Stock exchange governance initiatives: Evidence from the Italian STARs

Can a stock exchange improve corporate governance and transparency by designating companies that exhibit superior corporate governance? In 2000, the Borsa Italiana created a mid-cap segment with strong listing standards, which is composed of firms (called STARS) that follow stricter standards of transparency, disclosure, monitoring and liquidity. We find that STAR firms exhibit governance characteristics not observed in non-STAR firms, such as a higher incidence of audit and executive committees and higher debt ratios. They experienced a modestly favorable share price response upon the implementation of the STAR initiative. Moreover, they experienced significantly higher buy and hold returns and transparency after the initiative. Several governance characteristics are cross-sectionally associated with performance following the STAR initiative. Overall, the results suggest that firms may be willing to improve governance when they are endorsed by a credible agency for doing so, and such improvements may lead to better performance. The STAR initiative may serve as a model that can be adapted by other stock exchanges to promote transparency and governance.     

International Comparisons of Banking Efficiency

The banking industry around the globe has been transformed in recent years by unprecedented consolidation and cross‐border activities. However, international consolidation has been considerably less than might have been expected in developed nations—such as long‐term members of the EU—where barriers to entry have been significantly lowered. In contrast, foreign‐owned banks have generally achieved much higher penetration in developing nations. We investigate the extent to which these differences may be related to bank efficiency concerns by reviewing and critiquing over 100 studies that compare bank efficiencies across nations. The studies are in three distinct categories: (1) comparisons of bank efficiencies in different nations based on the use of a common efficient frontier, (2) comparisons of bank efficiencies in different nations using nation‐specific frontiers, and (3) comparisons of efficiencies of foreign‐owned versus domestically owned banks within the same nation using the same nation‐specific frontier. The research—particularly the findings in the third category—is generally consistent with the hypothesis that efficiency differences help to explain the consolidation patterns. The efficiency disadvantages of foreign‐owned banks relative to domestically owned banks tend to outweigh the efficiency advantages in developed nations on average, and this situation is generally reversed in developing nations, with notable exceptions to both findings. We also stress the need for further research in this area.     

The Information Content of Bank Examinations

We identify three types of information from bank examinations—auditing information from verifying the honesty and accuracy of the bank's books, regulatory discipline information about the treatment of the bank by regulators, and private information about bank condition. We estimate these information effects by comparing the cumulative abnormal market returns associated with examinations in which the CAMEL rating remained unchanged, improved, and worsened. All three information effects are found to be greater for banks entering the examination process with unsatisfactory ratings from prior examinations. The only consistently strong effect found is that examination downgrades appear to reveal unfavorable private information about bank condition. The evidence also suggests that the information may reach the market in part through loan quality data released in quarterly financial statements.     

The rise and decline of the Soviet economy

The reasons for the rapid growth of the Soviet Union before roughly 1970 and for its subsequent growth slowdown are analysed. The concentration of investment on heavy industry and soft budget constraints explain most of the growth in the 1930s. The growth slowdown was due to disastrous investment decisions following the elimination of surplus labour and the diversion of research and development resources to the military rather than the failure of firms to carry out plans or diminishing returns to capital.     

A Test of the Persistence in the Performance of UK Managed Funds

We employ a United Kingdom data set of weekly returns from a sample of investment trust companies available on the Datastream database. We analyse the relative performance of the funds and determine whether a 'good' (above-median), past-performance is indicative of future performance. Our study focuses on within sample relative performance. We examine persistence in performance in the short and long run based on a number of tests. Overall we find that both raw and risk-adjusted returns exhibit evidence of persistence in performance in the long run but not in the very short run.     

Corporate Equity Ownership, Strategic Alliances, and Product Market Relationships

This paper examines long-term block ownership by corporations and performance changes in firms with corporate block owners. We also examine potential reasons for corporate ownership including benefits in product market relationships, alleviation of financing constraints, and board monitoring by corporate owners. We find the largest significant increases in targets' stock prices, investment, and operating profitability when ownership is combined with alliances, joint ventures, and other product market relationships between purchasing and target firms, especially in industries with high research and development. Our findings are consistent with the conclusion that block ownership by corporations has significant benefits in product market relationships.     

Computer Technology Adoption by Agricultural Producers in Southern Alberta

A survey of farmers in Southern Alberta was developed to determine the importance of computer decision-making tools in the region. The survey provided approximately 300 useable responses. The results indicated that 78% of Southern Alberta farmers owned computers and 50% owned Pentium or Pentium II computers. The largest farm related uses for these computers were: 1) maintaining general farm account records, 2) tax preparation, 3) word processing, and 4) maintaining inventory records. Sixtyfour percent of respondents use computers for record-keeping and 58% use them for accounting. About 40% of respondents use the Internet to obtain price and weather information. Only 15% have ever used decision-making models .     

Information Leakage Prior to Company Issued Guidance

We find that information leakages prior to public guidance issued by company management exist even after Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD), and are more pronounced when characteristics of the firm, the guidance, or the industry reflect higher levels of information asymmetry. Since public guidance is only partially leaked, this information leakage can be used to anticipate the information content of the impending public guidance. We simulate a trading strategy based on the preguidance leakage in the period after Regulation FD, which suggests that information leakage is an effective signal of the information content within impending public guidance.     

Testing the validity of responses to contingent valuation questioning

One way of assessing the validity of results generated through the application of the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is through the analysis of response sensitivity to factors expected to have an influence. Scope testing involves presenting at least two alternative impact scenarios to population sub-samples and testing for differences between the estimates generated. Most applications of the CVM in Australia have not involved scope testing and those that have yielded mixed results. These studies are reviewed. The results of scope sensitivity and other validity tests are presented for a study aimed at estimating the value of environmental damage caused by dryland salinity in the Upper South East of South Australia.