Who adopts crypto assets in Japan? Evidence from the 2019 financial literacy survey

The adoption of crypto assets has been of great concern to policymakers ever since Facebook announced its proposed cryptocurrency, Libra, in mid-2019. Behind this concern lies the possibility of widespread Libra adoption for day-to-day transactions, bringing with it a set of serious risks related to money laundering, illicit financing, and consumer and investor protection. This study first investigates the variables that distinguish Japanese crypto-asset owners from nonowners, then investigates the variables that distinguish the owners belonging to each group from the rest of the owners. The second investigation focuses on four groups: owners’ level of understanding of crypto assets, the profitability of their investment in crypto assets, their holdings of conventional risky financial assets, and their adoption of noncash payment methods. In addition to the usual demographic variables, financial literacy, financial behavior, conventional risky financial asset holdings, and use of noncash payment methods are also investigated. Both probit models and multinomial logit models are estimated and two results are obtained. First, 35 variables distinguish average Japanese crypto-asset owners from nonowners. Owners are more likely to be male, aged below 30 years, have higher pretax income, work in private or public companies, or be self-employed, and be graduate-school graduates compared with nonowners. Owners tend to have higher financial literacy from two perspectives: a measure of objective financial literacy and the experience of financial education at school, and lower financial literacy from three perspectives: the experience of financial education about money management by parents at home, experience of financial troubles, and knowledge about credit cards, than average nonowners. Regarding financial behavior, owners tend to be overconfident about their financial literacy, impatient, judge based on reputation in selecting financial products, lack self-control, and less risk-averse than nonowners. Owners tend to have experience investing in conventional risky financial assets and to use noncash payment methods. Second, 40–60% of variables that statistically significantly distinguish between the average owners and nonowners also differentiate the owners belonging to three of the four groups (excluded is the group that uses noncash payment methods) from the owners not belonging to the groups. These results suggest that policies for crypto-asset owners, if ever implemented, should not only consider the average owner's characteristics, but also owners’ heterogeneity.     

公司现金持有：交易需求还是预防性储蓄？

本文理论模型说明现金持有作为公司运营资本的一部分,是企业正常运转不可或缺的生产要素。公司正常的交易需求和为应对未来不确定性的预防性需求是现金持有的主要原因。利用我国上市公司数据实证结果支持了理论模型的结论。同时经验结果还支持现金持有的权衡理论而不支持代理理论。     

Liquidity Crises and Corporate Cash Holdings in Chile

This paper addresses the heterogonous effects of adverse liquidity shocks on corporate cash holdings in an emerging market. We use a large panel dataset with quarterly financial information for Chilean firms during the period 1996–2009. We find three main results. First, liquidity crises have had a negative and economically significant effect on cash holdings, but mainly for small firms; medium‐sized and large firms have not been affected by liquidity crises. Second, liquidity crises reduce the ability of firms to adjust to optimal cash holdings. Finally, medium‐sized firms are less able to adjust cash holdings compared to small and large firms.     

现金持有对家族企业市场竞争力的影响——基于CEO来源的视角

当前我国家族企业已陆续进入代际传承的重要阶段,企业CEO也出现了由一代、二代或外部经理人这三种不同来源的安排。不同来源的CEO从现金持有的交易动机、预防动机和代理动机出发,会选择不同的现金持有战略,从而影响企业的市场竞争力。文章以2010-2014年沪深两市A股上市家族企业为研究对象,研究现金持有水平与企业市场竞争力之间的一般关系,并根据家族企业的特殊性和差异性,推断家族企业现金持有是否同样具有竞争优势,还进一步研究家族企业不同CEO来源对现金持有竞争优势的影响。研究发现,家族企业的现金持有能够增强企业的市场竞争力,即家族企业存在现金持有的竞争优势。而且家族企业CEO的不同来源会对企业现金持有的竞争优势产生较大影响,具体说,家族创始人CEO由于维护社会情感财富和代际传承等原因,可能会损害企业现金持有的竞争优势,降低家族企业现金持有价值;家族二代CEO出于二次创业的动力,反而会加强企业现金持有的竞争优势;外部经理人担任CEO为了个人声誉和薪酬,也会显著加强企业现金持有的竞争优势。文章从家族企业这一特殊样本出发,丰富了家族企业现金持有竞争优势的研究,并从家族企业代际传承的视角,独特地研究了不同CEO来源对家族企业现金持有竞争优势的重要影响,同时也扩展了代际传承经济后果的研究。     

宏观经济不确定性、融资约束与企业现金持有行为——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

本文建立一个简化的存货缓冲模型来形式化管理者的现金持有决策,并基于中国非金融类上市公司2001-2009年间的面板数据,考察不同融资约束条件下宏观经济不确定性对企业现金持有行为的影响。研究发现,宏观经济不确定性对企业的现金持有水平具有显著的正向影响;相比于低融资约束的公司,高融资约束公司的现金持有水平对宏观经济不确定性变化具有更高的敏感性。研究结果有助于增进对中国制度情境下企业流动性需求行为的理解。     

供应链金融的融资约束缓解效应研究——基于中国创业板数据的实证分析

针对中小企业融资难的现实,本文从信号传递机制及共生理论视角,提出供应链上合作关系的稳定性以及核心企业信用扩散对供应链金融模式下中小企业融资绩效调节机理的构念模型及相关假设,并运用2011年-2017年我国创业板上市企业的面板数据进行了实证研究。结果显示:企业的现金持有量会随其经营性现金流正向变动,这表明企业面临着一定的融资约束;而在加入供应链金融发展水平变量后,企业的现金持有量变动受经营性现金流的影响减弱,这表明融资难度有所降低。进一步地,本文引入供应链上合作关系的稳定性以及核心企业的信用扩散影响两个调节变量,分别在原有模型中加入交互项进行了总体回归和分组检验,研究发现供应链金融模式对于供应链上合作关系趋于稳定的企业以及受核心企业信用扩散影响的企业具有更显著的融资约束缓解效应。     

融资约束对现金持有动机强弱影响的实证分析

在不同的财务背景下公司现金持有动机强弱表现是否存在差异,这是学术界近年研究的热点。文章以1998—2006年连续四年有数据的沪深上市公司为样本,通过公司规模四分位数、样本期间发生股利支付与否作为融资约束与否的判别标准,分析融资约束公司与非融资约束公司现金持有动机强弱表现差异。实证结果表明：我国上市公司融资约束与否直接影响到现金持有决策过程中动机强弱的表现。为了避免现金短缺和投资机会的丧失等情况的发生,我国上市公司在整个现金持有决策中均表现谨慎,注重现金持有的预防性动机和交易性动机作用的发挥。     

房地产上市公司现金持有水平的实证研究

选取沪深两市120家A股房地产上市公司作为样本,研究其2009—2011年的财务数据,运用描述性分析、双样本T检验分析房地产上市公司现金持有的现状,并构建回归模型探求房地产上市公司现金持有水平的影响因素及其决策效果。研究结果显示:目前房地产上市公司存在高额现金持有情况,盈利能力和现金持有水平呈显著正相关,负债水平和现金持有水平呈显著负相关,其现金持有水平对公司业绩有着显著的正向效应。     

Corporate Cash Holding in Asia

In this paper, we analyze the determinants of corporate saving in the form of changes in cash holdings for 11 Asian economies using firm‐level data from the Oriana Database for the 2002–2011 period. We find some evidence that cash flow has a positive impact on the change in cash holdings (i.e. that the cash flow sensitivity of cash is positive) and that the positive impact of cash flow on the change in cash holdings is larger and more significant in the case of smaller and presumably more constrained firms than in the case of larger and presumably less constrained firms in both developed and developing economies. Both of these findings corroborate the importance of financial constraints in Asian firms. In addition, we find that the cash flow sensitivity of cash declined after the global financial crisis and that Tobin's q has a positive impact on the change in cash holdings, especially in the case of larger and presumably unconstrained firms.     

Financial literacy and remittance behavior of skilled and unskilled immigrant groups in Australia

Studies of financial literacy show that many people are poorly prepared for making major financial decisions. One important sub-group rarely examined by financial literacy studies is immigrants, who have specialized financial needs related to remittances. This paper examines variation in financial literacy amongst two actively remitting immigrant groups in Australia – Sri Lankans and Samoans – using surveys designed and supervised by the authors. Paying attention to remittance-related and credit-related literacy, large gaps in the level of financial literacy of the two groups are shown, which are due especially to differences in educational attainment. The wide variation in transactions costs of various remittance channels suggest that many immigrants could save several hundred dollars per year if improved financial literacy helped to produce more efficient remittance choices.     

家庭结构对金融资产影响的实证研究

文章利用微观数据分析了家庭结构各维度对家庭金融资产的影响。分析发现,家庭生命周期的不同阶段对金融资产有不同的偏好和需求。家庭平均年龄与家庭存款量呈倒“U”型关系;老年型家庭对金融产品有规避倾向;教育程度的提高有利于金融产品的普及;家庭金融资产在城乡间有很大差别。文章提出了丰富居民理财知识、提高居民受教育程度和健全社会保障体系等政策建议。     

有效实现地方国库现金管理的建议

国库现金管理有利于提高财政资金的使用效益,是财政国库管理体系的重要组成部分。地方国库现金管理是指在确保地方国库现金支出需要的前提下,实现地方国库闲置现金余额最小化,投资收益最大化的一系列财政资金管理活动。作为地方国库现金管理工作,应从健全相关法律法规、丰富运作模式、建立现金流量预测机制、调节各部门关系、协调货币政策等多个方面,完善我国地方国库现金管理制度,推进地方国库现金管理改革。     

预防性动机与公司现金持有量的关系:来自中国上市公司的证据

文章主要讨论我国上市公司现金持有量与公司风险间的相关关系。与以往文献主要关注公司财务特征、公司治理等研究不同,本文从预防性动机、风险这一视角来讨论公司现金持有量问题。本文利用沪深两市上市公司样本（2002—2006）证实了现金持有量、风险及公司预防动机间的相关关系。结论表明,凯恩斯理论中的现金持有的预防性动机理论在中国仍然具有很强的解释力。     

Taking money seriously David Laidler Cambridge: The MIT press, 1990, xiv, 226 pp.

In Taking Money Seriously and Other Essays, Davis Laidler argues that Walrasian models and new-classical business cycle theories, where transactions occur at equilibrium prices, cannot describe real world economies, where uncertain traders hold "buffer-stocks" of precautionary money balances. Imperfect information leads traders to set prices endogenously and to acquire market information from inflows and outflows of money. Traders adjust prices when cash balances persistently differ from targeted precautionary balances. Unlike standard monetarist and Keynesian models, the buffer-stock theory implies that in the short run actual money holdings frequently differ from desired holdings (unlike the contrary assumption of many money demand studies), that, even when money is endogenous, real balance effects occur, and that the loanable funds theory is the best explanation of interest rates.     

信息技术类上市公司财务危机预警实证研究

以沪、深A股2008-2012年28家信息技术类上市公司为研究样本,利用ST公司财务危机前3年的数据初步选用21个初始预警变量;从样本的信息显著性和重复性出发,采用因子分析法等方法筛选基础预警指标,最终确定净资产增长率、净利润增长率、技术人员比率等8个指标作为模型初始变量;接着运用Logistic回归分析构建财务危机预警模型。该模型仅针对信息技术类上市公司,对公司发生财务危机前的财务状况的拟合度较高,具有较强的适用性与指导性。     

Economic policy uncertainty and firm’s cash holding in China: The key role of asset reversibility

This paper investigates how asset reversibility affects the sensitivity of firm’s cash holding to economic policy uncertainty in China. Using the 2012 national input-output table for 139 industries, we measure the industry-level asset reversibility and match them with nonfinancial publicly listed firms over 2007−2017. The results show that asset reversibility has a significant and negative effect on the positive uncertainty-cash holding sensitivity, especially for firms with more severe financial constraints. Furthermore, we find that firms with higher asset reversibility invest more in fixed assets, suggesting that real investment is an important mechanism. In addition, baseline results are robust to potential endogeneity and alternative measures of asset reversibility and economic policy uncertainty. Our findings reveal that asset market friction is a critical determinant of firm’s cash holding.     

A New Cost Efficiency Measure for Not-for-Profit Firms: Evidence of a Link Between Inefficiency and Large Endowments

Cost functions and cost efficiency are commonly estimated for industries with detailed data on production and cost, both for firms that are for profit as well as not for profit. The data on not-for-profits obtained from the IRS Form 990 lack these details and, consequently, encourage substitution of the ratio of program expenses to total expenses to gauge performance. While a larger program expense ratio captures better administrative cost efficiency, it does not gauge best-practice cost and the extent to which an organization’s administrative costs exceed best practice. Using the Form 990 data, this study constructs an administrative cost function for not-for-profits and uses the distribution-free technique of estimating a best-practice cost frontier to gauge the relative efficiency of not-for-profit organizations. Focusing on not-for-profit hospitals and their holdings of liquid assets, the empirical evidence is consistent with Jensen’s free cash flow hypothesis: hospitals holding liquid assets in excess of a benchmark have lower program expense ratios and lower cost efficiency. In addition, the CEOs of more cost efficient hospitals earn higher compensation. The agreement of the evidence on agency problems related to excess holdings of liquid assets from the program expense ratio and administrative cost efficiency reinforce the credibility of the latter as a measure of the performance of not-for-profit organizations.     

More-money and less-cash effects of diversification: Evidence from Japanese firms

This study provides evidence for the more-money and less-cash effects of diversification based on the industry-adjusted debt and cash holdings of Japanese firms. Diversified firms are more leveraged while holding less cash than focused firms in the same industries, even after controlling for the standard determinants of capital structure, unobserved heterogeneity, and the endogeneity of firm scope. The study also finds that these effects are mitigated when a firm has an ownership structure that insulates managers from capital market pressures for risk-taking. This pattern suggests that the risk-taking incentives of managers differentiate the effect of diversification on finance across firms.     

COVID-19 impact on firm investment—Evidence from Chinese publicly listed firms

The COVID-19 outbreak had a significant impact on business cash flows and investment activities. This paper examined the COVID-19 impact on Chinese business investment in 3326 A-share listed quarterly financial reports, from which it was found that the negative relationship was more pronounced in the large, eastern Chinese state-owned firms. Using a propensity score matching method and difference-in-differences estimation, corporate financial flexibility was also examined, with the results indicating that high cash flexibility provided a buffer that allowed firms to better deal with adverse external shocks as the firms that had high cash flexibility were able to significantly increase their investments after the COVID-19 outbreak. Various robustness tests were conducted, all of which verified the robustness of the results. Overall, the empirical results provided evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic in China had a negative impact on Chinese listed firms, and verified the vital role of flexible financial reserves for firm survival and development during crises.     

Credit Contagion and Trade Credit: Evidence from Small Business Data in Japan

The present study investigates whether credit contagion leads to a decrease in trade credit for small businesses. In 1997–1998, the Japanese economy experienced a deep recession, and the domino effect caused an increase in the number of dishonored bills and bankruptcy filings. During a period of credit contagion, the possibility of default increases for firms with more financial claims and lower cash holdings. We find that during a recession, trade payables for small businesses with higher trade receivables and lower cash holdings are reduced. The hypothesis that the effects of credit risk on trade payables are weakened is not supported.