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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in Asian Development Bank InstituteThe Working Paper series is a continuation of the formerly named Discussion Paper series; the numbering of the papers continued without interruption or change. ADBI's working papers reflect initial ideas on a topic and are posted online for discussion. ADBI encourages readers to post their comments on the main page for each working paper (given in the citation below). Some working papers may develop into other forms of publication. The views expressed in this paper are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of ADBI, ADB, its Board of Directors, or the governments they represent. ADBI does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequences of their use. Terminology used may not necessarily be consistent with ADB official terms.Working papers are subject to formal revision and correction before they are finalized and considered published.Asian Development Bank Institute Kasumigaseki Building, 8th Floor 3-2-5 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-6008, JapanTel: +81-3-3593-5500 Fax:+81-3-3593-5571 URL:www.adbi.org E-mail: info@adbi.org AbstractThis paper investigates the impacts of defined-benefit (DB) pension plans on the corporate investment choices between diversifying and non-diversifying investments. We find a firm's DB plan coverage is negatively associated with its propensity of making a major investment. Subject to a major investment decision, however, the firm with higher DB plan coverage is more likely to diversify, i.e., acquire firms abroad or in other industries, rather than invest in fixed assets or make non-diversifying (i.e., domestic horizontal) acquisitions. Moreover, in diversifying acquisitions, they are more likely to invest in countries or industries with a strongly unionized workforce. Further analysis on post-investment performance shows that firms with higher DB plan coverage experience a greater improvement in operating profitability after a diversifying acquisition, and the improvement mainly comes from a higher asset turnover rather than cost reduction. On the other hand, DB plan sponsoring firms experience a decline in profitability after a large capital expenditure or a non-diversifying acquisition. We propose that both the bargaining motive and the conforming motive can explain these results.

INTRODUCTION The Smoking Control Regulation in Public Places (hereafter, the ‘regulations’) has been implemented in Shanghai since 2010. This study explores the changes in smoking prevalence and its influencing factors among urban Shanghai residents. METHODS Two rounds of household investigations (the Health Status and Health Service Utilization Survey) were carried out using a multistage probability proportionate-to-size sampling method in an urbanized district in 2010 and 2015. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were applied to the statistics. RESULTS From 2010 to 2015, the standardized current smoking rate fell from 24.8% to 19.1% (38.3% to 32.0% among men, and 1.9% to 1.4% among women). Meanwhile, the standardized smoking cessation rate increased from 18.1% to 23.3%. Smoking prevalence in respondents aged 45 to 59 years was still higher than that of other age groups. Changes in smoking prevalence and cessation rates were more obvious in respondents aged 30–44 and over 75 years. Sex, age, education, marital status, and alcohol use were influencing factors of current smoking, while sex, age and alcohol use were influencing factors of smoking cessation. CONCLUSIONS The implementation of smoking control regulations may be beneficial for reducing smoking and increasing smoking cessation, especially among middle-aged and older men. Nevertheless, tobacco control in urban Shanghai still faces huge challenges. Therefore, more targeted and comprehensive measures should be taken.