Financial literacy and its influence on internet banking behavior

This paper presents the survey results for financial literacy among Cypriot adults and reports their financial aptitude and behaviour. Additionally, it investigates for the first time the implications of financial literacy on respondents’ usage of digital financial services, particularly internet banking (i-banking). The focus is on Cyprus, a country that experienced an unprecedented financial crisis in 2013 that resulted in a bail-in and an enormous subsequent shrinkage of the banking sector. Cypriot consumers face an ever-increasing need for financial sophistication to effectively utilise and manage digital banking services. Neverthless, financial literacy is still low in Cyprus, whereby only 37.33% of survey respondents showed proficiency in financial knowledge. The findings indicate that there is a statistically positive relationship between the levels of financial knowledge and the frequency of i-banking use. More importantly, financially illiterate consumers appear to report far more often than their financially literate peers the lack of trust in i-banking, as well as a lack of self-confidence in financial and digital skills as the main reasons for not using this service. The findings highlight the interplay between financial literacy and digital proficiency, and their implication on individuals’ use of i-banking services.     

中小企业财务结构与债务融资——基于浙江的实证研究

本文以浙江省中小企业为研究对象,主要讨论三方面内容:(1)全面分析中小企业财务结构与融资特征,并与大企业作比较,得出部分中小企业在偿债能力、营运能力和盈利能力等方面均不逊色于大企业;(2)从微观角度,对中小企业主要债务融资作实证分析,识别影响中小企业债务融资的显著因素。同时根据回归结果证实中小企业主要债务融资的成本比较优势依次为:银行贷款、商业信用和非正规融资;(3)利用Kruskal-Wallis非参数检验方法判定行业因素对中小企业债务融资具有显著差异,而宏观经济周期变化对其影响却不显著。本文结论的另一重要性在于,填补主流文献仅从金融机构或政府金融体制建设等方面寻求破解中小企业融资难的答案,从企业自身经营和财务管理角度解释中小企业融资难的原因。     

论投资组合与金融优化 ———对理论研究和实践的分析与反思

经过50多年的发展,投资组合选择的理论研究和实践已经取得了相当丰富的成果.随着全球经济一体化进程的加快和我国金融市场的发展与完善,我国金融机构对投资组合理论的应用实践提出了具体要求.按照投资组合选择理论的发展脉络,简述并分析了现代投资组合选择的各种主要理论、模型与方法以及它们之间的内在关系,并对一些最新进展作了重点介绍.在此基础上,对投资组合选择(或广义意义下的金融优化)的理论研究和在我国的应用实践问题,提出了若干值得关注的发展方向与建议.     

论投资组合与金融优化 ———对理论研究和实践的分析与反思

经过50 多年的发展,投资组合选择的理论研究和实践已经取得了相当丰富的成果. 随 着全球经济一体化进程的加快和我国金融市场的发展与完善,我国金融机构对投资组合理论 的应用实践提出了具体要求. 按照投资组合选择理论的发展脉络,简述并分析了现代投资组合 选择的各种主要理论、模型与方法以及它们之间的内在关系,并对一些最新进展作了重点介 绍. 在此基础上,对投资组合选择(或广义意义下的金融优化) 的理论研究和在我国的应用实践 问题,提出了若干值得关注的发展方向与建议.     

An agency approach to debt maturity of unlisted and listed firms in the European setting

This study analyses the debt maturity of two groups of companies – unlisted and listed – throughout the period 2005–2013. The research takes an agency costs approach to explore the determinants of firms' debt maturity structure for a set of five countries, chosen for being representative of the European Union (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom). Agency costs, as well as institutional and macroeconomic factors, turn out to be decisive in explaining firms’ financial policies regarding debt maturity, during the economic crisis that started in 2007–2008. Our findings indicate that contracting costs had a greater impact on unlisted firms during the post-crisis subperiod than on their listed counterparts. Additionally, the economic effect of this has been estimated, corroborating the overall findings of the study.     

分类管控下的债务风险与风险传染网络研究

防范化解重大风险,守住不发生系统性金融风险的底线是我国经济工作的重心之一。本文针对部门债务,从债务口径、债务结构和偿付风险3个层次深入研究了实体经济债务风险的关键问题,提出了分类管控我国债务风险的理论模型。从部门间债务的比较分析中,本文发现非金融企业债务在实体经济债务中具有极高的系统重要性,针对这一特点,我们构建了双层交易对手方风险传染网络模型。以江苏省和山东省产业债发行人担保网为样本,基于该模型研究了区域非金融企业间债务风险传染结构,并根据综合节点度与对外风险敞口两类指标识别出若干核心风险传染节点。研究发现我国非金融企业部门内的债务间存在较强关联性,是潜在的区域系统性风险源。本文认为,我国当前的宏观债务问题存在国情特殊性,应尽快建立符合中国国情的债务风险和压力分析评估体系,为防范金融风险提供分类施策工具。     

Leadership and individual differences: At the cusp of a renaissance

In this introductory editorial, we provide a brief overview of the history of individual difference research in leadership. We explain the major challenges that trait research faced, and why it was revived primarily because of methodological advancements. Next, we argue that leadership individual difference research is at a cusp of a renaissance. We explain why we are at this cusp and what researchers should do reify the renaissance in terms of theoretical extensions of trait models, the application of robust methodological advancements, and the development of process models linking distal (i.e., traits) predictors to proximal predictors (e.g., behaviors, skills, attitudes), and the latter to leader outcomes. We then summarize the papers we accepted for the special issue, and conclude with an optimistic note for leadership individual difference research.     

The high cost of low wages: Economic scarcity effects in organizations

Due to current economic circumstances (e.g., stagnating wages, increasing material aspirations, mounting student debt), an increasing number of employees are prone to experiencing economic scarcity, defined here as the perception that one has fewer financial resources than one's needs require. In this paper, we focus primarily on an under-studied population in the organizational sciences: The working poor—employees who hold jobs but do not earn enough to sustain a reasonable standard of living for themselves and their dependents. Taking into account recent research suggesting that scarcity can have profound psychological consequences, we argue that organizations have a vested interest in reducing feelings of financial deprivation among its employees because the psychology of scarcity has the potential to spill over into organizational functioning. Furthermore, we assert that most organizations’ approaches to managing low-wage work are not only ineffective at reducing the spillover effects of scarcity on organizational outcomes, but also increase their endurance because they do not account for the behavioral consequences of financial deprivation. As such, we present more sustainable initiatives through which organizations can reduce scarcity among its employees. Finally, we discuss ways in which organizational researchers can become more involved in relevant public policy debates.     

政府补贴、成长性和亏损公司定价

本文以Ohlson模型考察2002-2007年A股亏损公司定价问题。针对亏损公司盈余与权益价值负相关这一异常现象,我们通过将政府补贴、成长性、研发支出和负债融资信息引入定价模型,发现政府补贴、成长性和负债因素能够有效改善模型,消除了盈余与权益价值显著负相关的异常现象,改善了定价模型的效果。通过从规模和净利润两个维度对亏损公司的进一步分类,我们发现从净利润维度来看,政府向那些更容易通过非经常项目扭亏的公司提供了更多财政补贴,并且政府补贴与净利润为正公司的权益价值显著负相关,与净利润为负公司的权益价值不存在显著相关关系;从规模维度来看,上述现象在小公司样本更加明显。     

Managerial Use of Debt to Fund Municipal Government Risks*

In recent years, managers of municipalities have been forced to reevaluate the cost-effectiveness of their risk management strategy. In many cases, individual or groups of municipalities (pools) finance a self-insurance plan through the issuance of debt. However, no decision-making methodology for cost-effectively structuring the debt issue presently exists. Utilizing a math programming model, we examine a self-insurance alternative to conventional insurance that uses tax-exempt debt supplemented by taxable borrowing to finance a municipality's or pool's liability exposure. We implement our optimization model with actuarial and financial data from an intergovernmental risk pool (IRP) in the state of California, and simulate the effect of the trade-offs important to sound managerial decision making. We find that significant savings are realized by using a self-insurance plan rather than purchasing conventional insurance. We also find that managerial goals and risk preferences impact the decision when revenue flows are insufficient by themselves to reasonably fund expected losses.     

SOVEREIGNS VERSUS BANKS: CREDIT,CRISES, AND CONSEQUENCES

Two separate narratives have emerged in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. One interpretation speaks of private financial excess and the key role of the banking system in leveraging and deleveraging the economy. The other emphasizes the public sector balance sheet and worries about the risks of lax fiscal policy. However, the two may interact in important and understudied ways. This paper examines the co‐evolution of public and private sector debt in advanced countries from 1870 to 2012. We find that in advanced economies financial crises are not preceded by public debt build‐ups nor are they more likely when public debt is high. However, history shows that high levels of public debt tend to exacerbate the effects of private sector deleveraging after financial crises. The economic costs of financial crises rise substantially if large private sector credit booms are unwound at times when the public sector has little capacity to pursue macroeconomic and financial stabilization.     

Changes in physician and non-physician relationships

At the end of World War II, one-third of the nation's hospital administrators were physicians. During the 1950's through the mid-1980's a new breed of masters'level administrator, with well-honed coordinating skills, orchestrated a major expansion of new programs, services, and facilities. With the advent of the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS), more governing boards restructured their administrative staffs with corporate titles. Meanwhile, physicians sensed that trustees were becoming far more concerned with bottom line performance to repay a mounting debt that hospitals had incurred to remain technologically competitive. Since mergers and integrated health systems by themselves will be unable to generate significant operating efficiencies, governing boards will be forced to change direction and shift back to recruiting physicians as their CEOs or in other senior positions to assure themselves of the clinical leadership required to implement the managed care concepts of reducing utilization and cost, and simultaneously enhancing quality of patient care.     

The impact of venture capital on investee companies: evidence from Spain

This paper examines the impact of venture capital investors on the financial structure of investee companies and the factors relevant to their capital structure, differentiated according to the investor’s public or private nature. This paper contributes to our understanding of the beneficial effects of such investors in response to the funding needs of SMEs and the decisions taken in this respect. The empirical analysis shows that, on average, these investee companies have a lower level of short-term debt than the average Spanish company. It is suggested that the debt structure is related to the growth opportunities presented, the business sector, the geographic location and the duration of the venture capital participation. These results, which are more significant in the case of companies receiving funds from public investors, highlight the effectiveness of the economic function of venture capital.     

基于控制权私有收益视角的可转债融资的治理效应研究

通过在职消费、过度投资、自由现金流和现金股利支付4个变量间接测度管理者攫取的控制权私有收益,并运用中国A股市场数据实证检验权益、债务和可转债3种不同融资方式下(横向比较)以及可转债发行前后(纵向比较)企业控制权私有收益的差异。研究结果表明,可转债发行将导致在职消费和自由现金流的降低以及现金股利支付的增加;但在抑制管理者过度投资中可转债并未发挥积极作用。研究结果为优化我国企业融资结构,完善内部公司治理提供了理论支持;同时,也将为促进我国资本市场金融创新提供新的证据。     

基于或有可转债的债务悬空应对方法及其定价研究

债务悬空(Debt Overhang)会导致公司陷入财务困境,阻滞其开展正常的投融资活动。现有研究表明,发行或有可转债(Contingent Convertible Bonds,简称CoCos)有望成为一种应对债务悬空的有效方法。本文以债务悬空应对方法及其定价为研究主题,通过改进CoCos债转股的触发阈值,即以债务悬空发生时公司资产账面价值作为触发阈值,以解决现有CoCos产品在债务悬空应对的适配性方面的不足。具体地,结合债务悬空发生时公司资本结构的特征,考虑转股后的破产清算,基于结构化信用衍生品定价方法进行建模,进而得到CoCos债转股及破产清算时公司资产账面价值的触发阈值,并给出了公司资产、普通债、CoCos、股权价值的解析解,据此进一步计算CoCos和普通债的信用价差及公司的财务杠杆。最后,通过数值模拟,探析了波动率、发行期限以及息票支付的税盾效应对CoCos和普通债信用价差的影响,及CoCos和普通债的发行期限和数量对财务杠杆的影响;得到了通过适当提高CoCos合约的债转股比例,可以有效降低债务悬空发生可能性的结论。     

FINANCIAL DEPENDENCE,BANKING SECTOR COMPETITION,AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

The relationships among competition in the financial sector, access of firms to external financing, and associated economic growth are ambiguous in theory. Moreover, measuring competition in the financial sector can be complex. In this paper we first estimate for 16 countries an industrial organization‐based measure of banking system competition. We then relate this competition measure to growth of industries and find that greater competition in countries' banking systems allows financially dependent industries to grow faster. These results are robust under a variety of tests. Our results suggest that the degree of competition is an important aspect of financial sector functioning. (JEL: D4, G21, L11, L80, O16)     

Ecological Risks and Community Perceptions of Fairness and Justice: A Cross-Cultural Model

Intergenerational justice is implicit in international commitments to sustainability. If ecological, economic, and social components of sustainability are to be achieved, there is a necessity for intergenerational justice considerations to be included in decision making. The present generation's risk judgments should include consideration of the possible outcomes for their children. But intergenerational issues cannot be considered in isolation from other current risk and fairness concerns. This article reports on a community-based integrative model that describes justice and other attitudes and motivations that determine community and individual proenvironmental behavior in two nations: Germany and Australia. This model can account for a considerable amount of the variance in political compliance as well as various proenvironmental behaviors. Group or individual self-interests have nearly no effects on global protective behavior. It is shown that universal as well as contextual principles, including distributive (within or between generations), procedural, and interactive justice, play a crucial role in fairness judgments. Other principles are also taken into account, such as efficiency, environmental rights, and rights to economic welfare. The results are discussed in relation to the importance of complex community fairness judgments in predicting and evaluating acceptance of political decisions, and for promoting proenvironmental behavior.     

The research frontier in corporate governance

In this paper we attempt to identify the research frontier in corporate governance using three different approaches: (1) what challenges does the financial crisis 2007–2009 pose for corporate governance research? We show that the financial crisis is a huge natural experiment which has exposed gaps in our knowledge of corporate governance and is likely to lead of a rethink of central concepts like shareholder value, debt governance, and management incentives (2) what do we know and what do we need to how about the impact of national institutions on corporate governance? (3) What research questions are raised by a focus on current corporate governance practices?