A publication titled “Being nice to stakeholders: The effect of economic policy uncertainty on corporate social responsibility“ on Economic Modelling by George Wu and co-authors in March 2022

Abstract

Economic policy uncertainty (EPU) is an important source of risk and affects various firm decisions and the macro economy. However, existing studies provide no consensus on the effect of EPU on corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement. In this paper, we investigate the impact of EPU on firms’ CSR engagement based on a sample of Chinese listed firms between 2008 and 2015. We find a significant positive relationship between EPU and a firm’s CSR engagement. A plausible mechanism is offered in support of the ‘sending signal hypothesis’ that firms tend to adopt more CSR engagement during periods of higher uncertainty, as it is a positive signal to their stakeholders. In addition, our results are more significant for firms loosing political connection unexpectedly, firms in regions with low social trust, firms with high profitability ability, and firms in political sensitive industries, which further validate the sending signal mechanism.

A publication titled “Asymmetric relationship between green bonds and commodities: Evidence from extreme quantile approach” on Finance Research Letters by Thi Thu Ha Nguyen and co-authors in November 2021

Abstract

The paper documents the asymmetric relationship between green bonds and commodities via the cross-quantilogram approach. Given the heterogeneity nature of individual commodities, we employ three commodity key groups, including energy, metals, and agriculture. As expected, the empirical evidence highlights the asymmetric behaviors of green bonds in response to diverse groups of commodities. Further, the hedging and diversification benefit of including green bonds to commodity portfolio is revealed. Defined by the uncorrelation or negative correlation with commodities in the periods of high volatility, we found the strongest hedging benefit of green bonds against the fluctuation of natural gas, some industrial metals, and agricultural commodities. While these underlying features are persistent in the long run, it is recommended to utilize the use of green bonds in the longer term (22 days) for higher portfolio performance rather than the short term (1 to 5 days).

A publication titled “Do climate risks matter for green investment?” on Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money by Ben Marshall, Harvey Nguyen, Nuttawat Visaltanachoti, Martin Young and co-authors in November 2021

Abstract

We consider the degree to which climate disasters influence investor behavior. Using data on events such as hurricanes and floods, we show that disasters prompt investors to pay more attention to socially responsible investing and invest more in mutual funds with an environmental focus. Consistent with a salience explanation, this effect is more pronounced for disasters that attract the most attention. The funds receiving the increased inflows do not have higher risk-adjusted returns before climate disasters, so there is no evidence to support a return-chasing explanation. Moreover, investors do not gain excess returns from their climate disaster-induced investment decisions.

A publication titled “The effect of corporate sustainability performance on leverage adjustments” on British Accounting Review by Yafeng Qin and co-authors in September 2021

Abstract

We examine the impact of corporate sustainability performance (CSP) on the speed at which firms adjust their leverage ratios to the target levels for a large sample of 31 countries from 2002 to 2018. Using two proxies of CSP, we find that firms with superior CSP tend to adjust faster toward their target leverage ratios. In exploring the potential underlying economic mechanisms through which CSP affects leverage adjustments, we find that better CSP helps firms to ease information asymmetry, enhance stakeholder engagement, push up stock prices in the stock market, and improve competitive advantage in the product market. In the cross section, the positive association between CSP and leverage adjustment speed is less pronounced in countries with high-quality institutions. The results remain unchanged in robustness tests. Overall, this paper highlights the important role of CSP in shaping corporate capital structure dynamics and suggests implications for corporate strategic planning on the privately optimal levels of CSP activities.

A publication titled “Time-frequency comovement among green bonds, stocks, commodities, clean energy, and conventional bonds” on Finance Research Letters by Thi Thu Ha Nguyen, Faruk Balli, Hatice Ozer Balli and co-authors in May 2021

Abstract

The paper examines the inter-relationship between green bonds and other asset markets, including stocks, commodities, clean energy, and conventional bonds over 11 years from 2008 to 2019. The dynamic features of correlation across asset pairs over time and in different frequencies are assessed through the rolling window wavelet correlation approach. We find strong evidence that most correlation emerged and reached a peak in the aftermath of GFC 2007-2009. While comovement among stocks, commodities, and clean energy is found relatively high, the diversification benefit of green bonds is significantly revealed due to its low or negative correlation with stocks and commodities.

A publication titled “Does weather, or energy prices, affect carbon prices?” on Energy Economics by Martin Young and co-authors in April 2021

Abstract

This study investigates the extent that key energy prices (coal, gas, oil and electricity) and weather explain carbon prices, a key feature of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), and whether this relationship changed since full auctioning came into effect in 2013. Energy prices were found to impact the carbon price in phase III of the EU ETS. However, modelling based solely on energy prices explained only 12% of carbon price variation. Weather variables did not affect the carbon price except for unanticipated temperature changes. These results indicate that it is not the level of temperature that impacts the carbon price, rather it is unanticipated changes in temperature that matter. Given that climate change is associated with increased variance in temperature, this result is consistent with climate change resulting in greater carbon price volatility and higher hedging costs.

A publication titled “Electricity market integration, decarbonisation and security of supply: Dynamic volatility connectedness in the Irish and Great Britain markets” on Energy Economics by Hung Do and co-authors in October 2020

Abstract

This study investigates the volatility connectedness between the Irish and Great Britain electricity markets and how it is driven by changes in energy policy, institutional structures and political ideologies. We assess various aspects of this volatility connectedness including static (unconditional) vs dynamic (conditional), symmetric vs asymmetric characteristics between 2009 and 2018. We find that the volatility connectedness is time-varying and it is significantly affected by important events, policy reforms or market re-designs such as Brexit, oil price slump, an increasing share of renewables, and fluctuations in the exchange rates. Our asymmetric analysis shows that magnitude of the good volatility connectedness is marginally larger than that of the bad volatility connectedness. Our result suggests that good volatility levels would be even higher once the Irish market adopts the carbon price floor. Therefore, supporting renewable generation by setting an appropriate price of carbon in interconnected wholesale electricity markets will improve market integration.

A publication titled “Exploiting the heteroskedasticity in measurement error to improve volatility predictions in oil and biofuel feedstock markets” on Energy Economics by Hung Do and co-authors in February 2020

Abstract

We examine whether heteroskedasticity in measurement errors improves the volatility forecasting ability of the Heterogenous Autoregressive (HAR) model in crude oil and biofuel feedstock markets. We also examine the incremental explanatory power of jumps and the investor fear gauge (IFG) over heteroskedasticity in measurement errors in improving the volatility forecasting ability of the HAR model in each of these markets. For the in-sample evaluation, we find that exploiting the heteroskedasticity of measurement errors in the HAR model improves the model’s goodness of fit (measured by adjusted R²) by up to 10% depending on the market. IFG has a significant incremental role over heteroskedasticity in measurement errors in improving the fit of the HAR model in both the crude oil and biofuel feedstock markets, while jumps have a significant incremental role in improving the fit of the HAR model in the crude oil market, but not the biofuel feedstock markets. For the out-of-sample forecasts, including regime switching improves volatility predictions in the corn and wheat markets across all forecasting horizons, while for the soybean market, including regime switching improves the performance of multi-step volatility forecasts. In the out-of-sample forecasts the best ranked models almost always include heteroskedasticity of measurement error and IFG.

A publication titled “The geography of CSR” on International Review of Economics & Finance by Jeff Wongchoti and co-authors in January 2019

Abstract

We regress socio-economic indicators against firm level CSR scores using a sample of over 26,000 firm year observations from 1991 through 2009. We find that a firm’s CSR profile is linked to the socio-economic conditions of the firm’s geographic headquarters (HQ) location. The study documents that the legal, cultural, economic, and demographic differences across geography significantly explain the variation in CSR means between metropolitan statistical areas, states, and regions. We also find that the relation between CSR and firm performance is conditional on socio-economic factors, which highlight the endogeneity concerns inherent in CSR studies. Lastly, we show that firms that cluster along a CSR continuum experience an increase in firm value.

A publication titled “Impact of gender and governance on microfinance efficiency” on Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money by Hatice Ozer Balli and co-authors in March 2018

Abstract

This study examines the efficiency of South Asian microfinance institutions (MFIs) using Data Envelopment Analysis. Bias corrected efficiency estimates for the individual MFIs are regressed on a set of explanatory variables (including governance and gender) employing the double bootstrap truncated regression approach (Simar and Wilson, 2007) and panel data regression. First stage results suggest that South Asian MFIs are more financially efficient than socially efficient. More precisely, we find that these MFIs are technically inefficient but scale efficient, and that there was some improvement in financial efficiency over time. The relatively low average efficiency scores show that there is quite a bit of variation in microfinance efficiency. Second stage regression reveals that female loan officers are positive determinants of MFIs’ efficiency. We find a strong association between a MFI’s governance and its financial and social efficiency.