Country-level Characteristics Research Articles

Do natural disasters affect stock price crash risk? Evidence from emerging markets

This study shows a significantly positive relationship between natural disasters and firm-level stock price crash risk using a sample of listed firms from emerging markets.The channel tests suggest that natural disasters affect crash risk by increasing corporate risk-taking, dampening firm fundamentals, and aggravating bad news hoarding. The research further identifies that the effect of natural disasters on crash risk is moderated by country-level and firm-level characteristics. Overall, our findings contribute to a broader understanding of the economic outcomes of natural disasters in emerging markets.

Rising trend and regional disparities of the global burden of disease attributable to ambient low temperature, 1990-2019: An analysis of data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study.

Previous studies on the effect of global warming on the global burden of disease have mainly focussed on the impact of high temperatures, thereby providing limited evidence of the effect of lower temperatures. We adopted a three-stage analysis approach using data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study. First, we explored the global burden of disease attributable to low temperatures, examining variations by gender, age, cause, region, and country. Second, we analysed temporal trends in low-temperature-related disease burdens from 1990 to 2019 by meta-regression. Finally, we fitted a mixed-effects meta-regression model to explore the effect modification of country-level characteristics. In 2019, low temperatures were responsible for 2.92% of global deaths and 1.03% of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), corresponding to a death rate of 21.36 (95% uncertainty interval (UI) = 18.26, 24.73) and a DALY rate of 335 (95% UI = 280, 399) per 100 000 population. Most of the deaths (85.12%) and DALYs (94.38%) attributable to low temperatures were associated with ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In the last three decades, we observed an upward trend for the annual number of attributable deaths (P < 0.001) and a downward trend for the rates of death (P < 0.001) and DALYs (P < 0.001). The disease burden associated with low temperatures varied considerably among regions and countries, with higher burdens observed in regions with middle or high-middle socio-demographic indices, as well as countries with higher gross domestic product per capita and a larger proportion of ageing population. Our findings emphasise the significance of raising public awareness and prioritising policies to protect global population health from the adverse effects of low temperatures, even in the face of global warming. Particular efforts should be targeted towards individuals with underlying diseases (e.g. cardiovascular diseases) and vulnerable countries or regions (e.g. Central Asia and central Europe).

Spatiotemporal trends in COVID-19 vaccine sentiments on a social media platform and correlations with reported vaccine coverage.

To assess spatiotemporal trends in, and determinants of, the acceptance of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination globally, as expressed on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). We collected over 13million posts on the platform regarding COVID-19 vaccination made between November 2020 and March 2022 in 90 languages. Multilingual deep learning XLM-RoBERTa models annotated all posts using an annotation framework after being fine-tuned on 8125 manually annotated, English-language posts. The annotation results were used to assess spatiotemporal trends in COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and confidence as expressed by platform users in 135 countries and territories. We identified associations between spatiotemporal trends in vaccine acceptance and country-level characteristics and public policies by using univariate and multivariate regression analysis. A greater proportion of platform users in the World Health Organization's South-East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific Regions expressed vaccine acceptance than users in the rest of the world. Countries in which a greater proportion of platform users expressed vaccine acceptance had higher COVID-19 vaccine coverage rates. Trust in government was also associated with greater vaccine acceptance. Internationally, vaccine acceptance and confidence declined among platform users as: (i)vaccination eligibility was extended to adolescents; (ii)vaccine supplies became sufficient; (iii)nonpharmaceutical interventions were relaxed; and (iv)global reports on adverse events following vaccination appeared. Social media listening could provide an effective and expeditious means of informing public health policies during pandemics, and could supplement existing public health surveillance approaches in addressing global health issues.

Entrepreneurial Attitudes in Firms’ Credit Access

Although enterprises make significant contributions to the GDP of countries, bank credit access is one of the biggest obstacles for them to survive. However, businesses can signal their entrepreneurial behaviors that are included in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to reduce banks’ concerns about their credit default. However, firms can have various entrepreneurial attitudes depending on their international activities that increase their innovativeness, and financial performance enabling credit access. Thus, the impact of TPB on credit access can differ depending on firms’ internationalization status and this is the main of this study to examine. For this purpose, this paper analyzes 1175 firms from various countries. The researchers apply a purposive sampling method to create a research sample and direct an internet-mediated questionnaire to the selected respondents. Binary Logistic Regression analyses have been performed by the researchers to investigate the impact of TPB on credit access. The results show that the components of TPB, personal attitude, personal behavioral control, and subjective norms have different impacts on the credit access of international and domestic companies. Personal attitude and subjective norms negatively affect bank credit access of international and domestic firms, respectively while they do not determine credit access of domestic and international firms, respectively. Moreover, personal behavioral control positively affects credit access of domestic and international companies. The reason for these results might be related to firm-level and country-level characteristics. Relationship lending and the educational and financial support of academicians and policymakers can provide solutions for credit access problems of firms.

Efficiency and performance of Islamic banks amid COVID-19

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the efficiency and performance of the Islamic banking industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a two-stage data envelopment analysis to first estimate the efficiency of 78 Islamic banks (IBs) across 15 countries for the 2005–2020 period (a total of 782 bank-year observations) and then to examine their determinants, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings The authors found that the Islamic banking industry performed at a moderate level during the 2005–2020 period, providing evidence that IBs are resilient to the financial shocks created by COVID-19. The authors also found that bank-level characteristics (such as bank size) and country-level characteristics (such as inflation) can contribute to the bank’s operational efficiency. Research limitations/implications The results of this study suggested that banking management and government macroeconomic policy, especially in terms of precautions and continuous support, are important for IBs to improve their performance. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the efficiency and performance of IBs amid COVID-19.

Agricultural emission reduction targets at country and global levels: a bottom-up analysis

ABSTRACT Few countries have declared sector-specific emission reduction targets in agriculture, making it difficult to construct and assess realistic climate mitigation scenarios for analytical and policymaking purposes. We aim to fill this analytical gap by using a set of cluster analyses to gauge likely ambitions levels in reducing agricultural emission at country-level, taking into consideration important country-level characteristics and referencing the ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ principle. We then use the results from the cluster analysis together with information from submitted NDCs and other considerations to design formulas for assigning numerical reduction targets to individual countries. Our main results indicate a global agricultural emission level in 2030 exceeding the limit for the 1.5°C temperature target, but representing substantially lower emissions than the no-policy scenario. At individual country-level, the scenarios consist of large emission reductions in Northern and Western Europe, followed by the USA and other developed economies, and emission increases in many developing countries. To facilitate the construction of alternative scenarios, our method also contains parameters for flexibility to scale up or down ambition levels at both country and global levels, making the method useful for other researchers to develop alternative scenarios.

Work Hour Mismatch on Life Evaluation: Full Heterogeneity and Individual- and Country-Level Characteristics of the Most and Least Affected Workers

Work Hour Mismatch on Life Evaluation: Full Heterogeneity and Individual- and Country-Level Characteristics of the Most and Least Affected Workers

Incidence and Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Among HIV-Negative Gay and Bisexual Men Using HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP): A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Gay and bisexual men using HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are at increased risk for sexually transmissible infections. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) risk among PrEP users is less clear. We explored HCV prevalence and incidence among cohorts of gay and bisexual men using PrEP and sources of heterogeneity across studies. This was a systematic review and meta-analysis of open-label PrEP studies to April 2022 reporting HCV prevalence at baseline or incidence during follow-up among gay and bisexual men using PrEP. Pooled prevalence and incidence estimates were calculated using random-effects meta-analysis, and subgroup analyses were performed by study- and country-level characteristics, including availability of HCV direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy at time of study. Twenty-four studies from 9 countries were included, with a total sample of 24 733 gay and bisexual men. Pooled HCV antibody baseline prevalence was 0.97% (95% CI, 0.63%-1.31%), and pooled HCV RNA baseline prevalence was 0.38% (95% CI, 0.19%-0.56%). Among 19 studies reporting HCV incidence, incidence ranged from 0.0 to 2.93/100 person-years (py); the pooled estimate was 0.83/100py (95% CI, 0.55-1.11). HCV incidence was higher in 12 studies that began follow-up before broad DAA availability (1.27/100py) than in 8 studies that began follow-up after broad DAA availability (0.34/100py) and higher in studies in Europe compared with North America and Australia. Early reports of high HCV incidence among PrEP-using cohorts likely reflect enrollment of individuals based on specific risk-based eligibility criteria for smaller studies and enrollment before DAA scale-up. In contexts where both DAAs and PrEP have been implemented at scale, studies report lower HCV incidence. PrEP-specific HCV testing guidelines should be guided by local epidemiology.

The trade-off frontier for ESG and Sharpe ratio: a bootstrapped double-frontier data envelopment analysis

AbstractThe trade-off between the returns and the risks associated with the stocks (i.e., the Sharpe ratio, SR) is an important measure of portfolio optimization. In recent years, the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) has increasingly proven its influence on stocks’ returns, resulting in the evolvement from a two-dimensional (i.e., risks versus returns) into a multi-dimensional setting (e.g., risks versus returns versus ESG). This study is the first to examine this setting in the global energy sector using a (slacks-based measures, SBM) ESG-SR double-frontier double-bootstrap (ESG-SR DFDB) by studying the determinants of the overall ESG-SR efficiency for 334 energy firms from 45 countries in 2019. We show that only around 11% of our sampled firms perform well in the multi-dimensional ESG-SR efficient frontier. The 2019 average (in)efficiency of the global energy sector was 2.273, given an efficient level of 1.000. Besides the differences in the firm’s input/output utilization (regarding their E, S, G, and SR values), we found that the firm- (e.g., market capitalization and board characteristics) and country-level characteristics (e.g., the rule of law) have positive impacts on their ESG-SR performance. Such findings, therefore, are essential not only to the (responsible) investors but also to managers and policymakers in those firms/countries.

Labor Market Institutions, Environmental Disclosure, and Environmental Impacts

ABSTRACT We examine how country-level labor market characteristics affect corporate environmental disclosure practices and the environmental impacts of firms’ operations. Using a sample of firms from 36 countries over the 2005–2016 period, we show that firms domiciled in countries with more developed labor markets have higher levels of environmental disclosure and less damaging environmental impacts than firms in countries with less developed labor markets. In addition, we find that firms operating in countries with better-developed labor markets tend to reduce their environmental impacts through the purchase of goods and services rather than through substantive changes to their own operations. Taken together, the findings suggest that better-developed country-level labor market institutions play an important role in improving firms’ environmental disclosure and in reducing their environmental impacts.

Socio-Economic and Demographic Factors Associated with COVID-19 Mortality in European Regions: Spatial Econometric Analysis

In some NUTS 2 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) regions of Europe, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an increase in mortality by several dozen percent and only a few percent in others. Based on the data on 189 regions from 19 European countries, we identified factors responsible for these differences, both intra- and internationally. Due to the spatial nature of the virus diffusion and to account for unobservable country-level and sub-national characteristics, we used spatial econometric tools to estimate two types of models, explaining (i) the number of cases per 10,000 inhabitants and (ii) the percentage increase in the number of deaths compared to the 2016–2019 average in individual regions (mostly NUTS 2) in 2020. We used two weight matrices simultaneously, accounting for both types of spatial autocorrelation: linked to geographical proximity and adherence to the same country. For the feature selection, we used Bayesian Model Averaging. The number of reported cases is negatively correlated with the share of risk groups in the population (60+ years old, older people reporting chronic lower respiratory disease, and high blood pressure) and the level of society’s belief that the positive health effects of restrictions outweighed the economic losses. Furthermore, it positively correlated with GDP per capita (PPS) and the percentage of people employed in the industry. On the contrary, the mortality (per number of infections) has been limited through high-quality healthcare. Additionally, we noticed that the later the pandemic first hit a region, the lower the death toll there was, even controlling for the number of infections.

Corporate strategy, political contributions and corporate risk-taking

Purpose Despite the importance and prevalence of corporate political activities in modern organizations, there remains limited insight on the potential relationship between political contributions and companies’ risk-taking activities. This study aims to examine the relationship between monetary political contributions of firms and corporate risk-taking activities in the context of unstable political and economic environments. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a two-step system GMM estimation to investigate the subject using a cross-country sample of 307 firms from 22 countries covered over 2002–2017. In line with previous studies, the authors control for various corporate governance mechanisms, firm-level factors and country-level characteristics. Findings The findings demonstrate that firms that make monetary political contributions exhibit lower levels of risk as measured by different proxies for risks, namely, systematic, idiosyncratic and total risk. Practical implications The results suggest that political contributions can be a useful mechanism to mitigate risk exposure. Also, the use of different risk measures and other factors for robustness fosters a better understanding of political connectedness in a more contextualized and dynamic manner. Originality/value This study seeks to contribute to the debate surrounding corporate strategy, political connectedness and corporate risk-taking by using actual monetary political contributions as an explicit measure of political connection. This study furthers scholarly understanding on the dynamics of corporate political activities using political contributions in monetary terms as a measure of political connectedness and its impact on risk-taking. Furthermore, the authors explore this topic using insights from nonmarket strategy literature and studies on political contributions.

How local is the local inflation factor? Evidence from emerging European countries

We consider whether inflation is a ‘global phenomenon’ for European emerging market economies, as has been claimed for advanced or high-income countries. We find that a global inflation factor accounts for more than half of the variance in the national inflation rates, and show that forecasting models of national headline inflation rates that include global inflation factors generally produce more accurate path forecasts than Phillips curve-type models and models with local inflation factors. Our results are qualitatively unaffected by allowing for sparsity and non-linearity in the factor forecasting models. We also provide some insight as to why global factors are an important determinant of domestic inflation, by considering the country-level characteristics that tend to increase the importance of global factors for domestic inflation.

Psychological Distress Among Older Adults During the First Wave of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe.

Objective: To investigate the individual and country-level characteristics associated with the presence and worsening of psychological distress during the first wave of the pandemic among the elderly in Europe. Methods: In June-August 2020, 52,310 non-institutionalized people aged 50+ in 27 SHARE participating countries reported whether feeling depressed, anxious, lonely, and having sleep problems. For this analysis, we combined these symptoms into a count variable reflecting psychological distress. Binary measures of the worsening of each symptom were used as secondary outcomes. Multilevel zero-inflated negative binomial and binary logistic regressions were used to assess the associations. Results: Female sex, low education, multimorbidity, fewer social contacts, and higher stringency of policy measures were associated with increased distress. The worsening of all 4 distress symptoms was associated with younger age, poor health, loss of work due to the pandemic, low social contact, and high national mortality rates from COVID-19. Conclusion: The pandemic exacerbated distress symptoms for socially disadvantaged older adults and those who were already struggling with mental health. The death toll of COVID-19 in a country played a role in symptom worsening.

Associations between the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B among people who inject drugs and country-level characteristics: An ecological analysis.

Globally, hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a leading cause of liver disease. People who inject drugs (PWID) are at greater risk than the general population of contracting HBV. This risk could depend on societal factors in different countries. We investigated the associations between country-level chronic HBV prevalence in PWID with national indicators of development and prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV). We used global systematic review data on chronic HBV prevalence (hepatitis B surface antigen-positive) among PWID and country-level sociodemographic characteristics from online databases. National random-effects meta-analysis estimates of HBV prevalence were the outcome in linear regression models testing for associations with country-level characteristics. The study included 131,710 PWID from 304 estimates in 55 countries: the pooled HBV prevalence among PWID in the countries analysed was 4.5% (95% CI 3.9-5.1), the highest regional pooled prevalence was in East and Southeast Asia (17.6% [13.3-22.3]), and the lowest was in Western Europe (1.7% [1.4-2.1]). In multivariable models, no indicators of development were associated with HBV prevalence, but there was evidence of positive associations between HBV prevalence in the general population and among PWID, and evidence of HIV and HCV prevalence in PWID being associated with HBV prevalence in PWID: multivariable coefficients 0.03 (95% CI 0.01-0.04); p < 0.001, and 0.01 (95% CI 0.00-0.03); p=0.01, respectively. HBV prevalence among PWID was associated with HIV and HCV prevalence among PWID and background HBV prevalence in the general population, highlighting the need for improving harm reduction in PWID and implementation of HBV vaccination, especially where HBV is endemic.

Age differences in free will and control perceptions across the lifespan and around the world

Variation in free will and control perceptions has been examined across the development of young children, adults, and in several different countries. In two studies (three samples; total N = 492,134), older adults believed less in free will, fatalistic determinism, and perceived less control over their lives than younger adults. In Study 2 (Samples 1 [48 countries] and 2 [99 countries]), control perceptions were highest among individuals who lived in countries that were more indulgent (versus restricted). Country-level characteristics often moderated the link between age and control perceptions, although variation in age differences was relatively small. The current studies are the largest and most comprehensive investigations of demographic and cultural differences in free will and control perceptions. The findings are discussed in the context of the mechanisms that drive changes in free will and control perceptions across the lifespan and across cultures.

Análise do desempenho das principais universidades que participam no World University Rankings - Times Higher Education (THE)

Abstract Global university rankings are important indicators that measure the ability of universities to positively impact society. This study aimed to analyze the determining factors in the academic performance and sustainability of universities across participating continents in THE Ranking. Regarding the methodology, it is classified as a descriptive, quantitative study that considered the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the sustainability level of the countries where the universities are in the analysis of academic performance. This performance was measured through the World University Rankings by Times Higher Education (THE). The main findings are as follows: a strong relationship was found between country-level characteristics such as GDP, HDI, and the scores in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, suggesting that the characteristics of the country influence the performance and sustainability level of each university. Similarly, research and teaching groups have the most impact on the overall score of the top university.

The impact of COVID-19 on the tourism and hospitality Industry: Evidence from international stock markets

COVID-19 seriously affects the tourism and hospitality industry. In this study, we investigate the behavior of 40 tourism and hospitality stock market indices worldwide from two perspectives. First, empowered by the Granger causality test and network analysis, we test the spillover effects among these stock markets and find that the dynamics of interconnectedness network structures differ significantly in the pre-pandemic and in-pandemic periods. Second, we employ econometric models to explore how the influence of COVID-19 on these stock markets varies by considering the interconnectedness structure, the government response stringency index, and other country-level characteristics. We find that the interconnectedness structure significantly and robustly affects stock returns in the tourism and hospitality markets. Our investigation provides a better understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on tourism and hospitality industry.

What explains entrepreneurial start-ups across countries: An integrative model

This research develops a multi-level framework to examine how resource-based antecedents shape individuals' decisions to start ventures via their perception of opportunities and how country-level characteristics pertaining to institutional development and institutional instability provide boundary conditions for the aforementioned associations. The empirical results show that entrepreneurial start-ups are positively affected by human capital resources and organisational resources, and that individuals’ perception of opportunities acts as a mediator within these relationships. In addition, the findings demonstrate that the proposed mediation effects are further bounded by country-specific institutional environments. The results offer new insights for the development of knowledge and theoretical bases by providing a multi-level perspective on how resource-based factors, perceived opportunity and institutions operate as principal determinants that affect entrepreneurial start-ups. This paper complements and advances resource-based theory by integrating an approach that focuses on institutions and the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities to assess the mechanisms that are needed to release the potential of resources in venture creation more comprehensively. The research findings have implications and values for general managers who are keen to understand why heterogeneous resource is necessary and how it functions in their businesses, as well as how the process of managing resources needs to be aligned with their capabilities to identify and pursue business opportunities.

Corporate Governance and Financial Performance: The Interplay of Board Gender Diversity and Intellectual Capital

Prior research has found mixed evidence regarding the relationships between board gender diversity (BGD) and firm value. Moreover, there is a lack of evidence on the channels through which BGD affects firm performance; hence, this paper tackles this issue. We aim to investigate the relationship between BGD and firm performance and to explore the mediating role of intellectual capital efficiency (ICE) in this relationship. Using a multivariate regression analysis and a sample of 4008 North American firms from 2002 to 2020 (14,382 firm-year observations), we find that gender diversity is positively related to financial performance, confirming that a diversified board improves board effectiveness and brings new resources to the firm, which allows it to improve its performance. More interestingly, the results of the Structural Equation Model (SEM) indicate that the relationship between gender diversity and performance is more pronounced with the mediating role of ICE. Our results are robust, controlling for the endogeneity and heteroscedasticity issues, with several controls for firm- and country-level characteristics, using alternative sample compositions and alternative econometric techniques, and including year, industry, country and firm-fixed effects. Interestingly, this paper shows strong evidence that the effect of BGD on firm value is more effective by incorporating the role of intellectual capital efficiency.