Cash holdings and business group membership

This study examines the cash policies of business group members (i.e., affiliates). Using a panel dataset of private Belgian affiliates and comparable non-affiliated firms, the empirical results show that business group affiliates hold significantly smaller amounts of cash as compared to non-affiliated firms. This finding is consistent with the notion that affiliates can afford to keep lower cash reserves because these firms can access the internal capital market of the group. The analysis also combines affiliate level and group level data to evaluate cash drivers and shows that groups in financial distress reduce cash holdings in affiliates. However, affiliates that are more important for the group's reputation and operations maintain cash levels comparable to affiliates belonging to financially healthy groups.     

Excessive risk exposure: A question of ethical decision-making

This commentary essay reflects on the article titled “When an irresistible force meets an immovable object: The interplay of agency and structure in the UK financial crisis” (Ashby et al., this issue). Specifically, managers took on excessive risk that ultimately contributed to financial crisis. This essay discusses whether the decision to accept excessive risk falls under ethical decision-making, including the degree of moral intensity as possibly perceived by risk and financial managers. The components for determining moral intensity include (1) magnitude of consequences, (2) social consensus, (3) probability of effect, (4) temporal immediacy, (5) proximity, and (6) concentration of effect.     

Marking your trade: Cultural factors in the prolongation of trademarks

Trademarks protecting the brand name and associations are crucial in a brand's strategy, but little is known about the factors that determine a trademark's prolongation. To explain the prolongation of trademarks, the research estimated a multilevel hazard model accounting for trademark characteristics, firm's characteristics, and firm's country of origin national culture. The dataset comprises a census of 2911 trademarks in the US software security industry across an eight-year period, belonging to firms originating from 11 countries. The results indicate that a firm's culture of origin has a systematic effect on the types of trademark the firm is more likely to prolong and on the length of the prolongation. The age of the trademark, the number of categories where a particular trademark is present, and the age of the firm increase the likelihood of a trademark's prolongation. Larger and more innovative firms tend to terminate their trademarks earlier.     

潼南县地区水文地质条件及其对地质灾害的影响

本文在区域气象水文及地表水、地下水等水文地质条件分析的基础上,分析了水文地质条件的主要表现形式,进而认为其可能为泥石流等地质灾害的发生提供了有利条件。     

中小企业应收账款质押融资模式中的道德风险研究

应收账款质押融资作为供应链金融较常见的融资模式,是解决中小企业融资难的有效途径。该模式的风险因素包括信用风险、道德风险、法律风险和行业风险。其中道德风险主要由银企之间信息不对称引起。博弈论分析表明,道德风险受核心企业的监督意愿、银行和核心企业的监督成本以及对违约企业的惩罚力度的影响。     

非正式机制在预防犯罪中的应用

我国重视采取正式机制来预防犯罪，却忽视了非正式机制预防犯罪的重要作用，与此相应的是犯罪愈来愈成为难以解决的社会问题。单纯依靠正式机制很难有效地抑制犯罪行为的发生，而非正式机制在这方面则有着难以估量的作用。在犯罪预防中应重视对非正式机制的运用，主要从加强传统文化教育、注重利用媒体介质、加强道德教育等方面入手。     

金融危机下国企多级委托代理链的思考与建议

拉动内需是金融危机环境下推动经济发展的可行方法,而国有企业在拉动内需环节上起到中坚作用。由此,国有企业的改革再次引起政府和学术界的重视,本文从委托代理的角度,剖析国有企业存在的问题,并对其问题提出了合理化的建议。     

Determinants of Hazard Confronting New Entry: Does Financial Structure Matter?

This paper attempts to identify the determinants ofhazard confronting 219 new manufacturing firmsestablished in 1982–84 and followed up to1992 using a Cox regression model. Three sets ofvariables are combined in the analysis: firm, sectorand cohort specific. Financial, firm specificcharacteristics such as larger initial financialcapital size, conservative borrowing, heavier fixedasset commitment and lower diversification in terms ofholding other firms' assets are estimated to reducefirm hazard. Higher sectoral entry and lower sunk costsectoral requirements by increasing marketcontestability increase risk of failure together withcyclical variations.     

Information Asymmetries and Risk Management in Healthcare Markets: The U.S. Affordable Care Act in Retrospect

This article critically examines the pertinent issues in ex ante and ex post moral hazard in healthcare markets, with the U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA) as its focal point of inquiry. First, it compares the various types of information asymmetries resulting from the production, allocation, and utilization of health insurance. Second, it reviews the literature on adverse selection, moral hazard, and risk mitigation against which salient ACA reforms are analyzed. In contrasting conventional moral hazard from an alternative theory of welfare maximization, it suggests that healthcare (over)utilization cannot necessarily be considered wasteful, even if it ends up costing insurers more on a short-term basis. Costs and savings attributable to healthcare spending under the ACA will vary between the consumer, insurer, and regulator-subsidizer. Despite the ambiguities surrounding definitions of “health,” the challenge of containing inefficient moral hazard, and encouraging its desirable counterpart, lies in the tradeoffs that arise between consumer access to affordable and quality healthcare and the market competitiveness of health insurers. The new Trump administration will have to address these tradeoffs in repealing and replacing the ACA, particularly in light of escalating insurance premiums and deductibles, narrower provider networks, and technical implementation issues.     

基于客户价值的厂商对经销商委托代理研究

厂商与经销商的委托代理关系是营销管理中的一种特殊而重要的关系,是决定企业经营成败的关键因素之一。本文着重分析道德风险下的委托代理模型,基于客户价值的角度改进原有激励模型,分析模型结果,并加以总结说明。