Deregulation of short selling and corporate cash dividend policy: A quasi-natural experiment from China

This study takes China’s short selling deregulation as a quasi-natural experiment, employs a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2007 to 2017, and tests the impact of a short selling pilot on firms’ cash dividends using a difference-in-differences model (DID). We find that China’s short selling pilot significantly increases the pilot firms’ cash dividends. The mechanism test shows that short selling can improve the pilot firms’ cash dividends by playing a corporate governance role to restrain dual agency costs such as management fees and major shareholders’ tunneling. Furthermore, we identify that short selling restrains the behavior of “large stock dividends” and increases the cash dividends of “large stock dividends” firms. Moreover, the governance effect of short selling is complementary to the external governance environment. The higher the degree of marketization and government quality, the more significant the governance effect of short selling to increase the pilot firms’ cash dividends. This study enriches not only the research related to cash dividends in emerging economies, but also provides new empirical evidence for the evaluation of China’s short selling deregulation and offers valuable lessons to other emerging economies.     

卖空机制与食品安全——基于溢出效应的视角

卖空机制通过威慑效应约束厂商的自利动机,为食品安全治理提供了一种可行的资本市场途径。本文利用2015—2018年原国家食品药品监督管理总局披露的食品抽检数据,考察卖空强度对地区食品质量的影响。采用食品类上市公司融券余额在流通市值中占比的加权平均值度量地区卖空强度,体现了食品企业受到的卖空威慑压力。结果发现,卖空强度越大,当地整体的食品抽检质量越好。机制分析发现,卖空威胁在提升上市食品企业产品质量的同时,通过供应链协同、同群效应以及减少信息不对称的途径传导至同地区的其他企业,产生了食品质量治理的溢出效应。异质性分析显示,卖空对食品安全治理的溢出效应在要素市场发育不足、法制相对不健全和欠发达地区更加明显,卖空作为外部监管的补充机制发挥了食品安全治理的功能。因此,完善融资融券制度,适时合理地将食品类上市公司纳入融券标的,为惩治劣质食品提供资本市场手段,对确保食品安全问题“零容忍”具有现实意义。     

What hinders digital communication? Evidence from foreign firms in Japan

Digital technology such as virtual meetings is key to communication and collaboration. However, a firm-level survey in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic shows that foreign firms regarded digital communication as a key business obstacle. This paper estimates the determinants of the likelihood that foreign firms regard digital communication as an obstacle. The results show that digital communication is hindered by language differences, employees’ nationality differences, employment size, and time differences from foreign headquarters. Contrary to common assertions, digital communication is regarded as an obstacle in remote-work feasible sectors, but not so in in-person service sectors. Thus, digital communication does not completely eliminate barriers to face-to-face communication.     

How firm communication affects the impact of layoff announcements on brand strength over time

Firms usually undertake layoffs to improve financial performance. However, layoffs often have negative effects on various stakeholders, including consumers. In this paper, we examine the magnitude and duration of the potential negative effect of layoff announcements on brand strength. We also examine how a firm's communication accompanying a layoff can potentially counteract the observed negative effect of layoff announcements on brand strength. We compare how advertising communication intensity, social media communication (i.e., brand-initiated tweets), public relation (PR) communication, and communication of CSR initiatives moderate the main effect of layoff announcements on brand strength. Using an error correction model and drawing on 366 announcements of layoff events in Germany, this study identifies the magnitude and duration of the main effect. An examination of five years of weekly consumer brand perception data across multiple industries and domestic and foreign firms shows that advertising communication intensity and social media communication amplify the negative impact of layoff announcements on brand strength. Conversely, PR communication and communication of CSR initiatives help mitigate the negative effect. These findings provide guidance on the best way for firms to design firm communication in the context of layoff announcements.     

OFDM在流星余迹通信中的应用

利率调整模型研究对一国当局有效实施货币政策和对市场主体进行正确的利率预测均具有重要的意义。本文通过综合分析影响我国利率调整的主要因素，认为我国利率调整受通货膨胀率因素影响最大，并着重就利率与通货膨胀之间的相关关系进行实证分析。本研究在对研究变量和数据科学选取和合理观察的基础上，对时间序列变量进行单位根ADF因果检验及序列平稳化处理，然后用OLS法估计我国利率调整的通赁膨胀因素模型，