Relationship lending and SME financing in the continental European bank-based system

This paper analyzes the relationship between banks and SMEs in the continental European bank-based system. We find that SMEs with longer bank relationships have enhanced access to loans, but at the same time they bear a higher cost for their debt. We also find that firms maintaining two bank relationships get the cheapest debt, which establishes a limit for the degree of concentration of bank relationships. Our results also show that the existence of trust between firm and bank improves access to financing and reduces the borrowing costs, whereas it increases the likelihood that guarantees will have to be provided. As a consequence, it seems that a relationship based on trust is a better strategy to improve SMEs’ access to finance than the establishment of longer or more concentrated relationships.     

Salespersons' self‐monitoring: Direct,indirect, and moderating effects on salespersons' organizational citizenship behavior

Research into self‐monitoring (SM) confirms that people differ when it comes to how much they observe, regulate, and control themselves in certain social settings and interpersonal relationships. Research also shows that high self‐monitors, as opposed to low self‐monitors, perform better in boundary‐spanning positions that require good communication skills. Therefore, it is a matter of interest to analyze the effects of SM on salespeople's behavior, and on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in particular. It has been proven that this behavior affects the performance of organizations and influences supervisors' evaluations of subordinates. Although a number of studies examine the antecedents of OCB, certain relationships have yet to be looked at. This study proposes and tests a model stating that salespersons' OCB is determined by salespersons' SM, with this relationship being mediated by salespersons' person–organization (PO) fit and job satisfaction. This study also analyzes the moderating effect of salespersons' SM on PO fit to job satisfaction relationships, as well as on job satisfaction to OCB relationships. Data collected from 122 supervisor–salesperson dyads in 35 companies across 9 different sectors confirm the proposed model. In fact, the results show that SM, both directly and indirectly, has a positive effect on OCB due to the way in which it influences salespersons' PO fit and job satisfaction. The results also confirm the moderating role of SM in the relationships between job satisfaction and OCB, and between PO fit and job satisfaction. Certain implications of this study, as well as directions for future research, are also addressed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

BAYESIAN ANALYSIS OF AGGREGATE LOSS MODELS

This paper describes a Bayesian approach to make inference for aggregate loss models in the insurance framework. A semiparametric model based on Coxian distributions is proposed for the approximation of both the interarrival time between claims and the claim size distributions. A Bayesian density estimation approach for the Coxian distribution is implemented using reversible jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. The family of Coxian distributions is a very flexible mixture model that can capture the special features frequently observed in insurance claims. Furthermore, given the proposed Coxian approximation, it is possible to obtain closed expressions of the Laplace transforms of the total claim count and the total claim amount random variables. These properties allow us to obtain Bayesian estimations of the distributions of the number of claims and the total claim amount in a future time period, their main characteristics and credible intervals. The possibility of applying deductibles and maximum limits is also analyzed. The methodology is illustrated with a real data set provided by the insurance department of an international commercial company.     

Forecasting Heavy‐Tailed Densities with Positive Edgeworth and Gram‐Charlier Expansions*

This article presents a new semi‐nonparametric (SNP) density function, named Positive Edgeworth‐Sargan (PES). We show that this distribution belongs to the family of (positive) Gram‐Charlier (GC) densities and thus it preserves all the good properties of this type of SNP distributions but with a much simpler structure. The in‐ and out‐of‐sample performance of the PES is compared with symmetric and skewed GC distributions and other widely used densities in economics and finance. The results confirm the PES as a good alternative to approximate financial returns distribution, specially when skewness is not severe.     

Spatial modeling of stock market comovements

We model the complex global dependencies in international financial markets using spatial techniques. Our methodology allows us to go beyond conventional correlation analyses and volatility-spillover models confined to studying pairwise relationships, and improves the accuracy of return predictions. We find that stock market comovements are unrelated to geographical proximity, and that financial linkages, as measured by foreign direct investment (FDI) ties, are important in accounting for markets comovements. Our results suggest that the proposed measure of financial distance, coupled with spatial methodology, captures fairly accurately the dependencies in the world financial markets, providing important implications for policymaking and portfolio management.     

Estimating the effect of a retraining program on the re-employment rate of displaced workers

In this article, we estimate the effects of a French retraining program on the re-employment rate of displaced workers by matching techniques. This program, called ‘Conventions de conversion’, was intended to improve re-employment prospects of displaced workers by proposing them retraining and job seeking assistance for a period of 6 months beginning just after the dismissal. Our empirical analysis is based upon non-experimental data collected by the French Ministry of Labour. Matching estimates show that this program succeeded in increasing the employment rate of trainees by approximately 6 points of percentage in the medium-term, namely in the 2nd and 3rd years after the date of entry into the program. This improvement is essentially due to an increase of their re-employment rate in regular jobs, namely jobs under long-term labour contracts.     

The Latino Assumption: A Research Note

The Latino assumption refers to the presumption that individuals residing in the United States and its commonwealths who have descended from Latin American countries and Spain constitute a homogeneous panethnic social identity. Inappropriately studying individuals of Latin American and Spanish descent as a homogeneous group in leisure research may result in threats to internal validity, statistical conclusion, and external validity. This article examines these issues and the historical context of the Latino assumption.     

开创兴边富民之路——黑河-布拉戈维申斯克中俄边民互市贸易区发展战略研究报告

《开创兴边富民之路———黑河———布拉戈维申斯克中俄边民互市贸易区发展战略研究报告》是黑河市几位同志历经一年多的时间深入调查、认真研究、刻苦探索完成的中俄边民互市贸易软科学课题研究。这个研究报告资料翔实丰富 ,分析透辟入里 ,思路清晰严谨。具有理论的超前性、操作的实用性 ,示范的典型性 ,为推动中俄边民互贸区的建设提供了重要参考价值。整个研究报告 370 0 0字 ,分 8个部分 ,即 :发展进程、战略意义、发展条件、战略构想、效益分析、战略措施、现实问题、附件。经作者同意 ,本刊选择其中“战略构想”、“战略措施”、“现实问题”三个部分予以发表