Corporate Social Performance, Firm Valuation, and Industrial Difference: Evidence from Hong Kong

This study addresses two issues. First, does corporate social performance matter in Hong Kong. Second, if yes, is it relevant to some industries more than others. To answer these questions, we develop a corporate social performance index (CSP) to measure the quality of corporate social performance of major Hong Kong listed firms. The criteria are based on the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance. Using the 3-year period from 2002 to 2005, we find that firm valuation is positive and significantly associated with CSP. Interestingly, this relation matters less in China related firms and firms with a concentrated ownership structure. The results also show that CSP impacts firm valuation more positively when the firm is in the service sector. We further find that CSP is positively related to the market valuation of the subsequent year.     

Foreign aid,poverty reduction,and democracy

Eradication of poverty is the most pervasive goal of donors' foreign aid programmes. As a result, there has been much research on the degree of correlation between aid and poverty reduction. However, this work to date has shed little light on the direction of causation between the two variables. Using the method of Granger causality, and conditioning aid and poverty on the state of democracy in developing countries, this study asks whether aid flows impact poverty, whether poverty influences aid flows, or whether causality proceeds in both directions simultaneously. While the results identify no causal relationships in some of the sub-samples, they point to the existence of a multitude of relationships across others.     

Critical issues affecting the service quality and professionalism of the tour guides in Hong Kong and Macau

This study examines the critical issues affecting the service quality and professionalism of the tour guiding professions in Hong Kong and Macau. In-depth interviews were conducted with industry representatives in the two regions. The issues identified are classified into six categories: unhealthy business practices of outbound travel agencies in China, immaturity of the Chinese tourism market, exploitative measures by inbound tour operators, human resource issues, role conflict, and service quality assurance mechanism. A conceptual model is proposed to explain the role conflict faced by the guiding professions. The implications of the findings and recommendations for practice and future research are discussed. Given the growing importance of the Chinese tourism market, the findings will be of significant value to Hong Kong and Macau, and to other destinations targeting the Chinese market.     

Notes on separable preferences

Examples are constructed to show that Gorman's important basic theorem for overlapping strictly separable sectors does not hold if the sectors are only nonstrictly separable. This is done with the help of a new definition for the notion of nonstrict separability of utility preferences. The new definition is equivalent to that of Bliss; but it clarifies the relationship between the geometry and representation of preferences with separable sectors. The gained geometric insight leads to the conjecture that if all sectors are strictly essential, then Gorman's Basic Theorem would hold.     

Fundamental Rights and the European Regulation of iConsumer Contracts

This paper addresses the question of how fundamental rights affect European legislation and adjudication on contracts regarding digital information services (iConsumer contracts). Fundamental rights may be seen as representing political choices for the protection of certain values in society, but at the same time, they are enacted rules of the legal system, which may be invoked to enforce the protection of the interests they represent. It is submitted that because of this double-faced nature, they can bring to the fore policy issues in contract legislation and case law. Fundamental rights can thus play a role in evaluating the policy choices that are being made in the review of the acquis communautaire in the field of consumer law. For iConsumer contracts, that means that the rights of consumers, authors, and suppliers of copyright-protected content affect the choice of rule-solutions on the European legislative level. Furthermore, these rights have an impact on the case law of the European Court of Justice in the field of e-commerce. Fundamental rights help define the various rule-solutions the Court can choose from and thus demarcate the law-making capacity of the judiciary.

Bond Market Development,Economic Growth and Other Macroeconomic Determinants: Panel VAR Evidence

This paper examines causal relationships between bond market development, economic growth and four other macroeconomic variables in 35 countries for the period 1993–2011. Bond market development is defined in terms of the significance and presence of public sector, private sector, and international bond issues. Additional covariates being considered are the inflation rate, the real effective exchange rate, the real interest rate, and a measure of openness to international trade. We use a panel vector auto-regression model to reveal the nature of Granger causality among these variables. Specifically, we find that bond market development and the four macroeconomic covariates may be long-run causative factors for economic growth. Thus, policy makers seeking to foster economic growth are warned to check multi-causal studies involving all these variables before setting their policies.     

Innovation,financial development and economic growth in Eurozone countries

Using a panel vector auto-regressive model, we study interactions between innovation, financial development and economic growth in 18 Eurozone countries between 1961 and 2013. We focus on whether causality runs between these variables both ways, one way, the other way or not at all. Our empirical results show that development of the financial sector and enhanced innovative capacity in the Eurozone contributes to long-term economic growth in the countries in the region.     

Economic growth and the development of telecommunications infrastructure in the G-20 countries: A panel-VAR approach

This paper examines the linkages between the development of telecommunications infrastructure (DTI), economic growth, and four key indicators of operation of a modern economy: gross capital formation, foreign direct investment inflows, urbanization rates, and trade openness. By studying the G-20 countries over the period 1991–2012 and employing a panel vector auto-regressive model for detecting Granger causality, we find a network of long-run causal connections between these variables, including bidirectional causality between DTI and economic growth.     

An empirical investigation of pension funding levels in Canada

In the literature, three non-mutually exclusive approaches explain pension plan funding decisions: the traditional view (Friedman, 1983), the corporate view (Bodie et al., 1985) and the bonding view (Ippolito, 1985). An investigation of pension funding levels is presented here relying on an empirical model integrating these three different views. The results, based on data covering 115 relatively large Canadian firms in 1990, offer strong support for the bonding view.