Does Interindustry and Intraindustry Information Help Predict Financial Distress?

This study investigates whether and how the accounting ratios of peer firms within the same industry (the industry peers) or firms within the industry of their customers (the downstream peers) help improve the predictability of sample firm financial distress. We document that the Z‐score factors of the companies with high correlation in stock returns help predict financial distress. The results show that accounting‐based ratios of the industry peers and the downstream peers enhance the accuracy of early warnings of financial distress, especially when prior returns of peer firms are highly correlated with the sample firm.     

Risk analysis of new maize technology in Zaire: a portfolio approach

Risk associated with the adoption of new maize technology and the impact of mandatory cotton production on traditional farmers in the Kasai Oriental Region of Zaire are evaluated within a portfolio context using a quadratic programming model. Seasonal net returns for farm plans including four levels of maize technology in combination with staple food crops are evaluated, with and without mandatory cotton production. The results indicate that cropping systems that include new maize technology are risk-efficient relative to local maize varieties while mandatory cotton production is not risk-efficient at the prevalent price and yield levels in the farming system.     

Customer Equity Models for Mainland China and Taiwan's Economy Hotels

The economy hotel industry in Mainland China has grown rapidly in the last 20 years. At the same time, Taiwan has aggressively marketed development for the last five years. This work develops a customer equity model for economy hotels and compares model differences for Mainland China and Taiwan. In total, 297 completed questionnaires were collected in Mainland China and 318 in Taiwan. Model testing was conducted through structural equation modeling (SEM). Analytical results reveal that travelers focused more on relationship equity and brand equity in Mainland China, while travelers in Taiwan focused on value equity and brand equity, and that strengthening these will strengthen customer equity. Finally, implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

中国棒垒球项目市场化运作的影响因素及对策研究

从20世纪60年代，棒垒球从欧美引入我们国家，在短短的几十年中，此类项目在中国有了突飞猛进的发展。运用文献资料法、调查访问法对中国棒垒球的文化与群众基础，资金状况与媒体关注，政府政策扶持和社会参与投入与市场开发进行了分析，指出了中国棒垒球市场化的一系列问题，最后提出了棒垒球项目市场化运作的方法和对策：     

Energy consumption,employment, output,and temporal causality: evidence from Taiwan based on cointegration and error-correction modelling techniques

In this study, a cointegration analysis and a vector autoregressive model (VAR) are used to examine the causal relationships among energy consumption, employment, and output for Taiwan over the period January 1982 to November 1997. Johansen (1988) and Johansen and Juselius (1990) cointegration test result indicates these three variables are cointegrated with one cointegrating vector. The results from Granger causality tests based on vector error-correction models (VECM) suggest bidirectional Grange causality for employment-output and employment-energy consumption, but only unidirectional causality running from energy consumption to output. Furthermore, the impulse responses and variance decompositions are also incorporated into the analysis. The results from impulsive response and variance decomposition analysis tell similar stories. Energy consumption appears to have led to output growth in Taiwan over this period. The policy implication of this finding is that energy conservation will restrain the output growth in Taiwan.     

东亚通货膨胀趋势及决定因素

文章选取11个东亚国家和地区的数据为代表,采用针对不同国家的最优ARIMA模型预测东亚通货膨胀的发展趋势,发现东亚大部分国家面临较大的通货膨胀压力,通货膨胀持续上涨的趋势明显。并采用面板数据和Pooled-OLS分析法分析东亚通货膨胀的决定因素,研究表明东亚的通货膨胀形成的原因复杂,在惯性通胀、产出缺口、国际油价和粮食价格等多个因素的共同作用下形成;并发现次贷危机前后的东亚通货膨胀的决定因素有所不同,次贷危机前石油和粮食价格等成本因素大大地推动了东亚的通货膨胀,次贷危机后产出缺口等需求因素较大地影响了东亚的通货膨胀。针对东亚通货膨胀问题,文章提出包括中央银行改革、紧缩性货币政策、能源和粮食储备战略和调控个别行业或商品的对策和建议。     

Defence spending,economic growth and temporal causality: evidence from Taiwan and mainland China, 1952-1995

This paper uses a cointegration analysis and a vector autoregressive model (VAR) to examine the causal relationship between defence spending and economic growth for Taiwan and Mainland China over the period 1952–1995. It is found that these two variables are not cointegrated for both countries studied. The results of the Granger causality tests suggest bidirectional Granger causality (feedback) between defence spending and economic growth for Taiwan, unidirectional Granger causality running from economic growth to defence spending for Mainland China, and unidirectional Granger causality running from Taiwan's defence spending to Mainland China's defence spending for cross-country studied. These results further indicate that there exists no arms race between two countries from both sides of Taiwan strait. Furthermore, impulse responses and variance decompositions are incorporated into the analysis. The results from the impulse responses and variance decompositions tell a similar story.     

Non‐Tradable Share Reform,Liquidity, and Stock Returns in China

This article studies the influence of the non‐tradable share reform in the cross‐section of stock returns in China. Prior research has generally neglected this important development in the Chinese stock market. We find that the firm‐specific illiquidity measures that reflect direct transaction costs, price impact and difficulties in trading immediacy, exhibit a positive and significant relationship with stock returns. These effects are particularly pronounced after the non‐tradable share reform. Furthermore, in the post‐reform era, portfolios with high illiquidity (i.e. high relative bid–ask spread, high Amihud illiquidity, low Amivest liquidity ratio) significantly outperform portfolios with low illiquidity, controlling for size, and book‐to‐market effects.     

CAPM, Higher Co‐moment and Factor Models of UK Stock Returns

In this paper we examine the variables that explain the cross‐section of UK stock returns. Previous studies have found that the CAPM beta has moderate or even insignificant explanatory power once the Fama French factors are included. However, we control for different realised risk premia in up and down markets by using the same methodology as Pettengill, Sundaram and Mathur (1995). Unlike previous work, we find that beta is highly significant in explaining the cross‐section of UK stock returns and more importantly remains significant even when the Fama French factors are included in the cross‐sectional regressions. We also investigate whether higher co‐moments (co‐skewness and co‐kurtosis) have any explanatory power but find that empirical support is weaker.