterns, provides a simplified way to estimate the share of foreign/domestic value-added included in industry-level manufactured exports.This paper finds that the vertical specialization share of China’s processing exports was about 56 percent in 2008,compared to about 10 percent for ordinary exports.It also finds that the sectors that experiencedfast expansion of processing exports have a much higher share of foreign contents.Since processing exports account for about half of Chinese exports,the prevailing trade statistics,which focus on gross values rather than the value-added of exports and imports,has obviously overstated the bilateral trade imbalances,especially between China and the USA.     

Empirical Investigation on China＇s Private Enterprises Performance Change Before and After Listing

This paper evaluates the performance change of the private enterprises listed on China＇s two exchanges during 2 years before and after listing in the period of 1996-2001. It is concluded that earning ability, real sales and financing are significantly improved, while only profitability decline a little bit after the private firms listed. In addition, we find that IPO private firms have appreciably better performance than that of BS ones as well as the financing condition becomes finer, which is relative to both the attributes of the private enterprises and Chinese regulatory rules. Therefore, we figured out that the outcome of private firms listing is positive, and China＇s economic reform will be a step-by-step process.     

The Strategic Partnership Cutting the Costs or not

There are numerous articles which have been written about strategic partnership and how they can be beneficial for both buyer and supplier. The aim of this article is to find out the ways of how the strategic partnership cuts the costs by using semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews were found to be the most appropriate method of data collection because they enabled the researcher to gather valid and reliable data. Ten companies have been interviewed in different industries in Saudi Arabia （four in computer industries, three in bank industries, and three in food industries）. The article gives a valuable resource and rich information for those interested to know more about the Saudi market or those wishing to invest in it. All interviews were conducted with purchasing managers by using semi-structured interviews. The study found that the strategic partnership does cut the costs. Cutting the costs comes from sharing skills and information, reducing the investment risk, and decreasing the operation costs.     

China's Exchange Rate Movements and Corporate Currency Invoicing Strategies

Since China introduced a new managed floating exchange rate regime in 2005, the persistent appreciation of the renminbi against the US dollar has led Chinese firms to reassess their choice of invoice currency among the dollar and other international alternatives to price their exports. The present paper performs a systematic invoice currency analysis by surveying the published literature, summarizing criteria for decision-making, and evaluating the choices available to Chinese exporters implementing currency invoicing strategies to maximize expected profits. This study finds that the euro could play an increasing role as the invoice currency of Chinese firms, although the US dollar will still play a dominant role. Chinese exporters might shift gradually from the dollar to the euro in the face of the falling dollar, balancing between the two by necessity.     

Why Are Chinese Exports Not So Special？

Applying a commonly used index for export sophistication in a cross-country study, Rodrik finds that the technological content of Chinese exports over the past decade has been so high that it cannot be explained simply by the economic fundamentals of a low-income country abundant with unskilled labor. Question has been raised for the empirical robustness of the index. I am also doubtful with Rodrik＇ s analysis but develop my argument from a different perspective. This paper briefly reviews Rodrik＇s methodology and identifies other factors his empirical results potentially hinge on. Based on this, it elaborates on China＇ s unique processing trade regime, the uneven distribution of its exports across Chinese regions and the limitation of HS codes in terms of identifying differentiated products, in an attempt to show that these factors also contribute to higher estimations of China＇s export sophistication level. Finally, it organizes trade data to reveal the trade patterns that are indeed consistent with the country＇s comparative advantage.     

People＇s Mobility and Guanxi Networks： A Case Study

The increase in the movement of people from rural to urban areas since the mid-1980s represents the largest labor migration ever experienced in China. Because migration is a process of selection, it is imperative that the major dynamics determining the selection are studied. What are the critical characteristics of migrants that help them to realize their mobility from rural areas to urban areas？ While educational attainment, gender, age, marital status and personal skills are important variables in the selection process, the present paper examines how social networks （guanxi connections） play a significant role in the process of migration selection in China. A case study from one of the northern villages in rural China is used to explore how social networks have shaped and given meaning to migration. The present paper elaborates on how people＇s social mobility has coincided with and been reinforced by people＇s physical mobility.