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This paper focuses on utilizing non‐performing loans (NPLs) as the primary indicator of credit risk to analyze how various bank and country‐level characteristics influence changes in credit risk within and between banks across China, Europe, and the U.S. during the COVID‐19 period. Over 4,959 bank‐quarter observations (from Q4 2019 to Q4 2021), it becomes evident that COVID‐19 significantly contributes to the variation in NPLs, underscoring its adverse impact on credit risk. This pattern is consistent across all countries; however, Chinese banks exhibit more robust capabilities in managing credit risk exposure compared to their European and U.S. counterparts. These findings offer significant implications for policymakers, investors, and regulators who are concerned about the repercussions of global pandemics on financial institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the challenges of implementing a new curriculum is how to bridge the gap between the underlining principles of the curriculum and the cultural and social orientations of the society which includes teachers and students. This article reports on a study that explored how the cultural and social orientations of teachers and students can influence the implementation of a constructivist curriculum in mathematics classrooms. The data for the study came from 250 students and 41 mathematics teachers, using questionnaires, observations, and interviews. The results showed that inasmuch as mathematics teachers and their students acknowledge the importance of student's active participation and teamwork, these practices have not been fully conceptualised into the Ghanaian mathematics classroom due to some cultural factors. Two main cultural factors were discovered from the analyses of the results. Firstly, the culture of acknowledging only correct answers in class has a negative impact on individual students' confidence and participation during mathematics lessons. Also, the culture of teamwork is not fully accepted within Ghanaian classrooms as most students find it difficult working in groups and accepting and appreciating each other's view. It was evident in all lessons that students were ridiculed by their peers when they provide a wrong answer to a question and this affected individual students' participation in the classroom. Therefore, we suggested that teachers should be pro-active in promoting a classroom environment which is free from fear and intimidation to motivate students to be actively involved in the classroom discourse.

In this study, we examine whether investments in fixed (identifiable) intangible assets and tangible assets are sensitive to cash flow and the extent to which this sensitivity differs for firms with different levels of financial constraints. Using both UK private and public firms' data, our overall analysis shows strong positive (negative) effects of cash flow on intangible assets (tangible assets) investments. When we split the data on the basis of listing status, we observe that cash flow is positively (negatively) and significantly related to intangible assets (tangible assets) investments for private firms but not so for public firms. In addition, we further observe that both public and private firms' investments follow a similar pattern when we split our data based on the availability of internal funds. Moreover, we also find that the sensitivity of investment (identifiable intangible assets) to cash flow is higher for young and large private firms but lower for small and old ones. Our results remain similar to other econometric specifications, which account for possible endogeneity issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of credit information sharing schemes in developing countries has gained significant attention in recent times along with ongoing financial sector reforms. In this paper, we provide first‐hand evidence of the effect of credit information sharing on credit intermediation cost in these countries, and consequently ascertain the extent to which the credit information sharing–credit intermediation cost nexus may be accentuated by banking market concentration and governance quality. Using a large dataset covering 272 banks from 27 African countries over the 2004–2012 period, we uncover four new findings. First, we find that credit information sharing does reduce credit intermediation cost. Second, we show that the relationship between credit intermediation cost and credit information sharing is conditional on banking market concentration. Third, our findings suggest that governance quality moderates the effect of credit information sharing on credit intermediation cost. Finally, we find that banking market concentration reduces credit intermediation cost, but the effect is moderated by credit information sharing. Overall, our findings suggest that credit information sharing may serve as a useful policy tool for achieving financial sector stability in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate firm‐level determinants of capital structure using a large sample of 4,284 Japanese firms over a 19‐year period (i.e., over 61,000 firm‐year observations), a hitherto less examined sample for this purpose. We conduct our analysis and interpret our findings predominantly within the pecking order, the trade‐off and the agency theoretical frameworks. We uncover three new findings. First, our evidence indicates that insights derived from the extant literature on capital structure are cross‐national and are applicable in the context of Japan, despite the unique characteristics of Japanese firms. Second, financial crisis significantly impacts the relationship between leverage and firm‐level determinants, particularly accentuating the effect of asset tangibility and growth. Third, product market competition significantly impacts the observed relationship between firm‐level determinants and leverage. Our results are robust, controlling for the joint effects of competition and crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]