Search

The Chinese stock market has a threefold segmented structure. Firstly, there is a division between floatable and nonfloatable shares, known as the split‐share structure. Before 2005, more than two‐thirds of the shares outstanding were nonfloatable. This structure limited shareholders' ability to exercise governance rights through stock trading. While largely dismantled by the 2005 reform, the split‐share structure has not been fully eliminated. Secondly, floatable shares can be issued in multiple currencies. However, shares denominated in the domestic currency often trade at a premium over those denominated in foreign currencies. This premium can be explained by the differences in target investors and the trading restrictions. Thirdly, stocks denominated in the domestic currency are sorted into different market tiers depending on the firms' profitability and market capitalization. The limited mobility of stocks across different tiers engenders tier‐specific characteristics, such as high family ownership and venture‐capital backing, which have not been sufficiently studied. In this paper, we delineate the three aspects of market segmentation, offer critical comments on the caveats of the extant studies, and propose topics for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Wieś & Rolnictwo is the property of Instytut Rozwoju Wsi & Rolnictwa, Polska Akademia Nauk and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of the article is to assess the impact of changes in excise duty rates on prices, consumption, and tax revenue to the state budget on the development of the domestic tobacco industry. The study was conducted, among other things, using methods of statistical comparative analysis, dynamics of the main elements of the market, exponential regression analysis, and analysis of selected financial ratios. The research shows that between 2010 and 2021 the tobacco industry in Poland developed very dynamically due to foreign direct investments and competitiveness on the EU market. Fiscal policy determined prices of tobacco products, as indirect taxes dominated the structure of retail prices. The increasing rates of excise duty resulted in a decrease in cigarette consumption, which was compensated by an increase in the consumption of innovative products. The effectiveness of fiscal policy is also confirmed by the growing budget revenues and reducing the shadow economy in the internal market. In recent years, however, consumer income has been growing faster than the prices of tobacco products, which has resulted in their better affordability. In conclusion, between 2022 and 2027, excise tax rates will gradually increase due to the harmonization of the national tax law with the regulations in force in the European Union. The increase in excise duty rates will determine the production and sale of tobacco products, which will adapt to demand conditions. Higher rates of excise tax will result in an increase in the prices of tobacco products and state budget revenues from indirect taxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Nowadays, medical cannabis still remains inaccesible for patients in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Even registered medicinal products based on herbal or synthetic cannabinoids, like Sativex, are practically unavailable due to their high cost and narrow scope of application (for example, in Lithuania). However, before the absolute prohibition of medical cannabis in the USSR, in line with Single Convention of 1961, the State Pharmacopoeia of the USSR (eighth edition) published monographs on such medicinal products as “Herba Cannabis indicae”, “Extractum Cannabis indicae spissum” and “Fructus Cannabis”, which could be prescribed by physicians with precaution. Objectives Formation of a holistic approach aimed at the creation of appropriate conditions for the development of medical cannabis market and the improvement of life quality and health of Ukrainian patients. Methods We analyzed legislation and regulation mechanisms for medical cannabis in the USSR, and the present availability of these products for patients in the former USSR, such as Lithuania, Georgia, Estonia, Russian Federation, and Ukraine. Four hundred thirty-five Ukrainian pharmacy students participated in the quantitative analysis (a survey) that took place on April–May, 2019 at Bogomolets National Medical University (Kyiv, Ukraine). They were surveyed about legalization of medical cannabis in Ukraine, advisability of including cannabis and cannabinoids related data into educational programs, and other issues. Qualitative analysis we applied consisted of the stakeholder analysis and Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) analysis. We classified the key stakeholders into the patients, healthcare professionals, legislative and regulatory bodies, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, etc., and ranked them based on their power and interest in the development of potential medical cannabis market in Ukraine. We also identified their expectations and goals. SWOT analysis allows us to evaluate predictable risks and opportunities, as well as strong and weak aspects of the effective development of medical cannabis industry in Ukraine. Results According to the survey among pharmacy students, about 80% support the legalization of cannabis for medical purposes. However, two-thirds of them think that there is a risk of illicit turnover. Nearly half of the respondents are not informed or poorly informed about cannabis therapeutic properties. At the same time, nearly 90% consider that materials on medicinal properties of cannabis and cannabinoids should be included in the training program. Nowadays, such stakeholders as legislative and regulatory bodies have the highest power over the development of potential medical cannabis market in Ukraine: more than two million Ukrainian patients still cannot access an effective cannabinoids based treatment. There are over 20 thousand children among them suffering from drug-resistant epilepsy due to the lack of adequate legislation. Moreover, a lot of stakeholders with high level of interest, such as growers, manufacturers of cannabidiol (CBD) products, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, higher education institutions, even scientists and healthcare professionals are still waiting for the legalization of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes in Ukraine. SWOT analysis shows that present business structures, educational and scientific institutions, regulatory bodies, and the competency of domestic specialists are strong enough to develop a new market of cannabis-based medicinal products in Ukraine. However, a long-term ban on medical cannabis requires more time for creating the entire ecosystem. This market can be quite attractive in Ukraine. It is characterized by high growth rates, low entry barriers and a substantial demand. Yet, its advancement depends significantly on the appropriate regulatory framework, high level of awareness among health professionals and society as a whole, and involvement in scientific study to become a part of the global medical cannabis market. Discussion The holistic approach is aimed to improve health and life quality of Ukrainian patients through cannabis-based medicinal products. It consists of three components: changes in legislation and regulation procedures; changes to value orientations in society; observance of stakeholders’ interests and purposes. Specific recommendations are worked out to realize this approach in Ukraine.

This study attempts to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the price-volume relation using daily stock prices of all publicly traded firms in Kuwait Boursa over the period 2005–2017. The aim is to provide evidence from an emerging market on the information arrival hypothesis, which is explained by the mixture of distribution and the sequential information arrival hypotheses. The investigation covered two main structural events; the 2008 financial crisis and the activation of Kuwait’s New Securities Law in 2010 (CMA). The GARCH-ARCH test revealed a positive contemporaneous relation between trading volume and market return, which implies that previous information shocks affect current returns and imply that Kuwait stock market is weakly efficient. When trading volume is included in the variance equation in the GARCH model, the test revealed that new information arrival is not simultaneously available to all traders and it takes time to observe, providing support to the sequential information arrival hypothesis (SAIH). Finally, there was no change in the price-volume relation around the two events and urgent assessment of the new market reform is recommended.

We use a sample of 8,561 firm-years from the highly regulated Main Market (MAIN) and relatively unregulated Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the United Kingdom to analyse the impact of financial restrictions on optimal cash holdings in the context of financial crises. Employing system generalised methods of moments, we find that AIM firms have a faster adjustment speed of cash as confirmed by precautionary and transaction motives over 2002-2017. However, AIM firms decrease (increase) their adjustment speed of cash more than MAIN firms during (after) the financial crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insider trading and asymmetric information have been the subject of a significant body of research since the 1960s. Yet little work has been directed at analyzing the impact of different market regulations. Along with difficulties in correctly identifying trades made on inside information, empirical field study methods have not been capable of analyzing the impact of different market regulations. The authors develop a controllable networked market trading environment that incorporates accurate identification of information possessed by each trader studied and that provides the flexibility necessary to analyze market impacts of different regulatory schemes to limit trading on inside information. The authors illustrate their methods through a series of controlled induced-value laboratory experiments using human subjects. Subject rewards are performance-based, with cash incentives tied to the outcomes of each market transaction. Experimental results indicate that markets with inside, privately informed traders led to greater trading volumes than markets with traders having access to private information only. In addition to reporting the results of initial sets of the experiments, the authors use these outcomes to frame future research issues involving the use of IT systems in surveillance and links between trading patterns and insider activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of regulation and quality control in Costa Rica on the medicinal plants has risks in public health. The aim of these work was to determinate presence of contaminants in chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) and juanilama (Lippia alba) commercialized in the municipal markets in San José, Heredia and Cartago, Costa Rica. They were collected samples of chamomile and juanilama in different sale points within the Cartago, Heredia and San José markets. The samples were analyzed fresh and through the criteria established by WHO; for the quality control of herbal products, the quantification of materials foreign to the traded product was established: insects, mixtures of soil minerals, plastic, glass and mold. The results were analyzed with the statistical program SPSS 22. In some markets of Heredia and San Jose products do not correspond to the therapeutic species offered, and they were sold. Chamomile is sold mainly in fresh conditions, while the juanilama varies its condition depending on the market. There was presence of adulterants, such as insects, soil, plastics and molds, in plants chamomile and juanilama sold in the provinces of Cartago, Heredia and San José. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a SWOT analysis of the impact of recent EU regulatory changes on the business case for energy storage (ES) using the UK as a case study. ES technologies (such as batteries) are key enablers for increasing the share of renewable energy generation and hence decarbonising the electricity system. As such, recent regulatory changes seek to improve the business case for ES technologies on national networks. These changes include removing double network charging for ES, defining and classifying ES in relevant legislations, and clarifying ES ownership along with facilitating its grid access. However, most of the current regulations treat storage in a similar way to bulk generators without paying attention to the different sizes and types of ES. As a result, storage with higher capacity receives significantly higher payment in the capacity market and can be exempt from paying renewable energy promotion taxes. Despite the recent regulatory changes, ES is defined as a generation device, which is a barrier to a wide range of revenue streams from demand side services. Also, regulators avoid disrupting the current energy market structure by creating an independent asset class for ES. Instead, they are encouraging changes that co-exist with the current market and regulatory structure. Therefore, although some of the reviewed market and regulatory changes for ES in this paper are positive, it can be concluded that these changes are not likely to allow a level playing field for ES that encourage its increase on energy networks.

In 2017, a regulation referred to as “pharmacies for the pharmacists” was implemented in Poland, and Ukraine is going to implement a similar act of law. The study was to collect Ukrainian pharmacists’ opinions about the upcoming market regulation and to compare their views with opinions obtained from Polish pharmacists collected two years following the amendment of this legislation. The study was conducted in Poland and Ukraine using a self-designed questionnaire. Of 2162 questionnaires received, 2043 were included in the study (1623 from Ukraine and 420 from Poland). Ukrainian pharmacists (76.8%) feared that medicine prices would increase. Moreover, they presented concerns related to poorer access to pharmaceuticals and reduced turnovers of pharmacies. Two years after the market regulation, 55.23% of Polish pharmacists pointed out that none of the fears reported in Ukraine were observed in Poland. However, 33.10% revealed that market regulation led to “a reduction in the number of pharmacies”. Ukrainian pharmacists are afraid of community pharmacies’ regulation. Polish pharmacists, however, have not observed such problems during the two years following the market regulation. The only noticeable market change in Poland was the reduced number of pharmacies.

Abstract: In this paper, we study how rents are shared between capital and labour, using industry‐level panel data for 19 OECD countries from 1988 through to 2007. The first step is an explanation of the rent‐creation process. We provide evidence of a significant impact of regulation on value‐added prices at the industry level relative to the value‐added price for the overall economy (rent). In the second step, we dissect the value‐added sharing process. By running ordinary least‐squares and instrumental variables estimations, we obtain results that confirm the Blanchard–Giavazzi prediction: the impact of rents on the capital share depends on workers' bargaining power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subsequent proposals of changes in EU Common Agricultural Policy discussed in 2008-2013 were analysed. The new proposal concerned: the system of direct payments, development of rural areas and market regulations.

The purpose of this study is to extend the previous literature on the dividend payout and corporate social responsibility nexus by considering internal and external contingencies. We specifically examine the relationship between dividend payout and corporate social responsibility and whether shareholder friendliness and board monitoring moderate this relationship. Based on a sample of 34,456 observations across 60 countries from 2003 to 2019, we find that dividend payout is positively associated with nine dimensions of environmental, social, and governance pillars, whereas dividend growth is negatively associated with them. Furthermore, we find that shareholder friendliness negatively moderates the relationship between dividend payout and some environmental, social, and governance dimensions, whereas board monitoring has a positive moderating effect. These results suggest that shareholder-oriented managers prioritize shareholders' interests at the expense of stakeholders. However, the board plays a good monitoring role in resolving conflicts of interest between shareholders and stakeholders. Additional tests show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between dividend payout and corporate social responsibility, suggesting that firms might find it difficult to balance the interests of both parties at high dividend payout. Finally, under weaker market regulations, the direct relationship between dividend payout and corporate social responsibility and the moderating effects are positive and stronger. [Display omitted] • Dividend payout is positively associated with corporate social responsibility. • Dividend growth is negatively associated with corporate social responsibility. • Shareholder friendliness negatively moderates the dividend payout and corporate social responsibility relationship. • Board monitoring positively moderates the dividend payout and corporate social responsibility relationship. • Under weaker regulations, the relationship between dividend payout and corporate social responsibility is stronger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekonomika APK is the property of Economy of Argo-Industrial Complex and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study is an attempt to evaluate the effects of product and labour market regulations on industry productivity through their various impacts on changes in production prices and wages. In a first stage, the estimation of a regression equation on an industry*country panel, with controls for country*industry and country*year fixed effects, show that multi-factor productivity is negatively and significantly influenced by both indicators of industrial prices from same industry and weighted average of industrial prices from other industries, and by indicators of country wages weighted by industry labour shares for low and high skilled workers. In a second stage, an economic policy simulation of the implications these results on the basis of their calibration by the OECD product and labour market anti-competitive regulation indicators suggests that nearly all countries could expect sizeable gains in multifactor productivity from deregulation reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization creates fractures but the alternative of rejecting market regulations does not command large majorities, especially amongst the poor. Embedding capitalism is required. Capitalist profit depends on investment spending at the macroeconomic level and not primarily on productivity increases. Rising mass incomes had been a condition for capitalist growth. Capitalist expansion does not transfer its social structure to countries; it opens up through trade and investment on the basis of those economies' comparative advantage. Even today's manufactured exports of the South rarely create labour markets, which the poor are empowered on, due to their scarcity. The tendencies are rather for disempowering labour in the South and in the North. Both sides have the options of maintaining the conditions for increasing mass demand and stabilizing profit or for relying on rents. Political appropriation and limited mass demand will weaken profit and strengthen hierarchical power structures. It is, therefore, worthwhile to enquire whether at the global level forces with very different worldviews can come together on pragmatic cooperation for embedding capitalism. Such cooperation would benefit from a universal acceptance of states to follow their enlightened interests instead of having to be transformed by constructivist idealism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been argued that the notion of a European social model is misleading and that there are in fact different European social models with different features and different performances in terms of efficiency and equity. In this paper, we look at the welfare state from a political economy point of view and interpret the different regimes as possible outcomes of a political process through which heterogeneous preferences of voters are aggregated. In our model, agents differ in two respects: income and socio-economic vulnerability. Policy-makers have to decide on two policies: a proportional income tax to finance a social transfer, providing equal benefits to all citizens, and a market regulation policy which benefits only vulnerable workers, providing them with additional protection against unemployment risk. Market regulation is inefficient because it decreases aggregate resources. Individuals' heterogeneity generates a conflict over policies. We feature the political process as a two-party electoral competition in a citizen-candidate model with probabilistic voting. We show that an inefficient equilibrium exists and that this outcome is more likely as income inequality and the proportion of vulnerable workers become greater. Intuitively, greater inequality raises the level of redistributive spending desired by the poor, making, at the same time, the rich more adverse to the welfare state. In this framework, both the rich and the poor, in order to win the election and realise the fiscal gain, have an incentive to support market restrictions, in the attempt to capture the votes of the vulnerable minority, who benefit from these policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a SWOT analysis of the impact of recent EU regulatory changes on the business case for energy storage (ES) using the UK as a case study. ES technologies (such as batteries) are key enablers for increasing the share of renewable energy generation and hence decarbonising the electricity system. As such, recent regulatory changes seek to improve the business case for ES technologies on national networks. These changes include removing double network charging for ES, defining and classifying ES in relevant legislations, and clarifying ES ownership along with facilitating its grid access. However, most of the current regulations treat storage in a similar way to bulk generators without paying attention to the different sizes and types of ES. As a result, storage with higher capacity receives significantly higher payment in the capacity market and can be exempt from paying renewable energy promotion taxes. Despite the recent regulatory changes, ES is defined as a generation device, which is a barrier to a wide range of revenue streams from demand side services. Also, regulators avoid disrupting the current energy market structure by creating an independent asset class for ES. Instead, they are encouraging changes that co-exist with the current market and regulatory structure. Therefore, although some of the reviewed market and regulatory changes for ES in this paper are positive, it can be concluded that these changes are not likely to allow a level playing field for ES that encourage its increase on energy networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]