{"title":"Economic Policy Uncertainty, Investor Sentiment and Industry Stock Market Volatility in China: A Quantile Regression Approach","authors":"Peng Guo, Luzhu Tian, Jing Shi","doi":"10.1002/ijfe.70010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.70010","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>From an industry perspective, we apply the quantile regression to investigate the impact of investor sentiment (IS) and China's/the US economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on Chinese stock market volatility. Considering the structural break of the stock market, we found that China's and the US EPU/IS and their interaction effects had a significant impact on China's stock market volatility at the market level. Moreover, there was an asymmetric dependence between China's and the US EPU/IS and stock market volatility, and the dependence structure was time-varying. At the industry level, the impact of the EPU on industry stock market volatility was highly heterogeneous, and its significance mostly occurred in the upper and lower tails. China's and the US EPU/IS can exacerbate industry stock market volatility in bullish and bearish markets. In addition, China's and the US EPU/IS and their interaction effects are heterogeneous and asymmetric, and the effects change with the break point. Finally, the US EPU has a great impact on the industry stock market. However, its scope and degree of influence are gradually decreasing. Our findings shed new light on the relationship of the EPU, IS and stock market volatility in China.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47461,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Finance & Economics","volume":"31 2","pages":"1682-1710"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147685983","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":"The Effect of Corporate Leverage Regulation on Innovation: Evidence From a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China","authors":"Xiaofang Xu, Moran Jia, Yu Lu","doi":"10.1002/ijfe.70011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.70011","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study examines the impact of Corporate Leverage Regulation (CLR) on corporate innovation. Innovation is key to firm performance and sustainable competitiveness, which may be affected by a firm's financial risk, and deleveraging is an essential measure to mitigate corporate financial risk. Taking advantage of the quasi-natural experiment of CLR in China, which requires over-indebted state-owned companies to reduce their debt ratio, we examine the effects of the reduction in financial leverage on corporate innovation. We find that firms are more likely to enhance their innovation efficiency after CLR, which has a significant increase in corporate innovation outputs, while no significant increase in innovation inputs, and this increase is more pronounced for firms with a higher proportion of institutional investors, a lower degree of digital transformation, and less media attention. These findings suggest that appropriate government guidance and intervention to reduce excessive financial leverage risk is helpful for corporations to maintain sustainable growth and stay competitive in their industry. We also document that managerial myopia reduction, resource allocation efficiency improvement, and accounting information quality enhancement are the channels through which CLR affects firm innovation. Furthermore, we find that CLR significantly increases the value of firms. Taken together, our results suggest that a decrease in leverage has a causal effect on firms' innovation efficiency.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47461,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Finance & Economics","volume":"31 2","pages":"1711-1734"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147686214","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":"The Return Power of Analyst Reports: Definition, Factor and Strategy","authors":"Yongli Li, Baoqiang Zhan, Tianchen Wang","doi":"10.1002/ijfe.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.70018","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Analyst reports are crucial in financial markets, providing information that guides investment decisions. However, existing research on their profitability and impact, especially over different time horizons, remains inconclusive. This study introduces a novel metric, ‘return power’, to assess the performance of analyst reports in both short- and long-term contexts. We find that analyst reports serve as the short-term ‘news’ and the long-term ‘information’, each influencing stock returns differently. Using a dataset of 249,576 analyst reports from the Chinese stock market (2007–2022), we empirically examine key factors—such as broker's status, broker's prior performance, and investors' or analysts' attention—that affect return power at different time horizons. Based on these findings, we design investment strategies utilising both regression models and eight other well-known machine learning techniques. Our results show that the regression-based strategy outperforms other machine learning models and a market index, consistently providing superior risk-adjusted returns across various transaction costs. This study confirms the profitability of analyst reports and offers a practical framework for report-driven investment strategies.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47461,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Finance & Economics","volume":"31 2","pages":"1833-1859"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147686329","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}
Philip Igeland, Mona El Yadini, Gazi Salah Uddin, Muhammad Yahya, Ali Ahmed, Axel Hedström
{"title":"The Relationship Between Energy Metal Price Volatility and Clean Energy Assets","authors":"Philip Igeland, Mona El Yadini, Gazi Salah Uddin, Muhammad Yahya, Ali Ahmed, Axel Hedström","doi":"10.1002/ijfe.70013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.70013","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Currently, global economies are grappling with the challenges posed by aggressive climate actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These efforts are further complicated by high fuel prices, economic instability, inflationary pressures, and concerns about energy security, all of which are straining the global energy sectors. A proposed solution is a shift towards clean energy alternatives, but the technologies coupled with clean energy heavily rely on energy metals. This has led to increasing demand for these resources. Thus, the relationship between renewable energy metals and the price and volatility of clean energy assets needs to be explored. We analyse the volatility characteristics of the various clean energy sub-sectors, regional indices, and oil prices and assess their dependence on renewable energy metals. Empirical results indicate that volatility in energy metal prices significantly influences the volatility of all clean energy indices, with the US lithium price having the most pronounced impact. These findings highlight the critical role of energy metal prices as risk determinants in the clean energy sectors. The success of the transition to clean energy may depend on the stability of energy metal markets. This underscores the need for stakeholders to ensure the continued availability and demand stability of these vital resources in our pursuit of clean energy.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47461,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Finance & Economics","volume":"31 2","pages":"1735-1753"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147687000","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}
Antonios Persakis, Athanasios P. Fassas, Dionisis Philippas
{"title":"Earnings Quality and ESG Performance in Energy and Utilities: What Really Matters?","authors":"Antonios Persakis, Athanasios P. Fassas, Dionisis Philippas","doi":"10.1002/ijfe.70007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.70007","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The paper investigates the controversial relationship between firms' earnings quality and environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, focusing on the energy and utility sectors given their significant regulatory pressures, environmental impact, and capital-intensive nature, which render ESG performance particularly important for financial reporting practices. Using a cross-country dataset of firms in these sectors, we empirically assess whether ESG performance amplifies or dampens earnings quality, extending our framework to incorporate CEO power and board strength, with respect to a comprehensive set of firm-specific and country-level controls. We show that a higher level of ESG commitment is positively associated with improved earnings quality, suggesting that ethical engagement and transparency enhance the integrity of financial reporting. We find that CEO power weakens the positive relationship between ESG commitment and earnings quality, as managerial discretion may facilitate earnings management practices that obscure the firm's underlying financial condition. In contrast, strong boards amplify earnings quality by enhancing effective oversight and promoting corporate accountability. Nevertheless, board effectiveness is subject to the inherent trade-offs between maintaining legitimacy, addressing diverse stakeholder interests, and meeting economic needs. We conclude that ESG initiatives are substantially shaped by internal corporate governance structure and firm-specific operational characteristics.</p>","PeriodicalId":47461,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Finance & Economics","volume":"31 2","pages":"1627-1659"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ijfe.70007","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147686995","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}
Fatima Shuwaikh, Sabrina Khemiri, Souad Brinette, Joakim Zebulon Börrén Dias
{"title":"Evaluating Innovation Output of Companies Backed by Corporate, Independent and Syndicated Venture Capital","authors":"Fatima Shuwaikh, Sabrina Khemiri, Souad Brinette, Joakim Zebulon Börrén Dias","doi":"10.1002/ijfe.70003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.70003","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper examines how Corporate Venture Capital (CVC), Independent Venture Capital (IVC) and Venture Capital Syndicate (VCS) promote innovation among startups. Drawing on a dataset of 4406 venture-backed deals in North America, spanning 1998–2019, it explores how the configurations of investors and their contextual factors influence innovation output. The findings show that syndicated and CVC-backed ventures outperform IVC-backed ventures. Syndicates with a larger membership are positively associated with innovation outcomes based on resource pooling and knowledge sharing; contextual factors, such as location and technology fit, environmental munificence and absorptive capacity have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between VC type and innovation outcomes. This research adds to both academic knowledge and practical implications, offering entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers' actionable insights about how to facilitate innovation, improve venture funding and enhance innovation management to ultimately strengthen the innovation ecosystem.</p>","PeriodicalId":47461,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Finance & Economics","volume":"31 2","pages":"1530-1556"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ijfe.70003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147684076","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":"Excess Remuneration, Governance, and Risk-Taking in Islamic Banks","authors":"Tastaftiyan Risfandy, M. Kabir Hassan","doi":"10.1002/ijfe.70022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.70022","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We comprehensively investigate the impact of remuneration on the governance of Islamic banks pertaining to the board of directors (BOD), <i>Shariah</i> supervisory board (SSB), executives, and the chief executive officer (CEO). The research in this area is still muted, especially using samples of Islamic banks and involving all board member types. Using the hand-collected data of dollar remuneration on those board members, we estimate their ‘normal’ remuneration, and we find that all board types, including the CEO, are over-remunerated from USD 20,790–305,920. However, in further investigation, we find that the excess remuneration in the directors and SSB favours the Islamic banks, particularly to lessen the risk-taking incentive. Our result highlights the importance of Islamic banks' two-layer governance system, which has a role in preventing excessive risk-taking behaviour. Supporting the ‘efficiency wage hypothesis’, the good remuneration design for the directors and <i>Shariah</i> scholars will attenuate the agency problems in the context of Islamic banks. Regarding executives and the CEO, we do not find a significant impact of the excess remuneration. This is likely because the Islamic banking industry faces a number of restrictions due to its presence as a heavily regulated financial institution and the voluminous <i>Shariah</i> requirements that must be fulfilled in its operations.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47461,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Finance & Economics","volume":"31 2","pages":"1899-1916"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147686131","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":"Do Financial Structural Characteristics Affect Economic Resilience?","authors":"Yujia Chen, Fuqiang Wu, Guihong Hua","doi":"10.1002/ijfe.3185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.3185","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study uses data from 31 provinces in China between 2006 and 2020 to investigate the impact of financial structure on economic resilience. The findings show a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between financial structure and economic resilience. Financial structure has a positive effect on economic resilience before reaching the inflection point; however, the impact becomes negative after reaching it. Endogeneity and robustness tests support this conclusion. Furthermore, factors such as crises, economic development levels, and the financial ecosystem moderate the relationship between financial structure and economic resilience. Finally, convergence tests reveal that disparities in financial structure and economic resilience across different regions in China are gradually narrowing, with financial structure converging towards the inflection point.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47461,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Finance & Economics","volume":"31 1","pages":"1089-1107"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146007397","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}
Syed Faisal Shah, Ammad Ahmed, Atia Hussain, Ali Hassan Saleem
{"title":"Navigating Uncertainty: The Impact of FinTech Advancement, Economic Policy, and Social Media on the US Bank Stock Returns","authors":"Syed Faisal Shah, Ammad Ahmed, Atia Hussain, Ali Hassan Saleem","doi":"10.1002/ijfe.3184","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.3184","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study explores how FinTech advancements, economic policy uncertainty (EPU), and social media sentiments affect bank stock returns in the United States. We analysed data from 338 listed banks between 2010 and 2022, using a two-step Generalised Method of Moments estimator to address potential biases. Our findings show that EPU has the most significant negative impact on bank stock returns, highlighting the importance of stable policies for maintaining investor confidence. While FinTech advancements generally boost bank performance, they can temporarily hurt profitability due to initial costs and market scepticism. Positive social media sentiments, especially from platforms like Twitter, significantly enhance investor confidence and bank stock returns. However, when combined with high EPU, the positive effects of FinTech and social media are diminished, showing the density of these interactions. Robustness checks, including feasible generalised least squares and control variables such as unemployment, political stability, and the <i>Z</i>-Score, confirm the consistency of our results. This study provides valuable insights for policymakers, financial institutions, and researchers, emphasising the need for strategies that integrate technological, social and policy factors to support financial stability and market performance.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47461,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Finance & Economics","volume":"31 1","pages":"1070-1088"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146007398","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":"Stock Market Reaction to the Recurring Incidents at Boeing: An Event Study Analysis","authors":"Susana Cró, Nuno Moutinho, António Miguel Martins","doi":"10.1002/ijfe.3180","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.3180","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This paper examines the short-term market reaction of aircraft commercial manufacturers and airline industry for eight Boeing aircraft incidents occurred in the first semester of 2024. Using an event study, we observe a negative and statistically significant stock price reaction for Boeing around the dates of the aircraft incidents and positive statistically significant abnormal returns to its rivals Airbus and Embraer. The competitive effect explains this result. As for the airline industry, the results do not show the existence of statistically significant effects on share prices. The absence of fatalities associated with these events helps to explain the lack of statistical significance for airline industry. However, a more detailed analysis of the sample reveals different patterns of behaviour of airline share prices—a negative and statistically significant abnormal return for airline firms with a fleet with a high weight of Boeing aircraft, for low-cost carriers and for airlines with a poor safety record. Since all of these airlines use Boeing aircrafts, it seems there is a ‘guilt by association’ effect. These reactions are also reinforced or mitigated by airline-specific characteristics such as size, leverage, and firm age. Practical implications of our findings are provided.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47461,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Finance & Economics","volume":"31 1","pages":"985-1004"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146007844","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}