Conditional conservatism and trade credit during the global financial crisis

We investigate conditional conservatism and firms’ access to trade credit during the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. Previous studies argue that suppliers prefer conservative customers because of information asymmetry in production networks; we extend this line of research by focusing on trade credit during the 2007–2008 global financial crisis, a period that was characterized by a credit supply shock. We first document a positive association between conditional conservatism and firms’ access to trade credit both before and after the onset of the crisis, which indicates suppliers’ demand for conditional conservatism. Meanwhile, the association between conditional conservatism and trade credit experienced a significant decline following the onset of the crisis, and this only held when suppliers and customers had frequent transactions or were in close proximity, when transacted goods were standardized rather than differentiated, when customers were financially constrained and had high bargaining power, and when suppliers had sufficient liquidity. It implies that, when information asymmetry along the supply chain was low and customers had strong bargaining power, liquid suppliers increased their tolerance to less conservative customers, and they were even willing to grant trade credit to the less conservative customers that were financially constrained. Overall, this study adds to previous literature by demonstrating suppliers’ multifaceted demand for conditional conservatism.     

Life insurance demand and borrowing constraints

The literature devoted limited attention to exploring the relationship between financial development and life insurance demand. Financial development supports life insurance supply by providing confidence in the financial system, more efficient payment systems, and higher availability of financial instruments. However, financial development reduces households' needs to save by relaxing borrowing constraints, indirectly affecting life insurance demand. We contribute by providing a demand‐driven explanation of the negative consequences of financial development on life insurance development. We find that more credit‐constrained countries have higher life insurance penetration on average. Indirectly, the role of borrowing constraints signifies the importance of life insurance policies as a financing tool in case of the realization of various background risks. This study integrates the knowledge from life insurance theory, life insurance lapse, policy loans demand, and saving under liquidity constraints literature and produces implications for researchers, policymakers, and life insurers.     

碳定价、双重金融摩擦与“双支柱”调控

本文构建包含异质性企业、双重金融摩擦和“双支柱”政策的DSGE模型来探究碳税和碳交易这两种碳定价政策对中国宏观经济的长短期影响和作用机制。研究发现:(1)两种碳定价政策均会导致经济在短期出现一定衰退,但在长期则有助于推进经济高质量发展,达到更高的均衡水平;(2)在面对碳排放技术冲击时,相比碳税政策,碳交易政策下,碳价大幅波动会进一步加剧经济波动,在碳交易市场中对碳价设定上下限,可以有效地减轻碳排放技术冲击所导致的经济波动;(3)面对气候政策冲击,包含金融部门风险规避的双重金融摩擦会进一步加剧气候政策对宏观经济的负面影响;(4)在经济转型过程中,结构性供需不平衡会引发一定的通胀现象,但此时货币政策不宜对通胀做出过多反应,而应刺激产出,支持绿色发展,推动供需平衡,从根源上解决通胀问题。引入“双支柱”调控后发现,考虑到经济转型风险的宏观审慎政策能显著减弱气候政策所导致的经济波动和金融不稳定,提高居民福利。     

金融机构中小微企业征信服务需求探析——以陕西省为例

对陕西省辖内134家金融机构征信服务需求情况进行调研,发现陕西省金融机构征信服务需求呈现三大特征:一是对信用信息种类的多样化和特色化需求,二是对信用信息获取渠道的集中化和便捷化需求,三是对征信产品和服务的增值化和个性化需求.当前,金融机构和地方政府在满足中小微企业征信服务需求方面存在的主要问题是:地方征信平台作用有限,...     

贫困地区农村金融服务如何转型

由于受自然条件、经济基础、交通信息等客观因素的制约和限制,虽然近年来国家加大了对贫困地区的各种扶持力度,但我国贫困地区农户的人均收入、生活水平依然不高,发展仍然滞后.     

The role of audit verification in debt contracting: evidence from covenant violations

We investigate the role of audit verification in the resolution process following debt covenant violations. Using two sets of proxies for demand—audit fees and the independence and diligence of audit committees—we find evidence that covenant violations result in a demand for differentially higher levels of audit verification. Further analyses demonstrate the link between the increased demand for audit verification and the mechanisms designed to control agency costs in debt contracts. We document cross-sectional variations in the observed fee differential with respect to the level of reliance on financial covenants, the type of covenants violated, and waiver decisions. Moreover, we find that the observed audit fee increases are associated with more favorable movements in borrowing costs and the adoption of more conservative investment policies post violation. Our findings suggest that covenant violations increase the demand for audit services to help control contracting costs post violation.     

后危机时期中小企业的财税扶持政策

当前,我国中小企业面临着融资困难、用工艰难、需求萎缩、负担沉重、成本升高、利润微薄等困境。解决这些问题,一方面需要企业调整发展战略,积极转型升级;另一方面亟需政府加强财税扶持。在后危机时期,政府要完善中小企业财税政策支持体系,通过财税政策鼓励创业、激励创新、直接降低企业运营负担、拓宽市场需求、优化融资环境,促进中小企业健康发展。     

The benefits of industrial clustering: Insights from the British financial services industry at three locations

Building on completed statistical research which indicates that the dynamics of industrial clustering in financial services are of similar magnitude to those found in high technology manufacturing industries, this paper reports findings from a study of clustering in the British financial services industry at three locations. Generic benefits of clustering are compared with the specific benefits found in financial services and different cluster types are delineated. The paper finds that access to specialised inputs and knowledge spillovers on the supply side and a clusters reputation and close proximity to sophisticated customers on the demand side are important benefits in financial services clusters. The paper also finds that performance differences between significant financial services clusters are due to differences in the make-up of a cluster and the processes that take place within it. No two clusters are alike and so it follows that clusters policy making should proceed on a case-by-case basis.     

人口年龄结构与金融结构——宏观事实与微观机制

人口年龄结构是影响宏观经济的重要因素,不仅能够通过“人口红利”影响经济增长,也能通过金融资产需求作用于金融结构,进而影响经济增长。首先,本文基于宏观数据发现人口年龄结构与金融结构之间存在紧密联系,伴随老年人口占比的提高,金融结构更偏向间接融资,且以金融行为来衡量的风险偏好程度显著下降;其次,本文基于2013年中国家庭金融调查数据,从微观主体对金融资产需求的角度研究人口年龄结构对金融结构的影响机制,分析家庭人口年龄结构对风险资产参与行为及风险态度的影响。实证结果表明,家庭老年人口占比越高,家庭参与股票或基金投资意愿及比重越低;对于已持有风险资产的家庭,老年人口占比提高,家庭风险资产持有比重会降低。此外,家庭人口年龄结构会影响风险态度,家庭老年人口占比提升会显著降低风险偏好程度,这是其影响家庭风险资产参与行为的重要渠道。     

关于促进大众消费的思考

在我国连续几年实行积极财政政策，国民经济保持较高发展速度的情况下，消费市场并没有得到非常大的改善，其中很大的原因是收入分配不合理。消费需求的最主要部分是大众消费，只有提高大众消费水平，才能促进整个消费市场的繁荣。要保持经济发展的高速度，必须利用财税手段调节分配，扩大有货币购买力的大众消费需求。     

Global retail lending in the aftermath of the US financial crisis: Distinguishing between supply and demand effects

This paper examines the broader effects of the US financial crisis on global lending to retail customers. In particular we examine retail bank lending in Germany using a unique data set of German savings banks during the period 2006 through 2008 for which we have the universe of loan applications and loans granted. Our experimental setting allows us to distinguish between savings banks affected by the US financial crisis through their holdings in Landesbanken with substantial subprime exposure and unaffected savings banks. The data enable us to distinguish between demand and supply side effects of bank lending and find that the US financial crisis induced a contraction in the supply of retail lending in Germany. While demand for loans goes down, it is not substantially different for the affected and nonaffected banks. More important, we find evidence of a significant supply side effect in that the affected banks reject substantially more loan applications than nonaffected banks. This result is particularly strong for smaller and more liquidity-constrained banks as well as for mortgage as compared with consumer loans. We also find that bank-depositor relationships help mitigate these supply side effects.     

我国县域企业金融需求的差异性分析

本文依据全国18个省（市）的县域企业调查数据,从县域企业资金需求及借贷情况、贷款用途、贷款来源和其他金融服务等方面进行了分析,认为不同地区、规模和行业的县域企业金融需求具有较大差异．需要充分考虑其差异性,针对不同区域、规模和行业的县域企业金融需求特点提供多层次金融服务。     

Limits to arbitrage and hedging: Evidence from commodity markets

We build an equilibrium model of commodity markets in which speculators are capital constrained, and commodity producers have hedging demands for commodity futures. Increases in producers' hedging demand or speculators' capital constraints increase hedging costs via price-pressure on futures. These in turn affect producers' equilibrium hedging and supply decision inducing a link between a financial friction in the futures market and the commodity spot prices. Consistent with the model, measures of producers' propensity to hedge forecasts futures returns and spot prices in oil and gas market data from 1979 to 2010. The component of the commodity futures risk premium associated with producer hedging demand rises when speculative activity reduces. We conclude that limits to financial arbitrage generate limits to hedging by producers, and affect equilibrium commodity supply and prices.     

Reducing the distance: financial services education in web-extended learning environments

It is estimated that financial services comprise around 15% of the global economy. From the supply side, one key to meeting this demand is being able to educate and certify the people who provide these services. With the advent of the internet and related technologies, the ability to deliver financial services education synchronously to both online and on-campus attendees has become a viable alternative to pure face-to-face or pure online asynchronous education. Nonetheless, one question remains: can virtual technology deliver comparable quality of financial services educational experience as face-to-face teaching? It is this question our paper addresses using the theory of transactional distance. The theory of transactional distance postulates that for optimal learning, the cognitive gap between instructor(s) and learner(s) needs to be minimized. We explore how transactional distance in financial services education varies by attendance modality (in-class, online and mixed) in a synchronous, web-extended classroom. The implications for managers and researchers are explored.     

以区域金融合作缓解越南金融供给缺口的实证分析

越南作为劳动力资源丰富的发展中国家,近年来经济增长迅速,需要进行大规模基础设施建设和对外贸易投资,并承接大量的来自发达地区的产业转移,金融需求日益旺盛,金融市场却并未同步跟进,金融供给存在较大缺口。本文从越南资金供给和金融服务供给的现状分析出发,结合这些过程中越南面临的巨大的资金和金融服务需求缺口,提出以拓宽政策性金融服务领域、构建区域内跨国金融体系、推进人民币区域化等方式促进越南金融供给。     

Finance companies in Mexico: Unexpected victims of the global liquidity crunch

We study the connection between the global liquidity crisis and the severe credit crunch experienced by finance companies (SOFOLES) in Mexico using firm-level data between 2001 and 2011. Our results provide supporting evidence that, as a result of the liquidity shock, SOFOLES faced severely restricted access to their main funding sources (commercial bank loans, loans from other organizations, and public debt markets). After controlling for the potential endogeneity of their funding, we find that the liquidity shock explains 64 percent of SOFOLES’ credit contraction during the recent financial crisis (2008–2009). We use our estimates to disentangle supply from demand factors as determinants of the credit contraction. After controlling for the large decline in loan demand during the financial crisis, our findings suggest that supply factors (such as nonperforming loans and lower liquidity buffers) also played a significant role. Finally, we find that financial deregulation implemented in 2006 may have amplified the effects of the global liquidity shock.     

清洁能源发展的金融支持路径探索

发展清洁能源是应对气候变化,助推生态文明建设的重要举措,是人类社会发展的必然选择。本文从清洁能源发展及其替代市场供应的角度出发,剖析国内外清洁能源市场发展现状,查找金融支持清洁能源过程中存在的问题和困难,梳理国外优惠金融政策、金融基础市场建设、绿色产业认证等金融支持清洁能源实现生态、经济和社会共同效益的经验做法,结合我国清洁能源发展现状及探索研究我国金融支持清洁能源发展的路径,并从加强顶层设计、搭建市场机制、激发清洁能源供需市场、提升金融服务质量等方面提出措施及政策建议。     

House prices and rents: An equilibrium asset pricing approach

We use a relatively general intertemporal asset pricing model where housing services and consumption are non-separable to measure overvaluation of housing in relation to rents in Spain, the UK and the US. Part of the increase in real house prices during the late nineties can be seen as a return to equilibrium following some undershooting after previous price peaks. However, marked increases in house prices led to price-to-rent ratios above equilibrium by mid-2003 (around 30% above equilibrium in the UK, 20% in Spain and 10% in the US). Part of that overvaluation — particularly in Spain and the UK — may be attributable to the sluggishness of supply in the presence of large demand shocks in this market and/or the slow adjustment of observed rents.     

征信信息安全管理的国际经验借鉴

征信信息安全管理是征信业务管理的重心.目前,我国征信信息安全管理面临法律法规有待健全、征信信息供需失衡、征信系统接入机构管理水平有待提高、征信信息跨境流动风险日益显现等问题.借鉴日本和韩国征信信息安全管理的成功经验,为加强我国征信信息安全管理,应进一步完善法律法规,强化监督管理,增加征信产品与服务供给,推动金融科技在征...     

Access to Financial Services: Measurement, Impact, and Policies

In many developing countries less than half the population hasaccess to formal financial services, and in most of Africa lessthan one in five households has access. Lack of access to financeis often the critical mechanism for generating persistent incomeinequality, as well as slower economic growth. Hence expandingaccess remains an important challenge across the world, leavingmuch for governments to do. However, not all government actionsare equally effective and some policies can even be counterproductive.This paper sets out principles for effective government policyon broadening access, drawing on the available evidence andillustrating with examples. The paper concludes with directionsfor future research. JEL Codes: D31, G20, G21, O12, O16