The 1986 Tax Reform Act and ex-dividend day price and volume patterns: Evidence from organized exchanges and the OTC market

By effectively removing the differential taxation of dividends and capital gains, the 1986 Tax Reform Act provides a unique opportunity to re-examine the “tax induced clientele” explanation of ex-dividend day price behavior. The analysis indicates an increased preference for dividends and provides evidence of significant abnormal volume during the ex-dividend period, consistent with dividend induced trading activity. In addition, the level of dividend preference is found to be far greater on the organized exchanges than in OTC trading.     

Agency costs in the banking industry: An examination of ownership behavior,leverage and dividend policies

This paper examines agency theory arguments in the banking industry by analyzing the effect of four variables that proxy for agency costs—earnings volatility, managers' portfolio diversification losses, bank size, and standard deviation of bank equity returns—on the three financial policy variables of managerial stock ownership, leverage, and dividend yield. It is one of the first studies that examines the determination of financial policy variables, in light of agency concerns, in the banking industry. The study examines the largest 104 U.S. banks during the period 1985–1989. Evidence suggests that bank size and a measure of the managers' portfolio diversification opportunity set affect the bank's level of managerial stock ownership, leverage and dividends.     

An empirical analysis of the Carbon Financial Instrument

This study provides an empirical investigation of the price volatility—trading volume relationship for the Carbon Financial Instrument (CFI). A CFI is a financial contract that is traded on the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and represents the right to emit 100 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent. CFI contracts differ from one another on the basis of their allocation year to CCX member firms, referred to as their respective Vintage year. We provide evidence indicating a positive contemporaneous relationship between price changes and trading volume for the different CFI Vintage contracts. Employing bivariate VAR models that adjust for trade duration, we find that CFI price volatility and trading volume are persistent across time. Furthermore, we provide evidence indicating that lagged volume increases price volatility, in addition to lagged price volatility increasing trading volume levels in the CCX market. Our results are in agreement with prior research documenting significant positive price volatility—volume relationships in traditional equity markets.     

Risk aversion and business cycles: An empirical analysis

Unlike investors, who tend to maintain highly-diversified portfolios, private entrepreneurs usually lack access to complete risk-pooling for idiosyncratic risks, thus more directly internalize the cost of volatility. Risk aversion, however, modifies the optimal contract between entrepreneurs and lenders by incorporating the risk premium that entrepreneurs demand for the uninsurable risk: the private equity premium. Consequently, real shocks tend to be amplified as changes in entrepreneurs’ net worth affect the private equity premium and so the rental rate of capital, investment and output. This theoretical framework suggests that economies where the private entrepreneurial sector is a relatively larger, and therefore more vulnerable to uninsurable risk, all else equal, should present higher volatility. I test this prediction by (1) conducting a simple reduced-form analysis that shows that output volatility is negatively associated with the relative importance of the corporate vs. the privately-held sector; and (2) estimating the model's structural parameters. Intuitively, countries where private entrepreneurs are predominant and so risk aversion is likely to impose stronger impacts, positive risk aversion coefficients should be found. Results suggest that risk aversion is empirically more relevant for economies like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Korea, Mexico and Thailand than for Canada, France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S.     

营改增背景下建筑施工企业增值税纳税筹划探讨

伴随着营改增政策的持续深化发展,越来越多的建筑施工企业将面临由原来的上交营业税变为上交增值税。该税收制度的变革对建筑施工企业来说既是机遇,但也对其今后的经营发展带来更大的挑战与考验。本文从营改增下建筑施工企业面临的机遇与挑战入手,探讨如何做好建筑施工企业的增值税纳税筹划。对提升建筑施工企业的核心竞争力,推动企业的更好地可持续发展,具有重要的实践意义。     

Rank-ordered logit models: An empirical analysis of Ontario voter preferences

This study provides a Bayesian investigation of rank-ordered multinominal logit models employing conjugate priors for standard multinomial logit models as well as other priors. Also considered is a specification test of the independence of irrelevant alternatives assumption. The proposed techniques are demonstrated in an empirical investigation of Ontario voter preferences before the 1988 Canadian Federal Election.     

An empirical analysis of international labour migration in the Philippines

This study empirically investigates the impact of economic, demographic, and political factors on the size of emigration from the Philippines. In 2007, overseas workers from the Philippines sent remittances in excess of US$14 billion annually to their families back home. Although these remittances are an important source of foreign exchange and play an important role in economic development, the determinants of emigration in the Philippines are not well established. A simple unrestricted error correction model of migration was specified and estimated using data spanning the period 1975–2005. Results indicate that the level of unemployment, adult literacy and population density are the key determinants of emigration in the Philippines. The result also indicates that government instability impacts negatively on emigration in the Philippines. The policy implications of the results are discussed.     

The interaction between public and private governments: An empirical analysis

Private governments, found in planned developments and condominiums, are increasingly common methods of delivering local services to residents. This paper provides the first empirical study of their impact on local public finance. A novel data set of homeowners' associations allows construction of a panel of private governments in California. Panel methods test whether public expenditures respond to private government prevalence. Estimates indicate that local governments lower spending moderately in response to private government activity, consistent with strategic substitution. The paper then examines various mechanisms to explain this downloading and shows that the substitutability between public and private providers is key to which services are downloaded. Evidence also suggests that the economies of scale in service production in small cities temper the offloading of public services to private governments.     

The customer consequences of returns in online retailing: An empirical analysis

Pressure continues to build on the operations management function to facilitate system and firm level benefits. In the online marketplace, one area of growing interest is that of product returns. Though commonly viewed as a cost center from an operations perspective, operations’ actions have the potential to strongly influence future customer buying behavior in several ways. Using an archival database of actual purchase and returns history provided by a moderately sized online retailer, this study examines the relationship between a customer's experience of product returns, and subsequent shopping behavior. Employing transaction cost, consumer risk, and procedural justice theories, we demonstrate that the returns management process, rather than being regarded as an afterthought to the production and deployment of goods, can significantly and positively influence repurchase behavior. Additionally, we provide evidence that certain customers should be considered for prioritization in the returns process. We suggest ways through which operations managers can take care in discharging their responsibilities in this area – to make returns processing more than simply a “necessary cost of doing business” rather, using it to their advantage in engendering repeat and increased purchase behavior.     

An empirical analysis of job shop dispatch rule selection

Job shop scheduling usually includes the process of selecting dispatch rules for loading shops with work. Traditionally, dispatch rules have been formed on the basis of processing time, operating time, or queueing order. A job shop scheduling model was developed to include external factors (such as due dates), internal factors (e.g., capacity), as well as influence factors (e.g., job status). Based on the model developed in this report a survey of industrial engineers, shop foremen, and production control supervisors was undertaken to determine what dispatch rules experienced job shop schedulers would select and if the selection process could be influenced by schedule conditions (status) or other organizational factors. Results suggest that schedulers may be influenced by other factors. This article suggests a model for further research with respect to job shop scheduling.     

An empirical analysis of self-employment in the U.K.

The paper formulates a self-employment/paid-employment choice problem that draws upon Knight's notion that the individual responds to the risk-adjusted relative earnings opportunities in each sector. Based on a development of such choice-theoretic considerations, an econometric model is developed with the purpose of empirically examining the determinants of self-employment. The model features simultaneous determination of employment status and earnings, which allows for self-selectivity. The model is estimated using a sample of 4762 individuals from the General Household Survey for 1978. The estimation of the earnings equation enables a calculation of the self-employment/paid-employment earnings differential and the estimated probit equation for self-employment/paid-employment status facilitates the prediction of the probability of self-employment. The paper finds that there is positive selection bias in the observed earnings of employees, that the probability of self-employment depends positively on the earnings difference between the two sectors and that education and age are significant determinants of self-employment.     

Profit distribution management by Islamic banks: An empirical investigation

The objective of this paper is to ascertain whether Islamic banks do in fact manage profit distributions and if so, what factors are associated with the extent of profit distribution management. The results suggest that most Islamic banks manage profit distributions, with the extent of profit distribution directly related to religiosity, financial development, asset composition, and existence of discretionary reserves, while it is inversely related to market familiarity with Islamic banking, market concentration, depositor funding reliance and the age of the Islamic bank.     

Labor unions and productivity: An empirical analysis using Japanese firm-level data

This paper empirically analyzes the relationship between labor union and firm performance in areas such as productivity and profitability by using data on more than 4000 Japanese firms, ranging from listed large firms to unlisted SMEs, in both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sector. The presence of labor unions has statistically and economically significant positive effects on firm productivity. Unions' effects on wages are also positive, their magnitude being slightly larger than those on productivity. The decrease in the number of employees is greater at unionized firms than at non-unionized firms. The difference in employment growth is mainly attributable to the change in the number of part-time workers. In order to enhance productivity, close cooperation between management and unions is essential.     

The stochastic frontier production function and average efficiency: An empirical analysis

This paper provides an empirical estimation of a stochastic frontier Cobb-Douglas production function using micro data from a cross-section of Brazilian manufacturing firms. Following a procedure developed by Aigner, Lovell and Schmidt incorporating both stochastic and efficiency disturbance terms in the estimating model, maximum likelihood techniques are used for the estimation of the stochastic frontier. A measure of mean technical efficiency is also developed and employed with the Brazilian data. Unlike the previous empirical exercises carried out with aggregated data, the efficiency disturbance with the Brazilian micro data estimates is not swamped by the stochastic disturbance.     

流动性的股票特征——基于中国证券市场的经验数据分析

在对流动性内涵认识的基础上,本文提出股票流动性的本质是股票与现金之间相互转化的能力,满足的是投资者正常的交易需求。从流动性的公司规模和成交金额特征、流动性与股价的关系和流动性水平的稳定性三个方面理论探讨和实证检验了流动性的股票特征,研究结果表明：（1）公司规模一定,可实现的成交金额越多,流动性越好;成交金额一定,公司规模越大,流动性越好;（2）股票的价格与股票流动性之间具有显著的正相关关系;（3）流动性水平在一定时期内具有稳定性。     

建筑业营改增对甲供料财税处理的研究

甲供料(即包工不包料)目前在工程项目中应用较为普遍,在现行税制下的税法规定也较为明确,但在实际操作过程中,因会计处理方法不同,带来了税务管理方面的困扰。建筑业营改增后,甲供料的财税处理又是企业需要面对的难题之一。本文分析了现行税制下甲供料财税处理方法及其在实施过程中存在的障碍,研究营改增后甲供料处理对施工企业的影响,并提出应对建议与措施,以期对甲供料的财税处理有实际指导意义。     

An empirical study of human resource management policies and practices in foreign-invested enterprises in China: the case of Shenzen Special Economic Zone

Information about human resource management (HRM) practices in foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in China has been limited to studies involving a small number of cases. This study provides an empirical assessment of HRM practices used in 158 FIEs operating in Shenzen Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of the Guangdong Province in southern China. Results suggest that FIEs have moved away from centrally planned job allocation, life-time employment and egalitarian pay towards open job markets at management and non-management levels, contractual employment where pay and longevity are based on individual worker and company performance and compensation plans that recognize differences in skills, training and job demands. These practices seem to reflect the influence of the economic reform in China. Other aspects of HRM practices used by FIEs, such as approximate equality of pay for men and women, limited differences between management and non-management salaries and widespread provision of housing and other benefits for employees, seem to reflect the influence of the Chinese socialist ideology.     

Efficiency in the provision of university teaching and research: An empirical analysis of UK universities

A flexible three-output, two-input cost function model is used to examine the cost efficiency of UK universities as producers of teaching and research ‘outputs’. Unlike previous studies, a comprehensive peer review of research quality is incorporated. Overall, product-specific and input-specific economies of scale, global and product-specific economies of scope, marginal costs and cost complementarities are estimated. Overall and product-specific scale results indicate considerable increasing returns, while the scope results generally suggest neither economies nor diseconomies. Sensitivity analysis is used to simulate the impact of current government policy, regarding the expansion of undergraduate teaching output, on these results.     

新《合伙企业法》下现行税制的思考

前不久，全国人大修订并发布了新的《合伙企业法》，这给我国现行的合伙企业税法提出了新的问题。本文首先简要介绍了新修订的《合伙企业法》的相关内容，然后具体分析了现行合伙企业税法与新修订的《合伙企业法》可能存在的一些不适应的地方，最后在此基础上提出了一些切实可行的建议。