European Union Enlargement Announcement and Corporate Valuations

This study explores the effects of the European Union accession announcement on the valuations of companies in the prospective member states. I examine firm level data from ten countries which joined the EU in May 2004. My analysis reveals that the announcement of these countries’ future EU membership in November 2001 significantly increased the Tobin’s Q ratios of their publicly traded firms several years before formal membership was granted. This increase in firm value can likely be attributed to a reduced cost of capital and/or an expected increase in growth opportunities and cash flows, resulting from the announcement of their countries’ inclusion in the EU.     

Lobbying and Audit Regulation in the EU

In this paper, we analyze comment letters submitted in response to the European Commission (EC) Green Paper on audit policy. We find that consistent with the theory of incentives and the presence of information asymmetries between rule-making bodies and interest groups, the highest participation within the consultation process came from auditors and preparers of financial statements. Additionally, our results suggest that these interest groups exhibit different strategic lobbying behaviors in terms of employing more self-referential arguments than other interest groups. Moreover, we provide evidence that self-referential argumentation strategies are more influential when expressing opposing views, whereas conceptually based argumentation strategies are more influential when expressing supporting views. We contribute to a more detailed understanding of the role that lobbyists and argumentation strategies played in the recent EU audit policy reform, and we infer that lobbying activities might have led the EC to moderate its proposals to obtain interest groups’ support.     

Short-termism,shareholder payouts and investment in the EU

Investor-driven 'short-termism' is said to harm EU public firms' ability to invest for the long term, prompting calls for the EU to better insulate managers from shareholder pressure. But the evidence offered—rising levels of repurchases and dividends—is incomplete and misleading: it ignores large offsetting equity issuances that move capital from investors to EU firms. We show that, over the last 30 years and the last decade, net shareholder payouts have been moderate and investment and cash balances have increased. In sum, the data provide little basis for the view that short-termism in the EU warrants corporate governance reforms.     

论欧盟证券法一体化的发展与困境

欧盟证券法一体化经历了三个发展阶段。目前来看，随着《金融服务行动计划》的实施，四级立法程序获得采用，欧盟证券法已经进入一个崭新的发展时期。在证券市场从业者监管方面，1993年《投资服务指令》确立了欧盟证券服务市场的“单一执照”体制，2003年的《说明书指令》则确立了证券发行与上市及其信息披露制度；在证券市场交易行为监管方面，欧盟已经确立了上市公司要约收购制度、上市公司信息披露制度和禁止内幕交易与市场滥用制度。但是，欧盟证券法一体化仍然面临着许多不确定因素，如公正与效率两种监管目标的冲突、欧盟证券立法的实施、促进证券市场的统一与公平竞争的维护、各国证券立法的协调等等。欧盟内部政治经济的发展对其一体化进程至关重要。     

全球价值链的发展改变了什么

全球价值链的发展改变了国际贸易的性质,并对收入的形成、竞争力的衡量和贸易政策的制定产生了重要影响。全球价值链创造了财富,但不同国家的财富增长速度是不同的;全球价值链也改变了竞争力的意义,使得竞争力的衡量更加侧重于企业的跨境生产;全球价值链加深了国家之间的依赖,政策合作更加重要。     

欧盟东扩对我国制造业影响的实证分析

欧盟东扩后产生了贸易创造和贸易转移效应,其中贸易转移效应将影响我国对欧盟出口。东扩的国家人均GDP显著低于西欧,但也显著高于我国,所以与中国相比对欧盟出口可能拥有不同比较优势,对我国不同技术含量的制造业商品出口欧盟会产生不同程度的影响,本文首先分析了中东欧主要国家和我国制造业的双边贸易以及中国和中东欧国家出口欧盟的制造业商品结构,然后基于制造业相对显示性指数实证分析得出：欧盟东扩后,制造业商品出口结构恶化,特别是中低技能技术的制造业产品在东盟东扩后受到的贸易转移效应影响尤为明显,而对我国劳动和资源密集型产品影响不大,还有最近几年的贸易摩擦使得高技能技术产品的出口欧盟受阻,进一步恶化了我国对欧盟制造业商品出口结构。     

国外碳交易市场的发展及对我国的启示

自《京都议定书》生效以来,全球的碳交易市场经过近十几年的发展已初步形成,并日益成为推动低碳经济发展的重要力量。欧美等发达国家已初步建立了相对完善的碳交易市场,走在了广大发展中国家的前面。我国的碳交易市场尚处于起步阶段,在构建过程中还面临着诸多问题和挑战。本文介绍了国际碳交易市场的发展特点,着重分析了国外主要碳交易市场的现状和发展,并在此基础上探讨了我国构建碳交易市场的政策建议。     

基于法律视角的欧盟金融机构破产机制研究

为了应对金融危机,欧盟出台了一系列金融救市措施,而这些措施却给欧洲经济发展带来长期的风险,传统的金融机构大而不倒的理念正在更新,制定金融业的破产机制就成为完善市场的必然选择。本文详细阐述了欧盟金融机构破产机制产生的背景及主要内容,并针对我国现状提出改进破产评判标准、完善破产相关法律等建议。     

Income Inequality,Growth, and the Enlargement of the European Union

This study investigates the relation between income inequality and economic growth, namely, the Kuznets curve, in the context of EU enlargement. The results have implications regarding how the latest enlargement of the European Union affects the relationship between income inequality and growth, for both EU member countries and the European Union as a region. Estimation results show that there is no evidence of a significant original or reverse Kuznets curve for any of the groups of countries in this study. Therefore, empirical results suggest that the latest enlargement, and a possible future accession of the candidates, may not change the fact that a Kuznets curve does not exist for the European Union.     

欧盟视阈下在线平台中个人数据的增值税处理

近年来,在线平台的迅猛发展推动了全球经济数字化加速转型,但同时也引发了包括增值税政策适用在内的诸多挑战.通过研究《欧盟增值税指令》和欧州法院的判例法,以及分析个人数据与在线平台运行之间的关系可以推断出,个人数据是在线平台提供访问服务构成的增值税应税范围内的供应,且与消费者是否向在线平台支付金钱形式的对价无关.在实践中,使用客观价值方法来确定在线服务供应的应税金额存在实际困难,而使用直接联系标准解决易货交易问题,会导致增值税税基在本质上得到扩张.因此,建议当前不要将在线平台访问服务的供应视为一项应税交易.此外,对于商家为获得消费者数据而向平台付款的情形,因其不符合直接联系标准,也不应被视为服务对价.     

美欧场外衍生品市场集中清算制度的变化与比较

清算机制对场外衍生品市场的健康发展起到举足轻重的作用。2008年次贷危机后,国际组织和美欧都在致力推广场外衍生品市场的集中清算制度。基于不同的原因,美欧关于场外衍生品交易清算的立法和监管制度既有相似之处,也有差异。这些制度的发展变化首先是基于有效控制系统性风险的考虑,也是美欧各国增强本国金融机构和市场吸引力的需要,更是这些国家和地区基于长期利益的需要积极参与国际标准制定的结果。     

利益相关者视角下的高技术上市公司绩效评价研究

因子分析法是多指标综合评价的一种理想方法。选取高技术上市公司为样本,采用因子分析法对高技术上市公司的业绩进行综合评价,以期为广大的投资者、企业以及利益相关者的投资决策提供参考信息。     

技术标准合作:高技术企业集群创新研究的新视角

在高技术产业,技术标准非常重要.近年来,技术标准已成为企业研发协作的重要动力和企业集群发展的重要纽带;与此同时,企业集聚的机理也有力地推动了技术标准化及其创新合作.因而,技术标准合作成为集群创新研究的一个新的视角和新的领域.深入探索基于集群的高技术企业技术标准合作机理对于促进企业、产业和区域经济发展具有重要的理论与实践意义.     

The evolution of emissions trading in the European Union – The role of policy networks,knowledge and policy entrepreneurs

This paper starts with a recapitulation of how emissions trading became a cornerstone of the European Union’s climate policy. While a whole bouquet of reasons can be identified the major reasons why the EU Commission decided to pursue the establishment of an emissions trading scheme within the EU are: (1) the integration of international emissions trading into the Kyoto Protocol; (2) the failure of the 6th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the withdrawal of the United States from the Kyoto Protocol negotiations; and (3) the unsuccessful attempt to introduce an EU-wide CO₂-tax. Other reasons were the fact that emissions trading did not need unanimity in the European Council like the CO₂-tax; the economic efficiency of emissions trading which appealed not only to the Commission but also to industry and Member States; the danger of a fragmented carbon market as the United Kingdom and Denmark had already set up domestic emissions trading schemes that were incompatible; the incentive a European emissions trading scheme would be for the formation of a global carbon market; and the possibility to influence investment strategies of power companies towards a sustainable modernisation of the EU’s power generation infrastructure.Drawing upon these preconditions, this paper analyses the development of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Based on the fact that the EU is embedded in a multi-level policy-making architecture which encourages the emergence of policy networks it is argued that the EU ETS has been shaped by an (informal) issue-specific policy network established by some staff members from DG Environment, including individuals knowledgeable on emissions trading – such as experts from consultancies, environmental NGOs and the business sector. It is argued that within this European policy network on emissions trading the European Emissions Trading Directive – as adopted on 13 October 2003 – has been negotiated and developed. It is concluded that the sharing of knowledge about this relatively new and largely unknown regulatory instrument and about design options for a potential European emissions trading scheme was the key momentum for the establishment and continuity of this policy network and that the ability of managing knowledge generation processes was the main factor to allow for a few staff members from DG Environment to play a dominant role as policy entrepreneurs in developing the European Emissions Trading Directive, even beyond their formal role of proposing the scheme as representatives from the EU Commission.     

An analysis of the companies’ compliance with the EU disclosure requirements and corporate characteristics influencing it: A case study of Turkey

One of the factors shaping accounting disclosure of countries in Europe is the EU Fourth Directive (EUFD) which addresses individual company accounts. The EUFD has been claimed to have had an impact on accounting, including accounting disclosure, of not only the EU countries but also non-EU member European countries. Turkey is one of the non-EU member European countries claimed to be influenced by the EUFD and this study examined Turkish companies’ level of compliance with the disclosure requirements of the EUFD over the years (1986, 1987, 1991, 1992 and 1995), and assessed whether companies’ level of compliance had been influenced by their corporate characteristics, such as company size, listing status and industry type.Turkish companies’ level of compliance with the disclosure requirements of the EUFD was measured by an index (i.e. EUFD Disclosure Compliance Index—EUFDCDI). The index was developed by; constructing disclosure scoring sheet; obtaining annual reports of 61 sampled Turkish companies over the years; completing scoring sheet for each companies’ annual report; and creating disclosure index. The index (EUFDCDI) scores was, than, analysed for each year to assess the companies’ compliance with the EU disclosure requirements and both parametric and non-parametric test, were conducted to determine if there were significant changes in the extent of disclosure in compliance with the EUFD over the years. Furthermore, using the companies EUFDCDI score as dependent variable and corporate characteristics as independent variables, the Ordinary Least Square regression was run for each year to find out if the companies’ level of compliance with the EU disclosure requirements were influenced by their corporate characteristics.The results of this study revealed that Turkish companies’ compliance with the required disclosure by the EUFD varied within the range of 30–85%, but their compliance increased significantly from one year to another throughout the selected period. The results further revealed that listing status is one of the important corporate characteristics of the Turkish companies affecting their compliance with the EU disclosure requirements.     

Opportunist dealing in the UK pig meat supply chain: Trader mentalities and alternatives

The scandal surrounding the presence of horsemeat in UK supermarket meat products has focused public attention on the problems of complex, fragmented food supply chains. Through a study of the UK's pig meat supply chain, this paper proposes a new framing of the problem in terms of opportunistic dealing adopted by the supermarkets in vertically disintegrated supply chains, where all actors attempt to pass the risks and costs onto somebody else. This outcome is the result of cultural practices and competences in buyer-led supermarket organizations where strong supermarket chains have the power to capture processor and producer margins. One consequence is that mass-market meat production and processing is close to unviable, as evidenced here by the analysis of the VION Food Group. However, there are mainstream alternatives to the retail-led dysfunctional supply chain. This paper presents an alternative integrated supply chain model using the case of Morrisons, the UK's fourth largest supermarket chain. If fragmented supply chains are not inevitable, the important issue explored in the conclusion is how the inadequacies of government policy, which understands the problem of the sector but is stuck with a competition-based mindset, obstruct the creation of a more sustainable supply chain.     

Differences of opinion in sovereign credit signals during the European crisis

Motivated by the European debt crisis and the new European Union regulatory regime for the credit rating industry, we analyse differences of opinion in sovereign credit signals and their influence on European stock markets. Rating disagreements have a significant connection with subsequent negative credit actions by each agency. However, links among Moody’s/Fitch actions and their rating disagreements with other agencies have weakened in the post-regulation period. We also find that only S&P’s negative credit signals affect the own-country stock market and spill over to other European markets, but this is concentrated in the pre-regulation period. Stronger stock market reactions occur when S&P has already assigned a lower rating than Moody’s/Fitch prior to taking a further negative action.     

Modelling International Price Relationships and Interdependencies Between the Stock Index and Stock Index Futures Markets of Three EU Countries: A Multivariate Analysis

This paper addresses the important relationship between stock index and stock index futures markets in an international context. By simply examining the spot‐futures relationship within a single country as most of the extant literature does and thus ignoring possible market interdependencies between countries, the dynamics of price adjustments may be misspecified and thus findings misleading. The main contribution of the paper is to improve our understanding of the pricing relationship between spot and futures markets in the light of international market interdependencies. Using a multivariate VAR‐EGARCH methodology, the paper investigates stock index and stock index futures market interdependence, that is lead‐lag relationships and volatility interactions between the stock and futures markets of three main European countries, namely France, Germany and the UK. In addition, the paper explicitly accounts for potential asymmetries that may exist in the volatility transmission mechanism between these markets. The main conclusions of the paper imply that investors need to account for market interactions across countries to fully and correctly exploit the potential for hedging and diversification.     

High and low prices and the range in the European stock markets: A long-memory approach

This paper uses fractional integration techniques to examine the stochastic behaviour of high and low stock prices in Europe and then to test for the possible existence of long-run linkages between them by looking at the range, i.e., the difference between the two logged series. Specifically, monthly, weekly and daily data on the following five European stock market indices are analysed: DAX30 (Germany), FTSE100 (UK), CAC40 (France), FTSE MIB40 (Italy) and IBEX35 (Spain). In all cases, the order of integration of the range is lower than that of the original series, which implies the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between high and low prices. Further, multiple breaks are found in the high and low-price series but no breaks in the range, and the estimated fractional differencing parameter is positive in all cases, which represents evidence of long memory.     

The evolution of comparative advantage: Measurement and welfare implications

Using novel estimates of sectoral total factor productivities for 72 countries across 5 decades we provide evidence of relative productivity convergence: productivity grew systematically faster in initially relatively less productive sectors. These changes have had a significant impact on trade volumes and patterns, and a non-negligible welfare impact. Had productivity in each country׳s manufacturing sector relative to the US remained the same as in the 1960s, trade volumes would be higher, cross-country export patterns more dissimilar, and intra-industry trade lower than in the data. Relative sectoral productivity convergence – holding average growth fixed – had a modest negative welfare impact.