The supposed undervaluation of the renminbi has been the subject of intensive academic research over the past few years. Using equilibrium exchange rate models (Purchasing Power Parity, BEER and FEER), many authors have concluded that the renminbi is undervalued by 15 to 30% against the dollar. This article shows that the common view is not that obvious. The models used in the estimation (BEER or FEER) assume that the economy is at full-employment, a strong hypothesis for developing economies such as China, whose unemployed amount to 150 million people. On the contrary, we show that China is facing massive unemployment and if investment depends on expected potential demand (from domestic consumption and foreign demand), then an undervalued exchange rate (by traditional standards) is suited for its policy objectives. Therefore the exchange rate can be analyzed as a policy tool used by the Chinese authorities to pursue their objectives. The exchange rate can be undervalued by traditional standards and in equilibrium compared to the government's policy objectives. This article shows that equilibrium exchange rate theories are not suited for developing countries and therefore the concept of equilibrium exchange rate is highly questionable. The final section analyzes the adoption of a managed float regime by the Popular Bank of China and discusses the delicate issue of the best exchange rate regime for China.

This paper is the first attempt in the literature to study the relationship between corporate governance and corporate growth. By developing an econometric model, this paper empirically studied the relationship between corporate governance and growth capability of China’s listed companies based on the panel data of 510 listed companies in Chinese manufacturing industry from the year 2001 to 2007. Main findings and contributions of this paper are as follows: ownership concentration is significantly negatively associated with growth capability; there is a significant negative relationship between equity restriction ratio and growth capability; growth capability of non-state-holding company is stronger than that of state-holding company, but this finding has no statistical significance; the stronger are debt solvency and debt financing ability, the stronger is growth capability; scale of board of directors and proportion of independent directors are significantly negatively associated with growth capability; combination of chairman of board of directors and CEO is beneficial for enhancing growth capability; management annual salary is significantly positively associated with growth capability; proportion of management shareholding has a negative relationship with growth capability, but this has no statistical significance; competition of market for corporate control and perfection degree of law basis and interest protection of medium-small investors are positively associated with growth capability, but these findings have no statistical significance; there is a significant positive relationship between product market competition and growth capability. Based on the above conclusions, this paper put forward some relevant policy recommendations from perspective of corporate governance for enhancing growth capability of Chinese listed companies.

前期研究试图用利率变量来解释股价和汇价联动，但经验分析难以获得证明和支持。随后又有大量文献研究各国股价联动或汇市之间联动，但涉及国家样本太少并且尚未获得一致的结论，难以说明这些结果具有普遍性质。Hyuk Choe et al. (1998)首次揭示了一个事实，那就是本土投资者在危机来临之前的抛售行为快于外国投资者，随后又有大量研究对此进行证明，但都是局限于从股市到股市的研究，极少涉及汇市与两国股市的联动。本研究采用了MGARCH模型（三元GARCH）证明了汇市与两国股市的联动。研究领域不再仅限于从股市到股市，而且两者之间的汇市也受其波及。本研究的结果证明：金融市场规模的不对称性会影响联动出现的显著性；地域和规模越接近，三者之间的联动效应就越强。这也证明了亚洲金融市场联动具有地域规模特征。

“并购论坛”是由中山大学管理学院发起举办的一次高水平并购国际学术会议。本次会议将于2009年11月14-15日在广州中山大学举办，主题为“价值创造、产业重组与经济安全”。全称为“Mergers and Acquisitions Forum 2009: Value Creation, Industry Restructure and Economic Safety”，主题是在经济学、金融学、工商管理等领域进行国际性的学术交流，内容涉及并购与价值创造、产业重组与产业升级、产业重组与经济转型、外资并购与经济安全等多方面。计划邀请来自美国、英国、新加坡等国家和香港、澳门、台湾等地区的20名左右国际学者参加。

本文对 Daniel et al (1997) 的方法加以改进，提出了一个基于基金持股特性的绩效评估指标。实证分析结果表明，该指标与基于基金净值收益的指标相比，能够更好地反映基金的投资风格，使其评估结果更加合理。而采用能反应投资风格的3因子或4因子模型得到的基于基金净值收益的评估指标与采用CAPM模型得到的指标相比，虽然在择时能力的评价上其检验能力有所改进，但是在风险调整后收益的评价上，其检验能力并无明显改进。

According to the theory of unit root test, Lee-Carter model and generalized linear model, which are widely used in mortality projection, impose key implicit assumptions respectively which are inconsistent with each other. Log mortality rate (the force of mortality or the central mortality rate) is described as a unit root process in Lee-Carter model, while it is modeled as a deterministic trend process in generalized linear model. We use panel LM unit-root tests with level shifts to test the assumptions in above models, based on mortality data of the 7 most developed countries(G7) and Nordic countries(Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden). The test results show that a mortality projection model, whatever it is Lee-Carter model or generalized linear model, is not always appropriate to predict dynamic mortality rates of different countries. Further, we explain period effect and cohort effect of dynamic mortality according to the results of structural break test. Based on the empirical results, we extend Lee-Carter model, which includes a special case of generalized linear model. To check the performance of the extended model, we use it to forecast USA and Sweden mortality and we find that the extended Lee-Carter model works better than the original Lee-Carter model.

In this paper, we provide an overview of the subprime mortgage securitization process and the seven key informational frictions that arise. We discuss the ways that market participants work to minimize these frictions and speculate on how this process broke down. We continue with a complete picture of the subprime borrower and the subprime loan, discussing both predatory borrowing and predatory lending. We present the key structural features of a typical subprime securitization, document how rating agencies assign credit ratings to mortgage-backed securities, and outline how these agencies monitor the performance of mortgage pools over time. Throughout the paper, we draw upon the example of a mortgage pool securitized by New Century Financial during 2006.

We study the effects of Chinese monetary policy shocks on China's major trading partners in East Asia by estimating structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) models for six economies in the region. We find that a monetary expansion in Mainland China leads to an increase in real GDP (temporary) and the price level (permanent) in a number of economies in our sample, most notably in Hong Kong and the Philippines. The impact could result from intertemporal substitution present in a general equilibrium framework which allows for positive domestic impacts of foreign monetary expansions. Our results emphasize the growing importance of China for its neighboring economies and the significance of Chinese shocks for the design of monetary policy in Asian economies.

Chinese authorities have traditionally relied mainly on administrative and quantitative measures in conducting monetary policy, with interest rates playing a less prominent role. Additional support for this view resides in a number of earlier studies that have found that the impact of interest rates on the real economy has been miniscule. However, taking into account numerous reforms in the financial sector and more widely in the Chinese economy, interest rates may have gained some influence in the last few years. It is important to study the effectiveness of interest rates also in light of future reforms of the monetary policy tools in China. Whereas administrative policy measures were effective in guiding the behaviour of state-owned enterprises, the authorities may need to increase the use of more market-oriented monetary policy tools as the share of the economy in private and foreign ownership grows. We use a vector error correction model to study, within a credit demand framework, whether the impact of interest rates in China has become stronger over the last decade. Our results suggest that loan demand has indeed become more dependent on interest rates, albeit the channel from interest rate to the real economy is still weak.

There is growing evidence that economic crises are transmitted across economies and equity markets. This motivates two questions. First, can the direction and magnitude of a country's stock market reaction during an extreme case ("contagion") be explained by economic fundamentals? Second, are there benefits of international diversification during times of widespread contagion among equity markets? We examine the reaction of major world equity markets to the 1997 Asian Crisis. In particular, we investigate the interrelationships among world equity markets, the factors explaining the different directions and magnitudes of countries' reactions to this crisis and the effectiveness of the global diversification of investment portfolios during financial crises. Our analyses provide evidence that is consistent with the correlations among world equity markets increasing dramatically during the period of the Asian Crisis. However, this effect is concentrated on a short period around the crisis. The benefits of international diversification may be obtainable, even when the period contains a worldwide financial crisis. We show that the productivity and interest rate macroeconomic variables, worldwide beta and the existence of derivatives trading are important in explaining the stock market returns during the Asian Crisis. The effect of the worldwide beta variable is particularly strong. Finally, the trade variables are insignificant, their influences being subsumed by interest rate and inflation macroeconomic variables. On balance, we interpret our results as supporting a rational view of the spread of an economic crisis to other markets.