A model of green bank marketing

In the light of current market conditions, the financial services industry has been reshaped, requiring new marketing knowledge to provide guidelines for successful practice. To that end, corporate social responsibility, green marketing and a green brand image (GBI) have attracted considerable interest in the banking sector, although no framework has yet been established relating these constructs to one another. In this article, the authors present exploratory research as a basis for developing a model of green bank marketing. The model was tested to confirm the dimensions of green bank marketing and investigate its impact on a GBI, thus providing statistical evidence of the relationship between the two variables.     

Sources of TFP growth in a framework of convergence-evidence from Greece

The main hypothesis tested in the paper is whether technology is a conduit of productivity growth for a country that falls behind the frontier. Although the current analysis focuses on a country growth narrative, the evidence represents a pair of countries (i.e. Greece and Germany) that admittedly form the periphery and the core of Europe. The first lesson taken from the study is that for more than two decades the speed of productivity adjustment was rather low in Greece, underlying a number of unobserved rigidities that exist both at the industry and the institutional level. Even though the speed of technology transfer is low, the adoption of foreign technology remains an important source of productivity growth. Other key findings are that productivity gains from trade exist but their full realization requires a substantial time lag. Additionally, the degree of trade openness improves absorptive capacity, confirming the dual role of trade as recently stressed in the productivity literature. R&D activity is another productivity growth contributor but only through higher rates of innovation.     

A Bayesian approach to detecting nonlinear risk exposures in hedge fund strategies

This paper proposes a model that allows for nonlinear risk exposures of hedge funds to various risk factors. We introduce a flexible threshold regression model and develop a Bayesian approach for model selection and estimation of the thresholds and their unknown number. In particular, we present a computationally flexible Markov chain Monte Carlo stochastic search algorithm which identifies relevant risk factors and/or threshold values. Our analysis of several hedge fund returns reveals that different strategies exhibit nonlinear relations to different risk factors, and that the proposed threshold regression model improves our ability to evaluate hedge fund performance.     

Shell games: On the value of shell companies

A reverse merger allows a private company to assume the current reporting status of another company that is public. This can be done quickly, without fundraising, road show, underwriter, substantial ownership dilution, or great expense. Private firms that go public via reverse merger are often motivated by the need to quickly secure financing through privately placed stock (PIPEs) and the desire to make acquisitions using stock as payment. In each of the last eight years reverse mergers have outnumbered traditional IPOs as a mechanism for going public, and reporting shell companies are providing fuel for much of this growth. We study 585 trading shell companies over the period 2006-2008. The purpose of most of these shell firms is to find a suitor for a reverse merger agreement. These companies have no systematic risk, operations, or assets, and their share price tends to decline over time. Yet, these firms have investors. When a takeover agreement is consummated, shell company three-month abnormal returns are 48.1%. We argue that this exceptional return is compensation to investors for shell stock illiquidity and the uncertainty of finding a reverse merger suitor. We show that shell company returns are much greater at the consummation of a merger than those of a similar entity that in dollar terms is more popular among investors — Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs).     

Financial Deepening and Economic Growth Linkages: A Panel Data Analysis

The paper examines whether a long-run relationship between financial development and economic growth exists employing panel integration and cointegration techniques for a dynamic heterogeneous panel of 15 OECD and 50 non-OECD countries over the period 1975–2000. Three different measures of financial deepening are used to capture the variety of different channels through which financial development can affect growth. Our findings support the existence of a single long-run equilibrium relation between financial deepening, economic growth and a set of control variables. Further, the evidence points to a bi-directional causality between financial deepening and growth. JEL no. O11, O16, C33     

The Neoliberal Framework of EU Urban Policy in Action: Supporting Competitiveness and Reaping Disparities

This paper concerns the gradual proliferation of the neoliberal rationale in European Union urban policies towards a specific mode of competitiveness-oriented 'policy networking'. Empirical research on the policy network of the EU URBAN Initiative in Portugal and Greece illustrates the ineffectiveness of the current approach in acknowledging the socio-economic and political specificities that influence development prospects in lagging cities. The Commission's proposals on the reform of the Funds (2007-13) suggest the incorporation of EU urban programmes in the mainstream spatial policies framework. The rationale, however, remains unchanged. The context-free emphasis put in these proposals on the 'competitiveness' target mitigates the 'cohesion' objective and risks perpetuating uneven urban development trends.     

Who has two jobs and why? Evidence from rural coastal communities in west Scotland

This article examines the incidence of and reasons for multiple‐job holding in the context of rural communities where multiple‐job holding is viewed as an important means of promoting community sustainability. Drawing upon a unique data set of a relatively homogeneous population living in an isolated area on the west coast of Scotland, where employment opportunities are limited, dual‐job holding is investigated within the fisheries and aquaculture occupations. Evidence is found that the hours constraints motive for multiple‐job holding better explains multiple‐job‐holding behavior among employed rural workers in aquaculture than among self‐employed fishermen, and that educational attainment has a positive impact on the incidence of multiple‐job holding.     

Sibling rivalry: implications for the family business succession process

This paper deals with sibling rivalry dynamics and their impact on the succession outcome within family enterprises. While sibling rivalry plays a critical role in the succession process, there is only limited literature that addresses this important subject. This theoretical study reveals valuable insights on this topic and contributes to the existing literature. Particular attention is placed on parental behavior and attitude during childhood, sibling characteristics and the perception of parental fairness by the successors, which we advocate are the principal factors conducive not only to the emergence of rivalry among heirs but also to influencing the effectiveness of the succession outcome.     

The Effects of Corporate Social Performance on the Cost of Corporate Debt and Credit Ratings

This study investigates the differential impact that various dimensions of corporate social performance have on the pricing of corporate debt as well as the assessment of the credit quality of specific bond issues. The empirical analysis, based on an extensive longitudinal data set, suggests that overall, good performance is rewarded and corporate social transgressions are penalized through lower and higher corporate bond yield spreads, respectively. Similar conclusions can be drawn when focusing on either the bond rating assigned to a specific debt issue or the probability of it being considered to be an asset of speculative grade.