Financial literacy and voluntary savings for retirement: novel causal evidence

ABSTRACT

We utilise recent Household Finance and Consumption Survey microdata to report first causal effects of financial literacy on voluntary private pension schemes participation for a Central and Eastern European (CEE) country, namely Slovakia. Savings for retirement in the supplementary pension schemes are positively associated with financial literacy after controlling for a set of relevant socio-economic variables. One additional correctly answered financial literacy question leads to a 5.6 percentage points increase in the probability of having a voluntary pension savings plan in our ordinary least squares estimates. The causal impact of financial literacy increases to 19.5 percentage points when we address potential endogeneity problems by novel to the literature instrumental variables.     

多元化折价与多元化溢价的稳健性：一个文献述评

自从Langand Stulz（1994）提出多元化折价以来，多元化折价与溢价的争论成为公司财务领域的焦点问题之一。但是，文献研究表明，多元化本身可能是中性的，多元化可能并不是产生折价的原因。本文对多元化折价与溢价的文献进行了归纳，认为多元化折价与溢价的稳健性取决于多元化赖以存在的条件，以及实证研究是否解决了内生性问题。今后的研究需要提高数据的可靠性、消除内生性、引入新的方法、嵌入制度和政治关联等因素。     

Measuring the total impact of demographic and behavioural factors on the risk of obesity accounting for the depression status: a structural model approach using new BMI

Building upon previous studies that highlight considerable overlap in the influential factors of both obesity and depression, we employ a structural model to investigate the direct and indirect impacts of behavioural and demographic factors on obesity. We use new body mass index (BMI) to calculate the obesity status and find a significant relationship between an individual’s depression status and his/her obesity status. The results and simulations imply that demographic and behavioural factors can significantly influence the obesity status both directly and indirectly through their impact on depression. Therefore, this study suggests that models which do not account for these various pathways of influence are most likely misrepresenting the impact of these factors on obesity.     

Estimates of price elasticity of demand for urban freeway use with high-frequency control variables: the case of Santiago,Chile

Estimates are presented of toll and fuel price elasticities of demand for urban freeway use in Santiago, Chile. High-frequency toll and vehicle data were collected from four urban freeways for different route segments and times of day. Estimation was performed using log-linear regression models whose explanatory variables were tolls, fuel prices, city traffic levels and sets of dichotomous variables to control for daily, weekly and monthly seasonality. City traffic is a high frequency control of the activity level of the city. The elasticities to changes in tolls and fuel were all low in absolute value. The toll elasticities were below 0.05 for two freeways and 0.16 for the third, while for the fourth, which had more alternative routes, it was 0.47. The fuel price elasticities were also heterogeneous, with values of approximately 0.45 for two freeways and 0.21 for the third whereas for the fourth, which had the fewest alternatives, it was 0.07.     

财政转移支付与地方政府支出行为——基于中国地市面板数据的实证分析

本文运用一个简单的理论框架分析了转移支付对地方政府财政支出行为的影响效应,并实证检验了省以下政府间财政转移支付对地方政府财政支出行为的影响效应。分析结果表明：一般性转移支付与地方财政支出之间存在显著的替代效应,而专项转移支付与地方政府财政支出之间存在着显著的互补效应,并且地方政府并不存在反应过度问题。本文的政策建议是：从短期来看,中央政府通过一般性转移支付方式可以有效降低基层政府的财政债务负担,通过专项转移支付可以有效提高基层政府公共服务的供给数量和质量;从长期来看,应进一步完善分税格局,给予地方政府（特别是基层政府）更多与其事权相匹配的税权能力。     

公司内部治理机制与绩效的交互效应——基于内生性视角的经验证据

在公司治理机制与绩效关系的研究中,已有文献大都着眼于单个治理机制,并先验地把它们作为外生变量来处理,认为二者之间是一种静态关系。文章以我国1999～2008年间沪深两市509家上市公司为研究对象,从股东、管理层、董事会和债权融资四种内部控制机制之间的联合效应入手研究其与绩效之间的关系,在控制住内生性问题的影响后发现:(1)不同的公司治理机制之间彼此不是独立的,一种治理机制的选择取决于另外一种治理机制;(2)公司治理机制是内生决定的,在静态框架下其与绩效无显著性关联,但在考虑跨期影响的动态框架下二者却有着显著联系;(3)股权结构以非线性的方式影响着公司绩效,管理层持股和控股股东的影响分别呈W型和N型。     

Quantifying the structure of food demand in China: An econometric approach

This article examines food demand structure and its dynamics for 11 commodities in urban China. The analysis is based on household‐level expenditure survey data for two cross‐sectional surveys of Chinese households pertaining to food expenditure patterns during 1995 and 2003. Pre‐committed components of commodity demands, that are insensitive to economic variables, are explored. We use the generalized quadratic almost ideal demand system (GQAIDS) for its empirical superiority to the generalized almost ideal demand system (GAIDS), and estimate the associated parameters via full information maximum likelihood procedure (FIML) accounting for endogeneity of total expenditures on food for home consumption (FAH). We also use quality‐adjusted commodity unit values to control for quality differences resulting from commodity aggregation and food choice. Furthermore, we derive GQAIDS elasticity formulas, and estimate income elasticities without restrictions. The results partially support the hypothesis that an average Chinese household has incorporated elements of Western diet (fine grains) into traditional Chinese food diet over time. Moreover, the outcome of a simple test developed here points to possible preference changes for a majority of food staples under study.     

公司治理机制、替代效应与代理成本——基于动态内生性的经验研究

以2002-2011年716家上市公司为样本,在动态内生性的框架下,运用动态面板的SystemGMM估计方法,通过“内部工具变量”解决了寻找有效的工具变量的困难,不仅研究了公司治理机制与代理成本间相互作用,还研究了公司治理机制间的交互效应对代理成本的影响.通过研究发现,股权集中度、董事会独立性和管理层持股比例都与代理成本负相关,公司治理机制间存在替代效应.此外,公司治理机制与代理成本间存在动态内生性,即不仅前期公司治理机制对当期代理成本有影响,而且当期代理成本又对下一期公司治理机制产生了反馈效应.     

Board of directors and export spillovers: What is the impact on extensive margins of trade?

Increased export experience on the board of nonexporting firms has a causal effect on their propensity to enter foreign markets in later periods. Using a universal set of Swedish employer–employee panel data for the period 2000–14, this paper finds evidence on spillover from exporters to non-exporting SMEs through outside board directors. The identification strategy to account for endogenous selection of external board members relies on external instruments and applications of different instrumental variable approaches, capturing also unobserved heterogeneity. Our findings are robust to controlling for export background among managers and employees, as well as firm size, human capital, total factor productivity, productivity spillovers, firm location and industry classification.     

Will social networks become less important

This letter finds that the social networks are more important for the high-income class, and less important for the low-income class on income increases. Thus, research on the economic influence of social networks should notice the endogeneity of the social network functions of different classes.