On Enhancing Shareholder Control: A (Dodd‐) Frank Assessment of Proxy Access

We use events related to a proxy access rule passed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010 as natural experiments to study the valuation effects of changes in shareholder control. We find that valuations increase (decrease) following increases (decreases) in perceived control, especially for firms that are poorly performing, have shareholders likely to exercise control, and where acquiring a stake is relatively inexpensive. These results suggest that an increase in shareholder control from its current level would generally benefit shareholders. However, we find that the benefits of increased control are muted for firms with shareholders whose interests may deviate from value maximization.     

U.S. Health‐care Reform: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

This short article provides an overview of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was approved by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in March 2010, with an emphasis on provisions related to the expansion of health insurance. It highlights key provisions concerning coverage expansion, insurance market reforms, and the projected costs and financing of the legislation.     

From Wall Street to Main Street: The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Consumer Credit Supply

How did the collapse of the asset‐backed securities (ABS) market during the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis affect the supply of credit to the broader economy? Using new data on the U.S. credit union industry, we find that ABS‐related losses are associated with a large contraction in the supply of credit to consumers, especially among those credit unions that began the crisis with weaker capitalization. We also find that this credit supply shock restricted the availability of mortgage and automobile credit. These results show how movements in the prices of financial assets can affect the real economy.     

A Look Back at Modern Finance: Accomplishments and Limitations

In a conversation held in June 2016 between Nobel laureate Eugene Fama of the University of Chicago and Joel Stern, chairman and CEO of Stern Value Management, Professor Fama revisited some of the landmarks of “modern finance,” a movement that was launched in the early 1960s at Chicago and other leading business schools, and that gave rise to Efficient Markets Theory, the Modigliani‐Miller “irrelevance” propositions, and the Capital Asset Pricing Model. These concepts and models are still taught at prestigious business schools, whose graduates continue to make use of them in corporations and investment firms throughout the world. But while acknowledging the staying power of “modern finance,” Fama also notes that, even after a half‐century of research and refinements, most asset‐pricing models have failed empirically. Estimating something as apparently simple as the cost of capital remains fraught with difficulty. He dismisses betas for individual stocks as “garbage,” and even industry betas are said to be unstable, “too dynamic through time.” What's more, the wide range of estimates for the market risk premium—anywhere from 2% to 10%—casts doubt on their reliability and practical usefulness. And as if to reaffirm the fundamental insight of the M&M “irrelevance” propositions—namely, that what companies do with the right‐hand sides of their balance sheets “doesn't matter”—Fama observes that “we still have no real resolution on the key questions of debt and taxes, or dividends and taxes.” But if he has reservations about much of modern finance, Professor Fama is even more skeptical about subfields now in vogue such as behavioral finance, which he describes as “mostly just dredging for anomalies,” with no underlying theory and no testable predictions. Although he does not dispute that a number of well‐documented traits from cognitive psychology show up in individual behavior, Fama says that behavioral economists have thus far failed to come up with a testable theory that links cognitive psychology to market prices. And he continues to defend the concept of “efficient markets” with which his name has long been closely associated, while noting that empirically based asset pricing models such as his (with Ken French) “three‐factor” CAPM have produced much better results than the standard CAPM.     

华尔街格调依旧

美国是否也迫切需要一场颜色革命,否则华尔街金融寡头控制金融和经济命脉的现象永远不会发生变化     

Ex-Dividend Day Stock Price Behavior: The Case of the 1986 Tax Reform Act*

This paper analyzes the behavior of stock prices around ex-dividend days after the implementation of the 1986 Tax Reform Act that dramatically reduced the difference between the tax treatment of realized long-term capital gains and dividend income in 1987 and completely eliminated the differential in 1988. We show that this tax change had no effect on the ex-dividend stock price behavior, which is consistent with the hypothesis that long-term individual investors have no significant effect on ex-day stock prices during this time period. The results indicate that the activity of short-term traders and corporate traders dominates the price determination on the ex-day.     

美国财政部的“电话门”问题

遇到中、美经济谈判或对话,如果荚方出场的是则政部长,那么中方会派副总理。是不是有些不对等？没有。美国没有副总理,财政部长直接向总统负责。美国的经济活动中,财长发挥着举足轻重的作用。可以说,金融危机的救市措施是财政部长当家,但华尔街又要当财政部长的家。     

金融消费者保护:后危机时期全球金融监管改革的重点

金融消费者保护既是金融监管的应有之义和基础价值,更是后危机时代西方同家金融改革改革的重点.从国内情况看,与金融消费权盗纠纷案件日益增多小匹配的是,现有金融消费者权益保护体系包括法律体系、机构体系、途径体系等无法有效适应这一新情况.因此,必须从理念重塑、制度重建、保障体系重构等角度,构建我国金融消费者权益保护框架.     

Expenditure Reform in Industrialised Countries: A Case‐Study Approach*

This study examines reforms of public expenditure in industrialised countries over the past two decades. We distinguish ambitious and timid reformers and analyse in detail reform experiences in eight case studies of ambitious reform episodes. We find that ambitious reform countries reduce spending on transfers, subsidies and public consumption. Such expenditure retrenchment is also typically part of a comprehensive reform package that includes improvements in fiscal institutions as well as structural and other macroeconomic reforms. The study finds that ambitious expenditure retrenchment and reform coincides with large improvements in fiscal and economic growth indicators.     

The relationship between securities' abnormal price movements and Wall Street Journal news

This study investigates the nature of the news which appear in the Wall Street Journal in the periods surrounding abnormal price movements of securities. A news classification system is developed. This system classified the news for a sample of firms whose stock underwent abnormal price changes. Our findings are inconsistent with the efficient market hypothesis. The nature of the news regarding the average firm precedes the abnormal price changes.     

The Comparative Study of Philosophy of Wall Street and Shanxi Banks

华尔街银行的贪婪与豪赌制造了次贷危机,山西票号的节制与稳健则实现了票号的持续、健康发展。本文对比分析了山西票号和华尔街银行对待金融创新产品的态度和运用方式,指出当代银行应该审慎、合理利用金融创新产品,并且要以持续发展和持续盈利为目的,恪守社会责任,从而实现金融可持续发展。     

The Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002 and Market Liquidity

Investors rely heavily on the trustworthiness and accuracy of corporate information to provide liquidity to the capital markets. We find that the rash of financial scandals caused a severe deterioration in market liquidity in the form of wider spreads, lower depths, and a higher adverse selection component of spreads vis‐à‐vis their benchmark levels. Regulatory responses including the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) had inconsequential short‐term liquidity effects but highly significant and positive long‐term liquidity effects. These liquidity improvements are positively associated with the improved quality of financial reports, several firm‐specific variables (e.g., size), and market factors (e.g., price, volatility, volume).     

Anatomy of a Fair Lending Exam: The Uses and Limitations of Statistics*

In this paper, we examine how statistical analysis is used to help conduct fair lending compliance examinations. We present a case study of an actual fair lending examination of a large mortgage lender, illustrating how statistical techniques are used to focus examiner efforts. Our case also highlights the limitations inherent in statistical analysis of discrimination. The study suggests that statistical analysis and the more-traditional comparative file reviews complement one another in the overall examination process, offsetting some of the limitations inherent in each.     

The Long‐Term Effect of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act on Cross‐Listing Premia

This paper uses a triple difference approach to assess whether the adoption of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act predicts long‐term changes in cross‐listing premia of affected foreign firms. I measure cross‐listing premia as the difference between the Tobin's q of a cross‐listed company and a non‐cross‐listed company from the same country matched on propensity to cross‐list (first difference). I find that average premia for firms cross‐listed on levels 2 or 3 (subject to SOX) declined in the year of SOX adoption (2002) and remained significantly below their pre‐SOX level through year‐end 2005 (second difference). Firms listed on levels 2 or 3, which are subject to SOX, experienced larger declines in premia than firms listed on levels 1 or 4, which are not subject to SOX (third difference). The estimated decline is 0.15–0.20 depending on specification. Riskier firms and firms from high‐disclosing and high‐GDP countries suffered larger post‐SOX declines. Firm size predicts smaller declines in premia in well‐governed countries. Faster‐growing firms in poorly‐governed countries experienced smaller declines in premia. The results are robust to the use of different before‐and‐after periods; the use of annual, quarterly, or monthly data; the use of individual companies' Tobin's q's instead of matched pairs, and different regression specifications. The overall evidence is consistent with the view that SOX negatively affected cross‐listed premia, and particularly hurt riskier firms and firms from well‐governed countries, while perhaps helping high‐growth firms from poorly‐governed countries. At the same time, after‐SOX, level‐23 firms continue to enjoy a substantial premium, estimated at about 0.32.     

Consumer Credit and Over‐indebtedness in China

Over the past three decades, China has experienced a significant increase in consumer credit. There are many causes for this growth and expansion in credit availability, such as deregulation of consumer credit markets. The expansion of consumer credit leads to the climbing of consumers' over‐indebtedness. Traditional remedies provided to consumers are limited to minor restrictions on attachment of the debtor's property. No statute has been passed in China to rearrange consumer insolvency. Moral hazard and debtor fraud are the two particularly salient concerns that hinder the adoption of consumer insolvency legislation in China. This paper makes use of publicly available data collected on government websites and bank websites to empirically describe the development of consumer credit and consumers' indebtedness in China and also theoretically examines the treatment of over‐indebtedness and the obstacles encountered in the adoption of consumer insolvency legislation. Based on these investigations, the paper suggests that although there are some obstacles, it is necessary and feasible to construct consumer insolvency system in China. Copyright © 2018 INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Global Financial Architecture: Twenty‐First Century Solutions*

Twentieth‐century global financial architectural solutions are outdated and have been found wanting. They are fundamentally structural solutions and continuing to rely on them would be to run the risk of repeating our mistakes. We must look to twenty‐first century solutions. Solutions created post‐1945 need replacing with networked solutions, reflecting what we see in the Internet and its development. These are not fanciful notions but concepts that have already been successfully modelled, albeit in a relatively narrow sphere. What we need is a mechanism by which global financial standards can be implemented in every jurisdiction around the world. This paper proceeds from the premise that the nexus between investor confidence and financial market stability is a crucial one, and one that a regulatory approach can impact. It discusses the international regulatory environment and the role of key players in the emerging global financial architecture, in particular the International Organization of Securities Commissions ( IOSCO ). It also examines the potential that mutual recognition offers for the trans‐Tasman market.     

国外金融消费者保护发展及启示

本文在分析比较美国、英国、新加坡和日本等国金融消费者保护发展现状的基础上,指出我国面临着金融消费者法律法规不健全、公众金融知识匮乏、金融机构和行业自律机制尚不健全等问题。鉴此,本文提出推进金融消费者保护法制建设、界定金融消费者保护范围、强化金融消费者教育、规范市场交易行为、完善金融消费者保护的动态机制等政策建议。     

The Actuarial Balance Sheet for Pay‐As‐You‐Go Finance: Solvency Indicators for Spain and Sweden*

This paper provides the first estimate of the actuarial balance of the Spanish contributory pension system for the old‐age contingency, based on official data. The main accounting entries are developed from the principles of double‐entry bookkeeping. The novel entry in the balance sheet, entitled the ‘contribution asset’ or ‘hidden asset’, is at the centre of the theoretical discussion. A comparison between the official balance sheet for the Swedish notional account system and our balance sheet for the Spanish contributory pension system is also provided. The main finding is that the Spanish pension system has an insolvency rate of 31.4 per cent. The policy implication is that unless current legislation is reformed, Spanish taxpayers (the plan sponsor) should count on making transfers to the pension system with a present discounted value of 31.4 per cent of current liabilities. Moreover, a comparison of the consecutive balance sheets for 2001‐06 shows that the degree of insolvency is growing over time, even though the cash‐flow outcome has improved over the same period. Taking steps to reverse this trend and restore solvency is in Spanish taxpayers' interest, and possibly also in the interest of those in the European Union who recognise that there is a chance that they may have to support the Spanish budget in the future.