Economic Consequences of Tahoku Earthquake of March 11, 2011 in Japan

The paper considers the economic consequences of Tahoku earthquake occurred on March 11,2011 at 5：46：23 （UT） at the distance of 70 km from the northeast shore of Japanese coast Honshu. This earthquake had a magnitude of 9 and became the strongest in the whole history of the seismological observations in this part of the planet. The generated tsunami killed more than 15,700 people, damaged 332,395 buildings and 2,126 roads. The total economic loss in Japan was estimated at $309 billion. The catastrophe in Japan also impacted global economy. To reveal its impact, the authors used regional and global stock indexes, production indexes, stock prices of the main Japanese, European and US companies, and import/export dynamics. The authors demonstrated that the catastrophe substantially affected the markets and on the short run in some indicators it exceeded the effect of the global financial crisis. The authors concluded that it is necessary to treat possible strong earthquakes in different regions of the world as one very important factor that can affect the world economy.

Government Regulation,Enforcement,and Economic Consequences in a Transition Economy:Empirical Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies Implementing the Split Share Structure Reform

In a changing transition economy, Chinese government regulations that adopt the relatively simple bright line rule formula are enforceable in practice. Taking the early reform-oriented policies of the China Securities Regulatory Commission(CSRC) as an example, we find that the CSRC did not consider local enthusiasm for reform when allocating IPO resources because of the high enforcement costs involved. We also find that CSRC listed company regulations were enforced due to the lower costs involved in verifying regulatory violations, and that listed companies that completed the reform process were given priority in public refinancing. We present empirical evidence supporting the theoretical basis for the hypotheses outlined above. We also conclude that companies that completed the reform process in 2005 were of significantly higher quality and that the SEO regulation did not affect stock market efficiency. These findings enhance our understanding of the efficiency of government regulation in a transition economy.

Thorny roses:The motivations and economic consequences of holding equity stakes in financial institutions for China's listed nonfinancial firms

The reforms of China's financial system have significantly changed the country's financial sector. One noteworthy phenomenon is that many nonfinancial firms have obtained equity stakes in financial institutions. This study investigates the motivations behind and economic consequences of this recent proliferation of investments in financial institutions by nonfinancial listed firms. We find that the motivations for holding equity stakes in financial institutions include alleviating the pressure of industry competition, reducing transaction costs, and diversification to reduce risk. These investments, however, have double-edged effects on the performance of the investing firms. While their investment income increases, their operating income and overall return on assets decrease, as the investment income cannot compensate for the decrease in other operating income. The investing firms' cost of debt also increases, their cash-holding decreases, and stock price performance does not improve after investing in financial institutions. These effects contrast with the enthusiasm nonfinancial listed firms have for investing in financial institutions. The empirical findings in this study can inform financial industry regulators and decision-makers in listed firms. We advise nonfinancial firms to be cautious when considering investing in financial institutions.

Do modified audit opinions have economic consequences? Empirical evidence based on financial constraints

We present a framework and empirical evidence to explain why,on average,11%of listed firms in China received modified audit opinions(MAOs)between 1992 and 2009.We argue that there are two reasons for this phenomenon:strong earnings management incentives lower firms'financial reporting quality and soft budget constraints weaken the information and governance roles of audit opinions.We find that firms'financial constraints eased after receiving MAOs,which suggests that MAOs have limited economic consequences.Further analysis shows that this phenomenon predominantly exists in government-controlled firms and firms that receive MAOs for the first time.We also find that MAOs have not influenced financial constraints after 2006.Finally,we find that MAOs did not affect borrowing cash flows from banks until 2005,suggesting that MAOs did not start affecting bank financing until that year.We also find that firms receive more related-party financing after receiving MAOs.Our results indicate that a limited effect on bank financing and increased related-party financing reduce the effect of MAOs on financial constraints.

The Timing of Annual Report Disclosure:Characteristics and Economic Consequences——Evidence from Two Stock Exchanges in China

This paper analyzes the annual reports(from 1997 to 2011)of firms listed on two stock exchanges in China and reveals four significant characteristics of disclosure timing.These characteristics have significant economic implications for stock market movement,including positive contributions to stock price,trading volume and abnormal return.It thereby demonstrates that the CSRC’s"balanced disclosure"policy has not been working as expected and needs further review and improvement.

Applying Earth Observation Technologies to Economic Consequence Modeling:A Case Study of COVID‑19 in Los Angeles County,California

Earth observation(EO) technologies,such as very high-resolution optical satellite data available from Maxar,can enhance economic consequence modeling of disasters by capturing the fine-grained and real-time behavioral responses of businesses and the public.We investigated this unique approach to economic consequence modeling to determine whether crowd-sourced interpretations of EO data can be used to illuminate key economic behavioral responses that could be used for computable general equilibrium modeling of supply chain repercussions and resilience effects.We applied our methodology to the COVID-19 pandemic experience in Los Angeles County,California as a case study.We also proposed a dynamic adjustment approach to account for the changing character of EO through longer-term disasters in the economic modeling context.We found that despite limitations,EO data can increase sectoral and temporal resolution,which leads to significant differences from other data sources in terms of direct and total impact results.The findings from this analytical approach have important implications for economic consequence modeling of disasters,as well as providing useful information to policymakers and emergency managers,whose goal is to reduce disaster costs and to improve economic resilience.