Testing the trade credit and trade link: evidence from data on export credit insurance

Trade finance has received special attention during the financial crisis as one of the potential culprits for the great trade collapse. Several researchers have used micro level data to establish the link between trade finance and trade, especially so during the financial crisis, and have found diverting results. This paper analyses the effect of trade credit on trade on a macro level through a whole cycle. We employ Berne Union data on export credit insurance, the most extensive dataset on trade credits available at the moment, for the period of 2005–2011. Using an instrumentation strategy we can identify a significantly positive effect of insured trade credit, as a proxy for trade credits, on trade. The effect of insured trade credit on trade is very strong and remains stable over the cycle, not varying between crisis and non-crisis periods.     

An analysis of factors affecting access to credit in Lesotho's smallholder agricultural sector

The agricultural sector in Lesotho is underperforming mainly due to the inability of smallholders to move from traditional agriculture to a more scientific and technology-based one. Among the challenges inhibiting the ability of smallholders to make the step up is access to financial services, especially credit. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that may influence the ability of smallholders to access finance by making use of a logistic regression model within the principle component regression framework. The results revealed that the ability of smallholders to access finance, and the potential to make the transition towards a more scientific and technology-based agriculture sector, is influenced by the level of farm and non-farm income, remittances and pension, farm size, availability of family labour, land ownership, savings and repayment ability. The results present important information in terms of guiding institutional arrangements needed to improve credit availability in Lesotho.     

The role of information sharing in trade credit distribution: evidence from Thailand

Prior research has shown that information sharing among lenders facilitates bank credit allocation and reduces default rates. We examine the role of information sharing in trade credit allocation using a sample of publicly traded firms in Thailand over the 1994–2005 period. Taking the establishment of a private credit bureau in 1999 as signalling improvement in information sharing among lenders, we obtain three main results in the improved information sharing period: (1) Thai firms have become less dependent on supplier credit; (2) financially constrained firms redistribute more funds via trade credit; and (3) the relationships between the use of trade credit and firm‐specific factors such as liquidity, free cash flow, tangible assets, interest cost ratio, and firm size weaken as information sharing improves. Our results are consistent with the view that better information sharing facilitates credit allocation. Hence, policies aiming at facilitating information exchange among financial intermediaries should be supported. We also find support for the view that bank credit substitutes for trade credit. This substitution lowers firms' cost of capital, given that trade credit is assumed to be more costly than bank loans.     

Testing the impact of financial inclusion on income convergence: Empirical evidence from Nigeria

Financial inclusion, as a key pillar for inclusive development, has long been considered as an important instrument for reducing poverty and income inequality. However, the income convergence effect of financial inclusion remains only partially explored. Using longitudinal data covering three survey waves on Nigerian households, this study explores the potential of financial inclusion as an instrument for reducing income disparity. After controlling for the endogeneity issues, the results of instrumental variable linear and quantile regressions consistently show a strong nexus between financial inclusion and per capita income. This positive effect is experienced by all households regardless of income distribution. The decomposition results reveal that ab initio, financial inclusion resulted in income divergence leading to widening inequality across the households with various income distributions. However, the income convergence started from the middle to the higher income household categories, with the lowest income lagging behind in the second wave. The lowest income households eventually converged in the data of the third wave. In this sense, it can be argued that financial inclusion could play an important role in the reduction of income inequality.     

供应链的创新溢出效应研究——来自A股市场的经验证据

从创新溢出视角出发,以2008—2019年A股市场非金融类上市公司为样本,利用双向固定效应模型实证考察供应链的创新水平差异对企业创新的影响.结果发现供应链的创新水平与企业创新呈显著正相关关系,说明企业的供应商与客户的创新水平越高,企业自身创新水平也显著更高.上述结论在进行倾向得分匹配(PSM)控制内生性问题后依然成立.据此提出有关进一步推动供应链创新与应用、强化供应链创新溢出的策略建议.     

Balance sheet deterioration and credit allocations: Japanese evidence from the short-term economic survey of enterprises

This study is an empirical attempt to investigate the effects of balance sheet deterioration of Japanese firms and banks in the 1990s on credit allocation using the short-term economic survey of enterprises. This survey contains a unique item: proportion of firms perceiving the lending attitude as severe. After developing a theoretical model to link this item with the balance sheet conditions of borrowers and lenders, we estimate the relationship derived from the model. We find that credit was reduced when the balance sheet of firms and banks deteriorated. The effects are notably large for non-manufacturing industries.     

Bank consolidation and competitiveness: Empirical evidence from the Korean banking industry

The Korean government consolidated several banks following the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–1998 to stabilize the financial market and to improve international competitiveness. This process has brought sound capital reserves, assets and profitability to the banking industry. However, due to the resulting increase in market concentration, this process has also produced concerns about the monopolistic and oligopolistic power of the banks. Recently, the growing concern within the government is the weakening of bank competition due to the sharp increase in market concentration. This study reviews and examines the status of bank consolidation and the competitive structure of the banking industry. The degree of competitiveness in the banking industry is analyzed using the Panzar and Rosse model with a non-structural approach and data from 1992 to 2007 (before the beginning of the 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis). This time span is divided into a pre- and a post-bank consolidation period. The estimation results indicate that monopolistic competition in the market exists but that the competitiveness of the banks has improved with the increased market concentration. This finding contradicts previous beliefs regarding the increased risk and lower competition derived from a concentrated financial system.     

African agricultural productivity and the transatlantic slave trade: evidence from Senegambia in the nineteenth century

Agriculture has played a central role in Africa's long‐term economic development. Previous research has argued that the low productivity of African economies has posed significant challenges to African efforts to produce an agricultural surplus or to develop commercial agriculture. Low agricultural productivity has also served as a key explanation for the transatlantic slave trade, on the basis that it was more profitable to export humans overseas than to grow and export produce. However, the field has suffered from a lack of comparable empirical evidence. This article contributes to this field by presenting quantitative data on historical land and labour productivity in Africa, from a case study of the agricultural productivity of Senegambia in the early nineteenth century. Focusing on five key crops, our results suggest that both land and labour productivity was lower in Senegambia than it was in all other parts of the world for which we have found comparable data. This article thus lends support to claims that stress ecological factors as one of the main determinants of Africa's historical development.     

Japan's fertility transition: Empirical evidence from the bounds testing approach to cointegration

This study investigates the determinants of the fertility rate in Japan over the 1950–2000 period. We use, for the first time in the fertility literature, the bounds testing approach to cointegration. Amongst our key results, we find that, in both the short-run and long-run, the use of contraceptives and abortion have significantly contributed to the fertility decline in Japan. We also find statistically significant evidence that increasing age at marriage in Japan and increasing education level of women have contributed negatively to the fertility transition.     

The biological standard of living in early nineteenth‐century West Africa: new anthropometric evidence for northern Ghana and Burkina Faso1

West Africans are on average shorter than Europeans today. Whether this was already the case at the end of the Atlantic slave trade is an important question for the history of nutrition and physical welfare. We present the first study of changing heights for people born mostly in what are now northern Ghana and Burkina Faso during the early nineteenth century. The dataset, not used before for anthropometry, documents men born between 1800 and 1849. Mostly purchased from slave owners, they were recruited into the Dutch army to serve in the Dutch East Indies. We find that height development was stagnant between 1800 and 1830 and deteriorated strongly during the 1840s. In international comparison and after taking selectivity issues into account, these Ghanaian and Burkinabe recruits were notably shorter than north‐western Europeans but not shorter than southern Europeans during this period.     

Indoor air quality and health: Empirical evidence from fluoride pollution in China

In this paper we conducted an econometric analysis to investigate the impacts of fluoride pollution on health. Burning high-fluoride-content coal indoors is the primary source of fluoride pollution in Guizhou Province of China. Exploiting longitudinal data from China Health and Nutrition Survey, we applied individual fixed effect models and triple difference models to examine the effects of whether households use coal as domestic fuel. The results showed that fluoride pollution from coal burning significantly increases the diastolic and systolic blood pressure levels of adults. And the pollution also leads to higher likelihood of underweight. Our further analysis indicated that fluoride pollution from coal burning during the infant period greatly reduces the height and weight of children in their childhood and adolescence periods. We also explore the mechanism by investigating the influence of fluoride pollution exposure on birthweight and find evidence that fluoride pollution had a negative impact on prenatal development.     

Estimating transport costs and trade barriers in China: Direct evidence from Chinese agricultural traders

Using a unique survey data on agricultural traders in China in 2004, this study provides direct evidence on the significance of inter-regional trade barriers and their key components. Our major findings are as follows. (1) The trade barriers within China are fairly small, accounting for about 20% of trade value. (2) Transport and non-transport costs respectively contribute 42% and 58% to the trade barriers. (3) Labor and transport-related taxes are the two largest proportions of total transport costs, and respectively account for 35% and 30%. (4) Artificial trade barriers created by the government are not sizable as we perceived. (5) Road quality is crucial for reducing transport costs within China: increasing transport speed by 1 km per hour, the total transport costs for Chinese agricultural traders would decrease by 0.6%, mainly due to improved fuel-burning efficiency and reduced labor requirement.     

Foreign bank lending and information asymmetries in China: Empirical evidence from the syndicated loan market

This paper considers whether information asymmetries affect the willingness of foreign banks to participate in syndicated loans to corporate borrowers in China. We analyze how ownership concentration, which influences information asymmetries in the relationship between the borrower and the lender, exerts an impact on the participation of foreign banks in syndicated loans granted to Chinese borrowers in the period 2004–2009. We observe that greater ownership concentration of the borrowing firm does not positively influence participation of foreign banks in the loan syndicate. We conclude that information asymmetries are not exacerbated for foreign banks relative to local banks in China.     

Land reform and agricultural productivity in India: a review of the evidence

In this paper we review as well as contribute to the empiricalliterature on the impact of land reform on agricultural productivityin India. We find that, overall for all states, land-reformlegislation had a negative and significant effect on agriculturalproductivity. However, this hides considerable variation acrosstypes of land reform, as well as variation across states. Decomposingby type of land reform, the main driver for this negative effectseems to be land-ceiling legislation. In contrast, the effectof tenancy reform, averaged across all states, is insignificant.There seems to be a wide range of state-specific effects, whichsuggests that focusing on average treatment effects can hidea considerable amount of heterogeneity. In particular, allowinga separate slope for West Bengal, one of the few states thatimplemented tenancy laws rigorously, we find that land reformhad a marginal positive effect relative to the rest of India.     

Price discrimination in the exports of a small economy: Empirical evidence

Zusammenfassung Preisdiskriminierung durch Exporteure kleiner L?nder: Ein empirischer Befund. — Theoretische Modelle des internationalen Handels gehen im allgemeinen von der Annahme aus, da\ die Exporteure kleiner L?nder einer voll-kommen elastischen Nachfrage nach ihren Exportgütern gegenüberstehen und da\ sie nicht die Macht haben, Preisdiskriminierung zu betreiben. Die Studie prüft auf der Grundlage israelischer Daten empirisch, ob diese zwei Annahmen berechtigt sind. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, da\ die israelischen Exporteure abw?rts geneigten Nachfrage-kurven gegenüberstehen und da\ sie in der H?lfte der überprüften F?lle Preis-diskriminierung praktizieren. Dieser Befund zweifelt also die Annahme des kleinen Landes und das Gesetz eines einzigen Preises an.

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Résumé La discrimination par des prix dans les exportations d’une économie petite: L’évidence empirique. — Les modèles théoriques du commerce international généralement supposent que les économies petites sont confrontées avec des courbes de demande parfaitement élastiques pour leurs biens exportés et qu’elles n’ont pas le pouvoir de pratiquer une discrimination par des prix. Cette étude teste, empirique-ment, la validité de ces deux suppositions pour les exportations d’une économie petite. Basés sur les données israéliennes les résultats indiquent que les exportateurs israéliens sont confrontés avec des courbes de demande orientées vers le bas et qu’ils pratiquent une discrimination en moitié des cas testés. Ces résultats mettent en doute la validité de la supposition d’une économie petite et le loi d’un seul prix.

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Resumen Discriminación de precios en las exportaciones de una economía peque?a: Empírica evidencia. — Modelos teóricos del comercio internacional suponen en general que las economías peque?as confrontan curvas de demanda perfectamente elásticas para sus productos de exportatión y no pueden enforzar una discriminación de precios. El estudio comprueba, empíricamente, la validez de estas dos hipótesis para las exportaciones de una economía peque?a. Basados en estadísticas de Israel, los resultados indican que los exportadores de este país confrontan curvas de demanda con pendiente negativa y practican discrimination de precios en la mitad de los casos estudiados. Estas resultados ponen en entredicho la validez de emplear la hipótesis de una economia peque?a y la ley de un solo precio en estudios analíticos.

     

年报问询函的监管溢出效应研究——来自企业集团A股上市子公司的证据

现有研究主要关注于年报问询函对被问询公司的影响。基于2015-2018年企业集团上市子公司样本,文章研究交易所问询在企业集团内是否具有监管溢出效应。实证研究发现,年报问询函在子公司间存在监管溢出效应,即企业集团内子公司被年报问询会引起其他子公司财务报告质量的提高。机制检验证明,内外部资本市场的信息传递是年报问询函溢出效应的主要原因。拓展性分析发现,当企业集团存在共同审计和实际控制人的控制链条更短时,年报问询函的监管溢出效应就越明显。文章扩展了年报问询函政策实施效果的相关研究,延伸了财务决策同群效应理论假说,为优化上市公司监管机制提供思路。     

高等教育对国家科技创新发展的影响——来自发达国家的经验证据

聚焦探究高等教育在推动国家科技创新发展方面的具体作用,通过对发达国家高等教育发展和科技创新发展的总结性分析以及基于12个国家2005—2018年的面板数据实证研究,考察高等教育对国家科技创新发展的具体影响机制。结果表明：发达国家高等教育赋能科技创新发展主要通过构建UIC(产学合作)联合体、以大学为核心设立科技园和提供科技创新人才资源等方式;发达国家普通高等教育和社区高等教育均对科技创新有显著的正向促进作用;具有硕博学历的毕业生更多成为研发人员,而具有社区本科学历的毕业生更多成为技术人员。基于研究结果,对中国高等教育如何促进科技创新提出具体建议。