Biden's top picks to shape 'big tech' antitrust agenda

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Market Power ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Justice Department ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Advantage

Significance The move comes as Google, and 'big tech' more generally, face growing scrutiny over their market power and political influence. Google alone faces three major antitrust lawsuits. Impacts Clinton-era justice department antitrust alumni are apparent front-runners to staff crucial justice department positions. Returning former officials can come with heavy baggage of corporate conflicts in their subsequent representation. Conservatives will watch any big tech and antitrust reforms closely, fearing loss of political advantage.

Market power will help China to silence criticism

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Market Power ◽  
Content Type ◽  
China Market

Headline CHINA: Market power will help silence criticism

Cienfuegos affair threatens Mexico-US security ties

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
The Political ◽  
Security Cooperation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Military ◽  
Trump Administration

Significance The situation has highlighted several issues of concern around the influence of the Mexican military, the government’s reliance on it and the challenges Mexico and its security agencies face in trying to meet US demands while addressing domestic threats. Impacts Mexican militarisation was facilitated by Trump administration apathy on human rights; this will change under President Joe Biden. Increased US-bound migration, encouraged by Biden’s more humane rhetoric, will heighten the need for bilateral security cooperation. Future Mexican administrations will struggle to reverse the political influence the military has obtained.

Estonia will secularise faster than the other Baltics

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Jewish Heritage ◽  
Heritage Culture ◽  
Food And Drink ◽  
Social Conservatism ◽  
Sensitive Issues

Significance Lithuania is the most religious: the predominant Roman Catholic Church’s socio-political influence has been increasing regarding the still-sensitive issues of LGBT+ and women’s rights. Patriarchal values are helping traditional religious entities regain influence in Latvia. Estonia is the most successful in separating religion and politics. Impacts In Latvia and Lithuania, religious and social conservatism will together hinder gender equality. The outlook for gender equality and human rights is better in Estonia. The president’s Catholicism will align Lithuania’s EU stance more towards Poland, its larger Catholic neighbour. Vilnius’s Jewish heritage -- culture, festivals, food and drink, and the surviving synagogue-- will attract West European tourists.

Banking market structure and efficiency: an assessment of the USA and Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salah U-Din ◽  
David Tripe
Keyword(s):  
Market Structure ◽  
Market Power ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Bank Efficiency ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Frontier Analysis ◽  
Banking Market ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe study aims to analyze the changes in banking market structure and their impact on the bank efficiency.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a one-stage stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to compare the impact of the market structure and the GFC on the economic efficiency of the major banks in both countries.FindingsA significant negative impact of the GFC is observed on bank efficiency. Overall, Canadian banks posted better efficiency scores than their American counterparts. Additionally, cost-efficient banks are found to be more resilient to crises and more profit-efficient in the post-GFC period. The authors found that market power had a positive impact on the cost and profit efficiency of banks. Higher levels of equity, market power and concentration helped banks be more cost-efficient.Research limitations/implicationsOnly large banks are selected for study although it represents the majority stake of both banking sectors.Practical implicationsBanking regulators should include more measures to assess the banking market structure and performance.Originality/valueAs per the best knowledge of the authors, it is the first study to assess the change in banking market structure and efficiency of the US and Canadian banking sectors in the post-GFC period.

Risk management factors contributing to transgressions in the procurement practices in South African SOEs

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindani Myeza ◽  
Naledi Nkhi ◽  
Warren Maroun
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
African State ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Executive Level

PurposeThe study aims to deepen the understanding of why risk management principles are circumvented, thereby contributing to transgressions in public procurement for South African state-owned enterprises (SOEs). A deeper understanding of why risk management principles are circumvented is especially important in South Africa, given the high social, economic and environmental risks to which national and major SOEs are exposed in the procurement process.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a qualitative design, based on detailed semi-structured interviews with 19 participants comprising management advisors, forensic investigators and auditors to explore why risk management principles are circumvented by South Africa SOEs.FindingsThe results of the study indicate that the tone that is set at political and executive level plays an important role in determining compliance with risk management principles by lower-level staff. Intense levels of political influence at SOEs are the main reason behind risk management systems being undermined.Originality/valueThe current study is one of the first explorations of why transgressions in public procurement continue to be evident despite risk management reforms being adopted by South Africa public sector. The research responds to the call for more studies on why reforms in South Africa public sector are not reducing transgression in public procurement. The study provides primary evidence on the importance of political and executive leadership in influencing the effectiveness of risk management reforms in the public sector.

Economic role of politics and corporate governance: reforms captured in Malaysia’s setting

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 839-853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurul Nazlia Jamil
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economic Role ◽  
Corporate Governance Reforms ◽  
Governance Reforms

Purpose This study aims to examine the economic role of politics on corporate governance reforms in one of emerging market, namely, Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based upon a literature review analysis. Findings The Malaysian economic, political and social settings have resulted in undue state and detrimental political influence on business, and yet the corporate governance reforms undertaken seemed not be able to resolve the matter. It is suggesting that it would be beneficial for Malaysia to have more independent regulatory bodies representing a wide variety of stakeholders to improve the transparency and accountability to ensure that the reforms are effectively enforced without conflicting with the political agenda. Legal institutional reforms also may be needed to improve the structure, capacity and performance of judicial system, as it is capable to capture reliance of economic role of politics and promoting accountability in Malaysia. Research limitations/implications The economic role of politics on corporate governance reforms is merely to broaden the political strategy in the corporate sector as the change in politics can improve the effectiveness of corporate governance reforms. Moreover, the economic role of politics raises the tone of the corporate governance reforms, and it implies that policymakers need to have effective corporate governance strategy in dealing with the reforms initiatives in areas that have strong political interventions. Originality/value Regulatory and judicial implications are offered as a means to improve corporate governance in Malaysia.

Accounting conservatism, corporate governance and political connections

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nor Farizal Mohammed ◽  
Kamran Ahmed ◽  
Xu-Dong Ji
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Accounting Conservatism ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
Board Independence ◽  
Political Connection ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between accounting conservatism, corporate governance and political connection in listed firms in Malaysia where political influence plays a significant role in the capital market and in many business dealings. Design/methodology/approach By utilizing 824 firm-year observations comprising large listed companies over a period of four years from 2004, this study uses ordinary least squares regression models to investigate the relationship between accounting conservatism, corporate governance and political connections in Malaysia. Multiple measures of conservatism developed by Basu (1997) and Khan and Watts (2009) are employed. Findings The results show evidence of accounting conservatism (bad news being recognized earlier than good news) in Malaysia. Further, the results reveal that better corporate governance structure in terms of board independence is positively associated with accounting conservatism while management ownership is negatively associated with it. However, political connection has a negative moderating effect on the positive relationship between accounting conservatism and board independence. The results also suggest political connections have a positive association with firm’s future performance. Originality/value This study is the first in investigating the effect of political connections on accounting conservatism in Malaysian context and how political connections negatively affect the monitoring role of the corporate boards. By directly measuring political connection and controlling for various corporate governance mechanisms and firm-specific attributes, this study contributes to enhance the authors’ understanding of the political influence in financial reporting quality and firm performance in an emerging market setting.

scholarly journals Competition, performance and financial stability in US agricultural banking

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhav Regmi ◽  
Allen M. Featherstone
Keyword(s):  
Market Power ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Relationship Lending ◽  
Net Income ◽  
Bank Competition ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Linear Effect ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Agricultural Banking

PurposeThe number of US commercial banks has declined by about 50% over the last two decades. This change could lead to a potential decline in competition and a potential increase in market power in the agricultural banking market. The focus of this study is to examine whether the risk of failure and the performance of agricultural banks has been affected by bank consolidations.Design/methodology/approachThe impact of bank competition on performance and financial stability of agricultural banks is studied using a Lerner index as a measure of market power. A Z-score is constructed to measure bank stability. Similarly, the return on assets (net income to total assets ratio), return on equity (net income to the total equity ratio), agricultural loan ratio and agricultural loan volume are used as performance measures for agricultural banks. Two-way fixed effect regression models are estimated to measure the impact of competition on financial stability and performance.FindingsResults indicate that bank competition has a U-shaped effect on the probability of default and an inverted U-shaped effect on volume and proportion of agricultural lending. There also exists evidence of a positive but non-linear effect of bank market power on the profitability of agricultural banks.Originality/valueThere is limited literature on the impact of bank competition on financial stability and performance of US agricultural banks. Agricultural banks hold more than 40% of US farm debt. A decrease in the number of banks or the level of competition in agricultural banking may cause an adverse effect on relationship lending. The key findings imply that bank regulatory strategies should focus on enhancing (reducing) competition in more (less) concentrated banking markets to improve the financial health and performance of agricultural banks.

scholarly journals Research on market power and market structure

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baowen Sun ◽  
Wenjun Jing ◽  
Xuankai Zhao ◽  
Yi He
Keyword(s):  
Market Power ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Scale Economy ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Internet Industry ◽  
Empirical Industrial Organization ◽  
Welfare Change ◽  
Internet Platform ◽  
Traditional Industry

Purpose This paper aims to clear whether the monopoly structure of the internet industry has produced market power and discussed the welfare change of the internet industry monopoly. Design/methodology/approach By using new empirical industrial organization methods and taking the e-commerce market as an example, the authors measured market power and economies of scale of the internet platform companies. Findings Internet platform enterprises have formed scale economy, but it has not had market power, and the industry still maintains high levels of competition; also, the emergence of large enterprises may increase the welfare of consumers. Originality/value The conclusion of this paper clarified actual competition status of internet industry and provided a new foothold for regulation and ideas for the traditional industry to crack the Marshall Conflict.

An examination of the factors contributing to participation in online social platforms

2016 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 793-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Bronstein ◽  
Tali Gazit ◽  
Oren Perez ◽  
Judit Bar-Ilan ◽  
Noa Aharony ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Online Participation ◽  
Social Media Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Media Data

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine participation in online social platforms consisting of information exchange, social network interactions, and political deliberation. Despite the proven benefits of online participation, the majority of internet users read social media data but do not directly contribute, a phenomenon called lurking. Design/methodology/approach A survey was administered electronically to 507 participants and consisted of ten sections in a questionnaire to gather data on the relationship between online participation and the following variables: anonymity, social value orientation, motivations, and participation in offline activities, as well as the internet’s political influence and personality traits. Findings Findings show that users with high levels of participation also identify themselves, report higher levels of extroversion, openness, and activity outside the internet, the motivations being an intermediary variable in the relationship between the variables value. Originality/value The study shows that participation in online social platforms is not only related to personality traits, but they are impacted by the nature of the motivations that drive them to participate in the particular social platform, as well as by the interest toward the specific topic, or the type or nature of the social group with whom they are communicating.

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