The Impact of Political Competition on Economic Growth: Evidence from Municipalities in South Africa

This paper examines the impact of political competition on economic growth. In this paper, I show that internal political dynamics, distinct from the type of political system, can having different effects on growth. Using results from the 1994 and 1999 elections in South Africa, I show that municipalities with higher levels of political competition have shown lower levels of economic growth. I use individual level surveys to show that this political competition is associated with political paralysis, dissatisfaction with the current democracy and government and lower optimism about the future.     

Determinants of County-Level Voting Patterns In the 2012 and 2016 Presidential Elections

ABSTRACT

County-level data are used to estimate the incumbent-party share of the two-party vote in the 2012 and the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections. Using a ‘seemingly unrelated estimation’ procedure the regression results for the two elections show that there were some clear differences in the size of marginal effects for several key covariates. For example, income inequality, the size of the black male and black female populations, the size of the Hispanic male population and percent of the population with a college degree all had significantly larger coefficients in 2016 than in 2012, producing a larger marginal effect in favour of the Democratic candidate’s vote share. On the other hand, counties with increased poverty rates and counties located on the periphery of urban centres had a significantly larger marginal effect favouring the Republican’s vote share in 2016 compared to 2012. Finally, the regression results show that the effects of third-party vote shares, though not statistically different across the two elections, had a positive impact on the Democratic vote share in both elections.     

上市公司股东不可撤销表决权委托研究——问题、挑战与监管

表决权是上市公司股东参与管理决策的重要方式。证券监管实践表明,不可撤销表决权委托既有规避股份限售和减持规则的动机,也有出于增强控制权转让交易中博弈弹性的考虑。表决权委托并非一项简单的债权债务法律关系,其合规性及对证券市场的影响需引起足够的重视。为规范上市公司股东不可撤销的表决权委托,本文建议:在信息披露监管方面,重点关注表决权委托对权益变动、控制权稳定性、投资者保护的影响;在制度规范方面,发布表决权委托示范协议指引等规则,明确表决权委托的关键要素和监管要求。     

The role of tax regulation and compensation contracts in the decision to voluntarily expense employee stock options

We show that firms with executive bonuses that qualify for deduction under Internal Revenue Code Section 162(m) were less likely to expense stock option compensation (SOC) in 2002. Additionally, the more likely it is that a qualified firm will incur re-contracting costs, the less likely it is that the firm will expense SOC. CEOs of qualified firms that also expense SOC receive smaller bonuses than CEOs of expensing firms that are not qualified under 162(m), and the lower 162(m) bonuses are not offset by higher SOC. Our results suggest that 162(m) tax incentives are an important determinant of the decision to expense SOC.     

Subjective well‐being and political participation: Empirical evidence from Ghana

A large, extant literature examines the effect of political factors on individual subjective well‐being. These studies have treated political factors as a cause and subjective well‐being as an effect. A sparse but growing literature now advances the argument that subjective well‐being is a cause and voting or political participation an effect. In this paper we examine whether subjective well‐being influences voting and political participation in Ghana. Using data from Wave 6 of the World Values Survey in Ghana, we find that subjective well‐being influences neither voting nor protest behavior.     

Heterogeneity and peer effects in mutual fund proxy voting

This paper studies voting in corporate director elections. We construct a comprehensive data set of 2,058,788 mutual fund votes over a two-year period. We find systematic heterogeneity in voting: some funds are consistently more management-friendly than others. We also establish the presence of peer effects: a fund is more likely to oppose management when other funds are more likely to oppose it, all else being equal. We estimate a voting model whose supermodular structure allows us to compute social multipliers due to peer effects. Heterogeneity and peer effects are as important in shaping voting outcomes as firm and director characteristics.     

上市公司财务虚假的成因--基于股东投票权完备性角度的研究

我国上市公司财务虚假的主要表现形式有利润操纵、利益转移、借关联交易调控损益以及少分配和不分配现金股利。而大股东投票权的非完备性:拥有股权的不可交易性,成为上市公司财务虚假的根本原因。     

基于张量投票的图像超分辨率算法

张量投票算法在提取图像主观轮廓上具有良好的效果。文章提出了一种基于张量投票的图像超分辨率算法。首先,用二维张量矩阵存储低分辨率图像各像素点所处的位置特征信息,并利用稀疏张量投票将特征信息进行加强,再使用稠密张量投票产生高分辨率图像对应的二维张量矩阵,此张量矩阵包含了视觉特性强的边缘信息,最后利用该边缘信息指导高分辨率图像的重构。实验结果表明,该方法得到的高分辨率图像信噪比高、视觉效果好。     

Dual class shares – is India ready for it?

Market evidence suggest that a class of common stock with superior voting rights trades at systematically higher prices than an identical class of stock with inferior voting rights, as control over the firm grants the promoters some opportunity to receive a higher payoff. Differential voting rights class of shares may attract a certain class of investors who are only interested in the economic benefits of a company. It assists management in deterring potential rivals from winning a control and allows raising fresh capital for growth without giving up control. The value of controlling a firm derives from the fact that you believe that you or someone else would operate the firm differently from the way it is being run currently. Differential voting rights shares in different countries have indicated that voting rights are generally worth between 10% and 20% of the value of common stock. This article intends to create awareness about differential voting rights shares, to study the international as well as domestic experience and tries to examine the various factors that affect differential voting rights share prices.     

Social Security Reform and Corporate Governance

Abstract

This paper considers implementation issues arising from potential reforms to the United States Social Security system. Many reform proposals involve individually invested accounts, but the corporate governance implications of such accounts have not been fully explored. Existing reform plans will result in a large fraction of votes being concentrated at one private fund manager. The implications for corporate governance and debt management under alternative fund management strategies are evaluated. The use of futures to construct synthetic investments could alleviate corporate governance and debt management problems.