International Journal of Finance & Economics最新文献

Despite the increasing concentration on the budding, but yet immature, green investment markets, less empirical information is known on their multifractal and efficiency behaviour, with no study particularly linking these to the crude oil market. In addition, how the recent COVID-19 affects the multifractality and cross-correlation between oil price and the green investment assets remains unexamined in the literature. Filling these gaps, this study employs novel multifractal techniques that cut across univariate, multiscale, and cross-correlation analyses. We find that oil price and all the green investment assets are strongly multifractal in behaviour before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, although the pandemic intensifies persistence and market inefficiency. Moreover, the multifractality is established to vary across scales, thereby making it to be complex and heterogeneous. On a final note, oil price has a strong multifractal cross-correlation with all the green investment assets, and this is more pronounced during the pandemic. Thus, the oil and green investment markets are closely knitted. These findings are followed with suitable policy implications for investors who desire to effectively assess and manage financial risks and policymakers that desire optimal performance of the markets to achieve the goal of a carbon-friendly economy.

To address the challenge of reducing carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, assessing the efficacy of total carbon emission control policy (TCP) is imperative for the pursuit of sustainable economic growth in China. This study leverages a dataset comprising 282 Chinese cities across the period from 2010 to 2021 to quantify China's environmental total factor productivity (ETFP). Employing the differences-in-difference (DID) approach, this research scrutinises the influence of TCP on ETFP. The findings reveal that the implementation of TCP significantly enhances ETFP within the regions subject to the policy. Notably, the policy exerts a more pronounced influence on ETFP in the eastern regions, cities reliant on resource extraction and those with higher administrative status. The promotion of ETFP through TCP is largely mediated by advancements in technology and shifts in the industrial landscape. This study offers valuable insights to facilitate the effective rollout of TCP in China.

The study explores the effect of China's Green Financial Reform and Innovation (GFRI) pilot zone policy on corporate ESG performance from 2012 to 2021. Utilising a double/debiased machine learning (DDML) model, we find that the policy enhances ESG performance by mitigating financial constraints, improving environmental practices, and reducing short-sighted management behaviour in Chinese corporates. Heterogeneity analysis reveals varied effects based on resource endowments, geographic locations, ownership properties and life cycles. This study underscores the significance of the GFRI policy in advancing China's dual-carbon goals. It further illustrates the potential of this policy to serve as a model for similar initiatives globally, offering empirical evidence that supports environmental governance and remediation efforts at both regional and corporate levels.

Optimising the allocation of limited research and development (R&D) resources significantly enhances the environmental benefits. Based on the innovation value chain theory, this study defines green R&D efficiency and investigates its impact on industrial carbon intensity from a spatial perspective. Using the spatial Durbin model, the results indicate that green R&D efficiency reduces industrial carbon intensity both locally and in neighbouring provinces. Endogenous bias and robustness check further confirm these findings. The key mechanisms driving this effect include green output efficiency and green industrial transformation. Additional analysis manifests that the reduction effect is more pronounced during the development stage of green R&D activities than during the research stage. However, both stages work synergistically to reduce industrial carbon intensity. Environmental regulation and a free market environment positively influence the environmental performance of green R&D efficiency. Finally, policy recommendations are provided.

Women directors' role in addressing climate change is the source of increasing scholarly interest. We study the impact of women directors on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide using a dataset of 2758 firms listed in 36 countries between 2002 and 2019 and reveal a significantly negative association between women board directors and GHG emissions, including direct as well as indirect GHG emissions. In recent years, many countries have enacted board gender quotas, leading to a marked rise in women's board representation. Our findings indicate that the marginal effect of women directors on GHG emissions after implementing gender quotas also remains negative and highly significant. We also note that the impact of women directors on GHG emissions is significant when the board has two or more women and is mainly influenced by independent rather than executive women directors. Moreover, industry nature and climate change action-oriented compensation policies drive the relationship between women directors and GHG emissions. The results remain robust to alternate proxies, various subsample analyses, and alternative specifications and offer significant research and managerial implications. This study contributes to the emergent literature on the role of women directors and board gender quotas in tackling the global issue of climate change.

Against the backdrop of global climate change and slowing economic growth, nations are urgently seeking strategies to both stimulate economic recovery and reduce carbon intensity (CI). In this context, China has prioritised the expansion of green finance as a pivotal mechanism for fostering green transformation and securing sustainable growth. This study delves into the effect of green finance on China's CI. Employing an empirical analysis across 30 Chinese provinces from 2007 to 2020, this paper leverages the entropy method to forge a comprehensive green finance indicator. The findings show green finance diminishing CI, predominantly driven by green innovation and industrial structure. Further examination using the threshold effect model reveals a pronounced threshold impact of green innovation and industrial structure on the efficacy of green finance in reducing CI, with the inhibitory effect of green finance peaking within an optimal threshold range. The heterogeneity test reveals that, compared to the western and northeastern regions, green finance has a more pronounced inhibitory effect on CI in the eastern and central regions. The research findings of this paper provide a perspective on how green finance facilitates the reduction of regional CI.

This study conducts a comprehensive analysis of interconnectedness in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) equity markets and global bond markets, primarily focusing on European Monetary Union (EMU) and US bonds, from July 2007 to September 2023. Using innovative methodologies such as quantile connectedness and quantile coherency, we capture the dynamic relationships across different market conditions, particularly during extreme events. The quantile connectedness includes a moderate to low degree of interconnectedness during normal market conditions, intensifying during extreme market conditions. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia are identified as influential players, transcending borders to impact returns in other GCC markets. Roles of GCC countries as net transmitters or receivers of returns shift over time, necessitating adaptable investment strategies. The interconnectedness of GCC markets with bonds responds differently to global crises and turbulences, including geopolitical and health crises. Our quantile coherence analysis provides insights for risk management and portfolio allocation. These findings have crucial implications for investors, encouraging adaptive asset allocation strategies, and for policymakers to monitor intra-regional spillovers in shaping market dynamics.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between ownership structure and dividend payments (DP) and whether financial technology (FinTech) has an impact on this relationship. The study uses a panel sample of 278 Chinese financial firms during the period 2009–2022. The study applies regressions and finds that FinTech firms pay lower dividends, suggesting that these firms are holding onto the money to re-invest for future growth. The results demonstrate that Institutional-shareholding, and inside shareholding (Chairman-shareholdings and Managerial-shareholdings) increase DP in firms, while Largest- and Top_10 shareholdings decrease the DP. With the induction of FinTech, the Institutional-shareholdings and inside shareholding decrease DP, so they utilise funds for future growth. Moreover, FinTech intensifies the negative impact of the Largest- and Top10-shareholdings on DP. The results from the sub-sample further support the findings. Several other economic parameters, such as the dynamic panel model, difference-in-differences and propensity score matching, and different dividend measures confirm the findings. The study contributes to other contentious findings found in the literature and offers helpful insights into the effects of innovation on prospective financial sector firms' ownership structure and DP, which seem to be impacted by FinTech.

This study explores the impact of Indian non-financial firms' capital structure on corporate zombification. The study uses a logit model, with the capital structure mix as a covariate, to determine the likelihood of a firm becoming a zombie. Panel data from 1999 to 2020 for all non-financial firms were utilised to examine the effect of debt capital on the probability of corporate zombification. The findings reveal that increased debt-to-equity financing raises the risk of default. However, the study underscores the importance of maintaining an optimal debt level and conscious capital structure decision-making by managers that support relevant capital structure theories. Going overboard with debt capital erodes its benefits. Debt financing is associated with an unequal distribution of information and financial commitments. To a certain extent, the conclusions of the present study could guide firm managers to make informed decisions related to capital structure and adjust the intensity and direction of a firm turning into a zombie. By providing practical insights, the study empowers managers to make strategic decisions that can potentially prevent their firms from becoming zombies. The study will further enrich the literature, focusing on the factors responsible for a firm turning into a zombie.