Labor market institutions,firm-specific skills,and trade patterns

This paper studies how a country's labor market institutions, by affecting workers' skill acquisition, can shape its export patterns. I develop an open-economy model in which workers undertake non-contractible activities to acquire firm-specific skills on the job. In the model, labor market protection raises workers' incentives to acquire firm-specific skills relative to general skills, turning labor laws into a source of comparative advantage. In particular, the model shows that countries with more protective labor laws export relatively more in firm-specific skill-intensive sectors at both the intensive and extensive margins. To test the theoretical predictions, I construct sector proxies for the firm-specific and industry-specific skill intensity by estimating returns to firm tenure and industry tenure for different U.S. manufacturing sectors during the 1974–1993 period. By estimating sector-level gravity equations for 84 countries using the Helpman–Melitz–Rubinstein (2008) framework, I find evidence supporting the predicted effects of labor market institutions at both margins of exports.     

FISCAL POLICY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE IMPERFECT LABOR MARKET

Using a simple overlapping generations model with the growth engine of public capital by incorporating the union wage setting, we examine the effects of fiscal policies on unemployment, economic growth and welfare in the imperfect labor market. We demonstrate that the growth‐maximizing tax in the imperfect labor market is larger than that of the perfect labor market. However, as the allocation ratio of public capital increases, the growth‐maximizing tax in the imperfect labor market approaches that of the perfect labor market, thus reducing the unemployment rate. The policy implications of the intergenerational welfare aspects are also mentioned.     

Information assimilation and stock return synchronicity: Evidence from an investor relations management platform

In this paper, we employ a unique information assimilation measure for listed firms in China based on their communications with investors through an online platform designated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). We examine whether a firm's efforts in enhancing investors’ information assimilation, such as providing more quality clarifications and explanations, helps facilitate the incorporation of firm-specific information in stock prices and reduces stock return synchronicity. We find robust evidence that more quality-clarifying communications contribute to lower stock return synchronicity after controlling for other information sources, and the decrease in synchronicity is mostly due to increased firm-specific information rather than noise. The causal relationship is established using a stacking DID approach and a PSM method. In a further analysis, we find that more quality communications can strengthen investors’ reaction to good news and smooth their reaction to bad news. Our study provides direct evidence that enhanced information assimilation benefits firms by entrenching more firm-specific information into stock prices.     

Minimum wages and information

The paper investigates the impact of minimum wage legislation on the level of employment, both for skilled and unskilled labor, when employers are imperfectly informed about a potential employee’s skill level prior to hiring. In this context, imposition of a minimum wage can facilitate the skilled employee’s provision of information about his skill. When laborers can take a certifying test, minimum wages facilitate the sorting effect of the test. If the supply of skilled labor is sufficiently elastic relative to the demand for unskilled labor, this enhancement of the sorting effect can increase total employment, and reduce prices.     

Modeling firm specific internationalization risk: An application to banks’ risk assessment in lending to firms that do international business

Drawing on internationalization process theory, we develop a new model for firm-specific internationalization risk assessment. The model shows that firm-specific internationalization risks can be determined from a firm's experiences and from current business activities in a firm's network. Experiential risks are categorized as international, country market, network, or relationship experience risks. Risk assessment in current network activities can be determined from a firm's dependency on a network and from the network's performance and evolution. We apply our model to credit risk assessment by banks and other credit institutions. This article adds to research on financial institutions’ credit risk assessment by focusing on firm-specific internationalization risk assessment, an area that has previously received little attention in the literature. In addition, this article provides a better understanding of risk assessment in the internationalization process, shedding light not only on the risks involved in firms’ commitment to internationalization but also on the risks that banks and other institutions take when they commit by lending to internationalizing firms.     

Home country institutional environments and foreign expansion of emerging market firms

We propose that home country institutional environment shapes emerging market firms’ foreign expansion. We argue that better-developed home country institutional environment promotes emerging market firms’ expansion to foreign markets more advanced than the home country, while institutional instability in the home country reduces this propensity. We further hypothesize that the effects of home country institutional environment are contingent on firm-specific government ownership. Data on the foreign expansion of 921 Chinese firms in the period of 1996–2000 provide strong support for the effects of home country's institutional development and institutional instability. We also find that a high degree of government ownership weakens the positive effect of home country's institutional development on emerging market firms’ propensity to expansion to more advanced markets.     

The moderating effect of technology and marketing know-how in the regional-global diversification link: Evidence from emerging market multinationals

In this study, we link regional diversification to global diversification of emerging market multinationals (EMNCs) and explore the importance of firm-specific technology and marketing know-how in that process. We develop our hypotheses and test them using a sample of 625 Chinese manufacturing multinationals across multiple industries. The results reveal that regional diversification predicts global diversification, and that firm-specific technology and marketing know-how both increase the likelihood of a firm’s moving from regional to global operations. Technology know-how was found to be more influential than marketing know-how.     

Multinational family firms’ internationalization depth and breadth following the global financial crisis

This study examines how large family firms react to a macroeconomic shock in terms of their internationalization depth and breadth. Building on new internalization theory and acknowledging the dysfunctional manifestations of bifurcation bias in large family-owned MNEs, we argue that an unexpected shock induces family firms to recombine their family firm-specific resources with their thus far underutilized or unequally treated nonfamily resources. This recombination allows most family firms to economize on bifurcation bias and leverage their resources as firm-specific advantages (FSAs) resulting in an increased depth and breadth of internationalization post shock (while some of them may continue to suffer from bifurcation bias). Testing our theory on a panel dataset incorporating large family-owned (compared to nonfamily-owned) MNEs headquartered in Germany before and after the global financial crisis lends support to our theory. We discuss how our study contributes to new internalization theory, to the broader IB literature on MNEs’ unexpected shock response, and to family firm internationalization research.     

The externalities of credit default swaps on stock return synchronicity

We examine the externality effect of customer firms’ credit default swap (CDS) trading on the stock price informativeness of supplier firms. Our empirical results show that firms with a high proportion of sales to CDS referenced customers tend to have more firm-specific embedded information in their stock prices and thus higher stock price informativeness, which is associated with a lower level of stock return synchronicity. We provide new evidence of CDS trading externality on equity market information environments along the supply chain.     

The logic behind foreign market selection: Objective distance dimensions vs. strategic objectives and psychic distance

The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of the firm’s strategic objectives regarding the choice of countries for foreign expansion, complementing the existing literature on the internationalisation process. Through a multiple case study methodology, we conduct a comparative analysis of three Brazilian ventures that have internationalised in Italy, and three Italian firms that have internationalised in Brazil, seeking to investigate the firms’ decisions on the selection of foreign markets. We consider jointly the objective aspects of distance, the overall perceptions of the decision-makers in relation to the differences between the domestic and (potential) host countries, and the firm’s strategic objectives. This research contributes to International Business studies by revealing the role of firm-specific strategic objectives as determinants of foreign market selection, in addition to, or even on top of, the dimensions of objective distance and psychic distance.     

Aspirations,market offerings,and the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities

In this paper we focus on two core questions: 1) Why do some people seek entrepreneurial opportunities? 2) Under what conditions is the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunity most likely? We attempt to answer these questions by creating a theoretical framework that considers the interaction between an individual's level of aspiration and their appraised value in the labor market. We propose that when there is disequilibrium between the aspiration vector (AV) of an individual and the perceived valuation of the market offering vector (P-MOV), an individual tends to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities. In addition, when hiring officers, HR directors, or other relevant parties involved in the hiring decision are biased or when existing organizations have limitations in reflecting an individual's AV, prospective entrepreneurs begin searching for new opportunities in society. Finally and in our view most crucially, we consider the interaction between an individual's subjective consideration and his perceived assessment by the labor market, a novel approach, which we hope takes into account the complexity and richness of entrepreneurship. We offer seven specific propositions that derive from the disequilibrium predicted by our framework.     

Employee Protection and Corporate Innovation: Empirical Evidence from China

Through an analysis of survey data gathered from private firms in China, this study examines the impact of employee protection on corporate innovation ability. The results indicate that firms with more advanced employee protection have stronger innovation ability. Furthermore, the positive relationship between employee protection and corporate innovation ability is more pronounced in those enterprises with labor unions. Finally, a firm’s political connections strengthen the influence of employee protection on corporate innovation. These empirical findings highlight the positive consolidating effects of labor unions and political connections and will be of value to policy makers in emerging markets in gauging the important drivers of corporate innovation ability.     

分工演进与土地承包经营权股份化——一项土地股份合作社的调查及政策启示

在土地要素市场发育仍不完备的情况下,当前农村出现了大量的土地股份合作社,而大多数研究却忽视了土地要素市场与土地股份合作之间的异质性和替代性。一项来自江苏省苏中地区的调查表明,农民的职业分化为农户间分工合作提供了可能,家庭内部成员间的代际分工或性别分工推动了土地股份合作的发展。研究发现,农民从分工演进、合作及规模经济中的获益大于单纯的土地市场流转收益,从而使上述替代具有了理性的基础。于是,农民达成供给制度、组织创新的集体行动,以重复合作形式的稳定预期降低一次性合作的交易费用,以内部化的经济组织治理替代市场流转。     

我国银行间债券市场异常交易的特征、成因及治理

我国银行间债券市场异常交易目的不一、形式多变,具有普遍性、隐蔽性、复杂性和争议性四个特征。实践中,由于交易机制不完善、监管失职、内控失察等原因,债券市场异常交易频繁发生,给市场运行乃至宏观调控带来风险隐患。实际上,异常交易频繁发生是市场失灵、信息效率低下的客观反映,其根本原因是市场交易机制存在缺陷。要有效治理异常交易,必须规范投资者行为,优化市场模式,提高市场透明度,健全完善银行间债券市场交易机制。     

要素价格变动、技术创新效率偏向与劳动收入份额

基于诱发创新理论检验了要素价格变动对技术创新效率偏向与劳动收入份额变动的影响效应，研究发现要素相对价格变动产生了技术创新效率偏向。在生产要素互补条件下，技术创新效率偏向资本要素时，劳动收入份额趋于下降；技术创新效率偏向劳动要素时，劳动收入份额趋于提高。进一步研究发现，中国1978-2017年总体技术效率处于劳动增进型演化路径，但1978-2004年期间存在技术创新偏向资本效率阶段，这解释了劳动收入份额转折的现象，同时也验证了要素价格诱发创新理论在中国的适用性。     

Stock picking,market timing and style differences between socially responsible and conventional pension funds: evidence from the United Kingdom

As far as we are aware, this study presents the first comparative analysis of the stock picking and market timing abilities of managers of conventional and socially responsible (SR) pension funds, and of their use of superior information. For the United Kingdom, the results obtained show a slight stock picking ability on the part of SR pension fund managers (although it disappears if multifactorial models are considered), and a negative market timing ability on the part of both SR and conventional pension fund managers (these results hold for multifactorial models controlled by home bias). In relation to the management styles, both conventional and SR pension funds usually invest in small cap and growth values, although it is the SR pension funds that are the most exposed to these styles. We also observed that, while conventional pension fund managers make certain use of superior information to follow stock picking strategies, managers of SR pension funds use superior information to follow market timing strategies.     

Losses from Failure of Stakeholder Sensitive Processes: Financial Consequences for Large US Companies from Breakdowns in Product,Environmental, and Accounting Standards

This article makes first use of a set of databases that are authoritative, independent, and consistent to examine an old research question: do firms hurt their financial performance by damaging stakeholder interests? The databases are US government on-line listings of fines for environmental breaches, unsafe workplaces, fraudulent accounting standards, and product recalls. These measures are assumed to proxy for signals to stakeholders of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks in transacting with the firm and appear to have fewer biases than conventional measures of stakeholder standards. Using a sample of all non-financial S&;P 500 firms during the most recent 1998–2003 full cycle in the market, after controlling for firm-specific differences, sales margins of firms fell by 0.8% if they announced a product recall and by 0.4% if cited by OSHA for an unsafe workplace; and shareholder return was significantly reduced by an EPA or SEC prosecution. This study links the risk of transaction uncertainty, information signaling theory, and the resource-based view of the firm to company financial performance. Results support the normative assumption that a firm’s sales margin will be damaged by unethical treatment of stakeholders as evidenced by ESG breaches, presumably because risk-averse customers and suppliers are alert to signals of counterparty risk.     

Benefits of a registration policy for microenterprise performance in India

This paper evaluates the effects of a voluntary registration policy with government authorities on financial performance of urban microenterprises in the Indian manufacturing sector. Using data from the 2006 World Bank survey of Indian microenterprises and applying the semi-parametric propensity score matching technique, we find that being registered leads to significant gains in sales per employee and value added per employee. Large gains are also noted for male-owned firms, those operating with or without paid labor and those operating outside of the owner’s home.     

Employee ownership and firm performance: A variance decomposition analysis of European firms

Employee ownership is of increasing interest to researchers, policymakers, and firms. Findings on the influence of employee ownership on performance, however, remain mixed, possibly due to differences in institutional/cultural factors, period-effects, between-industry differences, and firm-specific heterogeneity. To further shed light on performance gains from employee ownership attributable to the relative effects of country, year, industry, and firm, we draw on a sample of 12,648 firm-years from 1797 European firms from 2006 to 2014. We find that while the relative variance explained by employee ownership is not statistically significant, its joint effects with country, year, industry, or firm explain 2.25%, 0.12%, 0.51%, and 4.16% of variance in ROA, respectively. Similar effects are observed for workforce productivity as an outcome. These findings suggest that contextual factors, especially in line with previous research, firm-related factors are important for the effective utilization of employee ownership. This study has implications for strategic human capital theory and practitioners.