International Journal of Finance & Economics最新文献

The decentralised finance (DeFi) industry hosts billions of dollars in cryptocurrency deposits across protocols that autonomously and independently execute financial transactions. However, little is known about how these protocols raise capital or conduct their governance. This paper examines the token distribution mechanisms of the top-50 DeFi protocols and documents significant variation in how tokens are allocated to users, investors and developers. We find that several protocols distribute a greater share of tokens to insiders, such as through private sales and developer allocations, rather than to users via incentives and airdrops. We present evidence that protocols with greater insider control exhibit fewer deposits, lower token values, and increased risk. Using an event-study analysis, we find significant increases in protocol deposits post-airdrops. Our results suggest that DeFi users prefer user-centric governance models and are sensitive to the risks of insider control. Lastly, this paper discusses the risks and challenges of DeFi governance.

This paper investigates the impact of bank digital transformation on market risk from the economic capital perspective. Using panel data of 32 Chinese A-share listed commercial banks between 2013 and 2021, we find that higher levels of bank digitalization are associated with lower market risk economic capital. This effect is persistent over time and operates mainly through financial innovation and risk management channels. Nevertheless, the inhibitory influence of digital transformation on bank market risk economic capital is weaker among large banks, national banks and banks with less capital buffer. Furthermore, bank digitalization-induced market risk reduction eventually enhances its business performance. Our findings provide bank managers and regulators with new insights into the role of bank digital transformation in market risk governance and offer useful references for other developing countries similar to China in alleviating banks' risk and capital pressure with digital means.

Biodiversity is the foundation for human survival and development. Based on birdwatching data, this paper describes bird species richness of Chinese regions. Furthermore, this paper empirically examines the relationship between the China pilot free trade zone (PFTZ) and biodiversity. The results show that the establishment of PFTZs promoted the protection of biodiversity. The effects of PFTZ on biodiversity are heterogeneous, and there are significant differences in the richness promotion effect of different bird orders. The establishment of the PFTZs has enhanced the bird species richness in the pilot zone by promoting the reduction of industrial pollution, promoting the construction of urban environmental infrastructure, increasing the urban green area and enhancing public awareness of environmental protection. The PFTZ does not have a radiation effect on the surrounding areas. This study provides an important basis for understanding the environmental effects of trade and policy references for the government to formulate policies to promote the coordinated development of opening up and ecological environmental protection.

Carbon inequality has become a significant challenge for sustainable natural resource management and global environmental sustainability. This study aims to explore the impact of natural resource depletion on carbon inequality, using data spanning from 1990 to 2020 for both developed and developing countries. The study employs sophisticated econometric methods for empirical analysis, such as second-generation cointegration techniques, AMG, CS-ARDL, the quantile regression method, and the Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test. The findings reveal that natural resource depletion and consumption expenditures increase carbon inequality in the overall sample of countries. However, in a separate sample, natural resource depletion and consumption expenditures increase carbon inequality in developing countries, while they have a decreasing impact in developed countries. In addition, globalization and population growth emerge as significant contributors to carbon inequality in all three groups. In the quantile regression analysis, the results are the same at both the lower and higher quantiles in all three groups, except for natural resource depletion at the upper quantile. The causality analysis also supports the econometric findings. Based on these results, policy recommendations are proposed for both developing and developed countries. These include encouraging sustainable resource management, renewable energy infrastructure, sustainable consumption, environmental considerations in economic policymaking, technology transfer, and sustainable urbanization. These proposals may reduce carbon disparity, promote sustainable growth, and create a ecologically sustainable future.

This study investigates the influence of TMT R&D functional background on corporate social responsibility (CSR), using data from Chinese-listed family firms from 2010 to 2020. The results demonstrate that the CSR performance of family firms is negatively influenced by the R&D functional background of TMT. These conclusions continuously demonstrate robustness following endogeneity and robustness tests. Furthermore, the primary channels via which the TMT R&D functional background influences CSR performance are digital transformation and family control channels. The TMT R&D functional background exerts a more significant adverse impact on CSR in family firms with multiple shareholding or actual controllers not serving as the chairman or general manager.

External debt sustainability remains a critical concern for academics and policymakers. Existing literature, such as Bohn (1998), highlights a model-based approach to debt sustainability but does not fully account for institutional factors. Using data from 127 countries, we examine the roles of institutional variables in determining the level of sustainable external debt. We find that stronger institutions allow countries to sustain higher levels of external debt. This suggests that institutional reforms can indirectly raise a country's external debt threshold by raising export earnings.