Economic SystemsPub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101253
Navendu Prakash , Shveta Singh , Seema Sharma
{"title":"Technological catch-up, nonmonotonicity, and convergence: Parametric evidence from the BRICS and European banking systems","authors":"Navendu Prakash , Shveta Singh , Seema Sharma","doi":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101253","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101253","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>IT-driven productivity growth offers banks an intriguing opportunity to differentiate their offerings in a monopolistic market, introduce attractive products, enhance customer service, streamline back-office processes, and ultimately achieve the twin goals of cost minimization and profit maximization. However, there has been no convincing explanation for the observed divergence in the IT-productivity literature, raising doubts about whether IT can significantly improve performance in contemporary banking markets. The article examines the role of IT-led productivity growth in governing the direction and magnitude of intra-industry and inter-country convergence by investigating the potential nonmonotonicity of IT in influencing frontier-based efficiency of the BRICS and European banking markets. Findings reveal U-shaped associations between IT and cost (profit) efficiency, suggesting that excessive investment in IT may explain the productivity conundrum for BRICS nations. IT capital is not a significant driver of cost efficiency for European nations. Nevertheless, R&D spending significantly influences frontier efficiency, reinforcing that European banks can achieve frontier-level performance by investing in innovative solutions. Inter-regional comparisons reveal that BRICS banks are converging with their European counterparts by leveraging IT solutions, while diminishing marginal benefits for the latter reinforces the presence of a catch-up effect. Intra-industry comparisons reveal that size, age, and R&D intensity drive technological catch-up and convergence.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51505,"journal":{"name":"Economic Systems","volume":"49 1","pages":"Article 101253"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142200709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic SystemsPub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101256
Gang Xue, Yanxi Cai, Yan Zhang
{"title":"The influence of income tax incentives on small and low-profit enterprises’ production factor investment","authors":"Gang Xue, Yanxi Cai, Yan Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101256","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101256","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Small and low-profit enterprises (SLEs) are critical and active market participants throughout the economy and wider society. To help SLEs thrive, China continues to expand the scope of its tax incentives. This study investigates the influence of a particular tax incentive – the Income Tax Incentive on Small and Low-profit Enterprises – to identify the impact of tax incentives on investment in labor input and fixed assets. Using a staggered difference-in-differences estimation strategy, we found that tax incentives significantly increase investments in labor input and fixed assets. The impact was stronger for state-owned, non-technology-intensive, and manufacturing enterprises.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51505,"journal":{"name":"Economic Systems","volume":"49 1","pages":"Article 101256"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143510036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic SystemsPub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101255
E. Bárcena-Martín , F. García-Pardo , S. Pérez-Moreno
{"title":"A comparative analysis on how much individuals are left behind in the former state socialist countries of the European Union","authors":"E. Bárcena-Martín , F. García-Pardo , S. Pérez-Moreno","doi":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101255","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101255","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines the extent to which individuals from the former state socialist countries of the EU’s Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have been left behind compared to the rest of EU individuals from Western European (WE) countries and across countries within the CEE bloc. To this end, a fuzzy approach is applied to a multidimensional setting made up of income, material deprivation, and work intensity to measure the ‘Leaving no one behind’ (LNOB) principle of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. A certain process of convergence is found between both blocs of countries over the period 2007–2019 due to a decrease in the level individuals were left behind in the CEE countries, as well as an increase in the level individuals were left behind in the WE countries in the years following the 2007–2008 financial crisis. Significant cross-country disparities in the degree individuals lag behind are also revealed among the CEE countries related to the different models of post-socialist capitalism established in these countries and their subsequent development after joining the EU.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51505,"journal":{"name":"Economic Systems","volume":"49 1","pages":"Article 101255"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143510034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic SystemsPub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101246
Fabian Reck , Jarko Fidrmuc , Frédéric Gruninger
{"title":"Impact of governance on populist rhetoric","authors":"Fabian Reck , Jarko Fidrmuc , Frédéric Gruninger","doi":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101246","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101246","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The phenomenon of populism is widespread in the 21st century. In this paper, we analyze the correlation between the World Bank’s six worldwide governance indicators and populism, which is proxied by the populist rhetoric of government representatives. The panel data includes 40 developing and developed countries and covers the period from 2000 to 2018. The results suggest that good governance may help to reduce populist rhetoric. However, we show that a certain threshold of governance quality must be met to mitigate populist rhetoric. Refugee immigration and one-party dominance, on the other hand, increase populist rhetoric. Despite frequent claims, we do not find robust evidence that merchandise trade or a high unemployment rate strengthens populism.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51505,"journal":{"name":"Economic Systems","volume":"49 1","pages":"Article 101246"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141712034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic SystemsPub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101249
Izaskun Barba , Belén Iraizoz
{"title":"The critical role of the health-care sector in promoting employment for women and migrants in the EU. A multicountry input-output analysis","authors":"Izaskun Barba , Belén Iraizoz","doi":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101249","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101249","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A disproportionate concentration of women in low-pay and low-status sectors is a trend that has grown in significance with the globalization of production systems. For the health and social care sector, this has interesting socio-spatial implications, particularly in terms of immigration, the dimensions of which are worth investigating. This study employs the novel extended multiregional input-output FIGARO database to estimate the employment-generating capacity of the sector in the EU28, with a focus on the gender and geographic origin of its workers. The analysis takes into account both indirect and induced effects and considers both cross-country and cross-sectoral linkages. The findings identify the healthcare sector as a key source of employment for both national and immigrant women in more than half of EU countries. At the same time, this sector contributes to the earnings disadvantage experienced by women, which suggest that equality policies should consider the sectoral distribution of employment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51505,"journal":{"name":"Economic Systems","volume":"49 1","pages":"Article 101249"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141947932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic SystemsPub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101254
Zhandos Ybrayev , Azamat Baizakov, Erlan Kailrullayev, Dana Mukhambetzhanova
{"title":"Macroprudential policy effectiveness and interaction with monetary policy: Lessons from debt service-to-income cap implementation in Kazakhstan","authors":"Zhandos Ybrayev , Azamat Baizakov, Erlan Kailrullayev, Dana Mukhambetzhanova","doi":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101254","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101254","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We take advantage of the early adoption of the debt-service-to-income cap (DSTI) measure in Kazakhstan, as well as available granular information from the local credit registry to study the effects of macroprudential instruments on core financial stability parameters. Our results show that implementation of a DSTI cap of 50 % leads to around a 9 % decrease in 12 months in the amount of outstanding debt on average for the range of credits originated just around the introduction of the DSTI cap. We find that DSTI cap implementation decreased the probability of delinquency rates of loans by about 20 % in 12 months on average compared to credits granted before the realization of the DSTI cap. We provide evidence on the importance of loan size heterogeneity across time when estimating the impact of macro-prudential intervention, which is partly overlooked in the existing literature. Finally, our results suggest that macroprudential and monetary policy tools can be complementary depending on the specific business cycle developments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51505,"journal":{"name":"Economic Systems","volume":"49 1","pages":"Article 101254"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142200708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic SystemsPub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101243
Chao Fang
{"title":"Taxation with information: Impacts of customs data exchange on tax evasion in Pakistan","authors":"Chao Fang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101243","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101243","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A key challenge for developing countries is improving border taxes<span><span> enforcement. This study examines whether the Electronic Data Exchange project between Pakistan and China can reduce tax evasion at the Pakistan border. This data exchange significantly reduced the trade gap in consumer goods between China’s reported exports to Pakistan and Pakistan’s reported imports from China, compared to non-consumer goods. These results are consistent with the weak self-enforcing incentives of value-added tax at the consumer stage. Moreover, the data exchange primarily reduced the trade gap by limiting the underreporting of prices rather than reducing the underreporting of quantities, partly fulfilling the project’s original intention. Further </span>exploratory analysis reveals that the data exchange contributed to a reduction in export prices, indicating that Chinese exporters might have been absorbing a portion of the tax burden. This study suggests that using export declarations to improve tax enforcement might not increase tax revenue, as importers and exporters could alter their behavior strategically.</span></div></div>","PeriodicalId":51505,"journal":{"name":"Economic Systems","volume":"49 1","pages":"Article 101243"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143510035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic SystemsPub Date : 2025-03-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101248
Axelle Heyert , Laurent Weill
{"title":"Trust in banks and financial inclusion: Micro-level evidence from 28 countries","authors":"Axelle Heyert , Laurent Weill","doi":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101248","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101248","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines the impact of trust in banks on financial inclusion in a cross-country framework. We use micro-level data informing on trust in banks and financial inclusion for a dataset of about 61,000 observations from 28 countries. We find evidence for the positive impact of trust in banks on financial inclusion. We find that the positive impact of trust in banks on financial inclusion affects all individuals, regardless of their socio-demographic characteristics and of their financial situation, and is not conditional to the country or the year. Overall, we provide support to enhance trust in banks in the perspective of promoting financial inclusion worldwide.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51505,"journal":{"name":"Economic Systems","volume":"49 1","pages":"Article 101248"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141844980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic SystemsPub Date : 2025-02-27DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2025.101302
Yuyang Chen , Jie Gao
{"title":"Product market effects of expropriation risk: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China","authors":"Yuyang Chen , Jie Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2025.101302","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2025.101302","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Expropriation risk is detrimental to firm development and economic growth. Using the enactment of the 2007 Property Law in China as an exogenous shock that reduces the expropriation risk of private firms, we study the effect of property protection on private firms’ product market performance. We find that property protection increases product market performance, as evidenced by private firms facing greater expropriation risk before the Law exhibit better product market performance after the Law. We further find that this effect is stronger for firms that face greater expropriation risk before the Law, such as firms without political relation, firms in cities with higher fiscal pressure, and firms with higher geographic concentration. Channel analyses show that such effect may be a result of an increase in investment and a decrease in rent-extracting coercive spending. Additional analyses indicate such effect is restricted to firms in regions with higher enforcement efficiency and in more competitive industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51505,"journal":{"name":"Economic Systems","volume":"49 3","pages":"Article 101302"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144916391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic SystemsPub Date : 2025-02-26DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2025.101294
Camila C. Pereira , Saulo B. Bastos , Daniel O. Cajueiro
{"title":"The words that lead to uncertainty: A measure based on word embeddings","authors":"Camila C. Pereira , Saulo B. Bastos , Daniel O. Cajueiro","doi":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2025.101294","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2025.101294","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines the impact of economic uncertainty on stock returns<span>. We introduce a new method that uses word vectors for word representation to estimate economic uncertainty from news stories. Our findings suggest that this measure of economic uncertainty influences the pricing of individual stocks. Furthermore, we show that firm characteristics, media coverage, public firm status, small-cap stocks, or illiquidity do not affect this relationship. We also compare our measure with two widely accepted uncertainty measures in the literature and find similar evidence.</span></div></div>","PeriodicalId":51505,"journal":{"name":"Economic Systems","volume":"49 3","pages":"Article 101294"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144916388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}