Empirical evidence on payment media costs and switch points

This paper recovers micro cost schedules of consumers’ payment instruments from aggregate transaction costs. We assume that only two moments of the size distribution of payments matter: the number and volume of transactions. These variables explain the transaction costs of currency and debit card payments with much precision for a representative 1998 sample of Dutch retailers. The results imply that low fixed transaction costs favor currency for small transactions, while low variable transaction costs favor debit card payments for large transactions. The switch point is 30 Euros, but including the hidden costs of currency would lower it to 13 Euros.     

金融市场发展中的税收立法选择——以税收对金融市场的调控功能为核心

次贷危机的发生引起世界对金融创新风险的广泛关注。为应对这次危机,税收作为财政政策工具,为各国普遍采用。但对适用于金融交易本身的税法规则,各国却未能进行深刻的反思。为促进本国金融市场发展而不断调低对金融交易的税收负担,必须经由比例原则和纳税人权利的审查而获得合理正当化的基础。减轻金融交易的税收负担对促进金融市场健康、稳定、有序发展的作用极为有限,反而在一定程度上削弱了公民权利实现的财政基础。随着金融市场从国民经济的核心演化为投机场所,各国对其课以低税负甚至免税缺乏必要的正当性。因此,对金融市场课税,应当重视的不只是其对金融市场发展的调节功能,而更应当关注税收所固有的财政收入功能,并以此为基础,遵循量能课税原则着手金融交易课税规则的构建。     

Stock exchange competition in a simple model of capital market equilibrium

This paper uses a simple model of mean-variance capital markets equilibrium with proportional transactions costs to analyze the competition of stock markets for investors. We assume that equity trading is costly and endogenize transactions costs as variables strategically influenced by stock exchanges. Among other things, the model predicts that increasing financial market correlation leads to a decrease of transaction costs, an increase in cross-border trading activity, and to a decrease in the home bias of international equity flows. These predictions are consistent with the recent evolution of international stock markets.     

Deferred Shareholder Taxation – Implementing a Neutral Business Tax in the European Union

This paper proposes the replacement of the corporate income tax by shareholder-based capital income taxation. Our proposal would guarantee investment neutrality of taxation and reduced tax compliance costs. The proposal is based on the S-base cash flow tax. Under the S-base tax, transactions within the corporate sector are not taxable and only transactions between shareholders and corporations are subject to tax. In contrast to existing S-base cash flow tax systems, tax deductibility of investments is deferred. Rather, the acquisition costs and capital endowments are compounded at the capital market rate and are set off against future capital gains. Dividends and withdrawals are fully taxable at the shareholder level. Because of the deferral of the tax payments our proposal is called ‘Deferred Shareholder Tax’ (DST). The DST exhibits the same neutrality properties as the traditional cash flow tax. Moreover, the compounded inter-temporal credit method ensures that it is neutral with respect to the decision between domestic and foreign investment. To increase acceptance of the DST, current taxpayers’ documentation requirements will be reduced rather than extended. Our proposal could be realised in a single EU country or in all member states of the EU.     

Transaction costs in an illiquid order‐driven market

Transaction costs in many international equity markets are much larger than those in the USA. This raises questions such as what trade size these reported trading costs relate to and whether investors can reduce trading costs by timing their trades. We show, using data from the order‐driven New Zealand market, that transaction costs are frequently lower for larger trades, particularly in small stocks, and investors are able to reduce costs by timing their transactions. While investors who require immediate execution incur transaction costs that are much higher than reported average costs, patient investors can trade at much better rates.     

加强对关联交易的税务管理

近年来,随着市场经济的发展,关联企业间的关联交易行为越来越普遍,给税务管理带来了巨大的挑战。本文对关联交易税务管理中存在的问题进行分析,在了解关联交易税务管理存在的主要问题的基础上,提出了完善税收制度、对重点企业的关联交易实施重点监控、充实反避税信息资料库等建议。     

Odd‐lot Costs and Taxation Influences on Stock Dividend Ex‐dates

Abstract:   Past research has revealed significant abnormal ex‐date returns for stock dividends even though the ex‐date is known in advance and the distribution contains no new information. Various researchers have suggested that the higher transaction cost of selling odd‐lot share parcels compared to round‐lot share parcels is a key driver in the abnormal returns. However, no study to date has directly compared the ex‐date price reaction of stock dividends distributed when odd‐lot transaction costs were charged to those issued when odd‐lot costs were not evident. As odd‐lot trade costs were eliminated from the New Zealand Stock Exchange on 1 October, 1991, the New Zealand market provides a unique opportunity to directly test the role, if any, that odd‐lot transactions costs have in explaining stock dividend ex‐date returns. We find that prior to October 1991 stock dividend ex‐dates exhibit significantly positive returns, however, we do not find any significant ex‐date return once the higher odd‐lot transaction costs were removed. The New Zealand market also enables us to examine an imputation tax based argument of the ex‐date price reaction and we find evidence that imputation tax credits have a value greater than zero.     

Evidence on the Benefits of Alternative Mortgage Products

Alternative mortgage products have been identified by many as culprits in the financial crisis. However, because of their lower initial mortgage payments relative to loan amount, they may be a valuable tool for households that expect higher and more certain future labor income, and that wish to smooth consumption over the life‐cycle. Using U.K. household‐level panel data, this paper provides evidence in support of this hypothesis and highlights other important benefits of alternative mortgages, including portfolio diversification, tax benefits, and a reduction in the transaction costs incurred in housing transactions.     

我国税收征管制度变迁的路径选择——基于税收征纳交易费用的分析

与发达国家相比,我国征税费用过高;不同地区间税收征收成本差别较大;征税费用与纳税费用的比例不平衡并经常相互转化;由"寻租"、"设租"导致的税款流失严重。这些现象说明,我国的税收征蚋交易费用还不够合理。建议通过推进征纳系统的信息化、组织结构的扁平化、征税流程的精细化等有效措施,来实现我国以节约税收征纳交易费用为导向的税收征管制度变迁。     

我国股权转让所得税法存在的问题与改进

企业股权转让所得的确认,特别是如何确认其中具有股息性质的持有收益部分,是当前我国税收实践中的一个极富争议问题.鉴于其识别与计量上的困难,各国税法上都没有单独确认股权转让中的持有收益.我国现行税法关于股权转让中持有收益的计量方式存在明显的缺陷,原因在于忽视了其适用的内在约束条件,也与我国日益普遍化、市场化的股权转让实践之间出现脱节.应修改现行法规,建立更加科学、合理的企业股权转让所得计税规则.     

Taxation and Integrated Financial Markets: The Challenges of Derivatives and Other Financial Innovations

The past decade has witnessed the explosive growth of a multiplicity of new instruments which have altered the financial landscape. These transactions have highlighted many of the inconsistencies, asymmetries and shortcomings of current tax practices and challenged some basic tax principles. The ensuing uncertainties could over the long term place considerable strain on the tax system by increasing the opportunities for abuse and raising overall compliance costs. At the same time derivatives have provided a better understanding of the operation tax laws and from this standpoint have provided a positive input into policy design. This paper has three objectives: (a) to illustrate some of the weaknesses of the current tax system by focusing on several types of novel transaction; (b) to assess the validity of various types of adjustment proposed to tax code; (c) to draw out the implications of these developments for the ongoing debate over fundamental tax reforms and over source versus residence based taxes.     

Taxing transactions in futures markets: Objectives and effects

In the last few years various legislative proposals have been made to impose a transaction or excise tax on securities and derivative market transactions. Although there have been considerable discussion and analysis of the wisdom of imposing such a tax on securities markets, there has been no analysis of the pros and cons of extending the tax to futures markets. This article attempts to fill this gap, first, by examining the various rationales advanced to support a tax on securities markets to determine their applicability to futures markets and, second, by analyzing the likely effects of the tax on the competitiveness and efficiency of futures markets. In addition, the revenue-raising potential of a tax on futures transactions is evaluated. I conclude that a tax on futures markets will not achieve any important social objective and will not generate much revenue.     

Securities Transaction Tax and Market Efficiency: Evidence from the Japanese Experience

This study examines the effect of transaction costs on the time series behavior of stock returns over a period surrounding the April 1989 changes in tax rates on securities transactions and capital gains in Japan. We find significant decreases in estimates of the first-order autocorrelation in returns for Japanese stocks listed in Japan, but no changes for Japanese stocks dually listed in the United States as American Depository Receipts (ADRs), which were not subject to the tax law change. We also find lower price basis between the ADRs and their underlying Japanese stocks. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that a reduction in transaction costs improves the efficiency of the price discovery process.

The Role of Acquisitions in Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from the U.S. Stock Market

This paper examines foreign direct investment by studying shareholder wealth gains for 1273 U.S. firms acquired during the period 1970-1987. Three findings stand out. First, cross-border takeovers are more frequent in research and development intensive industries than are domestic acquisitions; furthermore, in three-fourths of cross-border transactions the buyer and seller are in related industries. These industry patterns suggest that costs and imperfections in product markets play an important role in foreign direct investment. Second, targets of foreign buyers have significantly higher wealth gains than do targets of U.S. firms. This cross-border effect is comparable in size to the wealth effects of all-cash and multiple bids, two effects receiving substantial attention in the finance literature, and is robust to inclusion of these two variables. Third, while the cross-border effect on wealth gains is not well explained by industry and tax variables, it is positively related to the weakness of the U.S. dollar, indicating a significant role for exchange rate movements in foreign direct investment.     

Transaction costs, quality, and economies of scale: examining contracting choices in the hospital industry

This study examines make or buy decisions for 196 hospitals in the United States using transaction costs as the basis for analysis. We examine the potential effects of quality and economies of scale on these decisions. We find evidence to support the view that transaction costs, quality and economies of scale play an important role in the integration decision and that this role depends on whether the transaction is industry-specific or generic in nature. This study examines the contracting choices of many firms across multiple transactions with a significantly larger data set than previous work in the area.     

关联交易对上市公司盈余质量的影响分析——基于沪市A股上市公司的经验研究

随着国内资本市场的发展,关联交易的规模也在不断扩大,表现出交易频率高、涉及金额大的特点。关联交易具有正反两面的效应,即既可以降低交易成本、提高经营效率,又可以成为上市公司盈余管理的手段。本文主要从盈余动机的角度出发,以近三年沪市A股上市公司为研究样本,研究结果表明,我国上市公司的关联交易规模呈逐年上升趋势,且存在明显配股动机。关联交易会对盈余质量产生显著影响,且这种影响随关联交易规模的扩大表现出先上升后下降的的趋势。     

Why are social network transactions important? Evidence based on the concentration of key suppliers and customers in China

Based on a new institutional economy framework, this study examines the formation and economic consequences of social networks (guanxi) from the perspective of key suppliers and customers in China. Results show that commercial activities which depend on networks are determined by the institutional environment. For example, companies that have lower accumulated social capital (less trust among people) and are subject to more government invention depend more on social network transactions than on the market. In addition, this study shows that network transactions can provide benefits to firms, especially in weak institutional environments. Networks can reduce transaction costs by reducing information asymmetry, i.e., increased network dependence is associated with lower credit costs and lower advertising and sales costs. Networks can also reduce the effect of industry shocks, especially negative shocks, by creating a bonding mechanism. This study contributes to our understanding of social networks in emerging markets by providing evidence on network transactions with key suppliers and customers and their influence on firms’ accounting behavior.     

Avoiding Taxes at Any Cost: The Economics of Tax-Deferred Real Estate Exchanges

This study examines the role tax-deferred exchanges play in the determination of reservation and transaction prices in U.S. commercial real estate markets. Taxpayers face significant time constraints when seeking to complete a delayed tax-deferred exchange. In a perfectly competitive market, a weakened bargaining position would not affect the transaction price. However, in illiquid, highly segmented commercial real estate markets, the exchanger may be required to pay a premium for the acquired property relative to its fair market value. Using a unique and rich dataset of commercial property transactions, we find that tax-motivated exchange buyers pay significantly more, on average, than non-exchange investors for their apartment and office properties, all else equal. Moreover, these average price premiums generally exceed the tax deferral benefits investors obtain by the use of a tax-deferred exchange. This result is robust to a number of alternative specifications. Thus, for many investors the pursuit of tax avoidance comes at a steep price.     

The value of dividends: Evidence from cum-dividend trading in the ex-dividend period

What is the market value of a dollar of fully franked dividends? We address this question by exploiting a new phenomenon in the Australian capital market—the trading of shares cum-dividend during the ex-dividend period. This allows a relatively clean measurement of the combined value of dividends and the associated tax effects net of transactions costs. Consistent with the theoretical model that we develop, the evidence from this sample is that one dollar of fully franked dividends, after tax effects and transaction costs, is worth significantly more than one dollar. We also show that, in contrast to our measure, the traditional measure of the ex-dividend price drop-off, based on close to close prices, has a lower average value and exhibits substantially more cross sectional variation.     

Estimating bid-ask spread components: Specialist versus multiple market maker systems

This paper tests two competing hypotheses concerning the relationship between adverse selection costs on NASDAQ versus specialist-dominated exchanges. We reject the hypothesis that specialist-dominated exchanges have smaller adverse selection costs than exchanges with multiple market makers. We provide direct evidence on the timing differences between closing transactions and quotes as well as evidence on the extent of nontrading on the AMEX and NYSE but cannot reject the hypothesis that adverse selection costs are a function of average transaction size (which is generally larger on the AMEX and NYSE). We also provide insight into institutional differences across exchanges and the ISSM data base.