Search Results (1,741)

Rising geopolitical tensions and fluctuating financial market conditions have increased volatility and negatively impacted property returns across BRICS countries, yet this critical area remains underexplored despite its significant implications for policy reform and investor participation. To this extent, the objective of the study is to examine the effect of geopolitical uncertainty on BRICS property market returns under changing market conditions. Using a Markov regime-switching model for the period February 2011 to June 2025, the findings reveal regime-specific effects. That being said, Brazil’s property market returns are affected positively (negatively) by South Africa’s (China’s) geopolitical uncertainty, whereas India’s and South Africa’s property market returns are affected negatively and positively by Russia’s geopolitical uncertainty, respectively. These findings were further evident in the bear market condition, as Russia’s geopolitical uncertainty has a significant negative effect on Brazil’s property market returns. Similarly, BRICS countries’ returns are dominated by bear market conditions, revealing negative returns, suggesting the BRICS property market returns are less resilient to periods of uncertainty. The findings underscore the need for new policy reforms to regulate BRICS members’ participation and minimize spillover effects, while investors should closely monitor geopolitical uncertainty within BRICS countries to manage return prospects effectively. Full article

Regional financial integration in East Africa remains shallow, yet contagion risks persist due to market fragility and illiquidity. Using daily data from 2014 to 2025 from the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE), Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE), and Uganda Securities Exchange (USE), this study examines volatility spillovers, dynamic connectedness, and contagion through autoregressive moving average – generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARMA–GARCH) diagnostics, asymmetric dynamic conditional correlation (ADCC–GARCH) correlations, and the Diebold–Yilmaz framework. The results show weak spillovers and limited connectedness in tranquil periods, reflecting persistent segmentation. However, systemic stress triggers abnormal surges in correlations and connectedness, consistent with contagion as a temporary amplification of cross-market linkages. The NSE emerges as the dominant transmitter, driven by liquidity and cross-listings, while the USE acts as a passive absorber. The RSE and DSE alternate between marginal transmitters and receivers depending on conditions. These findings support the Adaptive Market and Financial Instability Hypotheses, underscoring the need for harmonised regulation, liquidity reforms, and adaptive risk management to bolster resilience. Full article

The current research examines the impact of climate change disclosure (CCD) on firm value (FV) of Egyptian listed non-financial companies. The current research also investigates the moderating role of board gender diversity (BGD). The study sample incorporates Egyptian non-financial companies indexed in EGX 100 whose reports were available from 2018 to 2023. The final sample comprises 82 companies with 492 observations. Statistical analysis was conducted using a POLS and Fixed Effects Model, GMM, and the 2SLS method to address potential endogeneity and dynamic panel concerns. The results revealed a positive and significant impact of CCD on FV. Furthermore, BGD had a positive and significant moderating impact as BGD enhanced the relationship between CCD and FV. Moreover, the critical mass (CM) analysis of female representation revealed that the number of females on the board significantly moderates the CCD-FV relationship; as CM increases, the effect on the CCD-FV relationship becomes stronger. Although advanced panel techniques and instrumental variable approaches are used to mitigate identification concerns, the results should be interpreted in light of the observational nature of the data and the reliance on disclosure-based proxies. These findings are significant for governments, regulators, investors, and company leaders because the moderating role of BGD demonstrates how board governance affects firm value, particularly in emerging markets. This research adds to the academic discussion by emphasizing the beneficial effects of both BGD and CCD on FV, with a particular focus on developing economies. Full article

The Earnings Response Coefficient (ERC) has emerged as a pivotal topic in academic literature and financial practice, elucidating the critical relationship between corporate earnings information and market response, which directly impacts corporate performance evaluation and investment decision-making. This study aims to identify the most frequently researched topics in the Earnings Response Coefficient domain, explore the basic concepts and theoretical frameworks underlying ERC research, and propose potential future research directions in the field, all within finance and investment management. This research employs bibliometric analysis to use data from Google Scholar and Scopus, accessed through Publish or Perish (PoP), to evaluate the literature’s performance, explore related topics, and identify research trends, thereby deepening the understanding of ERC studies. The findings reveal that income smoothing and intellectual capital disclosure have a significant impact but low connectedness, indicating a need for deeper exploration to heighten their relevance in ERC studies. Research on corporate social responsibility exhibits a high degree of interconnectedness and substantial impact. Underexplored topics such as economic uncertainty and analysts’ influence require greater attention to understand their contributions fully. This study identifies publication trends and citation networks related to ERC, provides insights into researcher collaborations, and offers guidance for academics, practitioners, and policymakers to enrich their understanding, develop more effective earnings management strategies, and design regulations that bolster market transparency and efficiency in the realm of finance and investment management. This research is particularly beneficial for practitioners, as it helps evaluate more effective earnings management strategies and understand the market’s response to earnings information, ultimately enhancing firm value. For policymakers, this study provides a framework for designing regulations and policies that support financial information transparency and market efficiency to enhance economic stability and investor confidence. Full article

This study investigates the predictability of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance using financial fundamentals within the context of Taiwan, a prominent small open economy integrated into global value chains. As global markets transition toward mandatory sustainability reporting, identifying the financial ante-cedents of ESG outcomes is critical for risk management and regulatory oversight. Uti-lizing a decade of firm-level data (2014–2023) from the Taiwan Economic Journal (TEJ), we employ supervised machine learning (ML) architectures-including Decision Tree, Random Forest, and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost)-to classify firms into ESG performance tiers based on indicators such as profitability, valuation, and scale. Our empirical results provide robust support for the Slack Resources Hypothesis, identifying Return on Assets (ROA) and Firm Size (SIZE) as the most consistent predictors of ESG excellence across the semiconductor, cement, and steel sectors. Conversely, mar-ket-based indicators (Tobin’s Q) dominate predictive models for the financial industry. Methodologically, XGBoost delivers superior predictive calibration for the financial sector, while Decision Trees offer highly interpretable threshold-based logic for risk screening. Our study contributes a transparent “early-warning” framework, enabling investors and regulators to identify sustainability risks through auditable financial benchmarks. The findings suggest that while financial latitude is a structural prerequisite for ESG engagement, it is not its sole determinant, pointing toward a “virtuous circle” of financial health and managerial quality. Full article

Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly being adopted in business settings; however, there remains a shortage of evaluation tools that account for country-specific regulations, particularly for Romania’s taxation and financial accounting requirements. RO-FIN-LLM is a benchmark designed to test how well LLMs handle Romania-specific regulatory question answering in taxation (including VAT regimes, income/profit tax, microenterprise rules, and other obligations) and financial accounting (including journal entries/monographs, amortization, provisions, and foreign exchange transactions). The benchmark contains questions curated by experts, each including the applicable regulatory time frames and the legal sources for the answers. Evaluation is performed in two protocols: closed-book and open-book with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), using Tavily Search API. Evaluation metrics are represented by rubrics, namely correctness, legal citation quality, and clarity/structure. A subset of answers produced by three models was additionally evaluated by 12 specialists in the financial-accounting domain. In this revision, we also describe a public release plan for the question schema, prompts, and evaluation scripts to support independent reproducibility. Full article

Greenwashing has become a critical concern in corporate sustainability reporting, particularly in emerging markets characterized by high information asymmetry. This study examines whether the readability of Key Audit Matters (KAMs) disclosures serves as an effective governance mechanism in mitigating corporate greenwashing. Using a sample of non-financial listed firms in Indonesia and Malaysia from 2020 to 2024, comprising 5720 firm-year observations, we employ panel data regression analysis to investigate the relationship between KAM readability and greenwashing practices. The findings indicate that higher KAM readability is significantly associated with lower levels of greenwashing, suggesting that clearer audit communication enhances transparency and strengthens external monitoring. These results highlight the importance of communicative and accessible KAM disclosures beyond formal compliance. The study contributes to the literature on audit reporting and sustainability governance by demonstrating the role of audit disclosure quality in improving the credibility of sustainability reporting in emerging markets. Practical implications are relevant for regulators, auditors, and firms seeking to enhance reporting integrity and reduce opportunistic sustainability disclosure. Full article

This paper provides new field-based evidence on loss aversion and short-run learning using high-frequency performance data from professional golf. Leveraging over 100,000 putts recorded during the 2020 Korea Professional Golfers’ Association (KPGA) Tour, I examine how professional golfers adjust their putting behavior in response to reference-dependent incentives and immediate feedback. The structure of golf creates a natural empirical setting to test behavioral predictions: scoring rules establish salient reference points (e.g., par), while putting decisions are discrete, individually executed, and financially consequential. I find that players are significantly more likely to convert par-saving putts than birdie attempts from equivalent distances, consistent with loss aversion and reference-dependent preferences. Par putts are also executed more aggressively, but players regulate pace to avoid costly three-putt errors, indicating strategic self-regulation under loss-framed incentives. In addition, I document robust evidence of within-hole learning: second putts—taken shortly after the first under near-identical conditions—exhibit substantially higher success rates. These patterns are confirmed in logistic regression models with nonlinear distance controls and player fixed effects. This performance gap persists across scoring frames and aligns with models of reinforcement learning and dynamic belief updating. The findings illustrate how behavioral biases and adaptive learning interact in high-stakes, real-world decisions and highlight the value of professional sports data for testing core theories in behavioral economics. Full article

The improper management of fats, oils, and grease (FOG) from food services is a major cause of sewer blockages and environmental damage. This study examines FOG management in the restaurant sector of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, Mexico, from three complementary perspectives: the performance of the authorized formal collection system, management practices in food establishments, and the physicochemical characteristics of grease trap residues. These perspectives were addressed using official administrative records and reports from environmental authorities, structured surveys applied to kitchen staff, and laboratory analyses of grease trap samples collected in restaurants. The results reveal important institutional and structural constraints affecting FOG management. Only a limited number of authorized collectors operate actively, serving a small fraction of potential generators, while most food service establishments are micro- or small-sized businesses with limited technical and financial capacity to comply with regulations. A large portion of the sector consists of small, low-cost food service establishments with intensive oil use (e.g., street food vendors, sandwich shops, and set-menu restaurants), which contribute to widespread oil reuse and inadequate disposal practices. Laboratory analyses showed a high free fatty acids (FFAs) content and compositional profiles consistent with repeated oil use, with negative implications for sewer systems and waste management. Overall, the findings highlight the need for stronger regulatory enforcement, collection schemes tailored to micro-scale generators, and awareness campaigns while also indicating opportunities for FOG valorization within circular economy approaches, particularly through energy recovery pathways. Full article

This paper examines the relationship between FinTech and sustainable development in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) using a mixed-methods approach. It combines survey data from professionals in banking, insurance, and manufacturing with policy and industry literature. Using PLS-SEM complemented by macro-level regression robustness analysis, the study analyzes how FinTech, blockchain, green finance, and financial inclusion influence sustainability. Findings show that FinTech and blockchain both significantly enhance sustainable performance, especially when combined. Green finance and financial innovation mediate and strengthen these effects. The research also highlights FinTech’s role in advancing key UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including poverty reduction (SDG 1), gender equality (SDG 5), and economic growth (SDG 8), through broader financial access. However, the study warns that without proper safeguards, financial inclusion could raise CO₂ emissions due to increased fossil fuel use. It emphasizes the need for strong regulation, trust, and infrastructure, and recommends aligning digital finance with environmental goals and boosting digital and environmental literacy. Full article

Fiscal transparency is a core pillar of open government, yet its implementation at the local level remains uneven. This study investigates how the Open Government Partnership (OGP) contributes to fiscal transparency as a form of public sector innovation through a comparative analysis of local governments in Australia and Germany. Drawing on the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Framework (2016), the study evaluates 49 transparency and accountability criteria across four cases: the City of Melbourne, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the City of Osnabrück, and the City of Delmenhorst. Document analysis, complemented by semi-structured interviews with public officials, is used to assess the pattern of fiscal transparency practices. The findings show a consistent cross-case pattern: transparency is strongest in regulated domains such as procurement and external audit, while discretionary areas, including performance reporting, fiscal risk disclosure, and citizen-oriented access to information, display substantial variation. ACT demonstrates comparatively advanced, user-oriented transparency, whereas Melbourne shows targeted compliance alongside notable gaps; the German cases align in compliance-driven areas but exhibit more limited discretionary openness. The study develops a PEFA-guided checklist for assessing local government fiscal transparency and offers a mechanism-focused explanation of how global open government principles are translated into local administrative practice. Full article

This study examines the determinants of profitability for 21 Bulgarian commercial banks over the period from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2025, using financial statement data. Bank profitability is measured by return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) and modeled within a panel autoregressive distributed lag (PMG-ARDL) framework. The empirical specification combines bank-specific and macroeconomic variables, allowing for the identification of both long-run equilibrium relationships and short-run bank-level dynamics. The long-term results indicate that the net interest margin (NIM), net fee and commission margin (NFM), government bond yields, the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP), and the loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) positively affect profitability. On the other hand, higher unemployment, rising housing prices, increased loan loss impairments, and the ratio of cash holdings to total assets reduce profitability. The findings provide policy-relevant insights for bank management, regulators, and macroprudential authorities regarding efficiency, income diversification, and credit risk management. The findings facilitate a more comprehensive assessment of banking sector resilience and provide a foundation for the development and refinement of macroprudential and supervisory policy measures. Full article

In recent years, the integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into corporate strategies has become crucial, particularly in the European financial sector. This study analyzes the impact of ESG practices on financial performance indicators, such as Return on Assets (ROA) and Tobin’s Q, using a sample of 192 European financial companies from 2017 to 2022. The results show that environmental scores have a significant positive effect on Tobin’s Q, indicating greater investor confidence, while the influence on ROA is not significant. In contrast, social and governance scores do not significantly affect either ROA or Tobin’s Q. This is likely due to the European financial sector’s stringent regulatory standards and mandatory compliance requirements, which minimize differences in these areas across firms. Additionally, high levels of financial leverage and larger company size are negatively associated with financial performance. This study contributes to understanding ESG dynamics in the financial sector, highlighting the role of environmental practices in creating market value and the need for regulations to prevent greenwashing. Full article

This study examines campus affinity card agreements under the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act, focusing on how portfolio size, new account openings, and institutional governance affect issuer payments. Using cross sectional data from 6145 issuer institution agreements reported to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in 2022, the analysis employs descriptive statistics, correlation tests, and multivariate regression models to identify predictors of payment volume. Results show that total open accounts strongly predict issuer payments, while new account openings exhibit a weak positive bivariate correlation but exert a modest negative effect in multivariate models once portfolio scale and institution type are controlled for. Foundations received the highest average issuer payments, followed by hybrid organizations and universities. This pattern reflects differences in governance structure, administrative capacity, and bargaining leverage. Transparency requirements under the CARD Act reveal broad patterns but omit incentive timing and interchange revenue, limiting full accountability. This is among the first large-scale empirical analyses of CFPB’s affinity card dataset, advancing understanding of equity in campus credit markets and offering policy relevant insights for regulators and administrators. Full article

This study builds on the concept of loss tolerance by introducing investment grip, a behavioral interpretation that captures investors’ commitment to long-term objectives under adverse market conditions. While loss tolerance traditionally measures the maximum financial loss an investor can withstand, investment grip focuses on the behavioral and psychological dimensions of maintaining long-term investment objectives when facing short-term setbacks, thus providing a more behaviorally grounded and operationalizable approach for evaluating client risk profiles. The investment grip framework integrates insights from self-control theory, emotional regulation research, and goal-commitment models. Using data from 92,792 Japanese retail investors in the 2025 “Survey on Life and Money,” we examine how gain-framed and loss-framed messages are associated with investment grip, controlling for digital financial literacy and demographic, socioeconomic, and psychological factors. Our findings reveal that loss framing is robustly associated with stronger investment grip, whereas gain framing demonstrates no statistically meaningful effect. These findings offer new insights into Japanese household financial behavior, explaining why conservative savings patterns persist despite the availability of better investment alternatives. The results underscore the role of information framing in shaping household investment behavior, with implications for investor protection and financial communication policy. Full article