Taxation and international banking

The purpose of this paper is an examination of the relationship between taxation and the working of international banking arrangements. The main task is directed to the ways taxation determinations by national authorities affect the ways international banks go about their business. International coordination through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a major focus of the analysis. There is no general exposition of principles bearing upon international taxation. Rather, attention is directed to the determination of tax obligations in any one jurisdiction. Thus, there is a close scrutiny of the mechanics of taxation in the international setting bringing out the uncertainties and the imponderables in any application. Much attention is given to structural arrangement in international banking as well as capital arrangements in any one jurisdiction and how this applies to and affects the banking group as a whole. The result is to bring out the complexity of the agenda for tax applications on a common basis across internationally operating groups. Most jurisdictions recognise that they cannot await common agreements because new instruments and arrangements emerge at very frequent intervals and their tax implications have to be addressed. There has to be relief from uncertainty if markets are to develop effectively. Thus, there is in an importance sense of partnership between tax authorities and market participants in many countries. International deliberations have taken too long.     

我国存款准备金制度演变的货币政策视角分析

作为货币政策操作工具的存款准备金制度是包含中央银行对存款准备金率、需要缴存准备金的金融机构、不同类型存款(资产)的存款准备金率、可以作为存款准备金的资产类型、存款准备金的计提方式、存款准备金付息及其(付息时)利率以及相关罚则等内容的确定和调整的一个整体。本文从这七个方面简要回顾了我国存款准备金制度演变的历史,认为我国对存款准备金制度在货币政策体系中作用的认识经历了三个阶段,并从货币政策角度对存款准备金制度工具的作用分别进行论述。最后是结论与启示。     

When does a carbon tax on fossil fuels stimulate biofuels?

A carbon tax is an efficient economic instrument to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide released from fossil fuel burning. If designed properly, it could also help significantly to promote renewable energy. Using a multi-sector, multi-country computable general equilibrium model this study investigates under what circumstances a carbon tax would help stimulate penetration of biofuels into the energy supply mix for road transportation in various countries and regions around the world. This study shows that a carbon tax cum biofuel subsidy policy, where a carbon tax is introduced to fossil fuels and part of the tax revenue is used to finance the biofuel subsidy, would significantly help stimulate market penetration of biofuels. On the other hand, a carbon tax alone policy, where the entire tax revenue is recycled to households through a lump-sum transfer, does not help stimulate biofuels significantly even at higher tax rates. Although the carbon tax cum subsidy policy would cause higher loss in economic output at the global level as compared to the carbon tax alone policy, the incremental loss is relatively small. The key policy insight drawn from the study is that if a carbon tax were to be implemented in an economy for the purpose of climate change mitigation, recycling part of its revenue to finance biofuel subsidies would significantly help stimulate biofuels.     

Instrumental variable quantile regression: A robust inference approach

In this paper, we develop robust inference procedures for an instrumental variables model defined by Y=D^′α(U)$Y=D^{\prime }\alpha (U)$ where D^′α(U)$D^{\prime }\alpha (U)$ is strictly increasing in U and U is a uniform variable that may depend on D but is independent of a set of instrumental variables Z. The proposed inferential procedures are computationally convenient in typical applications and can be carried out using software available for ordinary quantile regression. Our inferential procedure arises naturally from an estimation algorithm and has the important feature of being robust to weak and partial identification and remains valid even in cases where identification fails completely. The use of the proposed procedures is illustrated through two empirical examples.     

Developing a system of territorial governance indicators for tourism destinations

There have been numerous previous attempts to develop indicator systems of sustainability in tourism destinations, but fewer in terms of territorial governance. The present article addresses the design of a System of Territorial Governance Indicators for Tourist Destinations. The proposed system is based around the roles of the public administration, tourism businesses and the local community. It enables the incorporation of the territorial governance perspective into sustainability and gauges destinations’ evolution over time, whilst also allowing any planning and management problems that require improvements to be easily detected. The paper presents a case study: Conil de la Frontera (Andalusian Atlantic seaboard, Spain). Forty-three indicators are used in a multicriteria decision analysis support method (scoring) with the five sub-system Analytical Hierarchy Process: quality of participatory process; effective policy tools and planning controls; trust in local government; tourism business sector; and growth management and urbanism. Applying this Indicator System can lead to better territorial governance and successful sustainability of destinations.     

On the Efficiency of Conditional Heteroskedasticity Models

This paper discusses how conditional heteroskedasticity models can be estimated efficiently without imposing strong distributional assumptions such as normality. Using the generalized method of moments (GMM) principle, we show that for a class of models with a symmetric conditional distribution, the GMM estimates obtained from the joint estimating equations corresponding to the conditional mean and variance of the model are efficient when the instruments are chosen optimally. A simple ARCH(1) model is used to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed estimation procedure.     

Assessing the impact of price changes and extreme climatic events on sediment loads in a large river catchment near the Great Barrier Reef

Ocean turbidity (associated with sediment from rivers) can significantly impact reef health. In Australia, there are many plans to reduce sediment loads by encouraging best management practices; there is also interest in the use of market‐based instruments. But it is exceedingly difficult to assess the potential efficacy of market policies, since that requires one to determine how changes in the socio‐economic system (e.g. price changes) impact the biophysical (e.g. sediment loads). We use historical data (from 1938 to 2011) in a vector autoregression model to simultaneously model interactions between the economic and biophysical systems in the Burdekin River catchment adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon. This allows us to statistically test for the impact of changes in prices on sediment load, while controlling for biophysical influences. We find that extreme events have the most impact on sediment loads, but that prices also impact sediment loads. Evidently market‐based policies may have the potential to reduce sediment loads. Our empirical results provide useful information for those interested in the Burdekin River catchment and the GBR; the modelling approach may have wide applicability in a variety of contexts.     

How Do Experienced Users Evaluate Hybrid Financial Instruments?

Hybrid financial instruments contain features of both liabilities and equity. Standard setters continue to struggle with “getting the classification right” for these complex instruments. In this paper, we experimentally test whether the features of hybrid instruments affect the credit‐related judgments of experienced finance professionals, even when the hybrid instruments are already classified as liabilities or equity. Our results suggest that getting the classification right is not of primary importance for these experienced users, as they largely rely on the underlying features of the instrument to make their judgments. A second experiment shows that experienced users’ reliance on features generalizes to several features that often characterize hybrid instruments. However, we also find that experienced users vary in their beliefs about which individual features are most important in distinguishing between liabilities and equity. Together, our results highlight the importance of effective disclosure of hybrid instruments’ features.     

人民币信用风险缓释工具市场应用分析与展望

2010年11月,银行间市场推出人民币信用风险缓释工具,为丰富市场信用风险管理工具、完善市场信用风险分担机制开创新途径。文章基于信用衍生品市场的国际经验,从信用风险缓释工具与经济周期,信用风险缓释工具与信用债券、利率掉期套利等角度,探讨了人民币信用风险缓释工具的市场应用策略,并展望了其市场发展前景。     

Financial instruments in non-financial firms: what do we know?

Accounting for financial instruments is one of the most controversial standard setting issues. Attempts by standard setters to expand the scope of fair value measurement provoked fierce opposition from preparers, in particular from the financial industry but also, albeit less frequently and less scathingly, from non-financial firms. Academic research could help to bring the discussion onto a more objective level. Most of the existing research focuses on the financial industry and uses US disclosure data from the 1990s. More recent papers use recognition and measurement data from IFRS financial statements, again primarily from the financial industry. This paper provides novel evidence on the relevance of financial instruments for non-financial firms of the STOXX Europe 600 Index. The results in particular refute the myths that fair value measurement of financial instruments is pervasive and that many fair value measurements are of the problematic ‘level 3’ quality. The empirical evidence forms the background for a survey of the small body of existing research on the effects of accounting standards relating to financial instruments on non-financial firms. This survey covers research on the effects on risk management, on the volatility of cash flows and earnings, on earnings management and on the effects on user decisions. Both in the empirical sections and in the survey sections, I identify a number of areas for further research to overcome the poor current state of knowledge.