Heterogeneous Firms in Importing: Theory and Evidence from China

In this study, I explore the effects of the financial status of firms on its decisions to import. The import decision is reflected in various aspects, such as whether to import or buy from home market; what types of goods to import, etc. A novelty of this analysis is that I distinguish between ordinary trade and processing trade, which involves importing inputs to be assembled and re-exported. Several novel patterns emerge. Firstly, a firm’s financial status, especially its liquidity, significantly influences its decisions to import. Secondly, regional financial development also has a significantly affect importing decisions. However, a firm’s creditworthiness and regional factors work independently (i.e., regional financial development does not alleviate a firm’s credit constraints). The findings yield implications for developing economies which demand technological spillovers from advanced markets and those which maintain large trade surpluses with the developed economies.     

关于中小企业融资难、融资贵问题的思考

中小企业融资难融资贵是个世界性难题,我国的中小企业融资难融资贵问题则又带有鲜明的中国特色。中小企业天生具有融资难和融资贵的特点,信息不对称更会加剧此问题。无论是发达国家还是发展中国家都将解决中小企业融资难融资贵问题提升到战略高度给予重视,也构建了各具特色的政策扶助体系,力图弥补市场机制的缺陷。我国应借鉴国外的成熟经验,并结合国内金融改革的路径、金融市场发展的思路以及实体经济发展的总体特点,制定一个兼顾短期、中期和长期的发展战略,从法治、产业、财政和金融等多方面对中小企业融资环境进行综合改革。     

Short Sale Constraints and Dispersion of Opinion: Evidence from the Indian Equity Market

Short sale constraints can inflate market prices, as bearish investors cannot act on their market views. The paper uses data from the Indian equity market to test whether opinion dispersion leads to higher overpricing when short sales are prohibited. The Indian equity market provides a natural testing environment, as short sales were banned between 2001 and 2008. The empirical results offer supportive evidence of the relation between opinion dispersion and overpricing in a market with short sale constraints.     

税收激励对企业投资决策影响研究——基于微观动态非平衡面板数据的分析

我国减税降费政策的实施,对降低企业税负、盘活企业流动资金具有积极作用,有利于促进企业高质量可持续发展。在此背景下,本文基于欧拉方程投资框架构建回归模型,给出了税收影响投资决策的现实路径,运用2008-2019年的微观动态非均衡数据进行实证检验,研究发现:税收激励依旧是影响我国企业投资决策的积极因素,而市场需求与融资约束的影响并不明显;在国有企业与非国有企业中,投资行为存在较大差异,国有企业投资对税收激励比较敏感,而非国有企业则对市场需求更敏感。基于研究结论,本文为制定税收激励政策提出相关建议。     

Do hotel REIT companies face investment constraints? A comparison with C-corporation hotel companies

This study investigates whether corporate investment by REIT hotel companies (hotel REITs hereafter) is more constrained than investment by C-corporation hotel companies (hotel C-corps hereafter). The investments of hotel REITs and hotel C-corps are examined by comparing the sensitivities of investment to cash flow and investment opportunities between the two groups. Results show that the sensitivity of investment to cash flow is positive and significantly higher for hotel REITs than for hotel C-corps, suggesting that hotel REITs are likely to experience more constraints on their corporate investment. This finding suggests that hotel firms and owners should be more cautious about electing to be a REIT if they are planning large investments in the future. In addition, this finding has policy implications; even a small reduction in the rate of mandatory dividend payouts could significantly increase hotel REITs’ corporate investments.     

Constraints to Park Visitation: A Meta-Analysis of North American Studies

The constraints that curb visitation to parks have received considerable research attention and remain an important issue. Constraints to outdoor leisure in parks include structural barriers, such as cost of entry, interpersonal barriers, for example, lack of a partner to visit with, or intrapersonal barriers, including lack of interest. Using a meta-analysis approach, this article integrates the findings of 22 North American studies with 541 estimates, conducted over a 30-year period, to determine the key constraints to park visitation based on various socio-demographic factors. The findings highlight the varying roles that constraints play in limiting the visitation of people according to race, age, gender, education and income. Gaps in the literature are identified, with implications for encouraging visitation for more constrained groups discussed. An agenda for future research is presented.     

Older Men's Perceptions of Leisure and Aging

As the North American population ages, detailed research will be needed to understand the leisure experiences of older adults. The purpose of this study is to explore perceptions of leisure and aging among a sample of older Canadian men. Data were collected among 15 men aged 60–70 using individual interviews and follow-up focus groups. Data were analyzed thematically and four themes emerged: the interplay between leisure and work, the desire to “give back” to family or to the community through leisure, the individual purpose of leisure choices, and viewing constraints as a reflection of priorities rather than as barriers.     

International tourism demand and the business cycle

The focus of this study is on presenting causes and hypotheses for the existence of asymmetric income and price effects on tourism demand across business cycles. The theoretical assumptions were tested by analyzing tourism import demand in different source markets, drawing on econometric models that provide for the magnitudes of price and income effects either to vary depending on the phase of the business cycle or to remain stable across the business cycles. The major outcome of this study is that the general assumption in most of the tourism demand studies—i.e. that the income effects are symmetric—should not be expected to be automatically true for every source market.     

Leisure and antileisure in game play

Abstract

Leisure is often described as being intrinsically motivated and offering the element of choice. Although games are normally considered recreational or leisure activities, there are certain circumstances in which they take on qualities that are not only nonleisurelike (i.e., lacking in intrinsic motivation and choice) but are actually destructive to the leisure experience. It is suggested that certain aspects of game‐playing situations can destroy the leisurelike qualities of participation and result in abandonment of the activity. These aspects, which include social pressures to participate and conflicts that develop in the social and psychological environment of play, appear to erode intrinsic motivation and perceived freedom of choice.     

Body image as a leisure constraint: Examining the experience of aerobic exercise classes for young women

Abstract

Previous research has shown that women, and especially young women, in this culture experience pressure to be thin. Although considerable research has been directed toward the investigation of body image and its relationship to psychological health and self‐image, the impact of body image on leisure behavior has not been adequately addressed, nor has body image received much attention as a potential leisure constraint. The purpose of this study was to investigate ways in which body image might function as a constraint to young women's participation in aerobic exercise classes. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods, including a survey of 190 women undergraduate students and in‐depth interviews with a sub‐sample of 11 students. The qualitative data are the main focus of this analysis. The data indicated that body image did not seem to prevent participation or constrain levels of participation in aerobics. Nevertheless, body image concerns were shown to constrain the enjoyment of aerobics as a leisure activity, and this reduction of enjoyment was related to the clothing worn for aerobics and to competition over appearance and body weight among participants. The findings also showed that body image functioned as a constraint into participation in that body‐image‐related concerns were a major motivating factor exerting pressure on young women to participate in aerobics. In sum, the study suggested that body image can constrain leisure in some situations, although it is not a constraint in the traditional sense of preventing participation. The implications of these findings for the conceptualization of leisure constraints were discussed. Furthermore, some practical implications for the provision of aerobics classes were provided.