Konstantinos N. Konstantakis , Pavlos Koulmas , Panayotis G. Michaelides , Thomas Porcher , Arsenios-Georgios N. Prelorentzos
{"title":"Green bonds & clean energy in sustainable finance: Evidence from DCC-GARCH connectedness","authors":"Konstantinos N. Konstantakis , Pavlos Koulmas , Panayotis G. Michaelides , Thomas Porcher , Arsenios-Georgios N. Prelorentzos","doi":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104168","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104168","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The paper examines green bonds and their relationship with clean energy and financial markets. With the world economy shifting towards a climate change-resilient model, green bonds—securities that finance environmentally friendly projects—are still in demand. Nonetheless, green bonds can still be considered a small portion of the overall bond market share. This paper establishes the transmission of the green bond market and its interaction with other financial assets such as metals, rare elements, and energy commodities by means of DCC-GARCH connectedness. Our paper estimates the degree of spillovers and dependencies among various green asset classes. We use a powerful approach that takes into account both cross-sectional and dynamic effects. The analysis shows that green bonds hold a central position in impacting other assets within the system, including commodities, clean energy, and oil. This suggests that green bonds function not only as standalone financial instruments but also offer diversification and hedging benefits. The findings offer valuable insights for investors aiming to manage sustainable portfolios and increase funds for low-carbon projects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48226,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Financial Analysis","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 104168"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143767522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaomei Su , Ummara Razi , Shangmei Zhao , Wei Li , Xiao Gu , Jiale Yan
{"title":"Geopolitical risk and energy markets in China","authors":"Xiaomei Su , Ummara Razi , Shangmei Zhao , Wei Li , Xiao Gu , Jiale Yan","doi":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104187","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104187","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examine the impact of geopolitical risk (GPR) on China's energy markets, focusing on carbon emission allowance prices, the clean energy stock index, the environmental–social–governance (ESG) 100 stock index, and the gas and oil stock index. Using a quantile-on-quantile regression with kernel regularized least squares methodology, we analyze weekly data from China from March 2, 2015, to December 26, 2022. Findings reveal that GPR negatively affects carbon market prices and ESG stocks, particularly when these markets are in weaker states. Conversely, clean energy stocks benefit from geopolitical uncertainties under favorable market conditions, while traditional energy stocks exhibit resilience and even strengthen due to their strategic importance during periods of heightened GPR. Moreover, GPR significantly drives energy market volatility, with amplified effects in high-volatility market conditions. This quantile-specific approach provides a nuanced understanding of how GPR influences energy assets, emphasizing the importance of tailored risk management strategies. Our findings highlight the necessity of integrating GPR assessments into investment decisions and policy frameworks to reduce the uncertainty affecting China's energy markets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48226,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Financial Analysis","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 104187"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143748150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Corporate culture and trade credit","authors":"G M Wali Ullah , Isma Khan , Mohammad Abdullah","doi":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104178","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104178","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examine how corporate culture affects a customer firm's ability to secure trade credit. Using a large US firm-level dataset of 46,020 firm-year observations spanning from 2002 to 2021, we document a positive and statistically significant association between strong corporate culture and the amount of trade credit received. Our results are robust to alternative specifications and endogeneity concerns, mitigated through two-stage least squares (2SLS) regressions using instrumental variables, entropy balancing, Heckman (1979) two-step correction and Oster (2019) test for omitted variable bias. The positive linkage is higher for companies with highly competent managers and those located in regions with high social capital. Our findings have implications for fostering trust and cooperation in business relationships.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48226,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Financial Analysis","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 104178"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143738912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Facial masculinity, risk preferences, and corporate hedging","authors":"Massimiliano Barbi , Valentina Febo","doi":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104197","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104197","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We explore the influence of CEO and CFO facial masculinity, measured by the facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR), on the hedging decisions of a sample of oil and gas producers from 2009 to 2019. Our findings show a negative association between the fWHR and the hedging likelihood and extent, which is particularly pronounced when considering both executives. This effect is consistent with facial masculinity being linked to increased managerial risk-taking and leading to reduced corporate hedging. This evidence is robust to managerial compensation incentives and professional and demographic characteristics, survives multiple robustness checks, and is plausibly causal.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48226,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Financial Analysis","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 104197"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143748153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Assessing the impact of government environmental attention on corporate ESG performance: Empirical insights from A-share listed firms in China","authors":"Xiaoling Ouyang , Xin Yao , Ru Fan","doi":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104164","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104164","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study assesses the impact of Governmental Environmental Attention (GEA) on the ESG performance of A-share listed firms in China from 2011 to 2020. Utilizing Python for textual analysis of government reports, we quantified local governments' environmental attention and its influence on ESG. Findings indicate that increased governmental attention significantly boosts ESG performance, especially in privately-owned and politically-connected firms, due to higher regional environmental investments and stronger internal and media scrutiny. The impact of GEA is further moderated by executives' political connections, with varying effects across different regional and economic contexts. These results underscore the importance of integrating environmental policies in corporate strategies to enhance economic quality and productivity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48226,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Financial Analysis","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 104164"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143760660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yigit Atilgan, K. Ozgur Demirtas, A. Doruk Gunaydin, Aynur Dilan Tosun
{"title":"Regret in global equity markets","authors":"Yigit Atilgan, K. Ozgur Demirtas, A. Doruk Gunaydin, Aynur Dilan Tosun","doi":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104198","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104198","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper investigates the relation between investment regret and the cross-section of equity returns in an international context. We measure the level of regret from investing in a stock as the negative of the difference between the stock's return and the maximum return that could have been achieved by a stock either in the same industry or with a similar market capitalization or book-to-market ratio. We find that the positive relation between regret and future equity returns is stronger for equal-weighted portfolios suggesting that it is more acute for small stocks. Moreover, the regret effect is stronger in emerging markets compared to developed markets. Furthermore, size-based regret is more pronounced compared to industry- or value-based regret. The regret effect is more prevalent in countries characterized by short-term orientation, capital controls and higher limits-to-arbitrage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48226,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Financial Analysis","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 104198"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143748155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Disrupting political ties, enhancing transparency: China's anti-corruption campaign and corporate R&D disclosure","authors":"Mengshu Hao , Jieying Hong , Yining Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104160","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104160","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines the impact of China's anti-corruption campaign on firms' R&D disclosure practices. Utilizing a novel measure of R&D disclosure transparency, constructed via the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) approach applied to question-and-answer texts from Earnings Communication Conferences (ECCs), we find that firms with high levels of corruption prior to the campaign significantly increase the transparency of their R&D disclosures following its implementation. These findings remain robust across a range of robustness and endogeneity tests. Further analysis reveals that firms receiving greater R&D subsidies or benefiting from lower debt costs demonstrate more pronounced improvements in R&D disclosure transparency. Moreover, firms exhibiting larger increases in disclosure transparency secure higher levels of R&D subsidies and long-term loans post-campaign. These results suggest that the enhanced R&D disclosure likely represents a strategic response by firms to sustain government support and obtain favorable financing conditions amid weakened political connections. Thus, our study illuminates a novel role for R&D disclosure in enabling firms to adapt to the loss of political ties and highlights an unintended benefit of government anti-corruption efforts in enhancing corporate information transparency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48226,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Financial Analysis","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 104160"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143760259","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"CEO age and stock price synchronicity","authors":"Calorine Twongirwe , Martin Bakundana","doi":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104195","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104195","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigate the impact of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) age on stock price synchronicity, which measures the amount of market-wide information relative to firm-specific information reflected in stock prices. Based on a sample of US-listed firms from 1992 to 2020, we find that firms managed by older CEOs tend to exhibit lower stock price synchronicity. In terms of earnings management, an important factor for stock price synchronicity, older CEOs engage less intensively in discretionary accruals. Furthermore, the positive relationship between discretionary accruals and stock price synchronicity is less pronounced in firms managed by older CEOs. We confirm that the effect is more pronounced under weaker governance regimes. We further address concerns about endogeneity problems using instrumental variable (IV) estimation and the entropy balancing approach. Overall, our findings support the prediction of CEO career concern models, where younger CEOs exhibit herding behavior.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48226,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Financial Analysis","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 104195"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143716017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Decoding market reactions: Analysis of divergent signals of ESG ratings","authors":"Felix Bachner","doi":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104161","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104161","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines how ESG ratings influence investor behavior, emphasizing the variations across rating agencies. Using daily market reactions in returns and trading volumes of 1100 North American and European firms from 2017 to 2023, the analysis identifies variations in market reactions between ESG score changes from Bloomberg and MSCI. Notably, abnormal trading volumes without abnormal returns point to two types of market ambiguity - uncertainty and disagreement - affecting ESG-related price signals. The findings underscore the need to reduce investor ambiguity to enhance market efficiency, with potential roadblocks being the limited availability, divergence, and unclear materiality of ESG information.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48226,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Financial Analysis","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 104161"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143735226","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The digitalisation of the real estate market: New evidence from the most prominent crypto hacker attacks","authors":"Viktor Manahov, Mingnan Li","doi":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104166","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104166","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Blockchain innovations, particularly real estate tokens, have revolutionised the real estate market, enhancing efficiency, security, and transparency. However, the lurking threat of crypto hacker attacks on the digital real estate market demands immediate attention. We examine the impact of eight crypto hacker attacks on five types of real estate tokens. Our volatility spillover test results reveal that the stolen Ethereum have a statistically significant volatility spillover effect on the real estate token market, particularly for large capitalisation TokenFi and Hifi Finance tokens, which involve real estate investment returns. In contrast, the Propy and Propchain tokens, related to real estate transactions, show no statistically significant volatility spillover effect. This disparity underscores the varying vulnerability of different real estate tokens to the heists, depending on their market capitalisation and application. Further tests uncover market inefficiency and low liquidity post-attack, indicating that negative signals from crypto hacker attacks trigger irrational investor behaviour. Our findings highlight the urgent need for robust security measures in the digital real estate market to mitigate the negative impacts of crypto hacker attacks.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48226,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Financial Analysis","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 104166"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143705999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}