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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]

This article examines the relation between internal audit function (IAF) quality and investment efficiency, a recurring value-added corporate activity critical to firm survival and profitability. We argue that an IAF, unlike other information intermediaries, is uniquely positioned to have access to firm-specific, private information—particularly related to localized, firm-specific risks. If a more competent IAF incrementally improves the information that is generated and communicated to management (while not participating directly in decision-making), we should observe more productive capital investment decisions from firms with higher quality IAFs relative to firms with lower quality IAFs. Through this enhanced information channel, we find that IAF quality is associated with investment efficiency. This result holds for both under- and overinvestment, although not in tests of all subsamples. We also document that this effect is more pronounced for firms with more complexity and for firms with greater investment opportunities. Our evidence indicates that IAF quality provides measurable and economically meaningful value to an organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We document significant negative effects of exposure to increased automation at work on household wealth accumulation. Beyond the income and savings channels, we uncover a novel mechanism contributing to the negative wealth effects of automation that arises through the endogenous optimal portfolio decisions of households. We show that households rebalance their financial wealth away from the stock market in response to increased human capital risk induced by pervasive automation, thereby attaining lower wealth levels and relative positions in the wealth distribution. Our evidence suggests that the portfolio channel amplifies the inequality-enhancing effects of increased automation. 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]

Socially responsible (SR) institutions tend to focus more on the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and less on quantitative signals of value. Consistent with this difference in focus, we find that SR institutions react less to quantitative mispricing signals. Our evidence suggests that the increased focus on ESG may have influenced stock return patterns. Specifically, abnormal returns associated with these mispricing signals are greater for stocks held more by SR institutions. The link between SR ownership and the efficacy of mispricing signals only emerges in recent years with the rise of ESG investing, and is significant only when there are arbitrage-related funding constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study shows that executive stock options are an effective compensation policy that takes corporate investment to the optimal level in the presence of unpredictable risk from economic policy uncertainty (EPU). We aim to explore whether stock options provide incentives for executives to choose a project that the optimal investment needs to be implemented. We use delta and vega as a proxy for price sensitivity and compensation sensitivity, respectively, to examine the interaction between executive stock options portfolio and EPU. We use delta for price sensitivity and vega for compensation sensitivity, respectively, to examine the interaction between executive stock options portfolio and EPU. Our analysis shows that a well-designed compensation structure motivates executives to maintain the optimal investment level when faced with unpredictable risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asset owners will play a foundational role in how the financial system will respond to the immediate and long-term physical, transition, legal, and other risks and opportunities emerging from global climate change. We investigated how asset owners incorporated climate change in their investments using a process framework of organizational change. We conducted more than 50 interviews with asset owners with over $750B assets under management, and their stakeholders, including beneficiaries, lawyers, consultants, and asset managers. These asset owners included retail investors, high-net-worth family offices, pensions, foundations, endowments, trusts, and corporations. Interviewees discussed their investment strategies related to climate change, including mitigation, adaptation, profit, philanthropic finance, risks, and opportunities. We found that legal stakeholders sometimes drove conversations, that trustees gradually matured in their fiduciary identities, and that staff struggled to operationalize investment mandates. We summarize proposed interventions that will help asset owners better serve their commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global financial landscape has witnessed a significant shift towards Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), with their market capitalization surpassing USD 10 trillion in 2023, due to advantages such as low management fees, high liquidity, and broad market exposure. As ETFs become increasingly central to investment strategies, accurately forecasting their performance has become crucial. This study addresses this need by comparing the efficacy of deep learning models against the traditional Fama-French three-factor model in predicting daily ETF returns. The methodology employs eight artificial neural network architectures, including ANN, LSTM, GRU, CNN, and their variants, implemented in Python and applied to data ranging from 2010 to 2020, while also exploring the impact of additional factors on forecast accuracy. Empirical results reveal that LSTM and the Fama-French three-factor model exhibit a superior performance in ETF return prediction. This study contributes to the literature on financial forecasting and offers practical insights into investment decision making. By leveraging advanced artificial intelligence techniques, this study aims to enhance the toolkit available for ETF performance analysis, potentially improving investment strategies in this dynamic market segment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is axiomatic that middle‐class Asian migrant families invest heavily—practically and emotionally—in their children's education. Scholarship has linked this investment to strategies of capital accumulation. There has been little discussion, however, about the transformative nature of these strategies and how they might be framed in terms of migrants' whole lives. This paper applies theoretical concepts from migration studies and a framework proposed by philosopher Charles Taylor, to argue that educational migration should be seen as profoundly life shaping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The FOREX market assessment is a big challenge for investors and global risk managers. However, the present study uses daily multicurrency exchange rate returns data from 2007 to 2022 to estimate the learning returns performance of the proposed model to find a safe‐haven currency for optimal investment strategy. The categorical returns are classified into good returns (GRs), bad returns (BRs) and no returns (NRs). Therefore, the present study needs to use a one‐hot‐encoding function to convert a categorical dataset into a numeric format with TensorFlow. The present study proposes a deep neural network‐based multilayer perceptron (DNN‐based MLP) with a backpropagation algorithm to estimate the learning returns performance of the proposed model to find a safe‐haven currency for optimal investment strategy. The findings showed that currency exchange rate return 2 (CERR2) is relatively a safe‐haven currency than currency exchange rate return 1 (CERR1) and currency exchange rate return 3 (CERR3). Moreover, the findings also showed that the proposed model gives optimal learning return performance. This study may assist FOREX investors to modify their investment strategies under shed light of findings of the study. In addition, the findings of the present study may also support global risk managers to revisit their hedging strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the optimal management of defined contribution pension plans under multiple risks and strategic interactions using a stochastic differential game between two managers, accounting for model misspecification. Managers who are both competitive and averse to ambiguity can invest in a financial market that contains a risk-free asset, an inflation-linked bond, a market index, and a stock. These managers may have varying levels of aversion to ambiguous risks. The inflation index is computed using the Fisher equation. The market index and stock prices are described by a class of non-Markovian multivariate stochastic covariance models, with the market risk prices being reliant on a multivariate affine-diffusion factor process. Each manager aims to maximize the expected utility of inflation-adjusted terminal wealth relative to their competitors under the worst-case scenario of different measures, ensuring that the investment strategy is robust to model uncertainty. The robust Nash equilibrium investment strategies' explicit expressions, density generator processes under the well-defined worst-case scenarios, and corresponding value functions are derived using a backward stochastic differential equation approach to address this robust non-Markovian game. The admissibility of the robust equilibrium policies is confirmed under certain technical conditions. Finally, we provide numerical examples to demonstrate the effects of model parameters on robust investment policies and clarify the economic significance of our theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the optimal export policy of a domestic industry characterized by numerous multinational enterprises (MNEs) co-existing with cross-border ownership investments in foreign firms and exports to a foreign country. We demonstrate that the optimal export policy depends on whether MNEs make centralized or decentralized decisions in ownership investments. With decentralized decision-making, the optimal export policy can be either a subsidy or a tax, while with centralized decision-making, it is a tax. Furthermore, we examine how the optimal trade policy responds to the optimal strategy of centralized decision-making by MNEs. Our results show that under certain circumstances, the optimal trade policy is an export subsidy, and MNEs prefer to voluntarily relinquish centralized decision-making, even when they have the option to control the production levels of foreign partner firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) and its country-of-origin in technology transfer. Using data of 95 countries from 2008 to 2019, results indicate that net inflows of the FDI are positively related to technological transfer especially in developing countries. This is consistent with the findings that show fewer resources endowed countries benefited from advanced technologies and management know-how. Furthermore, results suggest different country-of-origin affects the technology transfer of the host economy differently. These results are consistent with studies that suggest the FDI origins are crucial to expose firms with variety of technologies and management practices. Results from quantile analysis prove that there is an existence of a threshold for the developed and developing countries to gain from the country-of-origin of the FDI. Therefore, we need to relook at the investment policies of the host countries to maximize the benefits from different sources of FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Stem respiration constitutes a substantial proportion of autotrophic respiration in forested ecosystems, but its drivers across different spatial scales and land‐use gradients remain poorly understood. This study quantifies and examines the impact of logging disturbance on stem CO2 efflux (EA) in Malaysian Borneo.EA was quantified at tree‐ and stand‐level in nine 1‐ha plots over a logging gradient from heavily logged to old‐growth using the static chamber method.Tree‐level results showed higher EA per unit stem area in logged vs old‐growth plots (37.0 ± 1.1 vs 26.92 ± 1.14 g C m−2 month−1). However, at stand‐level, there was no difference in EA between logged and old‐growth plots (6.7 ± 1.1 vs 6.0 ± 0.7 Mg C ha−1 yr−1) due to greater stem surface area in old‐growth plots. Allocation to growth respiration and carbon use efficiency was significantly higher in logged plots. Variation in EA at both tree‐ and stand‐level was driven by tree size, growth and differences in investment strategies between the forest types.These results reflect different resource allocation strategies and priorities, with a priority for growth in response to increased light availability in logged plots, while old‐growth plots prioritise maintenance and cell structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relevance of sustainable product attributes as compared to ongoing costs and risk–return profiles when individuals choose funds underlying unit-linked life insurances. Regarding sustainability attributes, we focus on the product classification according to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation as a European regulatory transparency standard, and on sustainable investment strategies. We conduct two choice-based conjoint analyses using a German panel for unit-linked life insurances as well as fund savings plans as a financial product comparison. We estimate the relative importance, part-worth utilities, and the marginal willingness to pay for changes in product attributes. Our results suggest that private investors of unit-linked life insurances value sustainable product attributes and that they result in a slightly higher marginal willingness to pay, but risk–return indicators and especially ongoing costs are currently more relevant. We find further indications that sustainability attributes are less relevant in the setting of a unit-linked life insurance as compared to a fund savings plans setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of domestic monetary policy on capital flows after controlling for the effect of conventional push factors (global factors). We conduct a time‐varying coefficient vector autoregressive (TVC‐VAR) model analysis using monthly data (January 2010–July 2019) from Korea. Our empirical results show that an expansionary monetary policy shock has a short‐run (1‐ and 3‐month) negative impact on gross inflows to the equity market, which is the main driver of gross capital inflows to Korea. This negative effect increases throughout the sample period. Monetary policy easing is also associated with a decrease in outflows of equity, representing a reversal of Korean residents' foreign equity investment as the domestic policy rate decreases. This effect dampens the negative impact on gross capital inflows, which leads to mild responses of net capital inflows in the short run. We also find a clear relationship between the level of the policy rate and its impact on gross capital inflows. The lower the policy rate, the greater the negative impact of the expansionary monetary policy shock on gross capital inflows. This time‐varying effect reflects difficulties that many emerging market economies, including Korea, face in setting monetary policy when policy rates are low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a risk-averse firm's investment strategy in real-time event-monitoring technologies coupled with dynamic disruption response decisions. The firm does not know how long the disruption will last, and the event-monitoring solutions provide the firm with a quicker update regarding the length of the disruption. When the firm receives an update, it has the flexibility to revise its initial response action. We model a two-stage stochastic program to study this problem where risk aversion is modeled in the form of a Service-at-Risk constraint. Our paper makes four important contributions. First, it characterizes the optimal recourse strategies given an update and identifies the conditions when the firm benefits from the recourse. Second, we characterize the optimal investment and initial response strategies where we find that the investment behavior is non-monotone. Third, our paper shows an interesting impact of risk aversion on the investment decision such that the firm may benefit from investing in event monitoring at moderate degrees of risk aversion, but not necessarily at low or high degrees of risk aversion. Fourth, we find that a firm's benefit from event monitoring is more profound when the capacity of contingency response is moderately limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the link between stocks and decentralized finance (DeFi) in terms of returns and volatility. Major G7 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and various highly traded DeFi assets are considered to ensure the robustness of the empirical experiment. Specifically, this study applies the vector autoregression generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (VAR-GARCH) model to examine the information transmission of these two markets on a two-way basis and the dynamic conditional correlation (DCC)-GARCH model to assess the bivariate correlation structure between each DeFi and ETF pair. The volatility spillover analysis proves a contagion effect occurred between different geographic markets, and even between markets of different natures and typologies, during the most turbulent moments of the COVID-19 crisis and the war in the Ukraine. Our results also reveal a weak positive correlation between most DeFi and ETF pairs and positive hedge ratios that approach unity during turbulent times. In addition, DeFi assets, except for the Bazaar (BZR) Protocol, can offer diversification gains when included in financial investment portfolios. These results are particularly relevant for portfolio managers and policy-makers when designing investment strategies, especially during periods of financial crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the world is off-track to meet the World Health Assembly global nutrition targets for 2025. Reducing the prevalence of stunting and low birthweight (LBW) in children, and anaemia in women, and increasing breastfeeding rates are among the prioritized global nutrition targets for all countries. Governments and development partners need evidence-based data to understand the true costs and consequences of policy decisions and investments. Yet there is an evidence gap on the health, human capital, and economic costs of inaction on preventing undernutrition for most countries. The Cost of Inaction tool and expanded Cost of Not Breastfeeding tool provide country-specific data to help address the gaps. Every year undernutrition leads to 1.3 million cases of preventable child and maternal deaths globally. In children, stunting results in the largest economic burden yearly at US$548 billion (0.7% of global gross national income [GNI]), followed by US$507 billion for suboptimal breastfeeding (0.6% of GNI), US$344 billion (0.3% of GNI) for LBW and US$161 billion (0.2% of GNI) for anaemia in children. Anaemia in women of reproductive age (WRA) costs US$113 billion (0.1% of GNI) globally in current income losses. Accounting for overlap in stunting, suboptimal breastfeeding and LBW, the analysis estimates that preventable undernutrition cumulatively costs the world at least US$761 billion per year, or US$2.1 billion per day. The variation in the regional and country-level estimates reflects the contextual drivers of undernutrition. In the lead-up to the renewed World Health Assembly targets and Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, the data generated from these tools are powerful information for advocates, governments and development partners to inform policy decisions and investments into high-impact low-cost nutrition interventions. The costs of inaction on undernutrition continue to be substantial, and serious coordinated action on the global nutrition targets is needed to yield the significant positive human capital and economic benefits from investing in nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the problem of optimal investment and proportional reinsurance in a dynamic asset model for an insurance company. The objective is to minimize the probability of drawdown, which is defined as the probability of an asset reaching a fixed proportion of its historical maximum. We assume that the debt of the company's wealth process is a deterministic function of its value. We discuss the problem separately according to the two cases that the historical maximum value is less than the safety value and greater than the safety value. By utilizing stochastic control theory, we derive the optimal investment and reinsurance strategy along with the corresponding minimum drawdown probability. We show that when the historical maximum is relatively low (below the safety level), raising the historical maximum to the safety level is the optimal strategy. Finally, we provide examples to illustrate the impact of model parameters on the optimal results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we develop the first daily news-based Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) index for Nigeria, which was previously not covered in recent EPU indices. The need to track economic uncertainties in Nigeria becomes crucial for investment and policy, especially with the renewed interest in the country as an important investment destination. To construct the EPU index, we use relevant keywords from articles in prominent newspapers in the country, covering the aftermath of the global financial crisis and the COVID pandemic, with a data scope of January 2010 to November 2022. We evaluate the predictability of the index by examining its connection with economic and financial variables like exchange rates, stock prices, and inflation in Nigeria. The results are robust to alternative model specifications, data frequencies, and multiple forecast horizons. We hope to extend this exercise to other useful indices, including Geopolitical Risk, Financial Stress Indicators, and Monetary Policy Uncertainty, which are not readily available for Africa, including Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecasting stock prices, a task complicated by the inherent volatility of the stock market, poses a significant challenge. The ability to accurately forecast stock prices is crucial, as it provides investors with crucial insights, enabling them to make informed strategic decisions. In this paper, we propose a novel investment strategy that relies on predicting stock prices. Our approach utilizes a hybrid predictive model that combines light gradient-boosting machine (LightGBM) and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost). This model is designed to generate short to medium-term forecasts for a wide range of stocks. The strategy has shown promising results, surpassing the local market indices used as benchmarks in terms of both risk and return. Our findings demonstrate the strategy's effectiveness in both upward and downward market trends, underscoring its potential as a robust tool for portfolio management in diverse market conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called geoeconomic turn in global trade policy-making has changed the context in which the European Union positions itself as a trade actor. However, there is little scholarly attention paid to how the geoeconomic turn affects the EU's relations with developing countries. This article analyses the potential implications of new EU autonomous trade and investment instruments for developing countries, and how the EU has taken these consequences into account when designing them. We rely on a combination of desk research of official documents, trade data, and secondary literature complemented with expert interviews. We find that a trade-off between geoeconomic and development objectives is more pertinent in sustainability-related than in competitiveness- and security-oriented instruments. In these sustainability instruments, differential treatment of developing countries rarely features in the design-despite some proposals having been made. The geoeconomic turn has thus made it more difficult to align the different objectives in the EU's trade and investment policies, and development concerns are sometimes relegated to the background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIn this article, we address the optimal investment problem for a defined contribution pension plan, taking into account both financial performance and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. We model the surplus of the pension fund using a regime-switching jump diffusion process. To capture the pension managers’ preference toward different kinds of assets, such as green and brown stocks, we utilize the multiple constant relative risk aversion utility. By applying the dynamic programming principle, we derive the optimal investment strategy and the corresponding value function. We also discuss the existence and uniqueness of the optimal solution. Through numerical analysis, we demonstrate that increasing salary and contribution rates, as well as implementing policies related to sustainable development, can effectively encourage pension managers to allocate more of their investments toward green stocks. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the optimal investment decisions in defined contribution pension plans, considering both financial and ESG aspects. In summary, this article can provide valuable insights for both policymakers and practitioners interested in enhancing sustainable investment and aligning pension funds with ESG objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the personality patterns of solo founders in both high-tech and non-high-tech sectors during the first seven years of their entrepreneurial journey to emphasize the patterns' implications during policymaking, investment decisions, and self-assessments. IAB/ZEW startup panel microdata for the sector classification of 4470 solo entrepreneurs in Germany were analyzed to identify Big Five trait patterns influenced by risk propensities, innovation inclination, and gender. The entrepreneurial profiles indicate positive openness, emotional resilience, and sector-specific clusters. Conscientiousness suggests flexibility, and while variations in extraversion and agreeableness exist, negative neuroticism was predominantly found, except for gender-related differences and multidimensional service innovators. Big Five traits provide information about important foundational profile patterns to describe unique solo entrepreneur types influenced by risk, innovation, and gender. Originality and value: Risk propensity characterizes 'Adaptive Services,' 'Dynamic Knowledge Innovators,' and 'Strategic Risk Navigators.' Additionally, 'Multidimensional Service Innovators' and 'Focused Tech Innovators' signify innovation understanding. The Big Five profiles show openness and emotional stability across sectors, providing crucial insights for effective entrepreneurial support and investment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the impact of exchange rate volatility on sectoral stock volatility by employing the intraday volatility measure directly calculated from the original data, using daily data from 27 Borsa Istanbul sectors between April 29, 2003, and April 25, 2023. In the literature, GARCH models are commonly used to study the volatility spillovers between exchange rates and stock prices, typically using aggregate data. However, the GARCH family models provide inefficient and biased estimates if they are misspecified. Moreover, using aggregate-level data may lead to biased and misleading conclusions. The research used intraday volatility measures to overcome the shortcomings of GARCH models. The ordinary least squares (OLS), GARCH (1,1) methods, and Garman and Klass (1980) volatility estimator are used. The empirical results showed that the estimates from each method vary significantly, and these disparities in the results might be due to misspecification in GARCH (1,1) models. The intraday volatility model estimation results showed that although stock price volatilities in all sectors are positively and significantly affected by exchange rate volatility, their magnitudes vary significantly. Taken together, this implies the presence of vast heterogeneities in the responses of sectoral stock price volatilities to exchange rate volatility. The results encourage policymakers to pay special attention to these heterogeneities to prevent capital flights and underinvestment. Additionally, the findings assist investors in making more effective decisions by helping them adapt their investment strategies to factor in exchange rate fluctuations and mitigate the impact of unexpected events in the exchange rate market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of supply disruption, having a resilient supply chain is crucial for the survival and growth of enterprises. It is also essential for gaining a competitive advantage in a turbulent environment. Enterprises need to invest in supply chain resilience to better deal with future uncertainties. This paper constructs a Stackelberg game model with the manufacturer as the leader and the retailer as the follower. We explored how supply chain-related factors under supply interruption risk affect supply chain resilience investment, and studied how to choose supply chain coordination strategies to improve the effectiveness of manufacturer capacity recovery and mutual profits in the context of supply interruption. The study also analyzes the asymmetrical impact of changes in product order quantity, supply disruption probability, and the capacity recovery coefficient on retailer decision-making and the profits of supply chain members. The results indicate that manufacturer profits are negatively correlated with supply disruption probability, while retailer profits are positively correlated with supply disruption probability when product order quantities are low and negatively correlated when product order quantities are high. The supply chain resilience investment is positively correlated with the supply disruption probability. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the cost-sharing contract is closely related to product order quantity and supply disruption probability. When the product order quantity d < α L − c [ 1 − ξ a L + ξ a H ] + s α H ξ + w α L (1 − ξ) k or α H − c [ 1 − ξ a L + ξ a H ] + s α H ξ + w α L (1 − ξ) k < d < α H [ 1 − ξ a L + ξ a H ] (w − c) k , manufacturers can withstand the risk of supply interruption by investing in supply chain resilience alone. But when the product order quantity is α L − c [ 1 − ξ a L + ξ a H ] + s α H ξ + w α L (1 − ξ) k < d < α H − c [ 1 − ξ a L + ξ a H ] + s α H ξ + w α L (1 − ξ) k and α H [ 1 − ξ a L + ξ a H ] (w − c) k < d , the use of cost-sharing contracts is more effective. Additionally, when the sensitivity analysis is conducted, the capacity recovery coefficient positively correlates with supply chain profits in a decentralized mode. However, under the cost-sharing contract mode, it exhibits a U-shaped fluctuation pattern, indicating that the impact of improving capacity recovery efficiency on the profits of both parties is not symmetrical and linear. As ξ approaches 0.5, the profits of manufacturers and retailers decrease. Instead, it undergoes an initial decline followed by a subsequent increase, highlighting the nonlinear benefits of capacity recovery strategies under the cooperative approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irish legislation on climate change has driven transformative measures across the public sector in Ireland. For Dublin Airport, this has pushed sustainability to the forefront of how we operate our airport and the impact it has had on our ability to grow. This paper explores how Dublin Airport has adapted its capital investment plans and strategy to achieve these new climate action targets as well as its plans to invest in sustainability to achieve its ambition to facilitate the growth of passengers while also meeting its net zero target by 2050. The paper takes a deep dive into the airport's carbon footprint, providing detail on Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, evaluating the current challenges of decarbonisation across each scope and the opportunities for collaboration with key stakeholders to reduce Scope 3 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the optimal reinsurance and investment problem from joint interests of the insurer and the reinsurer in the framework of the mixed leadership game, where both of them can invest their wealth in the financial market, and the liabilities are correlated with the risky asset. More specifically, we assume that the insurer is the leader to determine the amount he/she invests into the risky asset but acts as the follower to decide the optimal reinsurance retention level, while the reinsurer is the leader to set the reinsurance premium price and acts as a follower to determine his/her investment strategy. Both the insurer and the reinsurer aim to maximize the expected utility of their terminal wealth, and the explicit Stackelberg-Nash equilibrium is derived by solving the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations. In order to better understand the effect of the mixed leadership game on the optimal reinsurance and investment problem, we also consider the optimization problem within the framework of the stochastic Stackelberg differential game shown in [Bai, Y., Zhou, Z., Xiao, H., Gao, R. & Zhong, F. (2021). A Stackelberg reinsurance-investment game with asymmetric information and delay. Optimization70(10), 2131–2168.], where the reinsurer is the leader while the insurer acts as the follower for both the reinsurance and investment strategies. Some theoretical analyses and numerical examples are provided to show the economic intuition and insights of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies life reinsurance as a solution to default risk in equity-linked life insurance products with surplus participation. The problem is considered under both perfect and asymmetric information about the insurer's risk profile between the reinsurer and the insurer. In both cases, we analyze the existence of proportional reinsurance and the impact of the insurer's investment strategies on optimal reinsurance. We find that the more risky the insurer's investment portfolio is, the more risk the insurer tends to transfer to the reinsurer. Further, information asymmetry leads to additional information costs and consequently to a larger reinsurance premium and a lower reinsurance share. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Socjologiczne is the property of Studia Socjologiczne and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we investigate whether the VC institutions' position in the network affects their investment strategies and performance. Our results show that network location has a negative correlation with geographic concentration index, industry concentration index, and stage concentration index, which indicates that the higher the network position of the cross-border VC institutions, the higher the degree of geographical diversification, the wider the industry diversification, and the higher the investment stage diversification of their investments. In addition, our results show that the relationship between network position and the VC's performance is not simply linear but rather an inverted U-shaped correlation. When the network location is lower than the critical value, higher network location positively improves the VC's investment performance; however, when the network location is higher than the critical value, then the relationship is reversed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pay‐for‐success contracts are social and financial innovations in social policy and capital markets, respectively. This paper argues that they exhibit option‐like payoffs and implements standard option‐pricing arguments in assessing the value of investing in pay‐for‐success contracts. Sensitivities vis‐à‐vis contract specifications are reflected in the valuation formula and help reach investment and social policy decisions. These sensitivities are demonstrated via a numerical application that uses parameters drawn from the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice Pay for Success Initiative, the largest pay‐for‐success initiative in the United States at the time of its launch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs the multivariate trend asymmetric GARCH-MIDAS (TAGM) model, an extension of the GARCH-MIDAS model, to explore the potential asymmetric impact of uncertainty shocks, including oil and infectious disease shocks, on the long-term volatility of China's listed tourism firms. Furthermore, we test the out-of-sample forecasting accuracy of uncertainty shocks to China's listed tourism firms' risk, which is measured by the volatility of tourism stocks after the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The results show that uncertainty shocks have a significant asymmetric effect on the long-run volatility of tourism stocks. The included uncertainty shocks improved accuracy in forecasting China's listed tourism firms' risk after the pandemic outbreak. The empirical results have important implications for tourism investment strategies in unstable environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somatic markers have been evidenced as determinant factors in human behavior. In particular, the concepts of somatic reward and punishment have been related to the decision-making process; both reward and somatic punishment represent bodily states with positive or negative sensations, respectively. In this research work, we have designed a mechanism to generate artificial somatic punishments in an autonomous system. An autonomous system is understood as a system capable of performing autonomous behavior and decision making. We incorporated this mechanism within a decision model oriented to support decision making on stock markets. Our model focuses on using artificial somatic punishments as a tool to guide the decisions of an autonomous system. To validate our proposal, we defined an experimental scenario using official data from Standard & Poor's 500 and the Dow Jones index, in which we evaluated the decisions made by the autonomous system based on artificial somatic punishments in a general investment process using 10,000 independent iterations. In the investment process, the autonomous system applied an active investment strategy combined with an artificial somatic index. The results show that this autonomous system presented a higher level of investment decision effectiveness, understood as the achievement of greater wealth over time, as measured by profitability, utility, and Sharpe Ratio indicators, relative to an industry benchmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Property investors operate in environments characterised by market disruptions, which necessitate their adaptation to changing market environments as they make investment decisions. Although several conceptual models have been proposed to explain property investment decision-making, little is known about how property investors make adaptive decisions amidst market disruptions. By leveraging the tenets of institutionalism to frame this study theoretically, the formal and informal rules that guide the conduct of Listed Property Trusts (LPTs) amidst market disruptions were evaluated in two stages. The first stage involved an extensive review of LPTs' annual reports for content that described how they have responded to disruptions over an extended period. Consequently, the content analysis provided the basis for in-depth interviews with decision-makers across LPTs to shed light on the disruption-driven investment decision-making strategies of their respective organisations. The research outcome reveals that the adaptive response of LPTs to disruptions involves rational and intuitive components, with decision-makers switching between rational and intuitive reasoning. This study makes original empirical and theoretical contributions to the property investment literature by not only providing insights that can enable and empower property investors to optimise their decision-making amidst disruption, but by also raising psychological issues that may occur in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ESG ratings have become a central topic in finance amid global initiatives for sustainability. This study examines the relationship between ESG ratings and log returns through Pearson's correlation coefficient, offering a granular analysis across various sectors and pinpointing specific materiality issues as defined by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). The article uncovers empirical evidence that demonstrates a spectrum of negative to positive correlations, which are dependent on the sector in question and the relevant materiality issues. The study delves into the potential repercussions of such correlations, considering the perspectives of both corporations and investors. It underscores how positive correlations might incentivize companies to enhance their ESG ratings, whereas negative correlations could signal to investors considerations to take into account in their investment strategies. The research also illuminates the pivotal role that SASB-defined materiality issues play in refining the understanding of ESG's impact on financial performance, suggesting that a nuanced approach to ESG investment could be beneficial. The study contributes to a deeper comprehension of how ESG factors are a valuable signal with financial outcomes, which could guide future corporate strategies and investment decisions toward sustainable growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We provide empirical evidence showing that for managers with more potential outside employment opportunities, adoption of the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine (IDD) causes them to just 'stay safe' by taking on less risk because of reduced labour mobility. Moreover, managers lower firm risk through reduced R&D intensity, capital expenditure, and more diversifying acquisitions. Consequently, these firms have a lower value after the adoption of the IDD. Overall, we document a novel unintended consequence of the recognition of the IDD, specifically, its effect on firm risk and investment policies for managers with more potential outside employment opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we discuss on the dynamic pricing and investment strategy for fashion products which decay in value, such as fashion clothes. The products are sold by an enterprise under a monopoly market in a finite horizon. Due to the obsolescence of fashion products, their fashion level decreases over time. Obviously, the selling price has a negative effect on demand, while the fashion level has a positive effect. Moreover, we introduce a reference value, which is used to indicate consumers' requirements for fashion level. We assume that investment on products performance or goodwill can reduce consumers' requirements for fashion level, an optimal control model is established. To maximize the enterprise's total profit, we obtain the trajectories of the optimal pricing and investment strategy by utilizing the Pontryagin's maximum principle. The optimal strategy is to gradually lower the selling price and then slightly raise it at the end of the sales period and reduce investment as products become obsolete. Afterwards, we provide a numerical example to illustrate our conclusions. Through the sensitivity analysis of the main parameters, we capture the influence of the parameters on an optimal decision. Moreover, some management implications are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article engages with scholarly debates on the emergence of market logics in family life. By deploying qualitative data from couple interviews in Germany and Spain, we show how the existence of a so-called managerial family is salient among interviewees in both countries. Couples might introduce weekly family planning meetings or follow investment strategies when organizing childcare and housework. Drawing on the theoretical concept of moral economies, the article adds a macro-level institutional perspective to this picture of entrepreneurial family life by linking how couples justify their managerial practices to macro-level moral ideas and the institutional setup in which they live. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from January 2004 through November 2019, we examine the relative performance of four options-based investment strategies versus a buy-and-hold strategy in the underlying stock. Specifically, using 10 stocks widely held in 401(k) plans, we examine monthly returns from strategies that include a long stock position as one component. Ignoring early exercises for simplicity, we find that the covered combination and covered call strategies generally outperform the long stock strategy, which in turn generally outperform the collar and protective put strategies, regardless of the performance measure considered. The outperformance of the covered combination was smallest in the 2015–2019 subperiod. These results also hold for equally-weighted and value-weighted portfolios constructed from the 10 individual stocks. Our findings suggest that options-based strategies can improve the risk-return characteristics of a long equity portfolio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the fundamental properties of the "Buy the dip" (BTD) investment heuristic. Looking into cash holdings versus a stock market exchange‐traded fund, we find that BTD does not necessarily maximize investors' real terminal wealth and is sensitive to market conditions at the beginning year of investment. While under certain conditions, BTD may improve risk‐adjusted performance over a passive investment policy or a classical dollar‐cost averaging approach, its optimality is subject to estimation risk. Given the vast popularity of BTD, our results have important implications for asset managers and retail investors alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's government has launched the innovative city pilot (ICP) policy since 2008 and taken green development as the principle goal of innovative city construction. However, whether or not the ICP policy shapes green development remains largely unknown. Leveraging variation in the timing of the ICP policy implementation across cities, we investigate the causal impact of innovative city construction on green development, as measured by green total-factor productivity (GTFP). Our staggered difference-in-differences (DID) estimator shows that cities which implement the ICP policy experience a 5.3% increase in GTFP. This effect appears one year after the introduction of ICP policy and shows an upward trend over time. Our mechanism analysis further confirms that the ICP policy effect is driven by green innovation effect, which is realized through the support of innovation policy and increased investment in innovation. Finally, substantial heterogeneity is explained by geographic location, environmental constraint, resource endowment, city size and different levels of innovation. Our paper underscores the pivotal role of innovative cities in promoting green development, which warrants nationwide expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of the digital economy, the data element investment strategy decisions and game mechanisms of leaders and followers are crucial issues to be studied. To explore the environment in which digital collaboration between enterprises benefits both parties, this study initially proposes a three-stage game model of leaders and followers based on the sequential game method. Subsequently, we analyze the investment strategy choices for leading and following enterprises across six scenarios within dynamic market environments. Finally, numerical simulations are employed to examine the effect of both strategies on the industry and society as a whole. The simulation shows that (1) The cooperation strategy is a more effective approach for enhancing data-driven innovation performance, but when it comes to mature markets, this strategy may conflict with the interests of followers. (2) Followers can benefit from the cooperation strategy by significantly boosting the growth rate of data elements, but it may cause enterprises to lose their original market scale. (3) Excessively high initial production costs can negatively affect the innovative performance of the industry and social wealth, whereas mature industries can achieve greater industry performance and social welfare through investment in data elements. Considering the environmental characteristics of the digital economy, the findings of this study elucidate the ramifications of innovation strategies on enterprises, industries, and society, providing positive insights for two types of enterprises with different strengths to make apt decisions regarding digital cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal investment theory is the study of how breeding females allocate resources between offspring size and brood size to achieve reproductive success. In classical trade-off models, r/K-selection and bet-hedging selection, the primary predictors of maternal investments in offspring are population density and resource stability. In crowded, stable environments, K-selected females invest in large offspring at an equivalent cost in brood size. In uncrowded, unstable environments, r-selected females invest in large broods at an equivalent cost in offspring size. In unpredictable resource environments, bet-hedging females invest moderately in brood size and offspring size. The maternal risk-management model represents a profound departure from classical trade-off models. Maternal investments in offspring size, brood size, and brood number are shaped independently by autonomous risk factors: the duration of gaps in resources during seasonal cycles, rates of predation, and unpredictable catastrophic events. To date, no single model has risen to a position of preeminence. Here in sharks, we show that maternal investments within and across species do not agree with the predictions of trade-off models and instead agree with the predictions of the maternal risk-management model. Within and across shark species, offspring size and brood size were independent maternal investment strategies. The risk of starvation favored investments in larger offspring. The risk of predation favored investments in larger broods. If empirical studies continue to confirm its predictions, maternal-risk management may yet emerge as a unifying model of diverse reproductive adaptations by means of natural selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) positioning and response to reforms in the European development financing landscape. These reforms aimed to enhance the role of Development Finance Institutions in promoting external investment, threatening the EIB’s privileged access to EU budgetary resources. The EIB responded by creating “EIB Global” and rebranding as the European climate bank. Through framing analysis, this article studies the EIB’s discourse supporting these reforms. It concludes that in striving for institutional survival, the EIB has unintentionally created a situation in which its development and green finance mandates now compete for attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging green hydrogen value chain provides an opportunity to develop joint sustainable strategies between different countries and implement measures to mitigate potential adverse effects. We analyze whether the green hydrogen value chain can aid in meeting the objectives outlined in the 2030 Agenda. The Value Chain Assessment methodology that we developed enables the identification of direct and indirect influences, and the categorization of positive and negative effects, of each segment (production, transportation, and end-use) of the green hydrogen value chain on the 17 SDGs and their 169 targets. We also analyze the associated temporal dimensions and reciprocal interdependences, to clarify the dynamics of the value chain over time and across different geographical scales. We present a strategic framework that can help in fostering the green hydrogen value chain for the implementation of sustainable development. We find that the use of green hydrogen can clearly accelerate progress on the SDGs in the short-term, but adverse effects could arise in the medium- to long-term. The realization of the green hydrogen value chain requires synchronized investments and policies across space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIn this article, we analyze a robust optimal reinsurance and investment problem in a model with default risks and jumps for a general company which holds shares of an insurer and a reinsurer. The insurer’s surplus is characterized by a diffusion model and the insurer has the opportunity to buy proportional reinsurance from the reinsurer. Moreover, the insurer can invest in a risk-free asset (bank account), a risky asset (stock), and a defaultable bond. Meanwhile, the reinsurer can also invest in a risk-free asset and another risky asset. The price dynamics of the risky asset is assumed to follow a jump-diffusion model. What is more, the general company is concerned about the ambiguity and aims to find a robust optimal reinsurance and investment strategy. The objective of the general company is to maximize the minimal expected exponential utility of the weighted sums of the insurer’s and the reinsurer’s terminal wealth. Applying stochastic dynamic programming approach, we first establish the robust HJB (Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman) equations for the post-default case and the pre-default case, respectively. Furthermore, we obtain the robust optimal strategy explicitly and present the corresponding verification theorem. Finally, we give some numerical examples to demonstrate the influences of model parameters on the robust optimal strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]