The NBA, Exit Discrimination, and Career Earnings

The purpose of this article is threefold. First, it complements the many wage discrimination studies by examining exit discrimination in the NBA using a decade's worth of data (the 1980s). White players have a 36 percent lower risk of being cut than black players, ceteris paribus , translating into an expected career length of 7.5 seasons for an apparently similar player who is white and 5.5 seasons for the same player who is black. Second, the career earnings effect of exit discrimination in the 1980s is larger ($808,000) than the career earnings effect of wage discrimination ($329,000). Third, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that customer racial discrimination is the reason for the observed exit discrimination.     

Tax Incidence in Vietnam*

This paper examines the incidence of taxation in Vietnam, using data from the Living Standards Survey of 1997–1998 and an input–output matrix for 1997. The tax system in 1998 was slightly progressive, taking the equivalent of 7.8percent of spending for households in the lowest, and 10.3percent from households in the highest expenditure quintile. The replacement of the turnover tax by a value‐added tax in January 1999 made the system marginally more progressive, and the falling importance of taxes on trade has had a negligible effect on the overall incidence of the tax system. The tax system is progressive overall because business income taxes fall mainly on better‐off households; and low‐income households rely heavily on home consumption, which is untaxed. Against this, agricultural taxes and fees are highly regressive. The recent phasing out of the agricultural land use tax is making the tax system more progressive; however, efforts since 2004 to limit price increases for motor fuels have effectively provided a relatively greater subsidy to rich than to poor households.     

如何减小全球经济失衡的纠正对中国的冲击

全球经济失衡的根本原因 全球经济失衡的明显特征是经常账户的失衡和长期利率偏低导致许多国家房地产价格的"泡沫性"上涨.对于这一现象的解释分为两个阵营.以即将成为美联储主席的伯南克为首的经济学家认为亚洲国家的高储蓄率导致全球性储蓄过剩,压低了长期实际利率.他们中有不少人把矛头指向中国,认为人民币缺乏灵活性使中国经常账户顺差近年来大幅上升,在固定汇率制下中国大量购买美元资产,为美国的贸易逆差"买单".但是,也有一些经济学家包括不少中国经济学家认为,美国财政赤字的恶化和前期的低利率政策大大降低了美国政府和家庭储蓄,是导致全球经济不平衡的根本原因.但是这种观点无法解释全球利率偏低这一现象,因为美国对于资本流入需求的增长应当推高而不是降低全球利率水平.     

THE INFORMATIONAL ROLE OF BANK LOAN RATINGS

We analyze the relatively new phenomenon of credit ratings on syndicated loans, asking first whether they convey information to the capital markets. Our event studies show that initial loan ratings and upgrades are not informative, but downgrades are. The market anticipates downgrades to some extent, however. We also examine whether public information reflecting borrower default characteristics explains cross‐sectional variation in loan ratings and find that ratings are only partially predictable. Our evidence suggests that loan and bond ratings are not determined by the same model. Finally, we estimate a credit spread model incorporating bank loan ratings and other factors reflecting default risk, information asymmetry, and agency problems. We find that ratings are related to loan rates, given the effect of other influences on yields, suggesting that ratings provide information not reflected in financial information. Ratings may capture idiosyncratic information about recovery rates, as each of the agencies claims, or information about default prospects not available to the market.     

Nutrient Management and Farmers' Concept of Soil Fertility and Fertilisers: A Case Study in Southern Vietnam

Nutrient management in Vietnam was exposed to major changes with the introduction of the reform policy (‘doi moi’), which entailed the introduction of new crops and new fertilisers and increased consumption of mineral fertilisers, leading to higher yields but also possibly to higher losses of nutrients to the environment. However, sustainable nutrient management options can be developed through merging scientific and local concepts. Participatory methods were used to gather information about the farmers' concept of soil fertility, the fertilisers available and their features, and the information available. The farmers' concept of soil fertility was more directly connected to the ability of the whole system to promote good yields than the scientific concept of soil fertility as the soil's ability to deliver sufficient nutrients and water to the plant. The farmers' concept of fertilisers included a wide range of amendments that were added to promote good conditions for plant growth, rather than to provide nutrients for the crop. The study revealed an information system whereby some innovative farmers were the keys to other farmers' access to external information on nutrient management. The results show that any attempt made by outsiders to improve nutrient use efficiency must be applicable to the farmers' concepts.     

Governance and compliance in accounting education in Vietnam – case of a public university

Prior research suggests that despite the mass development of higher education in Vietnam recently, the quality of higher education is declining. This study aims to understand the impact of the education reform on the quality of university accounting education by investigating the involvement of different stakeholders in accounting education within one leading university in Vietnam. The findings from the interviews of key stakeholders suggest that accounting education in Vietnam is driven by reduced state control, growing institutional autonomy and increasing external guidance. This has come at the expense of reduced academic self-governance as lecturers have discretion in curriculum delivery at the individual course level, but little input into the decision-making at the school or university level and minimal participation in the curriculum development process. The findings enable regulators and decision-makers to better understand the dynamics between stakeholders in accounting education to enhance accounting graduates’ competencies and outcomes.