“I Do”: Does Marital Status Affect How Much CEOs “Do”?

This paper explores whether a CEO's marital status reveals unobservable risk preferences which influence their firm's investment and compensation policies. Using biographical data for CEOs of large domestic companies, we find that corporate deal‐making activity (e.g., mergers, joint ventures, major capital expenditures, etc.) and overall firm riskiness both increase significantly with personal life restructuring (e.g., marriages and divorces). This relation is supported by an instrumental variables analysis and also an investigation surrounding CEO turnover. Finally, the link between a CEO's marital status and preference for option‐based compensation further suggests that personal restructuring may be an indicator of executive risk appetites.     

Material Misstatement of What? A Comment on Smieliauskas et al., ‘A Proposal to Replace “True and Fair View” with “Acceptable Risk of Material Misstatement” ’

This comment explores theoretical and practical aspects of the Smieliauskas et al. (2008 ), ‘A Proposal to Replace “True and Fair View” With “Acceptable Risk of Material Misstatement”, and develops the ideas outlined there. It is argued that these proposals are helpful, but theoretically incomplete. Theoretical developments relating to accounting aspects are offered, and proposed for others to take further. The pragmatic implications suggest difficulties in the operationalization of the ideas of the original paper in a world of multiple and inconsistent user needs.     

What's in a “China” Name? A Test of Investor Attention Hypothesis

We study whether a firm's name affects investor attention and firm valuation. Some Chinese firms listed on US stock exchanges have the word “China” included in their company names (“China‐name stocks”), while others do not (“non‐China‐name stocks”). During the 2007 China stock market boom, we find that China‐name stocks significantly outperform non‐China‐name stocks. This is not due to differences in firm characteristics, risk, or liquidity. The “China‐name effect” is largely consistent with the investor attention hypothesis that price pressure caused by increased investor attention on China‐name stocks during the boom period drives up China‐name stocks more than non‐China‐name stocks.     

Chapter 15 Recognition in the United States: Is a Debtor “Presence” Required?

A recent appellate decision in the USA (In re Barnet) confuses the foreign debtor with the foreign insolvency representative. Notwithstanding the focus of US bankruptcy law on a foreign proceeding as the object of an ancillary case under Chapter 15, with the foreign representative as its emissary, the decision dismayed the international insolvency community by ruling that section 109(a) of the Bankruptcy Code applies to recognition under Chapter 15. The result is to require that the debtor in a foreign proceeding has some minimum jurisdictional presence in the USA as a condition of Chapter 15 recognition. Such a presence might include a domicile, a place of business, or property. While there might be a “backdoor” device avoiding this result, the decision creates serious confusion and a potential obstacle to full international recognition. Copyright © 2015 INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd     

Can Taxes Shape an Industry? Evidence from the Implementation of the “Amazon Tax”

For years, online retailers have maintained a price advantage over brick‐and‐mortar retailers by not collecting sales tax at the time of sale. Recently, several states have required that online retailer Amazon collect sales tax during checkout. Using transaction‐level data, we document that households living in these states reduced their Amazon purchases by 9.4% following the implementation of the sales tax laws, implying elasticities of –1.2 to –1.4. The effect is stronger for large purchases, where purchases declined by 29.1%, corresponding to an elasticity of –3.9. Studying competitors in the electronics field, we find some evidence of substitution toward competing retailers.     

Do U.S. Insurance Firms Offer the “Wrong” Incentives to Their Executives?

We examine the relation between executive compensation and market‐implied default risk for listed insurance firms from 1992 to 2007. Shareholders are expected to encourage managerial risk sharing through equity‐based incentive compensation. We find that long‐term incentives and other share‐based plans do not affect the default risk faced by firms. However, the extensive use of stock options leads to higher future default risk for insurance firms. We argue that this is because option‐based incentives induce managerial risk‐taking behavior, which seeks to maximize managerial payoff through equity volatility. This could be detrimental to the interests of shareholders, especially during a financial crisis.     

EFA Keynote Speech: “Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility: What Do Investors Care about? What Should Investors Care about?”

This article is the keynote address from the Eastern Finance Association meeting in New Orleans in March 2007 with updated references and examples. In this keynote address, I discuss what we can learn about institutional investors' views on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility from research and surveys.     

房价上涨对P2P网络借贷成本的影响分析——来自“人人贷”的经验证据

本文利用中国P2P行业代表企业“人人贷”网络贷款平台的交易数据和中国70个大中城市的房价数据,实证研究了房价上涨对P2P网络借贷市场上的借款利率所产生的影响。实证结果表明,房价上涨显著增加了P2P借贷市场上的借款利率。进一步分析发现,房价上涨对P2P借贷市场上生产经营类、买房类和其他消费类借款项目的借款利率均具有显著的正向影响,且这一增加效应在生产经营类和买房类借款项目中体现得更为明显。此外,基于异质性的分析还发现,相比于一二线城市,房价上涨对三四线城市借款项目的借款利率影响更大。本文的研究发现,房价上涨对新兴互联网信贷市场的影响机制存在,这为相关部门制定房价调控和互联网金融监管政策提供了参考和补充。     

测量中国的金融不确定性——基于大数据的方法

本文基于 Jurado et al.(2015)提出的大数据分析方法,采用280个月度经济金融变量构造了2002-2017的中国金融不确定性指数,并从股票市场波动和金融机构系统性风险两个方面对中国的金融不确定性指数进行了实证分析。本文发现,在控制了滞后波动率后,金融不确定性指数仍然对股票市场的波动率有显著的预测作用;同时,金融不确定性的增加会显著提升金融机构的系统性风险,尤其是规模较大的金融机构。实证结果表明,金融不确定性是金融市场波动的一个重要来源。     

风险传染的信息识别——基于网络借贷市场的实证

基于清华大学金融科技研究院互联网金融研究中心网络借贷平台数据库与网贷之家相关平台统计数据,通过构建Logit模型与Cox比例风险回归模型来研究2015年12月e租宝事件和2018年6月备案延期后的“爆雷”现象,本文着重考察投资者是否具备根据信息披露程度识别问题平台和正常平台的能力。本文发现,第一,信息披露程度是影响平台风险的重要因素:信息披露程度越高的平台,其运营时间越长,出现问题的可能性越低。第二,信息披露程度越高的平台对抗风险的能力越强。风险传染期内,信息披露程度较高的平台,其成交量受市场负面情绪的影响较小。上述两点表明,总体而言,投资者重视平台披露的信息,并具备一定的信息识别能力。最后本研究也发现,上述两次风险事件期出现的问题平台是市场出清所需,它们和正常运营平台存在较大差异,尚无证据表明大量正常平台被拖累成问题平台。     

金融发展与企业创新产出——基于不同融资模式对比视角

本文从股票市场规模、银行业规模和银行业市场化三个维度衡量金融发展,发现股票市场相比于银行业更有利于促进企业专利创新,特别是对创新含量较高的发明专利影响更为显著。对影响渠道的分析表明,股票市场促进创新的渠道是通过缓解外部融资约束,促进高科技企业的创新产出。在知识产权保护程度更高的地区,股票市场对创新的促进作用更加显著。进一步研究表明,专利创新显著提高了公司未来五年的市场价值。本文的政策含义是,大力发展直接融资市场并辅之以较完善的知识产权保护,有利于提高企业创新产出,进而提升公司长期价值。     

现金贷果如洪水猛兽?——来自断点回归设计的证据

现金贷具有高利率、无抵押、无场景、线上放款的特性,近两年来饱受争议。一方面,现金货因其服务对象为中低收入者和弱势群体而具有一定的普惠特性,但另一方面,部分从业者无节制放贷则让行业逐步成为监管严管的对象。为了衡量现金贷利率对于贷款者贷款数量与逾期表现的影响,本文使用某现金贷公司2017年6月-9月全部贷款数据,利用其使用连续信用分对申请者进行分级、对不同信用等级赋予不同利率的特性,进行断点回归设计。研究发现贷款申请人对于利率有稳健的敏感性,同时道德风险并不明显,之后进一步从不同角度分析影响贷款人利率敏感性的因素,并依据实证结果提出相关政策建议。     

Accountability and Transparency in English Local Government: Moving from ‘Matching Parts’ to ‘Awkward Couple’?

Although excessive transparency and accountability demands can have a counterproductive effect on organisational performance (Bovens, 2005), longstanding hierarchical accountability structures to ensure financial conformance in English local government continue to endure. Interestingly however, the previously top‐down regime for performance accountability in English local government has been replaced by bottom‐up mechanisms such as greater transparency and a more open market for public services. Using the framework developed by Hood (2010), this paper will show how such reforms mean that transparency and accountability are moving from being ‘matching parts’ to an ‘awkward couple’, and how this has significant implications for public services.     

金融科技对传统银行行为的影响——基于互联网理财的视角

本文使用2011-2015年263家银行的年报数据和北京大学数字金融研究中心基于蚂蚁金服用户数据构建的地市级数字金融普惠指数,探究金融科技的发展对银行行为的影响。研究发现金融科技的发展实质上推动了一种变相的利率市场化,改变了银行的负债端结构,使得银行负债端越来越依赖于同业拆借等批发性资金。负债端结构的改变导致银行资产端风险承担偏好上升,但是借贷利率和净息差都有所下降。即银行选择了更高风险的资产来弥补负债端成本上升所造成的损失,但并没有将成本向下游企业转移。此外,本文还发现规模越大的银行受到金融科技的冲击越小。     

内部控制质量影响了分析师行为吗?——来自中国证券市场的经验证据

本文以2007-2016年A股上市公司为样本,从分析师跟踪、盈余预测精确度和分歧度三个方面考察了内控质量对分析师行为的影响。研究结果表明,内控质量越高的公司能够吸引更多的分析师跟随;内控质量更高的公司分析师的盈余预测也显著更为准确,不过上述经验关系只存在于高估实际盈余的样本组中;没有明显的证据表明内控质量影响了分析师预测分歧度。本文在拓展内部控制经济后果研究和分析师决策过程研究的同时,研究结论也对当前的市场监管具有一定的政策启示意义。