Asian Economic Policy Review最新文献

{"title":"Sustainable Finance in Asia: Editors' Overview","authors":"Caroline Flammer, Takatoshi Ito, Kazumasa Iwata, Colin McKenzie, Shujiro Urata","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70023","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"5-13"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146007893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comment on “How Sovereign Sustainable Bond Issuance Shakes Up the Corporate Sustainable Bond Market?: Evidence From Asian Markets”","authors":"Irene Monasterolo","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70020","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Kim et al. (<span>2026</span>) address a relevant aspect of the sustainable finance market, namely, the relationship between sovereign and corporate green bond issuances, which has so far received limited attention in the literature. The application to Asian markets is both interesting and pertinent, given the growing role of Asian countries in the global development of green finance. Several Asian economies have moved rapidly toward decarbonization through the introduction of climate policies and regulations, as well as through ambitious investment programs, including the issuance of sovereign green bonds. Public investment and policy initiatives may influence market reactions, for example, through signaling effects and the alignment of investor expectations, thereby potentially affecting corporate issuances. In general, sovereign green bond markets have continued to attract strong investor demand, even during periods of waning climate policy ambition, with issuances frequently being oversubscribed.</p><p>Clarifying the greenness classification is crucial, as it shapes the interpretation of the greenium results (which depend in part on how “green” is defined; see Alessi et al. <span>2021</span>; De Angelis and Monasterolo <span>2024</span>) and provides an explanation for observed price and liquidity signals, and for eligibility in asset purchase programs (Bressan et al. <span>2022</span>).</p><p>The signaling effect has recently been explored in the literature, including the influence of a country's green policies and regulations on institutional investors' sustainability preferences (Barber et al. <span>2021</span>), and the potential impact of sovereign sustainable bond issuance on the demand for and supply of corporate sustainable bonds. These factors may contribute to lower yields and enhanced liquidity.</p><p>The formalization of the transmission channels through which sovereign sustainable bond issuance affects corporate bond markets is critical for both model specification and the interpretation of the results.</p><p>I commend Kim et al. for addressing my earlier comments on the conference version of their paper in a comprehensive and clear way.</p><p>First, Ki et al. have clarified the definition of sustainable bonds which cover green bonds and sustainability bonds within the sample, which includes eight Asian sustainable bond markets, namely Hong Kong, Korea, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, and the data provider used (Bloomberg).</p><p>Second, Kim et al. clearly discuss the signaling effect in their Sections 1 and 4, to better understand the market's pricing reaction. Furthermore, they identify the greenium as part of the yield spread, consisting of a greenium and a risk premium, in line with recent literature (Flammer <span>2026</span>). They consistently find that the greenium narrows after the sovereign sustainable bond debut.</p><p>Regarding the model specification, it is worth noting that the e","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"70-71"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aepr.70020","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146007496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial Announcement","authors":"Kazumasa Iwata, Colin McKenzie, Shujiro Urata","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70019","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146016270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Professor Takatoshi Ito","authors":"Kazumasa Iwata, Colin McKenzie, Shujiro Urata","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70018","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"2-4"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146007225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comment on “Beyond Green: Impacts of Green Bond Issuance on Conventional Bonds in China”","authors":"Naoyuki Yoshino","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70011","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Zhan et al. (<span>2026</span>) address the impact of green bond issuance on the yield spreads between the conventional bonds and green bonds using a sample of 1468 corporate bonds. Zhan et al. find that after the green issuance, the green-bond issuer has lower operational uncertainty, and its conventional bond has a higher upgrade probability (lower credit risk).</p><p>These findings collectively suggest that green bond issuance mitigates the default risks associated with the issuer and its bonds, resulting in lower yield spreads for its existing bonds. Green bond issuance may also enhance the issuer's reputation. As more cash flows are injected into the firm, the firm's value increases, and its debt repayment capacity improves (cash flow hypothesis). In addition, with larger amounts of investments, green-bond issuers' conventional bonds would have better liquidity conditions, which could also lead to lower yield spreads (liquidity hypothesis). However, we find inconsistent results, indicating that the impacts of green bond issuance on the issuer's operating cash flows and mutual fund holdings of existing bonds are insignificant. Additionally, Zhan et al. find that the positive effects of green bond issuance on existing bondholders are significantly stronger for bonds with high liquidity conditions, further supporting the notion that the liquidity channel is not a significant factor.</p><p>The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) (<span>2025</span>) defines 10 areas where green bonds can be issued: (1) renewable energy; (2) energy efficiency (such as in new and refurbished buildings, energy storage, district heating, smart grids, appliances, and products); (3) pollution prevention and control; (4) environmentally sustainable management of living natural resources and land use; (5) terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity conservation; (6) clean transportation; (7) sustainable water and wastewater management; (8) climate change adaptation (including efforts to make infrastructure more resilient to impacts of climate change, as well as information support systems, such as climate observation and early warning systems); (9) circular economy adapted products, production technologies, and processes; and (10) green buildings that meet regional, national, or internationally recognized standards or certifications. There is a question of whether the same criteria are applied to green bonds in China. If not, coordination with the global standard will be required to enable the company to issue green bonds.</p><p>Environmental Scores are assigned to each company by ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) credit rating agencies (Yoshino et al. <span>2023</span>). Table 1 provides a brief summary of the ratings methodology for the major ESG credit rating companies. Since each rating agency has its own criteria for evaluating a company's greenness, this will likely result in different credit rating scores. In China, there are two important questi","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"83-84"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aepr.70011","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146016370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comment on “How Sovereign Sustainable Bond Issuance Shakes up the Corporate Sustainable Bond Market?: Evidence From Asian Markets”","authors":"Haruyoshi Ito","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70017","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Kim et al. (<span>2026</span>) contribute to the literature by providing evidence that sovereign sustainable bond issuance can lower corporate sustainable spreads through the reduction in greenium, using unique data from Asian markets that are currently under-researched in sustainable finance. Additionally, Kim et al. (<span>2026</span>) demonstrate how long it takes for the impacts of sovereign sustainable bond (SSB) issuance to be reflected in liquidity and yield spreads.</p><p>In Equation (1), corporate green bond yield − corporate conventional bond yield is greenium, and corporate conventional bond yield − conventional sovereign bond yield is the risk premium. Kim et al. (<span>2026</span>) find that sovereign sustainable bond debuts have tightened yield spread via reductions in both greenium and the risk premium.</p><p>As their second contribution, Kim et al. (<span>2026</span>) show that these reductions are statistically significant only in the short term, e.g., in daily data settings. In medium (monthly) and long-term (quarterly) data, the coefficient of impact on greenium is negative but not statistically significant. Regarding the impact on risk premiums, the coefficient is positive, although it is not statistically significant.</p><p>These results suggest that signaling effects may be at play in the short term, which is consistent with the previous literature (Breuer et al. <span>2018</span>; Wang et al. <span>2021</span>; La Rosa and Bernini <span>2022</span>). The issuance of a SSB implies that the government is promoting green policies. Investors may be more willing to invest in sustainable bonds, even if they sacrifice some financial returns.</p><p>Although Kim et al. (<span>2026</span>) contribute significantly to the academic literature as mentioned previously, Kim et al. (<span>2026</span>) have some limitations and leave some space for future research.</p><p>First, there are some inconsistencies between Tables 5 and 6 in Kim et al. (<span>2026</span>), although the decomposition of greenium and risk premium is their excellent contribution. Their Table 5 shows that the impact of the sovereign sustainable bond (SSB) debut on the yield spread is negative and statistically significant in monthly and quarterly data. However, the impact of SSB on the yield is not clear from their Table 6, as neither the medium-term nor the long-term data showed any results. This is partly because Kim et al. (<span>2026</span>) use different data to conduct the analysis presented in their tables 5 and 6. According to Table 2 in Kim et al. (<span>2026</span>), the sample sizes for bid-ask spread and yield spread are 160,139, whereas those of greenium and risk premium are 71,809 and 71,777, respectively.</p><p>Even if no statistically significant results were found, the sums of the greenium and risk premium estimated from daily, monthly, and quarterly data were −0.0550, −0.0022, and −0.0360, respectively. We reasonably expect the impact of sovereign ","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"68-69"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aepr.70017","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146016371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comment on “Inclusive Wealth and ESG Practices: Financial Impacts in a Global Context”","authors":"Xiaoyun Yu","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70014","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"41-42"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146016160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comment on “Sustainable Finance: Tools, Effectiveness, and Challenges”","authors":"Ayako Yasuda","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70016","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Sustainable finance now plays a pivotal role in every major economic region, though trajectories differ. Since the 2015 Paris Agreement, the industry has expanded rapidly worldwide, with Asia's recent surge reflecting its nascent history compared to Europe and North America. Macro shocks—including the Russia–Ukraine War, elevated inflation, and rising interest rates in 2022—have led to net capital outflows in the United States, while Europe and Asia continue to grow robustly. As regional approaches evolve, it becomes increasingly important to understand the conditions under which sustainable investments generate both positive societal or environmental impacts and acceptable financial returns.</p><p>Flammer (<span>2026</span>) offers valuable insights into these dynamics by synthesizing recent academic research. Flammer finds that green bonds, when certified by independent third parties, not only produce positive announcement returns but also drive meaningful emissions reductions, thereby attracting long-term, environmentally conscious investors. Biodiversity finance, in contrast, hinges on the use of bundling mechanisms—pairing public goods with private returns—and on blended finance to de-risk projects with broad societal benefits. Impact investments in disadvantaged communities are shown to deliver superior accounting performance alongside measurable social impact, relative to comparable investments elsewhere. Active investor engagement, while resource-intensive, is more effective in steering firms' environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices than passive strategies like divestment. In addition, firms that adopt comprehensive approaches to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) exhibit higher profitability, although demographic diversity alone is insufficient. Finally, robust corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices promote innovation, support employee retention, and improve resilience during economic shocks, enhancing long-term competitiveness.</p><p>A central contribution of Flammer (<span>2026</span>) is to articulate the conditions that produce “win–win” outcomes—those that yield both financial value and social or environmental impact. For instance, green bonds only achieve their intended effects when certified to prevent greenwashing. In the presence of capital constraints (induced by either taste-based or statistical discrimination with incorrect beliefs), investments in disadvantaged communities produce greater social impact and returns on assets than those in comparable firms elsewhere. In the arena of biodiversity finance, Flammer highlights the need for public support to overcome the externality problem and mobilize private capital. Although active engagement works well, its scalability is constrained by the time and effort required. Meanwhile, DEI and CSR initiatives appear to pay off when stakeholders with strong ethical commitments—consumers, employees, and investors—reward firms with loyalty and patience, allowi","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"20-21"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aepr.70016","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146007491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comment on “Green Human Capital and Carbon Emissions of Asian Firms”","authors":"Zigan Wang","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70013","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"100-101"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146016310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comment on “Sustainable Finance: Tools, Effectiveness, and Challenges”","authors":"Lloyd Kurtz","doi":"10.1111/aepr.70015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.70015","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Flammer (<span>2026</span>) describes a broad research program that she and her colleagues have undertaken over the past 15 years. This body of work is distinctive and highlights the potential for progress in addressing global sustainability issues. But it also brings into sharper focus the obstacles that lie ahead.</p><p>Flammer and her colleagues investigate the resulting gaps. Private investors are happy to participate in biodiversity projects when they can earn a good return. But such opportunities are rare: Flammer et al. (<span>2025</span>) find that the most profitable biodiversity projects are small and have a limited impact.</p><p>In this mixed environment, blended finance becomes a practical necessity. Will governments and NGOs be willing to supply concessionary capital at the required scale?</p><p>Two challenges seem particularly salient:</p><p><i>Importance of multidisciplinary work</i>: In her concluding section, Flammer (<span>2026</span>) calls for a greater emphasis on multidisciplinary research. This is a longstanding issue, as academic advancement usually depends on expertise and publication within a relatively narrow range of study. There are good historical reasons for this emphasis, but in the field of sustainable finance it is misguided. Academic organizations interested in sustainable finance should bear in mind the saying: “show me the incentives, and I'll show you the results.”</p><p><i>The problem of attention</i>: The quality of research in sustainable finance has greatly improved over the past decade. But who is listening? Even in the best of times, the attention of markets and policymakers seems intermittent. They have their own constraints, and so the role of researchers seems to ultimately be an advisory one.</p><p>But this does not diminish the importance of the work. On the contrary, it underscores the importance of this emerging field. With systemic issues growing in urgency, policymakers will ultimately need to act. Strong research now will support better decisions later.</p>","PeriodicalId":45430,"journal":{"name":"Asian Economic Policy Review","volume":"21 1","pages":"22-23"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aepr.70015","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146007330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}