Size and Value Effects in the Visegrad Countries

This paper has two main objectives. The first is to test for the presence of size and book-to-market value effects in the Visegrad countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia). Such effects have been found in the U.S. stock market and in many other developed stock markets. The authors demonstrate that sizeand value do explain the expected return/cost of capital in eastern Europe. From this result they proceed by constructing regional size and book-to-market portfolios for a combined Visegrad market. Returns on these portfolios serve as factors in addition to the market portfolio. The second objective is constructing a model for the cost of capital. The regional three-factor model outperforms country-specific versions of the model, and it can be estimated for a more current sample in Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, and Bratislava. Therefore, it is a plausible model for the cost of capital in this region, and it is used to calculate the cost of capital for the following industries: banks; capital goods; food, beverage, and tobacco; materials; and utilities.     

The Usefulness of Book-to-Market and ROE Expectations for Explaining UK Stock Returns

Abstract:  The fundamental valuation perspective on stock returns suggests that book-to-market will be positively related to returns if market value of equity equals future expected cash flows discounted at the expected return and book value proxies for future cash flows. Building on this perspective, we develop a log linear model which includes expectations of future BM and ROE in addition to current BM as explanatory variables for future stock returns. We show that these three variables explain a significant part of UK cross-sectional stock returns and that they remain highly statistically significant after including additional risk proxy variables. This supports relevance of fundamental valuation based firm characteristics for explaining stock returns and indicates their potential usefulness for predicting future stock returns.     

Experimental Evidence on Portfolio Size and Diversification: Human Biases in Naïve Security Selection and Portfolio Construction

We conduct an experiment in which individuals select securities to reproduce the well‐known relationship between portfolio risk and the number of securities. The standard result occurs on average but not for most individuals, many of whom effectively de‐diversify as they add seemingly random securities. Moreover, only slightly better results are achieved using a random number generator. This finding challenges the belief that only a small number of securities are required for diversification and shows that it is applicable only to a large sample. The implications are important given that many individual investors hold very few stocks in their portfolios.     

资产规模、资本状况与商业银行资产组合行为——基于中国银行业面板数据的实证分析

本文立足于我国转型期内的经济金融特征,构造了一个银行资产组合行为的局部均衡模型。在对中国银行业按照资产规模和资本状况进行分类的基础上,本文的实证分析证明了模型的基本含义:由于银行间的异质性,紧缩性货币政策之后商业银行的资产组合行为体现出了截面效应。基于此,本文提出了确立以银行资产组合行为为基础的货币政策决策体系,加强货币政策与监管政策之间的协调等政策建议,以提高货币政策的有效性。     

The Book-to-Market and Size Effects in a General Asset Pricing Model: Evidence from Seven National Markets

The positive relation of returns with Book-to-Market ratio (BE/ME) and their negative relation with Market Value (MVE) remains strong under a general stochastic discount function (SDF) that does not depend on a specific asset pricing model and avoids potentially serious simultaneity biases inherent in the Fama and French three-factor model. However, we find that SDFs that include the equivalent of the HML portfolio do not span all asset sub-spaces, even with additional conditioning information. Finally, macro and financial variables we introduce to the pricing functions do not offer an alternative explanation of the BE/ME effect.     

The Book-to-Market and Size Effects in a General Asset Pricing Model: Evidence from Seven National Markets

The positive relation of returns with Book-to-Market ratio (BE/ME)and their negative relation withMarket Value(MVE) remains strongunder a general stochastic discount function (SDF) that doesnot depend on a specific asset pricing model and avoids potentiallyserious simultaneity biases inherent in the Fama and Frenchthree-factor model. However, we find that SDF_s that includethe equivalent of the HML portfolio do not span all asset sub-spaces,even with additional conditioning information. Finally, macroand financial variables we introduce to the pricing functionsdo not offer an alternative explanation of the BE/ME effect.JEL Classification codes: G10, G12, G15, G30.     

会计盈余的规模、账面／市值因素实证研究——来自中国上市公司的经验数据

本文尝试将资本资产定价三因素模型的思想运用于研究会计盈余的影响因素,通过对1991—2003年我国的上市公司会计盈余的实证分析,发现在A股市场:规模和账面/市值因素显著地存在于上市公司会计盈余当中;账面/市值因素的作用要更显著于规模因素;低账面/市值的上市公司倾向于保持强盈利能力;在账面/市值组的内部,资本市场化规模大的股票比小的会计盈余更高;在同一市场资本化规模组内部,随着账面/市值比率的提高,账面/市值对会计盈余的影响,由反向变为正向,影响力也逐步增强。     

Changing the Size of a Futures Contract: Liquidity and Microstructure Effects

We analyze the relation between contract size and liquidity using data from the respecification of Sydney Future Exchange's (SFE) Share Price Index (SPI) and 90-day Bank Accepted Bill (BAB) futures contracts. Respecification of SPI and BAB contracts presents a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of a change in futures contract size. SFE decreased the size of SPI futures by a factor of four while increasing its minimum tick. The BAB contract was doubled in size with the minimum tick size left unchanged. We find, after controlling for market factors, that the respecification of the SPI futures resulted in higher trading volume, while that of BAB futures decreased trading volume. The results regarding spreads are ambiguous. Based on two cases investigated, we conclude that decreasing the futures contract size was effective in terms of enhancing liquidity while increasing the size resulted in a reduction in liquidity.     

Information Asymmetry,Trade Size,and the Dynamic Volume‐Return Relation: Evidence from the Australian Securities Exchange

This paper investigates the influence of information asymmetry on the cross‐sectional variation of volume‐return relation. We find that the dynamic volume‐return relation within medium‐size trades has the most significant response to the degree of information asymmetry. We also show that the effect of information asymmetry on the volume‐return dynamics migrates to small‐size trades in recent years, especially in larger stocks. These results are consistent with the notion that informed traders prefer medium‐size trades and this preference has shifted to small‐size trades. Our findings highlight the importance of incorporating informed traders’ trade‐size decision in the examination of the dynamic volume‐return relation.     

美国寿险产品信息披露制度及其对中国的启示

本文首先介绍了美国寿险产品信息披露制度,并通过制度对比,分析了我国新型人身保险产品信息披露制度中存在的问题,最后从扩展信息披露功能、建立原则、加强管理、提升效率四个方面提出了完善我国寿险产品信息披露制度的建议。     

Does Centralization Increase the Size of Government? The Effects of Separation of Powers and Lobbying

Difficulties faced by the Economic and Monetary Union have strengthened the position of those who advocate a process of (further) political integration in the European Union (EU). A widespread fear is, though, that such a process would favor powerful interest groups able to lobby the EU policymakers. Persson and Tabellini (1994) argue that political centralization will increase the size of the government through lobbying because of free-riding incentives created by federally funded programs with localized benefits. We extend their analysis by presenting a model where the budgeting process is divided into two stages, instead of one, which better captures the EU institutional framework. A federal legislator (the Council) chooses the size of the budget at one stage, while a federal agency (the Commission) chooses the allocation of the budget at the next stage. We show that separation of powers in the budgeting process restricts free riding and, therefore, reduces the incentives to lobby. The result is an unchanged budget under centralization. Moreover, it is shown that if the lobbying activity is directed to both policymakers, competitive lobbying may actually reduce the size of the public sector under centralized policymaking.     

东亚货币一体化中的中日韩货币组合选择

本文对东亚货币一体化的研究建立在最优货币区理论和OCA指数计量模型的基础上，目的在于判断东亚经济中起主导作用的中日韩三国是否可能展开双边或者多边的货币合作。经测算发现，在排除了原模型中部分不适用的决定因素后，中日韩三国货币的共同组合似乎是比较合适的选择。     

中国持有美国国债的动因、影响与应变之策

标普下调美国主权信用评级引发全球关于美国国债投资风险的热议,作为美国国债最大的海外官方持有者,我国亦需要加强应对美国国债问题的研究。文章回顾了中国购买美国国债的发展历程,分析了近年来中国加快增持美国国债的成因,在衡量中国持有美国国债的风险与收益的基础上,就控制和规避美国国债风险提出相关政策建议。     

Fiscal Decentralization and Government Size: An International Test for Leviathan Accounting for Unmeasured Economic Activity

Tests for the presence of Leviathan, evidenced by a positive relationship between the size of government measured as a percentage of GDP, and the degree of fiscal centralization, have provided mixed results. We derive alternative measures of the size of government taking into account household and informal market activity. Traditional Leviathan models are then re-estimated for an international sample of forty-five countries. Controlling for income, population, intergovernmental grants, and urbanization we test whether fiscal centralization is responsible for the relative size of government. We find no evidence of a relationship between fiscal centralization and government size.     

Fiscal Decentralization,Budgetary Transparency,and Local Government Size in China

This article makes use of panel data for 31 provinces between 1985 and 2010 and specifies a dynamic panel model to investigate the determinants of local government size in China and achieved several conclusions: (1) the fiscal decentralization since TSS reform in 1994 has increased the local government size; (2) budgetary transparency has a U-shape nonlinear effect on local government size; (3) fiscal revenue is the important factor to drive the overexpansion of local government size in China; and (4) local government size has a strong dependence of past path.     

An Analysis of Joint Effects of Investment Opportunity Set,Free Cash Flows and Size on Corporate Debt Policy

This study, based on a sample of 1869 observations from 1989 to 1993 for non-regulated U.S. firms, examines the association between investment opportunity set (IOS), free cash flows (FCF) and debt, and also tests whether firm size acts as a moderating variable on this association. The results show that there is a significantly positive association between FCF and debt for low IOS firms, which provide support to Jensen's (1986) control hypothesis. The results also show that the positive association between debt and high FCF for low IOS firms is more pronounced for large firms, suggesting that the firm size serves as a moderating variable on the association.     

Tick Size and Financial Reporting Quality in Small-Cap Firms: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Using a natural experiment (the SEC's 2016 Tick Size Pilot Program), we investigate the effects of an increase in tick size on financial reporting quality. The tick size pilot program reduces algorithmic trading (AT) and increases fundamental investors’ information acquisition and trading activities. This in turn increases the scrutiny of managers’ financial reporting choices and reduces their incentives to engage in misreporting. Using a difference-in-differences research design, we find a significant decrease in the magnitude of discretionary accruals, a significant reduction in the likelihood of just meeting or beating analysts’ forecasts, and a marginally significant decrease in restatements for the treated firms in the pilot program. Furthermore, we find that the change in financial reporting quality is concentrated in treated firms experiencing decreases in AT and increases in information acquisition activities. We also find that the mispricing of accruals is significantly lower for treated firms. Taken together, our results suggest that an increase in tick size has a causal effect on firms’ financial reporting quality.     

我国基金规模对业绩及其投资行为的影响分析

本文从实证角度出发,采用面板数据分析法研究基金规模与业绩及其投资行为之间的关系。结果显示:随着基金规模的扩大,基金经理先是倾向于提高投资组合内股票的持股比例,然后才是增加股票的数目,提高投资的分散化程度。大型基金随规模变大其投资分散化程度提高较显著;而大盘股基金随规模扩大其持股比例提高的程度较显著。     

Effects of Firm Size,Financial Leverage and R&D Expenditures on Firm Earnings: An Analysis Using Quantile Regression Approach

As documented in the literature, the effects of firm size, financial leverage, and R&D expenditures on firm earnings are inclusive. Our hypothesis is that the inconsistent empirical results of such effects may be driven by the regression models implemented in data analysis. Using the quantile regression (QR) approach developed by Koenker and Basset (1978), this study analyses S&P 500 firms from 1996 to 2005. We find that the effects of firm size, financial leverage and R&D expenditures on firm earnings differ considerably across earnings quantiles. Comparing the results from the QR approach with those from the ordinary least squares (OLS) and least absolute deviation (LAD) methods, this study further explains the puzzling relationship between firm size, financial leverage, R&D expenditures and firm earnings.     

浅议定量宽松政策在日本的实践与效果

该文介绍了日本实施定量宽松政策的由来与历史背景,详述了这一非常规货币政策的具体措施及其所取得的实际效果。虽然理论上仍存有异议,但是定量宽松政策有利于重塑市场预期,并为欧美等国应对次贷危机提供了宝贵的实践经验。