The effect of board size on shareholder value: Evidence from bank mergers and acquisitions

This study examines the effect of board size on the economic impact of bank mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the US. Using a hand-collected dataset of 508 M&A between 2012 and 2018, we find that board size is negatively related to acquirer excess returns. In an additional analysis, we show that large boards have positive value implications for banks that combine the CEO and chairman roles as well as for large banks. Our findings indicate that a “one-size-fits-all” approach to board size is not necessarily in the interests of shareholders; instead, a more flexible and proactive formulation is needed.     

合作与破裂:山东地方官与大刀会关系研究

山东地方官对大刀会、拳会的宽容的政策与态度由来已久，早在甲午中日战争期间，官军就与大刀会形成默契，在共同缉捕盗匪方面取得显著成效，直至义和团在中外联合势力的绞杀下失败，在此期间，大刀会、拳会等名目的民间团体组织与官府的关系就处在一种半合作半破裂的游离状态，即这种宽容政策具有一定的延续性。就义和团运动而言，大刀会等民间会社势力仅仅是为义和团运动构筑的可能性力量而已，程度很高，却极不稳定，它们有待于官方的开掘、引导与锤炼及外力催逼，即官方对刀会、拳会的宽容态度与政策，以及西方列强、教会势力的威逼现实这两种因素，而前者更为重要。     

新乡贤重塑乡规民约:历史承继、时代价值及实现路径

当前乡村治理中乡规民约面临德治退化、自治弱化及法治虚化等现实困境。新乡贤作为乡村社会精英群体,在增强乡规民约的现代性、厚植乡规民约的乡土性及强化乡规民约的权威性等方面具有显著的时代价值,是重塑乡规民约的有益主体选择。实现新乡贤在重塑乡规民约中的时代价值,需要强化乡贤文化的敦风化俗功能、构建乡贤群体的风险防范机制及发挥乡贤组织的协商共治作用。     

近代早期城市的能源贸易与能源消费问题——以英格兰海煤为中心

中世纪至近代早期,海煤逐渐发展成为英格兰重要的贸易商品。贸易交换的增加,带动了英格兰的海煤消费。因此有学者认为,英格兰近代早期的城市污染与海煤的贸易和使用有密切关系。通过梳理英格兰海煤的贸易轨迹,得知近代早期英格兰海煤的贸易特点:以纽卡斯尔和布里斯托尔为典型的出口港口,以伦敦为典型的进口港口。近代早期英格兰的城市污染,尽管有消费海煤带来的影响,但二者之间并不存在明显的直接相关。海煤在英格兰近代化的历程中发挥重要的积极作用。     

Do greater amounts of FDI cause higher pollution levels? Evidence from OECD countries

Using an ARDL model for a panel of 15 OECD countries, this work analyses the impact that FDI, both jointly and by sector, has on CO₂ emissions. The findings reveal that these countries are yielding to the pressure on the trade sector. Unexpectedly, gross fixed capital formation shrink pollution, excluding in the mining sector. With findings supporting the Pollution Haven Hypothesis, policymakers must pay attention to FDI inflows, ensuring that FDI place high importance on the transfer of green technologies to improve the efficiency. These goals could be achieved through an increase in the stringency of environmental laws within the host countries, especially the ones related to FDI.     

Development of an Asset Value Map for Disaster Risk Assessment in China by Spatial Disaggregation Using Ancillary Remote Sensing Data

The extent of economic losses due to a natural hazard and disaster depends largely on the spatial distribution of asset values in relation to the hazard intensity distribution within the affected area. Given that statistical data on asset value are collected by administrative units in China, generating spatially explicit asset exposure maps remains a key challenge for rapid postdisaster economic loss assessment. The goal of this study is to introduce a top‐down (or downscaling) approach to disaggregate administrative‐unit level asset value to grid‐cell level. To do so, finding the highly correlated “surrogate” indicators is the key. A combination of three data sets—nighttime light grid, LandScan population grid, and road density grid, is used as ancillary asset density distribution information for spatializing the asset value. As a result, a high spatial resolution asset value map of China for 2015 is generated. The spatial data set contains aggregated economic value at risk at 30 arc‐second spatial resolution. Accuracy of the spatial disaggregation reflects redistribution errors introduced by the disaggregation process as well as errors from the original ancillary data sets. The overall accuracy of the results proves to be promising. The example of using the developed disaggregated asset value map in exposure assessment of watersheds demonstrates that the data set offers immense analytical flexibility for overlay analysis according to the hazard extent. This product will help current efforts to analyze spatial characteristics of exposure and to uncover the contributions of both physical and social drivers of natural hazard and disaster across space and time.     

唐代御史厅壁记写作的文学与文献学价值——以李华､柳宗元厅壁记写作为例

“厅壁记”是镌刻在古代衙门的墙壁上,记述历代职官沿革、制度得失、官员迁转等,具有警示教育意义的一种文体.唐代御史的厅壁记写作重视“法”的作用,有些甚至上升为国家意志,与粉饰太平的馆阁文学大不相同,是中国法制史上浓墨重彩的一笔.唐代御史的厅壁记写作有着独特的文学价值:(1)李华、柳宗元的诸多厅壁记均用散体文写就,简洁真切,议论精警,已开中唐古文运动的先声.(2)唐代御史在厅壁记创作中注入鲜明的主体意识,语言辛辣,发人深思.唐代御史厅壁记的文献学价值表现在:一是订补现存史志文献之阙,促进唐史研究的深入;二是有助于对唐代文学发生背景的了解.唐代御史厅壁记因观览人数较多,其公众宣传、社会传播、舆论导向之作用亦不可忽视.     

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment policy and Welfare to Work: The Community Development Programme and the need for new narratives,new alliances and new institutions

The way Australian federal governments have approached Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment and welfare policy over the last two decades has been a paradigmatic example of what not to do in policymaking. In the absence of effective engagement or consultation, a series of decisions under Coalition and Australian Labor Party governments have had a range of negative consequences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. These changes – centred around the closure of the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme and implementation of the Community Development Programme (CDP) – have resulted in increased unemployment, inadequate support for job creation, a dramatic over‐application of income penalties to social security recipients and reduced capacity in many community organisations. This article argues that these outcomes constitute policy failure, especially given that genuine engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people could have prevented many of these consequences. It then turns to an exploration of three ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are responding to such policy failure: through promotion of new narratives, new alliances, and new institutions. The study concludes that while we should avoid “specious hope”, there is room for optimism in a renewed push for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sovereignty.     

Israel's military public diplomacy evolution: Historical and conceptual dimensions

This study provides an historical overview of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit (ISU) from the early years of the State of Israel until 2009. Analyzing five periods during which the ISU played a key role in Israel's public diplomacy, this research sheds light on the challenges the ISU faced in different periods and circumstances and examines how the ISU tried to modify its methods and actions in response to geopolitical changes and media development, albeit not always successfully. The study suggests better understanding the adaptation process by applying a three-layer framework for analysis: the tactical layer, the strategic layer and the perceptional layer. The findings of this work demonstrate that in adapting to new circumstances, the ISU focused mainly on the tactical response level, with the result that it did not undertake any review or debate over the need for deeper perceptional changes in ISU policies.     

人化自然背景下自然的目的性新论

自然有没有目的性，如果有的话，是在什么意义上讲的，自然的目的性是否具有层次性，我们应该如何对待这些不同形态的自然及其目的性，等等。这个问题，不同的价值观和思维方式的回答是不同的。一般来说，机械论和传统唯物主义是否定自然的目的性的，西方传统中占主导地位的理性主义往往形成自然与社会、物质和精神、理性与非理性等等二元因素的对立。而儒家、马克思的实践哲学明确主张，或从现代现象学可以推断出，自然界不但存在着目的性、主体性，而且存在着它们的差异性，如马克思强调在实践活动的基础上自然与历史的一体化，而儒家的仁爱是有差等的爱，不是墨家所说的具有绝对主义倾向的“兼爱”。也就是说，自然界中的一切生命，按照从高到低的价值顺序，微生物、植物、普通动物、人，都是具有独立的意志和价值的生命体。在道德的理想性、超越性上，它们是平等的，都是爱和尊重的对象，而在现实性上，它们对人的价值是不同的，人们对待它们的态度也应该是不同的，即是有差等的。