The Asymmetric Information Problem in Taiwan's Cancer Insurance Market

This paper investigates the problem of asymmetric information in Taiwan’s cancer insurance market. Through the survey data, we find evidence of adverse selection existing in this market. Furthermore, we collect additional information on the individual, and find that the individual’s family cancer history contains additional valuable information. It can not only more accurately predict the probability of contracting cancer, as well as predict the willingness to purchase extended cancer insurance, but it can also help to mitigate the severity of adverse selection in the insurance market.     

浅谈基层党支部在企业安全工作中的优势与作用

本文从党支部书记的角度,阐述作为基层党支部与本单位安全生产之间的关系,结合石油化工行业安全生产的特性,有效地发挥支部优势,引导员工通过开展一系列安全活动,不断提高员工安全意识和安全技能,将支部日常工作较好的融入企业安全生产,减少安全事故,杜绝危害发生,从而为企业生产、经营与发展保驾护航。     

Individual and Institutional Investors’ Response to Earnings Reported by Conservative and Non‐Conservative Firms: Evidence from Chinese Financial Markets

In this study, we document that there are significant differences in individual and institutional investors’ perception and interpretation of information based on accounting conservatism, as reflected by their trading behavior in the Chinese financial market. Our findings show that institutional investors, who are more sophisticated and have better skills, engage in higher purchases of equities of firms that use high accounting conservatism compared to the firms that use low/no accounting conservatism. Institutional investors’ equity purchases are even higher if these firms are associated with higher growth opportunities. On the other hand, individual investors are attracted more by the attention‐grabbing events and are motivated to purchase equities of firms that either do not use accounting conservatism or use low accounting conservatism, and their purchases are even higher when the firms report positive earnings surprises. Additionally, we find that abnormal returns are higher for the firms using high accounting conservatism and have experienced higher purchases by institutional investors.     

关于山区公路常规桥梁的设计探讨

由于山区复杂特殊的地质地貌,给山区公路桥梁的设计和施工带来更多困难。本文从山区公路桥梁的特点出发,探讨山区公路常规桥梁的设计问题,为具体设计提供一定的理论参考。     

资产证券化在物流行业的应用

资产证券化对于优化金融资源配置、盘活存量资金、支持实体经济发展具有重要意义,在宏观经济环境下行和金融机构综合化经营不断深化的大背景下,物流行业从自身业务结构转型调整角度出发,不断加强在资产证券化领域方面的探索,正在逐渐演化出新的模式。立足物流企业视角,总结和分析了我国资产证券化业务的发展历程、业务发展现状及存在的问题,在借鉴国际先进经验的基础上指出资产证券化业务开展的关键影响因素,并提出我国物流行业资产证券化的相关建议和对策。     

The Impact of Occupational Community on the Quality of Internal Control

Senior executives in major corporations have drawn attention in recent years for a range of unethical activities. Despite a rise in measures to protect against such lapses, executives still make decisions whether or not to comply with reporting standards, best practices, industry norms and legislation. The prior literature in this area addresses individual characteristics of decision makers and social networks between executives and boards of directors, but to this point has largely overlooked group dynamics of the executive team. Our study addresses this gap and examines the relationship between an occupational community of top executives and the quality of internal control. We construct a unique measure for the executive occupational community based on CEO and CFO’s joint tenure. Our findings show that the number of years of CEO/CFO’s joint tenure is significantly and negatively associated with internal control weakness, suggesting that the longer the executive relationship, the lower the likelihood of internal control weakness. Our study indicates that the presence of an occupational community contributes to better internal control.     

Water as an investment: liquid yet illiquid!

The water industry is in great need of further large investments to address existing severe water shortages worldwide which requires the participation of private sector investors. This industry is heavily infrastructure based and is therefore saddled with fixed assets-in-place or illiquid assets. This exposes the industry to what is termed as ‘illiquidity risk’, and hence, investors in this industry should be compensated for bearing this risk with an appropriate return premium (i.e. extra return). In this study, we provide evidence as to whether illiquidity risk indeed significantly affects returns in this industry. We examine the case of all 76 firms that compose the five major global water indices. After controlling for other factors that impact on returns, our results suggest that asset illiquidity is positively associated with stock returns. Specifically, water firms with a larger proportion of illiquid assets-in-place are observed to have greater stock returns than those with a smaller proportion of illiquid assets. Our results have important implications for the financing of water-related projects particularly those which involve the participation of investors from the private sector.     

Music festival motivation in China: free the mind

This paper explores the extent to which music festival attendance is ‘universally’ motivated or determined by the Chinese cultural and socio-political context. A novel qualitative approach was employed comprising observation of social media conversations and ‘chat room’ interviews with members of a festival online community. Seven motivators were identified, some similar to those in Western studies but others more specific to festival-goers in Mainland China. The culturally specific motivators were identified as ‘spiritual escape’ and ‘spiritual pursuit’ and the universal motivators as ‘togetherness’, ‘love of the music’, ‘novel experience’, ‘music sharing’ and ‘educational enrichment’. This paper focuses on the two culturally embedded motivators only. The implications of the study are that, although, growing, there are still very few music festivals featuring ‘pop’ or ‘western’ style music and these few are relatively new to Chinese people. Their attendance at them is, therefore, motivated differently to attendees at similar festivals in western countries. These motivating factors are mediated by the particular social, political and cultural factors at work in this complex country. The findings indicate that although many of the motivational factors for attending a music festival appear to be universal, there are clearly factors which are culturally bound and therefore unique to the cultural context. These differences appear to be created by the social constraints, rapidly changing economy and the many contradictions inherent in modern Mainland China. These conditions create a greater contrast between everyday life in Mainland China and the liminal hedonistic space provided by the festival. Further research is needed to validate theses initial findings within China and to explore how rock music festival motivations differ in other non-western cultures.