An empirical study of bank efficiency in China after WTO accession

This paper documents the technical efficiency of Chinese banks over 1999–2010. With stochastic frontier analysis, we find that Chinese banks are about 18% more efficient in generating lending assets than profits. We also observe an upward trend of bank efficiency after China's entry to WTO in 2001. The improvement of bank efficiency is most prominent for the largest banks with substantial state ownership. We also find that majority state-owned banks are least efficient; well capitalized banks are less efficient; bank efficiency decreases with bank size at the lower end, but banks gain efficiency and realize economies of scale when bank size grows large enough; more fee-generating business reduces efficiency; better management improves efficiency.     

Balanced wealth creation across cooperative economics

Cooperation is a necessary condition, along with competition, for the creation of wealth, innovation and knowledge. We briefly re-visit and critique certain neo-classical arguments in regards to pure competition and profit maximization that continue to be carried forward by current neo-liberal thought. We also attempt to illustrate the unbalanced and damaging outcomes of neo-liberal logic across the lens of enactment; as well as across our own discernment of holographic analogies to the individualism–collectivism dyad that exist within our complex environments. Within the spirit of evolutionary economics and complexity theory, early and more recent theoretical and empirical underpinnings for cooperation are presented, with the argument that it, combined with competition, leads to more well-balanced wealth creation—be it regional, national or global in character. Finally, we review competitive vs cooperative economic approaches across the lens of emergent complex systems. We then present two possible ‘future’ scenarios: one extreme outcome occurring as a result of truncating or de-balancing the individual vs collective dyad and its holographic analogies; while another outcome attempts to integrate a more inherent balance within these same dyads.     

The effect of changes in ownership structure on performance: Evidence from the thrift industry

Restrictions on stock ownership may harm a company's performance, because restrictions prevent owners from choosing an optimal structure. We examine the stock-price performance and ownership structure of a sample of thrift institutions that converted from mutual to stock ownership. We find that after conversion and the expiration of ownership-structure restrictions, firm performance improves significantly, and the portions of the firm owned by managers and the firm's employee stock ownership plan increase. Changes in performance are positively associated with changes in ownership by managers, but negatively associated with changes in ownership by employee stock ownership plans.     

CEO incentive plans and corporate liquidation policy

To investigate CEOs' incentives to liquidate their firms, we examine the effects of insider ownership and compensation in stock options on 30 voluntary liquidation decisions by industrial firms in the period 1975–1986. We find that liquidation decisions are influenced by CEO incentive plans and increase shareholder value. Firms with more outside board members, smaller market-to-book ratios, and attempts by outsiders to gain control are more likely to be liquidated. Although few top executives of liquidating firms subsequently take comparable jobs, at least 41% of CEOs who downsize are made better off by liquidation.     

The Impact of Risk-Based Premiums on FDIC-Insured Institutions

This paper examines the effect of a series of announcements leading to the approval of risk-based deposit insurance premiums on returns to stockholders of commercial banks. Utilizing risk-weighted capital ratios and measures of overall risk, we group banks according to one of the nine-tier insurance categories subsequently defined by the FDIC. During the period in which the new insurance system was considered and approved, we found that stockholders of well-capitalized, healthy banks experienced wealth changes significantly different from those experienced by less than well-capitalized, less than healthy banks. Although many argued the premium range in the initial insurance schedule was insufficient, the results show that this initial risk-basing marked an important change in the relative burdens imposed by FDIC insurance.     

Social Responsibility and Performance: Does Strategic Orientation Matter for Small Businesses?

This paper examines whether strategic orientation toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) is instrumental in shaping small firms’ social responsibility practices leading to their enhanced financial performance and reputation. Data were collected from 182 small businesses operating in Malaysia based on random sampling technique and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. Analysis of the findings confirm that small firms’ long‐term strategic approach toward CSR is critical in driving their responsible practices toward environment, customer, community, employees, and suppliers which in turn impact small firms’ financial performance and better reputation building. These findings suggest that customers' and employees’ interests are strategic imperatives that small firms should address in enhancing their financial performance and building better reputation in the community. These findings have important implications for small firms’ strategic policy posture which are highlighted in the paper. The paper also identifies the possible limits of the research and suggests avenues for future studies.     

The economics of conflicts of interest in financial institutions

A conflict of interest exists when a party to a transaction can gain by taking actions that are detrimental to its counterparty. This paper examines the growing empirical literature on the economics of conflicts of interest in financial institutions. Economic analysis shows that, although conflicts of interest are omnipresent when contracting is costly and parties are imperfectly informed, there are important factors that mitigate their impact and, strikingly, it is possible for customers of financial institutions to benefit from the existence of such conflicts. The empirical literature reaches conclusions that differ across types of conflicts of interest but are overall more ambivalent and certainly more benign than the conclusions drawn by journalists and politicians from mostly anecdotal evidence.     

Simultaneous board and CEO diversity: does it increase firm value?

There remain open questions regarding whether board of director ethnic and gender diversity increases or decreases firm value. Additionally, prior research has yet to examine the value effects of a diverse board in the presence of a gender/ethnic minority CEO. Using the KLD social ratings database, we examine 13?000 firm-years and provide robust evidence that board diversity increases firm value. However, we also show that any value added via board diversity is nullified when a diverse board operates in the presence of a female and/or minority CEO. Results suggest that a significant portion of the value in board diversity may come from gender/ethnic differences between the board members and the CEO. One implication of our study is that when hiring a CEO or electing directors relative gender/ethnic make-up is important.