0000000000012242
AUTHOR
Carlos Salvador
A New Methodology to Construct a Database of World University Exams
Since the final decades of the 20th century, university education has witnessed rapid growth. However, the quality of the education has varied a lot within the different programs around the world. How can we measure quality in university education? A number of institutions release annual global rankings of universities according to academic fields. One of the most respected lists, the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities, uses a complex methodology to rank world universities, including six objective indicators, i.e. the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, the number of articles published in prestigious journals, the number of Highly Cited Researcher…
Effects of the degree of financial constraint and excessive indebtedness on firms’ investment decisions
Abstract The aim of this paper is to provide empirical evidence of the importance of financial variables in explaining differences in investment rates among firms. The main contributions of the study are twofold: the use of a variable that approximates the degree of financial constraint, and the effect of indebtedness on investment is allowed to be non-linear. The empirical application to the case of Spain is of interest because of the large proportion of SMEs among Spanish firms (SMEs being highly dependent on bank financing) and the drastic tightening of credit conditions in Spain during the banking crisis. The results provide evidence of the impact of financial constraints on firms’ inve…
Am I riskier if I rescue my banks? Beyond the effects of bailouts
Abstract We examine the relationship between bank bailouts and sovereign risk in 35 countries and 19 bailouts from 2005 to 2015. Bailouts negatively affect sovereign ratings, with rating agencies consistently perceiving higher risk when a country’s banking system has been rescued (risk-increasing effect). The increase in public debt as a result of the bank bailouts is the main mechanism through which the risk-increasing effect occurs. Moreover, financial soundness and banking market structure shape the impact of bailouts on sovereign risk. In particular, proactiveness in undertaking public bailouts for banking systems that are largely distressed – that is, risky and low profitable – and hig…
Firms’ investment, indebtedness and financial constraints: Size does matter
Abstract This paper provides evidence of the importance of size in explaining the impact of financing conditions on firms´ investment rate. The study makes two main contributions: a) it allows the relationship between indebtedness and firms´ investment to be non-linear; and b) it contrasts whether the impact of indebtedness and the degree of financial restriction differ depending on the size of the company (SME vs large). Results show that while in SMEs indebtedness has a negative impact on investment, there is a threshold beyond which this effect is even larger (based on a debt/assets ratio of 59%). However, in large companies the impact of indebtedness is positive although there is also a…
Am I riskier if I rescue my banks? The unintended effects of bailouts
We examine the relationship between bank bailouts and sovereign risk in 35 countries and 19 bailouts during 2005–2015. Bailouts negatively affect sovereign ratings, with rating agencies consistently perceiving higher risk when the country’s banking system has been rescued (risk-increasing effect). Financial soundness and banking market structure shape the impact of bailouts on sovereign risk. In particular, proactiveness in undertaking public bailouts for banking systems that are largely distressed -risky and low profitable- and highly concentrated seems to lead to lower increases in sovereign risk. However, the strength of the connection between the public sector and the banking system nei…
Impact of the subprime crisis on bank ratings: The effect of the hardening of rating policies and worsening of solvency
Abstract This paper studies the impact of the subprime crisis on the ratings issued by the rating agencies in evaluating the solvency of banks. After ascertaining a significant worsening of ratings after the crisis, the paper hypothesises the possibility that this worsening is due not exclusively to a deterioration in the banks’ credit quality, but also to a change in the behaviour of the rating agencies. The study designs a methodology to separate the observed change in ratings into two multiplicative components: one associated with the deterioration of the banks’ solvency itself and another associated with the change in the agencies’ valuation criteria. The methodology is applied to the S…
The adjustment of bank ratings in the financial crisis: International evidence
Abstract This paper analyses the adjustment of bank ratings which occurred in the United States, some European countries and Japan as a result of the financial crisis. We use a methodology which allows us to decompose the observed change in the rating into an effect associated with the change in agency rating policies (understood in a broad sense) and into another effect associated with the situation of bank assets. The results obtained show that with the crisis there was a generalised fall in the ratings, caused by both a worsening of the bank asset situation and the hardening of rating policies. Specifically, we find that 39.95% and 19.25% of the fall in ratings in the United States and E…
Mitigating deficiencies of generation Z through new educational methodologies in a business statistic course
[EN] Nowadays, most of the students in first course at University are from the socalled Generation Z. Since a young age, these students have been used digital technology such as internet, mobile phones, tablets and laptops developing certain skills. But a large majority of these students have some deficiencies such as low knowledge of mathematics, scarce levels of motivation, concentration or logical reasoning and little patience (they want to understand everything quickly). These characteristics must be improved being a hard work to do by teachers. New educational methodologies are being adapted taking into account these digital skills and mitigating the deficiencies observed in some stude…