EDGAR on the internet: The welfare effects of wider information distribution in an experimental market for risky assets

Policies such as the SEC’s Fair Disclosure Rule, and technologies such as SEC EDGAR, aim to disseminate corporate disclosures to a wider audience of investors in risky assets. In this study, we adopt an experimental approach to measure whether this wider disclosure is beneficial to these investors. Price-clearing equilibrium models based on utility maximization and non-revealing and fully-revealing prices predict that in a pure exchange economy, an arbitrary trader would prefer that no investors are informed rather than all are informed; non-revealing theory further predicts that an arbitrary trader would prefer a situation in which all traders are informed rather than half the traders are informed. These predictions can be summarized as “None > All > Half”. A laboratory study was conducted to test these predictions. Where previous studies have largely focused on information dissemination and its effects on equilibrium price and insider profits, we focus instead on traders’ expected utility, as measured by their preferences for markets in which none, half, or all traders are informed. Our experimental result contradicts the prediction and indicates “Half > None > All”, i.e. subjects favor a situation where a random half is informed. The implication is that in addition to testing predictions of price equilibrium, experiments should also be used to verify analytical welfare predictions of expected utility under different policy choices. JEL Classification D82, D53, G14, L86 This work was largely completed while this author was at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.     

政府国库资金、货币供给与货币政策有效性

政府财政行为对货币政策效应的影响是宏观经济学的一个热点问题,文章从政府资产角度出发,运用1994～2005年中国国库资金季度数据,采用协整分析方法对政府国库资金、货币供给和货币政策有效性问题,作实证检验。研究表明:(1)国库资金增减导致基础货币收缩和扩张,短期内国库资金变动会使货币供应量发生显著的反向波动,国库资金是货币供应量的Granger因,国库资金对货币供应量波动有较高的解释力,央行的货币供给由于国库资金而产生被动性。(2)国库资金与货币政策有效性之间存在密切关系,货币当局将国库资金变量纳入货币政策中介目标监控体系,有助于提高货币政策的有效性,国库资金成为财政政策与货币政策新的结合点。     

上市公司如何在非理性世界中确定股权回报率

确定股权回报率是进行长期投资决策的关键步骤,但在现实非理性世界中难以直接运用传统财务理论所推荐的资本资产定价模型来确定股权回报率。针对FAR与NEER方法,本文首先探讨这两类方法的理论依据并揭示其本质内涵,然后说明:在非理性世界中,如果上市公司管理者追求公司价值最大化目标,那么就应该基于公司项目的基本风险来确定股权回报率;相反地,如果管理者追求近期股价最大化,那么就应该基于市场投资者的预期来确定股权回报率。     

On the cost-benefit of the regionalisation of the National Health Service

In this paper we analyse in formal terms the desirability of the regionalisation of a National Health Service. The policy consists of a devolution process, i.e. the increase in the health services provision to be decided by a region and financed by an increase in its revenues. The change is a marginal one, as it regards the part of supply of the health services exceeding a minimum standard, which for purposes of equity is maintained uniform in the national territory. As the central government is responsible for this component of the provision of health care (a federal “mandate”), the level of the said component is chosen by this authority and financed by federal taxation. Moreover, the government also applies an equalisation scheme based on the difference between a standard level of tax revenues and the revenues which the region is deemed able to raise for this purpose. Within the theoretical context of welfare improving reforms with distortionary taxation, we derive two conditions which focus on the regional, as well as the social, convenience of regionalisation. Received: May 5, 1999 / Accepted: January 21, 2000     

大股东资金占用与外部审计的公司治理职能

我国特殊的股权结构决定了我国上市公司的主要代理问题是大股东与中小股东之间的代理冲突。大股东往往通过各种方式如资金占用等来对上市公司进行掠夺。在西方成熟的资本市场上，审计作为一种独立的外部监督机制能够在一定程度上抑制代理冲突。那么在我国新兴的市场中，审计能否起到有效的监督作用从而抑制大股东的“利益输送行为”呢？本文从需求和供给两个方面进行了研究。实证结果发现，从需求方面来说，大股东资金占用越严重的公司越没有动机聘请高质量的审计师；从供给方面来说，审计师在出具审计报告时会考虑大股东的资金占用，大股东资金占用越严重，越有可能被出具非标准的审计意见报告。实证结果表明我国目前还不存在高质量的审计需求，但审计师能对大股乐的资金占用作出反应，从而在一定程度上抑制大股东的行为。     

The Political Economy of Rental Housing in Spain: The Dialectics of Exploitation(s) and Regulations

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses how the exploitation of tenants in Spain is boosting income for banks, hedge funds and pension funds. It does so by tracing the origins of the money invested in a Tres Cantos housing project in Madrid. The paper makes the following claims: First, the exploitation taking place in households -referred in this paper as secondary- is increasingly related to worker exploitation, and thus this particular type of exploitation is increasingly relevant to the dynamics of capital accumulation. Second, the key role of secondary exploitation of tenants in the revenue-making strategies of pension funds, hedge funds and banks is augmented and mediated by a myriad of regulations being implemented at the national and supranational scales. Theoretically, the paper contests the Marxian claim that household exploitation is ‘secondary’ to the exploitation taking place in the production process.     

基于公平与效率均衡的城乡和谐

已有的对城乡和谐发展问题的研究大多将注意力集中在城乡和谐发展的途径方面,却忽视了对城乡和谐衡量标准的研究.本文从公平与效率统一(均衡)的视角来解析城乡和谐的标准以及城乡和谐演进的机制,并构建了一个基于公平与效率均衡的城乡和谐发展模型.该模型揭示,城乡和谐是公平与效率均衡的函数,市场机制与政府制度的相互配合共同促进城乡和谐发展.     

民营经济的功能发挥

民营经济与私有经济概念内涵与外延的界定,有人着眼于所有制,有人则强调经营方式,而作者认为它兼具这两方面的内容。中国民营经济的崛起,是因为它具有适应市场经济和推动市场经济的机制,还有着促进技术进步的机制。民营经济的功能最重要的就是推动了以市场为取向的改革———民营经济成为从计划经济向市场经济转轨的强有力的推动者;民营经济对市场经济的推动还是全方位改革的促进者;民营经济的发展还将成为政治民主的催化剂。     

公共产品供给主体及边界确定的交易费用经济学分析——兼论我国公共产品供给过程中交易费用的计量

将新制度经济学中交易费用理论引入公共产品供给分析,给出了供给公共产品的主体确定的理论模型,并在威廉姆森范式扩展的基础上得出了各个主体的边界,认为最优公共产品供给方式的选择和主体边界的确定,取决于公共产品供给过程中发生的交易费用.测算了中国公私部门供给公共产品过程中存在的交易费用,发现就我国公共产品的供给而言,在一定的条件下将公共产品供给由政府部门交给私人部门与第三部门可以节约交易费用,提高公共产品供给的效率.     

完善我国上市公司治理结构的路径选择

本考证了两种典型的公司治理模式的特征，效率和演变趋势，结合我国上市公司的股权结构分析了公司治理结构，并得出结论：现实的国情和西方公司治理的演变趋势决定了完善我国上市公司治理结构的路戏只能是首先完善公司内部治理结构，未来应朝着以内部治理的主、外部治理为辅的博采众长的混合模式的方向发展。