Preference Erosion and Multilateral Trade Liberalization

Because of concern that tariff reductions in Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries willtranslate into worsening export performance for the least developedcountries, the erosion of trade preferences may become a stumblingblock for multilateral trade liberalization. An econometricanalysis of actual preference use shows that preferences areunderused because of administrative burdens—estimatedto be equivalent to an average of 4 percent of the value ofgoods traded. To quantify the maximum scope for preference erosion,the compliance cost estimates are used in a model-based assessmentof the impact of full elimination of OECD tariffs. Taking intoaccount administrative costs eliminates erosion costs in theaggregate and greatly reduces the losses for countries mostaffected by preference erosion.     

世界关税税率下降与全球贸易自由化进展:多边、区域和单边

近年来,世界各国不断降低本国进口产品关税税率,持续推进贸易自由化,许多发展中国家也积极参与区域或多边贸易自由化协定,进而缩小了与美国的关税税率差异.即使在2008年全球金融危机的情况下,一些发展中国家也没有使用提高关税税率的方法进行贸易保护,使得危机期间世界性关税税率没有上升.新冠肺炎疫情的冲击使许多国家感受到全球价值链多样化和多元化的重要性,二十国集团所采取的贸易便利化措施也超过了贸易限制措施,在越来越多的国家加快贸易自由化步伐的情况下,全球贸易自由化不会停步,更不会终结.     

Trade Preferences to Small Developing Countries and the Welfare Costs of Lost Multilateral Liberalization

The proliferation of preferential trade liberalization overthe last 20 years has raised the question of whether it slowsmultilateral trade liberalization. Recent theoretical and empiricalevidence indicates that this is the case even for unilateralpreferences that developed countries provide to small and poorcountries, but there is no estimate of the resulting welfarecosts. This stumbling block effect can be avoided by replacingthe unilateral preferences with a fixed import subsidy, whichgenerates a Pareto improvement. More importantly, this paperpresents the first estimates of the welfare cost of preferentialliberalization as a stumbling block to multilateral liberalization.Recent estimates of the stumbling block effect of preferenceswith data for 170 countries and more than 5,000 products areused to calculate the welfare effects of the European Union,Japan, and the United States switching from unilateral preferencesfor least developed countries to an import subsidy scheme. Ina model with no dynamic gains to trade, the switch producesan annual net welfare gain for the 170 countries that adds about10 percent to the estimated trade liberalization gains in theDoha Round. It also generates gains for each group: the EuropeanUnion, Japan, and the United States ($2,934 million), leastdeveloped countries ($520 million), and the rest of the world($900 million).     

Fundamental Information and Monetary Policy: The Implications for Earnings and Earnings Forecasts

Building on the work of Lev and Thiagarajan (1993) and Abarbanell and Bushee (1997 and 1998) this paper tests whether market-based information including dividend yield (Fama and French, 1998), firm size (Reinganum, 1981), and the ratio of book value to market value (Fama and French, 1992) add explanatory power to accounting data for predicting future earnings. The paper also tests whether earnings changes and the predictability of those changes are conditioned on monetary policy. It is found that the ratio of book value to market value is significantly related to earnings changes. Analyst forecast accuracy differs depending on monetary policy regime, but this difference is not due to differing interpretation of fundamental signals on financial statements appearing under differing monetary policy regimes. It is also found that there is a significant relation between monetary policy, earnings changes, and the level of signals concerning earnings changes.     

The Earnings Implications of Pension Expense

Abstract

Recent challenges to the actuarial pension model and a movement to harmonize international accounting standards both suggest that the current Canadian standards for pension accounting, CICA 3461, may see substantial revision during upcoming years. To understand better the implications of these possible accounting changes, this paper presents the results of a stochastic analysis that quantifies how the volatility of pension expense for a sample of ten Canadian companies sponsoring defined benefit plans will be increased by the adoption of immediate recognition accounting. For certain companies this increase is significant and is shown to have a material earnings impact. The implications of this earnings volatility for the future of defined benefit pension plans are also explored.     

The Politics of Financial Development: Evidence from Trade Liberalization

Incumbents in various industries have different incentives to promote or oppose financial development. Changes in the relative strength of promoter and opponent industries thus result in changes in the political equilibrium level of financial development. We conduct an event study using a sample of 41 countries that liberalized trade during 1970 to 2000, and show that the strengthening of promoter relative to opponent industries resulting from liberalization is a good predictor of subsequent financial development. The benefits of developing the financial system are insufficient for financial development, and rents in particular hands appear to be necessary to achieve it.     

The Transitory Nature of Negative Earnings and the Implications for Earnings Prediction and Stock Valuation

The value-irrelevance of losses largely results from the transitory nature of losses and the diminished relationship between current and future earnings. This study develops a sales-based model of future normal earnings that is useful in analyzing future earnings prospects of loss firms. Results indicate that the developed model is associated with future earnings realizations and current stock price and is shown to be incrementally value-relevant (with book value) in price regressions for loss firms. Investigation of the relative valuation role of the prediction model provides evidence that the model is associated with equity value for loss firms expected to survive.     

Trade Liberalization and Industry Wage Structure: Evidence from Brazil

Industry affiliation provides an important channel through whichtrade liberalization can affect worker earnings and wage inequalitybetween skilled and unskilled workers. This empirical studyof the impact of the 1988–94 trade liberalization in Brazilon the industry wage structure suggests that although industryaffiliation is an important component of worker earnings, thestructure of industry wage premiums is relatively stable overtime. There is no statistical association between changes inindustry wage premiums and changes in trade policy or betweenindustry-specific skill premiums to university graduates andtrade policy. Thus trade liberalization in Brazil did not significantlycontribute to increased wage inequality between skilled andunskilled workers through changes in industry wage premiums.The difference between these results and those obtained forother countries (such as Colombia and Mexico) provides fruitfulground for studying the conditions under which trade reformsdo not have an adverse effect on industry wage differentials.     

The Implications of Dispersion in Analysts' Earnings Forecasts for Future ROE and Future Returns

Dispersion in analysts' forecasts is empirically evaluated by associating dispersion with a firm's future accounting rate of return-on-equity (ROE) and future returns. Forecast dispersion is significantly and negatively associated with future ROE, consistent with the notion that firm disclosures and analysts' information acquisition efforts increase as firm prospects improve. Forecast dispersion is negatively associated with future returns. This appears due to the implications of dispersion for future ROE, and suggests that the market does not immediately assimilate the information contained in forecast dispersion. Dispersion also conveys information about firm-specific risk not captured by beta and firm size.     

Stock Price Reaction to Evidence of Earnings Management: Implications for Supplementary Financial Disclosure

We condition security price reactions to quarterly earnings announcements on whether firms disclose supplementary balance sheet and/or cashflow information that can be used to estimate the consequences of earnings management. Disclosure of supplementary information is voluntary, and thus, we consider the possibility that firms that disclose balance sheet and/or cashflow information differ systematically from firms that do not disclose. Results indicate that investors discount evidence of earnings management at the disclosure date when supplementary information is disclosed. Such results indicate more informed earnings interpretations of quarterly earnings when firms provide balance sheet and/or cashflow information concurrently.

拉美国家利率市场化经验及对我国的启示

20世纪70-80年代,拉美南锥体三国阿根廷、智利和乌拉圭进行了利率市场化改革,但并未取得预期效果.本文在介绍这些国家利率市场化实施情况的基础上,分析其失败的原因并总结经验教训,提出我国继续推进利率市场化改革需解决的问题.     

Implications of Transaction Costs for the Post–Earnings Announcement Drift

This paper examines the effect of transaction costs on the post–earnings announcement drift (PEAD). Using standard market microstructure features we show that transaction costs constrain the informed trades that are necessary to incorporate earnings information into price. This implies weaker return responses at the time of the earnings announcement and higher subsequent returns drift for firms with higher transaction costs. Consistent with this prediction, we find that earnings response coefficients are lower for firms with higher transaction costs. Using portfolio analyses, we find that the profits of implementing the PEAD trading strategy are significantly reduced by transaction costs. In addition, we show, using a combination of portfolio and regression analyses, that firms with higher transaction costs are the ones that provide the higher abnormal returns for the PEAD strategy. Our results indicate that transaction costs can provide an explanation not only for the persistence but also for the existence of PEAD.     

我国银行业跨国并购与金融服务贸易自由化

20世纪90年代以来,金融业发生了席卷全球的第三次银行并购浪潮,银行业跨国并购活动大量出现,既给我国金融服务贸易自由化创造了机遇也带来了挑战.本文首先分析了我国银行并购的特点和发展趋势,然后结合我国金融服务贸易自由化的发展现状,分别讨论了银行跨国并购对我国金融服务贸易自由化影响的正面效应和负面效应,并在文末提出了一些政策建议.     

Asymmetric Trading Costs Prior to Earnings Announcements: Implications for Price Discovery and Returns

We show that the cost of trading on negative news, relative to positive news, increases before earnings announcements. Our evidence suggests that this asymmetry is due to financial intermediaries reducing their exposure to announcement risks by providing liquidity asymmetrically. This asymmetry creates a predictable upward bias in prices that increases preannouncement, and subsequently reverses, confounding short‐window announcement returns as measures of earnings news and risk premia. These findings provide an alternative explanation for asymmetric return reactions to firms' earnings news, and help explain puzzling prior evidence that announcement risk premia precede the actual announcements. Our study informs methods for research centering on earnings announcements and offers a possible explanation for patterns in returns around anticipated periods of heightened inventory risks, including alternative firm‐level, industry‐level, and macroeconomic information events.     

Valuation Implications of Investment Opportunities and Earnings Permanence

This study investigates the value-relevance of accounting earnings in the presence of investment (growth) opportunities after making two theoretical and methodological research design refinements. First, we test for the incremental effect of growth on firms earnings response coefficients after controlling for the extent of transitory earnings under the assumption that the value-relevance of earnings with respect to growth should be stronger when earnings are more permanent. Second, we perform comprehensive factor analysis using market-based and accounting-based measures to construct a composite proxy for investment opportunities. We find that firms investment opportunities and the relative permanence of current earnings affect the value-relevance of those earnings. Additionally, we find that the interaction between permanent earnings and investment opportunities produces an even stronger price response to earnings.     

金融服务贸易自由化与主权意志的协调——基于对国家金融管理权的考察

WTO推动下的金融服务贸易自由化运动在增强全球金融服务贸易的活力的同时,也给国家金融管珲带来了冲击与挑战.在自由化承诺与义务的约束下,国家金融管理权的存废、冲突、协凋及行使方式,都是急需从国际法层面探索的课题.国际合作与主权意志表达方式的转换是实现金融服务贸易自由化与国家会融管理权良性运作的法治路径.     

利率市场化的宏观经济效应研究

利率是引导金融资源配置的信号,利率市场化改革必将对经济主体利益产生重要影响。本文在分析了经济主体在"存、贷利率管制"情形下福利状况后,基于我国制造业上市企业微观层面的大样本数据,对利率市场化的影响进行了经验分析。分析结果表明,在利率市场化后,企业能更好地平滑融资成本冲击,实现福利增进。基于动态随机一般均衡模型(DSGE)的模拟结果也进一步证实,在利率市场化后,受益于居民消费的跨期平滑、中央银行可以通过调节真实利率进而有效地调控经济增长和物价水平;在居民、企业、中央银行三部门同时实现福利效用最大化的约束前提下,利率市场化能有效提高货币政策传导效率,消除中国经济发展中的价格之谜。     

Accounting Earnings Processes,Inter-temporal Incentives and Their Implications for Valuation

Accounting measures such as levels and changes in residual earnings are widely used for performance evaluation and executive compensation (Healy, 1985). Quite often, these compensation contracts are of the linear form. In a multiperiod agency setting with hidden actions, where the agent's effort influences the random evolution of a general model of residual earnings, we show that linear compensation contracts based on weighted sum of the levels and changes of residual earnings are indeed optimal. We characterize the contract explicitly and show that the weights are determined by the earnings persistence parameter. Residual earnings are known to be important for valuation too (Ohlson, 1995; Easton and Harris, 1991). In our setting, we demonstrate that residual earnings are also sufficient for valuation. This implies that residual earnings can be used to align incentive goals with valuation objectives. In essence, our paper provides the theoretical underpinnings for linear contracts based on residual earnings and their implications for valuation.     

Spatial Dimensions of Trade Liberalization and Economic Convergence: Mexico 1985-2002

This article employs established techniques from the spatialeconomics literature to identify regional patterns of incomeand growth in Mexico and to examine how they have changed overthe period spanned by trade liberalization and how they maybe linked to the income divergence observed following liberalization.The article first shows that divergence has emerged in the formof several income clusters that only partially correspond totraditional geographic regions. Next, when regions are definedby spatial correlation in incomes, a "south" clearly exists,but the "north" seems to be restricted to the states directlyon the U.S. border and there is no "center" region. Overall,the principal dynamic of both the increased spatial dependencyand the increased divergence lies not on the border but in thesustained underperformance of the southern states, startingbefore the North American Free-Trade Agreement, and to a lesserextent in the superior performance of an emerging convergenceclub in the north-center of the country.     

Trade in Services: Wider Implications for Accounting Standard-Setters and Accountants

This article identifies a source of influence in the international development of biased rules that systematically privilege engagement in PPPs, noting that the use of PPPs was one of several projects. The full set of projects is consistent with a larger agenda, trade liberalisation of services through enforceable rules. Members of an international web of relationships promoting PPPs and, in effect, the rules-based trade liberalisation agenda, include the accounting profession. The profession's active involvement in this web of relationships compromises its legitimacy as a standard-setting body.