IHDP Update 2.2008 Fundamental, policy-driven changes are transforming China's rangelands in response to a perceived threat of environmental degradation. Having transferred livestock property from state to private ownership over the past two decades, government policy is now encouraging pastoralists to privatise parts of the natural resource, in the form of fenced enclosures. In other areas, th...

Analysis of the equity premium puzzle has focused on private-sector capital markets. However, the existence of an anomalous equity premium raises important issues in the evaluation of public-sector investment projects. These issues are explored below. We begin by formalizing the argument that an equity premium may arise from uninsurable systematic risk in labour income, and show that, other thi...

We compare the impact of mandatory against voluntary ownership transfer on stock price informativeness using the unique research setting provided by the Split Share Structure Reform in China. Ownership transfers from state to private entity are expected to improve corporate governance, which in turn reduce managerial incentives to withhold value-relevant information to outside investor. However...

This paper examines whether and how ownership structure affects the trade credit policies in smalland medium-sized firms (SMEs) using a sample obtained from a survey of Chinese enterprises. Specifically, we examine how ownership concentration affects SMEs’ use of trade credit through influencing the availability of bank credit. We also examine whether the ownership of the ultimate controller in...

What role does the fourth retirement pillar of home ownership and private saving play in rich nations? Does this asset-based welfare spread the risks of retirement provision or does it distort consumption patterns and fail to improve the non-housing consumption of the elderly? Is it associated with more or less inequality of retirement consumption? This paper examines the role of home ownership...

We analyze the development of the Swedish ownership model after World War II. The controlling ownership in Swedish firms is typically concentrated to one or two owners. Often, but not always, the controlling owners are Swedish families. Thus, the model resembles the typical corporate control model of Continental Europe. A distinguishing feature of the Swedish model is that control is typically ...

Title: Domicology: Human Structural Abandonment Author: Hafsa Khan Abstract: Many Midwestern cities have suffered decline, resulting in widespread residential, commercial, and industrial property abandonment. In Muskegon County, 3,312 housing units are either unoccupied, not for sale, not for rent, or are not in seasonal or occasional use. The current system of private property ownership encour...

A model is developed in which an industry of N $ 1 firms is privatised. The ‘participation’ method of privatisation is used, whereby firms are sold for cash, but the state retains a proportionate share of ownership. In each firm the new private owner has the opportunity to make a reorganisational investment, before output is produced. This investment is unobservable by the state, and therefore ...

Research has found that political connectedness can have both positive and negative effects on firm value. To resolve these mixed findings, we investigate the impact of political ties conditional on ownership for a sample of Chinese firms over the period 1999 to 2006. We find that private firms with politically connected managers have a higher value and obtain more government subsidies than tho...