Corporate ownership,efficiency and performance under state capitalism: Evidence from China

This paper studied the relationship between business performance and the ownership structure of firms focusing on Chinese state owned enterprises (SOEs) using a firm level panel data set of China from 1999 to 2011. By classifying all firms into different types based on their ultimate controlling shareholders, we found that SOEs in general underperform in the marketplace than private enterprises. However, among the SOEs in our sample, the SOEs controlled by central government outperformed all types of firms because they offered the highest asset turnover ratio and lowest business administration ratio by receiving favourable government treatment. We conclude that firm ownership type and work efficiency are the main factors that influence the differences in firm performance. In particular, the performance of SOEs controlled by central government is greatly determined by the degree of government intervention, which is referred to as State Capitalism.     

从技术创新透视外部网络化对企业治理结构的影响

组织协调在企业的技术创新过程中具有越来越重要的意义 ,离开组织协调 ,各种资源将无法得到有效配置。外部网络化则是企业实现外部协调的新的组织方式。从技术创新的角度看 ,外部网络化在实现组织协调中具有相应的经济学意义 ,即网络化企业之间的交易具有与传统交易成本分析不同的特征 ,这种建立在长期合作基础上的交易更加注重长期效益而降低了短期机会主义行为的可能性。这种特征进一步影响到企业治理结构的安排———基于共同利益而建立的长期合作关系逐渐使企业外部人进入到企业内部 ,从而使企业治理结构在一定程度上带有了共同治理的色彩     

Trade liberalization and industry performance in Bangladesh

This paper analyzes trade liberalization's impact on Bangladesh's manufacturing sector performance. Using firm level input and output data and employing a nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA), we calculate technical, pure technical and allocative efficiencies for a sample of 82 firms collected over two periods of time: 1993 and 1998. Then, applying a Malmquist index method, we calculate indices of total factor productivity change and decompose them into technological change, technical efficiency change and scale efficiency change. Our results show that the majority of Bangladeshi manufacturing firms experienced a positive total factor productivity growth between 1993 and 1998, averaging 29% over a five-year period. Export-oriented firms have performed better than import-oriented firms in improving their technical efficiency relative to the best-practice firms in their own sub-group. When these results are compared with the official statistics on the output performance of manufacturing firms, we can conclude that trade liberalization in the 1990s did not adversely affect the Bangladeshi manufacturing industry.     

Do bettors prefer long shots because they are risk-lovers,or are they just overconfident?

This study examines whether bettors' risk preferences or overconfidence in choosing winners better explains their well documented preference for low-probability wagers. Although previous studies using racetrack data often suggest that risk-loving behavior explains long-shot preference, such data cannot distinguish between the alternative explanations. We use football betting data to make the comparison and find that overconfidence more closely fits the data. This result complements evidence of overconfidence from behavioral studies as well as stock-market models of overconfident noise traders.     

Stakeholders and voluntary climate reduction goals at large U.S. firms: An institutional analysis

What leads firms to develop voluntary greenhouse gas reduction goals? This paper discusses the results of interviews conducted with vice presidents and managers responsible for environmental sustainability initiatives at large U.S. firms. To situate the analysis, it develops a theoretical framework that sees the firm as a socially embedded creation, where stakeholder groups exert varying levels of influence and provide the context in which the firm responds to outside information in the face of uncertainty. By understanding the firm as socially embedded, the influence and power of groups that have strong preferences for or against environmental protection can be understood. The interviews provide empirical support for this model. Subjects discuss the role of stakeholder groups such as activists, shareholders, consumers, and workers in the development of the firm’s environmental policy. Groups can prompt the firm to set greenhouse gas or energy use reduction goals, and they encourage the firm to reexamine production processes to find new ways to both reduce costs and emissions. This suggests that policies to regulate industrial greenhouse gas emissions may be less costly than some projections indicate.     

Planning in firms as an interactive process

This paper discusses the possible uses of economic analysis for strategic planning decisions in firms. It proposes an approach which emphasizes the role of common knowledge for decentralized parallel decision processes. Planning is interpreted as an interactive process among a set of agents who use a plan to formalize a theory of action and an invalidating procedure. In the course of action the agents are supposed to cope with uncertainty as long as the chosen theory remains justified. This approach has strong connections with some recent trends in managerial economics and in particular with the current work in the production sphere which similarly illuminates the role of common knowledge through objective physical flows to promote global efficiency of the firm.     

Are people overoptimistic about the effects of heavy drinking?

We test whether heavy or binge drinkers are overly optimistic about probabilities of adverse consequences from these activities or are relatively accurate about these probabilities. Using data from a survey in eight cities, we evaluate the relationship between subjective beliefs and drinking. We assess accuracy of beliefs about several outcomes of heavy/binge drinking: reduced longevity, liver disease onset, link between alcohol consumption and Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), probability of an accident after drinking, accuracy of beliefs about encountering intoxicated drivers on the road, and legal consequences of DWI—ranging from being stopped to receiving fines and jail terms. Overall, there is no empirical support for the optimism bias hypothesis. We do find that persons consuming a lot of alcohol tend to be more overconfident about their driving abilities and ability to handle alcohol. However, such overconfidence does not translate into over-optimism about consequences of high levels of alcohol consumption.     

R&;D cooperation in emerging industries,asymmetric innovative capabilities and rationale for technology parks

Starting from the premise that firms are distinct in terms of their capacity to create innovations, this article explores the rationale for R&D cooperation and the choice between alliances that involve information sharing, cost sharing or both. Defining innovative capability as the probability of creating an innovation, it examines firm strategy in a duopoly market, where firms have to decide whether or not to cooperate to acquire a fixed cost R&D infrastructure that would endow each firm with a firm-specific innovative capability. Furthermore, since emerging industries are often characterized by high technological uncertainty and diverse firm focus that makes the exploitation of spillovers difficult, this article focuses on a zero spillover context. It demonstrates that asymmetry has an impact on alliance choice and social welfare, as a function of ex-post market competition and fixed costs of R&D. With significant asymmetry no alliance may be formed, while with similar firms the cost sharing alliance is dominant. Finally, it ascertains the settings under which the equilibrium outcome is distinct from that maximizing social welfare, thereby highlighting some conditions under which public investment in a technology park can be justified.     

Simultaneous Over- and Underconfidence: Evidence from Experimental Asset Markets

In this paper we investigate individual overconfidence within the context of an experimental asset market. Overall, 72 participants traded one risky asset on six markets of 12 participants each. Our results indicate that participants are not generally prone to overconfidence. A comparison of two different measures of overconfidence, (i) subjective confidence intervals and (ii) differences between objective accuracy and subjective certainty, lead to a different classification of behavior in our data-set. We observe well-calibration as well as over- and underconfidence.     

Fiscal stringency and fiscal sustainability: Panel evidence from the American state and local governments

Most state (and local) governments in the U.S. operate under formal fiscal rules which limit their ability to run budget deficits and resort to debt financing. A priori, one would expect to find evidence in favor of an intertemporally balanced budget, or fiscal sustainability, for these states, especially those characterized by a relatively high degree of fiscal stringency. We test this hypothesis for a panel of 47 state–local government units (1961–2006) using four budget balance definitions and several subsamples defined based on regional classifications, or presence of certain balanced budget requirements (BBRs). Our results, obtained from panel estimation techniques that allow for general forms of serial and cross-sectional dependence, suggest that a sufficient condition for “strong” sustainability is consistently satisfied for the full sample and all subsamples in relation to balances that include special funds and/or federal grants. However, we find evidence consistent with the “weak” version of sustainability for the full sample and some regional subsamples (particularly Far West dominated by California) in at least one of the two balances that exclude these items. Finally, the BBRs seem to matter only in relation to the sustainability of the more narrowly defined balances. We discuss the implications of these findings for the role of fiscal rules and federal grant policies.     

创新的局域性研究综述:基于经济地理学视角

创新具有本地化特征。早期的经济理论中,熊彼特强调企业家在创新中的关键性作用,传统的集聚理论从外部规模经济的角度解释了企业在有限的地理空间集聚的原因,但关于创新的局域性问题,相关研究尚少。新产业地理理论认为社会关系、根植性和交易成本的节约是企业集聚创新的原因。现代演化经济学在不确定性、路径依赖等概念下探讨了企业的区位选择问题。区域创新体系强调企业和其他机构的相互联系、交互行动对创新能力的影响。     

The influence of governance on public sector efficiency: A cross-country analysis

This paper examines whether governance quality affects public sector efficiency in the policy areas of administration, education, infrastructure, and stability. Using cross-country evidence, we find that a country's measures of governance quality are positively and significantly associated with public sector efficiency in the policy areas of administration, infrastructure, and stability. However, regression results suggest that a country's governance quality cannot affect efficiency in the policy area of education, even after controlling for some explanatory variables.     

Inequality in Social Insurance Participation and Generosity: Do Firm Characteristics Matter?

Income inequality in China has been much documented and debated. However, one important aspect of income inequality – social insurance inequality – has been largely understudied. We use a large national panel of firm data to examine the possible influence of various firm characteristics on the inequalities in social insurance participation and generosity in the period 2004–07. Our findings reveal substantial ownership sector and regional gaps in social insurance provision by firms, with the private domestic sector and those in the central region lagging behind. Unionized firms, larger firms, and firms with greater market shares also tend to provide better social insurance to their employees. While being an exporting firm is linked with greater social insurance participation and generosity, being a purely exporting firm, however, is associated with reduced social insurance generosity. Lastly, highly educated workers receive substantially better social insurance coverage than their less educated peers. These social insurance inequalities are highly relevant as China pushes forward with establishing a unified social insurance system across urban‐rural boundaries, ownership sectors and industries.     

Does trust matter for R&;D cooperation? A game theoretic examination

The game theoretical approach to R&D cooperation does not investigate the role of trust in the initiation and success of R&D cooperation: it either assumes that firms are non-opportunists or that the R&D cooperation is supported by an incentive mechanism that eliminates opportunism. In contrast, the present paper focuses on these issues by introducing incomplete information and two types of firms: opportunist and non-opportunist. Defining trust as the belief of each firm that its potential collaborator will respect the contract, it identifies the trust conditions under which firms initiate R&D alliances and contribute to their success. The higher the spillovers, the higher the level of trust required to initiate R&D cooperation for non-opportunists, while the inverse holds for opportunists.JEL Classification code: C720 Non-cooperative games; L130 Market structure, firm strategy and performance; D320 Management of technology, innovation and R&D.     

The effect of probabilistic demands on the structure of cost functions

Firms that provide capacity to meet randomly fluctuating demand typically will not be producing on the efficient frontier of their production possibilities sets. Consequently, the standard dual theory of cost and production is inapplicable. This article provides an alternative that leaves most of the theory intact provided that firms are viewed as producing the probability of providing service rather than an explicit produced output. As an application we show that for a telecommunications firm facing a network externality it is quite possible to find something that looks like negative marginal cost.The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author alone and do not necessarily represent the opinions of GTE or any of its subsidiaries. I'd like to thank Kip Viscusi, Dave Salant, Glenn Woroch, and Larry Cole for various comments. To Roger Tobin, my coauthor on other parts of this study, I give a particular thanks.     

The effect of frequent managerial turnover on organizational performance: A study of professional baseball managers

This analysis is designed to study the question of a manager's contribution to the organization, particularly in terms of uncertainty related to managerial succession. The theory of managerial succession, which is the replacement of one public manager with another, suggests a negative relationship between change and organizational performance. Organizations’ decision to change managers more often exacerbates the negative effect on performance. The hypotheses are tested using baseball managers as proxies for public managers, as they perform similar duties, have similar goals, and operate under similar constraints. The results suggest that managerial succession has a negative effect on organizational performance. Frequent succession events also have a negative effect on performance, although the relationship is non-linear in nature.     

Beliefs about overconfidence

This experiment elicits beliefs about other people’s overconfidence and abilities. We find that most people believe that others are unbiased, and only few think that others are overconfident. There is a remarkable heterogeneity between these groups. Those people who think others are underconfident or unbiased are overconfident themselves. Those who think others are overconfident are underconfident themselves. Despite this heterogeneity, people overestimate on average the abilities of others as they do their own ability. One driving force behind this result is the refusal to process information about oneself: not only does this lead to overestimation of one’s own ability, but by means of social projection also to overestimation of others’ abilities.     

What Determines the Extent to which Employers will Comply with their Social Security Obligations? Evidence from Chinese Firm‐level Data

This article aims to extend understanding of employer responses to social protection regulations enacted by government to ensure the well‐being and security of employees. By utilizing firm‐specific data collected from Shanghai we explore the relationship between firm characteristics, employer behaviour, and the effectiveness of compliance mechanisms that have been adopted to contain contribution evasion by employers. We offer empirical evidence about the impact of the size of the firm, ownership structure, and incidence of risk on employer evasion behaviour in social protection payments. These results should enable enforcement agencies to improve compliance levels and also contribute to building theory as regards the significance of social policies to employers and the impact of social protection on human resource policy.     

Firm internationalization and performance: Evidence for designing policies

The debate on the relationship between internationalization and performance is still open and is a hot topic for policymakers, but they ignore the impacts for most of the firms supported. The paper is based on a large database of seven years that considers quantitative-qualitative and control variables. To reduce industry and country heterogeneity we focused on the Italian automotive supply chain. We tested 5 modes of internationalization on firms’ profitability so to support the design of policies. Our results are partially in contrast with literature; therefore we identify specific environments where policies, namely for exporting, could be more effective.     

企业网络、市场导向与企业绩效

本文以福建省118家处于集群网络中的中小企业为样本,通过问卷调查的方式获取样本数据,采用企业网络规模、网络强度和网络互惠度三个网络特征来衡量企业外部网络,运用市场信息的产生、传播和反应来量化市场导向,把企业绩效分为财务绩效和创新绩效,利用结构方程模型的实证检验,探索企业网络、市场导向对企业绩效的影响。研究发现,企业网络与市场导向存在显著正相关关系,且企业网络与市场导向都能够积极地提升企业绩效。