美国会不会成为下一个希腊——谈美国金融监管改革

5月20日,美国参议院通过了金融监管改革方案。奥巴马政府选择在此时着手金融监管改革,一个重要的原因,是为了捞回在医改中丢失的政治资本,为赢得中期选举做准备     

Top management incentives and financial flexibility: The case of make‐whole call provisions

Consistent with the premise that make‐whole call provisions enhance value‐creating financial flexibility, we find that higher sensitivity of managerial wealth to stock price (delta) increases the likelihood that corporate bonds contain make‐whole provisions. Building on the results of related research, post‐issue financial performance of make‐whole callable bond issuers increases in delta. In line with prior findings that demonstrate financial flexibility can be costly to bondholders, we find that managerial equity incentives impact the incremental effect of make‐whole provisions on the pricing of corporate debt securities. Consistent with the flexibility explanation, we also find that the market response as measured by abnormal trading volume to the issuance of make‐whole callable debt varies in equity incentives. Overall, our results suggest that managerial incentives play a role in the choice, pricing, and market response to make‐whole options in corporate debt securities.     

Continuing Professional Development – The IFAC Position1

Within the context of accounting education, this paper explores the impact of computer-aided learning (CAL) on students' learning experience, on teaching costs and on staff time available for research activity. The findings of two experiments are reported. The findings of the first experiment suggest that there was no significant adverse effect on the examination perfofmance of those students who opted to use CAL rather than attend lectures on management accounting. However, questionnaire responses from the students who opted to use CAL suggest that CAL had an adverse effect on their interest in accounting. The findings of the second experiment suggest use of CAL in a supplementary role did not improve student's examination performance in a course on financial reporting. The analysis in the paper suggests that CAL, when used in a supplantive role, has the potential, in certain circumstances, to reduce costs and to increase the staff time available for research activity. The paper concludes that if academic managers can be reasonbly confident that students' examination performance will not be affected adversely by the use of supplantive CAL they may consider its introduction in order to capture the benefits of reduced costs and the additional staff time available for research activity. However, in making such a decision, academic managers should bear in mind that saupplanbtive CAL can have an adverse effect on stuedents' interest in accounting.     

Financial statistics for public health dispensary decisions in Nigeria: insights on standard presentation typologies

Public health dispensaries in Nigeria in recent times have demonstrated the poise to boost corporate productivity in the new millennium and to drive the nation closer to concretising the lofty goal of health-for-all. This is very pronounced considering the face-lift giving to the physical environment, increase in the recruitment and development of professionals, and upward review of financial subventions. However, there is little or no emphasis on basic statistical appreciation/application which enhances the decision making ability of corporate executives. This study used the responses from 120 senior public health officials in Nigeria and analyzed them with chi-square statistical technique. The results established low statistical aptitude, inadequate statistical training programmes, little/no emphasis on statistical literacy compared to computer literacy, amongst others. Consequently, it was recommended that these lapses be promptly addressed to enhance official executive performance in the establishments. Basic statistical data presentation typologies have been articulated in this study to serve as first-aid instructions to the target group, as they represent the contributions of eminent scholars in this area of intellectualism.     

On the Degree of Property Tax Assessment Inequity in Complex Tax Jurisdictions

A bstract . The extent of interest in the degree of inequity in property assessment is indicative of the importance of identifying determinants of assessment inequity. Previous attempts to identify such determinants were certainly incomplete. An additional variable is offered for the list that would be expected to explain statistically the degree of inequity in the distribution of property tax liabilities , in general, and to examine specifically the relationship between assessment, inequity and the degree of complexity for assessing Jurisdictions. The latter are often complex in the sense that individual properties, although subject to a set of two or more nominal tax rates on assessed values, are not subject to the same set of nominal tax rates. It is argued—to the extent that individual property tax liabilities are capitalized in sale prices for individual properties —that the greater the number of specific property tax rates on assessed value , the greater is the expected frequency of change in such specific property tax rates and, therefore, the higher the expected value of the measure of the degree of inequity.     

Right Problem Solving: Doing the Right Thing Right

This paper discusses right problem solving to define/solve a right problem for doing the right thing right. In so doing, the paper operationally considers purposeful complex adaptive systems (PCAS), Evolutionary Systems Design (ESD), group/negotiation support systems, consciousness, connectedness, spirituality, rationality, problems, and right rationality in theory and practice. System agents may be natural (human) and/or artificial.     

Time series test of nonlinear convergence and transitional dynamics

This paper revisits the income convergence hypothesis by using the nonlinear unit root test of Kapetanios et al. [Kapetanios, G., Shin, Y. and A. Snell, 2003. Testing for a unit root in the nonlinear STAR framework. Journal of Econometrics 112, 359–379.]. Out of the 12 OECD income gaps in which nonlinearity has been detected, two cases of long-run converging and four cases of catching up are found.