Do ESG ratings promote corporate green innovation? A quasi-natural experiment based on SynTao Green Finance's ESG ratings

Corporate efforts in green technology improvements are critical for enhancing sustainability; consequently, how to promote green innovation has attracted scholarly attention. This study explores whether and how environment, social, and governance (ESG) ratings influence corporate green innovation by using an independent third-party rating agency's (SynTao Green Finance) ESG ratings in China as a quasi-natural experiment. We find companies covered by the ESG rating agency significantly increase green innovation output by 3.9%, mainly as an increase in green invention patents. ESG ratings' positive effects on green innovation are more pronounced for firms whose investors are less short-sighted, non-state-owned enterprises and firms with higher degree of financial constraints. Additionally, we find ESG ratings' impact can also increase the green innovation quality and synergetic green innovation. Thus, ESG ratings from third-party institutions can effectively increase corporate green innovation, which has important implications for companies to achieve green transformation and for emerging markets to improve ESG rating systems.     

What drives the growth of shadow banks? Evidence from emerging markets

The present study analyses the factors affecting the growth of Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFI) and finance companies in 11 emerging market economies (EMEs) that the FSB monitors. Using data for the period 2002 to 2019 and employing the panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) method, the results indicate that the growth of banks, search for yield, demand from institutional investors, and bank regulations are the key factors affecting the growth of NBFI.Further, the study highlights the impact of different types of bank regulations on the NBFI growth in EMEs. While the capital regulations tend to restrict their growth, activity restrictions and restrictions for financial conglomerates boost NBFI growth. Thus, stringent bank regulations create arbitrage opportunities for non-banks.     

Do rival political parties enforce government efficiency? Evidence from Canada 1867–2021

This paper investigates the role of inter-party rivalry in enhancing federal government efficiency in post-Confederation Canada. It tests and finds confirmation in the data for two hypotheses. The first is that the ex post size of the first versus second seat share margin is a useful metric for the ineffectiveness of political parties in policing the incumbent's spending behaviour over its period of tenure. The second is the hypothesis that shirking by the incumbent governing party is decreased by greater expected electoral contestability and expected contestability is related to the effective number of competing parties (ENPSeats) nonmonotonically. In this regard the results suggest that contestability in Canada reaches a maximum when the incumbent faces a value of ENPSeats that is closer to 2.5 than Duverger's 2.     

Firm-level political risk and earnings opacity

Given the recent growing global uncertainties, firms have encountered increasing political risks and responded accordingly to avoid a negative impact on their performance. This study examines the impact of firm-level political risk on corporate earnings opacity among listed U.S. firms. Our empirical results reveal that higher firm-level political risk engenders greater corporate earnings opacity via three channels of market scrutiny, political proximity, and multiple business objectives. Further analyses show that politically risky firms are more prudent in earnings management when they are highly dependent on government spending. The results hold after a wide range of robustness tests. Our findings provide several implications for the management of earnings quality in response to increasing firm-level political risk in the U.S.     

基于卫星遥感监测的石家庄市近地面PM2.5浓度时空动态分析

为了掌握石家庄市区域PM_2.5浓度的空间分布情况及其时间变化规律，更好地向大气污染治理及环境行政执法部门提供技术支持，利用卫星遥感数据开展了区域颗粒物浓度时空动态分析研究。基于Himawari-8卫星遥感数据，通过建立时空回归模型反演PM_2.5浓度，并对所得到的石家庄市2019年近地面PM_2.5的浓度，进行了时间和空间的动态分析。结果表明：1）从时间上来看，2019年PM_2.5月度变化基本呈两边高中间低的态势，取暖季月均浓度明显高于其他月份，且相对于2018年监测浓度有所上升；2）从空间来看，2019 年PM_2.5平均浓度呈现西低东高的形势，且东部各个县区高浓度“热点”聚集程度明显高于西部县区，但热点聚集性从第一季度到第四季度呈现出逐渐转弱的现象；3）遥感监测与地面监测的PM_2.5浓度相关性系数在0.7以上，验证了基于遥感反演进行PM_2.5浓度监测的可行性。因此，采用遥感手段对大气环境进行监测，可以全面获取区域大气环境的时空分布特征，并能够协助环保人员有针对性地核查与防范污染事件，具有较大的应用潜力。     

Bank provision reversals and income smoothing: A case study

Incentives for banks to achieve income targets have previously been identified as a strong motivation for income smoothing (IS). Extant literature captures bank IS indirectly via discretionary provision estimations. In turn, our study directly locates IS through loan loss provision reversals. Drawing from bounded rationality perspectives, we investigate a systemic European Bank from January 2006 to September 2017, with 15,931 unique loan portfolio-quarter observations, employing a frequency and machine learning analysis. Our empirical investigation reveals both the main incentives underlying provision reversals recognition and the reported income consequences of such reversals, in times of recession. In particular, we find that provision reversals are principally used to avoid negative reported income (i.e., net losses). There is also some evidence that provision reversals are used to avoid income decline compared to the previous quarter. Finally, we show an asymmetric pattern of provision reversals over time with an emphasis on the early recession years. Our study contributes to the efforts of policy makers (both banking and accounting regulators) to reduce opportunistic, income-increasing actions by bank executives in difficult times.     

Understanding pre-teen consumers social media engagement

Social media (SM) platforms are frequently used by pre-teen (8–12-year old) consumers for curating their self-identity, developing social relationships and for learning. This paper identifies the building blocks that drive pre-teen SM engagement. We use the Gioia method to analyse interview data collected from 32 pre-teens and parents, in France. Findings show that the primary building blocks are FoMO (Fear of Missing Out) and social inclusive experience, being noticed online, multiplicity, excessive use (without guidelines) and self-regulation. Identity constructs (self-identity and social-identity) are used to explain SM engagement – and to empirically define core conceptual building blocks (aggregate dimensions) that drive SM engagement. We contribute to consumer theory by developing a holistic research framework to examine pre-teen SM engagement. Self-identity and social-identity theories help explain the factors that drive pre-teen SM engagement and explain push/pull influences of parents and schools in encouraging or discouraging certain behaviour. We build on current research into SM usage, drawing from the fragmented existing literature, to reveal causes of both excessive screen-time and SM usage among pre-teen consumers, which may indicate antecedents of future adult behaviour. Practical and regulatory policy issues are considered and addressed.     

The evolution of financial reporting quality for companies listed on the Tadawul Stock Exchange in Saudi Arabia: New emerging markets' evidence

Motivated by the Saudi Arabian government's objective to diversify its economy away from oil and correct deficiencies associated with the Saudi stock market crash of 2006, a series of significant capital market infrastructure reforms were initiated that began with the 2007 reorganization of the Tadawul Stock Exchange (TSE) and the Capital Market Authority (CMA) as its sole regulator. This paper adds to the growing body of emerging market literature by providing new evidence of the effects of these initiatives on earnings quality for firms listed on the TSE. The results of tests of this study provide robust evidence that earnings quality increased during the 2007 to 2018 reform period. In particular, we document that relative to pre – reform years, reform period R squares, earnings response coefficients (ERCs) increased and discretionary accruals decreased. We rationalize these findings by asserting that improved regulatory oversight in juxtaposition with significant reform period investments into Saudi Arabia's capital markets infrastructure enhanced earnings quality (Jiambalvo et al., 2002; Latif et al., 2017; Zhong et al., 2017).     

Managing socio-political risk at the subnational level: Lessons from MNE subsidiaries in Indonesia

Within emerging markets, institutional conditions vary significantly at both the country and subnational levels. Although the extant literature recognises the types of risk faced by multinational enterprises (MNEs) in emerging markets, it has hitherto paid scarce attention to explaining how MNEs manage such risk at the subnational level. Reporting on four case studies from Indonesia, we outline how MNEs ensure their success by maintaining active relationships with a variety of non-market actors—including opinion leaders, government officials, and communities at the subnational level. In our study, we developed a conceptual framework, showcasing how MNEs can manage socio-political risk within heterogeneous institutional settings.     

Less timely earnings announcements and voluntary disclosure

The release of earnings information has become less timely in recent years partly because firms increasingly disclose earnings concurrently with their periodic reports (e.g., 10-Ks, 10-Qs). We examine whether firms use voluntary disclosure to mitigate the negative economic consequences of less timely earnings announcements (EAs). We find that firms with less timely EAs are more likely to provide voluntary 8-K filings over the period leading to the EA. We also find that investors’ demand for timely information, the nature of earnings news and litigation risk affect the extent to which firms provide voluntary disclosure to compensate for less timely EAs. The negative effect of less timely EAs on information asymmetry is attenuated when firms provide voluntary 8-K filings prior to EAs. Overall, our findings suggest that firms voluntarily communicate with investors using voluntary disclosure when their EAs are less timely.