Operations of a Pension Fund after the Asian Crisis: The Thai Experience*

During and after the Asian crisis, institutional investors and pension funds in Asian financial markets have been confronted with a number of difficulties effecting their performance and the way they carry out their role within the national pension system. We analyze these problems by comparing the actual investment policy of an institutional investor with an optimal investment strategy derived from the insights of modern portfolio theory. We also analyze whether the organizational set‐up of a pension fund allows it to adequately perform its role within the pension system. As an example, we examine the operations of the Thai Government Pension Fund (GPF). We find that allowing international investments and reducing restrictions on equity investments while lowering the implicit requirements for investments in government debt would allow the GPF to further diversify its investment risk and to increase its risk‐adjusted return. We also show that some changes in the governance structure of the GPF would lower the occurrence of conflicts of interest for the management and increase the efficiency of the GPF operations.     

Managerial Equity Ownership and the Demand for Outside Directors

This paper examines the linkage between the use of outside directors and managerial ownership. We conjecture there are two linkages: the standard incentive‐alignment demand for monitoring when managers own little stock and an entrenchment‐amelioration demand when managerial stock ownership is high. As a consequence, we predict the association between managerial ownership and board composition will be nonlinear (U‐shaped if the entrenchment effect is sufficiently pronounced). Using UK data, we find that both quadratic and logarithmic models outperform the simple linear relationship assumed in prior research and that the substitution between managerial ownership and board composition is stronger than hitherto supposed.     

跨国公司与发展中国家的社会稳定--兼论对中国的影响

跨国公司作为全球化的驱动器既给发展中国家的政治、经济与社会稳定带来正面影响，甚至成为社会稳定的一种标志，但又不可避免地产生一些负面效应。中国要在开放中坚持双赢的策略并加大风险意识，同时应倡导跨国公司承担更大的社会责任。     

虚拟财务管理研究

为了适应全球经济一体化的新形势，使财务管理满足国际化的要求，文章提出了虚拟财务管理概念，阐述了虚拟财务管理的特点及其与传统财务管理的区别，论述了虚拟财务管理的基本内容，分析了实现虚拟财务管理存在的障碍和困难并提出了改进建议。     

Initial Public Offerings: CFO Perceptions

We examine four issues pertaining to initial public offerings (IPOs) using a survey of 438 chief financial officers (CFOs). First, why do firms go public? Second, is CFO sentiment stationary across bear and bull markets? Third, what concerns CFOs about going public? Fourth, do CFO perceptions correlate with returns? Results support funding for growth and liquidity as the primary reasons for IPOs. CFO sentiment is generally stationary in pre‐ and post‐bubble years. Managers are concerned with the direct costs of going public, such as underwriting fees, as well as indirect costs. We find a negative relation between a focus on immediate growth and long‐term abnormal returns.     

The mean-variance investment problem in a constrained financial market

This paper extends the mean-variance analysis and the two-fund separation theorem to a market with some constraints, such as, the incompleteness, prohibition of short-selling, and partial information, with stochastic interest rate, and with stochastic volatility for risky assets. By maximizing a quadratic utility of terminal wealth, we show that the efficient frontier for the problem is a straight line in the mean-standard-deviation diagram. The quadratic utility function exhibits mean-variance efficiency. Our results apply to portfolios of claims in a single period, multiperiod, and continuous time.     

公司财务控制机理:一个基于制度博弈的分析

财务控制的目标是对出资者和经营者之间形成的代理契约的冲突进行管理和协调.以出资者与经营者的制度博弈模型为分析基础,可以清楚表明财务控制机理特征:首先,财务控制本身具有的制度成本(控制成本)是制约控制成效的关键因素;其次,财务控制作为一种制度安排,应具备使经营者违背代理契约的外部成本内部化的功能;最后,财务控制本质是一种契约安排,是出资者和经营者之间多次动态博弈的结果,因此需要不断进行修正完善.     

Are recent segment disclosures of Japanese firms useful?: Views of Japanese financial analysts

Since 1990, the Japanese Ministry of Finance (MOF) has required Japanese firms to disclose segment data in annual financial statements. Using a survey instrument, we examine whether Japanese analysts find these segment disclosures to be useful. Our study finds that analysts perceive that segment data aid them in forecasting consolidated sales and net income. However, results also show that analysts are concerned that Japanese firms do not define segments meaningfully and consistently and are arbitrary in the allocation of common costs. Further, the analysts do not believe that the usefulness of segment data improves when it is audited. These results have implications for investors in Japanese stocks and accounting policy bodies, such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).     

商业银行服务营销战略透析——以中国银行为例

美国次贷危机波及全球金融体系、金融产品及金融衍生产品的受信度受到质疑。我国的商业银行受此冲击强度较小，很大程度上取决于银行战略眼光和营销运作的成功。本文从营销战略的角度，结合中国银行服务营销的运行状况，对中国银行发展走势及营销战略进行深度透析。     

从“大萧条”看中美两国应对当前金融危机之策

本文站在历史的角度，审视与检讨中关两国政府在应对当前由次贷风暴引发的金融危机中的得与失。历史是一面镜子，发生在20世纪30年代的世界性大萧条与今日美国金融危机在很多方面具有相似之处。以史为鉴，在百年一遇的危机面前，各国政府应携手并进，同舟共济，避免陷入更深的困境。当前的局势为中国充分展示负责任大国的形象提供了契机。