Alternative Econometric Methods Research Articles

Board Cultural Diversity and Nonperforming Loans: What Role Does Boardroom Gender Diversity Play?

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we examine the effect of board cultural diversity (BCD) on European banks nonperforming loans (NPLs) and whether boardroom gender diversity (BGD) moderates the BCD‐NPLs relationship. We used a sample of 75 banks in 20 European countries from 2011 to 2022. The System Generalized Method of Moment was performed as an econometric approach. We find that greater BCD increases NPLs and BGD moderates the BCD‐NPLs relationship. The sensitivity analysis results indicate that only large banks benefit from an interaction between BGD and BCD because it lowers the NPLs ratio. Our results are robust to alternative econometric methods.

Climate-related risks, firm performance and role of risk reserve funds: empirical evidence in Vietnam

ABSTRACT This study examines how climate-related risks and risk reserve funds affect the financial performance of Vietnamese-listed firms in climate-sensitive sectors. Using data from 464 firms between 2003 and 2022 and employing dynamic estimation methods, the research reveals that climate change indicators, such as environmental protection taxes, extreme weather events, temperature fluctuations, and carbon emissions, negatively impact firm performance. The study also finds that increased rainfall benefits these firms. The effects of most climate indicators, except rainfall, became more pronounced after the 2015 Paris Agreement (COP 21). Additionally, firms with risk reserve funds are better equipped to mitigate climate change risks. These findings were validated through alternative econometric methods and different dependent variables. The results underscore the urgent need for corporate managers, investors, and policymakers to incorporate climate risks into decision-making processes, fostering the development of strategies to address the financial impacts of climate change.

The Role of Family Ownership on Internationalization Strategies

The present study examines the impact of family ownership and control on the internationalization strategies of Portuguese manufacturing firms. The study contributes to the existing literature by providing evidence that different forms of international market presence are asymmetrically influenced by family control and by underscoring the importance of innovative strategies. The analysis includes a sample of 25,533 firms observed from 2018 to 2021. Econometric models address the role of ownership in alternative internationalization endeavors, demonstrating that these firms differ from their non-family counterparts. By comparing the export propensity, intensity, and reach of family businesses to non-family businesses, the research sheds light on the challenges faced by family-owned firms and the significance of structural characteristics such as technological regimes and regional competitive advantages. The findings emphasize the negative impact of family presence on internationalization while highlighting the importance of innovation and ecosystem support. Additionally, the study contributes to the empirical refinement of firm classification by proposing a more reliable segmentation method. It also presents alternative econometric methods to appraise internationalization strategies better. Future research directions are suggested, particularly regarding the use of additional information related to innovation and human capital, offering insights for enhancing the global engagement of family businesses in global markets. This research provides valuable empirical evidence and practical implications for policymakers and practitioners seeking to support the required actions to promote the growth and internationalization of family businesses in the context of the Portuguese manufacturing industry.

Research and development spending in the pharmaceutical industry: Does board gender diversity matter?

The focus of this paper is twofold; the primary objective is investigating the impact of board gender diversity on firms’ research and development (R&D) investment as an innovation driver. The secondary objective is looking at R&D expenditure from an opportunistic earnings management practice, suggesting that this expenditure could be used as a real earnings management technique to enhance firms’ earnings. The study sample comprised all pharmaceutical firms listed in the Bloomberg database between the years 2018 and 2021. The study’s findings indicated that the presence of female directors is correlated with greater innovation as firms are prone to invest more in R&D projects, hence, practising their strategic role effectively. Furthermore, a significant negative relationship is found between the presence of female directors and real earnings management practices, indicating that female directors would effectively contribute to board monitoring and as a result, the managerial opportunistic practices are eliminated. Our findings remain robust after using alternative econometric methods to address the endogeneity issue and applying alternative gender diversity proxies. This paper contributes to the literature by providing additional insight into the vague relationship between female directors and R&D spending by specifically looking into this relationship through different theoretical lenses: upper echelons theory and agency theory. The findings of the study are valuable for both pharmaceutical firms and policymakers interested in boosting innovation investment and improving monitoring mechanisms within a corporate governance structure.

Institutionalized democracy and the shadow economy in the short- and long-run: empirical analysis from Uganda

This paper investigates the relationship between institutionalized democracy and the shadow economy in both the long- and short-run. Using time series data from Uganda that cover the period from 1991 to 2015, this paper applies autoregressive distributed lag method to investigate this relationship. How democracy affects the shadow economy in less developed countries like Uganda is not well understood. This paper aims to fill the above knowledge gap. The findings show that the shadow economy and institutionalized democracy are negatively correlated in both the short- and long-run. This implies that improvement in institutionalized democracy significantly hinders the rise of shadow activities. This indicates that institutions regulate the conduct of economic agents and determine how entrepreneurs engage in economic activities. Moreover, institutions are crucial in resource allocation which in turn leads to welfare improvement. Improvement in welfare of citizens reduces their incentive to engage in informal sector activities since the formal sector provides the necessary support needed to operate legally. These findings are robust to alternative econometric methods. Two practical implications of these findings stand out. First, these findings indicate that reforming the governance system to facilitate efficient resource allocation could be one way of addressing widespread informality in developing economies. Second, these results also indicate that minimizing informality in the economy should gradually move away from emphasis on tackling proximate causes of informality to democratic reforms that change the authority patterns. In this case institutionalized democracy is another important channel of mitigating the rise of the shadow economy.

Do ISO Certifications Enhance Internationalization? The Case of Portuguese Industrial SMEs

In the last decades, the academic literature has devoted considerable attention to the determinants of export performance. In result of those research efforts in identifying and examining the influence of such determinants, the literature presents a wide set of variables associated with higher levels of exports. This paper provides a contribution to that literature by trying to evidence the impact of firm certification—namely, in terms of the firm’s quality, environmental, and health and safety management systems—on export performance. The paper analyses an unbalanced sample of 1684 Portuguese industrial SMEs for the period 2010 to 2020, uses other determinants of internationalization as control variables, and explores the possibility of moderating effects on the certification–internationalization relationship. Two alternative econometric methods are employed: a random-effects model and a Tobit model. The results evidence the importance for firms, especially in the low or medium–low technology sectors, to have certain ISO certifications in order to further develop their export activities and increase their foreign acceptance, particularly in the European Union markets. Further, certification seems to reinforce the positive relation between firm size and internationalization.

Methodology for assessing the impact of institute on sustainable economic growth

The paper presents an overview of methodological approaches to the study of the influence of institutions on macroeconomic indicators characterizing long-term economic growth, although other indicators that are influenced by institutions can be identified: economic growth rate, GDP per capita, saving rate, and total factor productivity. The article analyzes the research of leading scientists conducted within the framework of the institutional theory that explains global inequality and some of its features. In addition to the institutional theory, two more theories compete to explain the causes of global inequality: geographical theory and the theory of cultural influence. Both of these theories are unpromising from the point of view of practical applicability, since geographical, climatic factors, cultural characteristics are not subject to the influence of economic policy within reasonable time limits. Institutional theory explains the inequality of countries by differences in their formal legal and informal social norms that govern the behavior of individuals and structure social interactions. The growing volume of empirical work of this kind has shown that institutions should be considered in the context of alternative approaches (culture and social capital, human capital), alternative econometric methods and alternative strategies for identifying the influence of institutions on macroeconomic indicators (long-term economic growth).

The long- and short-run relationship between the shadow economy and trade openness in Uganda

This paper examines the relationship between the shadow economy and trade openness in Uganda, using autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach. We find that the shadow economy and trade openness have a long- and short-run relationship. These results hold even when alternative econometric methods are used. The empirical evidence indicates that more exposure to foreign trade significantly reduces the size of the shadow economy. This could imply that as countries become more integrated into the world economy, firms and individual entrepreneurs are induced to engage in the formal sector so as to reap the benefits of international markets. This paper shows that trade openness is an important determinant of the shadow economy in both the short- and long-run. At the policy level, any policy framework that strengthens integration into the global economy will be an effective tool that can reduce shadow activities in both the short- and long-run. The practical implication of these results is that countries that have fully reformed their economies to allow for free trade and investment inflows experience a decline in shadow activities implying that, in more open economies, more trade reduces informality.

Does income inequality increase the shadow economy? Empirical evidence from Uganda

ABSTRACT This paper applies the autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing method to investigate the long- and short-run relationship between the size of the shadow economy and income inequality in Uganda. The findings reveal evidence of the long and short-run relationship between the shadow economy and income inequality. We find that a rise in income inequality significantly increases the size of the shadow economy in Uganda, all else equal. These results are robust to the use of alternative econometric methods. At the policy level, instituting income redistribution policies to uplift the standard of the poor, improving resource allocation to productive sectors of the economy, reforming the tax system and macroeconomic environment, and implementing political and institutional reforms to address corruption could be viable policy options to address informality in Uganda.

Contribution of international tourism to economic growth of Kerala: a subnational-level analysis in India

ABSTRACT The study attempts to understand the contribution of international tourism on economic growth at a sub-national level (i.e. for Kerala) of the Indian economy. By exercising Johansen cointegration test and Vector Error Correction Model on the annual data from 1980 to 2017, it reveals the existence of a positive long-run association between tourism and economic growth. It finds that an increase of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA) by 1% leads to almost a same percentage increase in Gross State Domestic Product (by 0.97%) in the long-run. Thus, it suggests that tourism has a significant potential of unleashing the economic growth of Kerala and this is found to be robust with the use of alternative econometric estimation methods.

Impact of Climate Risk on Firms’ Use of Trade Credit: International Evidence

ABSTRACT We examine the association between climate risk and trade credit. We predict that firms exposed to climate risk-driven liquidity shocks prefer to use less trade credit. Using the Global Climate Risk Index of 86 countries, we find that firms located in countries characterized by severe weather events prefer to use less trade credit. In additional analyses, we find that the negative association between trade credit and climate risk is more pronounced for firms with more volatile cash flow and less collateral. Our results are robust to the use of alternative climate risk measure, alternative econometric methods, and exclusion of outliers.

Monetary policy announcements and market interest rates’ response: Evidence from China

Abstract This paper examines the daily responses of market interest rates to three monetary policy announcements in China using the event-study approach. I find that the interest rate responses to announced changes in the regulated retail interest rate and the required reserve ratio are positive and significant at all maturities of interest rates but smaller at the long end of the yield curve. By contrast, market interest rates barely respond to the qualitative MPC announcements about the monetary policy stance. These findings are robust to alternative econometric methods that correct for potential bias arising from violations of the identification assumption. These findings suggest that the PBC should formulate its policy communication in a quantitative way.

Does human capital matter for reduction in energy consumption in India?

Purpose This paper aims to investigate whether improvement in human capital can foster energy conservation by reducing the energy consumption in India using annual data from 1980 to 2014. Further, this study examines the relationship between human capital and various forms of energy consumption such as electricity, coal, natural gas, hydrocarbon gas and petroleum consumption. Design/methodology/approach To attain the objective, the study investigates this relation through the auto-regressive distributed lag model (ARDL) technique to find a long-run and short-run relationship. Second, to check the robustness of the results, the authors use alternative econometric methods such as dynamic ordinary least squares and fully modified dynamic ordinary least squares. Findings The results reveal a negative relationship between human capital and energy consumption, which implies that improvement in human capital lowers the energy consumption and various forms energy consumption, except for petroleum consumption. The results derived from ARDL show that there exists a long-run and short-run association between human capital and energy consumption. The results are consistent across the econometric techniques. Practical implications Because G20 countries including India aim at reducing carbon emission to a certain level, this study provides an insight that by emphasizing on human capital, India can reduce energy consumption, which would foster energy conservation. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this the first study in India which attempts to examine the effect of human capital on energy consumption and its various forms.

Analyzing CO2 emissions from passenger cars in Europe: A dynamic panel data approach

Road transport accounts for 92 per cent of CO2 emissions from all transport services, and car transport makes the largest contribution to the total. We examine the dynamic relationship between car CO2 emissions in western European Union countries (EU-13) with the dieselization of the passenger vehicle fleet, technological progress, fuel efficiency, mobility indicator, economic activity and motorization rate. We take advantage of a panel data set of 13 EU countries between 1990 and 2015 and estimate a Dynamic Panel Data (DPD) model using alternative econometric methods. This approach allows us to estimate the effect on car CO2 emissions of induced indirect channels involving the reaction of economic agents to changes in aforementioned explanatory variables. We provide evidence that CO2 emissions have been benefited from global technological progress and changes in average fuel efficiency, while increases of economic activity, motorization rate and the dieselization process hold positive and significant relationship with car CO2 emissions. These results are consistent with alternative model specifications and econometric methods.

Capital–energy substitutability in manufacturing sectors: methodological and policy implications

The debate on the capacity of the production system to adequate to a low-carbon economy is addressed by computing the capital–energy substitution elasticities $$(\sigma_{KE} )$$ for manufacturing sectors. We estimated the $$\sigma_{KE}$$ at aggregate level for the whole manufacturing industry and for 10 distinguished sectors for 21 OECD countries (1990–2008); average substitution values are also computed at sector level comparing alternative econometric methods and for separate sub-periods to trace the time dynamics. Such methodology allows assessing how different sectors could respond to the introduction of new (energy saving) technologies, as in terms of factor productivity and substitutability opportunities. This corresponds to a dynamic evaluation of the speed of reaction of each sector in improving its energy efficiency and the capacity to be on track in a sustainable transition. Such assessment also helps policy makers to individuate sectors deserving transition support according to the speed of adjustment of elasticity values over time.

Corporate social responsibility and financial performance in Saudi Arabia

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate financial performance (CFP) using Zakat as a measure for CSR. Design/methodology/approach The study examines a sample of 107 non-financial firms listed on the Saudi Arabia stock market over a ten-year period from 2004 to 2013. The authors use the generalized method of moments framework developed by Arellano and Bover (1995) and Blundell and Bond (1998). In addition, for comparison purpose and as a robustness check, the present study uses other panel data techniques including fixed effects model, random effects model (and pooled ordinary least squares. Findings The results reveal that there is a strong positive relationship between CSR (Zakat) and CFP. This suggests that Zakat contribute positively to both firm’s profitability and value and can be considered as a win-win strategy to maximize returns and improve performance while considering the society as a whole. The results are robust to alternative econometric estimation methods. Practical implications The companies in Islamic economies can effectively and efficiently implement the basic Shari’a Law of paying Zakat, as a successful measure to implement CSR program, thus benefiting the society by narrowing the gap between the haves and have-nots, that, in turn, leads the company to achieve successfully its short-term as well as long-term goals and enhances the value of the firm in the market. Moreover, corporations are generally encouraged to adopt CSR because of its perceived benefits to both macro- and micro-performances. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first empirical study attempting to examine CSR-CFP relationship within Saudi context employing Zakat as a proxy for CSR. Additionally, the paper provides support for the stakeholder theory from an Islamic perspective.

Detecting Imbalances in House Prices: What Goes Up Must Come Down?

With the aid of econometric modeling, I investigate whether rapidly increasing house prices necessarily imply the existence of a bubble that will eventually burst. I consider four alternative econometric methods to construct indicators of housing market imbalances for the US, Finland and Norway. The four approaches are used to study if house prices in these countries in the 2000s can be explained by underlying economic fundamentals, or whether the developments are best characterized by bubble-dynamics. For the US, all measures unanimously suggest a bubble in the early to mid 2000s, whereas current US house prices are found to be aligned with economic fundamentals. Only one of the measures indicate imbalances in the Finnish housing market, while none of the measures suggest a bubble in Norway.

The Effect of Cross‐Border Mergers and Acquisitions on Earnings Quality: Evidence from China

Despite the fruitful research on the motives and outcomes of cross‐border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs), there has been scant research on the impact of cross‐border M&As on corporate governance. In this article, we fill the research gap by exploring whether cross‐border M&As may lead to an improvement in corporate governance of Chinese acquirers. In particular, we examine the impact of cross‐border M&As on earnings quality of Chinese MNCs. We find that the acquisition of a target firm from a developed country leads to a significant improvement on the acquirer's earnings quality. In comparison, the acquisition of a target from an emerging market does not have such an impact. Our results are robust to various corporate governance measures, alternative econometric methods, and controls of relevant firm characteristics and macroeconomic variables. Finally, we show that the effect of cross‐border M&As on earnings quality is more pronounced in non‐state‐owned enterprises (non‐SOEs) that have conducted large M&A deals. Our article offers new insight to the international business literature on latecomer perspective and liability of foreignness. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Is More News Good News? Media Coverage of CEOs, Firm Value, and Rent Extraction

This paper provides empirical evidence that media coverage of CEOs, a channel of investor recognition, significantly increases firm value, measured by Tobin’s q. The result is robust to alternative econometric methods and checks of causality. Firms with the highest level of CEO media coverage and positive coverage outperform those with the lowest levels by 8% and 7% per year, respectively, in abnormal stock returns. Media coverage also impacts CEO rent extraction through compensation. Subsequent total pay rise is 4.1% above and beyond what CEOs obtain from the increase in firm value that arises due to media coverage.

The impact of science and technology parks on firms’ product innovation: empirical evidence from Spain

Science and Technology Parks (STP) have attracted considerable attention and public funds in recent years. However, the conclusions on their effectiveness remain mixed. This work evaluates the impact of STP on firm product innovation in the Spanish context, as an example of a less developed innovation system in which regional and national governments are prioritizing STP initiatives. This work draws on a large sample of firms provided by the Spanish Survey on Technological Innovation that is conducted annually by the National Statistical Institute. We explore alternative econometric methods to obtain average treatment effects for firms located in 22 Spanish STPs. Our results show that Spanish STPs have a strong and positive impact on the probability and amount of product innovation achieved by STP located firms. These results hold when the endogeneity of STP location is taken into account.