Motivation: This paper aims to discover on -pitch performance data that contribute most to professional soccer players' annual salaries in top European leagues. This information is useful for both players and management. The study helps players optimize their salaries and performances, while it will aid club management's decision -making in sports policy, team management, and investment. Premise: Soccer players and soccer management personnel do not understand what performance metrics directly affect their salaries. Approach: This study consisted of three rounds of regression analyses using the backward elimination approach. Data were divided into three categories: General Data, On -Pitch Performance Data, and On -Pitch Performance (Per 90 Minutes) Data. Annual salary was normalized to Euros. Performance data was used from the previous season as current player contracts typically reflect the previous season's performances. This paper focused on players with the positions forward and midfielders. Results: The three rounds of regression analysis revealed that threat -based xA (expected assists) was a salient predictor of a midfield player's annual salary with a low P value in three out of the five leagues tested. However, different leagues rewarded different styles of midfielders-English Premier League and Italian Serie A rewarded more goals scored and more forward passing (xA) while the Spanish La Liga rewarded more deep -lying midfielders who produced more tackles and aerial duels won in addition to the expected assists. The results for forwards were not as conclusive and require further research. Conclusion: In conclusion, threat -based xA is a reliable predictor of a midfield player's annual salary in some top European leagues. Midfielders who make more dangerous passes into the opponents' half are more valued by clubs. Furthermore, different European leagues reward different statistics, and players need to understand the context that they're playing in to further optimize their salaries. Further research needs to be done using detailed positional classification such as strikers, wingers, central midfielders, attacking midfielders, and so on to get a more minute understanding of performance metrics and their relationship with player salaries. Consistency: This research provides a new way to understand the importance of performance statistics and salary for soccer players. Club management staff may mold their sporting policies as well as salary policies around this finding.
Motivation: The green bond market has been actively growing since it was first issued in 2007, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. However, empirical analysis of green bonds, particularly from the equity investor's point of view, is still rare. This is the first empirical analysis focusing on the green bond in the Asia-Pacific and the behavior of equity investors. Premise: Green bonds are essentially financial instruments issued to fund environmentally friendly projects, hence, it is expected to be positively evaluated by the market. Approach: This study investigates how and to what extent the issuance of green bonds benefits equity investors in Asia-Pacific based on the data from 2013 to 2020 with event study and cross-sectional analysis. Results: This study finds that there is a more positive cumulative average abnormal return (CAAR) of the listed corporate stocks around its green bond issuance announcement. Hence, green bond issuance is positively evaluated by equity investors. Secondly, from the cross-sectional analysis, we find that the market value of the company and the amount of green bonds issued per total debt are positively correlated, while profitability has an adverse relationship with CAAR. However, we find that book-to-market ratio, leverage, and whether or not the company publishes environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) reports are statistically insignificant. Conclusion: Green bond benefits equity investors from the abnormal returns of the listed stocks. Consistency: This paper has provided an empirical analysis and contributed to the extent of understanding in the limited yet developing green bond field of study.
Motivation: Household waste is a major global issue, and its management is crucial for public health. In Japan, municipal governments are legally responsible for managing waste for the public good. Citizen participation (CP) enhances solid waste management (SWM) effectiveness, strengthens democratic legitimacy, and safeguards public health. Premise: Japan is a global leader in SWM, with its municipalities implementing daily waste management methods that encourage citizen participation and engagement, and this study explores the role of citizen participation in SWM. Approach: This study tests the ladder theory of citizen participation, focusing on group dynamics and voluntary engagement. Using a case study method, a mixed -method approach was used to gather empirical data. Two survey questionnaires were designed, piloted, and fine-tuned, with participant responses categorized and presented. Qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis, and quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: This study reveals that Japanese municipalities engage in initiatives that promote positive, voluntary, and collaborative CP in SWM. It also observes a level of Japanese -style partnership between local government and citizens. Conclusion: Local governments can enhance the quality and effectiveness of SWM in rural communities by actively encouraging and facilitating CP processes. This not only leads to positive outcomes in public health and civil education but also legitimizes the role of municipal governments and democratic processes. Consistency: Current SWM policies and practices in Japan can serve as a good example of effective public sector management both in general and for SWM specifically in the rural areas of other countries where effective SWM policies and practices are currently lacking.
Motivation: Banks are among the most important institutions in the financial sector and are moving toward solid international coordination. This motivates the examination of how credit risk is disclosed by these institutions in multiple countries. Premise: As international standards such as Basel and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are continuously improved and adopted by countries around the world, we assume that the degree of credit risk disclosure of banks is comparable and at about the same level. Approach: We scrutinized the number of pages dedicated to credit risk in annual reports and built a disclosure score that captures the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the risk information present in those documents. The score was inspired by Scannella and Polizzi (2020), and further, Welch's t-test was used to compare disclosure practices both within and between countries. Results: The results indicate that there is no significant difference in the credit risk disclosure score of the three countries examined (Japan, South Africa, and Mozambique). However, within each country, we found that larger banks tend to disclose significantly more pages than smaller banks, particularly in Japan. Conclusion: Our results underscore the need for standardized reporting formats and improved tools for disclosure, especially electronic filing systems. Secondly, there is room for improving comparability in credit risk disclosure practices. Consistency: This paper contributes to the understanding of risk disclosure among banks from different countries, which can benefit audiences such as regulators and investors. Furthermore, our score contributes by reducing the subjectivity associated with the content analysis methodology.
Motivation: Long-term bank-to-bank loans have become an increasingly important type of funding for banks. However, the literature does not examine whether and how banks' funding costs vary with cross-country factors. Premise: In this paper we examine the factors that determine the financial contracts between banks. Approach: Using a sample of 1,854 syndicated loans issued to 530 commercial banks from 1995 to 2009 in 42 countries, we conduct both country-level and borrower-level fixed effect estimations. To further ameliorate the endogeneity concern, we estimate our models using instrumental variable analysis and a difference-in-difference analysis. Results: We find that the pricing of bank-to-bank loans is significantly influenced by bank regulations, market structure, institutional qualities, and their relative differences in borrower and lead lender countries. The results further demonstrate that prudential bank regulations are effective in reducing banks' funding costs, especially when the borrowers are relatively risky or when the banking industry is highly concentrated, or the country has weak institutional system. Consistency: Consistent with this journal's purpose, this basic research on how banks manage the cost of funding and engage with global factors has important implications to the policy makers.
Motivation: This paper investigates whether audit firm mergers affect audit fee discounts in the initial year. The numerous mergers of audit firms in China's capital market provide a quasi-natural experiment to investigate this issue. Premise: The merger of audit firms can increase the firm size, thereby improving quasi-rents that are required by auditors. Therefore, we argue that the merger of audit firms will improve the auditor independence, thereby reducing the behavior of low balling. Approach: We select samples from 43 cases of audit firm mergers that occurred between 2005 and 2013 in China and use ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions on 5,552 listed firm-years observations during the period from two years before to two years after the merger. Results: We find audit firms would offer an initial fee discount to the clients, and the merging of audit firms can dramatically reduce the discounts on audit fees for new clients. We also show the treatment effect is more pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) and the merger between large audit firm and small ones. Conclusion: The results suggest that low balling exists in China's audit market. The merger of audit firms can curtail low balling, but only exists in non-SOEs. Moreover, the restraining effect of audit firm mergers on the low balling lies in the merger between large audit firms and small ones. Consistency: The findings in this paper can advance the understanding of the recent strategy raised by related regulators attempting to enhance audit quality.
Motivation: After the recent introduction of ChatGPT, the rise of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) has ignited discussions about its potential to disrupt employment and impact labor productivity. Our paper empirically examines the potential effects of GAI. Premise: Our paper showcases GAI's impact on employment and labor productivity in the United States. Approach: We investigate the 100 largest publicly traded U.S. companies. The key variable of GAI exposure is from Eisfeldt, Schubert, and Zhang (2023). Employment is measured by the number of employees or the number of employees scaled by total assets. Labor productivity is assessed using real sales per employee or operating income per employee. We employ a difference-in-differences methodology, comparing changes in firms with high GAI exposure to those with low GAI exposure, before and after the launch of ChatGPT. Results: Our findings indicate that the introduction of GAI has not had a negative impact on employment. Furthermore, GAI has created positive and statistically significant effects on labor productivity. Conclusion: We conclude that GAI has not decreased employment but has increased labor productivity. The impact of GAI extends beyond the business world. Our discovery highlights the revolutionary potential of GAI and encourages policy makers to utilize it to benefit and advance society. Consistency: Our research provides the latest empirical evidence on GAI's impact on employment and labor productivity. The findings suggest that GAI's adoption enhances labor productivity for businesses and creates employment stability. Our discovery has prevalent and profound influence on the present and future of our world.
Motivation: This paper is motivated by the fact that asset liquidity is important in asset pricing and has significant implications for corporate investments. Premise: This paper attempts to fill the gap in the literature by investigating the impact of bond liquidity on corporate financial policies. Approach: We exploit two exogenous bond liquidity shocks, namely, the inception of the trade reporting and compliance engine (TRACE) and Lehman bankruptcy filing, as well as the traditional measures of bond illiquidity to establish the causal relation between bond liquidity and corporate cash holdings. Results: This study demonstrates that bond illiquidity has a causal positive effect on corporate cash holdings. Additional analysis suggests that bond illiquidity increases the value of cash, and this effect is more pronounced for financially constrained firms. Conlusion: Our findings are consistent with the view that because bond illiquidity hinders firms' access to the external debt market and hence increases the cost of debt, they maintain larger cash holdings to mitigate underinvestment. Consistency: Our results are of interest to regulators who may formulate rules to regulate bond liquidity and practitioners as they make decisions on corporate liquidity and investments.
Motivation: This paper carries relevance to the real estate investment community, encompassing investors and REIT managers. It offers valuable insights into the performance of office real estate investment trusts (REITs) during the tumultuous period of the COVID-19 pandemic, shedding light on their relative efficiency. Premise: This study analyzes the operational efficiency of 20 office REITs from 2018 to 2022, with a particular focus on their adaptability in this challenging landscape brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant surge in vacancy rates and a reduction in rental income. Approach: This research employs data envelopment analysis (DEA). The application of DEA enables a comprehensive assessment of these REITs' efficiency across a 5-year timeframe. Results: Findings from this study indicate that the average efficiency score of office REITs declined from 89 percent in 2018 to 87 percent in 2022. Moreover, the number of REITs with a perfect 100 percent efficiency score decreased from 9 to 8 during this period. Through peer analysis, best practices, and potential avenues for efficiency improvement within these REITs were identified. Conclusion: This research underscores the diminished efficiency in the office real estate market following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings empower investors to discern the varying degrees of efficiency among office REITs and make well-informed investment choices. Additionally, REIT managers can employ the efficiency frontier and peer analysis to benchmark their performance and uncover areas for enhancement. Consistency: This manuscript provides empirically grounded insights into the real estate investment sector, renowned for its inherent risks and uncertainties, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of how businesses adapt and navigate complex economic conditions.
Motivation: A key ethical implication for post-COVID recovery is the vital role of constitutionalism as the necessary , desirable element for balancing capi-talism and democracy. The associated welfare theorem is that the common good requires all three dimensions functioning appropriately.Premise: This paper is a theoretical investigation into the nature of common good as an unavoidably messy resultant. Messy means complicated and unsatis-factory, in contrast to idealized. Viewing one dimension in isolation will empha-size ideal strengths of a preferred dimension while criticizing evident weaknesses of other dimensions.Approach: The paper develops three arguments. specialIntscript The common good is un-avoidably a messy resultant of complex interactions. specialIntscript Business, like science and technology, should retain a relatively independent role. specialIntscript Constitutional-ism is an essential ethical framework for balancing markets and democracy.Results: For capitalism, common good occurs through relatively free markets and limited government. For democracy, relatively broad-scope government strongly regulates markets and outcomes. Unrestrained democracy tends toward authoritarianism and socialism. Unrestrained capitalism tends toward inequal-ity and exploitation. To integrate capitalism and democracy, constitutionalism combines normative law with a system of checks and balances.Conclusions: Constitutionalism is the essential ethical dimension for keeping markets and democracy in balance. Business must have some relatively inde-pendent role rather than being subordinated to government. Authoritarianism and majoritarianism subordinate business to political preferences. Insufficiently regulated business abuses the common good.Consistency: The paper is consistent with the journal's purpose in addressing how business interacts with and affects society. Business owners and managers should support and promote constitutionalism. This conclusion is generalizable across national political systems.
Motivation: The present study was motivated by the desire to understand and address employee concerns related to workplace disruptions. Premise: There are clear changes in the workplace that have been brought about by COVID-19. It is useful to examine how those changes-good and bad-have affected and will continue to affect an organization's employees.Approach: In the present study, a questionnaire was developed to assess the ef-fect of COVID-19 on workplace relationships, attitudes, and behaviors as they differ based on age, gender, and ethnicity. Results: There was a statistically significant correlation between age and work-place attitudes but not between age and relationships or age and behaviors. Additionally, the effects of gender and ethnicity were negligible.Conclusion: The present study showed minimal immediate effects of the pan-demic on employees. Additional research, particularly longitudinal studies, will be necessary for a full understanding of the impact of COVID on workplace relationships, attitudes, and behaviors. Consistency: The methodology of this employee-focused study provides re-searchers and practitioners with an approach to assessing employee concerns regarding disruptions in the workplace.
Motivation: Mask-wearing can effectively control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the effects of message framing (i.e., messages emphasizing the gains/losses of wearing/not wearing masks) on mask-wearing have been exam-ined in previous studies. This study is intended to address some of the insuffi-ciencies in this line of research and explore more effective ways to encourage mask-wearing among the public. Premise: Built upon the extant literature about the compatibility among mes-sage framing, regulatory focus (i.e., an individual's sensitivity to positive/nega-tive outcomes), and the hedonic/utilitarian nature of a consumption experience, this study hypothesizes enhanced persuasiveness of a mask mandate due to the compatibility. Approach: Data was collected through an experiment, and analysis of covari-ance was used to examine the enhanced persuasiveness. Results: A gain-framed message leads to stronger compliance with a mask man-date than does a loss-framed message among those sensitive to positive out-comes in a hedonic setting. A loss-framed message leads to stronger compliance with the mask mandate than does a gain-framed message among those sensitive to negative outcomes in a utilitarian setting. Conclusion: The hypothesized enhancement effect is supported, and the study contributes to building a better framework for the mechanism involved. Consistency: This study provides guidelines to more effectively manage mask mandates in hedonic and utilitarian venues. Given that we have entered a pan-demic era and mask mandates are likely to be re-implemented, guidelines will be valuable.
Motivation: We treat the network position of target firms as a source of value creation in mergers and acquisitions (M&As), and intend to gauge the associated economic value. Premise: We adopt the social network methodology to capture the target firms' network position and relate it to abnormal returns experienced by the acquiring firms on the announcements. Approach: We use a sample of 728 completed acquisitions in the United States from 1990 to 2011 and employ social network analysis and event study methodology to conduct our analysis. Results: We document that the stock market responds positively to the target's centrality. We also find that the combined centrality and the relative centrality of the acquiring firm and the target firm enhance the performance of a particular acquisition. Furthermore, the positive effects of the target firm's centrality on the acquirer's shareholder value creation are stronger when the acquisitions are related deals or the acquirer has prior experience in the target's industry. Conclusion: This study offers a systematic analysis of whether and how a target firm's network position leads to the shareholder value creation of the acquirer. It demonstrates that the externally derived network position and resources of the target firm can influence the stock market's valuation of M&A deals. Consistency: This study provides implications for practitioners with respect to how the acquiring firms assess the targets to create shareholder value in M&A transactions.
The COVID pandemic underscores the need for fair access to health. In this paper, we propose a peer-to-peer business model for drug discovery, which democratizes the drug discovery process and reduce drug prices by cutting the intermediaries that stand between biomedical researchers and future patients. Employing a signalling game-theoretic mechanism, our analysis not only elucidates how the stakeholders strategically interact in this market using deception, adverse selection, and moral hazards, but also how to tame their interactions to improve the overall performance. In particular, we suggest and rigorously evaluate an embodiment built on a scalable implementation of non-fungible token (NFT). Using extensive simulations, we show that, in the NFT mega-fund, both senior and junior tranche investors get their principals fully repaid 99.9% of the time.
Motivation: Due to the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the exit of entrepreneurs from their businesses, the study of this problem in different countries is relevant. Purpose: The aim of the study is to assess the reasons for the exit of entrepreneurs from their businesses in national economies in 2020. Approach: The assessment of five indicators characterizing the opinions of entrepreneurs who have left their businesses about the positive and negative reasons was considered. In addition, an assessment was made of the share of entrepreneurs who stopped working due to the influence of COVID-19 in the total number of economically active population in 2020. The initial data were the results of a survey of the economically active population in 39 countries during the implementation of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring project. Five indicators were evaluated using the density functions of the normal distribution. Results: It is proved that the share of people who stopped entrepreneurial activity in 2020 amounted to about 6 percent of the total economically active population on average in the countries under consideration. It is shown that 0.7 percent of the total economically active population stopped entrepreneurial activity for positive reasons. It is proved that about five out of every six entrepreneurs who have gone out of business have stopped their activities for negative reasons. It is shown that about one-third of entrepreneurs who left their business in 2020 for negative reasons did so due to the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Conclusion: The results of our research have a certain theoretical and practical significance for governments, entrepreneurs, and the economically active population. The methodological approach presented in the article can be used to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the exit of entrepreneurs from their businesses in 2021. Consistency: The pandemic has significantly increased the risks and uncertainty in the activities of entrepreneurs, so the new knowledge gained is of interest to a wide range of government organizations and entrepreneurs in various countries.
Motivation: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed consumer behaviors spanning all areas of life and signaled a profound and long-term challenge to businesses. Understanding the impact of customers' attitudes toward COVID-19 on the established positive association between customer engagement and customer loyalty is essential for firms' engagement initiatives during this unprecedented time. Premise: This research creates a new vision for the relationship between customers' COVID-19 attitudes and engagement construct and their moderating effects toward customer brand engagement on customer loyalty. Approach: Based on designed surveys, three dimensions of COVID attitude: COVID anxiety, COVID reaction, and COVID trust were extracted using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and included in Hierarchical Cross-Classified regression models. Results: COVID anxiety and trust are found to moderate the effect of customer brand engagement on customer loyalty, while consumers' reaction to government COVID policies has a direct effect on customers' likelihood to recommend e-commerce platforms. Conclusion: This research furthers the theoretical development of contextual influence on customer engagement effects and makes contributions to both the academic and practitioner literature on customer engagement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Consistency: This research provides insights into an updated framework for digital engagement to help businesses improve customer brand relationship and create loyalty outcomes under the unprecedented impact of COVID-19, which is consistent with the purpose of this journal.
Motivation: Incumbent literature focuses on motivation, post-initial public offering (IPO) stock performance, and post-IPO operation performance. Few investigate how successful IPOs impact industry peers' performance. This paper is the first to study the competitive effects of IPOs on industry peers' bank loan terms. Premise: Our paper investigates how a successful IPO impacts the incumbent companies' bank loan terms, including price and non-price terms. We assume that the successful IPO will affect industry peers' bank loans via escalated product market competition and financing market competition. Approach: We select the largest IPO event in the surrounding six years in the industry to avoid contamination from other IPOs. We implement ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions on 13,075 facility-firm loan observations from 1989 to 2011. To alleviate endogenous concerns, we use difference-in-difference methodology to prove the causality between IPO competitive effects and industry peers' bank loan terms. Results: We find that after the successful IPO, bank loans initiated for the industry's incumbent firms have significantly higher loan spread, higher likelihood of employing performance pricing provisions, and higher commitment fees. We also find that the syndicate loan structure for industry incumbents becomes more concentrated after successful IPOs in the industry: the number of lenders declines while lead bank share increases. We further show that successful IPOs' competitive effects increase as the level of industrial product competition and financing competition increase. Conclusion: Successful IPOs impact peers' bank loan terms, including price and non-price terms. The IPO competitive effects are more pronounced among firms in more intensive industrial competition and with higher levels of information asymmetry. It implies that IPO competitive effects impact the peers' bank loan terms via product market competition and financing market competition. Consistency: This paper shows that the new player in the market has a competitive advantage over incumbent firms. This finding has important implications to investors and creditors since incumbent firms comprise the majority part of capital market.
Motivation: This paper investigates why Chinese firms issue convertible bonds. Premise: Unlike their counterparts in the United States and the European Union, most convertible bonds issued by listed firms in China from 2003 to 2014 are converted to equity before the maturity date. This indicates that the convertible bond in China is used as a backdoor equity financing instrument. Approach: By using a sample of 77 convertible debt, 655 straight debt, and 1,089 seasoned equity issues in China from 2003 to 2014, we employ a multinomial logit model. Results: Our regression results show that firms are more likely to issue convertible bonds rather than straight debt when the debt-related cost is low and stock price run-up is high while, compared to seasoned equity issuers, firms issue convertible bonds when the risk-free rate is low. Conclusion: The overall results suggest that while listed firms in China still seek equity financing first, they issue convertible bonds to take advantage of the interest rate deduction with the assurance to their investors that the convertibles can be converted to equities. In addition, most convertible bonds were underpriced on the offering date, suggesting convertible bond issuers do not exploit the local investors in China. Consistency: Our understanding on the convertible bond issuance is mainly based on firms in developed markets. Little is known about Chinese firms in this regard. In this paper, we study why firms issue convertible bonds in China by investigating 77 convertible bonds, 655 straight debts, and 1,089 seasoned equities issuances from 2003 through 2014. We find that the average of the ex post actual conversion rate of convertible bonds is 96.18 percent, indicating that almost all convertible bonds in Chinese stock markets were eventually converted to equities, which is a strong indication that convertibles are used as delayed equity. This motivation is reflected with the equity-like design of most convertible bonds in the Chinese market.
Motivation: This article discusses the impact of COVID-19 on import and export trade, and what roles the degree of epidemic spread, the degree of malignancy, and the governments' epidemic prevention and control responses have played in the waves of COVID-19 infections. Premise: Since the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the world health system and has profoundly affected the global economy and import and export trade. The volume of import and export trade in most countries around the world has experienced a significant decline. The global supply chain system has suffered huge challenges due to the epidemic, its management, and each country's governmental response. Approach: This article describes the spread and development of COVID-19 and its phased impact on international trade. This article also discusses the impact mechanism of the epidemic on international import and export trade and the global supply chain system. The study uses trend analysis and fixed effects models to analyze the influence factor on import and export trade of nine major economies (the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada, India, and Australia) in 2020. Results: This study explores COVID-19's effects on international import and export trade. It estimates the impact of COVID-19 on the import and export trade of each country, discussing the relationship between the whole epidemic situation, the number of epidemic infections and deaths, and how governments responded to international trade in this epidemic. The study also groups nine countries from four aspects and analyzes the differences in the impact of import and export trade among different groups. Conclusion: This study has found that for most countries, the COVID-19 epidemic had greater impact on the import trade than export trade. The number of deaths caused by the epidemic had a greater impact on import and export trade than the number of epidemic infections. Each government's epidemic prevention and control policy had a negative impact on the import and export trade. Discovering appropriate policies that could reduce the impact on the economy while preventing and controlling an epidemic is of great importance. The further impact of COVID-19 might change the global industrial layout in the future, but the global supply chain system will not experience huge changes in the short term. Consistency: This research explores the fluctuations and the recovery cycles of the international trading system. The quantitative analysis finds out the negative effects of regional control policies and mobility restriction policies in different countries. It contributes to the business for coping with sudden risks in international supply chain system.
