Search Results (649)

Extreme natural disasters raise a fundamental question for biologically rigid food production systems: does post-disaster productivity recovery stem from technological change or from adaptive reorganization within existing constraints? In inland aquaculture, where biological processes, fixed production cycles, and capital requirements severely limit short-run technological upgrading, this distinction is particularly critical. Using two post-earthquake time points (2023 and 2025), the analysis documents productivity and efficiency patterns rather than causal recovery trajectories. Accordingly, the analysis is explicitly descriptive and does not attempt to identify causal recovery mechanisms or long-run productivity dynamics. Adaptive efficiency is not directly measured in this study; rather, the term is used as an interpretative construct to describe efficiency changes that are consistent with adaptive behavior under post-disaster constraints. This study examines productivity patterns observed during the post-earthquake period in inland trout aquaculture following the 6 February 2023 earthquake in Eastern Türkiye, with a particular focus on adaptive efficiency as a recovery-consistent mechanism. Using a balanced panel of 290 inland trout farms observed during the immediate post-earthquake adjustment period (2023) and a subsequent recovery phase (2025), the analysis integrates bias-corrected Data Envelopment Analysis, Malmquist productivity decomposition, and resilience-oriented truncated regression. Recovery dynamics are examined conditional on farm survival, allowing within-farm adaptive adjustment to be distinguished from exit-driven selection effects. The results indicate that productivity recovery was driven predominantly by improvements in technical efficiency, while technological change remained close to unity across provinces, suggesting short-run production frontier stability. This pattern is consistent with delayed or constrained investment behavior under heightened uncertainty rather than with technological stagnation. This interpretation is not unique and should be read as one plausible mechanism among several, rather than as a definitive explanation of observed frontier stability. Farms primarily restored performance through operational reorganization, input coordination, and scale adjustment within existing biological and technological constraints, rather than through innovation. Second-stage results further show that the coefficient on access to liquidity is positive, while higher mortality rates and greater distance to markets are systematically associated with weaker post-disaster adjustment. Overall, the findings indicate that short- to medium-term productivity patterns in biologically rigid inland aquaculture systems are governed primarily by efficiency changes consistent with adaptive efficiency rather than technological change. From a policy perspective, post-disaster aquaculture recovery strategies should prioritize liquidity support, biological continuity, and operational stability over premature technology-push interventions. The analysis is based on two post-disaster observation points (2023 and 2025), which allows identification of short- to medium-term recovery-consistent patterns but does not permit causal or long-run inference. Full article

Research on how corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices linked to sustainable operations (SO) affect corporate financial performance (FP) is still limited. This study presents a novel methodological proposal to measure the individual impact of such practices on the profitability of companies listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange. The method employed consists of a Random Forest (RF) model complemented by Explainable Machine Learning (XML) techniques, namely Individual Conditional Expectation (ICE), Partial Dependence Plots (PDPs) and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP), to calculate the individualized marginal effect in the return on assets (RoA), return on equity (RoE) and return on investment capital (ROIC) for each company, explained by the environmental, social, and governance scores provided by Bloomberg (Bloomberg Finance, L.P., New York, NY, USA), such as the market capitalization, debt-to-equity ratio, sales growth, and years since listing. The novelty of this model lies in the application of RF and XML, which offers a comprehensive and interpretable perspective on the CSR–FP relationship and the use of lagged explanatory variables to avoid endogeneity problems, overcoming the limitations of traditional analyses. The results indicate that environmental scores exhibit the most consistent contribution to FP, whereas social and governance effects are highly metric-dependent. The SHAP analysis reveals substantial heterogeneity in the drivers of firm FP, highlighting the relevance of XML methods. Full article

As global climate change intensifies and the Paris Agreement advances low-carbon transformation, frequent local policy adjustments under China’s dual carbon goals have made climate-policy uncertainty a core challenge for corporate sustainability. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance has grown exponentially in international capital markets, evolving from a peripheral concept to a key investment decision-making dimension. This study uses China’s carbon peaking and neutrality policies as a quasinatural experiment, applying the difference-in-differences (DID) method to the panel data of Chinese A-share listed companies (2014–2023). Taking high-energy-consuming enterprises as the treatment group, this study identifies net policy effects via the interaction of policy and time dummy variables. The results show that carbon peaking and neutrality policies significantly suppress the ESG performance of energy-intensive firms; mediating effect tests confirm that the policy harms ESG performance by increasing uncertainty. Implications include enhancing policy transparency and predictability and optimizing resource allocation to strengthen ESG resilience. Future research should focus on micro-level policy indicators and long-term effect tracking to provide theoretical and practical support for synergizing dual carbon goals with high-quality economic development. Full article

The informational efficiency of stock prices is conditioned by the level of quality of financial reports, contributing to an accurate assessment of the company’s future performance. By approaching informational quality from two perspectives, we conducted an analysis of the impact of faithful representation and readability of annual reports on the reaction of the Romanian capital market, measured by annual stock returns (SR) and cumulative abnormal returns (CAR). The findings revealed an accentuated concern of investors regarding the faithful representation of the firm’s financial results (both at the time of financial statements’ publication and at the year-end) and a diminished significance of the comprehensibility level of financial information in the investment decision-making process. The annual reports of a sample of firms listed on the BSE between 2017 and 2023 have an increased level of linguistic complexity, which entails processing costs, and are intended for sophisticated users with financial expertise. Along with the specialized language, the extensive length of reports delays the incorporation of all information into the stock price, decreasing the informational efficiency of the market. This empirical study applies several indices to assess the readability and conciseness of financial information (FOG index, Flesch–Kincaid index, Flesch Reading Ease Score, and report length) and contributes to the expanding literature by providing a useful basis for future analysis of the influence of financial report quality on investors’ perceptions. Full article

From adaptation to building effective resilience to climate change is critical for transforming West and Central Africa (WCA) agricultural system. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an approach initiated by leading international organizations to ensure food security, increased adaptation to climate change and mitigation. Its application spans from innovative policies, practices, technologies, innovations and financing. However, CSA initiatives lack scientific-based assessment prior to implementation to ensure their effectiveness. To fill this gap, future interventions should not only be assessed using rigorous methodology but should also be built on lessons learned from previous initiatives. Although there are a lot of climate related agricultural initiatives in WCA, most of them have not been analyzed through a CSA lens and criteria to capitalize on their experiences to improve future interventions. In this study we mapped previous climate-related initiatives in WCA, highlighted their gaps and lessons learned to accelerate the implementation of CSA in the region. The study covered 20 countries in WCA: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo. CSA initiatives were reviewed using a three-steps methodology: (i) national data collection, (ii) regional validation of the national database, (iii) data analysis including spatial mapping. Data was collected from the websites of international, regional and national organizations working in the field of agricultural development in the region. Each initiative was analyzed using a multicriteria analysis based on CSA principles. A total of 1629 CSA related initiatives were identified in WCA. Over 75% of them were in the form of projects/programs with more of a focus on the first CSA pillar (productivity and food security), followed by adaptation. The mitigation pillar is less covered by the initiatives. Animal production, fisheries, access to markets, and energy are poorly included. More than half of these initiatives have already been completed, calling for more new initiatives in the region. Women benefit very little from the implementation of the identified CSA initiatives, despite the substantial role they play in agriculture. CSA initiatives mainly received funding from technical and financial partners and development partners (45%), banks (22%), and international climate financing mechanisms (20%). Most of them were implemented by government institutions (48%) and development partners (23%). In total, more than 600 billion EUR have been disbursed to implement 83 of the 1629 initiatives identified. These initiatives contributed to reclaiming and/or rehabilitating almost 2 million ha of agricultural land in all countries between 2015 and 2025. Future initiatives should ensure the consideration of the three CSA pillars right from their formulation to the implementation. These initiatives should consider investing in mixed production systems like crop-animal-fisheries. Activities should be built around CSA innovation platforms to encourage networking among actors for more sustainability. Full article

This research experimentally investigates the association between multidimensional risk factors and economic growth, quantified by GDP as a partial indicator of advancement towards economically relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This research experimentally investigates the correlation between multidimensional risk variables and economic growth, quantified by GDP as a partial indicator of advancement towards economically relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Saudi Arabia, particularly in alignment with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030. This study utilizes annual data from 1990 to 2024 and employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to examine the short-run and long-run relationships between economic growth, as measured by GDP, and five key risk dimensions: governance effectiveness, financial development, environmental pressure, human capital, and oil price volatility, which act as proxies for risk dimensions. The main contribution of this study is the integration of these governance, financial, environmental, human capital, and oil price risk factors into a single ARDL framework for Saudi Arabia from 1990 to 2024, using GDP growth as a proxy for progress toward SDGs within the Saudi Vision 2030 context, addressing gaps in prior studies that focus on individual determinants. The empirical evidence indicates a long-term cointegration relationship among the variables. Our findings indicate that government effectiveness and investment in human capital are important positive factors associated with long-term economic growth, thereby validating the importance of institutional improvements and educational expenditures. In contrast, fluctuations in oil prices and environmental pressures are linked to adverse association, highlighting issues related to resource dependency and ecological degradation. Financial development exhibits a negative long-run association, indicating potential inefficiencies or diminishing returns in loan distribution. The study offers essential policy recommendations, such as expediting digital governance reforms, allocating financial resources to non-oil SMEs (SDG 8), aligning educational curricula with labor market demands, and implementing stricter environmental regulations to separate economic growth from emissions. Full article

With the ongoing development of the digital economy, the productive function of data as an economic factor has become increasingly salient. Scientifically and rigorously assessing the value of data assets is essential for improving the national economic accounting system and promoting sustainable economic growth. In light of the limitations inherent in existing cost-based and market-based valuation approaches, this paper proposes a comprehensive valuation model that integrates the cost approach with the income approach and applies it to the commercial banking sector. Specifically, text analysis is employed to estimate human capital investment in data assets from the perspective of labor supply and demand, after which total costs are derived based on the proportion of human capital. An ARIMA model is used to forecast future cost inputs and net profits associated with data assets. Furthermore, the income-based approach is adopted to estimate the average present value of data assets, with the results of the two methods serving to validate each other. The comparison of estimation results under the cost approach and the income approach further validates the relationship between input and output in data assets. This also demonstrates that data assets follow the law of diminishing marginal utility, thereby contradicting the notion that data increases in value with greater usage. This study enriches the theoretical framework of data asset valuation, broadens its application scope, and provides meaningful guidance for advancing data asset accounting practices and related research. Full article

The integration of biomethane into the natural gas infrastructure is a critical element of energy-sector decarbonization, yet optimal infrastructure development scenarios remain insufficiently compared using unified decision frameworks. This study evaluates three biomethane market integration scenarios—direct connection to the gas system, biomethane injection points (compressed biomethane transported by trucks to the gas system), and off-grid delivery using the multi-criteria decision-making method TOPSIS. Environmental, economic, and technical dimensions are jointly assessed. Results indicate that direct connection to the system provides the most balanced overall performance, achieving the highest integrated score (Ci = 0.70), driven by superior environmental and technical characteristics. Biomethane injection points demonstrate strong economic advantages (Ci = 0.49), particularly where capital investments need to be reduced or there is limited access to the gas system, but show weaker environmental and technical performance. Off-grid solutions perform poorly in integrated assessment (Ci = 0.00), reflecting limited scalability and high logistical complexity, although niche applications may remain viable under specific conditions. Sensitivity analysis confirms the robustness of these rankings across a wide range of weighting assumptions, strengthening the reliability of the findings for policy and infrastructure planning. This study provides one of the first integrated multi-criteria assessments explicitly incorporating virtual pipeline logistics, offering a transferable decision-support framework for sustainable biomethane development in diverse regional contexts. Full article

This article examines how European funding enhances the financial performance of Romanian SMEs, a sector facing growing regulatory pressure, market volatility, and resource constraints. The study combines a thematic analysis of InvestEU indicators and national SME financing data (2021–2023) with a firm-level difference-in-differences model comparing InvestEU-funded SMEs to a matched control group over 2023–2024. The qualitative evidence shows that InvestEU operates at the EU level as a multidimensional policy instrument fostering competitiveness, social inclusion, and long-term economic and environmental development, while Romanian SMEs continue to rely predominantly on their own funds and national co-financing, a conservative pattern that ensures stability but limits access to external capital and transformative investments. Econometric results indicate that funded SMEs record, on average, higher turnover and net profit growth than comparable non-funded firms and confirm a strong positive association between firm size and financial performance; however, the interaction term capturing the specific InvestEU effect is positive but not statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. The findings suggest that InvestEU has the potential to act as a catalyst for structural change but also highlight the need for longer observation periods, larger samples, and more comprehensive development indicators to assess its medium-and long-term impact on SME competitiveness. Full article

With the enactment of the 2013 government mandate, Indian corporations meeting specific criteria no longer have the discretion to forgo CSR expenditures. Previous studies have reported negative capital market reactions to this regulatory intervention. In contrast, our study offers a long-term perspective on the impact of the CSR law on firms’ investment efficiency. Using a difference-in-differences framework, this study examines publicly listed Indian firms from 2011 to 2018, capturing a clean pre- and post-mandate window that isolates the structural impact of the CSR law while excluding confounding and shocks such as the COVID-19 crisis. Thus, the paper focuses on identifying the long-term institutional and structural effects of CSR rather than short-term cyclical fluctuations. We find that the CSR law leads to an increase in the investment efficiency of affected firms, driven primarily by reductions in agency conflicts and information asymmetry. This effect is more pronounced among firms with a strong presence of active monitoring groups, such as Hindu-owned promoters and institutional investors. Improved efficiency is also profound among firms located in areas with a lower Human Development Index (HDI) and Gender Diversity Index (GDI). Our findings demonstrate the positive impact of mandatory CSR law on capitalism and present insights for policymakers for regulators as ESG and CSR mandates are increasingly debated and adopted. Full article

Employer-funded education and training (EFET) has gained increasing attention as a strategic human resource practice for developing human capital and enhancing organizational performance. However, empirical evidence on its effectiveness remains limited in emerging economies, particularly within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), where workforce localization and human capital development are central to Vision 2030. This study examines the associations between EFET participation and three key employee outcomes: motivation, retention intention, and productivity. Using a quantitative research design, data were collected from 200 employees and managers across multiple sectors in KSA through a structured questionnaire. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized relationships while controlling for gender, age, sector, and years of experience. The results indicate that EFET participation is positively and significantly associated with employee motivation, retention intention, and self-reported productivity, with the strongest association observed for retention intention. Model fit indices demonstrate an excellent overall fit, supporting the proposed model’s robustness. By integrating Human Capital Theory with empirical evidence from the Saudi context, this study contributes to the literature by extending understanding of how employer-funded education functions within a non-Western labor market. The findings offer practical implications for organizations and policymakers seeking to optimize education and training investments in support of sustainable workforce development and Vision 2030 objectives. Full article

In response to recent policies on sustainable finance, nature restoration, soil protection, and biodiversity conservation, it is increasingly important for projects to assess their impacts on natural capital to safeguard Ecosystem Services (ES). Nature-Based Solutions (NBSs) are recognized as strategic tools for fostering cost-effective, nature- and people-centered development. Yet, standard economic and financial assessment methods often fall short, as many ES lack market prices. Indirect, ecosystem-based approaches—such as ES monetization and environmental cost accounting—are therefore critical. This study evaluates the feasibility of investing in NBSs by estimating their economic and financial value through indirect ES valuation. An empirical methodology is applied to quantify environmental costs relative to ES delivery, using Willingness to Pay (WTP) as a proxy for the economic relevance of NBSs. The proposed ES-Cost Accounting (ES-CA) framework was implemented across major NBS categories in Europe. Results reveal that the scale of NBS implementation significantly influences both unit environmental costs and ES provision: larger interventions tend to be more cost-efficient and generate broader benefits, whereas smaller solutions are more expensive per unit but provide more localized or specialized services. The findings offer practical guidance for robust cost–benefit analyses and support investment planning in sustainable climate adaptation and mitigation from an ES perspective. Full article

Real estate constitutes a core segment of the global building and built environment industry, absorbing substantial volumes of international institutional investment capital. Unlisted real estate has featured prominently in the portfolios of global institutional investors. In recent years, global real estate markets have been significantly impacted by rising interest rates, posing a real and significant risk to investors. In response, more tactical asset allocation strategies have been adopted. Investment fund managers and institutional investors seek to rebalance through sector selections and sectoral portfolio diversification when tactical asset allocation strategy may be insufficient in phases of heightened rate volatility. By deploying MSCI US unlisted sector-specific real estate quarterly total returns between March 1999 and June 2024, this research assesses portfolio asset allocation strategy for unlisted sector-specific real estate over both rate-easing and rate-tightening phases to investigate how the structural change shapes portfolio asset allocation strategy resulting from the rising interest rates. Overall, the findings show that unlisted sector-specific real estate played a substantial role in the US institutional mixed-asset portfolios during rate-hike phases in the period before the COVID-19 recession. The allocation to unlisted sector-specific real estate was close to the maximum 10% cap, averaging 9.5% during rate-easing phases but decreasing to 7.5% during rate-tightening phases. At a sector level, unlisted office real estate allocations were higher across constrained mixed-asset and real estate portfolios in rate-tightening phases relative to those in rate-easing phases, while portfolio asset allocations to unlisted real estate sectors were lower in rate-easing phases relative to those in rate-tightening phases. These empirical findings provide real estate investment stakeholders with practical and crucial insights into rebalancing portfolios’ tactical asset allocation strategies for unlisted sector-specific real estate responding to interest rate phases and macro-financial markets, albeit static asset allocation strategies being insufficient in phases of heightened rate volatility. The investment implications of empirical outcomes are identified and further discussed. Full article

As global sustainable development progresses and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) gain increasing prominence, pharmaceutical manufacturing firms face mounting challenges in implementing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices; these include high environmental compliance costs, limited drug accessibility, and governance inefficiencies. Patient capital, characterized by long investment horizons and high tolerance for risk, is well aligned with the long-term nature of ESG-oriented activities in this industry. Using a sample of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets from 2015 to 2024, this study systematically examines the impact of patient capital on corporate ESG performance and explores the underlying mechanisms. The empirical results show that patient capital significantly improves ESG performance among pharmaceutical manufacturing firms. These findings remain robust across a series of robustness checks, including alternative variable measurements, sample adjustments, propensity score matching, instrumental variable estimation, and changes in the sample period. Further analysis reveals that patient capital enhances ESG performance through two primary channels: alleviating financing constraints and increasing R&D investment intensity. By focusing on the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, this study extends the literature on patient capital to a highly regulated and socially sensitive sector, providing empirical evidence on how long-term, value-oriented capital can support sustainable development and improve ESG performance in industries with strong public welfare attributes. Full article

Agricultural listed companies are key nodes in the agricultural industry chain, providing capital, technology and market access to upstream producers and downstream processors. When these firms face delisting risk, the resilience and sustainability of the industry chain are threatened. Using data from 897 observations of Chinese A-share listed companies in the agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery sector over 2010–2021, this study links multidimensional firm vulnerability to subsequent delisting risk. We construct 30 internal and external indicators covering financial performance, innovation input, supply chain concentration, government support and market competitiveness. Clustering method is applied to capture heterogeneity in firms’ multidimensional structural, gradient boosting models are used to predict ST (Special Treatment) status within three years, and SHAP analysis is used to identify the main risk. The results show that a small subset of firms with high leverage, tight liquidity, weak profitability, insufficient innovation, and highly concentrated key customers and suppliers accounts for most ST cases. Strengthening capital buffers, diversifying critical supply-chain relationships, and maintaining stable innovation investment are thus crucial for reducing delisting risk and enhancing the resilience of agricultural listed companies. Full article