Uncertainty and Financing Constraints

Using a panel of Dutch listed firms this paper provides empirical evidence for the hypothesis that more risky firms are confronted with more severe capital market constraints than relatively less risky firms. The paper also contributes to the discussion on the usefulness of cash flow as a measure of financial constraints. We present a stochastic version of the Kaplan-Zingales (1997) model. We show that cash flow sensitivity can be used as a meaningful indicator of financing constraints if firms are classified by the degree of uncertainty they face and if the uncertainty originates from cost uncertainty.     

Antecedents and consequences of corporate governance reform: the case of Germany

The paper examines the antecedents and consequences of the voluntary adoption of corporate governance reform in firms embedded in a relationship‐based governance system with less protection of minority shareholders. In such locations, ownership structure should be a key determinant of governance reform. Firms with dispersed ownership are likely to face agency problems but may lack sufficient ownership power in the hand of external owners for adoption to occur. Extensive ownership by external parties facilitates adoption but decreases the need and motivation to adopt governance reform. We examined the adoption of stock‐based incentive plans and transparent accounting regulations (e.g., greater disclosure to shareholders) among large German firms (DAX 100) during the late 1990s. We found an inverse ‘U’‐shaped relationship between ownership concentration and governance reform. In addition, we found that firms adopting governance reform were more likely to engage in corporate divestitures and achieve higher levels of market performance than firms not adopting governance reform. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does the cost of capital differ across countries? An agency perspective*

In this keynote speech, I ask the question: Does the cost of capital differ for firms located in different countries? I argue that there are two ways to look at the cost of capital. First, there is the neoclassical perspective, which assumes that there are no agency problems. In integrated markets, the neoclassical cost of capital is the same in every country. Second, there is the agency perspective. Agency costs increase the cost of capital understood as the expected rate of return necessary for an investment to leave the value of the firm unaffected. Adjusting the cost of capital for agency costs, I argue that it differs across countries because of differences in corporate governance. I then provide a comparison of the agency-adjusted cost of capital between Japan and the US.     

制度变迁内部动力机制分析

人们对需要和利益的追求是生产力发展和制度变迁的内在主体动因,生产力的发展是制度变迁社会进步的最终动力,只有以发展生产力为切入点才能从根本上推动制度变迁的进程。因此,制度变迁和具体制度安排的调整要以满足人们的需要为出发点,以尊重每个人切身利益为主要手段,才能充分调动制度变迁主体的积极性和内在动力。     

中国的经济增长、需求约束与税收结构

在我国目前的经济增长中,出现了投资需求过热而消费需求不足的结构性失衡状况。为此,可以把税收结构引入汉森-萨缪尔森模型,来研究税收结构对投资和消费的影响。通过实证研究发现,在税收结构中,流转税(间接税)比重的增加对投资增长有激励作用,而对边际消费倾向没有显著影响;所得税和其他税(代表了直接税)比重的增加,有利于抑制投资和过快的经济增长,相反,可以提高边际消费倾向,从而促进消费。     

交易透明度与信息揭示制度：国际趋势与启示

由于经济文化环境、交易制度、市场结构，技术模式和投资者分布等方面的差异，不同交易所在交易信息揭示的种类，数量和程度方面有所区别。本文首先总结了采取指令驱动的主要交易所的交易信息揭示制度和市场透明度，在比基础上分析了交易所交易信息揭示制度变革与市场透明度的发展趋势．希望能对我国证券市场交易信息揭示制度的发展提供一点有益的借鉴和启示。     

股权结构影响下的上市公司融资倾向研究

本文选取深沪两市的900家上市公司为样本,以2001-2004年的财务及相关数据为基础,从我国上市公司特殊的股权结构出发,运用一般描述性统计分析、偏相关分析、独立样本T检验等方法,分析我国上市公司股权结构与融资倾向之间的关系,以探究在相同市场环境中,不同的股权结构安排是否会导致其融资倾向的差异性。研究结果表明,股权结构对上市公司融资倾向具有显著的影响,不同股权结构安排下的公司有不同的融资倾向,特殊的股权结构是造成我国上市公司融资结构不合理的主要因素。     

不完全竞争、交易效率和证券风险

本文提出了一种崭新的理论观点———不完全竞争的市场结构是证券风险的一个重要来源,并利用市场数据进行了实证分析。此外,本文还发现不完全竞争的市场结构会通过影响买卖双方的交易策略而降低市场的交易效率。     

我国商业银行业公司治理结构与经营绩效的实证研究

通过对8家股份制商业银行的公司治理结构与经营绩效的关系做回归分析,结果显示:经营绩效与董事会规模正相关;与第一大股东持股比例负相关;与前5大股东控制权分散度正相关。因此,国有商业银行应当适度增大董事会规模、明晰产权关系、强化监事会职能、加强管理层激励与信息透明度。     

Consistency conditions for affine term structure models

Sufficient conditions for the application of the Feynman-Kac formula for option pricing for wide classes of affine term structure models in the jump-diffusion case are derived by generalizing earlier results for bond pricing in the pure-diffusion case The author is grateful to Mikhail Chernov and Darrel Duffie for useful discussions and suggestions.