“四大”审计质量在中国存在差异吗?

本文以2002—2008年由四大审计的中国上市公司为研究样本,采用操控性应计利润和会计盈余稳健性作为衡量审计质量的指标,检验四大之间的审计质量是否存在差异。在中国,普华永道中天的市场份额远远高于其他三大所,根据理论预期其审计质量也应显著高于(或者不低于)其他三大所。选取四大为研究对象,可以避免大小所之间的专业能力、事务所声誉和自选择等因素对审计质量的影响。研究发现普华永道中天审计质量没有显著高于其他三大会计师事务所,甚至在部分检验中,普华永道中天审计质量更低。这表明基于中国独特的市场法律环境,四大没有采取一贯的审计质量策略。     

工会的“收入溢价”效应研究——基于中国流动人口动态监测数据的分析

基于中国流动人口动态监测数据（2014）,实证分析流动人口工会的“收入溢价”效应。研究发现：工会能显著提升流动人口的收入,但工会的“收入溢价”效应具有异质性,城城流动人口高于乡城流动人口、签订合同者高于未签订合同者,个体私营企业的表现要优于国有集体企业和外资企业;分位数回归结果显示,随着分位数水平的上升,流动人口工会的收入效应呈倒“U”型,对中等收入者的作用最大,其次是低收入者,对高收入者的作用最小;采用倾向得分匹配法解决自选择问题,发现我国流动人口仍存在明显的工会“收入溢价”效应。     

The Effect of Corporate Status on External Audit Fees: Evidence From the UK

Abstract:  This paper simultaneously examines, for the first time, the determinants of external audit fees of UK companies drawn from the quoted sector (Main Market, the Alternative Investment Market and Ofex), and the unquoted sector (public and private limited companies). The paper also provides new evidence on the effects of corporate failure and the persistence of the big four and mid-tier auditor premiums across the public and private corporate sectors. After controlling for firm size, audit risk and complexity, we find that quoted and unquoted public limited companies have significantly higher audit fees than their private limited counterparts. Our estimates imply that relative premiums for market/corporate form are as follows: Main Market over AIM, 6.8%; AIM over Ofex, 19.5%; Ofex over unquoted plc, 15.5%; and unquoted plc over private, 16.7%. However, despite indications in prior US research to the contrary, we find no evidence that insolvent firms that failed were charged higher audit fees in the year preceding failure. A positive relationship is also found between audit and consultancy fees – a result that persists using an instrumental variables approach to control for endogeneity.     

The Removal of a Specialist Oversight Body for Local Public Audit: Insights from the Health Service in England

The abolition of the Audit Commission in England and Wales removes the ‘protector of the public purse’. The oversight body and its audit practice are largely replaced by the private sector regime and audit firms. We analyse the audit market for health service foundation trusts, an area of local public audit that operates without oversight from the Commission. We find evidence of premiums paid to some Big4 firms and that the presence of specialist public service auditors results in fee discounts. The firms limit their liability and assurance of audit quality is reduced under new audit regimes and governance structures.     

The determinants of audit fees—evidence from the voluntary sector

Given the growing demand for accountability in the public sector, there is a need to begin to investigate audit pricing issues in this sector. This study makes three contributions. First, it develops and estimates, for the first time, a model of audit fee determinants for the charity sector. As in previous private sector company studies, size, organisational complexity and audit firm location are the major determinants. A positive association between audit fees and fees for non-audit services is also observed. Charity sector factors of empirical significance include the nature of the charity (i.e., grant-making or fund-raising), its area of activity and the importance of trading income. Separate models for grant-making and fund-raising charities reflect the relative complexity of the audit of fund-raising charities. Second, the lower auditor concentration in the charity sector market, compared to the private sector market, permits a more powerful test of whether large firms and/or auditor expertise are rewarded with a fee premium. In the more complex audit environment of fund-raising charities, the results show that Big Six audit firms receive higher audit fees (18.5%, on average) than non-Big Six firms. Also, non-Big Six audit firms with charity expertise are rewarded with a fee premium over other non-Big Six firms. Finally, the study demonstrates that the charity audit fee rate is significantly lower than that of private sector companies; in fact it is approximately half. A change in the reporting of charity audit fees is proposed to reflect any element of ‘charitable giving’ by the audit firm.     

共同富裕目标下互联网可及性对健康支出的影响研究

运用两部分模型、倾向得分匹配等方法,依据CFPS数据库中成人与家庭数据匹配及分类处理,考量共同富裕进程中互联网可及性对潜在因病返贫风险的阻断效应.结果显示,互联网可及性引致健康支出绝对量增加,但灾难性健康支出发生率显著降低,对潜在因病返贫风险具有一定的阻断效应.异质性分析显示,互联网使用对农村居民、低收入群体的健康支出影响较大.鉴于此,应加大互联网基础设施建设力度,引导农村居民、低收入群体更有效地利用医疗资源,阻断其潜在因病返贫风险.     

基本养老保险对居民幸福感的影响及其机制研究

完善基本养老保险制度是增进民生福祉与加强社会治理的关键要义。过往研究主要关注基本养老保险对幸福感的主效应,鲜有探讨异质性和中介效应。基于中国综合社会调查2015年的数据,利用有序Logit模型和倾向得分匹配模型,重点探讨基本养老保险对居民幸福感的影响机制。研究表明:参加基本养老保险对居民幸福感具有显著正向作用;基本养老保险显著提升中低收入居民的幸福感,但对高收入居民的影响微弱;社会信任在基本养老保险参与和居民幸福感之间发挥部分中介作用。因此,为了提升居民幸福感,我国在多层次养老保险体系建设中应以基本养老保险制度为重点,同时加快推进第二层次的企业年金制度和第三层次的个人储蓄性养老保险制度的发展,努力为培育社会信任提供公平正义的养老保险制度环境。     

Evaluating the effectiveness of exchange rate bands in reducing inflation

This paper contributes to the debate between the intermediate option and the corner solution through evaluating effectiveness of exchange rate bands (target zone and crawling band) in retaining inflation. I employ propensity score matching methods, based on the conditional independence assumption (CIA), to overcome the selection bias and problem of functional form in a sample covering observations from 88 countries from 1998 to 2005. The result suggests countries with target zones experienced significantly lower inflation rates than those with floating exchange rates. I use the sensitivity analysis for matching estimators, which highlights that the result is robust to specific failures of the CIA. Meanwhile, no significant evidence has been found that crawling bands offer a counter- inflationary benefit. It might be explained by the possibility that frequent exchange rate realignments could weaken the role of a nominal anchor and raise inflationary expectations.     

加入工会能有效改善职工工作条件吗

工会是劳动力市场的重要调节机制。本文基于中国社会综合调查数据,采用倾向值匹配方法来控制样本选择偏误,并利用自抽样进行统计推断,以克服小样本偏误,试图回答工会组织对职工工作条件的影响。研究结果显示:整体而言,加入工会可以明显地改善职工的工作条件。进一步研究发现,加入工会对体制内部门职工的工作条件有显著的改善作用,而对体制外部门职工工作条件的改善作用并不明显。此外,工会对职工工作条件的改善作用会随着市场化程度的影响而逐渐弱化。上述结果意味着中国工会组织对收入机制具有影响作用,通过夏普利值过程的回归分解发现,工会对职工小时收入差距和年收入差距的贡献率分别为4.53%和9.77%。     

Do Female Executives Prioritize Corporate Social Responsibility?

How do female executives view corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Previous studies have reported mixed findings on the relationship between female executives and CSR. We select a sample of Chinese listed firms and use propensity score matching to construct a new sample of firms and evaluate the gender transition (from male to female) of chief executive officers or board chairpersons (executives) who are randomly assigned to firms (i.e., the gender transition of executives is regarded as an exogenous event). Subsequently, we use a difference-in-differences approach to identify the pure effect of female executives on CSR. Our results indicate that female executives are more likely to encourage CSR reporting. Moreover, we suggest that the mechanism behind female executives prioritizing CSR is altruism preference rather than risk aversion preference.     

总经理更替与企业绩效——基于PSM和DID方法的分析

基于公司治理相关理论,采用倾向性评分匹配法（PSM）和双重差分法（DID）控制其他混淆变量的影响,考量总经理更替与企业绩效关系。结果发现：总经理更替事件会导致短期内的业绩不佳,但随着继任时间的延长,其对绩效的提升作用不断显现。同时,外部继任相较于内部继任的业绩改善优势也具有一定的时间滞后性。     

Securitization and Bank Performance

Using predominantly precrisis U.S. commercial bank data, this paper employs a propensity score matching approach to analyze whether individual banks did improve their performance through securitization. On average, our results show that securitizing banks tend to be more profitable institutions, with higher credit risk exposure. Despite a more diversified funding structure, they face higher funding costs. We also find that securitizing banks tend to hold larger and less diversified loan portfolios, have less liquidity, and hold less capital. However, our analysis does not provide evidence to suggest that securitization had an impact upon bank performance.     

Does Cross-Listing Really Enhance Market Efficiency for Stocks Listed in the Home Market? The Perspective of Noise Trading in the Chinese Stock Market

The investor recognition hypothesis and the bonding hypothesis, which help us understand the market quality of stocks that are cross-listed on different stock markets, imply improved market efficiency after cross-listing because of increased investor participation. However, the noise trading of inexperienced investors in the Chinese stock market negatively affects market efficiency. By employing propensity score matching and multivariate regression analysis, we show that the increased individual investor participation actually lowers market efficiency in their home market after cross-listing. This effect is more evident for stocks that were either listed first on the Chinese stock market or listed on the Chinese stock market and the Hong Kong stock exchange (SEHK) on the same date than for stocks that were listed first on the SEHK.     

财政资助能否提升人力资本？——基于CEPS数据的实证分析

义务教育阶段的财政资助是中国特色重大专项转移支付。基于新人力资本理论,运用倾向得分匹配的固定效应模型,依据中国教育追踪调查数据（CEPS）,考量财政资助对人力资本的影响。结果显示：财政资助有助于提升人力资本,具体表现在对个人非认知能力及其外向性、尽责性与开放性的提升。同时,自我教育期望和父母陪伴在财政资助与人力资本中起到部分中介作用。鉴于此,应进一步深化财政资助工作的育人属性,注重人力资本积累,因人施策提升财政资助绩效。     

创建文明城市对地方债务融资的影响效应研究

以“全国文明城市”评选活动为准自然实验,采用多期DID、PSM-DID等方法,检验创建文明城市对地方债务融资的影响及其作用机制。结果显示：创建文明城市通过提高市政公用设施投资强度持续促进地方债务融资规模增长,对常住人口100万以下的中小城市和东部城市的债务融资促进效应更显著。既有促进地方市政建设银行贷款规模增长的完全中介效应,也有促进地方投融资平台债务融资增长的部分中介效应。拓展研究表明,促进债务融资增长效应,虽在短期内促进了经济增长,但会导致地区经济增长动力不足。鉴于此,可将地方债务相关指标纳入文明城市测评体系,适当提高城市特色指标比例,充分发挥创建文明城市对经济社会的积极影响,推进城市文明与经济社会协调发展。     

排污征费对绿色全要素生产率的影响效应研究 ——基于GPSM的政策效应评估

选取中国1997-2016年的省际面板数据,采用连续变量的广义倾向得分匹配方法,考察排污征费这一环境规制政策对绿色全要素生产率的影响。结果显示：排污征费强度与绿色全要素生产率之间存在“U形”的关系,即随着排污征费强度的提升,绿色全要素生产率呈先下降后上升的趋势,超过一定适宜强度的排污征费才能促进绿色全要素生产率的提升。     

Large audit firm premium and audit specialisation in the public sector

The outsourcing of public‐sector audits to the private sector is an important issue. This study examines the fee premium in the public sector by comparing audit fees between the government auditor and the Big5. The study (i) statistically adjusts for self‐selection bias, (ii) allows the slope coefficients in the audit fee model to vary between the Big5 and the government audit and (iii) estimates the counterfactual audit fee premium. The Big5 premium is around 23 percent. However, the variation in premium depends on whether the Big5 auditor is an industry or city specialist.