Exploring the causal effect of religious piety on dividend policy: evidence from historical religious identification

Theory suggests that religious piety is associated with greater risk aversion and more conservative financial policies. Returns to shareholders through dividends are much more certain than returns through capital gains expected to be realized far into the future. We hypothesize that religious piety leads to a higher likelihood of dividend payments. We exploit the variation in religious piety across the US counties and estimate the effect of religion on dividend policy. To draw a causal inference, we use historical religious piety in 1971 as the instrument. Our two-stage least squares results confirm that religious piety induces firms to pay larger dividends.     

The effect of religious piety on managerial entrenchment: evidence from entrenched boards of directors

Prior research shows that religious piety is linked to honesty and risk-aversion. Religious piety alleviates the agency conflict by lessening the motivation for managers to exploit shareholders. Because of its role in mitigating the agency conflict, we argue that religious piety influences corporate governance arrangements. We exploit the variation in religious piety across U.S. counties and show that religious piety significantly influences the probability that a firm has an entrenched (staggered) board of directors. In particular, firms located in an area with stronger religious piety are significantly less likely to have a staggered board. This negative effect, however, is significant only when the degree of religiosity is higher than a certain threshold. Further analysis reveals that our results are unlikely confounded by endogeneity. Our results are especially interesting as they demonstrate that non-financial attributes, such as religious piety, has a significant influence on one of the most crucial governance mechanisms, i.e. the board of directors.     

Economic policy uncertainty and mergers and acquisitions: Evidence from China

This study examines the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in China. Using all listed Chinese companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges as well as 4188 ​M&A deals from the period of 2001–2018, we show that Chinese firms are more likely to make acquisitions during periods of high economic policy uncertainty, which contradicts the behavior of US firms. We further show that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are less likely than non-SOEs to make acquisitions during periods of high economic policy uncertainty. SOEs are less likely to use only cash for their acquisitions during periods of high economic policy uncertainty. These results indicate the prudence of SOEs regarding acquisitions relative to non-SOEs during periods of high economic policy uncertainty. Moreover, acquisitions during periods of high economic policy uncertainty are associated with an increase in shareholder wealth for acquirers, and this wealth effect is more pronounced for SOEs.     

Credit supply,post-acquisition performance and financial constraints

We study the effect of credit supply on the acquisition behaviour of financially constrained (FC) and financially unconstrained (UC) firms. FC firms are likely to conduct acquisitions when credit supply is greater while UC firms can conduct acquisitions whenever a good opportunity arises. We argue that the flexibility unconstrained firms have is valuable. Our empirical results indicate that UC firms outperform FC firms up to 36 months after the acquisition. We also find that increased credit supply increases the probability of conducting mergers and acquisitions (M&As) for FC firms while it has less impact on M&A behaviour of UC firms.     

Acquiring nanotechnology capabilities: role of mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are an important but unstudied aspect of nanotechnology's evolution. This paper uses case review and bibliometric analysis to examine 20 M&As involving acquired firms in the nanotechnology domain. The guiding proposition is that acquired firms provide complementarities to the acquiring firms. Key measures given consideration include the nature of the post-acquisition organisation, whether the pre-acquisition geographic location is retained, the purpose of the acquisitions as indicated in news releases, and the extent of similarity in research publications and patents. Differences by the country of the acquiring firm and sub-industry are noted. Within the limitations of the case study approach, the results suggest that acquired firms in the nanotechnology domain provide complementary capabilities to their acquirers.     

中国企业海外并购失败了吗?

本文运用市场模型、FF3FM模型和事件研究的基本方法评估1994—2009年中国157个企业海外并购事件的短期和中长期绩效。结果显示,尽管外界对海外并购绩效看法各异,中国企业海外并购事件公告日的市场绩效明显为正,反映了市场对中国企业海外并购的正面评价。从中长期的角度上看,中国企业海外并购整体上取得了非负的超常回报率(Abnormal return),体现了政府"走出去"战略的胜利开局。考虑到行业绩效差异,本文运用Fix-to-fix控制组的方法对并购中长期绩效的决定性因素进行了多元回归分析,结果显示海外并购受益于人民币升值,国有企业的并购绩效明显差于民营企业,中国海外上市公司的绩效优于内地上市的公司。     

Determinants of the acquisition of listed versus unlisted firms in different legal and institutional environments

The aim of this article is to analyse the determinants of the decision to acquire unlisted rather than listed firms in different legal and institutional environments. We estimate a probit model considering the mergers and acquisitions (M&As) announced by European listed firms (19 countries) that acquires worldwide listed or unlisted firms (36 countries) in the period 2002–2007. Our results show that managerial opportunism is a determinant in the acquisition of listed firms, occurring with greater probability in acquiring countries with low shareholder and minority shareholder protection. Information asymmetry is another relevant determinant that promotes the acquisitions of unlisted firms. Furthermore, the less developed the capital market in the country of the acquired firm, the greater the probability of acquisitions of unlisted firms. This article contributes to the M&A literature by showing that in addition to managerial opportunism and information asymmetry, the legal and institutional environments in both the acquiring and the target countries are also relevant aspects explaining the decision of whether to acquire listed or unlisted firms.     

Are public and private outlays for physical and knowledge capital accumulation equally productive?

Utility firms are subject to peculiar regulatory characteristics that may allow for unique wealth effects resulting from acquisitions. The wealth effects derived from acquisitions of utility firms is measured and the analysis reveals negative wealth effects for acquirers and positive wealth effects for targets. However, the wealth effects are generally less favorable for utility firm acquirers than other acquirer firms because of the regulatory barriers that prevent them from pursuing attractive targets.     

Acquisition through innovation tournaments in high-tech industries: a comparative perspective

Acquisition of innovative firms is a widely observed phenomenon in high-tech industries. On the basis of distinct advantages of large and small firms, in this paper, we build a tournament model with possible acquisition activity of large firms to derive hypotheses on interdependencies between acquisition frequency and post-acquisition success rates. We find empirical support for our hypotheses that (1) acquisitions increase overall innovation output and (2) that the number of acquisitions is higher in industries with larger heterogeneity between established firms and young start-ups. However, our third hypothesis derived from the formal model that innovation success following from acquisitions varies across industries is only partially confirmed.     

A concentration index for differentiated products: the case of religious competition

In the past, scholars have used a Herfindahl–Hirschman Index using denominational market shares to measure the competitiveness of religious markets. However, this approach ignores both the imperfect substitutability between denominations and the degree of competition within denominations. These two shortcomings make the current index a suspect measure of religious competition; it often falsely identifies which market micro-economists would generally consider the more competitive one. We develop a new religious competition index that incorporates intra-denominational competition and creates a ‘substitutability parameter’ to better specify the appropriate degree of inter-denominational competition. While the model developed in this article applies specifically to religious markets, our index of competition could be expanded to other economic markets where such a substitutability parameter is meaningful.     

Religious polarization,religious conflicts and individual financial satisfaction: Evidence from India

The extant literature finds religion to be a major determinant of life satisfaction. However, in contexts characterized by religious tensions, the outcome may be very different. In particular, the literature shows that religious polarization has a major influence on some economic outcomes. The analysis presented in the paper tries to identify the impact of religious polarization on a major component of life satisfaction: financial satisfaction. The paper inquires how belonging to a minority religion and living in areas with different levels of religious polarization affect the individual satisfaction with the financial situation of the household. The results show that the members of minority religious groups are less satisfied than the members of the dominant group, and that the financial satisfaction decreases—for a given income—as the religious polarization increases.     

Cross-border acquisitions: the UK experience

This paper tests a composite empirical model of cross-border acquisitions involving UK firms between 1987–1995 using panel data analysis. The empirical model includes capital market variables and regulatory variables derived from the existing literature. The results show that models that explain cross-border acquisitions through capital market imperfections are not significant. Cross-border activity has a strong relationship with the level of the UK stock market suggesting that crossborder acquisitions are, in some part, an extension of domestic activity. Corporate tax differentials also have significant impact on activity.     

收购方为什么要在兼并交易中雇用投资银行

本文考察了当兼并交易具有哪些特征时,收购方公司更可能会在兼并交易中雇用投资银行作为其兼并交易的财务顾问。研究结果表明,在下列情况下,收购方公司更有可能雇用投资银行作为其兼并交易的财务顾问：兼并交易较复杂,收购方公司的兼并交易经验不足,收购方公司仅收购目标公司部分资产或股权,兼并交易价格较高,兼并交易为敌意收购,收购方公司在金融行业运营,目标公司在很多行业经营。     

Jewish emancipation and schism: Economic development and religious change

This paper studies the impact of Jewish Emancipation and economic development on Jewish religious culture in 19th century Europe. In Germany, a liberal Reform movement developed in response to emancipation, while Ultra-Orthodox Judaism emerged in eastern Europe. We develop a historical narrative and model of religious organization that accounts for the polarized responses by Jewish communities. Our explanation is based on a tradeoff between time and money contributions. A religious organization chooses between a relatively affluent community that expends little effort on religious participation and a poorer community that devotes a large amount of time and effort to religious activity. Political and economic development shape this tradeoff in unexpected ways, leading to complex forms of behavior such as religious schisms and cycles. When preferences are transmitted intergenerationally, organizations tend to be more conservative. Our historical narrative points to further extensions of extant models of religion, as well as providing broader insights into cultural integration and religious change.     

An economic model of religious organization under oppressive regulation

This paper aims to explain the behavior of certain religious organizations in countries with severe regulation that limits the religious market, such as those under communist rule. Religious organizations in those countries sometimes choose to operate both legally and illegally. The model proposed here shows that such behavior may increase the consumer welfare of religionists compared to solely legal or illegal provision of religious services. It assumes that religious organizations maximize the consumer surplus of their adherents. The choice of a religious organization between legal and illegal provision of religious services depends on the costs of religious participation imposed by the government and the set-up costs of dual operation. As an illustration, the paper accounts for the different response of the Catholic Church to restrictions imposed by the communists in Poland and Czechoslovakia.     

Economic growth and religious production efficiency

Moral institutions, religions and ethics affect the economic development, as for example, trust and honesty are essential requirements for emerging economic activity. Religious production efficiency measure is constructed and used in economic growth regressions for 8 OECD countries. By using panel estimation methods and additionally time‐series estimations for each country, more information is gained concerning the country specific growth and religion characteristics. Empirical evidence from the panel data estimations seems to suggest that religious beliefs attain more relevance than religious attendance. Religious production efficiency, containing both belief and activity aspects, was not found statistically significant with panel data or with individiual 8 OECD countries growth model, except for Finland. Significant coefficient for Finland can be explained by referring to Finland's unique religious market properties, as the level of religious beliefs have historically been unusually high in Finland. On the other hand, attendance in religious activities has followed the typical Northern‐European decreasing trend. More exact understanding on the links between these concepts are essentially needed to better model the economic consequences of cultural, religious and moral variables.     

Pay or pray? The impact of charitable subsidies on religious attendance

The economic argument for subsidizing charitable giving relies on the positive externalities of charitable activities, particularly from the religious institutions that are the largest recipients of giving. But the net external effects of subsidies to religious giving will also depend on a potentially important indirect effect as well: impacts on religious participation. Religious participation can be either a complement to, or a substitute with, the level of charitable giving. Understanding these spillover effects of charitable giving may be quite important, given the existing observational literature that suggests that religiosity is a major determinant of well-being among Americans. In this paper, I investigate the impact of charitable subsidies on a measure of religious participation, attendance at religious services. I do so by using data over three decades from the General Social Survey, as well as confirming the impact of such subsidies on religious giving using the Consumer Expenditure Survey. I find strong evidence that religious giving and religious attendance are substitutes: larger subsidies to charitable giving lead to more religious giving, but less religious attendance, with an implied elasticity of attendance with respect to religious giving of as much as −1.1. These results have important implications for the debate over charitable subsidies. They also serve to validate economic models of religious participation.     

Core competencies,matching and the structure of foreign direct investment

We develop a matching model of foreign direct investment to study how multinational firms choose between greenfield investment, acquisitions and joint ownership. Firms must invest in a continuum of tasks to bring a product to market. Each firm possesses a core competency in the task space, but the firms are otherwise identical. For acquisitions and joint ownership, a multinational enterprise (MNE) must match with a local partner that may provide complementary expertise within the task space. However, under joint ownership, investment in tasks is shared by multiple owners and, hence, is subject to a holdup problem that varies with contract intensity. In equilibrium, ex ante identical multinationals enter the local matching market, and, ex post, three different types of heterogeneous firms arise. Specifically, the worst matches are forgone and the MNEs invest greenfield; the middle matches operate under joint ownership; and the best matches integrate via full acquisition. We link the firm‐level model to cross‐country and industry predictions and find that a greater share of full acquisitions occur between more proximate markets, in hosts with greater revenue potential and within contract‐intensive industries. Using data on partial and full acquisitions across industries and countries, we find robust support for these predictions.     

Insuring consumption and happiness through religious organizations

This paper examines whether involvement with religious organizations can help insure consumption and happiness. Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX), we find that households who contribute to a religious organization are better able to insure their consumption against income shocks. Using the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), we find that individuals who attend religious services are better able to insure their happiness against income shocks. Overall, our results suggest that religious organizations provide insurance though the form of this insurance may differ by race.     

人口流动推动了企业异地并购吗

本文以中国企业异地并购事件为研究对象,采用全国人口普查的微观数据,考察人口流动对企业并购的影响。结果表明,地级市之间流动人口的增加可以显著提高人口迁入地企业在迁出地进行并购投资的规模,且这一推动作用在高学历流动人口和从事金融行业的流动人口中更为明显。进一步研究发现,当目标公司所在地（人口迁出地）投资者保护程度越差、市场化程度越低、传统儒家文化越浓厚或当代文化包容度越低时,流动人口对企业异地并购的推动作用越强。本文揭示出流动人口可帮助企业在异地并购中消除投资壁垒,为户籍政策调整和促进企业跨区域投资提供了重要的政策启示。