Psychological Oil Price Barrier and Firm Returns

In this paper, we investigate the psychological barrier effect induced by the oil price on firm returns when the oil price reaches US$100 or more per barrel. We find evidence of the negative effect of the US$100 oil price barrier for: (a) the entire sample of 1559 firms listed on the American stock exchanges; (b) both foreign and domestic firms, with domestic firms significantly more affected; (c) the 10 different sizes of firms, with the smaller firms less affected compared to the larger firms; and (d) 17 sectors of firms, with firms in the utilities, mining, and administration sectors being the least affected.     

标准掌控与全球价值链治理研究

对标准与全球价值链的研究有助于更好地理解全球经济的变迁,以及发展中国家在其中的作用与地位.在国际金融危机后危机时代及贸易保护主义兴起的背景下,标准作为新型贸易壁垒被各国频繁使用.标准对全球价值链的影响主要体现在它能将复杂的信息形式进行编码,从而减少价值链行动者的交易成本.特别是当全球价值链越来越趋向于“购买者驱动”时,主导企业可以通过被广泛接受的标准及相关认证程序,向其直接供应商传递复杂的产品质量要求.通过执行标准,可以提高信息的编码性,并使企业间的治理从相对的层级型转向更为模块型或市场型的关系,从而减少主导企业的协调.发展中国家只有积极参与全球标准的制定,培育主导企业,才能在未来的竞争中处于有利地位.     

高新技术企业融资方式、治理结构与技术创新能力关系研究

高新技术产业的发展对全球经济产生了重要的推动作用,但对于高新技术企业而言,制约其发展的一个重要障碍就是融资问题。风险投资是一种特殊的投资形式,与传统的债务融资对比,风险投资不仅为企业提供必要资金,还会参与企业的内部管理,对企业的治理结构产生影响,进而影响企业的技术创新能力。     

寡占市场下的广告成因探究

依照微观经济学和产业组织理论,高度集中产业市场中的寡头厂商往往会在价格变量上形成暗中或默契的价格串谋,使产业市场处在一种“准完全垄断”的状态。广告是企业主要的非价格竞争变量之一,重复博弈的结果使得寡头厂商能够走出囚徒困境(放弃产品的广告宣传),而垄断利润的存在导致第三方潜在进入的威胁,在位寡头厂商必然会联合起来进行抵制,通过广告串谋提高市场进入壁垒。     

Forecasting industrial production in the Euro area

The creation of the Euro area has increased the importance of obtaining timely information about short-term changes in the area's real activity. In this paper we propose a number of alternative short term forecasting models, ranging from simple ARIMA models to more complex cointegrated VAR and conditional models, to forecast the index of industrial production in the euro area. A conditional error-correction model in which the aggregate index of industrial production for the area is explained by the US industrial production index and the business confidence index from the European Commission harmonised survey on manufacturing firms achieves the best score in terms of forecasting capacity. First version received: Jan. 2000/Final version received: March 2000     

Ownership structure and access to finance in developing countries

Microsurvey data are used to explore the impact of ownership structure and other firm-specific characteristics on firms’ access to finance in 136 developing countries. The analysis uses a consistent and large data set from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys (ESs). The results show that ownership structure is a significant predictor of firms’ access to finance but with qualifications. Specifically, private and foreign ownership are more robust predictors of firms financing constraints in developing countries, whilst government ownership and large owners appear significant in accordance with the controlling conditions and mostly in low-income countries. The predictive power and direction of firms’ ownership structure is mitigated by both the specific characteristics of firms and the manner in which country-level factors affect the level of economic and financial activity in a country as well as the individual and social behaviour towards financial contracting.     

Competition,Rivalry And Innovative Behaviour ∗

This paper is an empirical study of the importance of competition and rivalry in explaining innovative behaviour by software firms. The paper distinguishes between two notions of competition. One in which rivalry occurs due the possession of greater market power, and the other in which rivalry occurs due to diffennces in the abilities of firms. In addition the paper also decomposes changes in the extent of innovation due to the activities of firms that are innovators and due to changes in the probability of innovating. Competition always influences the extent of innovation by changing the propensity of firms to innovate.     

企业社会责任标准国际化背景下企业进入策略研究*

本文通过构建博弈模型，对企业社会责任（CSR）标准国际化背景下企业进入策略进行研究。本文发现，企业最优进入策略受到进入成本影响，当进入成本较低时所有企业都适合选择进入高CSR标准市场，当进入成本较高时所有企业都不适合选择进入，当成本介于两者之间时适合部分企业选择进入。在对社会福利的分析中还发现，当进入是企业最优策略时，无论是部分进入还是全部进入，企业承担更高的社会责任能同时提升企业利润和社会福利水平。     

企业异质性对制造业新建企业区位选择的影响

本文运用2005-2013年长三角制造业新建企业微观数据,结合离散选择模型,探究企业异质性对区位选择的影响,并分析了不同特征制造业企业的空间分布.研究从企业异质性的角度合理解释了中国新建制造业企业区位选择的影响机制.结果表明:不同特征的企业之间,区位因素的作用存在差异,企业异质性对区位选择的影响是多样的.随着企业员工数量的增加,新建制造业企业倾向于选择中等水平的城市,在竞争激烈的发达城市选址的可能性降低;国有所有制对企业的区位选择没有显著影响,而外商投资企业则倾向于选择较发达和外资制造业企业相对集中的城市;与外商投资企业相似,高技术企业也具有明显的集聚特征.     

The Significance of Credit Rationing on Real Investment Activity – A Test for the Significance of Capital-Market Imperfection in Japan

Does bank credit matter to the real investment finance of firms? If so, to what kind of firms does it matter, and why? Despite the progress of research in this field, there is still little empirical consensus on these problems. This paper contributes to the understanding of capital-market imperfection in Japan by answering these questions. I introduce new methods to test the significance of credit rationing and show that bank credit is indeed a very important determinant of real investment activity of small firms. The availability of long-term loans has particularly significant effects on the investment opportunities of small firms, although large firms with capital of more than 1 billion yen are free from credit rationing. JEL Classification Numbers: C51, E44, G21.     

Information and transparency in wholesale electricity markets: evidence from Alberta

We examine the role of information transparency in Alberta’s wholesale electricity market. Using data on firms’ bidding behavior, we analyze whether firms utilize information revealed in near real-time through the Historical Trading Report (HTR), which is released 10 min after each hour and contains a complete (de-identified) list of every firms’ bids into the wholesale market from the previous hour. We demonstrate that firms are often able to identify the offers of specific rivals by offer patterns adopted by those firms. For one of these firms, these patterns are associated with higher offer prices. This is consistent with allegations by Alberta’s Market Surveillance Administrator that firms may be utilizing unique bidding patterns to reveal their identities to their rivals to elevate market prices. We show that certain firms respond to rival offer changes with a lag consistent with responding to information revealed through the HTR, and that they respond differently to different firms, suggesting that they are able to infer identification.     

组织距离对虚拟产业集群内企业创新的影响

用组织距离衡量虚拟产业集群内企业间的"组织接近",在双寡头古诺模型的分析框架下,研究组织距离对虚拟产业集群内企业的创新水平、产量和利润的影响。结果表明:在完全信息情况下,虚拟产业集群内企业的创新投入水平越高,则企业联合利润越大;在不完全信息情况下,集群内企业的均衡产量都是其创新投入水平的增函数,但若逆需求函数的斜率较大,则不完全信息对不拥有完全信息的企业的影响较小。最后求得要实现集群内企业的均衡产量随着组织距离的加大而增加则企业的创新水平要满足的条件。     

Are the Energy Efficiency Technologies efficient?

This paper investigates a rather neglected issue regarding the impact of Energy Efficiency Technologies (EETs) on firms' productive performance. Possible influences may arise in the context of internal cost of adjustment, learning by doing effects and the capital vintage. A unique dataset was used which has resulted from a survey carried out among a sample of Greek EET adopters in the manufacturing sector. An econometric framework based on nested non-neutral frontiers, was developed to estimate the influence and the decomposition of EETs on firms' productive performance. The empirical findings reveal that the EETs affect positively the firms' technical efficiency and negatively the deterministic part of the frontier. Significant variations among industries and size groups appear to be present. Some policy implications are derived based on the empirical evidence supporting a mix of energy and technology directions.     

网络产业收入监管激励问题研究

对具有自然垄断特性的网络产业,各国都对其收入实施严格的监管。而如何采取具有激励作用的收入监管,历来是经济学家研究的重点。对该方面进行的综述性研究表明,在不对称信息存在的情况下,采取基于成本的收入监管机制,监管机构不得不对低效率企业的产出进行扭曲,同时高效率企业获得信息租金;而采取基于价格的收入监管机制,在考虑了企业的努力程度时,低效率企业的努力程度将受到向下的扭曲,同时高效率企业获得信息租金。分析还表明,在基于价格的收入监管机制下,价格机制的选取和激励问题可以分开考虑。     

The political economy of entry barriers

We study a political economy model of entry barriers. Each period the policymaker determines whether to impose a high barrier to entry, and the special interest groups try to influence the policymaker's decision. Entry is accompanied by creative destruction—when many new firms enter, old firms are more likely to be driven out of the market. Therefore the current incumbents (industry leaders) tend to lobby for a higher entry barrier and potential entrants (industry followers) are likely to lobby for a freer environment for entry. We analyze both static and dynamic versions of the model to examine what kind of environment supports a policy that blocks entry. In the dynamic model, the economy can exhibit various different dynamics. In particular, multiple steady states may arise in equilibrium.     

The financing of small innovative firms: the Italian case

Small firms encounter difficulties in collecting external finance due to greater information problems. For small innovative firms, whose activity is more difficult to evaluate, the cost of external finance could be even higher. This paper aims to shed light on special features in financial structures of small innovative firms, compared with firms of similar size that do not innovate. The evidence shows that small innovators rely less on financial debts and more on internal financial resources; no important differences appear for large firms. This is consistent with the view that information problems mainly affect small firms. Another finding is that small innovative firms show a lower investment sensitivity to cash flow than small non-innovative firms: it is likely that the high incidence of internal financial resources allows them more flexibility in deciding their investments. No difference in investment sensitivity to cash flow, by innovative attitude, is found for large firms.     

Exposure to Provincial and National Information and Firm Performance: Crisis Period Evidence from China

This paper examines the impact of exposure to provincial and national information on the performance of non-financial Chinese firms during the recent global financial crisis (2007 to 2009). The results show that firms with higher level of exposure to provincial information are affected less by the crisis than firms with higher level of exposure to national information. The results are also robust across various proxies of firm performance. The main contribution of this paper is to highlight sources of value for Chinese firms during the recent financial crisis. More importantly, this paper uses publicly available information to draw attention on the role played by national and provincial sources of information in defining firm performance during the recent global financial crisis.

     

规模经济不需要行政性进入壁垒的保护

我国的很多垄断性产业处于市场内生性的结构性进入壁垒和政府设置壁垒的双重保护下。政府设置进入壁垒的原因被认为是保护在位企业的规模经济。本文的分析表明,这类企业的规模本身就构成了进入壁垒,并不需要行政性壁垒的保护。为弱化行政性进入壁垒下企业内生的低效率,有必要放松乃至解除行政性壁垒,但这并不必然导致竞争性低效率。     

Stock prices and inflation hedged firms

As the Federal Reserve continues its near-zero rate policy, the threat of inflation remains a concern among both policymakers and businesses. This article uses over 30 years of accounting data and stock returns to examine how publicly traded firms respond to increasing inflation expectations. We first examine whether firms make balance sheet adjustments in response to expected inflation. We then examine whether these activities have a positive effect on stock prices. We find that firms increase inventory, increase capital expenditures and reduce long-term debt when there is an increased expectation of inflation. We then find that firms that increase inventory in this economic regime are rewarded in the market. Markets also reward firms that increase their cash positions and reduce long-term debt possibly suggesting investor flight to safety.     

Trademark Protection or Protectionism?*

This paper explores the extent to which discrimination against foreign applicants in the trademark registration process can be used as a “behind‐the‐border” barrier to imports. Prima‐facie evidence shows that in some developing countries the ratio of trademark registrations to applications is much higher for national than for foreign applicants, which is consistent with the notion of discrimination against foreign firms. A simple model is developed that suggests that incentives to discriminate are stronger when foreign firms manufacture products that are close in quality to the goods produced by domestic firms. This hypothesis is then tested and empirically confirmed in three of the four countries in our sample, suggesting that discretion and discrimination in the trademark registration process can sometimes be used as a protectionist tool.