A Spatial Theory of News Consumption and Electoral Competition

We characterize the optimal editorial positions of the media in a model in which the media influence both voting behaviour and party policies. Political parties are less likely to choose partisan policies when more voters consume informative news. When there are two media outlets, each should be slightly biased relative to its audience in order to attract voters with relatively extreme views. Voter welfare is typically higher under a duopoly than under a monopoly. Two media outlets under joint ownership may provide more diverse viewpoints than two independent ones, but voter welfare is not always higher.     

Why Option Prices Lag Stock Prices: A Trading-based Explanation

While many studies find that option prices lead stock prices, Stephan and Whaley (1990) find that stocks lead options. We find no evidence that options, even deep out-of-the-money options, lead stocks. After confirming Stephan and Whaley's results, we show their results can be explained as spurious leads induced by infrequent trading of options. We show that the stock lead disappears when the average of the bid and ask prices is used instead of transaction prices. Hence, we find no evidence of arbitrage opportunities associated with the stock lead.     

Measuring Inflation Expectations Uncertainty Using High‐Frequency Data

Inflation expectations play a key role in determining future economic outcomes. The associated uncertainty provides a direct gauge of how well‐anchored the inflation expectations are. We construct a model‐based measure of inflation expectations uncertainty by augmenting a standard unobserved components model of inflation with information from noisy and possibly biased measures of inflation expectations obtained from financial markets. This new model‐based measure of inflation expectations uncertainty is more accurately estimated and can provide valuable information for policymakers. Using U.S. data, we find significant changes in inflation expectations uncertainty during the Great Recession.     

Information Asymmetry and Asset Prices: Evidence from the China Foreign Share Discount

We examine the effect of information asymmetry on equity prices in the local A‐ and foreign B‐share market in China. We construct measures of information asymmetry based on market microstructure models, and find that they explain a significant portion of cross‐sectional variation in B‐share discounts, even after controlling for other factors. On a univariate basis, the price impact measure and the adverse selection component of the bid‐ask spread in the A‐ and B‐share markets explains 44% and 46% of the variation in B‐share discounts. On a multivariate basis, both measures are far more statistically significant than any of the control variables.     

MAKING SENSE OF THE ‘BUSINESS GROUP’ IN MODERN CHINA: THE RONG BROTHERS' BUSINESSES, 1901–37

Some China scholars have suggested that ‘business groups’ in pre‐Communist China adopted a ‘hierarchical’ structure of management. This perception is re‐examined in a study of the inter‐firm relationship among the firms in which the Rong brothers, prominent industrialists of the 1910–30s, invested. We find that equity control, marketing, purchasing, and financing of these firms show a high degree of individuality among the firms, while the Headquarters Company functioned as their coordinator. It suggests that the hierarchical‐controlled ‘business group’ structure in pre‐war China is either a phantom creation of historians or the projected image of later generations who created it during the nationalisation of firms in the 1950s.     

BIM在建设项目中应用模式研究

为了加强BIM(Building Information Modeling)在我国建筑业中应用,以及提高其应用效益,文章采用实例和比较法,对比分析现有BIM应用模式的缺陷、效用及执行情况.确定了较为适用的BIM应用模式,即建设单位驱动的BIM应用模式,并基于此模式提出了相应的推广与改进建议.通过BIM应用模式的分析表明,改进BIM可以较好地服务于我国建筑业.     

An Analysis of the Economic Consequences of the Proportionate Liability Rule*

Major accounting firms in the United States have singled out elimination of joint and several liability as one of the most needed legal reforms in the country. The recent legislation of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 replaced joint and several liability with proportionate liability. This paper develops a simple model to analyze the economic consequences of such a change in the legal environment facing public accountants. In particular, we examine the incentive effects induced by the proportionate liability rule on the auditor's effort and financial statement users' litigation decisions. Our analysis demonstrates that replacing joint and several liability with proportionate liability can decrease the equilibrium audit effort, lawsuit probability, market price of the firm, and audit fee. More important, even though the proportionate liability rule reduces the equilibrium audit effort, we show that it can actually increase social welfare.