Social responsibility,moral hazard,and collateral requirement: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in India

The stakeholder theory predicts that corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities reduce the morale hazard problem between creditors and corporate firms and decrease the requirement of collaterals in debt transactions. Consistent with this theory, our analysis shows that there is a negative relationship between CSR and secured debt in a cross-section of firms. Further, by using the mandatory CSR regulation implemented in India as a quasi-natural experiment setting, we observe the same negative relationship across periods in firms that were impacted by the regulation. These results suggest that CSR activities may substitute collaterals for obtaining debt from financial institutions, especially banks.     

高管权力、内部控制与公司价值

从内部控制角度出发,以我国2008—2013年度沪深两市A股上市公司为研究样本,在研究内部控制与公司价值之间关系的基础上考察公司高管权力配置结构对两者之间关系的影响,并进一步分析不同产权性质下内部控制与公司价值之间的关系以及高管权力对两者关系的影响,结果表明：完善的内部控制有助于提升公司价值,高管权力过于集中会削弱内部控制的有效性并抑制内部控制对公司价值的提升作用;与国有上市公司相比,非国有上市公司的内部控制对公司价值存在显著的提升作用,但在高集权的情况下,无论是国有上市公司还是非国有上市公司,内部控制均不能对公司价值起到显著的提升作用。     

公司治理的竞争效应与规制效应分析——来自中国A股上市公司的证据

研究以中国2003—2007年所有A股上市公司为样本,借鉴Chhaoehharia和Laeven（2007,2009）以及白重恩（2005）的方法构建公司治理指数,发现公司治理结构与绩效之间存在显著的相关关系。外部董事比例、高管持股量、第一大股东持股比例、第二至第十大股东股权集中度、公司在其它市场挂牌上市以及政府控股等对绩效都有显著影响,在长期内,公司治理的竞争效应优于规制效应。这为中国公司治理改革应该更多依靠市场调节还是依赖政府干预提供了实证依据。     

Corporate social responsibility and Eurozone corporate bonds: The moderating role of country sustainability

In this paper, we empirically examine whether superior performance in corporate social responsibility (CSR) results in lower credit risk, measured by credit ratings and zero-volatility spreads (z-spreads). We are especially interested in how the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) related performance of the corresponding countries moderates this relationship. We find only weak evidence that superior corporate social performance (CSP) results in systematically reduced credit risk. However, we do find strong support for our hypothesis that a country’s ESG performance moderates the CSP–credit risk relationship. Superior CSP is regarded as risk-reducing and rewarded with better ratings and lower z-spreads only if it is recognized by the environment. In addition, we find a reduction of corporate bonds’ z-spreads by approx. 9.64 basis points if the CSP of a company mirrors the ESG performance of the country it is located in.     

Corporate Lobbying and Firm Performance

Corporate lobbying activities are designed to influence legislators, regulators and courts, presumably to encourage favorable policies and/or outcomes. In dollar terms, corporate lobbying expenditures are typically one or even two orders of magnitude larger than spending by Political Action Committees (PAC), and, unlike PAC donations, lobbying amounts are direct corporate expenditures. We use data made available by the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to examine this more pervasive form of corporate political activity. We find that, on average, lobbying is positively related to accounting and market measures of financial performance. These results are robust across a number of empirical specifications. We also report market performance evidence using a portfolio approach. We find that portfolios of firms with the highest lobbying intensities significantly outperform their benchmarks in the three years following portfolio formation.     

Labor Unions and Forms of Corporate Liquidity

We examine how the presence of labor unions affects a firm's choice of corporate liquidity between bank lines of credit and corporate cash holdings. We find that firms in industries with higher unionization rates hold a higher fraction of corporate liquidity in the form of bank lines of credit. We divide the firms into sub‐groups and find that this positive relationship holds for firms that are not in a state with right‐to‐work legislation and for firms that are financially constrained. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that a firm chooses the forms of corporate liquidity to take advantage of the bargaining benefits associated with bank lines of credit.     

What Plato Knew About Enron

This paper applies Plato’s cave allegory to Enron’s success and downfall. Plato’s famous tale of cave dwellers illustrates the different levels of truth and understanding. These levels include images, the sources of images, and the ultimate reality behind both. The paper first describes these levels of perception as they apply to Plato’s cave dwellers and then provides a brief history of the rise of Enron. Then we apply Plato’s levels of understanding to Enron, showing how the company created its image and presented information to support that image, and how the public eventually emerged from the cave to realize the truth about Enron’s actual accounting practices and financial state, which led to the corporation’s downfall. We find Plato’s allegory both useful in analyzing the relationship between Enron and the public and instructive about the power and moral responsibility of Enron’s executives.     

Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy in the Hotel Industry: Evidence from the Balearic Islands

This paper attempts to identify some of the main factors affecting a hotel establishment's decision to adopt (or not), and to what extent, socially and environmentally responsible business practices. Salient among the results obtained is the fact that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is likely to be part of a hotel's product differentiation strategy; additionally, it is shown that productivity aspects such as scale economies, as well as the hotel's internal organization, also impact a hotel's CSR strategy. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can Capital Income Taxes Survive? And Should They?

The article surveys some main results in the theory of capitalincome taxation in the open economy; reviews recent trends ininternational taxation and discusses alternative blueprintsfor fundamental capital income tax reform from the perspectiveof an open economy faced with growing mobility of capital incometax bases. (JEL code: H21, H25)     

社会资本影响因素的经验研究

社会资本日益成为社会学、经济学、管理学和政治学等多学科共同研究的热点,不同学科的理论分析和经验研究都发现社会资本可以对经济增长、社会稳定及企业的发展起到很好的推动作用。但是对于社会资本的产生以及哪些因素可以提升企业的社会资本却没有较好的研究,笔者试图通过对上市公司的实证分析发现影响企业社会资本的内部与外部因素,以帮助企业能够有针对性地提升自己的社会资本。