Blockchain for tracking serial numbers in money exchanges

Money exchange is one of the most common day‐to‐day activities performed by humans in the daily market. This paper presents an approach to money tracking through a blockchain. The proposed approach consists of three main components: serial number localization, serial number recognition, and a blockchain to store all transactions and ownership transfers. The approach was tested with a total of 110 banknotes of different currency types and achieved an average accuracy of 91.17%. We conducted a user study in real‐time with 21 users, and the mean accuracy across all users was 86.42%. Each user gave us feedback on the proposed approach, and most of them welcomed the idea.     

The High-Value Commodity Export Effects of Standards in Africa

ABSTRACT

The stringency in standards usage, especially in developed markets, has trade effects, particularly for Africa. Thus, this study investigated the export effects of the EU standards for Africa in a two-step, Helpman et al. (2008) model for two high-value commodities. In all, 52 African countries were considered from 1995 to 2012. This study finds that fish standards are trade enhancing at the extensive margins, but not at the intensive margins. However, vegetable standards are trade inhibiting at both the extensive and intensive margins. Thus, these findings suggest that the impacts of standards on exports are commodity-specific.     

Consequences of the Treasury Single Account Policy on the Wealth of Nigerian Commercial Banks’ Shareholders

We examine the impact of the Nigerian government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy to withdraw the funds of Ministries, Departments and Agencies from commercial banks. Following the economic policy uncertainty theory, we use an event study methodology to measure the impact of the TSA policy on the shareholders’ wealth. Our results reveal that the announcements and subsequent final implementation of the TSA policy caused negative abnormal returns and losses on the wealth of the commercial banks’ shareholders. This article contributes to the literature on stock market reaction to policy announcements and the unintended consequences government policy can have in an emerging economy.     

Determinants of Working Capital Requirements in Selected Quoted Companies in Nigeria

In this article, the author investigates the determinants of working capital requirements of 66 firms in Nigeria using panel data for the period 1997–2007. The results suggest that sales growth, firms’ operating cycle, economic activity, size, and permanent working capital are firm specific characteristics that positively drive working capital policy. Leverage, however, is inversely related to working capital requirements. Essentially, the results imply that traditional valuation methods used to quantify the efficiency of corporate working capital policy may be suspect as increased investments in operating working capital may be necessitated by increased business uncertainties. In general, the findings suggest that some of the insights from modern finance theory are potable to Nigeria.     

What is the economic value of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) information disclosure?

We use the United States Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) unilateral release of information on non-tax payments by extractive companies to the US Government as an illustration of the economic value of EITI information. We test for market reaction to the initial disclosure of this information in terms of change in trading volume and abnormal returns, and the value relevance of the continuing disclosure of the information over 2013–2016 period. The results show that the initial release resulted in a significant trading volume reaction and produced positive cumulative abnormal return in the period immediately surrounding the release date. Regression analyses of the cross-sectional variation in abnormal returns show that the reaction is associated with oil and gas firms with high working capital and lower asset turnover. Furthermore, we find that the USEITI information released over the period to 2016 is (at least) weakly value relevant.     

Carbon disclosure,emission intensity and cost of equity capital: multi-country evidence

This study examines the joint effect of carbon disclosure and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on firms’ implied cost of equity capital (COC). Based on 4655 firm-year observations across 34 countries, we find firms’ GHG emission intensity to be positively associated with COC. However, we find also that the penalty linked with higher COC is moderated by extensive carbon disclosure. We provide evidence that the extent of carbon disclosure helps reduce the premium required by investors to compensate for poor carbon performance. Our study provides insights to policymakers, investors and managers on the combined effect of carbon disclosure, and emission intensity.     

Necessarily or Sufficiently Trade-Impeding for Africa?1 The Agri-food Safety Regulations

The dearth of empirical studies on Africa’s food export effects of the food safety regulations in the European Union has really affected evidence-based policies that could stimulate compliance. This study investigates whether the technical regulations necessarily or sufficiently constitute trade-impediment for Africa. This study adopts an augmented Helpman, Melitz and Rubenstein two-step selection model for all the applicable food safety regulations in this market. Three commodities are selected; Banana, Grape and Tomato at the HS-6-digit level covering the period from 1995 to 2016. Owing to the heterogeneity in exporters’ capacity and exporting performance as well as their size structure, this study finds that the food safety regulations are necessarily trade-impeding for the grapes and tomatoes but not for banana at the decision to export stage. However, at the intensity of the commodities’ exporting, the measures become sufficiently trade-enhancing due to quality standards upgrading, compliance and certification of exports.     

Time to completion in the Lagos commercial real estate market: an examination of institutional effects

This study explores how institutions affect the process of investment and the time it takes to buy and sell commercial property in Lagos, Nigeria. We isolate institutional factors that impact transaction efficiency and provide a snapshot of the process with average transaction times for the largest commercial real estate market in the most populous country in Africa. This study adopts a qualitative approach and relies on information collected from semi-structured interviews with 36 senior level individuals active in the Lagos commercial real estate market. Among our findings, we note the commercial real estate transaction process is divided into seven distinct stages and the average time to complete an acquisition across all stages (all property types) is 306 days. Title registration/perfection stage takes the longest time (around 132 days) and represents a significant risk to investors. We argue this is a consequence of imperfections in the formal institutions of title registration.     

Vulnerability of motorcycle riders and co-riders to injuries in multi-occupant crashes

In developing countries, most motorcycles are ridden with more than one occupant. The objective of this study was to establish the relative vulnerability of riders and co-riders to injury and determine the injury risk factors in multi-occupant motorcycle crashes. Between January and December 2010, we collected crash and injury data from victims of multi-occupant motorcycle. It is a hospital-based study. The probability of sustaining injuries was similar for co-riders and riders, but co-riders were more likely to sustain severe injuries. Occupants of >2-occupant motorcycles were also more likely to be involved in risky behaviours like not wearing helmet and speeding than those on 2-occupant motorcycles. Occupants of motorcycles on which there were more than two occupants were at an increased risk of sustaining injuries compared with occupants of motorcycles with only two occupants (OR: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.1–4.3). Motorcycle co-riders were more vulnerable to severe injuries than riders. The significance of the study finding to prevention was discussed.