Profits,dividends and industry restructuring: the Swedish paper and pulp industry between 1945 and 1977

This paper explores the role of profit distribution in the restructuring of the Swedish paper and pulp (P&P) industry between 1945 and 1977. In addressing this issue, we will draw on the life-cycle theory and market imperfection arguments to examine whether the less profitable firms shared more of their profits as dividends, or remained on the market longer by reinvesting the majority of the profits. Our study shows that an increasing share of the profits was distributed to owners over time, and thus less profit was reinvested in industrial renewal. We find that the observed general upward trend in dividends can be attributed to the decline in profit and firm legacy, as firms in the Swedish P&P industry kept dividends up while reducing reinvestment as their profit margins decreased over time. Our study shows that the market imperfections related to capital taxation and investment funds increased rather than decreased dividends.     

动量策略与外汇市场效率研究

本文以澳大利亚、加拿大、法国、德国、日本、瑞士、英国和美国为例，考察了短期至中期采用股票市场常用的动量策略可否同样在外汇市场获利。结果表明，动量效应在各国表现出了高度的相似性：从第2周起开始显著，在4周达到峰值，从13周起逐渐减弱，直到26周，显著性突然下降甚至出现反转效应，52周时反转效应相对显著，少数持有期也开始出现动量效应。行为金融学的基本理论可以解释上述现象，显示了外汇市场效率的无效性。     

论我国中小企业的技术创新战略

高的盈利率与高的市场份额并没有必然的联系 ,然而盲从市场份额的危害相当严重 ,企业应当走出认识的误区 ,不要一味迷信市场份额。     

Measuring consumer's surplus in the factor market

Conclusion Although it is not possible to directly measure the input producers' profit by examining the market for the final product, up till now little attention has been paid to measuring consumer's surplus in the factor market. The authors have demonstrated a method for doing so which will enable measurement of consumers' surplus and producers' (of the final product and the input) profits on one plane. The factor market may then serve as a better base for the analysis of welfare problems.     

Education and the labour market in Botswana

Using primary data from a 1993/4 Household Income and Expenditure Survey in Botswana, this article presents empirical results on occupational attainment, its determinants, and the extent of filtering down in Botswana's labour market, given changes in labour market conditions over time. It was found that the Botswana labour market has been characterised by some ‘filtering down’ of educated workers into less skilled jobs as the supply of skilled manpower exceeded demand. Those who entered the labour market earlier, those with more education, those located in the urban areas and male workers are more likely to occupy jobs that are higher up in the hierarchy than to be in an unskilled blue-collar job. Jobs higher up in the hierarchy are also more rewarding financially. The article shows that there is occupational segregation of workers by gender in Botswana's labour market in that female workers are generally confined to a narrow range of occupations. The policy implications are that employment creation has to be pursued vigorously and the issue of gender discrimination investigated further.     

The trading behavior and price impact of foreign, institutional, individual investors and government: Evidence from Korean equity market

We examine the dynamic relation between stock returns and four types of investment flows using Korean daily data for the period 1998–2010, focusing on the investment/trading behavior of four types of investors – individual, institutional, government, and foreign – and the effect of cross-border investment flows on the Korean equity market. We find that, first, foreigners and institutional investors tend to drive the Korean equity market, and their trades seem to be information-driven, whereas individual investors do not drive the Korean equity market and their trades do not seem to be information-driven. Second, as a result, both foreigners and institutional investors performed well in the sample period, whereas individual investors performed poorly. Third, the four types of investors differ in their trading behavior. In response to U.S. market returns, foreigners and institutional investors tend to take a momentum strategy whereas individual investors and government tend to take a contrarian strategy.     

反转策略在中国A股市场的适用性分析

选取A股市场1999年至2008年的非金融股票数据,建立一维排序模型,分别持有1年、2年和3年,计算了价值股组合和绩优股组合的持有期收益率。实证结果表明:运用反转投资策略能够获取超额收益,B/M、C/P和E/P策略在大多数年份适用于我国市场,能够取得超额收益,而GS策略则完全不适用于中国市场。     

The Differential Impact of Accurate Product Cost Information in Imperfectly Competitive Markets: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation*

Many researchers claim that costing systems that provide materially more accurate or precise cost reports have a strict value-enhancing effect on decisions (i.e., Cooper 1988, 1995; Cooper and Kaplan 1991; Christensen and Sharp 1994; Rogers. Comstock. and Pritz 1994; Swenson 1995; Gupta and King 1997). However, this study provides theoretical and empirical evidence that the value of more accurate cost information may be dependent upon the firm's competitive market structure, as well as the firm's product market strategy. We extend the theoretical work of Gal-Or 1986 to incorporate an endogenous imprecise cost signal in two imperfect market structures: Cournot competition and Bertrand competition with imperfectly substitutable products. In addition, we theoretically link market structure to product market strategy. To examine product market strategy, we employ a laboratory markets design that allows for strategic reaction by a rival firm in each of these markets, because the competitive position of a firm is determined by its capacity to produce at low cost, or to differentiate its product from other products (Porter 1985). Consistent with our theoretical work, we argue that firms that compete on the basis of cost leadership (which we demonstrate may be characterized as Cournot competition), benefit through increased profits from increased product cost accuracy, whereas firms that compete on the basis of product differentiation (which we demonstrate may be characterized as Benrand competition) do not benefit from such increased product cost accuracy. Our results are consistent with this contention. That is, profit is higher in the experimental cost leadership markets (operationalized as Cournot markets) when subjects know their true cost, while profit is higher in the experimental product differentiation markets (operationalized as Bertrand markets) when subjects receive uninformative cost reports and make their decisions based on expected costs. These results suggest that the value of more accurate cost reports may be dependent upon the firm's competitive market structure strategy and product market strategy.     

关于我国证券市场引入转融通机制的思考

2011年10月26日,证监会发布《转融通业务监督管理试行办法》。12月5日,两融标的证券正式从90只扩容至285只。两融试点转入常规,转融通推出进入冲刺阶段。转融通的推出必将推动我国证券市场的发展和完善。但转融通对我国证券市场而言毕竟是新生事物,虽有美国、日本、我国台湾地区的经验可以借鉴,但其发展背景和市场情况与中国内地毕竟差距巨大。在我国证券市场试点引入转融通的过程中,还有很多问题是需要我们去关注并思考的。     

地理位置对公办养老机构与民办养老机构竞争关系影响研究

文章在考虑养老机构竞争受地理位置影响的基础上,建立了公办养老机构与民办养老机构的博弈模型。结果表明:老年人分布结构变化对公办及民办养老机构的利润带来相反方向的变化,且不完全市场覆盖下老年人分布结构变化对养老机构的影响程度更大;当政府对养老机构投入差距较小时,民办养老机构选址可以离公办养老机构更近,当投入差距较大时,选址应适当离公办养老机构更远;老年人对距离的厌恶程度越大,完全市场覆盖情形下养老机构的利润有所增加,不完全市场覆盖情形下的养老机构利润有所减少;养老机构周边老年人密度越大,服务成本系数差距及距离厌恶系数对其利润的影响越大。     

The impact of opportunity factors on fraudulent behavior in the Vietnamese stock market

This study examines the opportunity factors on fraudulent behavior in Vietnam’s stock market by employing mixed methodology. In this regard, data were obtained from 20 in-depth interviews and 568 questionnaire survey responses of securities companies, fund management companies, stock exchanges and the State Securities Commission in Vietnam. Using the exploratory factor analysis, the study discovered that the following groups of opportunity factors result in fraudulent behavior: (i) influences of the internal person and issuer, which include (person whose internal information has not been published by the company), collusion of the issuer and securities company, abuse of power by influential person in the company, complex organizational structure of the issuer (one person handling multiple positions) and failure of an issuer to properly control internal information; (ii) investors’ factors, which include investors’ trade of securities based on the insider’s suggestion, framework of foreign investors, brokerage company recommendations, and advisory information on securities forums; and (iii) factors associated with market management and supervision, such as use of lenient penalty with no deterrent effect, untimely market management and limited authority of the securities committee. Using regression analysis, the order of the impact of each group of factors was found as follows: factors due to internal person and the issuing organization, the market management and supervision, and investors.     

代理人市场——声誉模型在内部经理人市场中的拓展应用

我国外部经理人市场尚不完善,外部经理人市场上的声誉作为经理人显性激励契约的替代作用有限.文章在假设不存在外部经理人市场的前提下,研究了内部经理人市场对经理人产生激励的方式和影响因素,认为内部经理人市场的考核晋升机制和不同职位的隐性收益对经理人的行为有重要影响,提出了优化企业考核晋升机制、降低隐性职位收益、进一步完善外部经理人市场的建议.     

The Role of China in the Global Strategy of Multinational Enterprises

This paper moves from the general to the particular. First, it examines the differential speed of globalization in different types of market – specifically markets in finance, goods and services, and finally labour markets. It then analyses the location and ownership strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs), both as regards individual national markets and then in terms of the interaction between national markets (the ‘local/global’ spectrum). This analytical framework is applied to the place of China in the global strategy of MNEs. This application illuminates the role of DFI (direct foreign investment) in China and illustrates the peculiarities of China's place in the global system. The distortions in China's domestic system interact with the global strategies of MNEs to produce several interesting results, including: (1) the importance of MNEs’ ownership strategy; (2) non-optimal location decisions; (3) the ‘excessive internalization’ of activities in China; and (4) the growing importance of China as a location for DFI and, in future, the potential for growth of outward DFI from China.     

Transparency in the interbank market and the volume of bank intermediated loans

In the present paper we study the equilibrium interaction through which the interbank market is related to the public lending and borrowing market. It turns out that this interaction is affected by the transparency in the interbank market. Interbank market transparency is modeled by means of more informative signals about future interbank rates. We find that more transparency might increase or decrease the volume of bank intermediated loans in the public market. In particular, the impact of more transparency on the volume of loans depends on the curvature of the marginal cost function of the banking firm. Furthermore, we find that expected profits of the bank are higher when the interbank market is more transparent.     

基于平均利润率的中国市场化改革绩效分析

本文通过分析市场经济的特点,明确了市场经济的价格调节机制在起作用的过程中必然使各行业的利润率逐步趋于平均利润率的规律,并利用这个规律创建了各行业利润率与平均利润率之离差和指标,最后,利用这个指标来分析中国市场化改革的绩效。     

Determinants of premiums paid in bank acquisitions

Summary and Conclusions Mergers are a relatively observable form of business behavior and reflect a major business decision. As such, mergers provide an attractive opportunity for empirical investigation into business behavior, which may shed light on business motivation. This study tests for the determinants of premiums paid in 1,835 of the 2,717 bank mergers and acquisitions that occurred from 1973–83.The only variables that are often statistically significant and carry consistent sights are: (1) growth of the target firm; (2) growth of the target market; and (3) the capital-to-assets ratio of the target firm. The signs on these variables suggest that high growth of the target firm and its market and a low capital-to-assets ratio are particularly attractive to bank managers, for which they are willing to pay a premium. Variables which provide a relatively direct indication of profit opportunities are often not statistically significant or carry mixed signs.Overall, the results suggest that, among the set of banks that are actually acquired, growth of the target bank and its market will induce bank managers to pay a premium but profits of the target do not elicit a premium.The views expressed herein are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Board or its staff.     

发电企业竞价上网的经济分析及风险控制

随着电力市场化的逐步推进,发电企业在新的竞争环境下生存和发展,是电力市场化改革中应该考虑的问题。文章通过对竞价上网运作模式的分析,从发电企业内部／外部运作进行经济性分析。考虑了发电企业的生产成本与竞价上网的收益所得,做出盈亏平衡分析,并以边际定价法进行企业利润最大化分析,以此来说明发电企业如何在竞价上网中做出有效的经济行为,由此引申出发电企业与电网公司在竞价上网的报价环节中的不确定性,应以博弈的思维做出决策以达到经济效益的优化;考虑了电力市场价格波动因素,发电企业在与大用电企业交易中的价格风险,引进电力期货市场的知识以规避风险,以使企业在竞价上网的运作过程中稳步发展。     

中国劳动力市场发育的制度经济学分析

本文分析了中国劳动力市场发育的结构特征,并对转型期中国劳动力市场分割的制度变迁和制度均衡进行了分析,认为制度非均衡已成为中国劳动力市场发育的一种“常态”。中国劳动力市场的制度非均衡又成为该市场制度变迁的诱致因素,它的轨迹也就是劳动力市场制度变迁的轨迹。     

The market for public office: Why the Indian state is not better at development

How and why officials are transferred from one post to another can — in India, does — have far-reaching consequences for the effectiveness of public service organizations, such as Irrigation, Agriculture, Forestry and Soil Conservation Departments. The transfer mechanism used in many departments of Indian states involves a kind of ‘internal labor market’ (a truer market than in the way that term is often used by labor market economists). It allows pressures for corrupt behavior to bear down on the incumbents of certain posts, and itself amplifies those pressures. Frequently, the pressures on officials to be corrupt cause them to behave in ways contrary to the ostensible objectives of their departments. Why is the Indian state not better at promoting development? To an important degree, because of the corruption-transfer mechanism and its effects on bureaucratic initiatives.     

对我国旅游市场“零团费”接待现象的探析

旅行社“零团费”接待最早出现于泰国,我国是上世纪90年代中后期开始出现并发展起来的,“零团费”接待是我国旅游市场过度竞争的产物,也危害了我国旅游市场秩序和旅游业健康发展。本文从旅游经济学的角度分析其实质以及产生的缘由,并在此基础上提出了几点建议。