Is better banking performance associated with financial inclusion and mandated CSR expenditure in a developing country?

Motivated by legislation mandating CSR expenditure to improve social equality and economic development in India, we examine the association of CSR expenditure and financial inclusion with the performance of banking firms in the period after introduction of the legislation. We study whether mandated CSR expenditure and/or financial inclusion measures are associated with better financial performance, using both accounting and stock market measures of performance, for Indian banks during 2015–2017. Our results demonstrate that level of CSR expenditure and degree of financial inclusion is not associated with banks’ financial performance when performance is measured in accounting terms. However, a significant negative association is found when performance is measured by stock market return. These results suggest that the current design of the legislation is unlikely to achieve its purpose. This is the first study to present clear evidence on the associations of mandatory CSR spending and firm‐level financial inclusion with accounting‐based and market‐based bank performance.     

Seeing Borders Through the Lens of Structuration: A Theoretical Framework

Despite a growing body of work, scholars have rarely engaged with the classic divide of structure and agency in border studies. Drawing on theory of structuration by Anthony Giddens, this article proposes a theoretical approach and/or tool that views borders as the result of a continuous production and reproduction of structure(s) and agents. The framework offers an analysis of what makes each border distinct and of the performance of borderwork. The article briefly overviews major theoretical approaches in critical border studies, presents a brief summary of the theory of structuration, discusses the proposed theoretical framework for border studies, and presents a case study based on the recently exchanged Bangladesh-India border enclaves to demonstrate the application of this framework.     

Inspiring employees' ecological behaviors: The roles of corporate environmental strategy,biospheric values,and eco-centric leadership

The consequences of environmental degradation have steered organizations to promote pro-ecological behaviors among their employees, and achieving this effectively is paramount for business and environmental sustainability. Applying a multilevel integrated approach, this study investigates the impact of corporate environmental strategy, biospheric values, and eco-centric leadership on employees' ecological behaviors. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 289 employees from a cross section of industries in Bangladesh. The findings reveal the significant influences of environmental strategy and biospheric values on employees' ecological behaviors as well as the moderating role of eco-centric leadership. The study also provides some significant insights for formulating environmental strategy and inspiring employees' ecological behaviors in organizational contexts. Theoretical and managerial implications as well as future research directions have also been provided.     

Bitcoin—A hype or digital gold? Global evidence

This study explores whether Bitcoin constitutes as a hedging instrument whilst seeking portfolio diversification opportunities among sustainable, conventional and Islamic asset classes since Bitcoin emerges as a distinct alternative investment and asset class across the world. We apply multivariate generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic-dynamic conditional correlation and continuous wavelet transforms based on the recent data set ranging from August 18, 2011, to September 10, 2018. First, our findings show that Bitcoin returns are mean-reverting which implies that its value tends to come down to mean value in the long run and not completely crushed to zero irrespective of price changes suggesting Bitcoin as a sustainable asset class. Second, the time-invariant model shows that Bitcoin offers portfolio diversification opportunities with almost all equity indices, in particular, Dow Jones Islamic followed by FTSE 4 Good index. Finally, the time-variant analysis reconfirms that Bitcoin offers portfolio diversification benefits both in the short and long run. These findings carry meaningful policy considerations for fund managers and cross-country investors.     

House Search Duration in Hot and Cold Residential Markets

This study analyzes the determinants of house search duration of consumption‐driven buyers and individual investors in different housing market environments. We use data from surveys of recent house‐buyers in “hot” and “cold” housing markets in the 2000s housing bubble in California characterized by rising and declining residential house prices, respectively. The average house price and the surveyed geographical area are the same for both periods. Expected house ownership horizon is shown to be an important determinant of the realized search duration in addition to commonly considered housing and buyer characteristics. We find a statistically significant positive effect of it on the time until purchase in both housing price environments for consumption‐driven buyers. We also find that consumption‐driven house purchases were highly pronounced in coastal areas in the hot market and inland areas in the cold market. In contrast, long‐horizon investment activity leads that of consumption activity in those areas. Short‐horizon investors, on the other hand, concentrated their house search activity in inland areas in both housing market environments.     

The long-run impact of Information and Communication Technology on economic output: The case of Australia

This paper investigates the cointegration and causal relationships between Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and economic output in Australia using data for about five decades. The framework used in this paper is the single-sector aggregate production function, which is the first comprehensive approach of this kind to include ICT and non-ICT capital and other factors to examine long-run Granger causality. The empirical evidence points to a cointegration relationship between ICT capital and output, and implies that ICT capital Granger causes economic output and multifactor productivity, as does non-ICT capital.     

TRIBUTE: Trip-based urban transportation emissions model for municipalities

This research aims at developing modeling and scenario-comparison tools to explore the impacts of various transportation and land use planning policies on changing travel behavior and eventually greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A Trip-Based Urban Transportation Emissions (TRIBUTE) model is developed. Data required for TRIBUTE comes from household travel surveys and emissions inventories, which is a major advantage in cases where a detailed transportation network model is unavailable. TRIBUTE is composed of two main parts: a mode choice model and an emissions forecasting model. The mode choice model is responsible for estimating modal shares of alternative modes of travel in response to changes in personal, modal, and land use attributes. The emissions forecasting model translates the modal shares into vehicle kilometers traveled, and subsequently GHG emissions. TRIBUTE is a macroscopic model intended to assist municipalities evaluate alternative transportation and land use policy scenarios and eventually select the one(s) that help them meet their future GHG emission targets. This paper reports on the conceptual framework of the developed model and presents a case study.     

The Canadian tax-free savings account: a programme to help the rich get richer?

This article examines participation in the Canadian tax-free savings account (TFSA), implemented in 2009, and its potential impact on wealth inequality in Canada. Data from the 2012 Survey of Financial Security is used to estimate probit, tobit and Heckman probit selection models to test the hypothesis that high-income earners and wealth holders are the most likely recipients of the benefits associated with the TFSA. Empirical results highlight the significance of net worth as a key determinant of both participation in and contribution levels of the TFSA. The results are expected to be relevant to public policy-makers concerned with reducing inequality and those endeavouring to encourage savings for all socio-economic groups.     

The effects of human capital composition on technological convergence

This paper empirically investigates whether the contribution of human capital to productivity growth depends on the composition of human capital and proximity to the technology frontier in a panel of 87 sample countries over the period 1970–2004. It tests the hypothesis that primary and secondary education is more suitable for imitation whereas tertiary education is more appropriate for innovation. The results show that the growth enhancing effects of higher education increase with proximity to the technology frontier only for high and medium income countries.