Public Guarantees Research Articles

"Research paper mills": A factory outlet for dubious research.

The primary objective of any research, regardless of its domain such as health, technology, psychology, or any other subject, is to enhance the overall well-being of individuals. Rigorous processes are involved in conducting research ethically and in communicating its outcomes to society. However, as publishing research has become a mandatory requirement for career advancement and appointments, academics are resorting to several unethical practices to get substandard work published quickly. Consequently, predatory publishing markets have emerged, which publish data that is falsified and fabricated, along with plagiarised textual matter. The emergence of "paper mills" is a further step in the corruption of research, where a group of persons or automated systems generate papers for publication. Anyone desirous of publishing a paper can purchase one, akin to any desired fast-moving consumer product, with the added guarantee of publication in indexed journals. Therefore, paper mills and their unethical modus operandi are discussed in this paper in detail, with relevant examples. The article unfolds the consequences of publishing such fraudulent research papers and concludes with the challenges in combating paper mills.

Social Work students’ attitudes toward religious diversity and perceptions of the relationship between religion and Social Work

ABSTRACT In a world characterized by its cultural diversity, religion influences the beliefs, interpretations, actions and behaviors of many people. This study analyzes attitudes toward religious diversity among students of the Degree in Social Work at the University of Alicante (Spain), as well as their perceptions of the relationship between religion and Social Work. The study also analyzes associations between these students’ attitudes and perceptions and their biographical and contextual variables. Thus, the study’s design was of a descriptive and explanatory quantitative nature, and univariate and bivariate. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire comprised of nominal, ordinal and scale variables. 270 students participated, with an average age of 21.2 (SD = 4.57; range: 17–56), and most were women (86%). The results show that, in general, students harbor favorable attitudes toward religious diversity, especially the right to religious freedom, as well as toward public guarantees of religious freedom and equal treatment of people of all faiths. Regarding the relationship between religion and Social Work, students’ perceptions vary depending on their own characteristics. These results are relevant in the context of a discipline that, from a theoretical and professional point of view, has responsibilities in terms of cultural diversity management.

Caution: Do Not Cross! Distance to Regulatory Capital Buffers and Corporate Lending in a Downturn

AbstractWhile banks are expected to draw down regulatory capital buffers in case of need during a crisis, we find that banks kept at a safe distance from regulatory buffers during the pandemic by procyclically reducing corporate lending. By exploiting granular credit register data, we show that banks with little capital headroom above their buffers reduced credit supply and that this behavior was amplified for banks that entered the crisis with larger undrawn credit lines. Affected firms were unable to fully rebalance their borrowing needs with other banks, although public guarantees mitigated banks' procyclical behavior and its real effect at the firm level. These findings raise concerns that the capital buffers introduced by Basel III may not be as countercyclical as intended.

Public Guarantees, Private Banks’ Incentives, and Corporate Outcomes: Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis

Public Guarantees, Private Banks’ Incentives, and Corporate Outcomes: Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis

Information Technology and Credit: Evidence from Public Guarantees

This paper investigates whether banks’ information technology (IT) can substitute for local branch presence in the provision of small business credit. Our identification strategy relies on loan-level data and the unique institutional features of the Italian public guarantee scheme during COVID-19. Despite the availability of online applications and low screening incentives, small business lending remains local even for first-time borrowers. However, IT partly mitigates the impact of local branch presence: banks with better IT provide more, cheaper, and faster guaranteed loans and lend more in areas where they have no bank branches, especially to first-time borrowers. This paper was accepted by Victoria Ivashina, finance. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4957 .

Pricing the net benefits of a public loan guarantee scheme in a developing market

Turkish credit markets experienced a liquidity crunch following the Brexit referendum in June, the attempted coup in July, and the US election in November of 2016. The government announced a 12.5-fold increase in the Treasury support for the Credit Guarantee Fund to alleviate the credit squeeze. We investigate whether investor reactions to the announcement of the increase in Treasury support in KGF are in line with the stated aim of policymakers. Firms listed on Borsa İstanbul averaged 5.72 percent cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) in the 9-day window around the announcement. Investors anticipated the benefits from public guarantees would outweigh the costs. The positive and significant CARs suggest that the information released in the announcement, in line with the program aims, positively affected investor expectations.

State guarantees to counteract the financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on industrial supply chains

As the recent COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated, appropriate state support policies are crucial for supporting industrial supply chains during crises to prevent viable businesses from defaulting. In this context, this study proposes a hybrid credit risk model to appropriately size public interventions for viable (worthy) businesses through systematic risk assessment during a period of turmoil. This study discusses the effects of the credit crunch-based economic downturn and proposes a methodology to assist policymakers in managing limited public resources to effectively support industrial supply chains. The proposed approach initially focuses on the dynamics of credit risk during economic recession periods, identifying the conditions that may justify a public intervention strategy based on public guarantees. Subsequently, a hybrid credit risk model is developed to appropriately size public interventions by quantifying systematic risk. Finally, a numerical application is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Corporate Restructuring Laws Under Stress: The Case of Spain

The COVID-19 crisis caused an unprecedented global disruption of economic activity, which was especially intense in Spain due to the nature of its economy. Many legal and institutional reforms were adopted, and extraordinary economic measures implemented. As interim reforms are lifted and economic incentives wear off, Spain will need to grapple with the economic damage caused by the pandemic. Arguably, the reform of the insolvency system recently approved, which precedes and is independent of the measures enacted to stave off risks caused by the pandemic, provides an enhanced and improved framework to deal with business insolvency. Spain now counts on a state-of-the-art hybrid restructuring system and a modern regulation to deal with the financial and economic distress of micro enterprises. However, the special legislation approved during COVID, and the side effects of the economic measures came with a cost and are already interfering with the day-to-day application of the new insolvency system, especially concerning public claims and public guarantees. Further, the Spanish legal framework has still some shortcomings which might prove a real hindrance to resuming access to credit at adequate levels.

How does government-backed finance affect SMEs’ crisis predictors?

This paper estimates the impact of public guarantees on crisis predictive indicators among small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs). We use a confidential database provided by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development on the universe of guarantees granted by the Central Guarantee Fund. We apply difference-in-difference regressions and propensity-score matching estimators to a sample of approximately 40,000 SMEs over the 2010–2018 period. We find that obtaining a public guarantee improves profitability both in the short- and medium-term. On the other hand, SMEs’ financial health worsens in the short run, but financial burdens are alleviated 2 years after the issuance of a guarantee. The economic and financial effects of government-backed loans are amplified for micro-sized firms, companies operating in the service sector and direct guarantees. Our results can thus support public authorities in designing credit guarantee schemes capable of preventing SMEs’ zombification and protecting them from the risk of debt overhang.

Impact of public guarantees on optimal debt levels following the COVID-19 pandemic: efficiency in their allocation

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a sudden drop in companies’ sales and turnover, which resulted in serious liquidity and solvency problems. In an effort to cushion these unfavourable effects, a credit guarantee plan was launched in 2020 by the Spanish Government to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 by injecting firms with liquidity. This paper seeks to analyse the impact of this public policy on SMEs’ optimal debt levels and to examine whether the allocation of this public funding has been efficiently targeted at those SMEs suffering temporary distress as a result of the pandemic. Based on a sample of 3,305 Spanish SMEs, our results show that the government’s interventionist policy swelled excess debt levels – mainly due to the increase in excess long-term debt – and deviated them from the optimum. Moreover, although these public guarantees should mostly have been aimed at SMEs experiencing a temporary decline due to COVID-19, we find that these SMEs were the least likely to receive liquidity injections.

Public Guarantees and Private Banks’ Incentives: Evidence from the Covid-19 Crisis

Public Guarantees and Private Banks’ Incentives: Evidence from the Covid-19 Crisis

가로주택정비사업 시행절차의 문제점 및 개선방안

The housing improvement project in a city block can be carried out quickly by simplifying the project promotion procedure. It is suitable as an alternative to large-scale maintenance projects as it can increase the settlement rate of indigenous peoples. However, in reality, there are few cases in which a housing improvement project in a city block are carried out. The large-scale maintenance project was delayed and had many side effects. In addition, conflicts between residents intensified and the maintenance area became more slum. The government tried to solve the problems of the maintenance project by releasing the maintenance zone. Residential environment improvement was necessary for the area where the maintenance area was released. In order to improve the residential environment, the Urban and Residential Environment Reorganization Act was amended in 2012 to introduce the housing improvement project in a city block. The housing improvement project in a city block has the advantage of being able to proceed quickly with the simplification of the project promotion procedure. However, since there is no constituent part of the promotion committee, it is possible to establish a cooperative if the consent rate is met. In some cases, it is not possible to reflect the opinions of the residents. Some members agree without even knowing the details, so disputes are frequent. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately present guidelines and guidelines on the consent rate when establishing a cooperative. There is also the problem of adjusting the floor area ratio. In order to solve this problem, public support is needed in the selection of a contractor. In order to revitalize the establishment of cooperatives for housing improvement project in a city block, it is necessary to relax the resident consent rate (80%) under the current law, and to hold a business briefing session to hear the opinions of union members. Rather than the privately-led project of the housing improvement project in a city block, we prefer the method of carrying out joint projects with LH. is highly preferred. It's because they don't trust the private sector. In order to revitalize the privately-led projects of the housing improvement project in a city block, the public guarantee system for private projects should be prioritized. In order to increase the consent rate for the establishment of a housing improvement project in a city block, a resident-centered promotion body is needed to lead the project. In order to activate the cooperative establishment of housing improvement project in a city block, public procedures such as approval for establishment of the promotion committee, which were operated in the existing maintenance project procedure, need to be operated in a complementary manner. In addition, since self-payments have a significant effect on the agreement rate for cooperative establishment in the housing improvement project in a city block, it is necessary to expand financial support for self-payments and develop various financial products to activate cooperative establishment.

Bank capital buffer releases, public guarantee programs, and dividend bans in COVID-19 Europe: an appraisal

We analyse the recent policy decisions made by the European Central Bank and the national authorities related to capital and shareholders’ remuneration aimed at promoting banking credit supply in COVID-19-afflicted economies. We forecast the impact of the regulatory decisions based on the empirical literature and discuss the factors that reduce the banks’ incentives to expand their loan portfolios. We argue that the introduction of the dividend ban caused a surge in regulatory uncertainty and undermined banks’ market valuation raising the expected funding costs and contributing to the banks’ reluctance to make use of the capital buffers. We develop policy suggestions intended to mitigate this effect.

Financial sector rescue programs: Domestic and cross border effects

We assess the effectiveness of the financial sector stabilisation measures taken by the Austrian authorities in the wake of the global financial crisis. Employing an event study methodology, we evaluate domestic and cross-border effects involving Central, Eastern and South-eastern European economies. We identify recapitalisations and public guarantees as the most effective sovereign interventions. Both mitigate financial market stress at home and abroad. However, a risk-shifting effect emerges at the sovereign’s expense which undermines their effectiveness relative to monetary policy interventions. Moreover, in complement to the actual implementation, the mere announcement of interventions already mitigates financial market stress, underscoring the extent of policy credibility.

Health Risks from Supposedly Remediated US Hazardous-Waste Sites: An Early-Warning Signal

Scientific data are almost nonexistent regarding the health-protectiveness of most hazardous-waste-site remediation. Given this data-gap, recently the World Health Organization (WHO) urged scientists to develop methods of “cost-efficient health surveillance” of toxics’ cleanups, including any “illegal operations”. Following WHO, this article’s importance is to develop one such cost-efficient method. Given the assumption that remediators’-redevelopers’ public misrepresentations of their cleanups’ safety may warrant independently assessing the health-adequacy of their remediation, the article asks the question: “For US hazardous-waste sites, deemed by the courts ‘Imminent and Substantial Endangerment’ (ISE) health threats, are remediators’ public representations of testing-cleanup quality consistent with what their more private technical documents say?” The working hypothesis is that for representative toxic sites, remediators’-redevelopers’ public representations of cleanup often contradict their private technical documents. Using the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) weight-of-evidence method, the article (1) develops 5 transparent, reproducible criteria for discovering representative, ISE-designated, US toxic-waste sites; (2) develops 3 transparent, reproducible criteria to discover remediators’-redevelopers’ public representations of their testing-cleanup; (3) uses these 3 criteria to discover what remediators’-redevelopers’ private or technical documents say about the health-adequacy of their testing/cleanup; (4) investigates whether any public representations in (2) contradict any of (3)’s private or technical documents; and (5) discusses the degree to which such contradictions, if any, suggest waste-site threats to health or environmental justice. Our results show that for the representative hazardous sites assessed, many remediator-redeveloper public guarantees of testing-cleanup quality contradict their private or technical documents. The discussion suggests that such contradictions likely violate EPA scientific-integrity regulations, threaten public health, jeopardize environmental justice, thus may require independent investigation of the adequacy of testing-cleanup. For representative, US toxic-waste sites, posing court-determined ISE, remediators’-developers’ public representations of testing-cleanup quality threaten health by often contradicting their private technical documents. The article closes by outlining two scientific strategies to promote health-protective, hazardous-waste testing/remediation.

Bank funding strategy after the bail-in announcement

Euro area countries have recently moved to a new centralized bail-in framework by removing implicit public guarantees. Our paper analyzes banks' funding strategies after the bail-in proposal. We show that Euro area banks relied more on cheaper and better protected sources of funding, such as deposits, and reduced fund collection from sources with weaker creditor protection, such as bonds.

Non-parametric identification of public guarantee schemes and commercial banks

The role of niche banks (i.e., single-market, local banks) and mega banks (i.e., large, multimarket, non-local banks) in financing small firms has attracted considerable attention. Public guarantee schemes are widely employed. In this study, the heterogeneous effects of a Chinese public guarantee scheme financing small firms by niche banks and mega banks are illustrated by semi-parametric logit models. The empirical results suggest that public guarantee funds have crowding-in effects on credit from niche banks while generating the crowding-out effects on credit from mega banks. Condition coefficient logit models show that, on the other hand, public guarantee promoted niche bank credit supply increase in two differing processes. On the one hand, public guarantee directly increased the probability of niche bank credit supply. On the other hand, by increasing the positive effect of enterprise profitability to the niche bank credit supply, the probability of bank credit supply is indirectly improved. These effects are not consistent with the aims of policymakers.

Public Guarantees, Relationship Lending and Bank Credit: Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis

Public Guarantees, Relationship Lending and Bank Credit: Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis

Public Guarantees and Credit Additionality During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Public Guarantees and Credit Additionality During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Securitization of (bad) loans to Italian SMES: The role of the public guarantee

This study investigates the main factors driving the evolution of the securitization of loans to Italian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The value of securitization increased in last two years, even though it has not been used as collateral for central banks. The disposal of non-performing loans (NPLs) may have been rather triggered by increasing attention of the international institutions to such an issue, within the general purpose of financial stability. The purpose of this paper is to interpret such a phenomenon focusing on Italian banks and restricting the analysis to the case of securitizations backed with loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The interesting result that emerges, supported by econometrically tested empirical evidence, is that given the orientation of international financial institutions, such as the ECB and the EBA, and reacting to incentives coming from the fiscal policy authorities for the public guarantee of loans, banks have been using securitization to reduce the burden on their bad balance sheets due to (NPLs). It was found that the public guarantee had a positive impact on SME securitization, whereas securitization in other sectors has not been affected significantly. Such evidence suggests that, in the absence of a public guarantee, the financial stability target would have been at risk, and the effectiveness of collateral-based policies in the recent past must be improved to enhance access to credit for SMEs.