RISK‐COPING,LAND TENURE AND LAND MARKETS: AN OVERVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Over the last decades, a significant amount of literature has been published on informal risk‐coping in developing countries. In this paper, we review how informal risk‐coping has been addressed in the land tenure literature from two main perspectives: a first stream of research looks at how customary tenure and communal property perform key informal risk‐coping functions. A second subset of this literature analyses how informal risk‐coping creates land market imperfections through sharecropping or distress sales. The segmentation of the literature results from the Demsetzian property rights framework. Further research on risk‐coping and land tenure would benefit from examining recent work on property regimes.     

非正式环境规制能否推动工业企业研发

当面对环境治理与工业发展这一难题时,非正式环境规制给出了新解决路径。利用2007-2016年中国内地30个省市面板数据,在区分研发投入与研发成果的基础上,采用门槛面板模型研究非正式环境规制与工业企业研发间的非线性关系。结果表明,非正式环境规制对工业企业研发投入和研发成果的单一门槛效应成立。此外,非正式环境规制对于研发投入和研发成果的作用还受工业企业现金流和经营效率的影响。研究非正式环境规制对研发投入的影响发现,现金流存在单一门槛,经营效率则存在双重门槛;研究非正式环境规制对研发成果的影响发现,现金流和经营效率均存在单一门槛。     

利率市场化改革如何影响了农村正规金融对非正规金融的替代性?

本文基于"技术内生效应"的视角研究了利率市场化改革对农村正规与非正规金融替代性的影响。本文指出利率市场化改革对农村正规金融利率调整的效应有三种,分别是直接名义收益效应、农户类型异质的借款人结构类型效应和正规金融机构解决信息不对称与监督问题的技术内生效应,这三种效应导致农村正规金融对非正规金融的替代呈倒"U"形关系。本文的实证研究表明利率市场化改革对正规与非正规金融替代性主要不是源于利率价格变动的名义收益效应,而是与信息不对称问题密切相关的借款人结构类型效应与技术内生效应。本文的政策含义在于,农村利率市场化改革要考虑普惠金融与金融精准扶贫的有效性,同时要考虑农村的信息不对称问题并做好激励机制设计。     

Informal institutions and international entrepreneurship

This study examines the influence of three informal institutions, performance orientation, self-expression and social desirability, on the extent of internationalization by early stage entrepreneurial firms. We employed multi-level modeling techniques using 20,656 individual-level responses obtained from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey for 39 countries from 2001 to 2008, and supplementing with country-level data obtained from the World Values Survey (WVS) and the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) study. The results demonstrate that high performance orientation, high self-expression, and low social desirability of entrepreneurship in societies increase the extent of internationalization by early-stage entrepreneurial firms. The study promotes new theory and empirical findings on the relationship between informal institutions and entrepreneurial agency.     

Unpacking Institutional Distance: Addressing Human Capital Development and Emerging‐Market Firms’ Ownership Strategy in an Advanced Economy

As latecomers to global business competition, emerging‐market multinational companies (EMNCs) utilize cross‐border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) to quickly acquire strategic assets, resulting in an improved competitive position. Advanced markets with well‐established firms and well‐developed market‐supporting institutions become particularly important destinations for EMNCs’ foreign operations. Institutional distance, which represents conflicting legitimacy requirements between the host and home institutional environments, is expected to be negatively associated with the foreign acquirer's ownership position. The current study examines a sample of EMNCs’ cross‐border M&As in the United States between 2005 and 2011 and reveals the unique nature of EMNCs’ ownership strategies. Taking both formal and informal institutions into consideration, our findings suggest that EMNCs originating in countries with lower levels of human capital development may have more urgency in seeking ownership control in advanced markets and are less influenced by the negative association of institutional distance in their ownership strategy. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Quantifying Sources of Risk in Global Food Operations and Supply Chain

The food industry plays a significant role in food supply. However, it is increasingly facing a significant number of risks to tackle. This article provides insight into sources and quantification of risk, which can restrict food operations and supply chain performance. Certainly, risks imposed by today's constantly changing global environment makes it imperative for food and agribusiness firms to develop purposeful proactive and predictive risk management for their global supply chains. We proposed the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model to analyze sources of risks attached to the focal firm's global food operations and supply chain. The identified risks were from a review of relevant literature, expert opinions from the focal firm supply chain C‐level executive, and consultants in the food industry. We grouped the identified risks into seven categories and discussed the risk mitigation strategies. We validated the proposed model using a case study involving a focal food and agribusiness firm with global presence. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

农地流转中的非正式制度探讨

以往从制度方面研究农地流转的史料文献,大多忽视了对非正式制度因素的分析。本文主要就我国农村社会经济生活中一些与农地流转密切相关的非正式制度如意识形态中的公有制观念、家庭观念和家族意识、平均主义、集权主义、农本意识及其对农地流转的影响进行了探讨,最后指出：应该在尊重文化传统的基础上,对这些非正式制度消化创新,找到它们与农地制度的契合点,使二者有机相融,协调进行,这样才能从根本上推动农地流转。     

机构投资者、制度和监管:一个国际比较分析

本文将机构投资者视为一种特殊的制度安排,并用新制度经济学的一般原理进行了理论探讨,接着从制度和监管的角度,对现有的证券投资基金监管模式进行了国际比较分析,进而得出建立完善的法律体系是规范机构投资者发展的必要前提等经验启示.     

Pitfalls to avoid when measuring institutions: Is Doing Business damaging business?

Over recent years, both governments and international aid organizations have been devoting large amounts of resources to “simplifying” the procedures for setting up and formalizing firms. Many of these actions have focused on reducing the initial costs of setting up the firm, disregarding the more important role of business registers as a source of reliable information for judges, government departments and, above all, other firms. This reliable information is essential for reducing transaction costs in future dealings with all sorts of economic agents, both public and private. The priorities of reform policies should therefore be thoroughly reviewed, stressing the value of the legal institutions rather than trivializing them as is often the case. Journal of Comparative Economics 35 (4) (2007) 729–747.     

Estimating the informal cross-border trade of agricultural and horticultural commodities between cameroon and its CEMAC neighbours

Cameroon is the first trading partner of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) countries. Despite belonging to the same sub-regional organization, the formal trade ties between Cameroon and its neighbours have been hampered by a combination of factors that have spurred the growth of informal (unrecorded) trade. Interest in cross-border trade of agricultural and horticultural commodities between Cameroon and its neighbours has been overwhelming, but knowledge of its magnitude, determinants, and consequences remains inadequate, leading not only to undervaluation of figures in the national accounts, but also inhibiting formulation of appropriate policies and strategies to exploit its potential impact, particularly on food security. Using a monitoring method of cross-border flows of informal trade, the study aims to estimate the volume/value of unrecorded cross-border trade between Cameroon and its CEMAC’s neighbours and compare it with the recorded (official figures) trade. The results indicate that in 2008 a volume of just over 155 000 tons of agricultural and horticultural commodities has been shipped from Cameroon to its neighbours in the CEMAC for an estimated value of almost 38 billion CFA francs and representing 0.4% of GDP in Cameroon. The comparison in relative terms shows that informal or unrecorded trade represents 96% of the official and mainly includes agricultural and horticultural commodities.