Do goodwill impairments affect audit opinions? Evidence from China

There has been a steady growth of goodwill impairments in the Chinese stock market since the adoption of the impairment approach in accounting. The influence of goodwill impairments on a firm’s financial position and profitability give reason to doubt its current and future performance. We examine whether auditors, as a crucial external monitor, identify the information risks of goodwill impairments and express their concerns about financial reporting quality in their audit opinions. Using a sample of firms listed on China’s A-share market from 2007 to 2017, we test the association between goodwill impairments and the type of audit opinion received in the same financial period. Our findings are as follows. First, the probability of receiving a modified opinion increases with the amount of goodwill impairments. Second, the positive association between goodwill impairments and modified audit opinions is driven primarily by earnings management risks. Third, this positive association is more salient when auditors are industry experts and there is no auditor–client mismatch. Fourth, auditors are more sensitive to the amount of goodwill impairments than to their mere existence. Overall, we document that auditors perceive goodwill impairments as a signal of information risks and communicate their concerns to investors to avoid litigation.     

关于市政环卫工程中"城市病"的建议 ——以环境污染为例

随着北京城市化进程的加快,城市人口规模的增加,北京的"城市病"问题逐渐凸显出来.主要表现为城市环境污染,交通拥堵,资源枯竭,房价猛增,城市土地规划不合理等问题.这些问题同样给市政建设带来了巨大的阻碍.其中环境污染直接影响了城市的环境卫生状况,影响了市政环卫工作的进展.本文通过分析日本与中国的环境污染情况,以各自城市垃圾处理情况,来对中国环境卫生状况做出最后评价,找出其不足之处,提出相应的解决办法及建议.     

Who benefits from partial tax coordination?

In this paper, we investigate whether partial tax coordination is beneficial to countries within and outside a tax union, in which countries are supposed to compete in taxes and infrastructure. Our results demonstrate that a subgroup of countries agreeing on a common tax rate can harm both member and nonmember states. This is in contrast to the classical findings that partial tax harmonisation is Pareto improving. When a minimum tax rate is imposed within a tax union, we demonstrate that it does not necessarily improve the welfare of the member countries. Moreover, both the high‐tax and low‐tax countries can be worse off. This conclusion is at odds with the classical result that a high‐tax country benefits from the imposition of a lower tax bound.     

浅析土地储备制度对房地产价格的影响——以北京市为例

土地储备制度已经出台了将近14年,其在经济社会改革中扮演着重要的角色,使土地市场变得更加公平公正,提高了对土地管理的效率,并对房地产价格方面产生了较大的影响.本文通过整理分析北京市2013-2017年的地价与房价数据来探析土地储备制度对房地产价格的影响,得出土地储备制度是引起发地产价格房地产价格上升的因素之一的结论.     

跨越竞争丛林与范式重构：全球治理改革进程中的疫苗产业创新治理

疫苗作为新冠疫情防控的最关键手段之一，已在各国抗疫中发挥积极影响。疫苗研发、生产、注射意愿以及全球分配的公平性与可及性等一系列问题日益受到世界关注。分析全球治理改革中，疫苗作为一种全球公共产品的创新治理问题，讨论疫苗产业发展特征与创新规律演化，剖析西方国家疫苗产业创新治理困境以及“竞争丛林”逻辑，阐释中国行动方案及对全球治理改革的贡献。最终提出疫苗产业创新治理机制对推动全球治理改革的政策含义。     

When Do Qualitative Risk Disclosures Backfire? The Effects of a Mismatch in Hedge Disclosure Formats on Investors' Judgments

Disclosure standards mandate the quantitative disclosure of hedging‐instrument‐related risks but not the disclosure of hedged‐item‐related risks. We examine how a match (mismatch) in formats, caused by making quantitative (qualitative) hedged item disclosures alongside quantitative hedging instrument disclosures, affects investors' integration of information from these two related disclosures. Our first experiment varies the hedged item disclosure format (quantitative or qualitative) and the portion of risk hedged (small or large). We find that when disclosure formats are mismatched, the less comparable nature of the two disclosures caused investors to neglect the offsetting relationship when assessing net risks. As a result, risk and investment judgments were influenced by the more prominent quantitative hedging instrument disclosures. Our second experiment finds that the use of a qualitative debiaser that clarifies the relationship between the two disclosures led to the integration of information and mitigated this effect.     

Economic Impacts of the Possible China–US Trade War

This article uses a multi-country global general equilibrium (GE) model to numerically simulate the effects of possible China–US trade wars. We introduce an endogenous trade imbalance structure with trade cost into the model which helps to explore both tariff and non-tariff trade war effects. Our simulation results show that China will be significantly hurt by the China–US trade war, but negative impacts are affordable. The US can gain under unilateral sanction measures to China, but will lose if China takes retaliation measures. Comparing the effects under mutual trade war, China will lose more than the US. Introducing non-tariff barrier trade wars will intensify the negative effects, and comparatively negative effects to China are larger than to the US. Mexico’s involvement in trade war with the US will strengthen the negative effects and comparatively hurt the US more. Under non-cooperative and cooperative Nash bargaining equilibrium, the US can gain more than China in trade war negotiation, which means the US has stronger bargaining power than China. Additionally, trade wars between China and the US will hurt most countries and the world especially in GDP and manufacturing employment, but benefit their welfare and trade.     

产研协同提高创新链整体效能的新探索 ——基于新型科研机构的考察

我国国家创新系统和公共研发体系在应对当前国际竞争中发挥了巨大作用,但也暴露出在基础研究—应用研究—试验开发创新链过度分工问题,使各创新主体脱节.定位于工业研究院的新型科研机构,在创新组织和成果转化中正在逐渐显露出独特的优势,成为提高创新链整体效能的重要突破口.中国科学院深圳先进技术研究院以科学技术为枢纽、以产业协同为触媒的"渡船模式",通过协同创新克服科研与产业之间的缺失环节,成为贯通创新链、提高创新链整体效能的有效路径之一.     

论如何遏制大学生不当消费

当前大学生存在过分追求物质享受、志趣媚俗、品位低下、花钱无度等不当消费现象,教育部门应注重经常性教育引导,增强学生自警自控力;强化多重管理机制,增强学生自我约束力;注重营造良好的校园环境,增强学生的凝聚力。     

论中小企业对管理胜任力的基本要求和培育途径

文章指出,管理胜任力是企业核心竞争能力的一个重要方面,中小企业的健康成长取决于其竞争能力的提高,竞争能力的关键是提高企业的管理胜任力,文章还分析了中小企业对管理胜任力要求的主要方面。