Product Patent Reform and its Impact on Korea's Pharmaceutical Industry

Our analysis focuses on the effect of U.S. government pressure on Korea to adopt product patents for chemical and pharmaceutical products. American pressure began in November 1985 and ended with the Korean Legislature's passage of a new patent law in December 1986. We conduct an event study of the effect of the new patent law on the value of Korean pharmaceutical firms listed on the Korea Stock Exchange. Regression analysis shows that the new law induced excess returns of-74 percent over the 14-month analysis period. The results suggest that adoption of stronger patent laws reduced Korea's wealth. [G14, O34]     

Statistical inference using the T index to quantify the level of comparability between accounts

The extent to which the accounts of companies are comparable is considered important to users and regulators. However, prior research has been restricted by a lack of appropriate statistical methods for testing comparability indices. This has made it difficult to assess the true level of comparability from sample data and to test research hypotheses such as whether the level of comparability (a) differs by policy, (b) differs by country, and (c) changes over time. This paper fills this gap by exploring the statistical properties of the T index. The T index generalises the H, C, I and various modifications of these indices and represents a unified framework for the measurement of the extent to which the accounts of companies are comparable. Formulae for the bias and standard error for any index under this framework are provided and proved. The bias is shown to equal zero or be negligible in most practical situations. Using historical data, the standard error is used to illustrate the accuracy with which comparability is estimated and to perform formal statistical inference using confidence intervals and p‐values. Furthermore, the sampling distribution of the T index is assessed for normality. Implications for research design and sample size determination are also discussed.     

Money supply,interest rate,liquidity and share prices: A test of their linkage

The money supply impacts on interest rate and liquidity were first proposed in 1961 by Friedman, the late Nobel laureate. The liquidity effect has yet received unanimous empirical support. Also, research interest on liquidity subsided in the 2000s. Using quarterly data over 1960–2011 and simultaneous solution to a system of equations, this paper reports positive liquidity effect from money supply. By extending the system of equations with a liquidity equation and after controlling the effect of earnings, evidence is found of a significant positive effect from liquidity on share prices. Money supply is found to be endogenous as in post Keynesian theory. These findings, obtained after solutions to several econometric deficiencies in prior studies, provide clear verification of the endogenous money supply theory, money effect on liquidity and on the extension of the model for a liquidity effect on asset prices.     

Global emissions effects of CDM projects with relative baselines

CDM is an offset mechanism designed to reduce the overall cost of implementing a given global target for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Annex B countries of the Kyoto Protocol. A problem with CDM is that it provides incentives to increase, if possible, the baseline emissions for CDM projects, to optimize the value of CDM credits. Under a “relative baselines” crediting rule, the CDM may also unduly increase energy consumption even during the CDM implementation phase. Less than full offset of emissions is then likely, and the CDM will lead to increased global GHG emissions. We show that this is a potentially serious problem, due to asymmetric information between project hosts and the regulator, the CDM Executive Board, and to the basic rules for crediting CDM quotas. In certain cases, the use of “relative baselines” to credit CDM quotas could fully eliminate any emissions reductions achieved by CDM projects. Remedies to overcome the problems are discussed. They may involve setting the baseline independently of initial energy intensity and final output for the project; or involve information revelation mechanisms that minimize policy losses and net rent capture by project sponsors.     

Litigation risk,accounting quality,and investment efficiency

This paper examines the moderating effect of litigation risk on the relationship between accounting quality and investment efficiency. We use directors’ and officers’ (D&O) liability insurance as a proxy for litigation risk, accruals quality for accounting quality, and investment cash flow sensitivity for investment efficiency (Biddle & Hilary, 2006; Hovakimian & Hovakimian, 2009). Using Canadian data from 1998 to 2008, we show that firms with higher D&O insurance coverage exhibit lower quality accruals. Moreover, the previously documented negative association between accruals quality and investment cash flow sensitivity is stronger (weaker) when abnormal D&O coverage is low (high), suggesting that the role of accounting quality in facilitating investment efficiency is conditional upon observable litigation risk.     

Ownership and production efficiency: Evidence from Taiwanese banks

In the early 1990s, Taiwan began her deregulation trend in order to enhance competition and economic efficiency across all industries. We derive a theoretical framework to predict possible rankings in technical efficiencies of public, mixed, and private banks. A panel data set with 43 Taiwanese banks during 1997–1999 is used for empirical analysis. We then apply a translog distance function to estimate technical efficiencies. The relationship between technical efficiency and government shareholding is also examined. Empirical results show that a public bank in Taiwan can improve its technical efficiency by mixed ownership at a diminishing rate. Moreover, banks in Taiwan on average performed worse after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.     

Predicting issuer credit ratings using a semiparametric method

This paper proposes a prediction method based on an ordered semiparametric probit model for credit risk forecast. The proposed prediction model is constructed by replacing the linear regression function in the usual ordered probit model with a semiparametric function, thus it allows for more flexible choice of regression function. The unknown parameters in the proposed prediction model are estimated by maximizing a local (weighted) log-likelihood function, and the resulting estimators are analyzed through their asymptotic biases and variances. A real data example for predicting issuer credit ratings is used to illustrate the proposed prediction method. The empirical result confirms that the new model compares favorably with the usual ordered probit model.     

Measuring Employee's Creativity: A New Theoretical Model and Empirical Study for Tourism Industry

Based on the componential theory of creativity, this research built and tested a new theoretical model that links the 4P model (people, product, place, and process) with creativity via several intervening variables. Survey data and two-step structural equation modeling were used to evaluate a sample of 338 employees surveyed from 57 tourism and hospitality organizations in Taiwan. As anticipated, we found that people (e.g. personality) positively affected place (e.g. organizational environment and participation) and creative process (e.g. data collection, idea generation, and confirmation), which in turn influenced product outputs of creativity and satisfaction.