How Issue Size, Risk, and Complexity are Influencing External Financing Costs: German IPOs Analyzed from an Economies of Scale Perspective

This paper is focused on the cost of raising capital in Germany. A cross-sectional analysis of flotation cost data for 117 IPOs over the years 1993–1998 is presented. We find average flotation costs to be 7.77 percent of gross proceeds, while underwriting fees average 5.01 percent. Our results extend the literature in two important directions. First, contrary to the conventional economies of scale view we find marginal spreads to be rather constant in gross proceeds and to be higher for more risky and more complex offerings. Fixed costs amount to 5 to 9 percent of underwriting fees. Second, by applying a principal component analysis we find issue size, an issuer risk factor, and an offering method complexity factor to have an economicaly meaningful impact on underwriting fees.     

Foreign debt and economic growth

This paper empirically examines the relationship between government foreign debt and the growth rate of per capita GDP based on a total sample of 77 countries, as well as sub‐samples of various regions. Cross‐sectional estimates of the coefficient of foreign debt based on the total sample have a negative sign, but are not always statistically significant. Available data from African countries indicate that foreign debt and the growth rate of per capita GDP were negatively related at a high level of significance. For industrialized and Latin American sub‐samples, this relationship is negative but statistically insignificant. The sub‐sample Asian and other developing countries show a positive but insignificant relationship. JEL classification: F34, H6, O23.     

LABOUR SUPPLY ESTIMATION AND PUBLIC POLICY

Abstract. Economists devote considerable energies towards refining their econometric techniques to overcome difficulties connected with conducting empirical research. Despite advances in technique. it is not clear whether further refinement in this direction is worthwhile for policy purposes. It may be that no further amount of statistical adjustment of inadequate data will increase understanding, and that better data is simply necessary to add to our knowledge. But rarely is sufficient credit paid to new forms of data. In short, econometric technique is emphasized to the neglect of data innovation, as if new data were merely lying about waiting for an ingenious suggestion for use. This paper surveys advances of the last twenty five years in estimating labour supply for policy purposes with a view towards appreciating the relative contribution of both improvements in econometric technique as well as developments of new data.
After briefly detailing the key parameters which economists have sought to estimate, we describe the early 'first generation' research (circa 1970), which is plagued by problems of unobservable variables, measurement errors, truncation and selectivity bias, and non linear budget constraints. 'Second generation' research constitute attempts to resolve one or more of these difficulties, and the respective contribution of econometric technique and new data is acknowledged and assessed, including the contribution of data generated by large scale social experiments in which participants are randomly assigned to different guaranteed income plans and their labour supply behaviour measured.     

Stability and Segregation in Group Formation

This paper presents a model of group formation based on the assumption that individuals prefer to associate with people similar to them. It is shown that, in general, if the number of groups that can be formed is bounded, then a stable partition of the society into groups may not exist. (A partition is defined as stable if none of the individuals would prefer be in a different group than the one he is in.) However, if individuals' characteristics are one-dimensional, then a stable partition always exists. We give sufficient conditions for stable partitions to be segregating (in the sense that, for example, low-characteristic individuals are in one group and high-characteristic ones are in another) and Pareto efficient. In addition, we propose a dynamic model of individual myopic behavior describing the evolution of group formation to an eventual stable, segregating, and Pareto efficient partition. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C72, H41.     

论债转股

我国银行与企业之间的不良债务越来越多。如果这种情况继续下去,将导致企业破产,也会将银行拖垮,最终导致金融危机。债转股作为一种延缓矛盾和风险爆发时间应急性措施的债务重组手段,成功的关键在于是否能以此为契机,彻底转变企业经营管理机制和治理结构,使企业的产权明晰,将企业推向市场,在市场中生存和发展。     

欧债危机的根源及对策分析——基于最优货币区内生性理论

根据最优货币区内生性理论,加入最优货币区的决定取决于一体化、对称性和劳动力市场弹性三种内生性。美国次贷危机导致欧元区对称性下降,金融一体化、劳动力市场弹性不足和财政转移支付等补偿机制的缺失,使得欧元区未能形成最优货币区。欧元区必须通过要素市场改革和推进财政一体化等措施,才能走出困境。     

公共物品供给主体的多元化研究

我国公共物品供给正在从政府一元化供给模式向政府、私营部门和非营利部门共同参与的多元化供给模式转变,这是政府公共物品供给模式回应经济主体多元化的转变。政府、私人组织和非营利组织在公共物品供给过程中,既存在竞争关系,也存在合作关系。最优制度安排的标准就是在多中心体制中寻求静态的稳定性和动态的适应性,以综合的供给模式实现公共物品供给的最优架构,达到效率和公平的统一。     

三表联动法计算新建项目国内借款偿还期

国内借款偿还期作为项目评价的一项重要指标, 一向受到贷款者和投资者的重视。借款方式多样化, 造成了其计算过程的复杂, 初学者往往只看实例项目中的计算结果而不能对三表联动法计算国内借款偿还期引起足够的重视,本文以一实例简述了用三表联动法计算此项指标的主要过程和一些应引起注意的问题,并就该实例提出了电算化计算项目国内借款偿还期的主要思路,对项目评价初学者和致力于项目评价电算化的人士提供了一定帮助。     

“Ideas” driven growth: the OECD evidence

This paper estimates the parameters of the ideas production function crucial to recent ideas-driven growth models. Using U. S. patents granted to residents in OECD countries to generate the stock of commercially used ideas, we provide evidence for two main findings. First, at the level of the production of ideas, we find evidence of increasing returns to scale in the stock of ideas and number of researchers, but marginal decreasing returns in each one of these factors. Second, we provide evidence of the association between ideas growth and economic growth for the OECD as a whole in the long run.JEL Classification: 031, 040The author would like to thank the helpful comments made by two anonymous referees, and by the editor, of the PEJ. The helpful discussions with Professor Mário Rui Silva are grateful acknowledged, too.