The Big Family: Informal Financing of Small‐ and Medium‐Sized Businesses by Guanxi

Guanxi facilitates interaction between companies and people in Confucian societies. Does this type of social construct still play the key role, when the entrepreneurs live in Western societies? The objective of this article is to verify the impact of Guanxi on the capacity of small and medium‐sized businesses accessing financial resources informally. To this end, data collected from small Chinese entrepreneurs active in the principal business center of Brazil were used. From nonparametric tests, the results suggest that: (1) different levels of Guanxi allow small and medium‐sized businesses to access informal financial resources; (2) different types of informal financing are mostly used, or judged to be more significant, depending on the level of Guanxi of the entrepreneur in terms of parental and nonfamily ties; and (3) unlike the Western literature on the financial cycles of start‐ups, this type of informal financing can extend beyond the initial stage of the business. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

To blow or not to blow the whistle: the effects of potential harm,social pressure and organisational commitment on whistleblowing intention and behaviour

This study uses a rational ethical decision‐making framework to examine the influence of moral intensity (potential harm and social pressure) on whistleblowing intention and behaviour using organisational commitment as a moderator. A scenario was developed, and an online questionnaire was used to conduct an empirical analysis on the responses of 533 participants. The mean age and years of work experience of the respondents were 31 and 8.2 years, respectively. The results show, first, that while moral intensity is correlated with whistleblowing intention, only the potential harm is positively correlated with such intention. Second, potential harm and social pressure differentially affect whistleblower choice of using an internal or external channel. Third, organisational commitment has a moderated mediation effect among moral intensity, whistleblowing intention and behaviour. Fourth, whistleblowers may be grouped into four conceptual types: indifferent, rebel, mature and spoil. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.     

The market valuation of ethical assets in Spain: an application of the hedonic pricing method

The aim of this paper is to calculate the market valuation of non‐financial characteristics, namely, the social responsibility criteria (social, ethical and environmental) included in the Spanish Socially Responsible Investment Funds. The hedonic price method is applied for this purpose. This method relates the price of Socially Responsible Investment Funds with both financial and social responsibility characteristics. Because of the large number of social responsibility characteristics included in these funds, prior to application of the hedonic price method, the principal components factor analysis technique is used. The data are taken from the prospectus for each fund and from the data provided by the National Securities Market Commission. Results indicate that the Spanish market is sensitive to the social responsibility practices of companies. In particular, the market value practices related to environmental sustainability, the enforcement of labour rights, sustainable production and consumption and non‐abusive market practices.     

城乡统筹发展评价体系的构建及应用

在城乡统筹发展进程中,对城乡统筹发展水平进行客观的评价有着非常重大的意义。最近十来年,针对统筹城乡的评价指标体系,已经有不少研究。许多地方政府已经在运用评价指标体系评估本地区的城乡统筹发展情况。从数量特征、指标体系、理想值的设定方式、权重的设置方式以及城乡统筹发展阶段划分五个方面对已有文献进行梳理和评论,并指出值得继续研究的新问题。     

基于子带阵列盲处理的空时干扰抑制

在卫星智能天线终端,传统空时自适应滤波处理中自适应算法需要信号信息而缺乏实时性,阵列处理算法复杂而抗干扰能力不足,针对此问题,提出了一种子带盲自适应阵列处理算法,用于直扩系统空时干扰抑制技术。子带阵列处理相对纯空域处理提高了阵列自由度,相对传统空时的抽头延迟线阵列自适应结构又大大降低了算法复杂度。提出的子带指数型变步长线性约束恒模算法的自适应阵列处理算法能在低算法复杂度下提供较高的收敛速度和收敛精度,不需要发送训练序列,可实现盲自适应波束形成,易于实现实时跟踪信号变化。仿真结果表明新的空时干扰抑制方案具有更好的抗干扰性能。     

Frequency and Motives for Stock Dividends in a Unique Environment

We investigate the possible differences in the information content of stock dividends between firms that distribute stock dividends frequently (frequent distributors) and firms that distribute stock dividends infrequently (infrequent distributors) using a unique data set from Oman where the market microstructure frictions are either absent or limited. We find that infrequent stock dividend distributors have higher postdistribution operating performance relative to frequent distributors. We also find that the illiquidity measure is significantly related to the announcement effect only for frequent stock dividend distributors, whereas short‐term performance is significantly related to the announcement effect only for infrequent distributors. Our findings indicate that infrequent stock dividends are used mainly to convey favorable private information about the firms’ future prospects, and frequent stock dividends are used to reduce stock price to an optimal trading range in order to improve trading liquidity. JEL classification: G14, G35.     

A Structuralist Inflation Curve

This paper presents a structuralist model of inflation and applies it to the US economy. The model uses a mark‐up rule to specify inflation as a function of income distribution and capacity utilization, as usual in structuralist macroeconomics, but it also includes inflation expectations, the government's inflation target and cost pressures from non‐labor inputs as explaining variables. The model shows how inflation and income distribution, measured by the wage share of income, are connected through an inflation curve in the long run.     

Financial Sector Volatility,Banking Market Structure and Exports

This paper assesses the impacts of financial sector volatility and banking market structure on industrial exports. By utilising the specification of Rajan and Zingales (American Economic Review 1998; 88 , 559) on the cross‐country, cross‐industry data from Manova (Journal of International Economics 2008; 76 , 33), we find that financial sector volatility, measured as the standard deviation of the growth of private credit, and banking market structure, measured as the share of the three largest banks’ assets in a country, respectively exert significantly negative and positive impacts on industrial exports, particularly for those industries that are more externally financially dependent. The findings are robust to a variety of kinds of sensitivity analysis and thus lend support to the notion that a more stable and concentrated banking system is important to the exports of those industries that rely more on external finance.     

Austerity,Growth and Inflation: Remarks on the Eurozone's Unresolved Competitiveness Problem

While the financial protection measures enacted by the ECB and the community of Eurozone members have calmed financial markets, they have left the competitiveness problem of the Eurozone's southern countries and France unresolved. The paper compares price inflation before the crisis with the necessary and actual price cuts that have taken place since the outbreak of the crisis, predicting a decade of stagnation for the south and inflation for the north. Keynesian demand policy is counterproductive in the south and unnecessary in the north. The necessary realignment of relative goods prices and current account imbalances can be achieved if market forces are allowed to redirect capital flows to the north instead of being artificially steered to uses they are keen to avoid.     

Comparison of attitudes towards school lunch by elementary school children in Japan,Korea and Thailand

The attitudes of elementary school children towards school lunch among three Asian countries, namely Japan, Korea and Thailand, were compared. More school children in Japan felt that their teachers gave them advice during the school lunch programme. Japanese and Korean teachers advised their children to eat as much as possible of the lunch. Korean children may be a little more obedient with regard to heeding the advice. However, few teachers in Thailand gave the children advice over eating lunch, and the Thai children looked forward to and enjoyed the school lunch. The different responses between Thailand and other two countries may be attributed in part to the differences in the teachers' instruction in the programme. Elementary school teachers, especially in Thailand and Korea, have to take more classes in food and nutrition in universities or colleges, and positively take part in the school lunch programme.