Search results for "Organizations"
showing 10 items of 864 documents
Fiscal Policy Responsiveness, Persistence and Discretion
2008
This paper analyzes the different characteristics of fiscal policy using a two-step estimation procedure. First, we decompose both government spending and government revenue into three components: responsiveness, persistence and discretion. Second, we assess the determinants of these characteristics. Using data from 132 countries, our results show that fiscal policy is more persistent than responsive to economic conditions, which implies that the authorities may have less leeway in the short-run notably to curb spending behavior. In addition, countries characterized by greater fiscal persistence have less discretion and responsiveness. Finally, macroeconomic, institutional and geographic va…
Focus on Women in Microfinance Institutions
2013
Abstract We provide empirical evidence on focusing on women in microfinance and its consequences for microfinance institutions (MFIs). Based on a global dataset, the results indicate that a focus on women is associated with group-lending methods, international orientation, smaller loans, and non-commercial legal status. We find that a focus on women significantly improves repayment but does not enhance overall financial performance because of higher relative costs. Moreover, the higher relative costs do not stem from servicing women per se but from the smaller loans offered to women and the group-lending methodology practised by MFIs focusing on women.
Sustainability Reporting in Central and Eastern European Companies: Results of an International and Empirical Study
2017
Reporting on corporate social, environmental and economic responsibility has broadened widely within the last decade. The European Union is the most active region in the world in terms of sustainability reporting, largely on a voluntary basis. Most of the empirical research related to sustainability reporting in Europe has been conducted in Western European countries. In Central and Eastern Europe, only a small number of studies have focused on sustainability reporting. Little, however, is known whether how and why companies in CEE report about their corporate sustainable activities. The aim of the research project is to describe the status quo of SR in CEE, to explain some noteworthy diffe…
The determinants of increasing equity market comovement: economic or financial integration?
2010
This paper investigates to what extent the substantial increase in exposures of local European equity market returns to global shocks is mainly due to a convergence in cash flows (“economic integration”), to a convergence in discount rates (“financial integration”), or to both. We find that this increased exposure is nearly entirely due to increasing discount-rate betas. This finding is robust to alternative ways of calculating discount-rate and cash-flow shocks.
Spillovers from the oil sector to the housing market cycle
2017
We assess the spillovers from the oil sector to the housing market cycle using quarterly data for 20 net oil-exporting and -importing industrial countries, and employing continuous- and discrete-time duration models. We do not uncover a statistically significant difference in the average duration of booms and normal times in the housing markets of those net oil-importers and net oil-exporters. Similarly, the degree of exposure to commodity price fluctuations does not seem to significantly affect the housing market cycle. However, we find that housing booms are shorter when oil prices increase than housing busts when oil prices decrease. We also show that the net oil-importers are more vulne…
Commodity market based hedging against stock market risk in times of financial crisis: The case of crude oil and gold
2018
Based on daily data from 1989-2016 we find that the correlations between some relevant commodity market futures and equity returns in the aggregate U.S. market, and specifically in the energy sector stocks have changed strongly during the stock market crisis periods. The correlation between crude oil futures and aggregate U.S. equities increases in crisis periods, whereas in case of gold futures the correlation becomes negative, which supports the safe haven hypothesis of gold. For energy sector equities, the dynamics of hedge ratios does not support using either crude oil or gold futures for cross-hedging during stock market crises.
SECULAR MEAN REVERSION AND LONG-RUN PREDICTABILITY OF THE STOCK MARKET
2016
Empirical financial literature documents the evidence of mean reversion in stock prices and the absence of out-of-sample return predictability over periods shorter than 10 years. The goal of this paper is to test the random walk hypothesis in stock prices and return predictability over periods longer than 10 years. Specifically, using 141 years of data, this paper begins by performing formal tests of the random walk hypothesis in the prices of the real S&P Composite Index over increasing time horizons up to 40 years. Even though our results cannot support the conventional wisdom which says that the stock market is safer for long-term investors, our findings speak in favor of the mean revers…
Do Carbon Traders Behave as a Herd?
2017
Abstract This paper shows the existence of herding behavior in the European Carbon Futures Market and studies its possible causes and consequences. This market is characterized by leading the carbon price discovery process and by being highly dominated by professional traders. Both features make it an appropriate environment for the existence of herding. A patterns analysis indicates that the herding level increases in speculative periods, on those days on which the price and size clustering effect is stronger, and with the arrival of carbon-related news. Regarding possible market drivers, we find that herding behavior is positively related with the number of trades, the intraday volatility…
Predicting failure in the U.S. banking sector: An extreme gradient boosting approach
2019
Abstract Banks play a central role in developed economies. Consequently, systemic banking crises destabilize financial markets and hamper global economic growth. In this study, extreme gradient boosting was used to predict bank failure in the U.S. banking sector. Key variables were identified to anticipate and prevent bank defaults. The data, which spanned the period 2001 to 2015, consisted of annual series of 30 financial ratios for 156 U.S. national commercial banks. Identifying leading indicators of bank failure is vital to help regulators and bank managers act swiftly before distressed financial institutions reach the point of no return. The findings indicate that lower values for retai…
The Rise in Inequality after Pandemics: Can Fiscal Support Play a Mitigating Role?
2021
Abstract Major epidemics of the last two decades (SARS, H1N1, MERS, Ebola, and Zika) have been followed by increases in inequality [Furceri et al. (2020), COVID Economics, 12, 138–157]. In this article, we show that the extent of fiscal consolidation in the years following the onset of these pandemics has played an important role in determining the extent of the increase in inequality. Episodes marked by extreme austerity—measured using either the government’s fiscal balance, health expenditures, or redistribution—have been associated with an increase in the Gini measure of inequality three times as large as in episodes where fiscal policy has been more supportive. We survey the evidence th…