A new bivariate distribution in natural exponential family

We propose a new bivariate distribution following a GLM form i.e., natural exponential family given the constantly correlated covariance matrix. The proposed distribution can represent an independent bivariate gamma distribution as a special case. In order to derive the distribution we utilize an integrating factor method to satisfy the integrability condition of the quasi-score function. The derived distribution becomes a mixture of discrete and absolute continuous distributions. The proposal of our new bivariate distribution will make it possible to develop some bivariate generalized linear models. Further the discrete correlated bivariate distribution will also arise from an independent bivariate Poisson mass function by compounding our proposed distribution (Iwasaki and Tsubaki, 2002).Received March 2003     

关于韩非法治思想与现代法律的思考

针对先秦儒家的"德治"主张,韩非提出了"法治"理论.韩非的法治思想其实质是君主专制与国家(政府)集权,它与现代法治所倡导的民主与法制精神相悖.但这种"国家(政府)法治"传统却被我们自觉或不自觉地因袭了下来,成为我国经济改革深化和转变政府职能的巨大障碍.为了建立一个好的市场经济,防止滑入一个坏的市场经济,法治应该由国家统治社会和民众的工具变为保护社会和民众的工具,进而成为社会和民众自我保护的工具.法律应该由君主专制的利器变为社会和民众捍卫民主与自由的盾牌.     

工商管理类课程实施案例教学障碍分析与对策

工商管理类课程的传统教学方式以教师为中心,学生处于被动和支配地位。为了丰富课堂气氛、提高教学效果,教学过程有必要寻求一种新的教学方法即案例教学法。正确处理案例教学与理论教学的关系、注意各种案例教学方式的综合运用、丰富案例资源、对学生人数规模加以控制、注意对学生的启发工作、举办有关案例教学的知识讲座是提高案例教学质量水平的关键。     

退耕还林（草）生态补偿实施现状与问题分析——以甘肃省定西市安定区为例

为了建立合理的国家生态补偿机制，了解现阶段生态补偿中存在的问题，我们运用PRA（Participatory rule appraisal）即参与性农村评估和传统的问卷调查相结合的方法，通过对研究区内生态建设补偿措施实施过程中的现状研究、问题分析，发现本区在实施退耕还林（草）生态补偿中的主要问题是仍然没有有效解决生态补偿的三个基本问题：补偿主体、补偿强度、补偿资金来源。生态补偿处于初级阶段，没有形成制度化、法律化，有必要在政策、法律层面建立比较完善的生态补偿机制。     

应用电法新装置勘探二维与三维地电体

本文通过对新装置条件下位场特征的分析,应用边界单元法及解析法的计算结果,发现当二维或三维电性不均匀体与测量电极位于背景场同一等位面时,视电阻率异常反映最明显。从而提出了圆弧交会法确定二维或三维地电体中心理深的方法,并给出了若干计算实例。结果表明,此方法简便有效且精度较高。     

The Unintended Consequences of the Frequency of PCAOB Inspection

After more than 50 years of self‐regulation of the US auditing profession, the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) as a quasi‐governmental entity with statutory authority to inspect accounting firms that audit public clients. The frequency of this inspection is annual or triennial, based upon the number of public clients the firm audits. We examine the effects of these two levels of inspection frequency on financial reporting quality and audit fees for clients of small and midsize public accounting firms. Our findings provide evidence of significantly higher audit quality and audit fees for clients of annually inspected firms relative to clients of triennially inspected firms. These findings are robust to auditor‐client alignment analyses, propensity score matching, time‐series analyses, examination of firms that have changed from triennial to annual inspection, and particular examination of firms with inspection deficiencies. Overall, our study suggests that the two‐tier frequency system of PCAOB inspection may have also resulted in two‐tier audit quality and audit fee systems for small and midsize public accounting firms, with more frequent inspection leading to more rigorous and informed auditor decisions. We discuss the implications of our results for the Board and the profession at large.     

Corporate Risk Management under Information Asymmetry

This paper examines the financial and operational hedging activities of US pharmaceutical and biotech firms that are subject to a high level of information asymmetry stemming from R&D investments during 2001–2006. We find evidence in support of the information asymmetry hypothesis à la Froot, Scharfstein and Stein (1993) that hedging helps mitigate the under‐investment problem. Specifically, we find that the use of financial derivatives is associated with greater firm value and that the value enhancement is larger for firms subject to greater information asymmetry and better growth opportunities. There is a synergy between financial hedging and operational hedging where the latter is used to counter product development risk. The results are robust with respect to alternative performance measures, industry‐specific growth measures, and the endogeneity problem. Our work is differentiated from existing studies that examined commodity‐based industries without addressing information asymmetry.     

Board governance and corporate performance

We examine the link between the monitoring capacity of the board and corporate performance of UK listed firms. We also investigate how firms use the flexibility offered by the voluntary governance regime to make governance choices. We find a strong positive association between the board governance index we construct and firm operating performance. Our results imply that adherence to the board‐related recommendations of the UK Corporate Governance Code strengthens the board's monitoring capacity, potentially helping mitigate agency problems, but that investors do not value it correspondingly. Moreover, in contrast to prior UK findings suggesting efficient adoption of Code recommendations, we find that firms at times use the Code flexibility opportunistically, aiming to decrease the monitoring capacity of the board, which is followed by subsequent underperformance. This finding questions the effectiveness of the voluntary approach to governance regulation followed in the UK and in many countries around the world.     

Review of Categorical Models for Classification Issues in Accounting and Finance

Recent studies have extensively used the logit or probit models for classification problems in accounting and finance. More than 289 articles in prestigious journals have used these or similar methods from 1989 through 1996. This paper reviews several categorical techniques and compares the performance of logit or probit with alternative procedures. Intuitive and mathematical explanations of how the models examined differ in terms of underlying assumptions and other attributes are provided. The alternative techniques are applied to two substantive research questions: predicting bankruptcy and auditors' consistency judgements. Four empirical criteria provide some evidence that the exponential generalized beta of the second kind (EGB2), lomit, and burrit (all new to the accounting and finance literature) improve the log-likelihood functions, and the explanatory power, compared with logit and other models. EGB2, lomit and burrit also provide significantly better classifications and predictions than logit and other techniques.     

基于统筹法的调车机车运用计划编制方法研究

分析技术站的技术作业内容及各作业工序的统筹关系,在明确本班列车到达计划信息、装卸排空任务、出发列车的要求,以及各作业时间标准的情况下,根据各作业工序之间的关系及工序的可移性原理,安排区段站调车机车解体和编组作业计划,再结合轮廓的装卸计划、排空计划和出发车流需要等,确定调车机车的具体取送车时刻和内容,以完善车站调机运用计划的编制。