Competition and Concentration in the New European Banking Landscape

This paper measures the degree of concentration and competition in the enlarged European Union (EU) banking environment over the period 1998–2002. In the empirical part we opt for a methodology as proposed by Panzar and Rosse based on a non‐structural estimation of market competition. Our results suggest that European banks were operating under conditions of monopolistic competition and that bank interest revenues in the 10 new EU member states was earned under conditions of higher competition than those that existed in the old EU banking countries. The opposite result was observed for total operating revenues. Smaller banks earn interest income in a less competitive environment than larger banks, while the opposite is observed for total revenues.     

Concentration of the UK Stock Market

Abstract:  During 1999 and 2000 a large number of articles appeared in the financial press which argued that the concentration of the FTSE 100 had increased. Many of these reports suggested that stock market volatility in the UK had risen, because the concentration of its stock markets had increased. This study undertakes a comprehensive measurement of stock market concentration using the FTSE 100 index. We find that during 1999, 2000 and 2001 stock market concentration was noticeably higher than at any other time since the index was introduced. When we measure the volatility of the FTSE 100 index we do not find an association between concentration and its volatility. When we examine the variances and covariance's of the FTSE 100 constituents we find that security volatility appears to be positively related to concentration changes but concentration and the size of security covariances appear to be negatively related. We simulate the variance of four versions of the FTSE 100 index; in each version of the index the weighting structure reflects either an equally weighted index, or one with levels of low, intermediate or high concentration. We find that moving from low to high concentration has very little impact on the volatility of the index. To complete the study we estimate the minimum variance portfolio for the FTSE 100, we then compare concentration levels of this index to those formed on the basis of market weighting. We find that realised FTSE index weightings are higher than for the minimum variance index.     

Technology, Labor Wars, and Producer Dynamics: Explaining Consolidation in Beefpacking

Beefpacking underwent a dramatic transformation in the 1970s and 1980s, as plants got much larger and industry concentration rose dramatically. We use individual Census Bureau plant records to analyze the sources of the transformation. We find that there were modest but extensive scale economies in packing plants, covering the full range of plant sizes, and that such economies became more important throughout the period of the study. As production shifted to larger plants, we estimate that the industry's aggregate processing costs fell by 35.3% by 2002, compared to what they would have been without consolidation.     

Ownership concentration, voluntary disclosures and information asymmetry in New Zealand

This paper investigates the impact of different classes of ownership concentration on information asymmetry conditional upon corporate voluntary disclosures in New Zealand. The current paper attempts to extend this stream of research by incorporating three mutually exclusive ownership structures and considering the interactive relationship between such ownership structures and corporate voluntary disclosures. Results reveal that ownership concentration in general is significantly positively associated with bid-ask spreads (proxy for information asymmetry) observed around annual report release dates. This finding supports the adverse selection hypothesis and importantly this effect is found to be most pronounced for financial institutions and management-controlled ownership categories. When voluntary disclosure is taken into account, the findings demonstrate that disclosures significantly attenuate information asymmetry risk associated with ownership concentration. This effect is particularly pronounced for firms with management-controlled ownership structures. The findings highlight the importance of corporate disclosures under concentrated ownership structures especially management-controlled ownership structures in reducing information asymmetry and enhancing market efficiency in New Zealand.     

我国人身保险市场结构变化与预测分析

虽然保险业经受了本次金融危机的考验,但是保险业可能成为系统性风险传导链条上的一环,因此,保险监管机构需要转变审慎监管方式,建立适合保险业的宏观审慎监管框架。在这个背景下,对中国人身保险市场结构现状有一个较为清晰和准确的认识就显得十分必要。研究发现:从全国范围来说,我国寿险市场主体数量较少,人身险市场集中度过高,市场结构为寡头垄断,但各地区的人身险市场结构又各有特点,经济发达地区人身险保险市场结构已经过渡到垄断竞争阶段。根据成分数据预测结果分析,在"十二五"期间,我国人身险的市场集中度继续呈下降趋势。     

股票市场发展、资本要素积累与产业结构升级

本文从要素流动角度,在中观和微观层面上实证检验了中国A股市场是否存在推动产业结构优化升级的作用机制。实证结果表明,股票市场规模的扩大有效推动了三次产业和工业产业的结构优化升级,市场流动性的高低对产业结构优化升级存在负向效应,而城市化进程的加快及垂直专业化程度的提高可以降低该负向效应;战略性新兴产业上市公司经营绩效显著,并在创业板市场上最具成长性,而且行业内资本集中度越低、市场风险越高,越能激励行业内企业上市。本文据此在扩大股票市场规模、增强市场流动性、上市资源选择、创业板市场建设等方面提出了相应的政策建议。     

产业集聚与空间集聚的协调发展研究

自20世纪90年代以来,中国沿海地区出现了一批别具特色的产业集聚区,有力地推动了当地经济的快速发展。各地政府开始纷纷借鉴沿海地区经验,通过引导部分产业向该地区集聚以实现经济增长,带动城市化建设。探讨产业集聚与城市空间集聚之间是否协调发展,成为当前关注的焦点。文章阐述了产业集聚与空间集聚协调发展的内涵,并从理论上分析了两者间存在的促进机制和反馈机制。以中国制造业为例,实证分析了制造业产业集聚与城市空间集聚的关系,发现自1990年以来我国产业集聚和城市空间集聚之间呈现出一定的协调性,并在此基础上给出了相关政策建议。     

客户群体特征对企业创新绩效的影响研究——以中国制造业上市公司供应链为例

通常认为,供应链下游在地理空间上的集聚会促进信息交互和组织学习,强化核心企业的话语权,提升创新绩效。文章认为,在特定条件下,客户地理邻近也可能会拉低企业创新绩效,形成创新“空间锁定”困局。基于2009-2017年中国A股制造业上市公司及其供应链数据,考察客户地理邻近性对企业创新绩效的影响作用,并将客户集中度和客户属地多样性作为情境因素纳入研究框架。研究发现：客户地理邻近性与企业创新绩效呈倒U型关系,在一定阈值范围内客户地理邻近性拉升企业创新绩效,而超过该阈值客户地理邻近性抑制企业创新绩效;客户集中度对客户地理邻近性与企业创新绩效的关系不存在调节效应;客户属地多样性强化了客户地理邻近性与企业创新绩效的倒U型关系。以上结论从供应链视角揭示企业创新规律,对企业创新的内生机制研究形成了有益补充,有助于重新认识企业创新绩效的影响机制。     

Frequency and aircraft size dynamics in a concentrated growth market: The case of the Chinese domestic market

Despite the explosive growth of the Chinese aviation sector and the major industry reforms undertaken in recent decades, the Chinese domestic market remains highly concentrated with a significant element of regulation and governmental control in areas such as market entry and airline fleet planning. In this study, we investigate the frequency strategies and aircraft choices of airlines operating in this concentrated growth market. Our empirical investigation suggests that airlines mainly accommodate rapid traffic growth by flying more frequently, although increased aircraft size also contributes to market expansion. We also find a negative relationship between market concentration and flight frequency. Due to the more balanced market structure resulting from mergers among leading airlines since 2002, there has been a moderate reduction in market concentration at route level, contributing to a 3.7% increase in traffic volume from 2002 to 2008. The results of our study suggest that Chinese travelers have yet to fully enjoy the benefits of market liberalization, and airports should prioritize increasing capacity related to aircraft movements over the accommodation of larger aircraft.     

柯韦什的"虚荣心"与人的尊严--读凯尔泰斯小说《无命运的人生》

在纳粹集中营里，一个囚犯有没有维护自己尊严的可能？这是凯尔泰斯在小说《无命运的人生》中想回答的一个问题。作者通过对主人公柯韦什的“虚荣心”，及由此产生的一系列行为和心理活动的分析和描述，向我们表明：尽管在集中营过着非人的生活，忍受着极大的屈辱，主人公并未因此而放弃人的尊严。他一直在自觉不自觉地，用或明显或隐蔽的方式，来反抗野蛮暴力对人的尊严的取缔。