Asset Efficiency and Reallocation Decisions of Bankrupt Firms

This paper investigates whether Chapter 11 bankruptcy provides a mechanism by which insolvent firms are efficiently reorganized and the assets of unproductive firms are effectively redeployed. We argue that incentives to reorganize depend on the level of demand and industry conditions. Using plant-level data, we find that Chapter 11 status is much less important than industry conditions in explaining the productivity, asset sales, and closure conditions of Chapter 11 bankrupt firms. This suggests that firms that elect to enter into Chapter 11 incur few real economic costs.     

假如银行倒闭了……

在中国,我们已经有了银行倒闭和金融机构被关闭的历史。海南发展银行、中银信托、中农信、中创信托以及大批信用合作社就曾经一个个地“前仆后继”。     

投资到南非

中国企业家的又一投资机会 南非今天经济的发展,得益于大量的外资投入.在受到国际社会的严厉制裁之前,由于南非丰富的矿藏、完备的基础设施、先进的金融体制、英国式的法律政治制度及与西方世界的历史和文化联系,加上取之不尽的黑人廉价劳动力,使得南非成为西方资本的投资天堂.二战后至20世纪70年代初,外资在南非的收益率一直在20%～27%之间,高出在非洲其他国家收益的3～4倍,比在世界其他地区多50%～80%.20世纪80年代,由于国际制裁,大量外资撤资,南非经济受到沉重打击.     

Investing in a relationship

A principal can make an investment anticipating a repeated relationship with an agent, but the agent may appropriate the returns through ex post bargaining. I study how this holdup problem and efficiency depend on the contracting environment. When investment returns are observable, informal contracts ex post can be more efficient than formal contracts, as they induce higher investment ex ante: the principal invests not only to generate direct returns, but also to improve relational incentives. Unobservability of returns increases the principal's ability to appropriate the returns but reduces her ability to improve incentives. The optimal information structure depends on bargaining power.     

Investing in the size factor

This paper investigates the role of the size factor for constructing investment portfolios and proposes a dynamic extension that accommodates the risk-free asset and time-varying weights. These weights are determined by a set of state variables given by the term structure of sovereign interest rates, variables describing market risk aversion such as the VIX index and the CRB Industrial return, and indexes reflecting investor sentiment towards the economic outlook. The empirical section explores the suitability of these state variables and analyses the out-of-sample performance of size factors idiosyncratic to the US, the UK and European financial markets that are compared against the dynamic version that optimizes the weights in each period. The results provide support to the different size factors except for periods of economic distress in which the optimal dynamic strategies are clearly superior.     

慎投印度高铁

在日前举行的第二次中印战略经济对话中,中印双方决定设立基础设施工作组,主管两国的高铁合作项目。对印度而言,与中国开展高铁合作所带来的潜在利益不言而喻。目前印度的基础设施在全球竞争力指数中仅排名第91位,其电力、交通、通信等领域暴露出的问题早已为世人所知。     

艺术品,未来的投资之王?

“这几年艺术品投资比任何其他投资的回报都高,有的几年时间可以翻几百倍,我个人做什么都赔过钱．但投资艺术品从没赔过钱。几年前,有个台湾收藏家,给了我5张范曾的画,借了30万,后来钱没还,画就给我了,现在不到10年,这些画,一张就值80万。”     

Investing in equity mutual funds

We construct optimal portfolios of equity funds by combining historical returns on funds and passive indexes with prior views about asset pricing and skill. By including both benchmark and nonbenchmark indexes, we distinguish pricing-model inaccuracy from managerial skill. Modest confidence in a pricing model helps construct portfolios with high Sharpe ratios. Investing in active mutual funds can be optimal even for investors who believe managers cannot outperform passive indexes. Optimal portfolios exclude hot-hand funds even for investors who believe momentum is priced. Our large universe of funds offers no close substitutes for the Fama-French and momentum benchmarks.     

Investing in the turn-of-the-year effect

The January effect is concerned with high stock returns in January, especially by small cap stocks. Transactions costs, especially price pressures, make it difficult to take advantage of this anomaly. However, these costs are minimal in the futures markets. This paper discusses the results of small minus large capitalized US stocks since futures trading began in 1982. There is some anticipation of the effect and in the futures markets; the anomaly still exists but is now totally in December.     

巴林银行倒闭谁是罪魁祸首?

巴林银行倒闭虽过去很久,但对于我国金融业的发展仍具有深刻的警示意义。     

企业破产重整中债权人利益保护研究

2007年6月1日起施行的《中华人民共和国企业破产法》确立了企业破产重整制度,既为债权人实现债权提供了新的途径,又为债权人维护债权带来了重大影响。加强对破产重整中债权人利益保护机制的研究,在充分吸收和借鉴国外先进经验的基础上,进一步完善我国的企业破产重整制度及债权人利益保护机制,具有重要的理论价值和实践意义。本文在对企业破产重整中债权人利益保护的必要性进行分析的基础上,结合其他国家和地区破产重整法律制度,对我国企业破产重整制度在债权人权益维护方面具有的制度优势以及存在的不足及问题进行了分析评价,对完善我国企业破产重整中债权人利益保护制度提出了相应的建议。     

21世纪投资技巧

21世纪,人们的钱逐渐多了起来,于是对未来生活、生存和发展的投资必须做出适当的选择。如今,搞投资、玩股票,已经不能再靠单纯的有钱和消息来保证不败了。中国也会有越来越多的人可以玩玩财富与投资的游戏了。那么如何实现投资收益的最大化呢?这的确需要掌握一些投资技巧。请看     

Investing in Europe Better German Stocks

As the Euro-zone strives for stabilizing and recovering, there＇s no better time to invest in German stock market.     

Trading and Investing in Volatility Products

Since the banking crisis the market for volatility exchange‐traded products has developed rapidly as it opens to clients beyond the large institutional investor pool. Speculation is driven by increasingly complex leveraged and inverse exposures including those that attempt to trade on significant roll costs in volatility futures curves. Longer‐term investors use these products for the purposes of equity diversification, driven by fears of an ongoing Eurozone crisis. We survey the burgeoning academic literature in this area and present a comprehensive and up‐to‐date comparison of the market and statistical characteristics of European and US exchange‐traded volatility products.     

ESG Investing in Graham & Doddsville

The author describes how and why the world's best “business value investors” have long incorporated environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into their investment decision‐making. As the main source of value in companies has increasingly shifted from tangible to intangible assets, many followers of Graham & Dodd have delivered exceptional investment results by taking an “earnings‐power” approach to identifying high‐quality businesses—businesses with enduring competitive advantages that are sustained through significant ongoing investment in their core capabilities and, increasingly, their important non‐investor “stakeholders.” While the ESG framework may be relatively new, it can be thought of as providing a lens through which to view the age‐old issue of “quality.” Graham & Dodd's 1934 classic guide to investing, Security Analysis, and Phil Fisher's 1958 bestseller, Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, both identify a number of areas of analysis that would today be characterized as ESG. Regardless of whether they use the labels “E,” “S,” and “G,” investors who make judgments about earnings power and sustainable competitive advantage are routinely incorporating ESG considerations into their decision‐making. The challenge of assessing a company's sustainable competitive advantage requires analysis based on concepts such as customer franchise value, as well as intangibles like brands and intellectual property. For corporate managers communicating ESG priorities, and for investors analyzing ESG issues, the key is to focus on their relevance to the business. In this sense, corporate reporting on sustainability issues should be viewed as analogous to and an integral part of financial reporting, with a management focus on materiality and relevance (while avoiding a “promotional” approach) that is critical to credibility.     

投资债券,一种理性选择

全球债券市场正在发生一系列重大变化，特别是现代信息技术的日新月异、资本流动的全球化、机构投资者的迅速崛起、交易产品的衍生化等浪潮，对债券结算和结算机构也产生了深刻的影响，在这种大背景下，中国的证券市场如何发展？为此，前不久．本刊记者就债券市场的发展采访了中央结算公司总经理吕世蕴。