On the measurement of investment types: Heterogeneity in corporate tax elasticities

This paper contributes to debates about the appropriate characterisation of heterogeneous investment types and to what extent different investment motives affect the responsiveness to corporate taxation. In particular, we employ and refine a methodology to better evaluate the tax elasticity of investment types. Using a combination of both firm‐specific information and sector‐specific information from input–output tables, we discuss how to classify investment as non‐related, horizontal, vertical and complex types. First, we point out to what extent the resulting classification depends on assumptions made by the researcher. Second, we employ an ample set of classifications and find that non‐related investment reacts stronger to corporate taxation, whereas horizontal investment is less responsive, though, significant negative tax semi‐elasticities turn out for the subset of manufacturing industries. To address inherent characteristics of vertical and complex investment, we extend the methodology and find that, by and large, stronger business motives reduce the tax responsiveness of investment to a larger extent. Given the current debates about substantial corporate tax reforms, it is all the more important to recognise that corporate tax effects can vary fundamentally between countries, driven by country‐specific differences in their composition of industries and investment types.     

The impact structure of social capital on corporate performance: Empirical evidence from listed companies in China

Vertical relationships with the government, particular relational capital and organizational social network capital, constitute corporate social capital (CSC). Using the empirical data of 97 listed companies in China, this paper examines the impact of CSC on corporate performance, finds that CSC has a positive impact on sales revenue but an insignificant impact on the improvement of ROA. More specifically, when a firm enlarges its sales revenue, the function of organizational network capital is stronger than that of a particular relational capital and that of governmental connections. The paper also finds that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have more advantages in using governmental connections, therefore leading to better social status than non-SOEs do, who have fewer advantages in using any particular relational capital. The article suggests that managers should appraise carefully the effectiveness of CSC, and combine it with other resources; firms should distinguish the structure of the impact of CSC on performance improvement in a dynamic way. With respect to the implication of this paper, it could help in analyzing firm behaviors in the transitional China. Translated from paper in International Symposium on Entrepreneur Research and Education, 2006, April (in Chinese)     

Fiscal incentives and local tax competition: Evidence from China

This paper explores how fiscal incentives affect capital tax decisions by local governments in the Chinese context. We develop a model in which local governments, facing different fiscal incentives, compete for mobile capital over corporate taxes. The key prediction of the model, borne out in data from Chinese cities over the years 2004–13, is that an increase in the local corporate income tax-sharing ratio, proxying local fiscal incentives, makes city governments’ horizontal tax reactions stronger. Our results contribute to the fiscal federalism literature by providing evidence in support of the argument that fiscal incentives faced by local governments significantly shape their policy choices. Additionally, we provide explicit evidence on local tax competition within provinces in China, which has long been regarded as one of the driving forces of China's rapid economic growth.     

关于完善我国地方税体系的探讨

地方税体系是相对于中央税体系而言的 ,它是地方政府筹集财政收入的重要来源 ,也是地方政府履行社会经济管理职能的重要手段之一。我国 1994年实行的分税制改革 ,基本上奠定了地方税体系的基础。但是从规范的市场经济体制所要求的标准及实行分税制以来实践来看 ,我国目前的分税制体制仍不规范、不科学 ,现行的地方税体系中也存在着一系列的问题 ,必须在实践中不断加以改革和调整。     

管理者过度自信与企业投资行为异化——来自我国证券市场的证据

Based on data of A-shares listed companies in China, this paper studies the relationship between managerial overconfidence and firms’ overinvestment behaviors. We first define a manager as an overconfident one if his or her compan’s announced earnings forecast is higher than its actual earnings at least once in 2002–2004. After controlling such factors as growing opportunity, size, etc., we find that overconfident managers tend to over-invest and their overinvestment behaviors have higher sensitivity to cash flow generated by financing activities. In other word, when their firms obtain an abundant cash flow from financing activities, overconfident managers will over-invest, or vise versa. Contrary to other relevant studies, we find that the sensitivity between over-investment and free cash flow has little to do with managerial overconfidence. Robustness testing is conducted to verify the reliability of our conclusions. We also use “whether top managers increase their holdings of company shares within the observation period” as a substitute variable for managerial overconfidence and run the tests again, and the results are consistent with the above. Finally, findings of this paper indicate that it is necessary for firms to establish a scientific and rigorous investment managing mechanism. Translated and revised from Nankai Guanli Pinglun 南开管理评论 (Nankai Business Review), 2008, (2): 77–83     

The demand for safe assets in emerging economies and global imbalances: New empirical evidence

Recent economic theory has singled out mismatches between the supply and the demand of safe financial assets in emerging countries as drivers of international capital flows and, ultimately, global current account imbalances. This paper assesses empirically the contribution of such “search for safe assets” to the size and composition of emerging economies’ international asset portfolios. Excess demand for safe assets in financially less‐developed countries would imply that these countries hold disproportionately high shares of their total portfolios in foreign assets. Moreover, financially less‐developed countries would hold disproportionately high shares of their foreign portfolios in financially developed countries, which are the major producers of ostensibly safe assets. This paper finds little empirical support for these predictions. Financially less‐developed countries allocate a larger proportion of their total holdings to domestic assets. Even when focusing on their foreign portfolios, there is no evidence of a general bias towards the assets of financially developed countries. Overall, asset mismatches do not appear to explain the asset allocation of financially less‐developed countries.     

安徽省税收对就业影响的实证分析

就业一直是热点问题,而税收对就业的作用不可忽视.从税收对劳动供给和需求的影响两方面出发,探索构造税收与就业的良性循环机制.结合安徽省的具体情况,从税收对就业水平和结构优化两方面进行实证分析,得出结论：企业所得税和出口退税对就业无影响,经济水平和个人所得税对社会有负影响,流转税对社会有正影响,且税收能优化就业结构.最后,提出结构性减税、优惠政策、对外开放和引领保障就业的建议.     

Trade,foreign direct investments (FDI) and income inequality: Empirical evidence from transition countries

The aim of the article is to verify whether trade and inward foreign direct investments (FDI) may affect income distribution in a sample of 17 Transition Countries (TCs) over the period 1990–2006. In line with most of the previous literature, FDI do not have significant effects on income inequalities, whereas trade, especially when occurs with developed countries, seems to be more relevant. Different results are found when we take into consideration the educational system which represents an important channel through which FDI and trade may affect inequality.     

The true art of the tax deal: Evidence on aid flows and bilateral double tax agreements

Of a total of 2,976 double tax agreements (DTA s), some 60% are signed between a developing and a developed economy. As DTA s shift taxing rights from capital‐importing to capital‐exporting countries, the latter inherently benefit more from the agreements. In this paper, we argue that capital exporters use foreign aid to incite capital importers into signing DTA s. We demonstrate in a theoretical model that in a deal, one country does not trump the other, but that the deal must be mutually beneficial. In the case of an asymmetric DTA , this requires compensation from the capital‐exporting country to the capital‐importing country. Examining DTA s that are signed between donor and recipient countries between 1991 and 2012, and using a fixed effects Poisson model, we find that bilateral foreign aid commitments increase by 22% in the year of the signature of a DTA . Evaluated at the sample mean, this translates into around US$ six million additional aid commitments in a DTA signatory year.     

House prices and immovable property tax: Evidence from OECD countries

This paper studies the impact of changes in immovable property tax revenues on the growth rate of house prices by analysing a panel of 34 OECD countries over the period 1970–2014. Starting from the annual series of immovable property tax revenues, we isolate years of significant shifts in the property tax regime and study their impact on house prices. We find a strong negative relationship between increases in immovable property tax revenues and house prices. This relationship is robust to the inclusion of cyclical determinants of house prices, country and year fixed effects, and country‐specific linear trends. We also propose an instrumental variable strategy based on countries’ legal origins that confirms a statistically significant negative impact of such taxes in the short run.     

Location-based tax incentives and entrepreneurial activities: evidence from Western Regional Development Strategy in China

Small Business Economics - This paper investigates the effect of location-based tax incentives on local economy through attracting entrepreneurial activities in the context of China. We exploit the...     

Salience theory and mutual fund flows: Empirical evidence from China

Using a sample of Chinese mutual funds during 2004–2020, we provide empirical evidence on the salience theory, which argues that individuals' decision weights on risky asset choices are distorted in favor of salient payoffs. Specifically, we document robust and casual impacts of funds' salience theory values on their future flows. The impacts are not explained by investors' attention-driven purchases, funds' lottery-like features, or the characteristics of funds' underlying stocks. Further tests show that the impacts are larger for funds with more shares held by individual investors and are more pronounced when investor sentiment is higher.     

Business group effects on the R&D intensity-internationalization relationship: Empirical evidence from India

We complement the resource-based view of the firm with agency theory in order to explore the link between R&D intensity and degree of internationalization of firms affiliated to Indian business groups. Results from the two-stage least squares panel regression estimation indicate research intensity is positively associated with the firm’s degree of internationalization. The relationship is strengthened by the concentration of ownership by family and affiliated business group firms, the board of directors’ professionalization, the wedge between voting and cash-flow rights, and the board interlocks of professional directors; but weakened by the board interlocks of family directors. Implications are discussed.     

外国直接投资对我国税收贡献及影响的实证分析

在实证分析外国直接投资对我国各项税收总额及关税的定量贡献的基础上,采用行业分析的方法分析了外国直接投资对我国税收贡献的现状及存在的问题。本文认为虽然外国直接投资极大地促进了我国涉外税收、各项税收总额以及关税的增长,但给予其税收优惠也在一定程度上侵蚀了我国的税基,减少了税收收入。有必要分步骤地进行现有税收制度改革,最终统一内外资企业的税收制度。     

投资促进在FDI中的作用——基于中国的实证研究

使用2003-2008年43个国家的面板数据,采用是否签署双向投资促进合作谅解备忘录作为投资促进的代理变量,使用个体固定效应面板模型研究中国投资促进对FDI流入和流出的影响。实证结果显示,合作谅解备忘录签署对中国与OECD国家双向FDI流入产生正向显著影响,而中国同非OECD国家间FDI双向流动未受到其正向显著影响。在此基础上,对制定OECD国家和非OECD国家的投资促进政策分别提出了相关建议。     

Determinants of Bank Profitability in a Developing Economy: Empirical Evidence from the China Banking Sector

The Chinese banking sector has undergone noteworthy financial reforms, which significantly metamorphosed the banking system. This article seeks to examine the determinants of the profitability of the Chinese banking sector. The empirical analysis is confined to the four State Owned Commercial Banks (SOCBs) and the 12 Joint Stock Commercial Banks (JSCBs) during the postreform period of 2000–2007. The empirical findings of this study suggest that size, credit risk, and capitalization are positively related to the profitability of China banks, whereas liquidity, overhead costs, and network embeddedness have negative impacts. However, the impact of liquidity is not uniform across bank types. We find that the SOCBs with higher level of liquidity tend to be relatively more profitable, which could be vindicated by the significant amount of lending to the State Owned Enterprises. The impact of economic growth and inflation are always positive whether we examine the SOCB or the JSCB.     

美国资产证券化的发展及中国的借鉴

20世纪70年代以来,资产证券化在美国呈现加速发展的趋势.住房按揭贷款支持证券以及由此派生出来的大量衍生金融工具的迅速发展,不仅推动了美国房地产市场的繁荣,也极大地促进了国际金融市场的发展.然而,美国次贷危机表明,必须高度重视资产证券化的风险管理,防止金融衍生工具的滥用.中国要从美国资产证券化的发展历程中借鉴经验,吸取教训,加强风险管理,促进资产证券化的稳健发展.     

Ultimate ownership,risk-taking and firm value: evidence from China

This article investigates the relationship among ultimate ownership, risk-taking and firm value using firm-level data from Chinese companies. The results indicate that dominant ultimate controlling shareholders exacerbate the agency problem. The larger the divergence between ultimate shareholder’s control rights and cash flow rights, the stronger motivation is to reduce corporate risk-taking (CRT) to safeguard private benefits. Furthermore, the presence of a dominant ultimate controlling shareholder is harmful to firm value, and the divergence between its control right and cash flow right has a significantly negative effect on firm value. Corporate risk-taking plays a significant mediating effect between ultimate controlling shareholder and firm value. Based on these results based on theory and practice, we propose a number of practical implications for managers.     

Toward a model of governance and legality in transforming economies: Empirical evidence from China

This article develops and empirically examines a model of governance and legality of organizations in countries under significant system transformation. While previous research has focused on issues of governance structures, this study suggests that organizational legality is equally important. An analysis of survey data from 127 Chinese managers demonstrates that governance and legality are distinct dimensions. We suggest that an application of this empirically corroborated model to other transformational economies may reveal different configurations of the organizational field, mirror contrasting reform strategies, and indicate the possibility for alternative routes of organizational transformation. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Distributional effects of environmental taxes on transportation: evidence from Engel curves in the United States

Indirect taxes on transportation activities that pollute can correct externalities and close the gaps between private and social costs. However, policy makers often find such Pigou taxes difficult to implement because of political resistance due to possibly adverse affects on equity. For this reason it is important to assess the distributional aspects of environmental levies. This article estimates properties of the demand for transportation in parametric and non-parametric analyses of Consumer Expenditure Surveys for the United States and finds patterns in the resulting set of Engel curves. Private transportation using air flights and new cars has Engel elasticity above unity while public transportation via mass transit has Engel elasticity below unity. The findings can be interpreted in an important way since they show that a differentiated scheme of environmental taxes on transportation may function progressively. A Pigou scheme with larger taxes on modes of transportation that pollute more appears to coincide with larger levies on luxury modes preferred by richer households.