Does Financial-Industrial Group Membership Affect Fixed Investment: Evidence from Russia

The current research estimates the accelerator type model of fixed investment using a Russian industrial enterprise dataset . This dataset contains individual firms’ accounting data for 1996 and 1997. The sample of firms was divided into three subsamples based on the ownership structure data. Registered Financial-Industrial Groups, unregistered Financial-Industrial Groups and non-group subsets were analyzed in order to compare sensitivities of investment to changes in internal liquidity in these three sets of firms. Controlling for size and investment opportunities it was found that in 1996-1997 the firms in unregistered groups invest a larger proportion of their retained earnings relative to the rest of the economy. We interpret this result as a proof of the hypothesis of better contract enforcement in unofficial groups compared to the rest of economy in the situation of lack of external financing of investment.accelerator model of fixed business investment, financial-industrial groups

Russian trade and foreign direct investment policy at the crossroads

This paper summarizes the estimates of what Russia will get from World Trade Organization accession and why. A key finding is the estimate that Russia will gain about $53 billion per year in the medium term from World Trade Organization accession and$177 billion per year in the long term, due largely to its own commitments to reform its own business services sectors. The paper summarizes the principal reform commitments that Russia has undertaken as part of its World Trade Organization accession negotiations, and compares them with those of other countries that have acceded to the World Trade Organization. It finds that the Russian commitments represent a liberal offer to the members of the World Trade Organization for admission, but they are typical of other transition countries that have acceded to the World Trade Organization. The authors discuss the outstanding issues in the Russian World Trade Organizaiton accession negotiations, and explain why Russian accession will result in the elimination of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment against Russia. They discuss Russian policies to attract foreign direct investment, including an assessment of the impact of the 2008 law on strategic sectors and the increased role of the state in the economy. Finally, the authors assess the importance of Russian accession to Russia and to the international trading community, and suggestions for most efficiently meeting the government’s diversification objective.Economic Theory&Research,World Trade Organization,Emerging Markets,Debt Markets,Free Trade

Russian business groups: substitutes for missing institutions?

Numerous evidence demonstrate that firms affiliated with business groups in emerging markets outperform their independent counterparts. One of the proposed explanations for such a phenomenon is the more advanced groups’ internal markets structure compared to the rest of the economy. In this paper we test the hypothesis that internal capital markets within Russian business groups overcome the liquidity constraints problem widely spread outside groups. Our findings indicate that even if the groups’ internal capital markets do exist in Russian business groups, their efficiency is rather doubtful and the access to external financing by firms affiliated with the groups is constrained.

The Corporate Governance Role of the Media: Evidence from Russia

We study the effect of media coverage on corporate governance outcomes by focusing on Russia in the period 1999-2002. Russia provides a setting with multiple examples of corporate governance abuses, where traditional corporate governance mechanisms are ineffective, and where we can identify an exogenous source of news coverage arising from the presence of an investment fund, the Hermitage fund, that tried to shame companies by exposing their abuses in the international media. We find that the probability that a corporate governance abuse is reversed is affected by the coverage of the news in the Anglo-American press. The result is not due to the endogeneity of news reporting since this result holds even when we instrument media coverage with the presence of the Hermitage fund among its shareholders and the “natural” newsworthiness of the company involved. We confirm this evidence with a case study.

The Corporate Governance Role of the Media: Evidence from Russia

We study the effect of media coverage on corporate governance by focusing on Russia in the period 1999-2002. This setting offers us three ideal conditions for such a study: plenty of corporate governance violations, no alternative mechanisms to address them, and the presence of an investment fund (the Hermitage) that actively lobbies the international press to shame companies perpetrating those violations. We find that Hermitage’s lobbying is effective in increasing the coverage of corporate governance violations in the Anglo-American press. We also find that coverage in the Anglo-American press increases the probability that a corporate governance violation is reversed. This effect is present even when we instrument coverage with an exogenous determinant, i.e. the Hermitage’s portfolio composition at the beginning of the period. The Hermitage’s strategy seems to work in part by impacting Russian companies’ reputation abroad and in part by forcing regulators into action.

Death beyond Death: Jian Spirits in Chinese Popular Belief

This article examines the origins and development of notions about jian spirits, beings into which, according to Chinese folk tradition, the souls of the dead transform after their demise. An analysis of the few available references to jian in Chinese literature and folklore suggests that the first mention of jian as ‘ghosts of ghosts’ appears relatively late, in the 13th century, as the result of a combination of two independent traditions: the written jian formula used in apotropaic practices from at least the Tang period (618–907), and a complex of ideas about the mortality of ghosts and their posthumous fate that took shape in the early Middle Ages, possibly under the influence of Buddhism. A detailed development of the ghosts of ghosts motif occurs as part of High Qing supernatural discourse in the works of writers Pu Songling and Yuan Mei. By the end of the 19th century notions that had been created by such literary representation were inherited by the popular belief system. The evolution of ideas about jian, which continues to the present, as far as one can judge from the supply on the market of magical paraphernalia and the material of modern supernatural web novels, provides a vivid example of how new concepts of Chinese folk religious tradition emerge and transform

Освітньо-професійний розвиток працівників на основі накопичення соціального капіталу

The ways to liven employees educational and professional development on the basis of the social capital accumulation have been developed in the article. Analyzing the value orientations concerning professional development of employees, which were formed in society over a period 2012-2014 years, the author concentrated her attention on destruction of the education ponderability, lowering motivation to professional development due to the social capital degradation. The author also has analysed the interrelation of educational level with a confidence level in society and influence of the accumulated social capital on the improvement of employees' professional development. В статті розроблено шляхи активізації освітньо-професійного розвитку працівників на основі накопичення соціального капіталу. Аналізуючи ціннісні орієнтації щодо освітнього і професійного розвитку працівників, що склалися у суспільстві протягом 2012-2014 років, автором зосереджено увагу на руйнуванні вагомості освіти, демотивації професійного розвитку на основі деградації соціального капіталу. Також автором проаналізовано взаємозв’язок рівня освіти з рівнем довіри в суспільстві і вплив накопиченого соціального капіталу на поліпшення професійного розвитку працівників

ON ONE ZALCMAN PROBLEM FOR THE MEAN VALUE OPERATOR

Let $\mathcal{D}'(\mathbb{R}^n)$ and $\mathcal{E}'(\mathbb{R}^n)$ be the spaces of distributions and compactly supported distributions on $\mathbb{R}^n$, $n\geq 2$ respectively, let $\mathcal{E}'_{\natural}(\mathbb{R}^n)$ be the space of all radial (invariant under rotations of the space $mathbb{R}^n$) distributions in $\mathcal{E}'(\mathbb{R}^n)$, let$\widetilde{T}$ be the spherical transform (Fourier–Bessel transform) of a distribution $T\in\mathcal{E}'_{\natural}(\mathbb{R}^n)$, and let $\mathcal{Z}_{+}(\widetilde{T})$ be the set of all zeros of an even entire function $\widetilde{T}$ lying in the half-plane $\mathrm{Re} \, z\geq 0$ and not belonging to the negative part of the imaginary axis. Let $\sigma_{r}$ be the surface delta function concentrated on the sphere $S_r=\{x\in\mathbb{R}^n: |x|=r\}$. The problem of L. Zalcman on reconstructing a distribution $f\in \mathcal{D}'(\mathbb{R}^n)$ from known convolutions $f\ast \sigma_{r_1}$ and $f\ast \sigma_{r_2}$ is studied. This problem is correctly posed only under the condition $r_1/r_2\notin M_n$, where $M_n$ is the set of all possible ratios of positive zeros of the Bessel function $J_{n/2-1}$. The paper shows that if $r_1/r_2\notin M_n$, then an arbitrary distribution $f\in \mathcal{D}'(\mathbb{R}^n)$ can be expanded into an unconditionally convergent series$$f=\sum\limits_{\lambda\in\mathcal{Z}_{+}(\widetilde{\Omega}_{r_1})}\,\,\, \sum\limits_{\mu\in\mathcal{Z}_+(\widetilde{\Omega}_{r_2})}\frac{4\lambda\mu}{(\lambda^2-\mu^2) \widetilde{\Omega}_{r_1}^{\,\,\,\displaystyle{'}}(\lambda)\widetilde{\Omega}_{r_2}^{\,\,\,\displaystyle{'}}(\mu)}\Big(P_{r_2} (\Delta) \big((f\ast\sigma_{r_2})\ast \Omega_{r_1}^{\lambda}\big)-P_{r_1} (\Delta) \big((f\ast\sigma_{r_1})\ast \Omega_{r_2}^{\mu}\big)\Big)$$in the space $\mathcal{D}'(\mathbb{R}^n)$, where $\Delta$ is the Laplace operator in $\mathbb{R}^n$, $P_r$ is an explicitly given polynomial of degree $[(n+5)/4]$, and $\Omega_{r}$ and $\Omega_{r}^{\lambda}$ are explicitly constructed radial distributions supported in the ball $|x|\leq r$. The proof uses the methods of harmonic analysis, as well as the theory of entire and special functions. By a similar technique, it is possible to obtain inversion formulas for other convolution operators with radial distributions