Cross-listing as a Global Depository Receipt: The influence of emerging markets,regulation, and accounting regime

This paper examines factors influencing international firms’ decisions to cross-list as Global Depository Receipts (GDRs). We focus on differences in regulatory and accounting requirements between exchanges and the economic clustering that has arisen with increasing globalization. An important economic influence on this decision is the home country, reflecting trade ties. Higher US regulation and governance requirements influence firms from emerging markets to issue GDRs rather than ADRs on a US exchange. Using local GAAP or IFRS also tends to deter firms from listing as an ADR, suggesting that the cost of US GAAP reconciliation is an important consideration in the decision to list as a GDR or an ADR.     

Diversification and Capital Structure: Some International Evidence

This study examines the effects of international and product diversification on capital structure with 232 firms from 30 countries. Results for the full sample show that international diversification is negatively related to financial leverage, but further analyses indicate that this is mainly attributable to US firms. For non-US firms, we fail to find a significant relationship. Results also show that product diversification is positively related to financial leverage, indicating that such diversification allows firms to reduce their risks, thereby enabling firms to carry higher debt levels.     

Risk Exposures and International Diversification: Evidence from iShares

Abstract:   We examine the newly developed international diversification instruments–iShares traded on the American Stock Exchange. Given the fact that iShares can be created and redeemed at will, the daily price of an iShare is expected to be equal to the daily portfolio value of the underlying assets in the home‐country market. Therefore, theoretically, iShare pricing should be influenced by the risk from the iShare's home‐country market and not the risk from the US market, per se . We evaluate the risk exposure of iShare prices to the US market (non‐fundamental effect) as well as the home‐country market (the fundamental effect). We find that most iShare returns are significantly influenced by and sensitive to the US market risk. Moreover, the US market appears to be the key permanent driving factor and the home‐country market is a pronounced transitory driving force for iShare prices. These findings indicate the presence of limits of international arbitrage for iShares. As a result, the international diversification benefits of iShares become questionable.     

Market timing wealth effects of American Depository Receipts: The cases of emerging and developed market issues

We examine the long-term returns of a sample of foreign equities traded on the New York Stock Exchange as American Depository Receipts (ADRs) issued between January 1, 1987 and September 30, 2000. Distinctions are made between those ADRs issued by companies headquartered in emerging and developed markets and those ADRs issued before and after January 1, 1998. The results suggest that, on average, emerging market ADRs issued prior to January 1, 1998 underperform the S&P 500 in long-term holding periods, while those issued after January 1, 1998 outperform the S&P 500. Alternatively, developed market ADRs slightly underperform the S&P 500 in long-term holding periods regardless of date of issue.     

On the Robustness of Least-Squares Monte Carlo (LSM) for Pricing American Derivatives

This paper analyses the robustness of Least-Squares Monte Carlo, a technique proposed by Longstaff and Schwartz (2001) for pricing American options. This method is based on least-squares regressions in which the explanatory variables are certain polynomial functions. We analyze the impact of different basis functions on option prices. Numerical results for American put options show that this approach is quite robust to the choice of basis functions. For more complex derivatives, this choice can slightly affect option prices. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Diversification in euro area stock markets: Country versus industry

The harmonization of fiscal and economic policy within the European Monetary Union (EMU) has had a considerable impact on the economies of member countries. In particular, several studies indicate that the proceeding economic integration among euro area countries has important consequences for the factors driving asset returns in financial markets. However, these studies rely on one specific methodology [Heston, S.L., Rouwenhorst, K.G., 1994. Does industrial structure explain the benefits of international diversification? Journal of Financial Economics 36, 3–27; Heston, S.L., Rouwenhorst, K.G., 1995. Industry and country effects in international stock returns. Journal of Portfolio Management Spring, 53–58], that has recently been criticized as too restrictive. This study adopts a mean–variance approach instead. Using recent euro area stock markets data, we find strong evidence that diversification over industries yields more efficient portfolios than diversification over countries.     

The Asset Pricing Palette: Cash Flows, Returns and Trading Behavior

Asset pricing is the topic of the 2001 Eastern Finance Association Symposium and the five papers selected for this collection, which are summarized below, span a broad range of subjects that fall under the umbrella of the determinants of market prices. For example, the Schwartz and Moon article that introduces the symposium uses real options methodology to value firms whose cash flows are subject to multiple sources of uncertainty while the Luders and Peisl and Mixon analytical models that close the selections incorporate dual stochastic processes to derive relationships between information flow, trading volume and price volatility that are consistent with empirical evidence. In between, Mishra and O'Brien present new evidence on the important of index and factor selection when estimating the required return on equity and Spahr and Schwebach revisit the issue of time diversification by reintroducing a statistical construct from earlier times. Each of the works included here makes an important contribution to our understanding of the asset pricing process in a distinct area and opens new doors onto avenues for future research.     

Cross‐listings and dividend size and stability: evidence from China

We investigate the relationship between cross‐listings and dividend policy. We find that Chinese cross‐listed firms have lower and more stable dividends than their non‐cross‐listed peers, and that dividends become more stable the longer a company has been cross‐listed. We also find the strength of the cross‐listing/dividend policy relationship varies based on the market where the shares are cross‐listed. The strength of the relationship varies from B‐shares (least strong) to Hong Kong shares (stronger) to American Depository Receipts (strongest). Our results indicate cross‐listings may influence both dividend size and stability, and that this influence can vary by the type of cross‐listing.     

关于转让定价税务管理的国际协调问题

为避免各国在转让定价税务管理中引发新的矛盾,必须加强国家间的协调与合作。因此,需要对转让定价税务管理中涉及的国际协调问题进行分析,包括:各国转让定价税务管理依据的指导原则和具体方法;转让定价的初次调整和相应调整的配合;转让定价税务管理国际争议的协调机制等。     

The Diversification Puzzle: Revisiting the Value Impact of Diversification for UK Firms

Abstract:  The literature on value impact of diversification decisions has focused on US firms and has examined industrial rather than geographic diversification . This study exploits the Lang and Stulz (1994) , Berger and Ofek (1995) and Bodnar et al. (1999) methodologies and controls for form of diversification in assessing value impact for a sample of UK firms, for the period 1996-2000. Using an adjusted value metric that controls for industry effects, we report a significant and perverse geographic discount of 14%, and no systematic industrial value impact, suggesting that sector characteristics may be a significant driver of diversification choice for UK firms.     

Price Linkages in Asian Equity Markets: Evidence Bordering the Asian Economic, Currency and Financial Crises

This paper examines price linkages among Asian equity markets in the period surrounding the recent Asian economic, financial and currency crises. Three developed markets (Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore) and six emerging markets (Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand) are included in the analysis. Multivariate cointegration and level VAR procedures are conducted to examine causal relationships among these markets. The results indicate that there is a stationary relationship and significant causal linkages between the Asian equity markets. Nevertheless, lower causal relationships that exist between the developed and emerging equity markets suggest that opportunities for international portfolio diversification in Asian equity markets still exist.     

跨国企业的规模扩张与东亚经贸关系的紧密化——中国对外贸易增长的国际背景

中国加入WTO后,外贸出口急速增长,有关各方也对中国外贸出口的激增产生了不信任感。中国出口增长的原因,除经济成长、贸易政策等内部因素外,在华跨国企业的生产—出口的增加是引起中国外贸出口增长的重要外部因素。同时,跨国企业的贸易活动促进了外资来源国与贸易伙伴国之间的一致性,进而推动了区域经贸一体化进程。基于中国与主要贸易伙伴—主要外资来源国是互补型的贸易关系,中国的出口增长对于这些国家来说是安全的。     

Truncation and acceleration of the Tian tree for the pricing of American put options

We present a new method for truncating binomial trees based on using a tolerance to control truncation errors and apply it to the Tian tree together with acceleration techniques of smoothing and Richardson extrapolation. For both the current (based on standard deviations) and the new (based on tolerance) truncation methods, we test different truncation criteria, levels and replacement values to obtain the best combination for each required level of accuracy. We also provide numerical results demonstrating that the new method can be 50% faster than previously presented methods when pricing American put options in the Black–Scholes model.     

论保险公司关联交易的转让定价与监管

经济全球化下保险业的国际融合愈发突出。跨国保险公司设立境外子公司开展保险业务是国际保险市场一体化的重要形式。由于各个国家税法各不相同,主权国家税权的独立性使得跨国保险公司可以利用关联方交易中的转让定价规则降低或转移税赋。保险公司关联交易相对于其他行业而言交易业务比较特殊,保险监管只有结合关联方交易特点制定相关的转让定价管理规则,才能有效地维护国家税权,促进良性竞争和保障市场秩序。     

The impact of exchange rates on stock market returns: new evidence from seven free-floating currencies

This paper provides evidence of a significant exchange rate effect on stock index returns using data from seven selected countries practicing free-floating exchange rate regimes. This research uses parity and asset pricing theories, thus placing it within the monetary-cum-economics framework for international asset pricing. In this study, we apply a system of seemingly unrelated regression to control for unobserved heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. The findings constitute evidence of a statistically significant exchange rate impact on stock index returns across selected countries. These findings can be considered as falling under the arbitrage pricing approach of the international capital asset pricing model of Solnik who also used the parity-theoretical framework on exchange rate determination.     

Multidivisional Structure and Productivity: The Contingency of Diversification Strategy

This study examines the relationship between multidivisional (M-form) structure and productivity. The relationship is hypothesized to vary with diversification strategy. Findings based on longitudinal analysis of productivity data from 62 firms in industries, indicate that following M-form implementation, productive efficiency decreases for vertically integrated firms and increases for related diversified firms. For unrelated diversifiers the moderate increase in productivity is not significant.     

The Role of Beta and Size in the Cross-Section of European Stock Returns

This paper examines the ability of beta and size to explain cross-sectional variation in average returns in 12 European countries. We find that average stock returns are positively related to beta and negatively related to firm size. The beta premium is in part due to the fact that high beta countries outperform low beta countries. Within countries high beta stocks outperform low beta stocks only in January, not in other months. We reject the hypothesis that differences in average returns on size- and beta-sorted portfolios can be explained by market risk and exposure to the excess return of small over large stocks (SMB). Consistent with recent US evidence, we find that after controlling for size, there is no association between average returns and exposure to SMB.     

The association between legal regime and the value-relevance of accounting information: a Japan-U.K. comparison

Prior research has shown that there is an association between the legal regime of a firm’s country of domicile and the value-relevance of its accounting information. However, it is still unclear whether it is the difference in the properties of accounting information (“the supply effect”), or alternatively, if it is the difference in the way the investors in certain jurisdictions interpret and apply that information (“the demand effect”) that is mainly driving this phenomenon. Since the observed pattern in value-relevance is less likely to be observed in a particular capital market that belongs to a single legal regime (where the demand effect is assumed to be constant) in case the demand effect is mainly driving the association, I test for a marginal impact of the supply effect in a single capital market setting. Using U.S. stock price data, I find that the accounting numbers of U.K. firms, prepared under U.K. GAAP, are more value-relevant than those of Japanese firms, reported under Japanese GAAP. This result lends support to the supply hypothesis and suggests that the legal regime does have a marginal impact on the value-relevance of the accounting information.     

International Transfer Pricing for Business Operations in China: Inducements, Regulation and Practice

This paper provides an empirical analysis of international transfer pricing in the People's Republic of China. The examination of the business environment in China reveals a mixed inducement for transfer pricing decisions by foreign investment enterprises (FIEs). The legislation on transfer pricing in China is similar to that of its major trading partners. Competition among local governments for foreign investment, inadequate resources for tax enforcement, and inadequate documentation by taxpayers hinder tax audits on transfer pricing. An analysis of aggregate import and export data does not support the allegation that, in general, FIEs shift profits out of China by over-pricing their imports and under-pricing their exports. However, there was some evidence of outward income-shifting in certain key sectors.