AUSTRALIAN CREDIT UNIONS AND THE DEMUTUALIZATION AGENDA

ABSTRACT ** :  There is a strong prospect of widespread demutualization occurring in the Australian credit union industry in coming years. This paper explains the reasons for this phenomenon, identifies some potentially undesirable social consequences, and examines the relative merits of alternative types of demutualization process. It identifies a number of principles which warrant reflection in the design of legislation addressing demutualization processes.     

REGULATORY FORBEARANCE AND DEPOSITOR MARKET DISCIPLINE: EVIDENCE FROM SAVINGS BANKS IN KOREA

This paper investigates whether regulatory forbearance for savings banks in Korea affects the market discipline of depositors using data from 2000 to 2010, which are characterized by a series of exits of savings banks. We find that depositors' sensitivity to the savings banks' asset quality decreases when there is regulatory forbearance for failing savings banks. This forbearance effect is also observed in the behavior of the depositors of the neighboring savings banks in the same business area. These results suggest that regulatory forbearance may cause depositors to misjudge bank risks, increasing the expected costs of bank failure. (JEL G21, G28)     

COMPARATIVE EFFICIENCY BETWEEN COOPERATIVE,SAVINGS AND COMMERCIAL BANKS IN EUROPE USING THE FRONTIER APPROACH

We test competing hypotheses concerning the comparative behavior of shareholder‐owned commercial banks and stakeholder‐orientated cooperative and savings banks in European banking. One hypothesis is that the risk culture and business models of stakeholder and shareholder‐owned banks have become more alike and so cost efficiency has converged between bank ownership structures. The alternative hypothesis suggests that institutional differences do matter and lead, amongst other things, to variation in network effects and monitoring mechanisms producing differing behaviors and efficiency outcomes. By using a novel panel data set of 521 European banks during 1994–2010, we find: (i) mean inefficiency scores vary by ownership type and are lower for cooperative banks than for commercial and savings banks; (ii) there is a large variation in inefficiency scores among banks within each ownership type but the lower variance for cooperative banks indicates that they are the most homogeneous group; (iii) the inefficiency distribution of savings and commercial banks appear to arise from the same distribution, but this does not hold for cooperative banks. As such our findings are more consistent with the alternative hypothesis. Our first two findings buttress those studies that found significant differences between European banks with differing ownership structures, while our third finding on the significance of the cycle to the distribution of inefficiency is novel.     

UNDERSTANDING REGIONAL POVERTY AND INEQUALITY TRENDS IN CHINA: METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES AND EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

This paper focuses on methodological and empirical issues in analyzing regional poverty and inequality trends in China. It provides a time profile of China's regional inequality, outlines the latest development in inequality decomposition techniques, introduces six papers in this special issue of the Review , and finally offers suggestions for future research.     

UNPREPARED FOR FINANCIAL SHOCKS: EMERGENCY SAVINGS AND CREDIT CARD DEBT

We measure readiness to face emergency expenses using data from a representative survey of U.S. consumers. Our main findings are as follows: (1) there is substantial heterogeneity in financial readiness, with lowest‐income, least‐educated, unemployed, and Black consumers most likely to have $0 saved for emergency expenses; (2) the amount of emergency savings is correlated with payment choice: Less financially prepared individuals use cash more and credit cards less, compared to those with higher emergency savings; (3) while people with low emergency savings rely more on cash than credit cards, they revolve more debt, and so a financial shock is costlier for them; (4) changes in income from one year to the next do not appear to affect the likelihood of revolving on credit cards or increase the amount borrowed, although the data were collected before the COVID‐19 pandemic. For those with little or no savings and already financially vulnerable, even a temporary financial shock—an unexpected negative income shock (such as a layoff or a short‐term government shutdown) or an unexpected expenditure (such as a medical expense or a car repair)—could have severe financial consequences, exacerbated by the high cost of borrowing on credit cards. (JEL D12, D14, D15, E21)     

POLICY ISSUES AND CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENT BEHAVIOR: EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

Non-compliance with child support orders is separated into absent fathers who pay none of their obligation and those who make partial payments. This paper reports policy findings from an updated empirical study of those paying nothing. Such findings support better payment performance when the collection/ expenditure ratio is greater in a state's Child Support Enforcement Program. The paper argues that the customary approach, which combines partial payers and full payers of support, leads to misleading policy conclusions. It reports an empirical study breaking out the partial payer group and finds the impact of several policy variables to be reduced greatly for this group.     

中国行业收入差距的实证分析

本文运用扩展的基尼系数进行实证分析表明,中国行业之间收入差距的基尼系数不断扩大,国有单位行业之间的收入差距基本上与全国行业之间收入差距保持一致,城镇集体单位行业之间收入差距的基尼系数变化不大,其他单位①行业之间收入差距不仅初始值比较高,而且扩大得比较快。造成上述结果的原因,一方面来自市场机制的作用以及私有化所带来的分配不均,另一方面来自国有部门行业之间收入差距扩大的影响及其国有部门行业的垄断性质。     

AN EXAMINATION OF VOLUNTEER MOTIVATION IN CREDIT UNIONS: INFORMING VOLUNTEER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT: Volunteer recruitment and retention is a problem that most credit unions experience. Research suggests that knowledge of volunteer motivation can inform volunteer management strategies. This paper uses a survey approach to determine whether current volunteers in credit unions in Northern Ireland are more motivated by the actual act of volunteering, by the output from the volunteering activity (including altruism) or because the volunteering activity increases their human capital value. Altruistic reasons are found to be the most influential, with the act of volunteering also scoring highly. This knowledge should inform volunteer recruitment programmes and internal appraisal processes as management can reinforce messages that provide positive feedback to volunteers on the social benefits being achieved by the credit union. This will further motivate current volunteers, ensuring retention. When motivation was analyzed by volunteer characteristics we found that older volunteers, retired volunteers and volunteers who are less educated are more motivated in their role. There was little evidence that individuals volunteer to improve their human capital worth.     

FOREIGN TAKEOVERS AND NEW INVESTMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES

This study is unique in several respects. First, it reviews the characteristics of the top 10 industries targeted for foreign direct investment (FDI) activity in the United States between 1979 and 1987. It analyzes both overall FDI activity and new plant and expansion FDI activity. The study summarizes and tests alternative hypotheses regarding the determinants of FDI in the United States by all countries, by the United Kingdom, by the European Community, by Japan, and by Canada.
Large and growing product markets in an expanding economy have attracted FDI in the United States. Exchange rate movements have prompted opportunistic decisions to invest in U.S. production facilities. Investors' superior management skills appear to have prompted takeovers, while efforts to realize technological advantages of new physical capital and of relatively large operating plants have fostered plant and expansion investments.
Evidence exists that a desire to circumvent current—but not potential—trade restrictions has motivated foreign direct investment. FDI activities are not associated with concentrated or heavily unionized industries. Highly protected industries have attracted heavier equity FDI by Japan and heavier new plant FDI by all sources and Canada. No evidence exists that FDI in the United States by Japan or anyone else is targeted to undercut union-dominated firms or to arrest the spread of protectionist trade policies.     

银行业竞争、客户筛选与村镇银行二元绩效：传导机制与实证研究*

村镇银行承担着支持“三农”和发展普惠金融的重要使命,但关于银行业竞争对村镇银行经营绩效的影响及其传导机制的研究较少。利用江苏省县域村镇银行2008年至2013年的面板数据,在数理模型分析的基础上实证检验了银行业竞争对村镇银行财务绩效和社会绩效的影响。结果表明,银行业竞争显著降低了村镇银行的财务绩效,但显著提升了社会绩效。进一步分析发现,银行业竞争通过改变村镇银行市场定位和客户筛选行为的作用机制,影响村镇银行经营绩效。因此,应坚持金融改革的市场化方向并建立更加精准的补贴机制,促进村镇银行在可持续发展的同时提升社会绩效。     

FOREIGN TAKEOVERS AND NEW INVESTMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES

This study is unique in several respects. First, it reviews the characteristics of the top 10 industries targeted for foreign direct investment (FDI) activity in the United States between 1979 and 1987. It analyzes both overall FDI activity and new plant and expansion FDI activity. The study summarizes and tests alternative hypotheses regarding the determinants of FDI in the United States by all countries, by the United Kingdom, by the European Community, by Japan, and by Canada.
Large and growing product markets in an expanding economy have attracted FDI in the United States. Exchange rate movements have prompted opportunistic decisions to invest in U.S. production facilities. Investors' superior management skills appear to have prompted takeovers, while efforts to realize technological advantages of new physical capital and of relatively large operating plants have fostered plant and expansion investments.
Evidence exists that a desire to circumvent current—but not potential—trade restrictions has motivated foreign direct investment. FDI activities are not associated with concentrated or heavily unionized industries. Highly protected industries have attracted heavier equity FDI by Japan and heavier new plant FDI by all sources and Canada. No evidence exists that FDI in the United States by Japan or anyone else is targeted to undercut union-dominated firms or to arrest the spread of protectionist trade policies.     

商业信用与企业规模的负相关关系——基于关系网络的理论分析与实证检验

企业所提供的商业信用规模和企业规模之间的关系,在发达国家和发展中国家表现迥异,发达国家是正相关关系,而发展中国家是负相关关系。企业规模、关系网络和商业信用三者之间的关系是造成这一差异的主要原因。     

我国国际资本流动：直接投资 与非直接投资影响因素的比较研究

本文基于向量误差修正模型对1982-2010年期间我国直接投资类、间接投资类（含其他投资）、错误与遗漏及投资收益类三种类型国际资本流动的影响因素进行了实证研究。实证检验结果表明：在长期,我国三类国际资本流动与人民币对美元的实际汇率升贴水年率之间为负向变动关系,与中美利差、中美通胀之差、我国实际经济增长及人民币对美元的实际汇率预期之间为正向变动关系;在短期,三类国际资本流动与上述影响因素之间关系并非一致;实际经济增长是我国直接投资类国际资本流动的主要原因,人民币对美元的实际汇率预期是我国非直接投资国际资本流动的主要原因。     

人口结构和储蓄:亚洲的经验证据及其对中国的意义

生命周期储蓄是对亚洲近来出现的储蓄上升与经济增长现象的一种可能的解释.根据1952-1992年间对16个亚洲国家和地区的观察,一个国家人口的年龄构成与储蓄率之间的关系在我们重新估计的结果中,还不到HIGGINS和WILLIAMSON(1997)所报告的规模的四分之一,而他们假定滞后储蓄是外生的.但是,一般经济学常识和具体检验结果都表明,滞后储蓄很可能是内生的.尽管使用多种方法来进行估计,仍然没有发现当期储蓄与年龄构成之间存在重大的依赖关系.把一群人一生的储蓄看作是他们养育孩子的替代物,并且把导致年龄构成变化的生育下降的原因放进模型中,由此就可以对亚洲人口过渡和储蓄的一般趋势作出合理解释.     

IGNORING ECONOMICS IN DEALING WITH THE SAVINGS AND LOAN AND COMMERCIAL BANKING CRISIS

This paper describes how the government has largely ignored economics in its recent attempts to deal with the deterioration of federally insured depository institutions. The most recent example was the Financial Institutions Recovery, Reform, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) of 1989. Well documented and widely distributed studies have pointed out the decline of commercial banks. However, the FIRREA completely ignored commercial banks. The paper discusses the pervasive regulatory laxity and forbearance that existed toward banks during the 1980s despite the consequences of similar regulatory behavior toward savings and loans. The paper also shows how the FIRREA's major provisions regarding savings and loans ignore economic analyses. The paper discusses the implications of economic analysis for more appropriate government responses to the continuing deterioration of depositories.