Frequency and Motives for Stock Dividends in a Unique Environment

We investigate the possible differences in the information content of stock dividends between firms that distribute stock dividends frequently (frequent distributors) and firms that distribute stock dividends infrequently (infrequent distributors) using a unique data set from Oman where the market microstructure frictions are either absent or limited. We find that infrequent stock dividend distributors have higher postdistribution operating performance relative to frequent distributors. We also find that the illiquidity measure is significantly related to the announcement effect only for frequent stock dividend distributors, whereas short‐term performance is significantly related to the announcement effect only for infrequent distributors. Our findings indicate that infrequent stock dividends are used mainly to convey favorable private information about the firms’ future prospects, and frequent stock dividends are used to reduce stock price to an optimal trading range in order to improve trading liquidity. JEL classification: G14, G35.     

中国企业在印度投资煤炭业之法律环境分析

煤炭是印度现今主要的工业生产能源,煤炭业的发展决定了印度包括电力工业在内的一系列的基础设施建设的进程,从而对印度整体的经济发展有着重要的意义。印度煤炭储量丰富,但囿于国内煤炭产能不足,印度于2012年颁布外资政策允许外国资本直接投资印度煤炭产业。这对中国企业来说,一方面意味着巨大的机遇,但另一方面也存在潜在的法律风险。本文将从印度的煤炭业的管理体制入手,对印度煤炭法律规范以及与外国投资相关的市场准入、税收、劳工等法律与政策进行较为系统的介绍,并对地方政府的作用、征地程序等其它重要相关影响因素进行风险识别与分析,以期针对中国企业投资印度煤炭业的法律环境进行较为全面的介绍,为相关投资项目形成具有可行性的分析意见,成为投资决策的参考依据。     

新媒体时代下高职廉政文化建设的思考

高职院校廉政文化是社会主义先进文化的重要组成部分,是高等职业教育培养目标顺利实现的重要保证,对于高职院校的发展具有重要的战略意义。廉政文化建设为新媒体提供主流文化的引领和规范,新媒体为廉政文化建设提供了重要的载体和平台,对实现文化育人、环境育人,培养高层次全面发展的技能人才具有不可替代的作用。新媒体为廉政文化建设带来新的机遇,也带来了挑战。     

国内市场一体化与企业内外销

厘清企业出口与内销的关系,对于推动形成以国内大循环为主体、国内国际双循环相互促进的新发展格局,实现中国经济稳步增长具有重要意义.全球新冠肺炎疫情和中美贸易摩擦等给中国企业出口带来巨大的不确定性,企业迫切需要通过寻求广阔的国内市场化解国外需求冲击,而统一的国内市场则有利于内需潜力的释放.为此,本文将国内市场分割因素融入Melitz(2003)模型,以考察其如何影响企业出口与内销的关系,并利用中国工业企业数据库系统检验了两者间的关系.研究发现,国内市场分割迫使低效率企业以出口替代内销,而国内市场一体化则有利于出口企业增加国内销售比例,从而缓解出口对内销的替代.改善企业融资环境是其重要的影响渠道之一.因此,促进国内区域市场一体化、进一步挖掘国内市场潜力是助力中国出口企业实现内销转型,推动形成国内国际双循环相互促进的新发展格局的必要条件.     

想拿世界冠军的重庆"阿甘"

——你是啥子? ——冠军. ——啥子冠军? ——世界冠军. 每当马俊才在训练中坚持不住的时候,教练姜舟就会向他喊话. 三级智力残疾的马俊才今年18岁,在重庆市特殊教育学校读高二,是校田径队400米跑种子选手,也是教练姜舟心目中"阿甘"式的人物,坚韧、执着、善良、热心. 起初,学校打算培养马俊才做失明长跑运动员的陪跑员.姜舟在训练时,要求队员围绕操场按照一分钟跑一圈的节奏跑,谁知马俊才一跑就跑了半个小时,若不是姜舟喊停,他还没有停下来的打算.从此,"阿甘"这个名字在重庆市特殊教育学校不胫而走.     

国家安全视阈下跨境数据流动的数字贸易新规制探析

当前国家安全利益的内涵和外延已经拓展到了非传统安全领域,跨境数据流动对国家安全的影响成为各方关注的焦点.从跨境数据流动与国家安全价值的冲突出发,WTO规则和一些区域贸易协定均设置了"国家安全例外"条款以平衡数据自由流动和国家安全双重目标,但由于缺乏对滥用"国家安全例外"的有效约束,各国基于自身需求对该问题也衍生出不同的理念和制度.对此既要进一步明确WTO安全例外规定范围,构建统一的安全评估和互信机制,同时也要允许各国合理合法地实施跨境数据流动规制,坚持在数据本地化政策前提下,实施跨境数据分级分类监管,以寻求国家间共识,减少不必要限制,防止数据保护主义.     

Can Agents Be Better Off with Pay Caps?

A popular way to discipline the managers of companies or banks that got into trouble during the recent financial crisis has been to impose caps on managers' pay. Using a small extension of the standard principal–agent model, we argue that pay caps might serve the opposite purpose, because the agent might be better off with a pay cap. Specifically, we show that, given a fixed effort level to be implemented, the agent's expected utility can be decreasing in an upper bound for the agent's reward. The effect of pay caps on the general structure of optimal incentive contracts is also characterized. While an improvement of contracting information always helps the principal, it might increase or decrease the marginal cost of imposing pay caps.     

Corporate Lobbying and Firm Performance

Corporate lobbying activities are designed to influence legislators, regulators and courts, presumably to encourage favorable policies and/or outcomes. In dollar terms, corporate lobbying expenditures are typically one or even two orders of magnitude larger than spending by Political Action Committees (PAC), and, unlike PAC donations, lobbying amounts are direct corporate expenditures. We use data made available by the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to examine this more pervasive form of corporate political activity. We find that, on average, lobbying is positively related to accounting and market measures of financial performance. These results are robust across a number of empirical specifications. We also report market performance evidence using a portfolio approach. We find that portfolios of firms with the highest lobbying intensities significantly outperform their benchmarks in the three years following portfolio formation.     

Likelihood evaluation of models with occasionally binding constraints

Applied researchers interested in estimating key parameters of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models face an array of choices regarding numerical solution and estimation methods. We focus on the likelihood evaluation of models with occasionally binding constraints. We document how solution approximation errors and likelihood misspecification, related to the treatment of measurement errors, can interact and compound each other.     

Competition and collaboration between public and private sectors: the historical construction of the Spanish hospital system, 1942–86

Throughout history, healthcare, along with diet, has been an essential component of life and a country's welfare. In particular, a country's hospital system is a key indicator for analysing the level of welfare achieved by health coverage. From an economic history perspective, the study of hospital systems is relevant since they stem from public and private investment and produce positive externalities by creating employment and stimulating other economic sectors such as construction and health. Spain provides a significant case study for determining the factors of backwardness in the construction of a modern hospital system in a country on the European periphery. Moreover, it also helps us understand how, despite initial obstacles, this system had attained a significant degree of quality by the end of the twentieth century, as confirmed by its current international hospital rankings and even by the phenomenon of health tourism. The study analyses the creation of the Spanish hospital system during Franco's dictatorship and the transition to democracy. It reveals how the maintenance of a regressive tax system, the use of health policy as political propaganda, and disputes within the political elite of the dictatorship led to an inadequate and fragmented public hospital system, which had to collaborate with the private hospital system, was full of financial holes and tainted by corruption, and remained at the service of privileged groups.