Monopoly versus Competition in Setting Accounting Standards

Financial accounting standards are set by organizations granted a significant degree of monopoly power by various governments. While there has been considerable debate on the merits of national (e.g., US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)) versus international (International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)) monopolies, little attention has been paid to the merits of using competing standard‐setting organizations (SSOs) for setting accounting standards. We compare the standard‐setting processes of the FASB/IASB to the processes of four technology‐oriented SSOs to assess the role of competition. We also provide a case study of monopoly and competitive standards in telephony. Both telephony and accounting yield some gains from coordination, and similar arguments are used (under the labels of comparability and consistency of accounting) in debates about granting a monopoly to their respective SSOs. Our results show that a group of volunteers competing with the government‐sanctioned monopoly of International Telecommunications Union transformed the telephone industry. Thanks to this standards competition, we enjoy free video internet calling and massive cost savings. Implications for accounting standard setting are discussed.     

Investment Dynamics with Information Costs

Investment in physical capital at the microlevel is infrequent and large, or lumpy. The most common explanation for this is that firms face nonconvex physical adjustment costs. The model developed in this paper shows that information costs make investment lumpy at the microlevel, even in the absence of nonconvex adjustment costs. When collecting and processing information are costly, the firm optimally chooses to do it sporadically and to be inactive most of the time. This behavior results in infrequent and possibly large capital adjustments. The model fits plant‐level investment rate moments well, and it also matches some higher order moments of aggregate investment rates.     

Trade Openness and Exchange Rate Regimes

The paper evaluates the net welfare gains of inflation targeting over a fixed exchange rate as a function of a country's trade openness, using a multisectoral structural model calibrated to Chile. For most calibrations with separable preferences, net welfare gains are increasing in trade openness. The reason is that in more open economies terms of trade shocks, which favor inflation targeting, become quantitatively more important, while price markup shocks in the imperfectly competitive nontradables sector, which favor exchange rate targeting, become less important. The most important exception is heavily indebted countries, where net welfare gains are decreasing in trade openness.     

Labor‐Market Institutions and Long‐Term Effects of Youth Unemployment

Graduating from a school during a time of adverse economic conditions has a persistent, harmful effect on workers’ subsequent employment opportunities. An analysis of panel data from OECD countries during the 1960–2010 periods reveals that a worker who experiences a 1 percentage point higher unemployment rate while the worker is 16–24 years old has a 0.14 percentage point higher unemployment rate at ages 25–29 years and 0.03 percentage points higher at ages 30–34 years. The persistence of this negative effect is stronger in countries with stricter employment protection legislation. A composite index for labor‐market rigidity is constructed and the index is shown to have positive correlation with the persistence. Moderating macroeconomic fluctuations is more important in countries that have more persistent labor‐market entry effects on subsequent outcomes.     

Money and liquidity in financial markets

We argue that there is a connection between the interbank market for liquidity and the broader financial markets, which has its basis in demand for liquidity by banks. Tightness in the market for liquidity leads banks to engage in what we term “liquidity pull-back,” which involves selling financial assets either by banks directly or by levered investors. Empirical tests on the stock market are supportive. Tighter interbank markets are associated with relatively more volume in more liquid stocks; selling pressure, especially in more liquid stocks; and transitory negative returns. We control for market-wide uncertainty and in the process also contribute to the literature on portfolio rebalancing. Our general point is that money matters in financial markets.     

超静孔隙水压作用下软土卸荷模量研究

软土的卸荷模量是基坑设计和数值分析的重要参数,然而现阶段富水软土地区的基坑开挖和设计均忽视了超静孔隙水压和卸荷比对软土卸荷模量的影响,导致基坑工程的数值分析结果与实际工程存在偏差.以深圳淤泥质软土为研究对象,利用TSZ全自动应力控制式三轴仪,开展一系列K0固结不排水三轴卸荷试验研究,求得不同超静孔隙水压和卸荷比条件下软土卸荷模量计算公式.研究结果表明,初始卸荷模量随固结围压增大而增大,超静孔隙水压对软土的卸荷模量具有削弱作用;以邓肯-张计算模型为基础,在考虑卸荷应力路径和超静孔隙水压对卸荷模量的影响下,推导出考虑卸荷应力路径的切线变形模量Et和考虑超静孔隙水压的切线变形模量Etu表达式;推导的软土卸荷模量公式对基坑的数值分析具有一定的实用价值.     

基于NBC模型的电力变压器故障诊断

随着电力变压器朝着大容量、高电压、高负荷的方向发展,其结构也越发复杂,故障逐渐增加.当前广泛使用的改良三比值法在对电力变压器进行故障诊断的过程中,容易出现准确率低和漏判率高等问题.鉴于此,提出一种NBC模型,该模型将朴素贝叶斯网络和改良三比值法的优势结合,在对电力变压器当前状态数据和历史样本数据充分学习的基础上,利用朴素贝叶斯分类器对当前电力变压器故障的编码组合进行故障预测分类,将预测所得到的诊断结果进行排序整理输出,实现了对电力变压器各类故障的有效分类.仿真结果表明,该NBC模型能较好地适应电力变压器各类故障的诊断,故障综合诊断正确率为95％,相较于改良三比值法,诊断准确率提升了50％,具有较强的工程实用性.     

人口结构转变与金融市场发展

文章分析了人口结构变动、居民财富增长和金融市场发展间的关系,通过实证研究,文章认为,在中国人口老龄化这一结构变动趋势下,未来股票市场可能面临下行压力,而固定收益类产品,尤其是债券市场将迎来发展机遇,但长期利率可能面临下行压力。     

北京市人口老龄化对人均储蓄的影响分析

以北京市1985-2012年的数据为样本,考察北京市人口老龄化对于城镇居民人均储蓄的影响,采用普通最小二乘法进行模型估计,结论表明:少年儿童抚养比、人均可支配收入与储蓄正相关;GDP增长率、消费价格指数CPI和老年抚养比与储蓄负相关.采用二次移动平均法对北京市未来人口年龄结构的变化做出预测,针对预测的人口老龄化的加剧及其对居民储蓄产生的影响,可提出相应的政策建议.     

基于SVAR模型的法定存款准备金率对宏观经济各变量的影响分析

准备金率是央行近年来使用频率最高的货币政策工具,它直接影响货币供应量,间接影响价格水平、利率以及股市。文章通过自回归模型（SVAR）、脉冲响应函数以及方差分解技术考察准备金率对宏观经济变量的影响,结果显示：存款准备金率的变动对三个变量的影响是不同的,其中对M1影响最大,对CPI影响较小,对于股市影响也较小且比较短暂。