Shareholder value and corporate governance: some tricky questions

Shareholder value is not a new idea. But it entails a shift in control over businesses with far-reaching macro-economic consequences. They are mostly apparent in the USA. The required financial return spurs a momentous equity price appreciation which discourages private saving. Meanwhile, the achievement of a financial profitability consistently above the economic rate of return on real capital induces a rising leverage cum share buybacks. The financial dynamic is highly procyclical and generates a financial fragility which questions the hypothetical advantage of private pension funds over pay-as-you-go retirement systems.     

党的精神财富刍议--井冈山、长征、延安、西柏坡精神的特点及意义

井冈山精神、长征精神、延安精神、西柏坡精神是马列主义的普遍真理与中国共产党不同革命时期的具体实践相结合的产物,是中华民族优良传统的高度凝聚和升华,艰苦奋斗是她们的创造源泉和精神内涵,崇高的共产主义理想和革命必胜的坚定信念是她们形成的力量源泉.她们不仅是中国新民主主义革命取得胜利的力量源泉,也是中国新世纪改革开放和现代化建设的力量源泉.     

Housing prices and wealth inequality in Western Europe

Abstract

Comparative political economy (CPE) has robustly examined the political and institutional determinants of income inequality. However, the study of wealth, which is more unequally distributed than income, has been largely understudied within CPE. Using new data from the World Income Database (WID), this article examines how economic, political and institutional dynamics shape wealth-to-income ratios within Western European and OECD countries. It is found that the political and institutional determinants that affect income inequality have no short- or long-run effects on the wealth-to-income ratio. Rather, the rise in wealth-to-income ratios is driven by rising housing prices, as well as price changes in other financial assets, not home ownership or national saving rates. The article concludes by examining how the changing dynamics of housing prices and wealth inequality will increasingly shape intergenerational – and associated class-based – political conflict in Western Europe.     

Can we explain the Santa Clara county housing market?

Abstract

Santa Clara County has recently had the highest house prices of any large housing market in the nation. Part of the explanation lies in the extraordinarily low user cost of housing caused by the interaction of high incomes and the tax deductions available to homeowners. But this article also evaluates whether changes in stock wealth have been responsible for the recent increase in housing prices in Santa Clara County.

Although three different stock market measures add explanatory power to a model of housing prices in the region, none of these indexes predicts the housing price increases seen in 1999 and 2000. In fact, the within‐sample models have .R‐squares of only 0.22, and even the best model (based on the Standard & Poor's 500) does not forecast well out of sample. Still, the market is unusual in that stock prices seem to have some impact on house prices.     

Maternal Mental Health during Children's First Year of Life: Association with Receipt of Section 8 Rental Assistance

Prior studies evaluating housing programs have found varied results for the impact of improved housing on maternal mental health. This study evaluated data from 169 families who participated in Hawaii's Healthy Start Program. The study's objective was to determine whether receipt of Section 8 rental assistance in the first year of a child's life decreased the risk of poor maternal mental health. Multivariable logistic regression was used to measure the association of Section 8 housing receipt with poor mental health. Overall, 50% of mothers had poor mental health at baseline, and 32% reported receipt of Section 8 housing at follow-up. Mothers who received Section 8 housing were significantly less likely to have poor maternal mental health at follow-up (adjusted odds ratio = .40; 95% confidence interval, .16–.97; p < .05). Receipt of Section 8 rental assistance in the first year of a child's life may reduce the risk of poor mental health for mothers in housing need.     

主权财富基金困境因素分析

近几年来,随着新兴经济体主权基金的迅猛发展,西方国家试图通过行政和立法等手段对其进行干预,使主权基金的投资活动遭遇金融保护主义壁垒,形成主权财富基金在投资活动中面临的某些困境,导致主权基金的一些投资活动不能顺利进行甚至无法进行。本文对造成主权财富基金投资困境的因素进行了分析,认为主权基金的一些描述性特征(来源国家、资金规模、基金类型)以及投资对象国的政治环境、公众的认知与民意、投资行为或行为体的透明度、主权基金的投资方向/投资产业是影响主权财富基金投资阻力大小的主要因素,并对他们之间的影响和作用方式进行了分析。     

论和谐社会与财富伦理的建构

在当今财富涌动的社会暴露出的仇富现象,以及富人对待财富心理困境等问题,影响和谐社会的建设。结合我们党当前的历史任务,应当提倡建构健康的财富伦理,明确财富的价值,让富人担负起回馈社会的责任,更好地实现马克思的“人的全面自由发展”的社会,为社会主义市场经济的发展扫除障碍,为社会可持续发展提供源源不断的动力。