SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENTS AMONG SAVINGS BANKS AND CREDIT UNIONS: EMPIRICAL FINDINGS IN THE SPANISH CONTEXT

ABSTRACT ** :  This article examines the socially responsible offer of savings banks and credit unions in Spain. In particular, it has been analysed their perceived commitment with socially responsible investments, their product portfolio, their marketing strategy, and their reported forecasts of future growth. The findings lead us to conclude that a socially responsible market in Spain is at an introductory stage among credit unions, and at a growth stage among savings banks. The paper outlines managerial implications for marketing managers so as to reap the potential benefits derived from this approach to investment.     

The multivariate Edgeworth-Sargan density

The Edgeworth-Sargan density has been shown capable of capturing empirical regularities of financial data (thick tails and asymmetries). When compared to other densities used in applied finance, it has the advantage of its analytical simplicity, and the ability to improve data fits by adding more parameters in a natural way. This paper develops an explicit form for the multivariate Edgeworth-Sargan density and compare its performance to the multivariate Students t. The comparison is carried out with daily financial observations, spanning 25 years of data for several financial variables that include stock markets indices and interest and exchange rates for several countries.JEL Classification: C12, G1The author acknowledges Prof. Ignacio Mauleón, PhD supervisor of the dissertation this article is based on, and also to Esther del Brío, Helen Jones and two anonymous referees for their helpful and constructive comments. This paper is financed by the C.I.C.Y.T. under project SEC98-1112 and the J.C.Y.L. under project SA29/99. Responsibility for the contents, as well as possible deficiencies, remains solely with the author.     

Does Social Capital Affect Entrepreneurial Intentions?

Nowadays, the scientific community assigns both social context and entrepreneurs’ behavior as a central role in the growth and development of the world economy. However, the relationships between these two factors have not been sufficiently studied in business and economics. Therefore, in this paper, the specific influence of the new socioeconomic factor of social capital on the formation of entrepreneurial intentions will be analyzed. To test the theoretical hypotheses, an empirical study will be carried out using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique with data from a sample of young undergraduate students in the last year of their degree. This population has been selected because these individuals, according to different studies, show a higher propensity towards firm creation. A previous version of this paper was presented to the 61st International Atlantic Economic Conference held in Berlin (15–19, March 2006).     

Do liquidity and idiosyncratic risk matter? Evidence from the European mutual fund market

This paper examines the interaction of idiosyncratic risk, liquidity and return across time in determining fund performance, as well as across investment style portfolios of European mutual funds. This study utilizes a unique data set including returns for equity mutual funds registered in six European countries. Overall, using monthly data, we find that both liquidity and idiosyncratic risk are relevant in determining mutual fund returns. Our results are robust across different model specifications. We show that model specifications up to six factors are useful as these risk factors capture different aspects in the cross-section of mutual funds returns. The evidence regarding mutual funds subgroups is strongly in favor of the significance of liquidity, and idiosyncratic risk to a lesser extent, as risk factors. Even if liquidity and idiosyncratic risk are considered at the same time, one factor is not significantly decreasing the importance of the other factor.     

On the Robustness of Least-Squares Monte Carlo (LSM) for Pricing American Derivatives

This paper analyses the robustness of Least-Squares Monte Carlo, a technique proposed by Longstaff and Schwartz (2001) for pricing American options. This method is based on least-squares regressions in which the explanatory variables are certain polynomial functions. We analyze the impact of different basis functions on option prices. Numerical results for American put options show that this approach is quite robust to the choice of basis functions. For more complex derivatives, this choice can slightly affect option prices. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Environmental policy and long-term welfare in a tourism economy

A dynamic general equilibrium model of a small open economy specialized in producing tourism services is presented. The tourism package is a bundle of attributes provided by firms, the government and the natural environment. Investment in accommodation increases the number of visitors but also congests public goods and reduces environmental quality. The model is used to determine the conditions for the existence of a long-term double dividend. These conditions depend on both the initial level of environmental quality and the responsiveness of the tourism price to marginal changes in environmental and accommodation quality and congestion of public goods. Support from the Balearic Islands Government (PRIB-2004-10142) and helpful comments from anonymous referees are gratefully thanked.     

Economics research in Spain during the 1990s: a literature review

This paper reviews the results of the literature on the ranking of centers of excellence in economics. There are two objectives: (1) to examine the evolution during the 1990s of certain features of economics research—such as the gap that exists between the US and the rest of the world, the dominant position of the UK within Europe, and the low productivity of economic scholars everywhere—and (2) to document the significant progress that Spanish research institutions have experienced during this period. Results by several broad fields of specialization are summarized here for the first time. This work was carried out under project SEJ2004-01959 financed by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. I would like to thank Eduardo Ley, José Luis Ferreira, and Diego Moreno for their comments, as well as Bruno Cassiman for his editorial work.     

Accounting information quality and trust as determinants of credit granting to SMEs: the role of external audit

This study analyses whether loan officers’ perception of the accounting information quality (AIQ) and the trustworthiness of SMEs are associated with a better willingness to grant them credit. Empirical evidence is obtained from a survey of 471 bank loan officers in Spain, who are asked to answer in relation to audited and not-audited firms. Using a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach, the results obtained confirm that the loan officers’ willingness to facilitate SMEs’ access to credit is positively influenced by their general perception about the AIQ, but only if it is audited. In the case of not-audited firms, AIQ does not play a direct role in credit granting decision, but is relevant in trust formation. Besides, in the case of audited firms, only the “competence” dimension of trust is relevant, whereas in not-audited firms, both “competence” and “honesty” have an impact on credit granting. “Benevolence” does not have an influence in any case. The study has implications for SMEs, banks, policy makers and auditors.     

Optimal size of a residential area within a municipality

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the optimal size of a residential area within a municipality under different market structures. We find that under a private duopoly the optimal size of the residential area depends on the ratio between transportation costs and a negative externality due to congestion. The optimal size is the whole municipality when the ratio is low enough and a small area of the municipality when the ratio is high enough. The transition from a flat residential area to a more compact one is not continuous, so some large-enough residential areas are never optimal. Under a mixed duopoly the transition from a flat residential area to a more compact one is continuous as the ratio increases. By comparing the two cases we find that for intermediate values of this ratio a flat city is optimal for a private duopoly while compact cities emerge under a mixed duopoly.