Global Policy最新文献

Advanced societies are increasingly concerned about corporate misconduct. Citizens are more willing to penalize it, and regulators are punishing companies more significantly than ever before. In particular, while reputation is a key asset for any business, corporate conduct has proven to be especially relevant in the banking industry. The present paper explores the main research efforts carried out on this topic, aiming to learn lessons from a comparison of studies focused on preventive and punitive actions. To accomplish this, we selected relevant corporate misconduct papers from the Web of Science, conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to understand the role of banking industry-oriented research, and finally, performed a systematic review to distinguish between articles addressing impact measurement and those focusing on prevention. The results allowed us to respond to the unanswered questions regarding the particularities of the banking industry that make it require further and independent analysis and to the debate about whether the current regulation led to certain unwanted effects. Among those many lessons, one is strikingly important as most studies coincide in the conclusion that, instead of the current actions, more effort should be put into efficient prevention methods, such as education for more ethical corporate and individual behavior.

The aim of this research has been to analyse how the method employed for lending can affect the cost efficiency of microfinance institutions (MFIs) since innovations for lending have been introduced in the sector in the last years and there are not empirical studies to analyse the actual impact of it. The improvement of MFIs' cost efficiency is very important for these institutions to achieve their financial self-sufficiency and be sustainable in the long run. The data employed in this analysis have been an unbalanced panel composed of a sample of 1017 MFIs for the 2008–2018 period and collected from the microfinance information exchange (MIX) database. Our results also show that community or group-lending methods, as village banking and solidarity groups, have a positive effect on the MFIs’ cost efficiency versus traditional methods based on individual lending. In addition, we have found that MFIs with a higher proportion of borrowers in rural areas are more cost efficient than institutions with more borrowers in urban areas, although community or group-lending methods have a larger positive effect on MFIs’ cost efficiency in urban than in rural areas.

In the modern business landscape, the challenges of corporate governance have become increasingly important. In particular, those related to reputation, risk, and sustainability are today crucial to the well-being of both individual organizations and the global economy and society at large. For these reasons, corporate governance today plays a more important role than ever before in shaping the strategies and operations of companies.

This paper aims to investigate the determinants of different types of market risk faced by Spanish firms from 2012 to 2019. Using Fama and French's (Journal of Financial Economics, 1993, 33, 3) three-factor model, we estimate total risk, diversifiable risk, and systematic or non-diversifiable risk in the three dimensions proposed by these authors: market risk, size risk, and valuation risk. Risk determinants are derived from a series of economic and financial variables obtained from the information contained in financial statements. This information is summarised using a factor analysis that aims to resolve the correlation issues between the proposed measures. The study demonstrates that the systematic risk factors proposed by Fama and French in their 1993 three-factor model incorporate dimensions of systematic risk that are relevant to investors and that the set of economic and financial variables proposed can explain these risks. Among these variables, profitability and the market to book ratio have the greatest impact in explaining company risk, while factors such as operating and financial leverage, growth, or company insolvency have a much smaller effect as explanatory factors for risk.

In the ever-changing landscape of the banking industry, digital transformation has become a major challenge. Banks are transitioning towards digitalisation by utilising information and digital technologies while reducing their branch networks. This paper investigates the relationship between technological innovation and banking customers' perception and satisfaction. By analysing a comprehensive consumer finance survey, we assess how the digital transformation of banks is perceived by customers and its impact on their satisfaction. Our results demonstrate that customer perceptions of a bank's digital innovativeness are positively associated with effective digital transformation. Customers tend to be more satisfied with banks that have a higher degree of digitalisation. Furthermore, our findings reveal that customers view banks as more innovative when the reduction in bank branches since the pandemic has been more intense. These insights shed light on the technological transformation of banks and its influence on their customers, providing valuable information for banks seeking to navigate the digital landscape and improve customer satisfaction.

Climate change and the challenges associated with the transition to a zero-carbon economy pose significant financial risks. Climate-related risks (CRR) indirectly impact banks through their loan portfolios. To examine the integration of CRR into banks' credit risk assessment and monitoring, this article reviews academic and institutional literature using quantitative bibliometric techniques and content analysis of 145 academic documents from policymakers and financial supervisors. A framework emerges that incorporates CRR into credit risk management. We find four thematic areas in the literature: CRR drivers, CRR tools, CRR data and CRR pricing. Overall, uncertainty, non-linearity, geographic and industrial dependency and non-reversibility of CRR difficult climate-related credit risk assessment. Moreover, CRR data present comparability, availability and reliability issues, which Artificial Intelligence can improve. Finally, evidence reveals that current financial prices do not fully reflect CRR. Our findings provide important implications to policymakers for assessing ex-ante the financial impacts of climate transition regulations, the potential for prudential regulatory action, and the need for supra-national policies that facilitate access to reliable and comparable climate data.

Trust in banking plays a significant role in promoting financial inclusion. Multinational banks (MNBs) have the potential to enhance trust by adopting sustainable banking practices. We investigate the impact of MNBs' adoption of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) practices on trust in banking in 38 developing countries. Using an instrumental variable approach and control function estimation, our findings indicate that sustainable practices by commercial MNBs are positively and significantly associated with increased trust in banking. The results remain consistent across different samples, lending robustness to our findings. By demonstrating the importance of sustainable banking in fostering trust, this study contributes to the limited literature on trust in banking in the global South.

Expert consensus helps policymakers solve complex problems by identifying and legitimizing policy solutions. Yet, persistent hesitation remains among policymakers regarding the technically adequate policy solution despite the existence and mobilization of epistemic communities. This paper contends that more attention should be given to studying the epistemic competition that may arise when multiple epistemic communities grapple with the same problem but have divergent understandings of its technical nature and its adequate policy solutions. Building on Science and Technology Studies and on the literature on polarization, this paper suggests that two social dynamics, namely the mobilization of resources and increased polarization, may complexify the technical disagreement among experts. In turn, these dynamics may lead to a deadlock in the debates, negatively impacting the institutional context where they take place. To illustrate this, this paper analyzes the case of the pharmaceutical innovation system, which has been prone to tensions between experts arguing for strong patent protection and experts arguing for greater flexibility to meet public health needs. This paper builds on a mixed method combining a social network analysis of experts invited to provide their expertise in the WHO-WTO-WIPO Trilateral Cooperation events and on semi-structured interviews with 24 of these experts.

This article examines the Chinese government's stance on the Russia–Ukraine war, including the recent development of China's economic relations with Russia. It assesses the factors that have influenced Beijing's position and the narrative it has used to explain it. Considering China's outsized importance for global events, the article also explores what implications its positioning regarding the war can have for the future of the global order. Since Russia's invasion began, China's government has presented itself as a neutral party, but it has de facto adopted a pro-Russian position in the conflict. Beijing has primarily framed its stance on Ukraine in security terms, embedded in what is essentially a Realist narrative interlinked with pre-existing ideological worldviews among China's political elites. It has condoned Russia's invasion on the grounds that Moscow is defending its ‘legitimate security interests’, which is an implicit appeal to respect a great power's sphere of influence, even at the expense of smaller states' sovereignty. While this raises questions about the compatibility of Beijing's vision of global order with the broader interests of most other states of the Global South, China (alongside Russia) has intensified its efforts to court these states in the context of the Russia–Ukraine war.

In recent decades, China has risen to prominence in the global economy with breakneck speed. Many have hypothesised that Chinese economic actors undermine the global drive to promote good governance in developing countries, and in Africa in particular, by disproportionately engaging economically with countries that suffer from poor governance outcomes. Using bilateral trade data, this paper explicitly compares how different aspects of African countries' governance levels impact their trade patterns with China and the West. It finds that African countries with better corruption controls and improved democratic development levels export more to the Western countries sampled, though the opposite is true with regard to their exports to China. Interestingly, democratic development is associated with greater imports from both the West and China, but the opposite holds with regard to respect for human rights. Finally, political stability has no significant impact on African trade—with either the West or China. However, when oil exporters are excluded from the sample, the relationship between political stability and African exports strengthens dramatically, which suggests that both Western and Chinese importers are willing to tolerate political instability to secure oil.