Revisiting carbon disclosure and performance: Legitimacy and management views

With corporate disclosure of carbon emissions rapidly increasing, the long-standing question remains whether carbon disclosure has any influence on the improvement of carbon performance. Previous studies of environmental disclosure and performance have predominantly focused on whether disclosure is a substitute for poor performance. Little attention has been devoted to the more important question about how changes in disclosure may lead to subsequent changes in performance over time. Following the rationales taken by the legitimacy and management perspectives, we revisit the relationship between carbon disclosure and performance, with a focus on changes that disclosure may (or may not) create. Using a change analysis of Global 500 companies and their carbon emission and disclosure data released between 2008 and 2012, this study finds that the change in carbon disclosure levels is positively associated with a subsequent change in carbon performance (examined through direct and indirect carbon emission intensities). Thus, regardless of whether disclosure has been used as a legitimising tool for prior poor performance, this study confirms that carbon disclosure motivates companies and creates an ‘outside-in’ driven effect for subsequent change and improvement in carbon performance. However, the association between changes in carbon disclosure and performance is relatively weaker in high energy-intensive firms.     

The Indonesian macroeconomy and the yield curve: A dynamic latent factor approach

We develop a fine representation of the term structure of interest rates in Indonesia and create a link between the yield curve and macroeconomic fundamentals. We construct a state-space representation of the yield curve as a function of three time-varying parameters: level, slope, and curvature factors. The model is then expanded to include three macroeconomic variables: real activity, inflation, and interest rates. We find that the dynamic latent factor model provides a very good fit to characterise the Indonesian yield curve in terms of the statistical properties for each maturity, and in terms of the properties of three latent yield-curve factors. With regards to the relationship to the macroeconomy, we find that there is a large amount of idiosyncratic variation in the yield curve movements. Therefore, macroeconomic variables can only explain small dynamics in the yield curve.     

外资进入和我国企业的生产率：“溢出”抑或“挤出”效应

我国改革和开放是同时推进的，引进了众多外资企业来推动我国经济发展。那么，外资企业的进入是否有助于我国内资企业的成长？本文分析我国工业企业超大样本数据，探讨外资进入的影响，研究我国内资企业的生产率能否向效率前沿收敛。结果发现，我国不同类型的内资企业均存在效率前沿的收敛趋势，内外资企业生产率差距不断缩小。外资进入对我国内资企业的短期影响主要表现为溢出效应，但是对于同行业的其他外资企业呈现挤出效应，特别是其他独资外企。我们进一步发现外资进入的长期影响是挤出效应，但是对于国有企业和民营企业的影响却不尽相同。     

How to measure competition in an economy in transition

This paper attempts to find a robust method of measuring competition when firms' operational activities are subject to frictions. The first part theoretically tests the indicative quality of two competition measures, the price‐cost margin (PCM) and the profit elasticity, in a model of monopolistic competition. The second part studies the empirical performance of the indices for a panel of Ukrainian manufacturing firms. This study offers a new approach to measuring profit elasticity that relies on structural estimation of a production function. The estimation methodology retrieves a productivity index that is adjusted to imperfect competition. The proposed method of measuring profit elasticity is found to be robust to frictions, but the PCM and traditional profit elasticity are biased, especially when the intensity of competition is low. Empirical findings show that competition exhibits a significantly positive correlation with aggregate productivity performance, while its impact on firm productivity is nonlinear.     

活跃因子和杠杆因子表现分析——基于A股市场的多因子资产定价研究

多因子资产定价理论是继CAPM理论之后的重大创新,也是时下资本资产定价研究领域的最新成果。本文搜集整理多因子资产定价理论的相关文献,分析梳理其发展脉络。通过理论探究,引入以市值增长率为代理变量的活跃因子和以资产负债率来衡量的杠杆因子。基于我国A股市场进行Fama-MacBeth横截面和时间序列的回归检验,发现加入活跃因子和杠杆因子后的八因子模型解释能力可以得到进一步的增强,其中活跃因子的表现显著,而杠杆因子对股票超额收益解释能力相对较弱,但仍强于六因子模型中的风格因子。     

实施节能减排的地方政府行为研究

在我国由中央政府主导的节能减排模式下,地方政府的经济行为成为影响节能减排成效的关键因素。本文首先构建了理论模型,然后运用聚类分析法和因子分析法,研究地方政府在实施节能减排中的经济行为。研究表明:地方政府节能减排动力和能力不足。在实施节能减排过程中,地方政府主要将工作重点放在经济发展、工业污染治理项目建设、能源消耗、工业三废的治理等方面,对节能减排的投资力度和影响居民生活的方面重视不够。现行财权事权不对称的财政体制和政绩考核机制是地方政府实施节能减排的主要制度性障碍,因此,要建立节能减排的长效机制,必须进行相应的制度改革。     

论税收对要素收入分配的影响

我国自1994年分税制改革以来,一方面税收收入保持高速增长,另一方面国民收入分配格局发生显著变化——劳动要素分配份额迅速下滑,资本要素分配份额逐渐上升。本文的理论分析表明,税收通过替代效应和收入效应影响要素收入分配,前者改变了生产中要素相对投入比例,从而改变了税前要素收益率,后者则是通过直接税影响到税后要素收益率。本文利用系统GMM估计进行的实证分析表明,我国税收对要素收入分配具有明显影响:就直接税而言,企业所得税降低了资本分配份额,个人所得税中对劳动征税部分降低了劳动分配份额;就间接税而言,增值税明显降低劳动分配份额但对资本分配份额的影响不明显,营业税明显降低资本分配份额而对劳动分配份额的影响不明显。因此,如果从有利于调整要素收入分配格局角度考虑,我国有必要进一步调整现行税收政策、完善税收制度。     

基础设施、拥挤性与城市生产率差异——来自中国267个城市市辖区数据的实证研究

针对我国城市空间结构和劳动生产率差异明显的现状,对我国267个地级城市的基础设施情况进行指标评价,并根据评价结果实证分析了基础设施水平、城市拥挤性对城市生产率的影响。研究结果表明,基础设施和就业密度对我国城市生产率的积极作用,同时两者的合力对城市生产率具有较强的驱动作用。     

区域技术创新及其影响因素的空间计量分析

利用空间统计的Moran指数和空间截面数据模型,对影响我国区域技术创新的因素进行计量分析。结果表明：区域创新环境对我国区域技术创新为显著的负效应;大学和创新企业对我国区域技术创新有显著的促进作用;研究机构对我国区域技术创新没有显著的贡献;创新企业对提高技术创新能力的贡献最大。     

我国制造业进出口隐含污染分析:基于投入产出的方法

使用非竞争型投入产出表,核算了我国1976-2004年制造业28个行业6种污染物进出口隐含污染的BEET指标值和PTT指标值,并分析了我国进出口隐含污染的规模效应和结构效应。研究结果表明,我国进口和出口的规模效应为正且逐年增长,20世纪90年代以后出口规模效应逐渐大于进口规模效应;出口的结构效应基本小于零,进口的结构效应不明确,我国的产业结构调整和升级可能有利于减少我国进出口的净隐含污染量。此外,制造业出口隐含污染主要来源于纺织、塑料、机械设备和工业化学这四个行业。