Understanding the Growth of African Financial Markets*

Abstract: This paper examines empirically the determinants of financial market development in Africa with an emphasis on banking systems and stock markets. The results show that income level, creditor rights protection, financial repression, and political risk are the main determinants of banking sector development in Africa, and that stock market liquidity, domestic savings, banking sector development, and political risk are the main determinants of stock market development. We also find that liberalizing the capital account promotes financial market development only in countries with high incomes, well‐developed institutions, or both. The powerful impacts of political risk on both banking sector and stock market development suggest that resolution of political risk may be important to the development of African financial markets.     

The Timeliness of the Bond Market Reaction to Bad Earnings News

We find that bond price quotes impound bad earnings news on a more timely basis than good earnings news and that the bond market impounds bad news on a more timely basis than the stock market. We also find that the timeliness of the bond market reaction to bad news is concentrated primarily among speculative‐grade bonds, consistent with earnings news having a larger effect on bond price quotes when default risk is high. In addition, we find that a portion of the bad news impounded by the bond market reverses following the earnings announcement. Overall, our findings are consistent with bondholders’ asymmetric payoff function having important implications for the valuation role of accounting information in the bond market. Specifically, our findings indicate that bond quotes impound bad earnings news much earlier in the pre‐earnings announcement period than stock prices. In addition, bondholders appear to overreact to the bad earnings news initially and correct this overreaction subsequent to the earnings announcement.     

货币政策、股票流动性与股票价格暴跌风险

目前中国股市还存在较多制度性缺陷,股价波动频繁且暴跌风险较高。本文以2003年至2013年中国A股上市公司为样本,检验作为激发机制的货币政策以及作为外部生成机制的股票流动性对中国股票价格暴跌风险的影响。研究发现：股票流动性与公司股票价格暴跌风险具有显著的敏感性,即随着股票流动性的下降,公司股票价格暴跌风险显著上升;货币政策越宽松,股票价格暴跌的风险越大;而且宽松的货币政策增强了股票流动性与股票价格暴跌风险的敏感性。区分市场势态的进一步分析表明,市场为熊市时,股票流动性对股票价格暴跌风险的影响更显著,货币政策的放松越容易激化股票价格暴跌风险,且对股票流动性与股票价格暴跌风险的敏感性的放大作用更为突出。     

噪声交易与股票流动性:兼对“正(负)相关”理论的评析及“流动性黑洞”现象的解释

噪声交易与股票流动性都是行为金融研究的重点，但二者的相关性问题学界一直未能达成一致，"正负之争"不休。文章改进Kyle （1985）的假设，构建符合中国实际的流动性数理模型，模型表明：噪声交易与流动性负相关，且相关关系受信息不对称、风险厌恶度等因素的影响。进一步，文章以中国沪深300指数的成分股数据证实了"噪声交易-流动性"关系，发现其存在显著的月历效应和市场行情效应。文章对"正（负）相关"理论进行了梳理和评析，为争论的清晰化、明朗化做出贡献。     

Share portfolios in the early years of financial capitalism: London, 1690–1730

The dramatic expansion of public and private financial markets in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution has received extensive attention. Despite this, little is known about how ordinary individual investors managed risk within this framework. Using a newly constructed dataset of share ownership for those joint‐stock companies listed in the financial press of the day, we reconstruct individual portfolio holdings for investors in these companies. We examine individual portfolio holdings first for the decade after the Glorious Revolution and then for the years around the South Sea Bubble. Despite a fivefold increase in the number of unique individuals in the market between the 1690s and the 1720s, we find that in each period roughly 80 per cent of those active in the equity market held shares in only one company, even though many shareholders had the capacity or wealth to diversify share portfolios. These outcomes suggest diversification against idiosyncratic liquidity risk. Overall, however, there is limited evidence that individuals were using their financial portfolios to protect against diversifiable shocks. For many, we argue, company‐specific voting and firm governance rules drove market activity.     

Corporate Governance and Corporate Bond Liquidity

Using a unique dataset of corporate bond trading information and corporate governance evaluation scores, this study examines the determinants of corporate bond market liquidity in Korea. In particular, this study explores whether corporate governance performance of a company influences liquidity of bonds issued by the company. The paper reports three important findings. First, the issue size and age of bond are important determinants of bond liquidity. Second, liquidity of corporate bonds is influenced by changes in macroeconomic conditions. Third, and most importantly, better corporate governance increases liquidity of corporate bonds. This result suggests that corporate governance is an important determinant of bond liquidity, as it lowers transaction costs by improving transparency and reducing asymmetry of information. This paper contributes to the literature by providing new evidence that corporate governance performance is an important determinant of liquidity in corporate bond markets.     

关于济钢非钢产业发展战略的研究

对证券市场流动性的研究 ,国外学术界涉及较深而国内尚属空白。本文首先对其内在涵义、基本特征进行界定与刻画 ;接着辨析了几对容易混淆的相关范畴 ,并阐释了流动性研究的理论意义 ;最后对其影响因素予以剖析 ,从中提炼出为我所用的对策建议。     

The relationship between liquidity and returns on the Chinese stock market

The goal of this paper is to examine the impact of liquidity on returns on the Shanghai stock exchange (SHSE) and the Shenzhen stock exchange (SZSE). We proxy liquidity with the trading volume (TV), the turnover rate (TR), and the trading probability (TP). Using daily data for the period January 1997 and December 2003, we find mixed results on the relationship between liquidity and returns. There is greater evidence of liquidity having a negative effect on returns on the SHSE than on the SZSE. However, this evidence is not robust across the three proxies for liquidity that we use.     

Fragmentation and Market Quality: The Case of European Markets

This paper questions whether the proliferation of alternative trading venues in Western Europe after MiFID implementation in 2007 affected market quality. By means of a difference-in-differences analysis, we evaluate changes in market quality of stocks that initiated trading in Multilateral Trading Facilities (MTF) in relation to matched samples. Our analysis provides evidence that the overall liquidity (measured by transaction costs and price impact) and trading activity increased in the short term with trade initiation in MTF. Notably, we show that fragmentation did not cause lower price precision or informativeness, but some tests suggest that fragmentation correlates positively with volatility. The results of this study are stronger for stocks with greater propensity for MTF trade initiation, i.e. stocks with greater size and liquidity prior to that event. Interestingly, the impact on liquidity and trading activity varied across stock exchanges and timing of MTF trade initiation. As for long run effects, our results suggest an improvement of overall liquidity and a neutral effect on the trading activity of traditional exchanges.     

Accounting Conservatism and Stock Price Crash Risk: Firm‐level Evidence

Using a large sample of U.S. firms during 1964–2007, we find that conditional conservatism is associated with a lower likelihood of a firm's future stock price crashes. This finding holds for multiple measures of conditional conservatism and crash risk and is robust to controlling for other known determinants of crash risk and firm‐fixed effects. Moreover, we find that the relation between conservatism and crash risk is more pronounced for firms with higher information asymmetry. Overall, our results are consistent with the notion that conditional conservatism limits managers’ incentive and ability to overstate performance and hide bad news from investors, which, in turn, reduces stock price crash risk.     

Taking firms to the stock market: IPOs and the importance of large banks in imperial Germany, 1896–1913

Large universal banks played a major role in Germany's industrialization because they provided loans to industry and thereby helped firms to overcome liquidity constraints. Previous research has also argued that they were equally important for the German stock market. This article provides quantitative and qualitative evidence that although the market for underwriters was dominated by a small oligopoly of six large banks, there was still perceptible competition, which kept fees and short‐run profits low. Another interesting finding presented here is the absence of a signalling effect to investors. Neither underpricing nor the one‐year performance was different for the IPOs issued by one of the Big Six. Thus, although the German IPO business was in the hands of a small oligopoly, investors did not benefit from the lack of competition. One explanation is that the quality of IPOs on the German stock market of the time was very good in general as a result of the competition between underwriters, but also as a result of the tight regulation of underwriting, which ensured the quality of all firms on the German stock market.     

基于马尔可夫区制转移模型的流动性协动效应研究

历次金融危机都伴随着流动性水平的共同下降,流动性协动效应为金融危机提供潜在的动力.文章旨在研究个股与市场、行业与市场间的流动性协动效应的状态依赖特征;研究方法采用了 Markov 区制转移的向量自回归模型,随机选取了30只样本股与市场流动性水平作为研究对象;研究结果发现个股与市场流动性水平的协动性存在非对称效应,市场下跌时其协动效应更加显著,并对这一结果进行了稳健性检验.此外,基于Markov区制转移模型对行业间与市场间流动性协动效应进行研究,结果表明,在市场持续下跌时,行业与市场间以及行业之间均存在显著的流动性协动效应;然而,在非持续下跌过程中,行业间却存在流动性互补关系,并结合中国证券市场的实际情况分析了流动性协动效应产生的原因.     

Sentiment effects on Chinese share prices and savings deposits: The post-2003 experience

This paper examines the importance of sentiment effects on asset allocation decisions in mainland China and beyond. Rising stock market sentiment appears to have negatively and significantly impacted Chinese savings account growth over the 2003–2007 period. Investor sentiment also exerted consistently significant effects on the discounts attached to Chinese B-shares, H-shares and ADRs by foreign investors. Although the sample period is limited by availability of the sentiment data, the indicated effects remain most robust when controlling for relative stock market performance, liquidity levels, expected exchange rate movements, and such ‘indirect’ sentiment measures as market and firm-specific price-earnings ratios.     

Market liquidity,private information,and the cost of capital: Market microstructure studies on family firms in Japan

We investigate cost of capital, information asymmetry, and market liquidity of listed family firms vs. non-family firms in Japan. First, we find that the cost of debt is lower and the cost of equity is higher for family firms than non-family firms, but the differences are not significant. The WACC of family firms becomes higher than that for non-family firms and the difference is significant probably because family firms in Japan use less leverage. Next, we find that the stocks of family firms are traded with higher information asymmetry than non-family firms. As for information asymmetry and illiquidity measures, we utilize the variables Adjusted PIN and Probability of Symmetric Order Flow Shocks (PSOS). Concomitantly we also estimate alternate conventional measures of market liquidity as a robustness check. Overall, the evidence on liquidity is somewhat mixed, while we find family firms show higher information asymmetry, which may affect cost of equity. As a final policy implication, we recommend family firms in Japan conduct more voluntary and timely disclosure, in particular, for the benefit of general stock investors, and may want to increase leverage to reduce the WACC.     

中国股票市场流动性价值研究——双重上市A、B股经验证据

本文首先利用流动性综合测度指标,将证券交易数量、证券流动性水平及证券市场流动性水平引入到证券价格函数中,构建了证券价格差异的流动性模型,从流动性角度探讨证券价格溢价问题,在理论上证明了证券流动性价值的存在性。随后,本文利用A、B股股票实证分析证券流动性价值,实证结果表明,股票流动性水平与股票市场流动性水平可以解释A、B股价格差异,中国股票市场存在流动性价值,流动性价值受股票流动性水平、股票市场流动性水平以及股票交易数量影响。     

上海A、B股市场收益率波动性对比研究及预测

运用GARCH(1,1)-M模型对样本期内上海A、B股市场收益率波动性进行了对比研究及预测。结果显示:上证A、B股指数收益率序列均存在"ARCH/GARCH现象";上海A、B股市场中,期望收益与期望风险正向变动;上海A股市场记忆期长于B股市场;长期中,上海B股市场预期收益将超过A股市场。进一步结合基本面情况可知,上海B股市场具有相对较高的长线投资价值。     

对外开放条件下的金融安全问题

我国近几年外贸顺差的连创新高,并且进、出口增长的走势与世界经济的联动性日益明显,我国的实体经济已经越来越融入全球经济的大环境当中。同时,我们外贸结构的升级也正在以更快的步伐前进,我国双边贸易的高速增长仍将维持一段时间。中国股市在经历了“2.27”暴跌之后,全球各主要股市随后也遭到重挫。笔者并不认为目前中国的股市对于全球市场有如此巨大的影响,但是全球石油美元的流动以及日元利差交易的变化情况已经逐渐受到国内投资者的重视,中国资本市场已经成为了全球市场的重要一环。在国内实体经济、虚拟经济与世界联动性不断增强的背景下,我们应该更加关注外部因素对于国内经济稳定性的影响,同时也要从其他国家的历史发展经验当中吸取金融安全监管方面的教训。     

Assessing the price dynamics of onshore and offshore RMB markets: An ITS model approach

This paper investigates how the price dynamics of both onshore and offshore RMB markets are affected by fundamental determinants, market liquidity, global risk aversion and policies by using daily data from August 2010 to February 2016. The interval time series (ITS) modelling is applied to study the RMB price mechanism by capturing prices of the two markets as one self-formed interval data. An interval-based Wald test is constructed to examine the differences between the coefficients and an interval-based Mallows criterion is proposed for choosing appropriate explanatory variables. We find that both the price level and the price differences of onshore and offshore RMB markets are greatly affected by economic fundamentals indicated by different returns on stock indexes and market liquidity indicated by bid-ask prices of offshore market price. In addition, it is suggested that the interest rate spread between China and the US and the global risk appetite do not significantly affect the RMB price for both onshore and offshore markets. Finally, the results imply that “811 reform” of the RMB exchange rate regime does not change the fundamental price dynamics of RMB markets, but significantly changes how economic fundamentals affect the price mechanism of RMB exchange rate.     

Why We Should Stop Being Surprised that Lightly Regulated Markets Fall Short of the SEC's Goals for Market Quality: A Discussion of “Private Intermediary Innovation and Market Liquidity”

The stated goals of the SEC are to protect investors, maintain orderly markets and facilitate capital formation. These goals can be achieved with very light regulation if, as assumed by traditional economic theory, investors process information costlessly and protect themselves from informational disadvantages, and firms optimally balance the costs and benefits of committing to make their reports reliable. A growing body of research demonstrates that light regulation fails to achieve the SEC's goals, because investors find information processing costly and fail to protect themselves. After reviewing theory and prior evidence, I discuss new lessons learned from Jiang, Petroni, and Wang ( 2016 ), who show that Pink Sheets^® reduced the liquidity of firms with low reporting quality and increased the liquidity of firms with high reporting quality, merely by highlighting the quality of their listed firms’ disclosure. While the Pink Sheets^® innovation might have occurred through many causal channels, all of them entail a violation of costless processing and self‐protection, and lead to the conclusion that this lightly regulated market did not initially meet the stated goals of the SEC. I conclude by arguing that markets can achieve the SEC's goals only if they exhibit a particularly strong version of “dynamic” market efficiency, which requires that each individual trade on the path to even incomplete revelation occurs at the then‐optimal price. Because dynamic efficiency is unlikely, we should stop being surprised to see evidence that lightly regulated markets fall short on key dimensions. Instead, we should use our well‐developed understanding of market inefficiency to guide regulation.     

An examination of minimum tick sizes on the Tokyo Stock Exchange

In setting a minimum tick size, exchanges balance the competing objectives of lowering transaction costs and encouraging liquidity provision by minimizing stepping-ahead risk. We examine the trade-off between these two types of costs by examining the proportion of time that the quoted spread equals the minimum tick size (PTIMEMIN). We undertake this analysis on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a market that sets nine different tick sizes based on stock price. PTIMEMIN varies markedly across stocks, ranging from almost 0 to almost 100 percent. We find that trade size, the number of trades, and price are the most important determinants of whether the minimum tick size is a binding constraint. In fact, trade size and number of trades are more significant determinants of tick size constraint than price. Consequently, we argue that tick size should be set based on trading activity and price, rather than price alone.