IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2003-156.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Singapore, Inc. Versus the Private Sector: Are Government-Linked Companies Different?

Author

Listed:
  • Ms. Ling H Tan
  • Carlos D. Ramírez

Abstract

Government-linked companies (GLCs) have a significant presence in Singapore's corporate sector. Unlike parastatals in many other countries, these companies are run on a competitive, commercial basis, ostensibly without government privileges. Based on data from publicly listed GLCs and non-GLCs, we indeed find no evidence that GLCs have easier access to credit. However, we do find that being a GLC is rewarded in financial markets with a positive premium, over and above what can be explained by the usual determinants of Tobin's q.

Suggested Citation

  • Ms. Ling H Tan & Carlos D. Ramírez, 2003. "Singapore, Inc. Versus the Private Sector: Are Government-Linked Companies Different?," IMF Working Papers 2003/156, International Monetary Fund.
  • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2003/156
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=16681
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrei Shleifer, 1998. "State versus Private Ownership," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 133-150, Fall.
    2. Pranab Bardhan & John E. Roemer, 1992. "Market Socialism: A Case for Rejuvenation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 101-116, Summer.
    3. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    4. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1998. "Capital-Market Imperfections and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 193-225, March.
    5. Hirsch, Barry T & Seaks, Terry G, 1993. "Functional Form in Regression Models of Tobin's q," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(2), pages 381-385, May.
    6. Takeo Hoshi & Anil Kashyap & David Scharfstein, 1991. "Corporate Structure, Liquidity, and Investment: Evidence from Japanese Industrial Groups," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(1), pages 33-60.
    7. Ann E. Harrison & Margaret S. McMillan, 2001. "Does Direct Foreign Investment Affect Domestic Firms' Credit Constraints?," NBER Working Papers 8438, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Lang, Larry H P & Stulz, Rene M, 1994. "Tobin's q, Corporate Diversification, and Firm Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(6), pages 1248-1280, December.
    9. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John Fernald & Brent Neiman, 2011. "Growth Accounting with Misallocation: Or, Doing Less with More in Singapore," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 29-74, April.
    2. Mukul G. Asher & Azad Singh Bali & Chang Yee Kwan, 2015. "Public Financial Management In Singapore: Key Characteristics And Prospects," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 60(03), pages 1-18.
    3. Reda Cherif & Fuad Hasanov, 2015. "The Leap of the Tiger: How Malaysia Can Escape the Middle-Income Trap," IMF Working Papers 2015/131, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Paiva-Silva, João, 2022. "Understanding the Singaporean approach to state ownership: ‘commercially viable strategic alignment’ in historical perspective," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 43-58.
    5. Nguyen, Thang V. & Le, Ngoc T.B. & Bryant, Scott E., 2013. "Sub-national institutions, firm strategies, and firm performance: A multilevel study of private manufacturing firms in Vietnam," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 68-76.
    6. John Fernald & Brent Neiman, 2011. "Growth Accounting with Misallocation: Or, Doing Less with More in Singapore," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 29-74, April.
    7. Reda Cherif & Fuad Hasanov, 2019. "The Return of the Policy That Shall Not Be Named: Principles of Industrial Policy," IMF Working Papers 2019/074, International Monetary Fund.
    8. Moritz Breul & Fabio Pruß, 2021. "Applying Evolutionary Economic Geography beyond case studies in the Global North: Regional diversification in Vietnam," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2124, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2021.
    9. Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph & Lu, Yindfa, 2018. "Historical Evolution of Entrepreneurial Development in the Global South: The Case of Ghana, 1957-2010," MPRA Paper 88179, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Cherif Reda & Hasanov Fuad, 2019. "Principles of True Industrial Policy," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-22, June.
    11. Raphael W. K. Lam, 2006. "Markup Variation and Productivity Measurement in Singapore," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 355-377, December.
    12. Yong Sarah Zhou, 2013. "Explaining ASEAN-3’s Investment Puzzle A Tale of Two Sectors," IMF Working Papers 2013/013, International Monetary Fund.
    13. King Yoong Lim & Shuonan Zhang, 2023. "Optimal fiscal management in an economy with resource revenue‐financed government‐linked companies," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 2202-2225, April.
    14. Congleton, Roger D. & Lee, Sanghack, 2009. "Efficient mercantilism? Revenue-maximizing monopoly policies as Ramsey taxation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 102-114, March.
    15. Hong-Nham Nguyen Thi & Hong-Thuy Le Thi & The-Dong Phung, 2021. "Study on the Impact of Institutions on the Labor Productivity of Private Enterprises in Vietnam through the Spillover Effect from State-Owned Enterprises," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-10, August.
    16. Amran Rasli & Chin Fei Goh & Saif-Ur-Rehman Khan, 2013. "Demystifying the role of a state ownership in corporate governance and firm performance: Evidence from the manufacturing sector in Malaysia," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 31(2), pages 233-252.
    17. Reda Cherif & Fuad Hasanov, 2014. "Soaring of the Gulf Falcons: Diversification in the GCC Oil Exporters in Seven Propositions," IMF Working Papers 2014/177, International Monetary Fund.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jérôme Héricourt & Sandra Poncet, 2007. "FDI and credit constraints: firm level evidence in China," Post-Print halshs-00144621, HAL.
    2. Paul Mizen & Cihan Yalcin, 2006. "Monetary Policy, Corporate Financial Composition and Real Activity," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 52(1), pages 177-213, March.
    3. Poncet, Sandra & Steingress, Walter & Vandenbussche, Hylke, 2010. "Financial constraints in China: Firm-level evidence," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 411-422, September.
    4. Fabio Bertoni & María Ferrer & José Martí, 2013. "The different roles played by venture capital and private equity investors on the investment activity of their portfolio firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 607-633, April.
    5. Giorgio Fagiolo & Alessandra Luzzi, 2006. "Do liquidity constraints matter in explaining firm size and growth? Some evidence from the Italian manufacturing industry," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 15(1), pages 1-39, February.
    6. Uchiyama, Hirokuni, 2006. "The index of agency cost and the financial accelerator: the case of Japan," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 22-48, January.
    7. Jean-Bernard Chatelain, 2003. "Structural modelling of financial constraints on investment: where do we stand?," Chapters, in: Paul Butzen & Catherine Fuss (ed.), Firms’ Investment and Finance Decisions, chapter 2, pages 40-58, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Chen, Huafeng (Jason) & Chen, Shaojun (Jenny), 2012. "Investment-cash flow sensitivity cannot be a good measure of financial constraints: Evidence from the time series," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 393-410.
    9. Jae Sim & Simon Gilchrist, 2007. "Investment during the Korean financial crisis: A structural econometric approach," 2007 Meeting Papers 53, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    10. Chari, Anusha & Blair Henry, Peter, 2008. "Firm-specific information and the efficiency of investment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 636-655, March.
    11. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/6119 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Laeven, Luc & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2006. "The determinants of financing obstacles," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 932-952, October.
    13. MORIKAWA Masayuki, 2012. "Financial Constraints in Intangible Investments: Evidence from Japanese firms," Discussion papers 12045, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    14. Gugler, Klaus, 2003. "Corporate governance, dividend payout policy, and the interrelation between dividends, R&D, and capital investment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 1297-1321, July.
    15. Schleicher, Thomas & Tahoun, Ahmed & Walker, Martin, 2010. "IFRS adoption in Europe and investment-cash flow sensitivity: Outsider versus insider economies," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 143-168, June.
    16. Berger, Allen N. & Demsetz, Rebecca S. & Strahan, Philip E., 1999. "The consolidation of the financial services industry: Causes, consequences, and implications for the future," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(2-4), pages 135-194, February.
    17. Pr. D. Patrick Van Cayseele, 2002. "Investment, R&D and liquidity constraints," Working Paper Research 33, National Bank of Belgium.
    18. Hovakimian, Gayane & Titman, Sheridan, 2006. "Corporate Investment with Financial Constraints: Sensitivity of Investment to Funds from Voluntary Asset Sales," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(2), pages 357-374, March.
    19. Emilia Bonaccorsi di Patti & Giorgio Gobbi, 2003. "The effects of bank mergers on credit availability: evidence from corporate data," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 479, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    20. Wei, K.C. John & Zhang, Yi, 2008. "Ownership structure, cash flow, and capital investment: Evidence from East Asian economies before the financial crisis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 118-132, April.
    21. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/9948 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Xede, James & Simon Peter Dak-Adzaklo, Cephas & Ofosu, Emmanuel & Wise Dodzidenu Adza, Solomon, 2023. "Competition laws, external financing and investment," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    WP; company; Singaporean GLCs; market value; private sector; public enterprises; corporate finance; government company; GLC cash flow coefficient; company credibility; paper Co; a number of enterprise; Manufacturing; Currencies; Stocks; Liquidity; Capital markets; Asia and Pacific;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L32 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Enterprises; Public-Private Enterprises
    • L33 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Comparison of Public and Private Enterprise and Nonprofit Institutions; Privatization; Contracting Out
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2003/156. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.