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It was inevitable that China's economy would eventually slow down: No country in modern times has grown so fast for so long. The Middle Kingdom expanded its GDP from 7.6 [...]

Drawing on the international relations literature, the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and when diplomatic relations between countries have an influence on firm internationalization speed. We discover that the friendlier bilateral diplomatic relations between home and host countries, the more beneficial it is to enhance firm internationalization speed. In addition, the higher trade openness of the host country, the smaller contribution of bilateral diplomatic relations for firm internationalization speed in the host country and friendly bilateral diplomatic relations have a stronger positive impact on internationalization speed when the internationalizing home enterprise is a state-owned enterprise (SOE). Our findings not only contribute to both the firm internationalization speed literature and the international relations literature, but also have managerial significance for how enterprises can use the friendly diplomatic relations between countries to improve firm internationalization speed. Keywords Diplomatic relations * Trade openness * Nature of firm ownership * Internationalization speed * International relations JEL Classification F23 * F55, 1 Introduction Internationalization speed, defined as the average internationalization state achieved by a firm over a specific period (Casillas & Acedo, 2013; Chetty et al., 2014), has become a core [...]

Objective: To evaluate a health system-wide intervention distributing free homedisposal bags to surgery patients prescribed opioids. Data Sources and Study Setting: We collected patient surveys and electronic medical record data at an academic health system. Study Design: We conducted a prospective observational study. The bags were primarily distributed at pharmacies, though pharmacists delivered bags to some patients. The primary outcome was disposal of leftover opioids (effectiveness). Secondary outcomes were patient willingness to dispose and factors associated with disposal (effectiveness), recalling receipt of the bag (reach), and recalling receipt of bags and disposal over time (maintenance). We used a modified Poisson regression to evaluate the relative risk of disposal. Inverse probability of treatment weighting, based on propensity scores, was used to account for differences between survey responders and non-responders and reduce nonresponse bias. Data Collection/Extraction Methods: From August 2020 to May 2021, we surveyed patients 2 weeks after discharge (allowing for home opioid use). Eligibility criteria were age [greater than or equal to]18, English being primary language, valid email address, hospitalization Principal Findings: We identified 5134 patients with 2174 completing the survey (response rate 42.3%). Among respondents, 1375 (63.8%) recalled receiving the disposal bag. Among 1075 respondents with leftover opioids, 284 (26.4%) disposed, 552 (51.3%) planned to dispose, 79 (7.4%) did not plan to dispose, 69 (6.4%) had undecided, and 91 (8.5%) had not considered disposal. Recalling receipt of the bag (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 1.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13-1.37) was positively associated with disposal. Patients who used opioids in the last year were less likely to dispose (IRR 0.82, 95% CI 0.73-0.93). Disposal rates remained stable over the study period while recalling receipt of bags trended up. Conclusions: A pragmatic implementation of a disposal intervention resulted in lower disposal rates than prior trials. KEYWORDS health system intervention, implementation, opioids, prevention of opioid-related harms, surgery, 1 | INTRODUCTION More than 64 million operations are performed each year in the United States, and 56%-70% of these patients will be prescribed opioids. (1-4) Although opioid prescribing after [...]

Objective: To assess the validity of race/ethnicity coding in Medicare data and whether misclassification errors lead to biased outcome reporting by race/ethnicity among Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. Data Sources and Study Setting: In this national study of Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, we analyzed individual-level data from the Health Outcomes Survey (HOS) and the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), race/ethnicity codes from the Medicare Master Beneficiary Summary File (MBSF), and outcomes from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) files from 2015 to 2017. Study Design: We used self-reported beneficiary race/ethnicity to validate the Medicare Enrollment Database (EDB) and Research Triangle Institute (RTI) race/ethnicity codes. We measured the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the Medicare EDB and RTI codes compared to self-report. For outcomes, we compared annualized hospital admission, 30-day, and 90-day readmission rates. Data Collection/Extraction Methods: Data for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries who completed either the HOS or CAHPS survey were linked to MBSF and MedPAR files. Validity was assessed for both self-reported multiracial and single-race beneficiaries. Principal Findings: For beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage, the EDB and RTI race/ethnicity codes have high validity for identifying non-Hispanic White or Black beneficiaries, but lower sensitivity for beneficiaries self-reported Hispanic any race (EDB: 28.3%, RTI: 85.9%) or non-Hispanic Asian American or Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (EDB: 56.1%, RTI: 72.1%). Only 8.7% of beneficiaries self-reported non-Hispanic American Indian Alaska Native are correctly identified by either Medicare code, resulting in underreported annualized hospitalization rates (EDB: 31.5%, RTI: 31.6% vs. self-report: 34.6%). We find variation in 30-day readmission rates for Hispanic beneficiaries across race categories, which is not measured by Medicare race/ethnicity coding. Conclusions: Current Medicare race/ethnicity codes misclassify and bias outcomes for non-Hispanic AIAN beneficiaries, who are more likely to select multiple racial identities. Revisions to race/ethnicity categories are needed to better represent multiracial/ethnic identities among Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. KEYWORDS ethnicity, health inequities, Medicare, minority health, racial groups, validation study What is known on this topic * Previous validation studies of single-race beneficiaries show that Medicare race/ethnicity codes perform well at identifying non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black beneficiaries. * However, Medicare race/ethnicity codes perform worse for beneficiaries identifying as Hispanic any race, non-Hispanic Asian American or Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI), or non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN). What this study adds * For Medicare Advantage, which enrolls a greater proportion of racial/ethnic minorities than traditional Medicare, we find that race/ethnicity codes correctly identify only 8.7% of non-Hispanic AIAN beneficiaries in our study. * Beneficiaries who self-report multiple race categories, including 85% of the non-Hispanic AIAN beneficiaries in our study, are more likely to be misclassified by and have underreported hospitalization and readmission outcomes. * Current Medicare race/ethnicity coding combines Hispanic ethnicity with race categories and exclude multiracial identity, which masks variation in hospital admission and readmission outcomes among self-reported Hispanic beneficiaries by race., 1 | INTRODUCTION Recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiatives on health equity have centered around goals to reduce disparities and inequities in health outcomes among racial and [...]

This paper proposes a time-zone vector autoregressive (VAR) model to investigate comovements in the global financial market. Analyzing daily data from 36 national equity markets, we explore the subprime and European debt crises using static analysis and the COVID-19 crisis through a rolling window method. Our study of comovements using VAR coefficients reveals a resonance effect in the global system. Findings on densities and assortativities suggest the existence of the transmission mechanism in all periods and abnormal structural changes during the crises. Strength analysis uncovers the information transmission mechanism across continents over normal and turmoil periods and emphasizes specific stock markets' unique roles. We examine dynamic continent strengths to demonstrate the contagion mechanism in the global equity market over an extended period. Incorporating the time-zone effect significantly enhances the VAR model's interpretability. Signed networks provide more information on global equity markets and better identify critical contagion patterns than unsigned networks. KEYWORDS financial contagion, LASSO, network, time-zone effect, VAR models, 1 | INTRODUCTION Increased economic globalization continues to intensify the connections between countries, especially in the financial field (Acemoglu et al., 2015; Summer, 2013). The flows of capital and labor [...]

Reasonable assessment of the environmental benefits of integrating forest products into global value chains (GVCs) is important to promote sustainable development. Based on the forest product sector data for 41 countries from 2002 to 2014, this paper explores the impact of GVC participation on carbon embodied in exports using the 2008 financial crisis, a quasi-natural experiment of negative global value chain shocks. We found that deepening backward participation in forest product value chains led to more substantial increases in carbon emissions than did forward participation. Countries with large decreases in GVC participation reduced more carbon embodied in forest product exports after the financial crisis (relative to countries with small decreases) through a larger reduction in the scale of forest product exports, and a decrease in the growth rate of capital-intensive products as a result of the relative decline in capital investment. They increased the embodied carbon of exports through a decrease in the growth rate of skilled personnel. Strengthening the technology effect of GVCs with the guidance of skilled forestry personnel is a key way to decrease exported embodied carbon., A Global Value Chain (GVC) is a transnational production network involving cross-border production chain activities that link production, processing, distribution, and recycling across regions (UNIDO 2002). With the development of [...]

Objective: To evaluate the impact of hospitals' participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) on their financial performance. Data Sources: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital Cost Reports and MSSP Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) Provider-Level Research Identifiable File from 2011 to 2018. Study Design: We used an event-study design to estimate the temporal effects of MSSP participation on hospital financial outcomes and compared within-hospital changes over time between MSSP and non-MSSP hospitals while controlling for hospital and year fixed effects and organizational and service-area characteristics. The following financial outcomes were evaluated: outpatient revenue, inpatient revenue, net patient revenue, Medicare revenue, operating margin, inpatient revenue share, Medicare revenue share, and allowance and discount rate. Data Collection/Extraction Methods: Secondary data linked at the hospital level. Principal Findings: Controlling for trends in non-MSSP hospitals, MSSP participation was associated with differential increases in net patient revenue by $3.28 million (p < 0.001), $3.20 million (p < 0.01), and $4.20 million (p < 0.01) in the second, third, and fourth year and beyond after joining MSSP, respectively. Medicare revenue differentially increased by $1.50 million (p < 0.05), $2.24 million (p < 0.05), and $4.47 million (p < 0.05) in the first, second, and fourth year and beyond. Inpatient revenue share differentially increased by 0.29% (p < 0.05) in the second year and 0.44% (p < 0.05) in the fourth year and beyond. Medicare revenue share differentially increased by 0.17% (p < 0.01), 0.25% (p < 0.01), 0.32% (p < 0.01), and 0.41% (p < 0.01) in consecutive years following MSSP participation. MSSP participation was associated with 0.33% (p < 0.05) and 0.39% (p < 0.05) differential reduction in allowance and discount rate in the second and third years. Conclusions: MSSP participation was associated with differential increases in net patient revenue, Medicare revenue, inpatient revenue share, and Medicare revenue share, and a differential reduction in allowance and discount rate. KEYWORDS accountable care organizations, financial performance, hospital, Medicare, Medicare Shared Savings Program What is known on this topic * Prior research suggests that the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) was associated with modest reductions in Medicare spending, reduced inpatient utilization, reduced readmissions, improved preventive care, and improved patient experience. * An increasing number of hospitals are participating in MSSP Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). * Few studies have examined the relationship between MSSP participation and hospital financial performance. What this study adds * This study leverages a national sample and a quasi-experimental design to estimate the effects of MSSP participation on hospital financial outcome measures. * MSSP participation was associated with differential increases in net patient revenue, Medicare revenue, inpatient revenue share, and Medicare revenue share, and a differential reduction in allowance and discount rate. * The evidence of no decline in operating margins after MSSP participation alleviates the policy concern that the MSSP may threaten hospitals' financial viability., 1 | INTRODUCTION As a value-based payment model, the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) model is expected to curb spending growth and improve care quality by incorporating organizational accountability and pay-forperformance [...]

Objective: To evaluate whether primary care physicians' participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) is associated with changes in their preventive services delivery. Data Sources: Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Physician and Other Supplier Public Use File and MSSP Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) Provider-Level Research Identifiable File from 2012 to 2018. Study Design: The design was a two-way fixed effects model estimating within-provider changes in preventive services delivery over time controlling for provider time-invariant characteristics, national time trends, and characteristics of served patients. The following preventive services were evaluated: influenza vaccination, pneumococcal vaccination, clinical depression screening, colorectal cancer screening, breast cancer screening, Body Mass Index (BMI) screening and follow-up, tobacco use assessment, and annual wellness visits. Both the likelihood of providing services and the volume of services delivered were evaluated. Data Collection/Extraction Methods: Secondary data linked at the provider level. Principal Findings: MSSP participation was associated with an increase in the likelihood of providing influenza vaccination (0.7 percentage-points), pneumococcal vaccination (2.0 percentage-points), clinical depression screening (2.1 percentage-points), tobacco use assessment (0.3 percentage-points), and annual wellness visits (4.1 percentage-points). A similar increase was found for the volume of services delivered per 100 patients for several preventive services: influenza vaccination (0.18), pneumococcal vaccination (0.56), clinical depression screening (0.46), and annual wellness visits (1.52). MSSP participation was associated with a decrease in the likelihood (-0.4 percentage-points) and the volume of colorectal cancer screening (-0.03). Conclusions: Primary care physicians' participation in MSSP was associated with an increase in the likelihood and the volume of several preventive services. KEYWORDS accountable care organizations, health care delivery, Medicare, Medicare shared savings program, preventive care What is known on this topic * The MSSP is the most widespread value-based program through which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contracts with providers to provide care and accept accountability for the overall quality and cost for Medicare beneficiaries. * Financial incentives and quality performance metrics are included in the MSSP to stimulate individual providers and organizations to deliver more preventive services. * Not much is known on the association between providers' participation in MSSP and their preventive care delivery, particularly using provider-level data. What this study adds * This study used provider-level data on MSSP participation and preventive services delivery to provide evidence on whether MSSP participation is associated with changes in preventive care delivery. * Participation in MSSP was associated with an increase in the likelihood and volume of delivering influenza vaccination, pneumococcal vaccination, clinical depression screening, and annual wellness visits. * MSSP participation was associated with a decrease in the likelihood and the volume of delivering colorectal cancer screening., 1 | INTRODUCTION Delivering quality health services to Medicare beneficiaries at a sustainable cost has been a vexing problem, especially with an increasingly aging population and impending Medicare funding solvency. [...]

Objectives: To describe the Health Resources and Services Administration's Quality Improvement Award (QIA) program, award patterns, and early lessons learned. Study Setting: 1413 health centers were eligible for QIA from 2014 to 2018. Study Design: We assessed cumulative QIA funding earned and modified funding excluding payments for per-patient bonuses, electronic health record (EHR) use, patient-centered medical home (PCMH) accreditation, and health information technology. We compared health centers on rural/urban location, PCMH accreditation, EHR reporting, and size. Data Collection: Organizational and quality measures are reported in the Uniform Data System, QIA program data. Principal Findings: Average cumulative funding was higher for health centers that were not rural (USD 380,387 [[+ or -] USD 233,467] vs. USD 303,526 [[+ or -] USD 164,272]), had PCMH accreditation (USD 401,675 [[+ or -] USD 218,246] vs. USD 250,784 [[+ or -] USD 144,404]), used their EHR for quality reporting (USD 374,214 ([+ or -] USD 222,866) vs. USD 331,150 ([+ or -] USD 198,689)), and were large (USD 435,473 ([+ or -] USD 238,193) vs. USD 270,681 ([+ or -] USD 114,484) an USD 231,917 ([+ or -] USD 97,847) for small and medium centers, respectively). There were similar patterns, with smaller differences, for average modified payments. Conclusions: QIA is an important feasible initiative to introduce value-based payment principles to health centers. Early lessons for program design include announcing award criteria in advance and focusing on a smaller number of priority targets. KEYWORDS equity, federally qualified health center, health disparities, pay for performance, quality improvement, safety net, value-based payment What is known on this topic * Value-based care has gained traction in the US over the last decade, but implementation of programs specifically designed for safety net settings has been limited. * The Quality Improvement Award (QIA) program began in 2014 as the first program of its kind to introduce value-based payment to federally funded health centers. What this study adds * The early QIA experience demonstrated the feasibility of introducing value-based payment principles into the safety net. * Health centers that were not rural, had patient-centered medical home accreditation, used their electronic health record for quality reporting, and were large received higher average QIA funding than their comparison groups. * Announcing award criteria in advance and focusing the financial incentives on a smaller number of high priority targets may strengthen the program's quality incentives., 1 | INTRODUCTION The Quality Improvement Awards (QIA), started by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in 2014, was the first program to financially reward HRSA-funded federally qualified health [...]

Objectives: To understand factors associated with federally qualified health center (FQHC) financial performance. Study Design: We used multivariate linear regression to identify correlates of health center financial performance. We examined six measures of health center financial performance across four domains: margin (operating margin), liquidity (days cash on hand [DCOH], current ratio), solvency (debt-to-equity ratio), and others (net patient accounts receivable days, personnel-related expenses). We examined potential correlates of financial performance, including characteristics of the patient population, health center organization, and location/geography. Data Sources: We use 2012-2017 Uniform Data System (UDS) files, financial audit data from Capital link, and publicly available data. Data Collection/Extraction Methods: We focused on health centers in the 50 US states and District of Columbia, which reported information to UDS for at least 1 year between 2012 and 2017 and had Capital link financial audit data. Principal Findings: FQHC financial performance generally improved over the study period, especially from 2015 to 2017. In multivariate regression models, a higher percentage of Medicaid patients was associated with better margins (operating margin: 0.06, p < 0.001), liquidity (DCOH: 0.67, p < 0.001; current ratio: 0.28, p = 0.001), and solvency (debt-to equity ratio: -0.08, p = 0.004). Moreover, a staffing mix comprised of more nonphysician providers was associated with better margin (operating margin: 0.21, p = 0.001) and liquidity (current ratio: 1.12, p < 0.001) measures. Patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recognition was also associated with better liquidity (DCOH: 19.01, p < 0.001; current ratio: 4.68, p = 0.014) and solvency (debt-to-equity ratio: -2.03, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The financial health of FQHCs improved with provisions of the Affordable Care Act, which included significant Medicaid expansion and direct funding support for health centers. FQHC financial health was also associated with key staffing and operating characteristics of health centers. Maintaining the financial health of FQHCs is critical to their ability to continuously provide affordable and high-quality care in medically underserved areas. KEYWORDS access to health care, federally qualified health center, financial management, Medicaid, Medicaid expansion What is known on this topic * Previous studies on factors associated with federally qualified health center (FQHC) financial performance focused on a limited set of financial performance measures, including overall costs, revenues, and net revenues of health centers. * More than half of the respondents from a recent survey of FQHC chief executive officers reported difficulty in maintaining financial sustainability. What this study adds * This study focuses on various dimensions of FQHC financial performance, including liquidity and solvency measures, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the financial health of FQHC. * The study results suggest that provisions of the ACA, including Medicaid expansion and direct funding support for health centers helped health centers to achieve better margin, liquidity, and solvency. * Key staffing and operating characteristics of FQHC were associated with financial performance of health centers., 1 | INTRODUCTION Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs or 'health centers') are an important source of primary care for medically underserved populations. (1) Health centers share some financial and operating [...]

This paper investigates how volatility of performance affects the sensitivity of mutual fund flows to past performance, and examines how investor learning may contribute to this effect. We illustrate theoretically that when sophisticated investors learn from past fund performance to form their posterior expectations of managerial ability, the flow-performance sensitivity should be weaker for funds with more volatile past performance. Moreover, the dampening effect of performance volatility on the flow-performance sensitivity should be stronger for funds attracting more sophisticated investors. We provide supporting evidence for this investor learning hypothesis using mutual fund flows and demonstrate variations in the volatility dampening effect across funds with differing levels of sophistication among investors, such as load versus no-load, high-expense versus low-expense, retail versus institutional, and star versus nonstar funds., 1 | INTRODUCTION Are mutual fund investors on average sophisticated? Do they learn valuable information from past fund performance and adjust their investment decisions accordingly? Mounting evidence suggests that average [...]

The role of the modern board's compensation committee has expanded far beyond simply setting the top management team's pay. There is far more disclosure (and tough questioning) on compensation levels, goals and fairness. There is also greater attention to talent management and planning, investor relations, and stakeholder issues., The scope of the compensation committee continues to expand, especially in the areas of human capital management, talent strategy, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). A Center On Executive Compensation [...]

Purpose: Various contributions to social commerce studies have been made, so there is a strong need for efforts to incorporate social commerce research into a broad-based body of knowledge. The objective of this study is to provide a clear view of the concept of social commerce by a literature review approach. Design/methodology/approach: A literature review approach is adopted to achieve our research objective, and studies between 2013 to 2021 are included in our review. After following a study selection process automatically and manually based on our criteria, 30 pieces of articles are selected which focus on the context of social commerce. Findings: In line with the proposed research questions, our findings reveal the research themes, the key factors affecting customers' purchase intention, the underlying theories, and the major research methods applied in the reviewed literature. Research limitations/implications: Our findings are subjected to these selected articles which meet our articles selection criteria. For example, we only select articles in which the definition of social commerce is described and indicated, to ensure they are related to our research objective. Originality/value: Overall, this paper provides a bird's eye view on the topic of social commerce studies conducted over the span of 8 years (2013 to 2021). For marketing practitioners and scholars alike, this study serves as a 'shortcut' to understand and get an overview of the development of social commerce studies carried out throughout the years. Keywords: Social commerce, Literature review, Consumer behavior, Web 2.0., Introduction Emerging along with the evolution of electronic commerce, social commerce was first presented by Yahoo in 2005, and it soon became an important way for large internet companies like [...]

This paper studies the returns of credit default swap (CDS) indices over the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) cycle. We document that the CDS return is significantly higher in even weeks than in odd weeks of the FOMC cycle. The biweekly pattern in the CDS market is not a mere reflection of that in the stock market. A simple trading strategy based on the biweekly pattern yields an annual excess return of 8.8%. This pattern is linked to the resolution of macroeconomic uncertainty by the biweekly schedules of the Fed Reserve internal Board of Governors meetings. We provide further evidence that the Fed affects the CDS market via unexpected information signals and monetary policies that lead to reductions in the risk premium. KEYWORDS Credit default swap, Cycle, Fed, FOMC, Monetary policy JEL CLASSIFICATION G12.G14, 1 | INTRODUCTION The effects of scheduled Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings on asset prices have drawn growing attention from academic researchers. Cieslak et al. (2019) (hereafter, CMVJ) document [...]

The Safe System Approach represents a paradigm shift in how road safety is addressed in the United States and aligns with the growing number of Vision Zero goals, efforts, and [...]

This NASF-AESF Foundation research project report covers the 12th quarter of project work (October-December 2023) at Wayne State University in Detroit. In this period, our main effort focused on the [...]

Abstract Visual object detection is an important artificial intelligence (AI) technique for safety monitoring applications. Current approaches for building visual object detection models require large and well-labeled dataset stored by [...]

Dalbergia cochinchinensis can be distinguished from Dalbergia retusa, Dalbergia bariensis, and Dalbergia oliveri quickly using infrared spectrum characteristic peaks as shown in a previous study. To investigate the components corresponding to the infrared characteristic peaks of Dalbergia cochinchinensis, petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, and butyl alcohol were sequentially used to extract the dispersion liquid of D. cochinchinensis. The petroleum ether extracts were further fractionated by column chromatography, using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT1R) to track the characteristic components during separation. FTIR spectra of petroleum ether extractives indicated the presence of aromatic ketones and olefin compounds. The gas chromatography--mass spectrometry research showed some main components and gave possible structure. Furthermore, their detailed structures were characterized thorough a nuclear magnetic resonance approach, and then two possible components (3,5-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-2-phenylchroman-4-one and 3,5,7-trihydroxy-2-phenylchroman-4-one) were identified., Dalbergia cochinchinensis is a species of Faboideae in the Leguminosae family that mainly grows in southeast Asia. In recent years, the global population of D. cochinchinensis has experienced a boom [...]

We present evidence that spatially concentrated institutional investors enhance corporate innovation. These investors can coordinate more efficiently, leading to lower turnover of the holding firms' stocks and more diversified portfolios, which enables the holding firms to increases corporate risk-taking and focus more on long-term investments. Consistent with this argument, we find that firms with spatially concentrated investors take higher risk, invest more heavily in innovative projects, generate more patents, and have more patent citations. Our results are robust to using instrumental variables and the introduction of a new airline route as an exogenous shock to spatial concentration among institutional investors. KEYWORDS innovation, institutional investors, investor horizon, risk-taking, spatial concentration, 1 | INTRODUCTION A recent literature in corporate finance examines how coordination among institutional shareholders affects corporate governance (e.g., Brav et al., 2017; Coffee & Palia, 2014; Crane et al., [...]

Suppliers that are farther away from their customers make more relationship-specific investments (RSI). This association is more pronounced when it is less costly for the customer to switch to alternative suppliers and when the supplier operates in relatively opaque information environments. Using the introduction of new airline routes as an exogenous shock to the distance between supply chain partners, we show that the relation between supplier RSI and distance may be causal. We also provide evidence that suppliers with larger RSI are better able to maintain long-distance business relationships and are associated with higher firm value. These findings suggest an important dimension of supplier commitment: Suppliers use RSI as a signal of their willingness to fulfill on-going implicit claims. KEYWORDS commitment, customer-supplier relationship, geographic proximity, holdup problem, principal-agent problem, relationship-specific investments JEL CLASSIFICATION G32, G41, Z13, 1 | INTRODUCTION In this paper, we examine whether and how geographic distance from a major customer affects suppliers' willingness to make relationship-specific investments (RSI). These investments require commitment of [...]

Motivation: This paper's motivation is to provide valuable information on the issue of firm value for both enterprises and investors, finding additional factors which may strongly affect firm value but have been rarely discussed, and revealing precious results to fill a gap in present literature. Premise: Due to the importance of ownership structure and firm value to a firm, this paper investigates whether firm value would be affected by the shareowners' relatives, which has been seldom explored comprehensively in the existing literature. Approach: By utilizing the data of Taiwan Stock Exchange--listed firms, this paper first applies panel data models and then Petersen regression models for further investigation to enhance the robustness of the empirical results. Results: This paper reveals that the shareholding of directors' relatives positively relates to firm value, but the shareholding ratio of managers' relatives influences firm value negatively. Even in the opposite direction, relatives' shareholdings of the firm members do prominently impact firm value. Conclusion: This paper shows that a firm should manage the board and ownership structures properly in order to enhance a firm's value. Additionally, investors should evaluate the board and ownership structures of a firm before investing. Consistency: This paper illustrates that board and ownership structures are crucial determinants for firms to operate with financial success. By selecting firms with well-designed board and ownership structures, investors may decrease the risk of loss and reduce the investment uncertainty. Keywords: firm value, ownership structure, shareholding of relatives, INTRODUCTION The importance of board and ownership structures to firm value has been extensively studied for over a decade (Demsetz and Villalonga 2001; Singh and Davidson 2003; Welch 2003; Garg [...]

Many anomalies are based on firm characteristics and rebalanced yearly ignoring any information during the year. In this paper, we provide two dynamic trading strategies to rebalance anomaly portfolios monthly. For eight major anomalies, we find that dynamic trading strategies substantially enhance their economic value with improvements in the Fama and French five-factor alpha ranging from 0.40% to 0.75% per month. Our findings indicate that many wellknown anomalies can be more profitable than previously thought if managed with our dynamic trading strategies. This much improved performance, which relies on both the anomalies and the trading strategies, raises a new challenge for theoretical explanations. KEYWORDS Return anomalies, monthly rebalance, performance enhancement, dynamic trading, technical analysis, 1 | INTRODUCTION A fundamental problem in finance is to explain why different assets have different returns. Asset pricing theories, such as the CAPM, attribute variations in (expected) returns to [...]