Search Results (2,048)

This study proposes a novel Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) policy network structure for portfolio management called PortRSMs. PortRSMs employs stacked State-Space Models (SSMs) for the modeling of multi-scale continuous regime shifts in financial time series, striking a balance between exploring consistent distribution properties over short periods and maintaining sensitivity to sudden shocks in price sequences. PortRSMs also performs cross-asset regime fusion through hypergraph attention mechanisms, providing a more comprehensive state space for describing changes in asset correlations and co-integration. Experiments conducted on two different trading frequencies in the stock markets of the United States and Hong Kong show the superiority of PortRSMs compared to other approaches in terms of profitability, risk–return balancing, robustness, and the ability to handle sudden market shocks. Specifically, PortRSMs achieves up to a 0.03 improvement in the annual Sharpe ratio in the U.S. market, and up to a 0.12 improvement for the Hong Kong market compared to baseline methods. Full article

Population aging poses significant challenges to the sustainability of pension systems. This study presents an integrated methodological approach that uniquely combines actuarial life-cycle modeling with agent-based simulation to assess the potential of Reverse Mortgage Loans (RMLs) as a dual lever for enhancing retiree welfare and supporting pension system resilience under demographic and financial uncertainty. We explore Reverse Mortgage Loans (RMLs) as a potential financial instrument to support retirees while alleviating pressure on public pensions. Unlike prior research that treats individual decisions or policy outcomes in isolation, our hybrid model explicitly captures feedback loops between household-level behavior and system-wide financial stability. To test our hypothesis that RMLs can improve individual consumption outcomes and bolster systemic solvency, we develop a hybrid model combining actuarial techniques and agent-based simulations, incorporating stochastic housing prices, longevity risk, regulatory capital requirements, and demographic shifts. This dual-framework enables a structured investigation of how micro-level financial decisions propagate through market dynamics, influencing solvency, pricing, and adoption trends. Our central hypothesis is that reverse mortgages, when actuarially calibrated and macroprudentially regulated, enhance individual financial well-being while preserving long-run solvency at the system level. Simulation results indicate that RMLs can improve consumption smoothing, raise expected utility for retirees, and contribute to long-term fiscal sustainability. Moreover, we introduce a dynamic regulatory mechanism that adjusts capital buffers based on evolving market and demographic conditions, enhancing system resilience. Our simulation design supports multi-scenario testing of financial robustness and policy outcomes, providing a transparent tool for stress-testing RML adoption at scale. These findings suggest that, when well-regulated, RMLs can serve as a viable supplement to traditional retirement financing. Rather than offering prescriptive guidance, this framework provides insights to policymakers, financial institutions, and regulators seeking to integrate RMLs into broader pension strategies. Full article

The purpose of this research is to examine employee perceptions regarding the implementation of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) practices in financial institutions, with a comparative focus on urban and rural banks in the Republic of Serbia. The study investigates how employees assess environmental, social, and governance aspects of ESG, as well as their own role in applying these principles in everyday work. The results reveal statistically significant differences between the two groups; employees in urban banks report greater engagement, more access to training, and stronger involvement in ESG decision-making. These findings suggest the existence of more developed institutional support, infrastructure, and organisational culture in urban banks. In contrast, employees in rural banks highlight the need for enhanced training, clearer ESG guidance, and improved oversight mechanisms. The study underlines the importance of investing in employee development and internal communication, particularly in rural contexts, to improve ESG outcomes. By focusing on employee-level perceptions, this research contributes to the understanding of how organisational and geographic factors influence the implementation of ESG-related practices in financial institutions. Full article

The proliferation of biometric technology across various domains including user identification, financial services, healthcare, security, law enforcement, and border control introduces convenience in user identity verification while necessitating robust protection mechanisms for sensitive biometric data. While chaos-based encryption systems offer promising solutions, many existing chaos-based encryption schemes exhibit inherent shortcomings including deterministic randomness and constrained key spaces, often failing to balance security robustness with computational efficiency. To address this, we propose a novel dual-layer cryptographic framework leveraging a four-dimensional (4D) Qi hyperchaotic system for protecting biometric templates and facilitating secure feature matching operations. The framework implements a two-tier encryption mechanism where each layer independently utilizes a Qi hyperchaotic system to generate unique encryption parameters, ensuring template-specific encryption patterns that enhance resistance against chosen-plaintext attacks. The framework performs dimensional normalization of input biometric templates, followed by image pixel shuffling to permutate pixel positions before applying dual-key encryption using the Qi hyperchaotic system and XOR diffusion operations. Templates remain encrypted in storage, with decryption occurring only during authentication processes, ensuring continuous security while enabling biometric verification. The proposed system’s framework demonstrates exceptional randomness properties, validated through comprehensive NIST Statistical Test Suite analysis, achieving statistical significance across all 15 tests with p-values consistently above 0.01 threshold. Comprehensive security analysis reveals outstanding metrics: entropy values exceeding 7.99 bits, a key space of ${10}^{320}$, negligible correlation coefficients (<${10}^{-2}$), and robust differential attack resistance with an NPCR of 99.60% and a UACI of 33.45%. Empirical evaluation, on standard CASIA Face and Iris databases, demonstrates practical computational efficiency, achieving average encryption times of 0.50913s per user template for 256 × 256 images. Comparative analysis against other state-of-the-art encryption schemes verifies the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed scheme and demonstrates our framework’s superior performance in both security metrics and computational efficiency. Our findings contribute to the advancement of biometric template protection methodologies, offering a balanced performance between security robustness and operational efficiency required in real-world deployment scenarios. Full article

Based on a comprehensive review of the current research status of ecological compensation both domestically and internationally, combined with field survey data, this study delves into the issue of multi-stakeholder participation in the ecological compensation mechanisms of the Xin’an River Basin. This research reveals that the joint participation of multiple stakeholders is crucial to achieving the goals of ecological compensation in river basins. The government plays a significant role in macro-guidance, financial support, policy guarantees, supervision, and management. It promotes the comprehensive implementation of ecological environmental protection by formulating relevant laws and regulations, guiding the public to participate in ecological conservation, and supervising and punishing pollution behaviors. The public, serving as the main force, forms strong awareness and behavioral habits of ecological protection through active participation in environmental protection, monitoring, and feedback. As participants, enterprises contribute to industrial transformation and green development by improving resource utilization efficiency, reducing pollution emissions, promoting green industries, and participating in ecological restoration projects. Scientific research institutions, as technology enablers, have effectively enhanced governance efficiency through technological research and innovation, ecosystem value accounting to provide decision-making support, and public education. Social organizations, as facilitators, have injected vitality and innovation into watershed governance by extensively mobilizing social forces and building multi-party collaboration platforms. Communities, as supporters, have transformed ecological value into economic benefits by developing characteristic industries such as eco-agriculture and eco-tourism. Based on the above findings, further recommendations are proposed to mobilize the enthusiasm of upstream communities and encourage their participation in ecological compensation, promote the market-oriented operation of ecological compensation mechanisms, strengthen cross-regional cooperation to establish joint mechanisms, enhance supervision and evaluation, and establish a sound benefit-sharing mechanism. These recommendations provide theoretical support and practical references for ecological compensation worldwide. Full article

Introduction and Objectives: Risk-sharing agreements (RSAs) have emerged as a key strategy for financing high-cost medical technologies while ensuring financial sustainability. These payment mechanisms mitigate clinical and financial uncertainties, optimizing pricing and reimbursement decisions. Despite their widespread adoption globally, Latin America has reported limited implementation, particularly for high-cost medical devices. This study aims to share insights from designing RSAs in the form of Outcome Protection Programs (OPPs) for medical devices in Latin America from the perspective of a medical devices company. Methods: The report follows a structured approach, defining key OPP dimensions: payment base, access criteria, pricing schemes, risk assessment, and performance incentives. Risks were categorized as financial, clinical, and operational. The framework applied principles from prior models, emphasizing negotiation, program design, implementation, and evaluation. A multidisciplinary task force analyzed patient needs, provider motivations, and payer constraints to ensure alignment with health system priorities. Results: Over two semesters, a panel of seven experts from the manufacturer designed n = 105 innovative payment programs implemented in Argentina (n = 7), Brazil (n = 7), Colombia (n = 75), Mexico (n = 9), Panama (n = 4), and Puerto Rico (n = 3). The programs targeted eight high-burden conditions, including Coronary Artery Disease, atrial fibrillation, Heart Failure, and post-implantation arrhythmias, among others. Private providers accounted for 80% of experiences. Challenges include clinical inertia and operational complexities, necessitating structured training and monitoring mechanisms. Conclusions: Outcome Protection Programs offer a viable and practical risk-sharing approach to financing high-cost medical devices in Latin America. Their implementation requires careful stakeholder alignment, clear eligibility criteria and endpoints, and robust monitoring frameworks. These findings contribute to the ongoing dialogue on sustainable healthcare financing, emphasizing the need for tailored approaches in resource-constrained settings. Full article

The countries and regions along the Belt and Road are rich in wetland carbon sink resources, crucial for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and achieving global emission reduction. This paper uses policy analysis and desk research to analyze the overview of wetland carbon sinks in these countries. It explores the necessity of legal system construction for their carbon sink trading. This study finds that smooth trading requires clear property rights definition rules, efficient market trading entities, definite carbon sink trading price rules, financial support aligned with the Equator Principles, and support from biodiversity-compatible environmental regulatory principles. Currently, there are still obstacles in wetland carbon sink trading in the Belt and Road, such as property rights confirmation, an accounting system, an imperfect market trading mechanism, and the coexistence of multiple trading risks. Therefore, this paper first proposes to clarify the goal of the legal guarantee mechanism. Efforts should focus on promoting a consensus on wetland carbon sink ownership and establishing a unified accounting standard system; simultaneously, the relevant departments should conduct field investigations and monitoring, standardize the market order, and strengthen government financial support and funding guarantees. Full article

In today’s volatile supply chain environment, organizations require flexible and collaborative procurement strategies. Swap contracts, originally developed as financial instruments, have recently been adopted to address inventory imbalances—such as the 2021 COVID-19 vaccine swap between South Korea and Israel. Despite its increasing adoption in the real world, theoretical studies on swap-based procurement remain limited. This study proposes an integrated model that combines buyer-to-buyer swap agreements with long-term wholesale contracts under demand uncertainty. The model quantifies the expected swap quantity between parties and embeds it into the profit function to derive optimal order quantities. Numerical experiments are conducted to compare the performance of the proposed strategy with that of a baseline wholesale contract. Sensitivity analyses are performed on key parameters, including demand asymmetry and swap prices. The numerical analysis indicates that the swap-integrated procurement strategy consistently outperforms procurement based on long-term wholesale contracts. Moreover, the results reveal that under the swap-integrated strategy, the optimal order quantity must be adjusted—either increased or decreased—depending on the demand scale of the counterpart and the specified swap price, deviating from the optimal quantity under traditional long-term contracts. These findings highlight the potential of swap-integrated procurement strategies as practical coordination mechanisms across both private and public sectors, offering strategic value in contexts such as vaccine distribution, fresh produce, and other critical products. Full article

The ongoing degradation of global forests has severely weakened ecosystem service functions, and traditional judicial remedies have struggled to quantify intangible ecological losses. China has become an important testing ground for restorative justice through the establishment of specialized environmental courts and the practice of environmental public interest litigation. Since 2015, China has actively explored and institutionalized the application of the concept of restorative justice in its environmental justice reform. This concept emphasizes compensating environmental damages through actual ecological restoration acts rather than relying solely on financial compensation. This shift reflects a deep understanding of the limitations of traditional environmental justice and an institutional response to China’s ecological civilization construction, providing critical support for forest ecosystem restoration and enabling ecological restoration activities, such as replanting and re-greening, habitat reconstruction, etc., to be enforced through judicial decisions. This study conducts a qualitative analysis of judicial rulings in forest restoration cases to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of restorative justice in compensating for losses in forest ecosystem service functions. The findings reveal the following: (1) restoration measures in judicial practice are disconnected from the types of ecosystem services available; (2) non-market values and long-term cumulative damages are systematically underestimated, with monitoring mechanisms exhibiting fragmented implementation and insufficient effectiveness; (3) management cycles are set in violation of ecological restoration principles, and acceptance standards lack function-oriented indicators; (4) participation of key stakeholders is severely lacking, and local knowledge and professional expertise have not been integrated. In response, this study proposes a restorative judicial framework oriented toward forest ecosystem services, utilizing four mechanisms: independent recognition of legal interests, function-matched restoration, application of scientific assessment tools, and multi-stakeholder collaboration. This framework aims to drive a paradigm shift from formal restoration to substantive functional recovery, providing theoretical support and practical pathways for environmental judicial reform and global forest governance. Full article

Financial market forecasting remains challenging due to complex nonlinear dynamics and regime-dependent behaviors that traditional models struggle to capture effectively. This research introduces the Adaptive Financial Reservoir Network with Hypernetwork Flow (AFRN–HyperFlow) framework, a novel ensemble architecture integrating Echo State Networks, temporal convolutional networks, mixture density networks, adaptive Hypernetworks, and deep state-space models for enhanced financial time-series prediction. Through comprehensive feature engineering incorporating technical indicators, spectral decomposition, reservoir-based representations, and flow dynamics characteristics, the framework achieves superior forecasting performance across diverse market conditions. Experimental validation on 26,817 balanced samples demonstrates exceptional results with an F1-score of 0.8947, representing a 12.3% improvement over State-of-the-Art baseline methods, while maintaining robust performance across asset classes from equities to cryptocurrencies. The adaptive Hypernetwork mechanism enables real-time regime-change detection with 2.3 days average lag and 95% accuracy, while systematic SHAP analysis provides comprehensive interpretability essential for regulatory compliance. Ablation studies reveal Echo State Networks contribute 9.47% performance improvement, validating the architectural design. The AFRN–HyperFlow framework addresses critical limitations in uncertainty quantification, regime adaptability, and interpretability, offering promising directions for next-generation financial forecasting systems incorporating quantum computing and federated learning approaches. Full article

This study provides a comprehensive synthesis of climate risk and financial stability literature through a systematic review and bibliometric analysis of 174 Scopus-indexed publications from 1988 to 2024. Publications increased by 500% from 1988 to 2019, indicating growing research interest following the 2015 Paris Agreement. It explores how physical and transition climate risks affect financial markets, asset pricing, financial regulation, and long-term sustainability. Common themes include macroprudential policy, climate disclosures, and environmental risk integration in financial management. Influential authors and key journals are identified, with keyword analysis showing strong links between “climate change”, “financial stability”, and “climate risk”. Various methodologies are used, including econometric modeling, panel data analysis, and policy review. The main finding indicates a shift toward integrated, risk-based financial frameworks and rising concern over systemic climate threats. Policy implications include the need for harmonized disclosures, ESG integration, and strengthened adaptation finance mechanisms. Full article

Ecosystem services—the benefits humans derive from nature—are foundational to environmental sustainability and economic well-being, with carbon sequestration and storage standing out as critical regulating services in the fight against climate change. This study presents a comprehensive financial valuation of the carbon sequestration, storage and product substitution ecosystem services provided by the Hungarian forest-based sector. Using a multi-scenario framework, four complementary valuation concepts are assessed: total carbon storage (biomass, soil, and harvested wood products), annual net sequestration, emissions avoided through material and energy substitution, and marketable carbon value under voluntary carbon market (VCM) and EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF) mechanisms. Data sources include the National Forestry Database, the Hungarian Greenhouse Gas Inventory, and national estimates on substitution effects and soil carbon stocks. The total carbon stock of Hungarian forests is estimated at 1289 million tons of CO₂ eq, corresponding to a theoretical climate liability value of over EUR 64 billion. Annual sequestration is valued at approximately 380 million EUR/year, while avoided emissions contribute an additional 453 million EUR/year in mitigation benefits. A comparative analysis of two mutually exclusive crediting strategies—improved forest management projects (IFMs) avoiding final harvesting versus long-term carbon storage through the use of harvested wood products—reveals that intensified harvesting for durable wood use offers higher revenue potential (up to 90 million EUR/year) than non-harvesting IFM scenarios. These findings highlight the dual role of forests as both carbon sinks and sources of climate-smart materials and call for policy frameworks that integrate substitution benefits and long-term storage opportunities in support of effective climate and bioeconomy strategies. Full article

This study explores how corporate governance reforms can enhance financial reporting quality and organizational transparency, focusing on Greece’s transition from Law 3016/2002 to Law 4706/2020. The legislative reform aimed to modernize governance structures, align national practices with international standards, and strengthen investor protection in a post-crisis economic environment. Moving beyond a simple legal comparison, the study examines how Law 3016/2002’s formal compliance model contrasts with Law 4706/2020’s more substantive accountability framework. We hypothesize that Law 4706/2020 introduces substantively stronger governance mechanisms than its predecessor, thereby improving transparency and investor protection, while compliance with the new law imposes materially greater administrative and financial burdens, especially on small- and mid-cap firms. Methodologically, the research employs a narrative literature review and a structured comparative legal analysis to assess the administrative and financial implications of the new law for publicly listed companies, focusing on board composition and diversity, internal controls, suitability policies, and disclosure requirements. Drawing on prior comparative evidence, we posit that Law 4706/2020 will foster governance and disclosure improvements, enhanced oversight, and clearer board roles. However, these measures also impose compliance burdens. Due to the heterogeneity of listed companies and the lack of firm-level data following Law 4706/2020’s implementation, the findings are neither fully generalizable nor quantifiable; future quantitative research using event studies or panel data is required to validate the hypotheses. We conclude that Greece’s new framework is a critical step toward sustainable corporate governance and more transparent financial reporting, offering regulators, practitioners, and scholars examining legal reform’s impact on governance effectiveness and financial reporting integrity. Full article

Amid intensifying global ESG regulations and the expanding influence of green finance, China’s digital economy policies have emerged as key institutional instruments for promoting corporate sustainability. Leveraging the implementation of the National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone as a quasi-natural experiment, this study utilizes panel data of Chinese listed firms from 2009 to 2023 and applies multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) and Spatial DID models to rigorously identify the policy’s effects on corporate ESG performance. Empirical results indicate that the impact of digital economy policy is not exerted through a direct linear pathway but operates via three institutional mechanisms, enhanced information transparency, eased financing constraints, and expanded fiscal support, collectively constructing a logic of “institutional embedding–governance restructuring.” Moreover, disruptive technological innovation significantly amplifies the effects of the transparency and fiscal mechanisms, but exhibits no statistically significant moderating effect on the financing constraint pathway, suggesting a misalignment between innovation heterogeneity and financial responsiveness. Further heterogeneity analysis confirms that the policy effect is concentrated among firms characterized by robust governance structures, high levels of property rights marketization, and greater digital maturity. This study contributes to the literature by developing an integrated moderated mediation framework rooted in institutional theory, agency theory, and dynamic capabilities theory. The findings advance the theoretical understanding of ESG policy transmission by unpacking the micro-foundations of institutional response under digital policy regimes, while offering actionable insights into the strategic alignment of digital transformation and sustainability-oriented governance. Full article

Against the backdrop of China’s fast-growing digital economy and its financial inclusion agenda, there is still little city-level evidence on whether the e-CNY pilot accelerates financial deepening at the grassroots. Using a balanced panel of 271 prefecture-and-above cities for 2016–2022, this study employs a staggered difference-in-differences (SDID) design augmented by the synthetic control method (SCM) to rigorously identify the policy effect of the e-CNY pilot. The results show that the pilot program significantly improves urban financial inclusion, contributing to more equitable access to financial services and supporting inclusive socio-economic development. Mechanism analysis suggests that the effect operates mainly through two channels, a merchant-coverage channel and a transaction-scale channel, with the former contributing the majority of the overall effect. Incorporating a migration-based mobility index shows that most studies’ focus on the merchant-coverage effect is amplified in cities under tight mobility restrictions but wanes where commercial networks are already saturated, whereas the transaction-scale channel is largely insensitive to mobility shocks. Heterogeneity tests further indicate stronger gains in non-provincial capital cities and in the eastern and central regions. Overall, the study uncovers a “penetration-inclusion” network logic and provides policy insights for advancing sustainable financial inclusion through optimized terminal deployment, merchant incentives, and diversified scenario design. Full article