The effects of COVID-19 containment measures on the Asia-Pacific region

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world, governments introduced significant containment measures to control the spread of the virus. In this paper, we leverage inputs from IMF desk economists to construct a novel narrative index of containment measures for 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. A key innovation in our index is that it distinguishes between economic sectors (services, industry, retail), thus providing a more granular view of restrictions related to economic activity. Using this index, along with other high-frequency data, we find that containment measures have been successful in reducing the spread of the virus (though with some heterogeneity) but have also been associated with large short-term economic costs. Furthermore, exploiting the granularity of our index, we find that differences in strategies across countries regarding the closing of the industrial sector have mattered: imposing less severe restrictions on industry has been associated with lower economic costs without leading to worse health outcomes, possibly reflecting the less contact intensive nature of industrial activity.     

Uncovering asset stripping during China's privatization

This paper empirically studies the occurrence and extent of asset stripping via undervaluing public assets during the mass privatization of state-owned and collectively owned enterprises in China. Using three waves of a national survey of private firms, we provide evidence that state-owned and collectively owned assets were substantially underpriced, indicating the presence of corruption during privatization. Further analysis shows that the extent of underpricing is more severe in regions with less market competition or weaker property rights protection, and more pronounced for intangible assets such as intellectual property rights and land use rights. When comparing firm efficiency between privatized firms and de novo private firms, we find that the former group continues to enjoy considerable preferential treatments, yet significantly underperforms the latter, possibly due to continued government control and intervention. Finally, we provide evidence that insider privatization is an important source of corruption during the privatization process.     

Crowding-out effect of the current food stamp subsidy scheme

We construct a model to illustrate that the current food stamp subsidy scheme fails to achieve its stated aim due to the crowding-out effect. More specifically, if the household income is sufficiently low, only a corner solution exists, and a full subsidy is needed.     

An empirical evaluation of China’s monetary policies

This paper investigates the responsiveness of the Chinese government’s monetary policies in terms of the money supply and interest rates to economic conditions and the effectiveness of these policies in achieving the goals of stimulating economic growth and controlling inflation. We analyze the responsiveness and effectiveness by estimating the Taylor rule, the McCallum rule, and a vector autoregressive model using quarterly data in the period of 1992-2009. The results show that, overall, the monetary policy variables respond to economic growth and the inflation rate, but the magnitudes of the responses are much weaker than those observed in market economies. Money supply responded actively to both the inflation rate and the real output and had certain effects on the future inflation rates and real output. The official interest rates, on the other hand, responded passively to the inflation rate and did not respond to the real output. They do not have any effect on future inflation rates and real output either.     

中国城市政府公共支出效率分析——基于四阶段DEA方法的实证研究

本文以2008年中国内地126个地级以上城市为样本数据,利用四阶段DEA方法,对中国城市公共支出效率进行了实证分析。结果显示:如果不对外部环境因素加以控制,则经典的DEA方法将会高估城市公共支出效率;在控制外部环境因素影响后,样本城市公共支出效率得分为0.353,表明在保持支出不变下,通过改善组织管理、优化支出规模及结构,公共服务供给水平可提高约64%,城市公共支出效率还有很大的提升空间;经济发达、较大的辖区面积是城市公共支出效率提升的有利条件,而人口增加对公共品供给产生的拥挤效应不利于城市公共支出效率提升。     

高管的风险态度与股权激励方式选择*

公司如何选择有效的股权激励方式一直是理论研究的重要话题。本文以2006—2016年中国A股实行股权激励的上市公司为研究对象,探究高管的风险态度差异对上市公司股权激励方式选择的影响。研究结果显示,高管的风险回避倾向越强,公司越倾向于授予风险较大的股票期权方式激励高管,以激发高管的风险承担意愿;高管的风险承担水平越高,公司则越倾向于采用风险较小的限制性股票期权方式进行激励,以削弱高管的过度风险追求倾向。进一步研究表明,当股权激励方式基于风险承担与高管的风险态度相匹配时,公司会有更好的业绩表现。本文的研究结论为激励契约设计提供了重要启示。     

数字化转型如何影响企业韧性？ ——基于双元创新视角

数字化转型是促进企业韧性形成并塑造竞争优势的重要手段。通过以广东省、江苏省等地区的339家企业为研究样本,实证研究发现:数字化转型对企业韧性具有显著正向影响;其中,数字化转型分别对探索式创新和利用式创新具有积极促进作用;同时,双元创新对企业韧性具有显著正向影响。进一步地,企业通过探索式创新和利用式创新分别在数字化转型对企业韧性的影响中起部分中介作用。研究从双元创新视角揭示了数字化转型对企业韧性的作用机制,验证了数字化转型与企业韧性的关系,也为实施数字化转型的企业通过双元创新来提升企业韧性应对不确定性风险提供了理论指导。     

FDI与中国汽车业集中度实证研究:基于灰色关联分析

文章采用灰色关联分析的方法,对FDI与中国汽车业集中度的关系做了实证分析,结果表明二者呈较高的灰色关联度。这意味着伴随FDI的增多,汽车产业集中度呈上升趋势。然而,与汽车进口量、国内市场需求量、汽车整车厂数量这几个指标相比,FDI并不是影响产业集中度的主要因素,这种结果与政府的产业政策导向有关。最后,本文对如何利用FDI促进中国汽车业的发展提出政策建议。     

产业集聚、技术创新与环境污染——基于中国工业行业面板数据的实证分析

利用1999—2013年中国21个两位数工业行业的面板数据,利用面板数据向量自回归模型,实证分析了产业集聚、技术创新与环境污染的动态关系。结果表明:工业集聚程度的提高能够显著减少工业污染排放、促进技术创新;技术创新对环境污染排放具有显著的正向影响;环境污染排放具有循环累计因果效应;随着时间的推移,产业集聚对环境污染排放的抑制作用越来越明显,但长期内技术创新对环境污染波动的解释力将超越产业集聚。     

How do great shocks influence the correlation between oil and international stock markets?

We investigate the impacts of great shocks (2003 Iraq War and 2008 Financial Crisis) on the correlations between oil and US/China stock markets, utilizing a novel MADCC (mixed asymmetry dynamic conditional correlation) model. This model successfully captures the coexistence of opposite signed asymmetries. We find that great shocks indeed increased the correlations. Further, results from the news impact surfaces indicate that correlations between oil and stock markets are higher to joint negative shocks; however, correlation between stock markets has stronger response to joint positive shocks.