Adoption of weather‐index insurance: learning from willingness to pay among a panel of households in rural Ethiopia

In this article we examine which farmers would be early entrants into weather‐index insurance markets in Ethiopia, were such markets to develop on a large scale. We do this by examining the determinants of willingness to pay for weather insurance among 1,400 Ethiopian households that have been tracked for 15 years as part of the Ethiopian Rural household Survey. This provides both historical and current information with which to assess the determinants of demand. We find that educated, wealthier individuals are more likely to purchase insurance. Risk aversion is associated with low insurance take‐up suggesting that models of technology adoption can inform the purchase and spread of weather index insurance. We also assess how willingness to pay varied as two key characteristics of the contract were varied and found that basis risk reduces demand for insurance particularly when the price of the contract is high, and that provision of insurance through groups is preferred by female headed households and individuals with lower levels of education.     

Managing basis risk with multiscale index insurance

Agricultural index insurance indemnifies a farmer against losses based on an index that is correlated with, but not identical to, her or his individual outcomes. In practice, the level of correlation may be modest, exposing insured farmers to residual, basis risk. In this article, we study the impact of basis risk on the demand for index insurance under risk and compound risk aversion. We simulate the impact of basis risk on the demand for index insurance by Malian cotton farmers using data from field experiments that reveal the distributions of risk and compound risk aversion. The analysis shows that compound risk aversion depresses demand for a conventional index insurance contract some 13 percentage points below what would be predicted based on risk aversion alone. We then analyze an innovative multiscale index insurance contract that reduces basis risk relative to conventional, single‐scale index insurance contract. Simulations indicate that demand for this multiscale contract would be some 40% higher than the demand for an equivalently priced conventional contract in the population of Malian cotton farmers. Finally, we report and discuss the actual uptake of a multiscale contract introduced in Mali.     

纵向兼任高管能降低股价崩盘风险吗?

纵向兼任高管究竟会加强大股东对管理层的监督,减少管理层机会主义行为,提升公司治理水平;还是会强化大股东对上市公司的控制,提升其私有权收益的获取能力,增加企业风险？为此,文章将以2007年-2017年中国A股上市公司为研究样本,探究纵向兼任高管如何影响企业的股价崩盘风险。研究发现,纵向兼任高管显著降低了公司未来股价崩盘风险;在进行Heckman两阶段模型、倾向得分匹配等稳健性检验后,这一结论依然成立。同时,文章进一步研究发现,纵向兼任高管在"监督效应"和"更少掏空效应"共同作用下降低了股价崩盘风险;且当纵向兼任高管权力越大时,即纵向兼任董事长时,对公司未来股价崩盘风险的降低作用越明显。文章不但深化了股价崩盘风险影响因素的研究,而且有助于我们全面认识纵向兼任高管这一关系在公司治理中的作用,这对于完善公司治理、防范股价崩盘风险,进而促进我国资本市场的健康发展有重要的意义。     

汇率不确定性与企业跨境并购

本文立足外部不确定性视角,提出汇率不确定性对企业重要涉外经济行为(跨境并购)影响的实物期权与风险对冲效应。本文以2000～2019年A股上市公司宣告的跨境并购为研究对象,分析发现人民币兑美元名义汇率不确定性显著降低了企业跨境并购的可能性,实物期权效应占主导;人民币名义有效汇率不确定性与企业跨境并购决策正相关,风险对冲效应占主导。横截面检验发现,人民币兑美元名义汇率不确定性对跨境并购的抑制作用在汇率交易风险和折算风险更高以及存在融资约束的企业中更为明显;有效汇率反映一国贸易条件,行业竞争激烈与汇率经济风险更高的企业,在人民币名义有效汇率不确定性加剧时更有可能进行跨境并购。最后,汇率不确定下的企业跨境并购取得了较好的财务绩效(汇率风险约束使企业并购行为更审慎高效),降低了有效汇率风险敞口。本文区分了双边汇率与有效汇率的差异,拓展了汇率波动的经济后果与跨境并购影响因素的研究范畴,为“双循环”下我国推进高质量对外开放与汇率市场化改革、有效引导国际资本流动以及企业在不确定环境下提升并购效率,提供了理论依据。     

Temporary stabilization with capital controls

This paper studies both positive and normative aspects of quantity-based capital controls in a small open economy undergoing a temporary inflation stabilization plan. In the model, capital controls are implemented by choosing two policy variables: a ceiling on the private sector debt and a terminal date for removing controls; the date on which controls trigger and hence its duration are endogenously determined. Equilibrium dynamics are characterized for all feasible range of debt ceilings and durations. Temporary controls that end with the collapse of the stabilization plan are shown to mitigate consumption boom-bust cycles and dominate allocations under perfect capital mobility, thus providing a “second-best” rationale for employing them. For controls that are prolonged beyond the collapse of the stabilization plan, equilibria exist even when the debt ceiling is above the debt that accumulates under perfect capital mobility. Here, if the ceiling is sufficiently low, controls mitigate consumption cycles. Conversely, a sufficiently high ceiling amplifies consumption cycles. For prolonged controls, there is a critical value of debt ceiling below (above) which the welfare is higher (lower) relative to the perfect capital mobility case. Finally, for a given debt ceiling, prolonged controls rank lower in welfare than those that end with the stabilization plan. We would like to thank two anonymous referees and the editor whose suggestions have helped us improve the paper substantially. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Testing assumptions underlying economic research on transgenic food crops for Third World farmers: Evidence from Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico

Transgenic crop varieties (TGVs) are being promoted as essential for improving small-scale Third World (SSTW) agriculture. Most economic research on this topic makes critical, untested assumptions, including that farmers will choose TGVs over other varieties because TGVs are economically optimal and because farmers are risk neutral profit maximizers. We tested these assumptions using data from a survey of 334 farmers in 6 communities in Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico in which farmers ranked 4 real and hypothetical maize varieties for eating and sowing. Our results did not support these assumptions. Most farmers preferred farmer varieties for sowing and especially for eating, avoiding TGVs, a preference associated with being risk averse and with non-monetary preferences. Farmers more integrated into modern agriculture were more likely to choose TGVs. These results suggest that farmers most in need of support and most important for conserving genetic diversity are least favorable toward TGVs, and that alternative ways of improving SSTW agriculture should receive more attention.     

低利率时期的货币政策效果——台湾地区及日本经验

日本央行在最近一波的景气衰退中被指为货币政策操作不佳,因其似乎只专注降低利率而忽视其它传递管道.货币政策在景气差的低利率时期是否能有效果是本文所要探讨的.台湾地区货币主管部门在上一波不景气中也不断以调降利率作为因应,因此本文利用VAR(向量自我回归)模型分别针对台湾地区及日本这两段经济不景气的低利率时期进行讨论分析.根据冲击反应分析显示,不论是台湾地区或日本在观察样本期间都得到货币政策无效的结论,其中台湾地区可能存在"投资陷阱";日本则发现存在"流动性陷阱".     

中国的货币政策有效吗？

本文利用1995~2008年第一季度的季度数据,建立向量自回归模型对我国货币政策的效果进行了经验分析,结果表明我国的货币政策对产出有显著的作用,并且对产出的作用主要是通过影响固定资产投资来实现的。紧缩的货币政策没能使物价水平下降,反而上涨了。与存款准备金率的变化相比,贷款利率的变动对经济的影响更大一些。因此,中央银行不能仅仅依靠紧缩的货币政策特别是频繁加息来控制物价。     

建设项目风险管理问题研究：美国经验及其启示

尽管风险管理在中国已逐渐被认可,但总体来说,我国工程项目风险管理理论研究水平还不是很高,在实际应用中成效并不显著。美国建筑工程市场经过几十年的发展已经建立了一套完整的风险管理体系,有很多经验值得借鉴。针对我国国内工程项目风险管理研究现状,借鉴美国风险管理的优势,结合我国的国情,把项目风险管理提到更高水平。     

强化企业内部控制的原则与环节初探

随着我国社会主义市场经济的发展,企业内部控制越来越重要.本文从对企业内部控制的不同认识出发,深刻理解内部控制的内涵,通过对当前我国企业内部控制存在问题的分析,论述了建立和完善企业内部控制的紧迫性和必要性,并提出了完善我国企业内部控制的对策.