Culture and auditor choice: A test of the secrecy hypothesis

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether firms’ auditor choice relates to national culture. We construct a novel measure of secretiveness based on Hofstede [Hofstede, G., 1980. Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA] cultural factors. Using a very large sample of firms from 37 countries and controlling for a number of firm- and country-level factors, we find that firms in “more secretive” countries are less likely to hire a Big 4 auditor. We also document that the relation between secrecy dimension of national culture and auditor choice is mitigated by the firms’ degree of internationalization. These results establish a link between national culture and financial reporting quality through the firm’s choice of auditor.     

Market Imperfections,Macroeconomic Conditions,and Capital Structure Dynamics: A Cross-Country Study

This article investigates how “systematic” adjustment costs proxied by market imperfections, and macroeconomic conditions affect capital structure dynamics in a cross-country setting. We document substantial variations in firms’ capital structure adjustments across countries and, particularly, over time. Consistent with adjustment costs impeding firms from rebalancing their capital structures, worse market imperfections are associated with slower speeds of adjustment (SOA) and larger leverage deviations. Intertemporally, capital structure adjustment is procyclical, with SOA increasing by 0.9 percentage point for a one-percentage-point increase in GDP growth rate. The procyclicality is attributable to good macroeconomic conditions mitigating market imperfections through channels of 1) facilitating free-ride restructuring and 2) uncertainty alleviation. Our investigation features a bootstrapping-based estimation method that addresses the mechanical mean reversion of leverage ratio.     

Determinants of US multinational banking performance in the Asia pacific region: An eclectic approach

The Asia Pacific region has provided the fastest growing and the most profitable overseas markets for US multinational banks (MNBs) since 1975. In the region, US MNBs remain the dominant banking power despite a recent contraction in their relative market share. This paper discusses major characteristics of US MNB activities in the region and identifies empirically major determinants of MNB performance in the two key countries of the region (Singapore and South Korea) using an eclectic approach.     

城市社区管理体制改革新探

随着中国政治、经济体制改革的不断深入和城市化进程的加速,城市社区的地位和作用日益重要,城市社区建设已经成为中国社会发展中的一个战略性问题。社区管理应坚持以人为本原则,从中国国情出发,探索适应中国国情的管理体制创新模式。     

论税务环境评估指标体系的创建

税务环境的创建是一个庞大的系统工程，影响税务环境好坏的因素很多，分析税务的环境因素种类和内涵，并将它们用较为直接的指标方式表现出来，创建税务环境的指标体系，用于对现存税务环境进行科学、合理的评估，并为创建优美的税务环境寻找治理的有效途径，是非常必要的。     

“中部崛起”的投资环境及政策建议

中部崛起,投资先行。选取反映经济发展水平与投资环境的17项指标,运用因子分析法对中国中部地区的统计数据进行综合评价,依此反映中部各地区投资环境的优势之所在,为各地区的发展提供参考。     

关于公共财政基本特征的认识

关于对公共财政的认识，应该说国内现在并没有一个权威的、共识的表述，在学术界还有不同的意见和争议。学术的争论可以继续进行，有助于我们认识的深化，但是我认为这些争论并不妨碍我们把握一个主线，就是从中国经济转轨、财政转型的角度来正面理解建立公共财政框架的一些实质性的内容。这些实质性的内容现在还是一些粗线条的要点，随着今后改革不断的深化，我们对它的认识会越来越细，越来越清晰，这是旨在追求现代化的制度创新和生产力解放的过程中，需要逐步去达到的。     

可转债投资对股票投资的绝对占优:中国可转债市场效率的一个反例

可转换债券是公司债券的一种,其持有人有权利在一定期间将债券转换成相应公司的股票,因此可转换债券价格与股票价格之间应该具有一定的相关性;如果市场价格与这种相关性不相符,投资者就可能获得无风险套利的机会。在价格有效的证券市场上,这种无风险套利的机会是不存在的;但在中国证券市场上,经常会出现可转债投资对股票投资的绝对占优机会。     

配股和增发的相关者利益分析和政策研究

本报告从理论和实证两方面研究配股和增发这两种发行方式对于非流通股股东、流通股股东 (包括参与增发的老股东、不参与增发的老股东、参与增发的新股东、参与配股的流通股股东、不参与配股的流通股股东 )等利益相关者的影响 ,发现在目前国内证券市场 ,配股比增发更有利于各方利益的均衡。同时 ,实证研究发现 ,配股折扣率与流通股股东超额收益率显著正相关 ,而与每股净资产增长率相关性不显著。这表明合适的折扣率配股方式在促进非流通股股东净资产大幅增长的同时更能保护流通股股东的投资利益。     

中国各地区的市场化进程对经济增长的影响

本文通过考察用市场化指数表示的制度变量在经济增长中的作用，对索罗模型做了适合中国国情的修正，提出了一个包含制度变量的扩展索罗模型。实证研究结果表明该模型很好地描述了各省市的经济增长情况，如果控制了人口增长率、资本积累率以及制度因素的差异，中国地区间经济增长会出现如索罗模型所预测的条件收敛现象。