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We investigate the predictive power of loan spreads for forecasting business cycles, specifically focusing on more constrained, intermediary-reliant firms. We introduce a novel loan-market-based credit spread constructed using secondary corporate loan-market prices over the 1999 to 2023 period. Loan spreads significantly enhance the prediction of macroeconomic outcomes, outperforming other credit-spread indicators. We also explore the underlying mechanisms and differentiate between borrower fundamentals and financial frictions. Evidence suggests that supply-side frictions are a decisive factor in the forecasting ability of loan spreads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper uses bids submitted by primary dealer banks at auctions of sovereign bonds to quantify the price elasticity of demand. The price elasticity of demand correlates strongly with the volatility of returns of the same bonds traded in the secondary market but only weakly with their bid-ask spread. It predicts same-bond post-auction returns in the secondary market, even after controlling for pre-auction volatility. The evidence suggests that the price elasticity of demand is associated with the magnitude of price pressure in the secondary market around auction days and proxies for primary dealer risk-bearing capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the Global Settlement, analysts extensively use a top pick designation allowing for greater granularity of information among buy recommended stocks, but conflicts of interest can potentially influence this designation. Examining a novel sample of top picks, we find that a calendar-time portfolio of top picks generates an abnormal performance of 17.6% per year. Top picks have greater investment value than do buy recommendations and alternative analyst investment strategies. Both institutional and retail investors trade in response to top picks. However, only institutional investors appear to identify top picks that have greater investment value when they are announced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the value of due diligence recommendations on Reddit's Wallstreetbets (WSB) platform. Before the Gamestop (GME) short squeeze, recommendations are significant predictors of returns and cash-flow news. This predictability is eliminated post-GME. Post-GME, the fraction of reports emphasizing price-pressure or attention-grabbing stocks dramatically increases, and the decline in informativeness is concentrated in these reports. Similarly, retail trade informativeness is particularly strong following DD reports in the pre-GME period, but not post-GME. Our findings are consistent with the view that the Gamestop event altered the culture of WSB , leading to a deterioration in investment quality that adversely affected smaller investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate the effect of carbon pricing policy on bank credit to greenhouse-gas-emitting firms. Our analyses exploit the geographic restrictions inherent in California's cap-and-trade bill and a discontinuity in the embedded free permit threshold of the federal Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill. Affected high emission firms face shorter loan maturities, lower access to permanent forms of bank financing, higher interest rates, and higher participation of shadow banks in their lending syndicates. These effects are concentrated among private firms, while credit terms of public firms are largely unaffected. Overall, we show that banks respond quickly to realizations of transition risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hedge fund teams with heterogeneous educational backgrounds, academic specializations, work experiences, genders, and races, outperform homogeneous teams after adjusting for risk and fund characteristics. An event study of manager team transitions, instrumental variable regressions, and an analysis of managers who simultaneously operate solo- and team-managed funds address endogeneity concerns. Diverse teams deliver superior returns by arbitraging more stock anomalies, avoiding behavioral biases, and minimizing downside risks. Moreover, diversity allows hedge funds to circumvent capacity constraints and generate persistent performance. Our results suggest that diversity adds value in asset management. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix , which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The more trust investors place in a money manager, the more confident they are to take risk. We test this theory in a laboratory experiment using the amount returned from a trust game as measure of trustworthiness. Investors increase the share invested in risky assets with high-cost money managers compared to those with low costs when the high-cost money managers are more trustworthy than the low-cost ones. The willingness to take more risk with high-cost money managers is increasing in the difference in trustworthiness. Up to a third of the difference in trustworthiness translates into an increasing risky share. Vice versa, investors are willing to accept higher costs for investments made through more trustworthy money managers. Our findings are robust to alternative explanations, demonstrating that the risk-aversion channel can be sufficient for trust to influence behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the intricate relationship between financial development (FD) and international trade within the G20 from 1980 to 2021. A composite FD index, derived using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) from World Bank and IMF data, serves as the primary metric for analysis. Employing Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) modeling, the study identifies a strong long-term positive correlation between FD and international trade, addressing a critical gap in the literature by integrating FD and trade dynamics at a macroeconomic scale. The findings reveal that FD negatively impacts trade and exports in the short run, but this relationship reverses in the long term, with FD positively influencing trade and exports while reducing imports. The bidirectional causality between FD and trade components highlights their reciprocal dependence, indicating that fluctuations in imports or exports can predict changes in FD and vice versa. These dynamics reflect the influence of G20 policies promoting financial stability and trade liberalization. This research underscores the pivotal role of advanced financial systems in fostering trade-driven economic growth. It offers policymakers critical insights for leveraging FD and trade integration as tools for sustainable development, providing a strategic framework to enhance global economic progress within the G20 context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional and complementary medicine has always aided the global population in managing various ailments and its role has been acknowledged by World Health Organization. The G20 is the leading global platform for economic collaboration, influencing international policies across sectors such as agriculture, culture, the digital economy, education, employment, finance, and health to guide resilient global strategies. This study highlights conversations within the health working group of the Sherpa track, focusing in particular on traditional medicines and their diverse intersecting aspects. The information was collected from publications by G20 Indian presidency including G20 communications, think tanks (T20), press releases, speeches, and policy briefs. Throughout four health working group meetings, two side events organized by the Ministry of Ayush, and three joint health‐finance task force meetings, key topics discussed included digital health, Universal Health Coverage, Medical Value Travel through wellness tourism, a One‐Health approach, primary healthcare, Yoga, biodiversity, access and benefit sharing of natural resources, and scientific evidence—all of which were connected to traditional medicines. Unlike past G20 presidencies, the Indian G20 presidency recognize the importance of traditional medicines, marking renewed cooperation in this area. The "Gujrat Declaration 2023" must act as a guiding beacon for crafting robust policies concerning traditional medicines on a global scale. The Ministry of Ayush has excelled in advancing traditional medicine systems across all its sectors through well‐organized and intellectually enriching discussions. Upcoming G20 presidencies should build on the discussions about traditional medicine initiated by the Indian presidency and elevate them to new heights. Considering traditional medicine's unique logic, principals, validity, and largescale patient dependency, efforts should be made to form a dedicated sub‐working group within the health working group to delve deeper into the subject. Key Points: Traditional and complementary medicine are acknowledged by the World Health Organization and the forum provided by the G20 is encouraging cooperation and shaping global policies.India's G20 Presidency encouraged the pursuit of digital health, universal health coverage, medical value tourism, one‐health, primary healthcare, Yoga, and biodiversity with a key emphasis on scientific validation of traditional medicines.The "Gujrat Declaration 2023" will be a guiding beacon for crafting resilient policies as the outcomes of India's G20 presidency recognize traditional medicine as a promising new area for significant cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to financial services, which is a component of financial inclusion, enables individuals and businesses to access the funds they need on favorable terms and at low cost, without time and place constraints. In this respect, access to finance is seen as an important tool for economic growth, employment and poverty reduction. The study aims to examine the role of the variables of shadow economy (SE), human development level (HDI), automatic teller machines usage (ATM) and inflation (INF) on access to financial services (AFS) in the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS). In the study, which covers the period 2004–2021, analyzes were conducted within the framework of the fixed-effect Method of Moment Quantile Regression (MM-QR). According to the results of the study, while the level of HDI and the use of ATMs have a positive effect on AFS, while the SE has a negative effect. Although the INF rate has a negative effect on AFS, this effect could not be confirmed at any quantile level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern world there are many problems that require solving various political, economic, social, and other issues at the international level. It is for this purpose that international meetings of countries are held in various formats such as the Group of Seven (G7), the Group of Ten (G10), the Group of Twenty (G20), etc. The prerequisite for the G20 creation was the Asian financial crisis of the second half of the 1990s, after which it was decided to hold the G20 forum with the participation of finance ministers and central bank governors of countries to discuss and make decisions on global economic and financial issues. The purpose of the study is to analyze the evolution and role of the G20 in modern context. The analysis of the evolution of organizational issues and major decisions at the G20 meetings has been carried out, decisions on the issues of disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT system, conducting a special military operation in Ukraine, on finance, employment, education, digital economy, agriculture, health, trade, and a number of other issues have been touched upon. The global role of decisions taken at the G20 meetings in the current conditions and in the future has been emphasized.

The privacy and anonymity of transactions are considered some of the biggest challenges when designing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). While many surveys show that people strongly prefer privacy in their transactions, behavioral theories suggest that human behaviour in digital spaces is more complex, a phenomenon known as the privacy paradox. The research aims to measure privacy preferences in specific situations and examine how these preferences influence choices between anonymous transactions versus the design of CBDC functionality. The study used the ANOVA method to determine if there were significant differences between groups based on privacy preferences. Survey data from respondents in emerging markets showed a mild form of the privacy paradox. The research measured privacy tendencies in three areas: general, digital, and financial environments, and found a statistically significant correlation between these measures. However, the respondents' privacy preferences did not consistently align with their choices between transaction anonymity and CBDC functionality, nor did they consistently relate to trust in central banks as privacy guarantors or the importance of central bank independence for ensuring privacy. The ANOVA test found no significant differences in privacy preferences between respondents who prioritized anonymity or functionality, or between those who trusted or did not trust central banks to guarantee privacy and their independence in doing so. This suggests that when faced with complex decisions, people may exhibit intricate patterns of preference, which is crucial for optimizing CBDC design.

Building on the literature underscoring the importance of lending relationships and the role of banks’ structural and organisational features in favouring firms’ access to credit, we investigate the effect of branch closures on firms’ birth rates in the Italian local credit markets in 2000–2020. Despite the potential relevance, the implications of de-branching activity have received modest attention from scholars thus far. By employing various measures of branch closures and econometric methodologies, we find that the de-branching process negatively affects the establishment of new firms, and this detrimental impact appears stronger as the closures involve older branches. The results also show that our main findings seem ascribable to the closures carried out by large/medium-sized banks. As a policy implication, our work suggests that – although driven by technological transformations and banks’ necessity to rationalise costs – authorities should consider the potential negative consequences that bank de-branching may entail for new business creation.

Using the near universe of U.S. consumer credit cards, we show that banks transmit their wholesale funding shocks to consumers by reducing their credit card limits. Credit-constrained consumers who are unable to hedge against the transmitted shock by accessing other credit cards experience a stronger and more persistent reduction in aggregate credit card limits at the consumer level. Consequently, these credit-constrained consumers reduce their aggregate credit card borrowing. Our results document a credit card lending channel for the transmission of adverse bank shocks and show who bears the costs of fragile bank funding structures. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix , which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present evidence that several popular low-frequency measures of effective spread suffer from a volatility-induced bias and that volatility is the primary driver of the variation of these liquidity proxies. Using data for U.S. equities and major foreign exchange rates, we show that the bias arises when the effective spread is small relative to volatility. We document that the bias has become more acute over time and show that volatility-biased measures fail to replicate some well-known results in empirical finance. We conclude by providing guidance on the choice of low-frequency measures in empirical applications. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix , which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the effect of scrutiny (e.g. credit ratings, analyst reports, or mandatory disclosures) on the security design problem of a privately informed issuer. We show that scrutiny has important implications for both the form of security designed and the amount of inefficient retention of cash flows. The model predicts that issuers will design informationally sensitive securities (i.e. levered equity) when scrutiny is sufficiently intense. Otherwise, issuers opt for a standard debt contract. Scrutiny increases efficiency by decreasing issuers' reliance on retention to signal quality and, perhaps counterintuitively, decrease price informativeness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing a descriptive approach, this study intends to investigate the causal relationship between financial stability and liquidity creation and the effects of foreign ownership, local ownership, and financial stability on liquidity creation. The research sample included 35 banks listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange based on a purposive sampling technique (non-random sampling) and the observation period between 2013 and 2020 utilizing quarterly data. According to the Granger causality test results, there is no reciprocal relationship between the creation of liquidity and financial stability. This indicates that the research variables avoid endogeneity problems. Using static panel data analysis, we discovered that neither foreign ownership nor financial stability has any impact on the creation of bank liquidity; however, the interaction between foreign ownership and financial stability has a significant positive impact, suggesting that the interaction between the two could become stronger. The asset-side liquidity creation component is the only one that plays this role. Domestic ownership favors liquidity creation, but there is less of an effect when ownership and financial stability are combined. When the creation of liquidity increases, production activities increase, suggesting that economic activity increases. Thus, these findings are useful for regulators and central banks in making economic and banking policies by considering bank ownership and stability.

Combining novel data on analyst employment history and mutual fund commission payments, we show that client funds generate higher returns on stocks for which they have access to research by industry expert analysts. The outperformance is greater when funds are more important clients and cannot be attributed to tipping. Client funds place modestly higher weights on stocks covered by industry expert analysts and allocate more commissions to brokers providing such coverage. For identification, we exploit exogenous analyst coverage disruptions. Our findings contribute to the debate on whether mutual funds obtain any investment value from access to analysts through the soft-dollar arrangement. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix , which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The BRICS organization is making significant and consistent progress in its development. The 15th BRICS Summit was held in Johannesburg from 22 to 24 August 2023. This summit is a global event that sets the trends and guiding principles for future economic policies. Four of the five BRICS member countries are among the ten largest countries in the world in terms of GDP, territory and population. According to open sources, the total area of the BRICS countries is 39.7 million square kilometers (26.7% of the world’s land surface), and the population is estimated at3.2 billion people (41.5% of the world’s population). The economic potential of BRICS, as the leading economic organization in the world, is more than significant. These competitive advantages in the economy and financial sphere represent an enormous resource of industrial, human and technological potential that can serve as the locomotive of the global economy. Following the conclusion of the above summit, the leaders of the BRICS countries adopted the final “Johannesburg-2” declaration, which noted the advisability of using their countries’ respective national currencies in international trade and collectively resolving problems related to international debt. In addition, decisions were made to expand BRICS and admit new member states to the organization. BRICS has established itself as a prominent entity on the global stage, whose influence in world affairs is consistently strengthening. The strategic course of their unification is aimed at planning for the future and meets the interests of the leading nations of the international community, the so-called world majority. By acting cohesively on the principles of equality, partnership support and mutual consideration, the BRICS member countries are effectively addressing the most pressing issues on the global and regional agenda. The BRICS member states are strongly in favor of the establishment of a multipolar world order that is based on international law and is fair. At the same time, they are committed to adhering to the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter. BRICS is the most important guarantor of the legal foundations of international relations and a fair world order in general. The recent expansion of the BRICS group is a significant event that enables the group to have an even greater influence in international affairs. The presented article analyzes the features of the recent expansion of BRICS and its impact on world geopolitics, taking into account the admission of new states to the organization. The distinctive features of the BRICS group activities and its role in relation to the G7 and G20 are revealed. The trends in the transition to a multipolar world are discussed. Furthermore, issues of political and economic cooperation between the different BRICS member countries are analyzed.

The collective GDP of the G20 nations constitutes over 80% of the global GDP, making them pivotal recipients of significant economic investments in various forms including foreign direct investments. This study delves into the dynamic interplay of ICT development and foreign direct investment (FDI) and GDP nexus among the G20 economies. A comprehensive index is constructed using PCA to gauge ICT development across economies. The study further examines the relationships among FDI, ICT development, and GDP using panel data spanning from 2000 to 2019. The study finds that in the absence of interaction, FDI alone does not exhibit a statistically significant impact on GDP. However, considering the interaction between FDI and ICT, a nuanced pattern emerges. The study discerns that the influence of FDI on GDP is contingent upon the maturity of a country's ICT sector. This suggests the need for policymakers to adopt a more focused approach, tailoring strategies to leverage the interdependence of FDI and ICT for optimal economic growth.

The motivation of the present study is to complement the extant literature by assessing the relevance of governance and information technology in how African trade affects female labour force participation. The study focuses on 48 African countries using data for the period 1996–2021. An adopted empirical strategy is the fixed effects regressions that are designed to address concerns for simultaneity and the unobserved heterogeneity. The fractional probit model based on the pooled Bernoulli quasi-maximum likelihood method is also employed. The following main findings are established. First, governance moderates intra-African trade to engender positive synergies on female labour force participation. The positive synergies are apparent from the overall quality of institutions, government effectiveness and the rule of law. Second, information technology does not significantly moderate intra-African trade to affect female labour force participation. The established findings from fixed effects regressions are robust to fractional probit model estimations. The findings are relevant in informing policy makers on how governance can be used to moderate the influence of African trade in promoting female labour force participation. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traders may run on financial markets merely out of fear of future liquidity shocks. We present a model that shows that adequately calibrated circuit breakers can prevent such coordination failures by curbing excessive trading. It suggests a novel, forward-looking circuit breaker that becomes most restrictive in cases when expected welfare losses of inefficient market runs are largest. The probabilities of current and future liquidity shortages are important determinants for such welfare-optimized circuit breakers. We empirically illustrate how to calibrate these parameters. We also determine under which economic conditions circuit breakers damage welfare and should not be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recounting the events of the #NoG20 protests in Hamburg in 2017, particularly the effects of the ban of one large scale protest camp by the authorities, this paper investigates how the protest was re-organized after the ban. Within a wide variety of existing forms of social movement organization (SMO), protest camps are increasingly visible and important, occurring on all continents and with increasing frequency. It appears that making a camp can be a strategy for network-based organization to materialize spatially where formal organizing is absent or eschewed. Based on interviews with participants and document analysis, the paper analyses the emergence of alternative hospitality structures, and of a new antagonism helping to forge a collective identity of the #NoG20 mobilisation. We structure our analysis through the notion of "care for the whole," in which Rodrigo Nunes describes parameters of strategic action in networked SMO. We advance organizational thinking by extending this notion with two further dimensions: the literal caring for participants needs and its infrastructures; and the creation of a sense of community in narrative and representation. This can be applied in the analysis in any networked organization aspiring to be more democratic and open. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a novel measure of systemic risk that is obtained by aggregating downside risk information from the cross section of assets. In contrast to existing studies, we expand the analysis of systemic risk to many assets and focus on marginal measures of tail risk that are aggregated using a Fisher-type test to detect the risk of systemic events. The presence of downside risk for each asset of the cross section is examined through a bootstrap test of first-order stochastic dominance between the underlying tail distribution and the tail distribution of the residuals of a multivariate DCC-GARCH model. The application of these methods to the cross section of the FTSE-100 stock returns provides overwhelming evidence on the presence of financial instability during the period 2006–2009. Interestingly, we also find compelling evidence of systemic risk during the 2012–2015 period coinciding with the European debt crisis and after the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the role of governance quality in the relationship between the Internet and financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan African countries. The study uses data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) database for indicators of financial inclusion, World Development Indicators (WDI) for Internet users and World Governance Indicators (WGI) for governance indicators from 2004 to 2020. Analyzing the data using the System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM), the results show that the Internet can be effectively complemented with the quality of governance to improve financial inclusion. Thresholds of governance that are needed for the Internet to promote financial inclusion are provided. Policies aimed at reinforcing the quality of governance in SSA countries could help consolidate Internet infrastructure to promote Internet usage and, in turn, improve financial inclusion. Other policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the strategic role played by a multilateral development bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and a bilateral development bank, the UK BII (formerly the CDC Group), during the COVID-19 pandemic. In detail, we will compare the initial activity of these two development banks (DBs) during the first phase, in 2020, with their actions in the following period. The analysis will also reflect on the role of safeguard policies in ensuring that the activities of DBs are in line with the fulfilment of their public purpose mandates and whether these rules were sufficiently broad and flexible enough to respond to an unexpected event such as the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature on the behaviour of rising powers in global trade governance has yielded inconclusive evidence about their role and impact. This article contributes to this literature by examining China's role in global digital trade governance, an issue area which so far has not received sufficient scholarly attention. Specifically, it addresses the following question: as a self-proclaimed leader of the developing world in digital development, to what extent do its preferences and negotiation approach align with the interests of other developing countries? Analysing China's participation in three sets of negotiations using process tracing, the article argues that China's dual identity both as a self-identified developing country and as a rising power has contributed to its strategic ambivalence. In principle China supports a development-oriented approach to digital trade governance, calling attention to issues such as the digital divide and preserving developing countries' policy space on data localization consistent with its domestic regulatory approaches. Yet China's interest in promoting Chinese technology firms' global expansion leads to increasing divergence with other developing countries on issues such as the e-commerce customs duty moratorium and the global taxation of digital firms, paradoxically increasing its interest alignment with developed countries and limiting its support for fundamental reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to assess the drivers of knowledge creation in emerging countries. Specifically, the study empirically investigates the long-run impact of financial development, research and development (R&D) activities and the protection of intellectual property rights on knowledge production in China using the ARDL bounds testing approach during the 1979–2018 period. The study also assesses the impact of financial development on knowledge production via its interaction with financial regulations, trade openness and human capital. We measure knowledge capital stock and R&D capital stock using the perpetual inventory flow method assuming different rates of depreciation, while the financial development is measured by conducting the principal component analysis (PCA) of three key banking sector indicators including credit to the private sector to GDP ratio, the ratio of the liquid liabilities to GDP and the sum of commercial bank and central bank assets. Results show that financial development, R&D activities and patent protections are important determinants of knowledge creation in China. Further, estimates reveal that improvements to financial regulations, increased freedom to trade and the level of tertiary education moderate the effect of financial development on knowledge production. The results are robust to several control variables such as the macroeconomic environment of the economy, trade openness, foreign direct investment and knowledge accumulation in the rest of the world. The findings of the paper suggest that the steps taken to develop the financial sector and accelerate R&D activities may contribute to the accumulation of new ideas and stock of knowledge in emerging countries. Furthermore, the study emphasizes prudent financial regulations, trade freedom and improved access to tertiary education to enhance the effect of financial development on knowledge production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to contribute to the extant literature by assessing how microfinance institutions (MFIs) affect female entrepreneurship, contingent on female unemployment levels. Design/methodology/approach: The study focuses on 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2004–2018. The empirical evidence is based on interactive quantile regressions, which put emphasis on nations with high, low and intermediate levels of business constraints. The analysis is tailored to provide avoidable female unemployment levels in the implementation of policies designed for MFIs to promote female business ownership. Findings: The hypotheses that MFIs are favorable for female business owners and some critical rates of female unemployment should be avoided in order for the favorable incidence to be maintained is exclusively valid in the 10th quantiles of the cost of business by females and time to start-up a business by females. Policy implications are discussed. Originality/value: This study has complemented the extant literature by providing actionable female unemployment critical masses that governments can act upon in tailoring the relevance of MFIs in the doing of business by females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines Indonesia's evolving international relations, especially in the wake of its role as a G20 summit host, and assesses the alignment of its legislative initiatives with the global sustainable development goals (SDGs). The data highlights an increased international interest in Indonesia subsequent to the G20 summit, emphasizing the advantages associated with arranging such prominent global events. These mega-events amplify Indonesia's global presence, fortify its international alliances, and create prospects for economic expansion. A comparison of Indonesia's 2020-2023 legislative priorities against the G20's 2023 action plan reveals distinct variances in SDG alignment. While Indonesia predominantly emphasizes Life On Land (SDG 15) and Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8), the G20 extends greater focus to SDG 8, Quality Education (SDG 4), and Gender Equality (SDG 5) - an area currently absent from Indonesia's legislative spotlight. The study suggests that Indonesia, while remaining adjusted to its crucial domestic needs, should consider strategic alignment with SDGs that feature prominently on the global stage. Such synchronization not only cultivates international partnerships and draws in foreign investments but also propels comprehensive national advancement. In essence, with its unique standing as the only Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) G20 member, Indonesia wields a dual opportunity: to influence and be influenced in the international arena. The nation's future course should therefore transition from mere response to global trends towards actively molding them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact from COVID is dire to economies, and G20 countries are no exception irrespective of how developed their market are. This is due to how investors respond to bad and good news alike. Using daily data, for the G20 countries and data on COVID, we employ quantile regression (QR) and quantile-on-quantile regression (QQR) to explore the asymmetric nexus between COVID cases and G20 stock indices returns. Our results show that the pandemic fundamentally has a significant negative effect on all G20 stock returns with a heterogeneous nature across portions of the returns. Also, at varying quantiles of the distribution of stock, we highlight the fact that COVID pandemic has rather occasioned an asymmetric effect on G20 stock returns. Conversely, we notice positive link between the COVID and stock returns at the upper quantiles when the market started to bounce back from the crash. While the pandemic has largely slowed down, it is not completely swept out and the impacts may linger for a little long, hence investors are recommended to be more particular in the stock indices they wish to invest as they observe the erratic dynamics across the G20.