地方债务治理对银行信贷资金"脱虚向实"的影响——基于国务院"43号文"准自然实验的经验考察

国务院"43号文"的实施,为研究地方债务的治理效果提供了一个准自然实验场景.研究发现:地方债务治理对银行金融资产没有产生影响,但会显著增加银行总贷款、个人贷款和企业贷款,有助于银行信贷资金的"脱虚向实";地方债务治理能显著增加银行实体行业贷款,但不能显著增加银行非实体行业贷款和建筑业贷款.机制检验发现,地方债务治理可以通过降低借款人和借款企业的融资成本,间接性地影响银行信贷资金配置.进一步研究发现,国务院"43号文"实施后,资产质量高的银行倾向于增加企业贷款和实体行业贷款,资产质量低的银行倾向于增加个人贷款;银行规模可以强化地方债务治理对银行贷款增长的促进作用.因此,为促进银行信贷资金的"脱虚向实",应提高地方债务治理水平,强化对银行业务的监管与引导,加强风险管理,保障银行资产质量.     

The scope and scale of the informal food economy of South African urban residential townships: Results of a small-area micro-enterprise census

Growing urbanisation in South Africa is reflected in burgeoning Working class and informal township settlements on the fringes of its major towns and cities. Paired with this is an increasing reliance on cash as the primary means of economic transaction, which has in turn stimulated the growth of micro-enterprise business activities within the township context. This article discusses the findings of an eight-township small-area census which occurred between 2010 and 2013 in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Durban townships representing 250 000 residents. The researchers were able to establish the scope and scale of informal food and drink retailing in these localities. Of the 10 049 micro-enterprises located in the study, some 3966 (or 39% of the total) trade in food. These include enterprises in primary production, fresh produce retailing, grocery retailing from house and spaza shops, and informal foodservice enterprises. Food is the basis for much township informal business and plays an important role in making food increasingly affordable and locally accessible, and in creating cash employment. The article builds on the knowledge base of the township informal economy role in bolstering food security needs for the marginalised.     

Can investors time their exposure to private equity?

Private equity performance, both for buyouts and venture capital, has been highly cyclical: periods of high fundraising have been followed by periods of low performance. Despite this seemingly predictable variation, we find modest gains, at best, to pursuing realistic, investable strategies that time capital commitments to private equity. This occurs, in part, because investors can only time their commitments to funds; they cannot time when commitments are called or when investments are exited. There is a high degree of time-series correlation in net cash flows even across commitment strategies that allocate capital in a very different manner over time.     

Go beyond tokens: Number and type both matter

Drawing upon token theory and critical mass theory, this study examines whether all female directors are equally considered as tokens. We argue that inside female directors are less likely than outside female directors to be considered as tokens because they are more powerful and influential. Using a 10-year sample of Chinese publicly listed firms on the Shanghai or Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2008 to 2017, we find that even one inside female director can make a significant contribution to corporate social responsibility (CSR), while outside female directors do not have a positive effect on CSR until their number reaches the critical mass (i.e., three). The results suggest that the predictions of token theory and critical mass theory vary across female director types. These findings contribute to the current literature by integrating female director typology with their numerical representation to explain their token status.     

Information flows and crashes in dynamic social networks

We develop a dynamic model of information transmission and aggregation in social networks in which continued membership in the network is contingent on the accuracy of opinions. Agents have opinions about a state of the world and form links to others in a directed fashion probabilistically. Agents update their opinions by averaging those of their connections, weighted by how long their connections have been in the system. Agents survive or die based on how far their opinions are from the true state. In contrast to the results in the extant literature on DeGroot learning, we show through simulations that for some parameterizations the model cycles stochastically between periods of high connectivity, in which agents arrive at a consensus opinion close to the state, and periods of low connectivity, in which agents’ opinions are widely dispersed.

     

Interorganisational project dynamics: A longitudinal study of perceptual distance and client-contractor collaborative relationships

Despite the importance of good collaborative relationships in interorganisational projects, clients and contractors often develop adversarial relationships due to perceptual distance about key project issues. In this case study research, we investigated how perceptual distance emerges and changes over time, and how the collaborative relationship between client and contractor develops alongside these dynamics. In this exploration, we built upon agency theory and stewardship theory as complementary perspectives for understanding client-contractor collaborative relationships. We gathered quantitative and qualitative data in two projects, conducting three assessments in about one year. We found that perceptual distance increased and decreased over time, and that a reduction was typically associated with the collaborative relationship being characterized by stewardship rather than agency. These findings suggest that a regular assessment and evaluation of partners’ perceptions of critical project issues is warranted to timely detect and counteract perceptual distance. Moreover, partners would best adopt a stewardship orientation to reduce perceptual distance, although this may take considerable effort given the distributive nature of many pre-project negotiations.     

Missing the Popular Vote: Pitfalls in US Democracy and Reform Proposals

Intereconomics - Only a few years ago, it was a widespread belief that globalisation would trigger processes of democratisation worldwide. However, even old and established democracies such as the...     

江淮汽车成功开拓哈萨克斯坦市场的经验与启示

产能合作是当前和未来促进中哈两国经济协同发展的核心方式,江淮汽车成功进入哈萨克斯坦,对于推进两国制造业产能合作具有重要意义.充分利用国家政策、对接哈萨克斯坦汽车工业发展战略和市场需求、选择恰当国际市场进入模式和营销策略、培植核心竞争力以及积极应对哈萨克斯坦市场的激烈竞争是江淮汽车成功进入哈萨克斯坦市场的关键因素.我国企业应有效对接哈萨克斯坦经济战略,积极参与中哈产能合作;精准目标市场定位,优化产品结构;选择合适的市场进入模式,积极开展本地化生产;不断提升企业的核心竞争力.