中美所得税改革取向的差异

本文认为,中国、美国截然相反的消费和储蓄经济结构,决定了两国所得税改革的政策取向不同。美国实行消费型的联邦所得税改革符合其低储蓄、高消费的经济现状,而我国高储蓄、高投资、低消费的经济结构,决定了我国应实行储蓄型或投资型税制改革,我国所得税的改革应更多地鼓励消费而不是储蓄或投资。     

Comparison of Stakeholder Perspectives on Current Regulatory and Reporting Reforms

In the European insurance industry, regulatory and reporting frameworks are currently subject to far-reaching reforms. We focus on four of these frameworks, namely the Solvency II framework, insurance guaranty systems, the proposed IFRS 4 Phase II international accounting standards, and Market Consistent Embedded Value reporting. We present these frameworks, analyze them from the insurance company's management, investors, and policyholder perspectives, and compare them. Our analysis implies that the four frameworks need to be considered jointly, due to various interrelations and interactions. We argue that a coordinated introduction will be necessary to ensure that the regulatory burden is reduced and synergies can be utilized in the event of all four frameworks being implemented as planned. Furthermore, we analyze the challenges of a holistic, comprehensive approach to insurance reporting and regulation and its implementation in order to achieve the goals set by the frameworks.     

The Secondary Market for Life Insurance in the United Kingdom,Germany, and the United States: Comparison and Overview

In this article, we identify key characteristics and implications of the secondary market for life insurance. We examine the oldest secondary market, which is the market in the United Kingdom, the relatively young market in Germany, and the controversial U.S. market. We summarize the available data to describe the current market situation and market potential, which strongly depend on developments in the primary markets and capital markets, as well as on regulatory and legal aspects. Next, we discuss benefits and risks associated with a secondary market, which depend on each market's unique features. The three markets considered in this article are fundamentally different, and the comparative assessment is intended to offer insight into their functioning and key factors.     

我国再保险市场有关问题的探讨

再保险市场作为保险市场的重要组成部分，其体系建设的完善与否关系着直接保险业发展的兴衰。而目前我国的再保险市场却存在着组织机构不健全，与国际再保险市场不接轨等问题。在中国即将加入WTO的背景下，再保险市场面临着更加严重的挑战。为此，应采取积极措施，完善和发展我国的再保险市场。     

美国内部控制信息披露的发展及其借鉴

本文从美国《萨班斯———奥克斯利法案》以及SEC出台的有关规则出发, 研究关于内部控制信息披露的几个重要问题: 披露性质、披露内容、审计验证、评价依据及责任主体等, 并结合我国公司治理环境、制度背景, 提出了我国内部控制信息披露的系统建议。     

国内自保市场与再保险市场共同发展研究

自保公司既可以是再保险市场的需求方,也可以是再保险市场的供给方,因此,自保公司与再保险市场关系密切。本文首先分析了自保公司和再保险市场的内在关系,然后以百慕大作为案例实证自保市场与再保险市场两者结合有利于实现共同发展,最后探讨了国内自保市场与再保险市场共同发展的可行性及建议。     

On the Corporate Demand for Insurance: Evidence From the Global Reinsurance Market

In this article, we view the demand for reinsurance as a “special case” of the corporate demand for insurance. We analyze the extent to which reinsurance purchases by the global property–liability insurance industry vary across countries and assess the relative importance of country‐level factors compared with firm‐level factors. Using a data set consisting of 21,814 firm‐year observations from 33 (developed and developing) countries during the period 2000–2012, we find that after controlling for firm‐level factors, country‐level factors have economically as well as statistically significant effects on the demand for reinsurance.     

The Private Market for Long-Term Care Insurance in the United States: A Review of the Evidence

This article reviews the growing literature on the market for private long-term care insurance, a market notable for its small size despite the fact that long-term care expenses are potentially large and highly uncertain. After summarizing long-term care utilization and insurance coverage in the United States, the article reviews research on the supply of and the demand for private long-term care insurance. It concludes that demand-side factors impose important limits on the size of the private market and that we currently have a limited understanding of how public policies could be designed to encourage the growth of this market.     

Real‐Time Forecasting and Political Stock Market Anomalies: Evidence for the United States

Using monthly data from 1953 to 2003, we apply a real‐time modeling approach to investigate the implications of U.S. political stock market anomalies for forecasting excess stock returns in real‐time. Our empirical findings show that political variables, chosen on the basis of widely used model‐selection criteria, are often included in real‐time forecasting models. However, political variables do not contribute systematically to improving the performance of simple trading rules. For this reason, political stock market anomalies are not necessarily an indication of market inefficiency.     

Catastrophe Risk Financing in the United States and the European Union: A Comparative Analysis of Alternative Regulatory Approaches

The regulation of insurance companies in the United States and the European Union (EU) continues to evolve in response to market forces and the changing nature of risk but with somewhat different philosophies and at different rates. One important area where both economic realities and markets are changing is catastrophe risk and its financing. This article examines and compares regulatory and other government policies in the United States and the EU generally and their approaches to the financing of catastrophe risk specifically. It is important to understand the fundamental differences between the two systems to gain insights into their disparate treatment of catastrophe risk financing. Although policies could be improved in both jurisdictions, we argue that the much greater reform is needed in the United States relative to the EU regulatory policies that are being developed. We offer recommendations on how U.S. policies could be significantly improved as well as comment on issues facing the EU. We conclude with some observations on the needs for further progress in the U.S. and EU regulatory systems.     

Reinsurance and corporate taxation in the United Kingdom life insurance industry

There are two main tax-related arguments regarding the use of reinsurance – the income volatility reduction and the income level enhancement arguments. The income volatility reduction argument contends that firms facing convex tax schedules have incentives to hedge in order to reduce the volatility of their annual taxable income and thereby lower expected tax liabilities [Smith, C.W., Stulz, R.M., 1985. Optimal hedging policies. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 19, 127–140]. The income level enhancement argument, advanced by Adiel [Adiel, R., 1996. Reinsurance and the management of regulatory ratios and taxes in the property–casualty insurance industry. Journal of Accounting and Economics 22, 207–240], is more specific to hedging via reinsurance. This perspective holds that reinsurance enhances current reported earnings via the receipt of reinsurance commissions and so increases tax liabilities. Consequently, insurance firms with high marginal tax rates should use less reinsurance than those with low marginal tax rates if tax matters. Prior studies using data on financial derivatives have produced mixed results on the validity of the first argument, while Adiel (1996) finds the second argument insignificant in his study of the use of reinsurance by a sample of United States (US) property–liability insurance firms. This study tests the two tax-related arguments using 1992–2001 data for a sample of United Kingdom (UK) life insurance firms. We find that UK life insurers with low before-planning marginal tax rates tend to use more reinsurance; in contrast, tax convexity is found to have no significant impact on the purchase of reinsurance and so the volatility-reduction argument is not supported.     

Corporate social accounting in the United States of America: State of the art and future prospects

In the past 5 years, accounting researchers, management consultants and corporate executives have been attempting to develop operational frameworks for the implementation and institutionalization of corporate social accounting. This has produced a tremendous diversity in the measurement models and reporting frameworks that have been developed. This paper synthesizes the major approaches in the U.S.A. to measurement and reporting of the impact of an organization on society. It also suggests future research needs in this area.     

IFRS in the United States – Developments and Current Status

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are now required or permitted for use by companies in more than 100 countries, including the majority of the G20 members. However, domestic public companies domiciled in the United States (US) continue to be required to file financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in accordance with US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP), and are prohibited from preparing them based on IFRS. This article describes the developments of IFRS‐related activities and initiatives in the US over the period 2007–2012, and provides an overview of the current status regarding potentially incorporating IFRS into the US financial reporting system based on recently issued reports by the SEC.     

Predictable Stock Returns in the United States and Japan: A Study of Long-Term Capital Market Integration

This paper uses the predictability of monthly excess returns on U.S. and Japanese equity portfolios over the U.S. Treasury bill rate to study the integration of long-term capital markets in these two countries. During the period 1971–1990 similar variables, including the dividend-price ratio and interest rate variables, help to forecast excess returns in each country. In addition, in the 1980's U.S. variables help to forecast excess Japanese stock returns. There is some evidence of common movement in expected excess returns across the two countries, which is suggestive of integration of long-term capital markets.     

我国再保险业面临的挑战与变革

中国的再保险业正在按照加入WTO时的承诺逐步开放。为适应由此带来的一系列深刻变化，必须加快目前较落后的保险体系建设，尽快构建一个竞争、开放、多元化发展的再保险市场体系，这包括科学定位市场模式、培育市场主体和完善制度基础等方面。     

Stock Exchange Reforms and Market Efficiency: the Italian Experience

This paper examines whether the reforms introduced by the Italian Stock Exchange from 1991 to 1994 (creation of specialised intermediaries, obligation to trade on the official markets, screen-based trading and cash settlement) did increase market efficiency. The issue is addressed using both the traditional information efficiency model, which tests market efficiency by verifying the predictability of prices conditional on some information subset, and a microstructure approach that measures efficiency as the distance of the price movements from their efficient components, represented by a random walk process. The joint analysis of daily and intraday data on prices and volumes validates the hypothesis that most of the reforms have increased market efficiency over the sample period, except for cash settlement, which appears to have substantially reduced it.     

中美股市收益率与投资者情绪联动性研究

本文基于投资者情绪的视角,选取2003年6月至2015年6月的数据,通过实证研究美国投资者情绪指数对中国股票市场收益率的影响及其背后的机制,得到四点主要结论:一、美国投资者情绪对中国股市收益率的影响总体是正向的,但存在"反转"现象,即美国投资者情绪会先对中国股市收益率有负向冲击,后转为正向影响。二、以2011年为临界点,美国投资者情绪传染所需的时间缩短,上述负向冲击的时间从3个月缩短到2个月,正向冲击的时间从2个月缩短到1个月。三、国际收支平衡表中的"证券投资负债"项目的规模越大,美国投资者情绪对中国股市收益率的影响力越强,表明资本流入和跨境资产配置是美国投资者情绪影响我国市场的机制之一。四、中介效应检验显示,美国投资者情绪可通过中国投资者情绪间接影响中国股市收益率,投资者情绪传染是美国投资者情绪影响我国股市的另一机制。