CONTROL OF THE AUSTRALIAN LIFE INSURANCE INDUSTRY: AN EXAMPLE OF REGULATORY EXTERNALITIES WITHIN THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL SECTOR 1870–1945

The regulatory environment in which the Australian life insurance industry operates has its antecedents in two major periods of legislative intervention. The first established the principle of 'freedom with disclosure' in the 1870s, which has since formed the basis of the regulatory approach. In the 1940s, the second refined the concept in the context of a general recognition of an interventionist approach to financial markets. It is suggested that regulation of the life insurance market in Australia came about not in response to problems associated with market failure but in reaction to external influences not directly related to conditions in the Australian life insurance industry. This was impacted not only on the timing of intervention but on the approach taken as well.     

Special Quotes Invoke Autocorrelation in Japanese Stock Prices*

It is reported in the present paper that 1‐min returns on TOPIX have exhibited significant autocorrelation at 5‐min intervals since 1997/1998. Special quotes that are issued whenever there is a price jump in excess of a predetermined band seem to be the source of this autocorrelation, because these have been automatically updated at 5‐min intervals since August 1998 and have appeared during the first 30 min from opening. Individual stock returns also exhibit fifth‐order autocorrelation, but this disappears when the data with special quotes are excluded from the sample. Therefore, the autocorrelation is caused by the special quotes: a type of market microstructure noise.     

QFII投资行为实证分析

我国自2002年底引入QFII制度以来,已有4年时间,有50多家境外机构投资者获得了QFII资格,获批额度近百亿美元。QFII已经成为我国证券市场的一支重要力量,对我国证券市场的发展产生着越来越大的影响,其成熟理性的投资理念和先进的投资方法更是成为我国各方面投资者学习的榜样。本文着重从QFII持股时间、持股数量、投资行业分布和个股选择等方面对QFII的投资行为进行了初步的实证分析。     

放松规制背景下的政府规制重构

传统的自然垄断理论主张政府应对自然垄断行业实施规制。但20世纪70年代以来,由于政府规制的失灵、技术和市场条件的变化以及规制理论的发展,自然垄断行业放松规制的改革之风盛行。在这一背景下,转变规制重点、强化对规制者的规制和改变规制方式的“三位一体”的政府规制重构是必然的选择。     

The rise of Renminbi in Asia: Evidence from Network Analysis and SWIFT dataset

The rise of Renminbi (RMB) is one of the significant changes of the international monetary system since the 2008 global financial crisis. Through its economic influence in trade and direct investment, China has promoted the international use of RMB in both the global market and the regional market of East Asia. This paper documents the progress of RMB internationalization with the settlement currency information from the SWIFT dataset. Specifically, we conduct a network analysis to study the spillover effects among USD, EUR, GBP, JPY and RMB. From October 2010 to February 2018, the influence of RMB is found to be minimal in the global market, but dominant within ASEAN+3, especially for transactions related with real economy. These results indicate that RMB has become an influential regional currency, but it remains far from a truly international currency with global prominence.     

银行服务收费的法经济学分析

银行对服务进行收费有其深刻的经济学原因,但对银行服务收费应当进行法律的规制,其法经济学原因在于银行服务收费市场存在市场失灵的现象。针对造成市场失灵的不同原因,应当建立相应的法律制度进行规制。我国对银行服务收费规制的缺陷在于对消费者保护方面的不足。     

Occupational Mobility Pattern in Chonju,Korea

This paper investigates the existence of the inter‐dependence between the Indian stock market and Asia's emerging markets since 1990. This study analyzes whether the MSCI Asian Index has significantly influenced the Bombay Stock Exchange Index before, during, and after the Asian financial crisis. To address this issue, the author first uses a rolling correlation, and conduct uni‐directional and bi‐directional causality tests using the Granger causality test. He then examines the impulse response functions and variance decompositions of forecast errors based on a VAR (vector auto‐regression) model. These tests provide evidence that the influence of the Asian market on the Indian market has increased during and after the Asian financial crisis. These results can be interpreted as evidence that the Indian market has been moving toward integration with other Asian markets.     

Competition and regulation in the UK gas industry

The decade since privatization has seen gas change from an integratedmonopoly with no competition and without the structure necessaryto encourage it, to an industry moving rapidly towards fullcompetition. British Gas was privatized as an integrated monopoly;it had no regulation in the bulk market, and light regulationin the tariff market. Within 10 years it has lost more thanhalf its bulk market, has voluntarily 'demerged' into a transportationand supply arm, and is leading the way in liberalization ofthe residential market. Some of these changes have been assistedby the particular circumstances of the gas market, especiallythe contracts which the incumbent has inherited. The Regulatoris relying increasingly on prevention of undue discriminationfor control of the dominant supplier, and this principle hasbeen discussed and applied in a number of cases within the industry.Liberalization also raises important distributional issues,especially in the residential market.     

完善企业年金监管的几点思考

由美国次贷危机引发的全球金融风波至今已近四年,其造成的损失和影响自20世纪30年代以来前所未有.美国、英国和欧盟为防止危机对经济的进一步拖累,纷纷提出自己的金融监管改革计划,以应对危机.文章首先介绍了美国和欧盟金融监管改革的发展历程,然后总结了美欧金融监管改革对我国加强金融监管的启示,最后结合国际金融监管改革的新动向,并从市场化、风险控制和构建合作机制等三方面提出了改善我国企业年金监管的政策建议.     

The Underlying Constraints on Corporate Bond Market Development in Southeast Asia

There has been little analysis on the underlying institutional constraints to corporate bond market development in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Research so far has concentrated on weaknesses in market infrastructure. This paper illustrates the interlocking relationships between corporations, banks and governments that have dissuaded bond issuance by companies and also contributed to the underdevelopment of the demand side of the market. The implication of this research is that, in addition to the often recommended measures to strengthen the market infrastructure, corporate bond market development in these countries is also contingent upon deep-set institutional change.     

缓解我国区域产业结构趋同问题的思考

我国区域产业结构严重趋同,产生这一问题的主要原因是地方政府和企业物质利益的驱使,以及市场调节的盲目性。这一问题不可能从根本上得到彻底解决,只能使其得到一定程度的解决,或者缓解。要缓解这一问题,减少其盲目性,就要调节地方政府和企业的物质利益,就要尽可能地克服市场调节的盲目性。     

论我国证券上市的法律管理制度创新

我国自改革开放以来经济发展迅猛,公司证券化改革自1990年开始就一直在探索中发展,寻求中国特色的发展途径。证券的法律监督与管理制度一直在不断的健全,随着2008年金融危机对我国的影响,我国证券市场的发展环境产生了变化,我国证券市场的法律监管需要重新思考,作者在文中主要以新时期所产生的问题作为指引,发现存在的问题,并通过分析国内最新的研究资料,提出具有创新性的证券上市法律监管制度。     

Investment strategies by foreign automobile firms in China: A comparative study of Volkswagen,Honda, and Hyundai

The paper uses rolling sample tests to investigate time-varying calendar effects in the Chinese stock market, based on the GARCH (1, 1)-GED model. The Friday effect existed with low volatility at the early stage, but it seems to have disappeared since 1997. The positive Tuesday effect began to appear then. There is a small-firm January effect with high volatility. The turn-of-the month effect has also disappeared in the Chinese stock market since 1997.     

温州地区的公平与效率状况分析

温州是率先走上市场经济的地区,其公平和效率的变化及现实状况颇具典型性。本文依据有关统计数据,对温州效率和公平变化状况、原因以及政府兼顾公平措施及其效应进行分析,指出改革开放以来,温州经济总量不断扩大,人民生活水平不断提高,但同时收入差距在许多方面也呈扩大趋势,     

中外智能手机首告战平

根据市场调研公司赛诺日前发布的中国市场手机报告,今年4月,国产品牌3G手机的市场份额已超过50%。这是国产品牌智能机自2004年以来首次与国际品牌在市场竞争中打成平手。国产智能机异军突起赛诺的报告显示,2012年4月份中国3G智能机前十名的市场份额总体高达86.31%,其中,跻身前五名的中国产品     

Why does the Monetary Policy Committee smooth interest rates?

Explanations of why the monetary authorities in different countriesseem to smooth interest rates have focused on the official dislikeof financial market volatility, aspects of the decision-makingprocess, responses to uncertainty, inertial behaviour in a forward-lookingenvironment, and serial correlation of shocks to the policymakers'expectations. This paper first shows that policy has been smoothestand comparable to that in other countries in the period of inflationtargeting with Bank of England control of interest rates since1997. It then uses the remarkably detailed evidence availablefrom the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee to evaluatethe relevance of the various explanations of smoothing for theUK in this period. The paper concludes that the explanationof interest rate smoothing should be sought primarily in theserial correlation of shocks, together with some minor and short-terminfluences from uncertainty, while the other explanations turnout to be not relevant.     

Testing the limits of privatization: Argentine railroads

Just how far can privatization be pushed, and with what consequences? Based on a study of Argentine railroads, this paper concludes that even large, unprofitable firms in developing countries faced with market failures can be privatized, but the gains from doing so depend on how badly the state enterprise was performing to begin with, and the potential for introducing competition in the market and for the market. The broader lesson is that when both market failures and government failures are present, a public-private solution is preferable to a purely private or a purely public solution. Privatization is not a panacea but potentially a palliative, when it comes to reducing subsidies or coping with regulatory failures.     

Salient features of China’s monetary policy

The paper analyzes the objectives and instruments of China’s monetary policy. Until recently, China succeeded in handling the complicated problem of simultaneously curbing inflation and preventing the national currency from getting too strong in the context of a high active balance of trade. Russian monetary authorities, which are also facing the problem of surplus inflow of funds (petrodollars, loans, and investments), have been unable so far to find an effective solution. An analysis of the Chinese experience of monetary regulation and its comparison with the domestic practices suggests that the Russian monetary authorities should substantially revise their approach to maintaining a balance between the money market and the forex market. This revision would help to retard the strengthening of the ruble, to balance the pressure on prices, and to release budgetary investment resources.     

Electricity transmission pricing: The German case

This paper elucidates the German electric power market, especially the electricity transmission pricing system that has been in force since January 2000. This paper points to several distorting pricing features, as well as to grid access problems, and suggests that a regulation office should be established. Moreover, it is argued that an independent grid operator for the entire German grid would enhance its efficient operation, and thereby increase the overall efficiency of the German electric power market. In addition, the actual cost structure and calculation procedure of a German grid operator is described in some detail. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Forty-Ninth International Atlantic Economic Conference, March 14–21, 2000, Munich, Germany and the Fifty-First International Atlantic Economic Conference, March 13–20, 2001, Athens, Greece.     

碳税规制的清洁技术偏向效应研究——一个分工视角

基于迂回生产的超边际分析,文章构建一个使用中间技术（污染技术或清洁技术）迂回制造最终产品的理论模型,从分工视角研究了碳税规制（排污税或减排补贴）影响清洁技术偏向的微观机理,揭示出污染型完全分工模式、清洁型完全分工模式和过渡型完全分工模式结构对碳税规制的清洁技术偏向效应具有异质性。具体结论表明：政府实施碳税规制（排污税、减排补贴等）会对清洁技术偏向产生显著正向效应,并且在“结构跳跃”阶段带来社会福利的增加;而有利于打破污染型完全分工结构的锁定效应,推动经济结构升级至清洁型完全分工结构。文章关于环境政策激励清洁技术偏向的理论创新,对于当下的中国经济转型,特别是从污染技术的分工结构转向清洁技术主导的分工结构具有现实的指导意义。