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As a colossal developing economy, irrational, and inefficient trades broadly exist in China's stock market and are intensified by the once-in-a-century COVID-19 pandemic. This atypical but prominent event enhances systemic risk and requires a more effective analysis tool that adapts to the investors' sentiment and behavior. Based on the behavioral asset pricing model, this paper verifies the existence of noise traders in China's stock market, measures the intensity of the noise with the NTR indicator, and examines the market noise with IANM. Furthermore, the mechanism of how COVID-19 influences the market noise through investors' behaviors is analyzed with the event study method. The findings show that, based on 92 Chinese companies, the market noise significantly exists, and the noise is associated with psychological biases including over-confidence, herding effects and regret aversion. These biases are affected to varying degrees by COVID-19-related events, leading to notable implications for market stability and investor behavior during crises. Our study provides critical insights for policymakers and investors on managing market risks and understanding behavioral impacts during unprecedented events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the impact of short-stay accommodation (SSA) on housing dynamics, community welfare, and economic development in the Margaret River regional area. Grounded in an exploratory research paradigm, qualitative methods were used to gather insights from key stakeholders such as property owners, realtors, and council officials. Purposive sampling was utilized to select participants with diverse experiences and perspectives on SSA. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, totaling 21 interview sessions spanning almost 600 min, to capture in-depth and nuanced perspectives on SSA's impact and regulatory landscape. Thematic analysis of the interview data, which was divided into two segments, revealed significant concerns regarding housing affordability, community well-being, and regulatory effectiveness. Additionally, the study uncovered a complex relationship between SSA and population dynamics, highlighting implications for the local housing infrastructure and market stability. The findings underscore the urgency of collaborative policy interventions to address the housing crisis and mitigate the adverse effects of SSA on local communities. Policymakers and stakeholders can utilize these insights to develop holistic strategies that prioritize equity, inclusivity, and shared prosperity in shaping the future of housing in regional areas such as Margaret River. This study contributes original insights by providing a nuanced understanding of the multifaceted implications of SSA on housing dynamics and community welfare in a regional context. By using qualitative methods and engaging key stakeholders, the research offers unique perspectives on the challenges and opportunities associated with the proliferation of SSA, thereby advancing scholarly discourse, and informing evidence-based policymaking in the field of housing studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacting the whole service sector, including higher education, has forced universities to quickly innovate and recreate. The sanitary crisis resulted in the greatest disruption to educational systems in human history, as well as a shift in the nature, qualifications, and mix of the workforce. The reopening of higher education institutions is another concern, with numerous new operational procedures in place, new opportunities, and prospective curriculum adjustments based on labour market realities. Due to the development of technology, businesses' requirements for human resource credentials and job types underwent several modifications. This study's goal is to investigate how COVID-19 has influenced curriculum revisions and employability requirements. The research used a mixed methodology, with quantitative analysis of changes in enrolled students by major and a qualitative study including two different sets of surveys based on the innovation and employability theories addressed to five human resource (HR) directors from institutions and organizations in Lebanon, as well as three universities. The objective was to answer the following questions: How can universities adapt to the changing demands of the labour market specifically in times of crisis? Should university curricula place greater emphasis on students' personal growth than on technical and conventional learning? The results lead to re-thinking about what higher education systems and institutions can do to redesign their curricula in accordance with the job market and the expectations of the students in this challenging context, where employment security and job market stability issues are more urgent due to the economic crisis and advanced technologies. According to the findings, the research implications include boosting the implementation of the new curriculum through improved HR practices from the Ministry of Education. This will also encourage innovative performance, which will necessitate realistic, swift technical procedures to be unbeatable, creative, and competitive. This study adds significantly to the literature by suggesting curriculum adjustments for online courses and e-training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the association of novel COVID-19 with the dominant financial assets, global uncertainty, commodity prices, and stock markets of the top ten corona-affected countries. We employ a wavelet coherence technique to unearth this linkage using daily data of COVID-19 deaths and reported cases from 1 January 2020 until 26 February 2021. The study finds a weak coherence between COVID-19 and global uncertainty variables in the short and medium term, while a strong positive correlation has been witnessed in the long run. The COVID-19 cases impact the stock markets in the short and medium term, while no significant impact is reported in the long run. On the other hand, a substantial impact of the COVID-19 outbreak has also been found on the exchange rate. In addition, the real asset market, such as gold, remains more stable during the COVID-19 outbreak. Thus, the study recommends that investors and portfolio managers should add such assets to their investment options to safeguard the excessive risk and downside momentum of the equity market. The study also has implications for regulators who are concerned with the neutrality of the COVID-19 effect and market stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policymakers are developing response strategies to reduce the impacts of COVID-19. However, developing response strategies without considering their relationships with the impacts of COVID-19 is ineffective. This study aims to model the causal relationships between COVID-19 impacts and response strategies in the construction industry, using Malaysia as a case study. To achieve this, a systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with forty industry professionals were conducted, yielding 12 impacts and 22 response strategies. The impacts and strategies were inserted into a survey, and 107 valid responses were received. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to group the impacts and strategies. Then, partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to identify the causal relationship between the impacts and strategies. The EFA results indicate that the underlying impacts are project- or material-related, and the underlying strategies are market stability and financial aid, supply chain and project support, and information and legislation. The PLS-SEM results indicate that supply chain and project support are required to address material-related impacts, and market stability and financial aid are required to address project-related impacts. This is the first paper that models the relationships between COVID-19 impacts and response strategies in the construction industry.

Panic selling causes long-term losses and hinders investors' return to the market. It has been explained using prospect theory aspects such as loss and regret aversion. Additionally, overconfidence and overreaction contribute to the disposition effect, leading investors to sell stocks prematurely. However, the framing effect, another disposition effect attribute, has been underexplored in the context of panic selling. This study investigates how the framing effect influences panic selling, particularly during market crises, when investors perceive information differently, depending on its positive or negative framing. Utilizing data from a collaborative survey, we examine Japanese investors' behavior during the COVID-19 market crisis. Negative framing is negatively associated with complete or partial sale of securities, whereas positive framing has the opposite effect. During market crises, investors presented with negative framing are less likely to panic sell, whereas those presented with positive framing are more prone to it. Other significant factors include gender; men tend to engage more in panic selling. Conversely, higher education, financial literacy, and greater household income and assets are associated with a reduced likelihood of panic selling. These findings underscore the critical role of framing in investor behavior during market crises, providing new insights into the mechanisms underlying panic selling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In financial markets, irrational behaviors such as hyperbolic discounting and panic selling are prevalent. However, their widespread empirical associations remain unexplored. Numerous behavioral theories discuss how cognitive biases exacerbate panic selling through the lens of immediate loss aversion, a phenomenon in which individuals exhibit impulsive decision-making tendencies due to an intense fear of financial loss during market upheaval. Despite the theoretical elucidation, empirical investigations of these dynamics are lacking. Using a robust dataset comprising 121,293 active investors sourced from a collaborative effort between Hiroshima University and Rakuten Securities Inc., this study used mean comparison tests and probit regression to analyze hyperbolic discounting's role in panic selling behavior on the global COVID-19 financial crisis. The findings reveal that hyperbolic discounting plays a central role in triggering investors' impulsive panic selling behavior, which is driven primarily by fear of potential losses. Other factors that influence panic selling behavior include age, male gender, low education level, financial literacy, household income, household assets, risk aversion, and overconfidence in financial knowledge. Our study explicates the need to address cognitive biases in financial decision making during market crises through strategies such as targeted financial education, regulatory interventions against market manipulation, and the provision of professional advice to investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study rigorously investigates the impact of COVID-19 on Tunisian stock market volatility. The investigation spans from January 2020 to December 2022, employing a GJR-GARCH model, bias-corrected wavelet analysis, and an ARDL approach. Specific variables related to health measures and government interventions are incorporated. The findings highlight that confirmed and death cases contribute significantly to the escalation in TUNINDEX volatility when using both the conditional variance and the realized volatility. Interestingly, aggregate indices related to government interventions exhibit substantial impacts on the realized volatility, indicating a relative resilience of the Tunisian stock market amidst the challenges posed by COVID-19. However, the application of the bias-corrected wavelet analysis yields more subtle outcomes in terms of the correlations of both measures of volatility to the same metrics. Our econometric implications bear on the application of such a technique, as well as on the use of the realized volatility as an accurate measure of the "true" value of volatility. Nevertheless, the measures and actions undertaken by the authorities do not exclude fear and insecurity from investors due to another virus or any other crisis. The positive and long-term impact on the volatility of US equity market uncertainty, VIX, economic policy uncertainty (EPU), and the infectious disease EMV tracker (IDEMV) is obvious through the autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL). A potential vulnerability of the Tunisian stock market to future shocks is not excluded. Government and stock market authorities should grapple with economic and financial fallout and always instill investor confidence. Importantly, our results put mechanisms such as overreaction to public news and (in)efficient use of information under test. Questioning the accuracy of announcements is then recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates calendar anomalies and their impact on returns and volatility patterns in the cryptocurrency market, focusing on day-of-the-week effects before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using advanced statistical models from the GARCH family, we analyze the returns of Binance USD, Bitcoin, Binance Coin, Cardano, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Solana, Tether, USD Coin, and Ripple. Our findings reveal significant shifts in volatility dynamics and day-of-the-week effects on returns, challenging the notion of market efficiency. Notably, Bitcoin and Solana began exhibiting day-of-the-week effects during the pandemic, whereas Cardano and Dogecoin did not. During the pandemic, Binance USD, Ethereum, Tether, USD Coin, and Ripple showed multiple days with significant day-of-the-week effects. Notably, positive returns were generally observed on Sundays, whereas a shift to negative returns on Mondays was evident during the COVID-19 period. These patterns suggest that exploitable anomalies persist despite the market's continuous operation and increasing maturity. The presence of a long-term memory in volatility highlights the need for robust trading strategies. Our research provides valuable insights for investors, traders, regulators, and policymakers, aiding in the development of effective trading strategies, risk management practices, and regulatory policies in the evolving cryptocurrency market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review aims to examine the impact of increasing energy costs on the global economy, social cohesion, economic growth, and capital markets, with a particular focus on the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis intensified by the war in Ukraine. The methodology involves an extensive review of recent academic literature to cast light on these impacts. The study identifies significant disruptions in supply chains and heightened volatility in international capital markets due to these crises. Furthermore, the findings highlight the resulting challenges for policymakers, academics, market analysts, and professionals in addressing corporate sustainability in an increasingly uncertain environment. This paper underscores the continued relevance of energy issues as a central concern, both independently and in connection with broader economic sectors. Additionally, it discusses the importance of policy measures to enhance energy security and the transition towards sustainable energy solutions to mitigate these challenges and foster economic resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper investigates the relationship between stock prices, credit ratings, and ESG scores for banks internationally. First, it describes stock prices and ESG scores at an annual frequency, as well as stock price and credit risk at a daily frequency. The relationships between (a) stock price and credit rating returns with ESG score returns and (b) among ESG scores are examined by pairwise annual correlation, and daily correlations are examined between price and credit rating returns. Furthermore, Granger causality is used to examine the relationships between the following: (a) price and ESG score annual returns; (b) price and credit rating daily returns; and (c) total and pillar annual ESG scores. This study makes a significant contribution to the literature by providing a detailed temporal analysis using both annual and daily data frequencies, which is relatively rare in the field. There is evidence of statistically and empirically important relations in the form of pairwise correlations. The regressions reveal a low significance of few ESG score changes in explaining credit rating changes. A unique aspect of this paper is the comprehensive analysis of 16 granular ESG scores, including overall scores, pillar scores, and sub-scores, allowing for a multi-faceted understanding of how specific ESG factors impact financial metrics. We found evidence of the significance of COVID-19 in all research questions. Additionally, this paper highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the relationships between ESG scores, credit ratings, and stock prices, offering timely insights into the heightened importance and volatility of ESG factors during crisis periods. Future research needs to shed more light on this relationship, however. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficiency in stock markets is essential for economic stability and growth. This study investigates the efficiency and herding behavior of the stock markets from the top economies of the world (known as G20 countries). We classify stock market indices using MSCI classification for the developed and emerging markets to provide a comparative examination using the latest data and by employing the robust multifractal detrended fluctuation (MFDFA) method. In addition to the full sample, the analysis uses sub-sample periods to reveal the hidden features and efficiencies of the G20 markets during the Russia–Ukraine War and COVID-19 for the first time. The findings show the availability of varied multifractality among all G20 stock markets during the overall and crisis periods, exhibit long-range correlations, and may support the fractal market hypothesis. In addition, Italy remains the least efficient, while Germany remains the most efficient stock market. The sub-sample results further reveal unevenness in the local fluctuations and resultant higher inefficiency considering the sheer magnitude and impact of crises on the G20 stock markets. However, the efficiency of developed stock markets performed better as compared to emerging markets. The study of G20 stock markets is useful and provides several implications for a wider audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We test the interaction between governments' COVID-19 interventions, COVID-19-induced uncertainty, and the volatility of sovereign bonds. Different from previous literature, we investigate the asymmetric response of bond market volatility to both governmental interventions and COVID-19-induced uncertainty. With a focus on the first waves of the pandemic and using a panel quantile approach and a comprehensive dataset of 31 countries worldwide, we document that containment and closure policies tend to amplify volatility. Furthermore, the price variability is augmented by the spread of the pandemic itself. On the contrary, economic support policies have a substantial stabilizing effect on bond price fluctuations. Both phenomena are not subsumed by additional control variables and are robust to multiple considerations. Our findings may serve financial market participants in their risk management decisions, as well as policymakers to better shape their preparedness for future pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the connectedness between economic sectors of the Polish stock market. The sectors that are considered are the following: banks, basic materials, chemicals, construction, developers, energy, food, and oil and gas. The analysis of the connectedness among sectors is conducted from a statistical and dynamic perspective. Using the time-varying parameter vector autoregression (TVP-VAR) method, the intensity, direction and variation of volatility spillover between the economic sectors are studied. Two samples are analysed, the first one being from 1 January 2013 to 12 December 2019, which corresponds to the period before the pandemic caused by COVID-19, and the second one being from 1 January 2020 to 2 December 2021, which corresponds to the period during the pandemic. A series of results are obtained. First, the connectedness between the economic sectors varies depends on the time. Second, the connectedness between the sectors was stronger during the crisis caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 rather than before the crisis. The volatility of each sector was also primarily due to their own volatility. Thirdly, the banking sector was the main sector with respect to volatility spillover. The results that are obtained are important for making the right decisions regarding financial stability under crisis circumstances, when considering development strategies for some economic sectors but also in portfolio management for performing diversification and risk-mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work delineates the factors determining investor sentiment in specific regions during the pandemic and the influence of attitudes towards vaccination. The findings show that the reactions of knowledgeable investors in different regions to the economic effects of the pandemic were not uniform but depended on a variety of individual factors. Risk perception varied widely due to idiosyncrasies in specific countries and regions, the level of pandemic information, reaction to case reports and deaths, attitudes towards vaccination, lockdown compliance, and government measures to support businesses. These various elements combined to create different outlooks in the minds of investors that strongly influenced their investment strategies. For this investigation, we tested three estimation models: the classic robust standard error for time series regression, the new robust standard errors regression, and the Prais robust estimation. This study applied the lasso system of machine learning to select relevant explanatory variables. The novelty of our work resides in its analysis of the conduct of informed investors, using a reliable proxy, and the discussion of how government policies and different pandemic-related factors, specifically the vaccination status, affected investor sentiment in different regions. As for practical implications, an understanding of how the various economic factors related to the pandemic influenced the behavior of qualified investors in different regions can help regulators, government leaders, fund managers, and investors deal with a future virus outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To obtain the price return and price volatility spillovers between renewable energy stocks, technology stocks, oil futures and carbon allowances under different investment horizons, this paper employs a frequency-dependent method to study the dynamic connectedness between these assets in four frequency bands. The results show that, first, there is a strong spillover effect between these assets from a system-wide perspective, and it's mainly driven by short-term spillovers. Second, in the time domain, technology stocks have a more significant impact on renewable energy stocks compared to crude oil. However, through the study in the frequency domain, we find renewable energy stocks exhibit a more complex relationship with the other two assets at different time scales. Third, renewable energy stocks have significant spillover effect on carbon prices only in the short term. On longer time scales, other factors such as energy prices, climate and policy may have a greater impact on carbon allowance prices. Fourth, the spillover effect of the system is time-varying and frequency-varying. During the European debt crisis, the international oil price decline and the COVID-19 pandemic, the total spillover index of the system has experienced a substantial increase, mainly driven by medium, medium to long or long term spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper endeavours to explore and analyse some critical issues in the oil and gas market that cropped up around the spread of COVID-19 and tries to identify the key drivers and triggers pertaining therewith. The spread of the first wave that began in March 2020 is crucial because of the global economic downturn that ensued due to lockdown and imposed restrictions coupled with a protracted oil price war that began between Saudi Arabia and Russia. The paper tries to address some key research questions to understand the triggers and drivers around the pandemic. These are: (1) whether the behaviour of OPEC or its key players around the pandemic could be considered uniquely different; (2) what could the triggers be for the increased volatilities that cropped up in both physical and financial markets during the pandemic; (3) what was really different about the oil market crisis around the pandemic that transformed it to an unprecedented storage crisis; (4) what really went wrong with the much-hyped U.S. shale boom during the pandemic that led to the bankruptcy of several oil and gas companies, followed by huge job losses. The paper relies on a structured review of relevant secondary literature to address these exploratory questions and builds upon a retrospective rumination on the world oil market from 1960 to 2020. This is complemented by an analysis of supporting data and evidence obtained from various sources. Considering the intertwining of oil and financial markets around the pandemic, the lessons and findings from the paper would not only be highly relevant for policymakers and stakeholders in the oil and gas sector but would be equally relevant for those in the financial markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Globally, poultry production provides high-quality, affordable animal protein, a high chance for investment, job opportunities, and a source of income for smallholders worldwide. However, the recent COVID-19 affected the sustainability of various animal production sectors worldwide, and these influences are more severe in developing countries. The unprecedented negative influences are attributed to the lockdown, movement restriction, and close of some markets. The present review focuses on the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on poultry production in developing countries in terms of causes and possible solutions to decrease and improve profits. Work must be coordinated between the public and private sectors to facilitate the restoration of the poultry industry to its economic and social position to remedy these problems. Poultry farming is a significant source of revenue generation for small farmers in developing countries. It plays a vital role in fulfilling the daily protein requirements of humans through meat and eggs consumption. The recently emerged pandemic Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) impacts the poultry production sector. Although the whole world is affected, these impacts may be more severe in developing countries due to their dependency on exporting necessary supplies such as feed, vaccines, drugs, and utensils. In this review, we have discussed poultry production in developing countries under the COVID-19 crisis and measures to regain the loss in the poultry industries. Generally, due to the lockdown, trade limitations have negatively impacted poultry industries, which might exacerbate global poverty. Coordinated activities have to be taken at the private and government levels to arrange soft loans so that these farms can restore their production and marketing to normal levels. In addition, here, we have focused on the supply of farm input, feed, other raw materials, management system, improved breeding efficiency, veterinary services, and marketing of egg and meat, which have to be ensured to secure a sustainable poultry production chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The next industrial revolution, which coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, is prompting a different look at the issue of supply chain change management. A new perspective should take into account the aspect of supply chain efficiency at multiple levels. Efficient logistics is green and energy-saving, both of which need to be systematically integrated with the logistical planning processes. The dynamic changes on the demand and supply side resulting from social, political, and economic transformations have significantly influenced the shaping of long-term supply chains. The development of new manufacturing and logistics technologies prompts the development and implementation of new integrated planning methods to support supply chain management processes. Modern supply chains are oriented towards operations in a dynamically changing socio-economic environment. The new methods are capable of incorporating dynamic adaptation of logistics infrastructure which respond to changing relationships between supply and demand. To meet the identified problems of complexity, relevance, and time-consumption of the logistic planning process in modern enterprise management, the PL9A method of logistic planning and 9A LOGPLANNER application for logistics planning were developed. The article presents the results of experimental and simulation studies on the improvement of logistic processes in a working manufacturing enterprise with application of the PL9A method. The results of the experimental work indicate that the application of the PL9A method embedded in the 9A LOGPLANNER software makes it possible to dynamically simulate any number of logistics system variants in a short period of time, while reducing risk and obtaining tangible benefits in terms of energy and ecological efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we consider a variety of different mechanisms through which crises such as COVID-19 can propagate from the micro-economic behaviour of individual agents through to an economy's aggregate dynamics and subsequently spill over into the global economy. Our central theme is one of changes in the behaviour of heterogeneous agents, agents who differ in terms of some measure of size, wealth, connectivity, or behaviour, in different parts of an economy. These are illustrated through a variety of case studies, from individuals and households with budgetary constraints, to financial markets, to companies composed of thousands of small projects, to companies that implement single multi-billion dollar projects. In each case, we emphasise the role of data or theoretical models and place them in the context of measuring their inter-connectivity and emergent dynamics. Some of these are simple models that need to be 'dressed' in socio-economic data to be used for policy-making, and we give an example of how to do this with housing markets, while others are more similar to archaeological evidence; they provide hints about the bigger picture but have yet to be unified with other results. The result is only an outline of what is possible but it shows that we are drawing closer to an integrated set of concepts, principles, and models. In the final section, we emphasise the potential as well as the limitations and what the future of these methods hold for economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic and its implications have had a devastating impact on the business sector worldwide, especially on the SMEs' sector. By highlighting the evolution, and so the specificity, of the Polish SMEs' sector, by reference to the concept of learning organization, this paper queried the sources of the Polish SMEs' unsatisfactory response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications. A survey (n = 147) conducted among a sample of Polish SMEs revealed that the Polish SMEs, in general, did not recognize the salience of managerial skills in building their capacity to withstand a crisis. Creating growth opportunities, rather than accumulating and operationalizing their organization's knowledge, were stressed as the way of navigating challenges. This paper offers an insight into selected factors that influenced Polish SMEs' sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, and suggests some ways of addressing problems thus identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenges of the world economy and their societies, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have led policy-makers to seek for effective solutions. This paper examines the oil price volatility response to the COVID-19 pandemic and stock market volatility using daily data. A general econometric panel model is applied to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 infection and death announcements with oil price volatility. The paper uses data from six geographical zones, Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America, and Oceania for the period 21 January 2020 until 13 May 2021 and the empirical findings show that COVID-19 deaths affected oil volatility significantly. This conclusion is confirmed by a second stage analysis applied separately for each geographical area. The only geographical area where the existence of correlation is not confirmed between the rate of increase in deaths and the volatility of the price of crude oil is Asia. The conclusions of this study clearly suggest that COVID-19 is a new risk component on top of economic and market uncertainty that affects oil prices and volatility. Overall, our results are useful for policy-makers, especially in the case of a new wave of infection and deaths in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effect of a firm's environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities on its financial performance during the acute uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most Korean firms suffered unexpected difficulties in their business activities in early 2020, and their financial performance deteriorated significantly. The purpose of this study is to empirically analyze whether a firm's ESG activities affect its financial performance during a business crisis. The results show that, in the first quarter of 2020, when the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, firms' earnings dropped significantly; however, we found that the higher the performance of ESG activities, the smaller the decline in earnings. The results imply that, in an environment of uncertainty, the performance of a firm's ESG activities is reflected in its financial outcomes. This result implies that trust and bond between firms and stakeholders, as formed through investments in social capital, are rewarded when the overall level of sustainability in markets is negatively impacted. In addition, our results suggest that the performance of nonfinancial activities is useful information for stakeholders' decision making in relation to market uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research deals with stock market reactions of Central Eastern and South Eastern European (CESEE) markets to the COVID-19 pandemic, via the event study methodology approach. Since the stock markets react quickly to certain announcements, the used methodology is appropriate to evaluate how the aforementioned markets reacted to certain events. The purpose of this research was to evaluate possibilities of obtaining profits on the stock markets during great turbulences, when a majority of the participants panic. More specifically, the contrarian trading strategies are observed if they can obtain gains, although a majority of the markets suffer great losses during pandemic shocks. The contributions to the existing literature of this research are as follows. Firstly, empirical research on CESEE stock markets regarding other relevant topics is still scarce and should be explored more. Secondly, the event study approach of COVID-19 effects utilized in this study has (to the knowledge of the author) not yet been explored on the aforementioned markets. Thirdly, based on the results of CESEE market reactions to specific announcements regarding COVID-19, a simulation of simple trading strategies will be made in order to estimate whether some investors could have profited in certain periods. The results of the study indicate promising results in terms of exploiting other investors' panicking during the greatest decline of stock market indices. Namely, the initial results, as expected, indicate strong negative effects of specific COVID-19 announcements on the selected stock markets. Secondly, the obtained information was shown to be useful for contrarian strategy in order to exploit great dips in the stock market indices values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research employs a partial equilibrium model to estimate the short- and long-run effects of COVID-19 and rice policies on Bangladesh's rice market and food security. We also analyze the impact of relevant policies in terms of their effectiveness in mitigating stresses stemming from a hypothetical pandemic with a COVID-19-like impact. The results indicate that the effect of COVID-19 on Bangladeshi food security during FY 2019/20 was mixed, as the indicators of food availability improved by 5%, and decreased by 17% for food stability, relative to what they would have been otherwise. Policy simulation results indicate that a higher import tariff improves self-sufficiency status, but undermines rice availability and accessibility by bending the market toward a restrictive trade regime. Results also indicate that unlike stock enhancement policy, closing the existing yield gap improves rice availability, accessibility, and moderates the depressing effect of a future event with repercussions similar to COVID-19, although the yield policy appears more speculative and could be too costly. The insights generated contribute to the understanding of policies that aim to achieve sustainable development goals related to aggregate food security, and build resilience against future shocks akin to COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]