GLOBALIZATION OF CAPITAL MARKETS AND THE ASIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS

This article has three basic aims: (1) to analyze the impact of the opening of their capital markets on the economies of host countries; (2) to investigate the causes of the Asian financial crisis; and (3) to evaluate the likely effects of the South Korean government's recent attempts to restructure its corporate sector. Although the recent Asian financial crisis has led some to question the merits of open capital markets and to call for regulatory restraints on capital flows across international borders, the scientific evidence suggests that the opening of stock markets to foreign investors has been largely beneficial for emerging economies. On average, stock market liberalization has been accompanied by increases in stock prices and reductions in stock return volatility, reductions in inflation, and reductions in the rate of currency depreciation. Much of the blame for the Asian currency crises is assigned to Asian policymakers' futile attempts to defy market forces by trying to maintain their currencies at artificially high levels. But a more fundamental cause of Asia's economic problems has been the widespread value destruction by Asian corporations, which has led to a lower value for the overall economy and weakened the banking sector. The government-directed banking systems and weak corporate governance structures (including managerial incentives to increase size and market share at the expense of shareholders) that characterize most Asian economies have resulted in systematic overinvestment, bloated payrolls, and sharp declines in corporate profitability. While applauding most of the Korean government's recent measures to reform the economy, the article expresses skepticism about the government-mandated restructuring of the chaebol known as the “big deal.” Rather than trying to direct the process of restructuring, Korean policymakers should limit their efforts to improving the market mechanism by increasing competition in the markets for capital, corporate control, and goods and services. The Korean market for corporate control transactions could be greatly improved by increasing the efficiency of bankruptcy proceedings and by allowing hostile takeovers by foreign as well as domestic investors. To increase the productivity of capital, Asian companies should seek to realign managerial with shareholder interests by tying compensation to measures of value creation like EVA.     

金融市场体系的关联性与社会资金配置格局

任何一种市场现象都是市场主体在特定的市场环境下一系列市场行为的反映,资金趋利避险的本能及其跨市场、跨品种、跨时段的套利行为,构成了金融市场运行的永恒的推动力.本文以诠释近期债券市场运行中的若干现象为出发点,循着社会资金流动的主线,透过经济主体的资金运作行为,时以信贷市场、债券市场和股票市场为支柱的金融市场体系间的资金互动关系进行了研究,从贴近现实经济生活的角度,分析了近年来较具代表性的金融市场行为的内在动机、市场背景和行为效果,对我国社会资金配置格局和金融市场运行效率作了初步的探讨,并提出相关政策建议.     

金融效率理论框架与我国金融效率实证考察

金融效率相对低下是对中国 2 0余年金融改革与发展历程的最好注解 ,提高金融效率是实现中国金融可持续发展的核心目标。本文首先以金融效率为线索对金融发展理论进行了简要的梳理 ,认为金融效率研究应在赋予了全新金融效率观的金融可持续发展理论的框架下展开 ,由此界定并提出金融效率的涵义与有效的研究方法 ;同时 ,对中国金融效率 ( 1 990～ 2 0 0 1 )实证分析的结果验证了中国金融效率相对低下的结论 ,其根源可归结为高层金融资源的严重缺乏 ;最后 ,本文建议不仅要建立合理的多层次的金融体系 ,更应从系统的视角加强各层次金融系统内部、各层次金融系统之间以及金融系统与经济系统之间的协调。     

我国金融发展与经济增长关系的理论与实证研究

改革开放以来,金融发展对我国的经济增长具有积极的推动作用,但力度有限,甚至有些指标还呈现负面影响;总体来看,我国的金融发展滞后于经济增长,现行的金融体制已无法满足企业扩张带来日益增长的融资需求。改善目前落后的金融发展局面,一方面,应努力拓宽企业的融资渠道,让企业更多的利用资本市场进行直接融资,改善融资机制,消除“所有制歧视”,为中小企业创造良好的投融资环境;另一方面,要加速资本市场的发展和规范,发掘债券市场的潜力,为直接融资提供更大空间,并且积极推进非国有银行和中小银行的发展,促成金融机构的合理竞争。     

新形势下产融结合之道

就产融结合来看,东部地区的金融业比较发达,应该重点发展金融主导型的合作模式,而在中西部地区则应该发展产业主导型的合作模式。     

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE DYNAMICS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Consistent with theoretical predictions, we find that both a higher level of financial leverage and a faster speed of adjustment of leverage toward the shareholders' desired level are associated with better corporate governance quality as defined by a more independent board featuring CEO–chairman separation and greater presence of outside directors, coupled with larger institutional shareholding. In contrast, managerial incentive compensation on average discourages use of debt or adjustments toward the shareholders' desired level, consistent with its entrenchment effect. The effect of corporate governance on leverage adjustments is most pronounced when initial leverage is between the manager's desired level and the shareholders' desired level where the interests of managers and shareholders conflict.     

AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF FINANCIAL LIBERALIZATION AND THE EFFICIENCY OF EMERGING MARKET STOCK PRICES

The efficient markets hypothesis in finance suggests that as equity markets are liberalized and made more open to the public, equity prices should reflect the increased availability of information and be more efficiently priced. In this paper, we examine whether emerging market equity prices have become more efficient after financial liberalization. Using two sets of financial liberalization dates, a battery of econometric tests, and data from sixteen countries and three composite portfolios, we find that in spite of theory suggesting the opposite, liberalization does not seem to have improved the efficiency of emerging markets. In fact, most of our statistical tests indicate that the markets were already efficient before the actual liberalization.     

THE CHINESE SECURITIES REGULATORY COMMISSION AND THE REGULATION OF CAPITAL MARKETS IN CHINA

The rapid development of China’s capital markets necessitated the establishment of a regulatory agency that would administer market operations and protect investors’ interests. The Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) was established in 1992 for this purpose. In 1999, the Chinese Securities Law recognized the CSRC as the sole regulatory agency responsible for regulating securities instruments and markets in China. Although the CSRC is considered instrumental to Chinese accounting reforms and capital market development, it has remained relatively unexamined in the accounting literature. This paper contributes to the accounting literature by providing insight into an important regulatory agency that has enormous impact on the economic development of China. Specifically, this paper discusses the CSRC’s establishment and development, its regulatory efforts, and its achievements and shortcomings in its efforts to regulate China’s emerging capital markets. The underlying factors that explain some of the CSRC’s regulatory actions are also analyzed by discussing several cases involving fraudulent financial reporting.     

AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE DIFFUSION PROCESS OF SECURITIES AND PORTFOLIOS

The nature of the stochastic process generating the path of security prices through time plays an important role in dynamic theories of financial economics. An important consideration is the possible dependency of return variances on price levels. Using 55 years of data separated into five-year intervals, this study demonstrates that, in general, security and portfolio variances are dependent on stock price levels and the relationship is a function of portfolio size. The relationship is unstable over time. The results suggest possible detrimental effects of diversification and financial models based on log-normality are questionable.