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Using the S&P green bond index (RSPGB), this study attempts to unravel the connectedness of the green bond with energy, crypto, and carbon markets. We use MAC global solar energy index (RMGS) and ISE global wind energy index (RIGW) as proxies of the energy market. In addition, we consider Bitcoin and the European energy exchange carbon index (REEX) for the cryptocurrency, and carbon market, respectively. Using the daily data from October 1, 2015, to December 13, 2021, of these constituent markets, we employ Diebold Yilmaz (2012), Barunik and Krehlik (2017), and wavelet coherence. The result reveals that the energy market (RMGS) has the highest connectedness derived from other asset classes, and bitcoin (RBTC) has the least connectedness. In addition, we note that risk transmission is heterogeneous in different scales as the short period has less connectedness than the medium and long run. Hence, the overall diversification opportunity among green bonds, energy stock, Bitcoin, and the carbon market is more in the short-run than in the medium and long-run. Surprisingly, there is no lead-lag relationship among these markets. This study provides insights to investors, policymakers, and portfolio managers.

While many studies have shown that increased levels of economic globalization diminish the level of corruption among trading partners, there are studies that have raised doubts against this claim. In this article, we explore this relationship in a large sample of 138 countries and find that the effect of economic globalization on the level of corruption is not significant. The findings, however, are not indicative of the undesirability of economic globalization. In fact, we find that greater levels of economic development are associated with lower levels of corruption. Nevertheless, it does call for some precaution and monitoring as trade openness alone may not be the panacea for controlling corruption and other factors, for example, the importance of building of relevant institutions to curb corruption may need to be considered. Additionally, it is important to identify moderator and mediator variables that may change the strength and direction of the aforementioned relationship. We conclude by explaining the implications of our findings for international business (IB).

A substantial strand of literature unambiguously established the importance of financial development for economic growth. Relatively less attention has been paid to the impact that financial development of a country can have on important development outcomes like transparency. As established by existing research, strong financial institutions in a country would imply an improved and transparent banking system, better corporate governance, ease of accessing credit, greater availability of information and best practices in investment protection. All these should theoretically promise a more transparent economic system. Our empirical findings confirm this. Using several estimation strategies, our results confirm that greater financial development enhances transparency.

Huawei is not yet a major player in India’s competitive smartphone market. The company has a low-end brand, called the “Honor” brand in India, and they expect that the Indian smartphone market will use Huawei brand for high-end devices. Both brands had a combined market share of 3.4 percent in 2018. Huawei, by the end of 2018, has chartered out a three-year plan for the Indian market through its dual-brand strategy, backed by investments of over $100 million starting from 2019 with an expansion of local manufacturing activities. Will this global telecom giant become a major player in India? The current chapter explores the issue in light of the Sino-India relationship and the alleged security issues related to Huawei.

Contrary to the conventional belief of diminishing presence of informal entities in a more globalized world, there has been an upsurge in the size of the informal economy in the recent decades. The article summarizes the factors behind the existence and persistence of such economy and explains the advantages of the informal economy in reducing transaction costs, in sidestepping the bureaucratic obligations, and in complementing the formal economy. The paper refutes the idea that the informal firms act as a weak substitute for the formal firms. The paper uses anecdotal evidence and highlights the linkages between the two sectors.

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)1. INTRODUCTIONWhy is corruption more prevalent in some countries than in others? Do mature democracies nurture less corruption than young democracies? Does an educated populace compel government to become more transparent? The present paper attempts to find answers to these questions by examining the interactive impact of the durability of a democratic regime and educational attainment on corruption levels of a nation. A vast strand of literature1 has explored the factors that can affect the corruption level of nations (Kwok and Tadessee, 2006; Akhter, 2004; Treisman, 2000; Ades and di Tella, 1999; Leite and Weidmann, 1999; La Porta et al., 1997; La Porta et al., 1997). Yet, the interactive role of democratic durability and educational attainment has not been explored in the literature. Can higher levels of educational attainment results in a stronger impact of democratic durability on corruption?The nature and stability of political regimes have received strong attention from the researchers of recent world polity. Recent literature suggested that democracy fosters economic growth and development through protected property rights (Prezeworski and Limongi, 1993), via increased rule of law and more efficient allocation of resources (Scully, 1988), and by providing effective regulation of anti-competitive practices that allows private corporations to grow (Ayres, 1996). Bahmani-Oskooee and Goswami (2006) show that political rights and civil liberties, two fundamental characteristics of democracy, reduce the presence of black market in an economy. Hence, researchers, in general, tend to agree that the presence of democracy constituting of institutions like political rights, civil liberties, press freedom, and freedom of speech, paves the way of economic prosperity. Literature has been ambiguous about the effect of democracy on corruption (Qizilbash, 2008; Chowdhury, 2004; Shleifer and Vishny, 1998). The dominant view in the literature is that democracy has a deterrent effect on corruption, be it through a direct channel or an indirect channel. The mass uprising against the incumbent authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, dubbed by the media as 'Arab Spring' has again instigated interests in this area. Reportedly, one of the main trigger of such uprisings is the rampant corruption by the incumbent regimes. Corruption in the democracy is perceived to be less, however not free either. Recent 2G spectrum scam in India (largest functional democracy since its independence from the British colonial rule in 1947) of US$ 5.61 billion is an example of marginal scale of corruption indicating perhaps that the presence of democracy only is not sufficient to curb corruption.In this context, durability of a democratic2 regime might be an important factor to consider that has received relatively less attention. Montinola and Jackman (2002) show that corruption is actually lower in authoritarian regime than in nascent democracies, although once democratization reaches a certain threshold, this relationship changes and democratic regimes fare better. Similar to their study, Sung (2004) stresses on the non-linear association between democracy and corruption. His study shows that starting from an authoritarian regime, democratization initially results in greater corruption before it eventually leads to a decline in corruption. Similar findings have been established by Mohtadi and Roe (2003) and Rock (2009). Mohtadi and Roe (2003) show that young democracies suffering from insufficient checks and balances and lack of transparency, provide rent-seekers with greater access to public officials and hence greater opportunities for collecting public sector rents, at least up to a point, without making the corrupt acts of rent-seekers and officials open to public scrutiny. As democracy matures, transparency and monitoring activities become stronger and, thus, the probability of getting caught rises as well. …

Using country-level panel data, this study tests whether a country’s decision to join a preferential trade agreement (PTA) or existing participation in one affects its corruption levels. The sample for this study pertains mostly to first-generation PTAs that arose prior to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The results suggest that member nations that entered into pre-WTO PTAs exhibited higher levels of corruption. This claim is general and is not indicative of the undesirability of trade agreements. Nevertheless, the findings reveal interesting factors related to trade agreements in the pre-WTO period.

Purpose – During recent times, the stock market has emerged as a major financial institution of an economy. Yet, cross-country differences, in size and role of stock market, persist. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the correlation between cultural traits and the development of the stock market in a country. Considering multiple dimensions of culture, identified in the literature by Hofstede (1980/2001) and World Value Survey, the authors construct the hypotheses: trust, a key cultural trait, should positively influence stock market development; uncertainty avoidance, Hofstede’s cultural dimension should negatively influence the development of the stock market; and individualism, an alternate cultural dimension of Hofstede’s measures, should be positively correlated with stock market development. The cross-country empirical analysis supports the hypotheses. The results hold for multiple measures of stock market development. Design/methodology/approach – This paper investigates the correlation between various cultural traits and the development of the stock market in a country. Specifically, the authors consider three different cultural trait measures. The authors consider a cross-sectional analysis of an extensive number of countries. While all explanatory variables of interest are considered over the period 2000-2007, the authors consider 2008 figures for the dependent variables of interest, financial development. Ordinary least squares is considered as the benchmark specification. Robust regression has been considered as part of robustness analysis. The authors mention throughout the paper that the results stress on significant association between the variables, only. Findings – The empirical results support the hypotheses. The first measure, trust, is positively associated with stock market development of a nation. Statistically, for one standard deviation rise in trust (1 SD=37.5), stock market capitalization will go up between 11 and 19 percentage points. Uncertainty avoidance, the second measure is negatively correlated and statistically, the impact is much greater. Finally, the third measure, individualism, is positively correlated with stock market development. Statistically, for one SD rise in individualism (SD=23.9), stock market capitalization will rise by 23 percentage points. Originality/value – Existing literature has stressed the role of cultural traits – trust, uncertainty avoidance, individualism – in the promotion of entrepreneurship, innovation and growth. Since most startups need to raise capital in order to implement their new ideas, cross-country heterogeneity in the strength of capital markets may lead to important differences in entrepreneurship and productivity growth across economies (Greenwood and Jovanovic, 1990; Jayaratne and Strahan, 1996; Levine, 1997; Beck et al., 2000; Guiso et al., 2004). Yet, the link between stock market development and cultural traits has not been established in the literature. This paper aims to fill this missing link.

While past studies had conflicting conclusions regarding the impact of foreign aid on growth and development of a nation, recent studies have tried to delve deeper into the question, ‘what makes aid work?’ (see, Dutta, Leeson, and Williamson, 2013; Burnside and Dollar, 2000, 2004; Svensson, 1999). This paper tests how political stability (vis-à-vis political instability) affects the relationship between domestic investment and foreign aid. Applying dynamic panel estimators, our results show that political stability affects aid’s effectiveness on domestic capital formation. The paper considers alternative measures of political stability (vis-à-vis instability), focusing on the political characteristics of a system that have the potential to make a nation stable. Political stability affects policy selection by the government positively and, thus, public resources such as foreign aid are put to the desired use. The estimated marginal impacts show that foreign aid enhances domestic investment in the presence of a stable political climate, but there is a diminishing return to aid.

The role of foreign capital inflow, foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign portfolio investment (FPI), on export behavior of both recipients and non-recipient competing firms in the same sector often guides economic development policy. By using panel data of Indian IT firms over 2000–2006, we show that FDI reduces the sunk costs of entering foreign markets and therefore positively effects both the decision to export and the export propensity of recipient firms. Foreign portfolio investment has no effect on the decision to export, but it does marginally increase the volume of exports. Further, these positive FDI and FPI recipient effects do not spill-over to non-recipients.

This article investigates the role of political institutions and culture in creating an efficient financial infrastructure for a country. It further delves into this relationship and addresses the question: do both types of institutions mentioned above affect financial development of a country, jointly? Our findings support the established notion in the literature that institutions matter for financial development. We show both these types of institutions – political institutions and culture – jointly promote financial development. Further, our result stresses that these two types of institutions behave as complements – the presence of efficient political institutions augment the effectiveness of culture and, thus, financial development is enhanced. Our results are robust to various proxies of institutions and alternate estimation models.

PurposeA virtual organization (VO) is a set of geographically dispersed and functionally diverse organizational entities interconnected by electronic forms of communication that cooperate with one another for a common valued outcome. The objective of this article is to propose a research framework that illustrates the development of trust between VOs.Design/methodology/approachThis paper provides an overview of literature on VOs, identifies antecedents of trustworthiness in virtual environment, explores the role of boundary spanners' interpersonal trust, and relates them to inter‐VO trust formation. A research analysis is developed that depicts the proposed relationships.FindingsThe propositions shed light on the overall interorganizational trust building process in VOs. In doing so, the framework also acknowledges the role of individual boundary spanners of a trustor organization in the trust development process.Originality/valueSystematic scholarly research relating to VOs has been somewhat limited. With the emergence of VOs as important organizational forms, there is an increasing need to comprehend how interorganizational trust is developed and maintained in VOs. This study attempts to fill this gap in the extant literature by exploring how social exchange factors in a virtual context relate to factors of organizational trustworthiness of the trustee organization. In addition, this paper also investigates the key role played by the boundary spanners of both organizations in the trust formation process.

This article investigates the missing link in the literature – whether informal institutions, or what is known as culture, can affect the level of financial development for a country? Our hypothesis stresses that the cultural dimensions of a country can have an impact on its financial set-up. We consider multiple dimensions of culture, identified in the literature by Tabellini (2008), to test our hypothesis. As culture evolves in the form of greater trust, control and other traits, individuals' attitudes towards financial market change, and they engage in greater financial transactions. This, in turn, leads to better financial development. Using quantile estimation technique for a cross section of 90 countries, we find that culture significantly influences the level of financial development. To ensure the robustness of our findings we use Hofstede's cultural dimension – ‘Uncertainty Avoidance Index’ (UAI) – as an alternative measure for culture. Our results hold for multiple measures of financial development.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a research framework that identifies crucial leadership capabilities pertaining to the different lifecycle stages of a virtual team (VT). More specifically, the framework seeks to identify and explain the role of social, cognitive, and behavioral capabilities as important determinants of effective VT leadership and success.Design/methodology/approachThis article provides an overview of literature on VT leadership, categorizes leadership capabilities, and relates the capabilities to various stages of VT life‐cycle. A research analysis is undertaken to depict the proposed relationships.FindingsThe propositions demonstrate that for effective VT leadership to happen it is important to understand the specific set of capabilities that contributes to successful management of a particular VT stage.Social implicationsVT leaders' application of appropriate capabilities may result in the development of greater levels of tolerance toward cultural, temporal and geographic diversity that exists among VT members and leaders. Such tolerance may actually help improve worker satisfaction, cohesiveness among team members, and promote better work‐life balance – outcomes that are beneficial to society. In addition, more effective and successful VT leadership will lead to better VT performance and organizational success – suggesting positive social impact.Originality/valueResearch relating to VT leadership has been limited. With the usage of VTs predicted to gain more importance in the future there is a greater need to understand how specific leadership capabilities contribute to the successful management and development of VTs. This study fills the void in the extant literature by exploring the specific leadership capabilities and by analyzing their relative influence and relationships with VT lifecycle stages.

The effects of FDI on export behavior of both recipients and non-recipient competing firms in the same sector often guides economic development policy. We estimate a Logit model of the probability of export and Pooled Tobit and Fixed and Random Effects Tobit models of the volume of exports using a large sample of Indian Information Technology firms in 2000-2006 that focus on the role of FDI. For FDI recipients the probability of exporting and the volume of exports is greater. In addition, there is clear evidence of a spillover of the effects of FDI to non-recipient firms as their probability of exporting also increase. In a random effects Tobit model spillover also exists for the volume of exports.