Versatile networks in combining qualitative and quantitative data

Following a series of special volumes on the DISC conferences in the past, this themed issue focuses on versatile network forms particularly in combining qualitative and quantitative data. This special issue also celebrates the second publication born out of the DISC conferences under the Quality and Quantity.     

在改革中不断前进的中国税收——对改革开放三十年税制改革历程的回顾

本期"开放的中国"栏目刊登了长期从事税收工作,积极主张改革中国税制,引进增值税制和以所得税形式取代国营企业利润上交制度,参与和设计中国改革开放后历次税制改革的中国国际税收研究会原副会长韩绍初撰写的《在改革中不断前进的中国税收》一文。该文对我国三十年税制改革的历程进行了比较详细的回顾,将我国的税制改革进程清晰地展现给广大读者。     

上海宏观税负的实征分析

上海是我国经济最为发达的地区之一,其宏观税负有不同于其他地区的特征。本文通过描述上海地区宏观税负现状,实证分析了影响宏观税负的因素,提出了优化上海宏观税负的政策建议。     

Changes in Korean Corporate Governance: A Response to Crisis

In the last months of 1997, the value of the Korean currency lost over half its value against the dollar, and the ruling party was swept from power in presidential elections. One of the fundamental causes of this national economic crisis was the widespread failure of Korean companies to earn their cost of capital, which contributed to massive shareholder losses and calls for corporate governance reform. Among the worst performers, and hence the main targets of governance reform, were family‐controlled Korean business groups known as chaebol. Besides pursuing growth and size at the expense of value, such groups were notorious for expropriating minority shareholders through “tunneling” activities and other means. The reform measures introduced by the new administration were a mix of market‐based solutions and government intervention. The government‐engineered, large‐scale swaps of business units among the largest chaebol—the so‐called “big deals” that were designed to force each of the groups to identify and specialize in a core business—turned out to be failures, with serious unwanted side effects. At the same time, however, new laws and regulations designed to increase corporate transparency, oversight, and accountability have had clearly positive effects on Korean governance. Thanks to reductions in barriers to foreign ownership of Korean companies, such ownership had risen to about 37% at the end of 2006, up from just 13% ten years earlier. And in addition to the growing pressure for better governance from foreign investors, several newly formed Korean NGOs have pushed for increased transparency and accountability, particularly among the largest chaebol. The best governance practices in Korea today can be seen mainly in three kinds of corporations: (1) newly privatized companies; (2) large corporations run by professional management; and (3) banks with substantial equity ownership in the hands of foreign investors. The improvements in governance achieved by such companies—notably, fuller disclosure, better alignment of managerial incentives with shareholder value, and more effective oversight by boards—have enabled many of them to meet the global standard. And the governance policies and procedures of POSCO, the first Korean company to list on the New York Stock Exchange—as well as the recent recipient of a large equity investment by Warren Buffett—are held up as a model of best practice. At the other end of the Korean governance spectrum, however, there continue to be many large chaebol‐affiliated or family‐run companies that have resisted such reforms. And aided by the popular resistance to globalization, the lobbying efforts of such firms have succeeded not only in reducing the momentum of the Korean governance reform movement, but in reversing some of the previous gains. Most disturbing is the current push to allow American style anti‐takeover devices, which, if successful, would weaken the disciplinary effect of the market for corporate control.     

《证券投资学》课程建设探析

《证券投资学》是国家教委规定的高等院校财经类核心课程。目前在我校是金融学专业的必修课和全院性专业选修课,该课程于2005年评为内蒙古自治区精品课。我校《证券投资学》经过多年的建设取得了很大成绩,但随着我国证券市场的快速发展和市场对证券人才需求的变化,其教学体系暴露出许多问题。本文从课堂教学、实践教学等不同教学环节提出了该课程目前存在的问题和看法,并提出了完善教学体系的建议。     

Towards the operationalization of controversial news: a study of online news articles and reader comments during the 2017 presidential election in South Korea

Quality & Quantity - In this brief research note, we propose a set of concepts and methods for identifying and operationalizing controversial news items. Based on an analysis of online...     

Understanding in‐house transactions in the real estate brokerage industry

About 20% of residential real estate transactions in North America are in‐house transactions, for which buyers and sellers are represented by the same brokerage. We examine to what extent in‐house transactions are explained by agents' strategic incentives as opposed to matching efficiency. Using home transaction data, we find that agents are more likely to promote internal listings when they are financially rewarded and such effect becomes weaker when consumers are more aware of agents' incentives. We further develop a structural model and find that about one third of in‐house transactions are explained by agents' strategic promotion, causing significant utility loss for home buyers.     

CEO inside debt and investment‐cash flow sensitivity

This paper provides a new explanation for investment‐cash flow sensitivity from the perspective of CEO inside debt holdings. We examine the effect of CEO pensions and deferred compensation (inside debt) on investment‐cash flow sensitivity for a sample of U.S. manufacturing firms from 2006 to 2012. We find that the firms with higher relative CEO leverage ratios (CEO's debt/equity ratio scaled by the firm's debt/equity ratio) generate higher investment‐cash flow sensitivity. Moreover, one standard deviation increase in the logarithm of the relative CEO leverage ratio enlarges investment‐cash flow sensitivity by 50 per cent. This positive relationship still holds even after we take account of endogeneity and financial constraints.     

Comparison of Cramer–Rao lower bounds of variances for at least equal protection of respondents

In this paper, a new randomized response model is proposed, which is shown to have a Cramer–Rao lower bound of variance that is lower than the Cramer–Rao lower bound of variance suggested by Singh and Sedory at equal protection or greater protection of respondents. A new measure of protection of respondents in the setup of the efficient use of two decks of cards, because of Odumade and Singh, is also suggested. The developed Cramer–Rao lower bounds of variances are compared under different situations through exact numerical illustrations. Survey data to estimate the proportion of students who have sometimes driven a vehicle after drinking alcohol and feeling over the legal limit are collected by using the proposed randomization device and then analyzed. The proposed randomized response technique is also compared with a black box technique within the same survey. A method to determine minimum sample size in randomized response sampling based on a small pilot survey is also given.     

Impact of Rebates and Refunds on Contributions to Threshold Public Goods: Evidence from a Field Experiment

We investigate the impact of rebates and refunds on contributions to threshold public goods using evidence from a field experiment conducted in conjunction with an Australian charity, Life Goes On. We find that offering rebates and refunds has a significant positive impact on both participation and average donations in the absence of seed money. Our results suggest that offering rebates and refunds, and the existence of seed money may, to some extent, play substitute roles in encouraging giving behavior. Seed money has a significant positive effect on participation only. Seed money's impact on average donations may be mitigated by a threshold effect.