Should more local governments purchase a bond rating?

We investigate whether issuers that choose to forgo a bond rating suffer an interest cost penalty greater than the cost of the rating. We use estimated ratings provided by Moody’s Investor Service to proxy for what the rating would have been if it had been purchased. We find that the primary factors associated with an issuer’s decision to purchase a rating are the rating expected by the issuer and the extent to which an issue is marketed locally. After controlling for self-selection bias, we find that the issuers that forgo a rating do not suffer an interest cost penalty.

Lemmings in the bond market? An empirical analysis of the term structure of credit spreads

The paper examines the credit spread between government and corporate bonds at different maturities. Theoretical models assume that credit risk premiums for high quality firms monotonously increase with maturity. We find evidence suggesting that bonds issued at maturities attracting the highest issuance volumes tend to have credit risk premiums that are on average 10 to 15 basis points higher than issues at nonconventional maturities. These results point out a shortcoming of existing theoretical models and show that the credit yield curve is not smooth, but affected by the local supply of issues at various parts of the yield curve. In addition, the empirical evidence presented in this paper indicates that firms utilizing the bond markets for funding could lower their funding costs by shifting the term of their debt away from the most commonly targeted maturities.

Debt Maturity,Credit Risk,and Information Asymmetry: The Case of Municipal Bonds

Using a system of equations approach, this paper empirically tests the impact of credit quality, asset maturity, and other issuer and issue characteristics on the maturity of municipal bonds. We find that under conditions of lower information asymmetry that prevails in the municipal sector, higher‐rated bonds have longer maturities than low‐rated bonds. This result differs from that observed in the corporate sector. Overall, our results support the asset maturity hypothesis. In addition, our analysis finds that fundamentals matter. Issue features that provide additional protection or convenience to the investor tend to increase debt maturity.     

2009-2010年债券市场运行分析与展望

2009年,在适度宽松的货币政策和积极财政政策引导下,我国债券市场得以克服国际金融危机负面影响,继续保持稳定运行态势。各类证券发行量稳步增长,二级市场交易量温和放大,指数出现回调,债市与股市互动明显。展望2010年,在通胀预期和货币政策从紧预期影响下,市场利率有望上行,指数震荡幅度加大,商业性证券发行量继续增加,政府债券发行会有所控制。     

从美日经验看地方政府债券制度

地方政府债务风险已经成为威胁我国经济安全与社会稳定的巨大隐患。地方政府是制度变迁的主体,造成地方财政困境的根本原因在于地方政府事权、财权不对称,没有规范的制度化融资渠道。而只要存在中央与地方分权的财政联邦主义,就具备发行地方政府债券的前提。     

中国上市公司可转债发行动因:“后门权益”VS“代理成本”

本文以中国上市公司2002—2008年发行的可转债为研究样本进行实证研究,发现可转债发行公告的财富效应与该可转债实现转股可能性的预期正相关,具体而言,与发行公司的成长机会、财务困境风险水平正相关,并且与整体股市的状况也紧密相关。进一步结合可转债退市的分析表明,中国上市公司可转债融资是一种典型的后门权益融资。实证研究的结果不支持基于代理成本的动因假说。     

盲校初中语文课堂教学改革之我见

盲校语文教学效率不高主要有以下原因,盲文与汉字的转译带来的系列问题(如难以确定具体的音调、没有汉字的音形意结合;盲文阅读的速度慢、盲文书写的速度不快),这些因素严重制约了盲校语文活动的有效开展,突出表现在文言文和诗歌教学、课堂时间不足、课堂练习难以开展等。     

日本国债：安全资产还是风险潜在

金融危机后全球安全资产减少,使日本国债地位相对改善,成为世界金融市场的避险工具之一.但由于日本长期政府债务净额占GDP之比居高不下,国债信用已经受到损毁,主权信用评级被下调.从日本国内资金循环特征看,日本企业转变为储蓄大户的原因不是企业的盈利增加,而是由于资产负债表的调整压力使投资意愿降低,因此,日本政府只有不断增发国债来弥补筹资主体的缺位;日本国债期限结构的短期化和日益增长的利息负担使其面临的市场利率风险加大;同时,日本中央银行购买国债规模膨胀,不断冲击财政纪律的约束,财政赤字货币化风险隐藏其中.长期来看,日本泡沫经济崩溃后,资产去泡沫化的过程也正是国债泡沫化的过程.在日本财政改革前景未见定论,企业的投资需求尚未恢复的前提下,日本国债的可持续性存在巨大风险.     

我国发行高等教育债券的几点思考

随着我国高等学校规模的不断扩大,仅靠现有财政拨款和银行信贷资金为主的融资方式显然是不足的。一方面,过于单一的融资渠道不足以补充教育经费的投入不足且风险过高。另一方面,金融体系的功能无非是在资金的富裕方和资金的短缺方之间提供中介功能。由于不同资金的供给方和需求方的风险偏好存在差异,因而就决定了融资的渠道也应当是多元化的。事实上,通过金融体系实现高等学校的融资需求绝不止银行信贷资金一个内容。如果能够开辟各类新型的教育融资方式,无疑对高校获得资金和分散风险具有帮助。文章旨在从研究发行高等教育债券融资方式的意义入手,进一步提出完善我国现有高等教育债券融资方式．以期对实现高等教育经费来源多元化提供一定的参考。     

Quantitative easing and asset bubbles

Expansionary monetary policy is necessary to respond to financial crises. However, if Central Bank asset purchase initiatives are too large or last too long, they can lead to explosive increases in asset prices which add to the risk of a future crisis. This article employs two models including the Campbell–Shiller and Generalized Supremum Augmented Dickey Fuller techniques to search for bubbles in the US equity, housing and bond markets over the past eight years. Although, we find that prices in equities and housing have risen following Federal Reserve intervention, there is little indication of asset price bubbles. There is evidence of explosive bond price increases from September of 2011 to February of 2013.