法律环境、金字塔结构与家族企业的“掏空”行为

我国家族上市公司的最终控制人多数采用金字塔结构实现对上市公司的超额控制,现金流量权和控制权的分离程度较为严重。以2002-2004年家族上市公司为研究样本,论文实证考察了家族上市公司所处地区的法律环境及金字塔结构与"掏空"行为之间的关系。研究结果表明,控制性家族"掏空"上市公司的概率与其拥有的现金流量权显著负相关,与现金流量权和控制权的分离程度正相关;同时,较高的法治水平能够有效地遏制控制性家族的"掏空"行为。因此,建立一个有效的股东权利保护机制,同时完善家族上市公司的现金流量权和控制权结构,对于推进公司治理具有重要意义。     

Cajoling or coercing: would electoral engineering resolve the young citizen–state disconnect?

The relationships between citizens and their states are undergoing significant stresses across advanced liberal democracies. In Britain, this disconnect is particularly evident amongst young citizens. This article considers whether different electoral engineering methods – designed either to cajole or compel youth to vote – might arrest the decline in their political engagement. Data collected in 2011 from a national survey of 1025 British 18-year-olds and from focus groups involving 86 young people reveal that many young people claim that they would be more likely to vote in future elections if such electoral reforms were implemented. However, it is questionable whether or not such increased electoral participation would mean that they would feel truly connected to the democratic process. In particular, forcing young people to vote through the introduction of compulsory voting may actually serve to reinforce deepening resentments, rather than engage them in a positive manner.     

Differences in registering and voting between native-born and naturalized Americans

Relatively little is known about the differences in voting behavior between immigrantsand native-born Americans, primarily due to a lack of good quality data on the national level. Using data from the Voting and Registration Supplement to the November 1996 Current Population Survey (CPS), we examine whether variables known to affect electoral participation among the citizen population are also important among naturalized citizens. We find that naturalized citizens are less likely to register and to vote than native-born citizens, net of other factors. Citizens born abroad in Europe, Latin America, and Asia are less likely to register and those born abroad in Europe and Asia are less likely to vote than those born in the U.S. Among naturalized citizens, region of origin does not remain a major explanatory variable once time in the U.S. is considered.     

公司累计投票制的性质、价值及其实现——基于对《公司法》第106条的分析

累积投票制作为一种投票机制,其在立法上的确立有助于提高中小股东选出代表其利益的董事或监事的可能性,从而有效制衡控股股东的滥权行为.但这仅仅是一种可能性的提高,并不意味着必然选出代表中小股东利益之董事和监事.而要实现该制度的价值和可能性的提高,有待于完善股东参与机制,引导股权适度分散,吸引股东积极参与选举管理者的投票,从而提高中小股东选出代表自己利益的管理者的可能性,实现中小股东对控股股东在公司治理层面的制衡.     

The generalized Poisson-binomial distribution and the computation of its distribution function

The Poisson-binomial distribution is useful in many applied problems in engineering, actuarial science and data mining. The Poisson-binomial distribution models the distribution of the sum of independent but non-identically distributed random indicators whose success probabilities vary. In this paper, we extend the Poisson-binomial distribution to a generalized Poisson-binomial (GPB) distribution. The GPB distribution corresponds to the case where the random indicators are replaced by two-point random variables, which can take two arbitrary values instead of 0 and 1 as in the case of random indicators. The GPB distribution has found applications in many areas such as voting theory, actuarial science, warranty prediction and probability theory. As the GPB distribution has not been studied in detail so far, we introduce this distribution first and then derive its theoretical properties. We develop an efficient algorithm for the computation of its distribution function, using the fast Fourier transform. We test the accuracy of the developed algorithm by comparing it with enumeration-based exact method and the results from the binomial distribution. We also study the computational time of the algorithm under various parameter settings. Finally, we discuss the factors affecting the computational efficiency of the proposed algorithm and illustrate the use of the software package.     

独立董事效益之研究

通过建构理论模型,诠释了独立董事具监督动机时,聘用不同比例的独立董事对于董事会投票行为的影响;依据模型推导结果,设计了董事会投票行为的实验。理论与实验结果皆证明,聘任独立董事比例愈高,董事会效率愈佳,公司价值愈高。另外,政府法令的完备与独立董事人力市场的健全发展,将促使独立董事具监督动机,使其利益与股东一致。     

Mobilisation through early activation and school engagement – the story from Scotland

This paper explores the experience of 16–17 year olds participating in the Scottish independence referendum and discusses whether it can be seen as positive or negative considering civic attitudes and participation. Using data from two comprehensive and representative surveys of 14–17 year olds, it engages empirically with claims about young people's alleged political (dis-)interest and provides qualifications for commonly believed stories of young people as mere recipients of information given to them by parents and teachers.

The paper develops a positive view of young people's engagement in the referendum process and suggests that inputs from parents and schools actually have distinguishable effects on young people, who do not simply ‘follow the lead’ of others uncritically. The analyses suggest that the discussion of political issues in the classroom (rather than the simple delivery of civics-style classes per se) may act as a positive factor in the political socialisation of young people, but suggests that further research is required to examine these effects beyond the specific context of the Scottish independence referendum in particular in relation to questions about whether reducing the voting age to 16 could be expected to generally lead to positive outcomes.     

是尴尬的合作者，还是娴熟的行动者——浅析欧盟理事会决议规则进化中英国的应对策略

英国往往被称为是欧盟中“尴尬的伙伴”,而在欧盟一体化进程中表现消极。英国主要的担忧是过多地参与欧盟一体化会损害其主权。欧盟理事会决议规则进化过程充分显示了成员国向超国家的欧盟机构让渡主权。纵观英国在这一过程中的表现,可以看出其早已意识到了主权削弱的必然趋势,并且在为谋取欧盟进一步深化中更有利位置的实践中显示了自己娴熟的外交斡旋技巧。     

我国上市公司治理中控股股东侵权行为及法律规范研究

全球经济一体化背景下,公司治理结构问题成为各国普遍关注的重大课题。在经济转轨时期,我国上市公司治理问题有其特殊性,基本的公司治理缺陷表现为控股股东的“一股独大”问题,形式上为控股股东对其他股东和公司的侵权行为(即权利滥用)。从制度根源分析,股权结构的不合理导致控股股东的人格缺失和行为异化。从法律规范角度看,首先要强化控股股东的诚信义务,尤其是注意义务。其次,对控股股东的投票表决权进行适当的约束,防止控股股东的权利滥用行为,可采用的投票表决机制有:完善股东投票代理制度,建立累积投票制度、类别股东表决制度和表决权排除(回避)制度等。最后,建立民事责任赔偿机制和加强对控股股东的监管也是十分必要的。     

Paradoxes in nonparametric tests

This paper is a continuation of one (1992) in which the author studied the paradoxes that can arise when a nonparametric statistical test is used to give an ordering of k samples and the subsets of those samples. This article characterizes the projection paradoxes that can occur when using contingency tables, complete block designs, and tests of dichotomous behaviour of several samples. This is done by examining the “dictionaries” of possible orderings of each of these procedures. Specifically, it is shown that contingency tables and complete block designs, like the Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test on k samples, minimize the number and kinds of projection paradoxes that can occur; however, using a test of dichotomous behaviour of several samples does not. An analysis is given of two procedures used to determine the ordering of a pair of samples from a set of k samples. It is shown that these two procedures may not have anything in common.