1、 Relations between the professional backgrounds of independent directors in state-owned enterprises and corporate performance
Author: Wang, Yong; Jin, Pengjian; Yang, Chongsheng
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF ECONOMICS & FINANCE volume: 42 page: 404-411 Year: MAR 2016
Abstract
The article analyzes how the professional backgrounds of independent directors (hereinafter IDs) in state-owned enterprises (hereinafter SOEs) influence corporate performance by collecting and analyzing publicly available data on listed companies. After differentiating between the "nominal professional backgrounds" and "real professional backgrounds" of IDs, we find that more than 85% of IDs have backgrounds in "the party-state system". Based on IDs' "real professional backgrounds", IDs' proportion of board seats is negatively correlated with corporate performance, indicating that IDs from "the party-state system" background did not play a positive and effective role in helping companies improve their corporate performance. Additional deep, broad analysis shows that the diversification of IDs' backgrounds in SOEs is positively correlated with corporate performance. Additionally, an SOE that has dissenting IDs or IDs with "different voices" achieves better corporate performance. Therefore, reducing the number of IDs from "the party-state system" and focusing more on IDs' professionalism and background diversity should be considered. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc.
2、Land supply and money growth in China
Author: Liu, Taoxiong; Huang, Mengdan
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF ECONOMICS & FINANCE volume: 42 page: 327-338 Year: MAR 2016
Abstract
China has experienced several episodes of inflation in recent years. Popular arguments attribute these episodes to relatively high growth rates of money, which were then primarily explained by China's accumulation of foreign exchange reserves and the undervaluation of RMB. We attempt to explain China's high monetary growth rates through the supply of land. Under China's land system, the supply of land is controlled by the government and can be viewed as exogenous to the monetary system. An increase in the money supply stimulates bank loans and thereby monetary growth. Both an error correction model and a simultaneous equations model are developed to explore the effect of the land supply on monetary growth. The empirical results show that the effect of the land supply on the money supply is significantly positive and even exceeds that of foreign exchange reserves. The significance for monetary policy is that, under China's existing political economy, both the central bank and local governments should be responsible for monetary policy and price levels. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
3、Defense Strategy Transition and Economic Growth Under External Predation
Author: Liu, Taoxiong; Zhou, Bihua
DEFENCE AND PEACE ECONOMICS volume: 26 : issue 3 page: 289-309 Year: MAY 4 2015
Abstract
This paper develops a growth model for a country under a Hobbesian environment with international conflicts where national defense is the only way to prevent external predation. Different defense strategies result in different growth paths. The long-run growth path is determined by the equilibrium of a dynamic game with three players: the external predator, the government, and the family. The equilibrium growth path can have different phases: submissive equilibrium, tolerant equilibrium, and complete protection equilibrium. Sustainable growth will endogenously induce an adjustment of the defense strategies. As the economy keeps growing, complete protection will eventually be preferred. The optimal growth path prefers to compress the length of the transitional period between incomplete protection and complete protection. Some interesting features of the transitional dynamics are exhibited by a control model with discontinuity
