Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Behavioral Change and Cognitive Ability in Repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma Game Experiments

The literature has profusely acknowledged the significant impact of cognitive ability on the economic decision-making. We employ non-student participants and examine whether cognitive ability affects cooperative behavior in repeated prisoner's dilemma (PD) experiments. <br><br>The results show that, compared to those with low cognitive ability (low score group, LSG), those with high cognitive ability (high score group, HSG) (1) cooperate more in the infinitely repeated condition than in the finitely repeated condition, (2) cooperate more as the expected number of stage games in a round increases in the infinitely repeated condition, and (3) do not, however, cooperate more as the number of stage games in a round increases in the finitely repeated condition.Thus, the HSG changes their behavior according to the situation. <br><br>The behavior of the LSG seems to remain unchanged; a cooperation rate remains unchanged among conditions. However, the strategy frequency estimation in the infinitely repeated condition reveals the behavioral differences between the HSG and LSG. As the expected number of stage games increases, (1) the HSG employs cooperative strategies much more than the LSG and (2) the share of defective ones employed by the HSG dramatically decreases while the share employed by the LSG slightly decreases. These two findings suggest that the LSG also changes their strategy according to the conditions but they had difficulty cooperating.
Foreign Investors and Stock Price Crash Risk Behavior in Vietnam Stock Market

Examining stock price crash risk in emerging economies is important since emerging equity markets are characterized by excessive volatility and weak corporate governance. This paper investigates the relationship between foreign ownership and crash risk using a data sample of firms listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange over the period 2007-2015. Employing a number of econometric techniques for panel data analysis, the paper shows that foreign investors is positively associated with future stock price crash risk. This finding highlights the critical problem of information asymmetry in emerging markets. This paper has strong implications for portfolio investment and risk management. The paper also relevant for financial market supervisory body in maintaining a safe and sound financial markets.
Impact of Brand Image, Service Quality and Trust on Customer Loyalty, Moderating Effect of Perceived Price Fairness and the Mediating Effect of Customer Satisfaction: Case Study on Telecommunication Sector of Pakistan

The aim of this study is to investigate the Impact of Brand Image, Service Quality and Trust on Customer Loyalty, Moderating Effect of Perceived Price Fairness and the Mediating Effect of Customer Satisfaction on telecommunication sector of Pakistan. This research is helpful to capture and retain the satisfied and loyal customer and it is useful to identify the factors through which telecommunication sector may improve its performance. The survey research design method was used in this study. It involves a questionnaire for the collection of data from the respondents. Convenience-based Sampling was used in this research data was collected with the help of a questionnaire from 250 customers in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan (Warid, Zong, Mobilink, and Ufone Telenor). Correlation analysis was conducted utilizing SPSS to analyze the data. It is revealed that the correlation between customer loyalty and three independent factors that are quality service, brand image, and trust is very strong and mediator customer satisfaction in this relationship had an effect on customer loyalty. There exists a strong relationship between three dimensions of independent variables and the dependent; we can say that there is a strong effect of a mediator and moderator on these relationships. There is also a very strong correlation between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction.
The Influence of Utaut on ERP Systems in Start-Up Business

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) on the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system on Intention Behavior at start up business. The research method is quantitative with the type of case study research. Based on the results of the analysis, the authors found that of all UTAUT variables studied, only Social Influence was not significant and other variables such as Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Facilitating Conditions and Significant Use Behavior. It was concluded that the use of the ERP system in startup business supports User needs.
The Effect of Task Choice and Task Assignment on the Gender Earnings Gap: An Experimental Study

Abstract Previous studies explain the gender earnings gap by gender differences in choosing competitive and higher-paying jobs. However, little is known about whether and how women’s earnings are affected when they choose more challenging jobs. In this study, we use a novel identification strategy to investigate 1) how the gender earnings gap arises from individuals’ self-selecting into different tasks and 2) whether mobilizing women to work on the tasks typically preferred by men increases women’s earnings and decreases the earnings gap. Our results show that men who prefer the hard and higher-paid task are more likely to obtain higher earnings regardless of the task they are assigned. In contrast, we find that women obtain higher earnings when they work on a hard and higher-paid task even if their initial take choice is the easy and lower-paid one. Our findings are consistent and robust across task stereotypes. Our results imply that mobilizing women to work on more challenging and rewarding tasks is likely to reduce the gender earnings gap.
Broadcast Media and Asset Prices: The Effect of an Anti-Corruption Message in China

Does entertainment broadcast media affect equity stock prices? We exploit an exogenous event to identify such media effects, namely, the broadcasting in China of the highly popular TV drama ‘In the Name of People’ on March 28th, 2017. The TV show contained a robust State-approved anti-corruption message and is expected to alter investor perceptions. We find that stock prices fall in reaction to the broadcast. Importantly, the negative effect on asset prices is higher in magnitude for firms with political connections. Also, privately-owned politically connected firms exhibit more substantial adverse price effects compared to state-owned firms. The reduction in investors’ valuation of politically connected firms persists over the long run. Our empirical findings support the notion that traditional mass-media (i.e., TV) modifies the information set of investors and has significant educational value. In our case, an anti-corruption TV drama raises investors’ awareness of the potentially high costs of a firm’s political connections when the State is actively pursuing an anti-corruption strategy.
Do Social Capital Affect In-Role and Extra-Role Consumer Behavior in Pakistan: The Mediatory Role of Consumer-Company Identification and Brand Image

Consumers are no longer merely passive recipients of brand-related information, but rather, act as dynamic participants and co-creators of value, and of brand meaning. Hence the success of a brand is linked in its social capital making social capital and consumer behavior mutually reinforcing. The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of social capital on consumer attitudinal evaluations. We propose a theoretical framework thereby applying Sun &amp; Lii (2018) mediation framework because of social capital. We hypothesized that social capital would enhance the brand image as well as consumer-company identification, these would in turn make favorable in-role and extra-role consumer Behavior towards the brand. Empirical validity was established by conducting a survey using a close-ended questionnaire. Data was collected from 425 respondents mainly students from Karachi and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structured equation modeling. The results showed that social capital had a positive and significant relationship with consumer Extra role behavior, as well as with two mediators i.e. brand image and consumer company identification. Moreover, both mediators also have a significant impact on both in-role and extra-role behavior. However, the direct effect of social capital on in-role behavior is not substantiated. This research would help companies in gaining a competitive edge by giving a little more focus on social capital in order to enhance the image of their brands as well as their relationship with their customers.
UK Pension Fund Management: How is Asset Allocation Influenced by the Valuation of Liabilities?

A single valuation basis (using market values) now dominates the valuation of pension scheme assets and has replaced the previously dominant actuarial and accounting bases. <br><br>The same cannot be said for pension scheme liabilities. There are three different valuation bases for liabilities currently in use: a statutory basis (specified in the 1986 Finance Act), an actuarial basis (the Minimum Funding Requirement, specified in the 1995 Pensions Act) and an accounting basis (specified in Financial Reporting Standard 17). Since each of these uses different underlying assumptions, the three bases are not consistent with each other and produce substantially different measures of pension scheme liabilities. None of these measures corresponds to an economic valuation. Moves should be made to develop a single valuation basis for pension liabilities. <br><br>A key difference relates to the discount rate used to calculate the present value of future pension payments. The Accounting Standards Board’s new FRS17 and the recent MFR Review conducted by the Faculty and Institute of Actuaries have both proposed a bond-based discount rate. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this is pushing pension fund asset allocations towards bonds in an attempt to reduce the short-term volatility mismatch between assets and liabilities. Moves should be made to ensure that the valuation basis for pension liabilities does not distort pension fund asset allocations. <br><br>As a consequence, asset allocations are being pulled away from the asset classes most suitable for the long-term asset allocation of pension funds, namely equities and property. This raises the long-term cost to the sponsor of delivering defined benefit pensions, further encouraging the switch to defined contribution schemes. <br><br>Various insurance-based mechanisms have recently been proposed in the event of scheme insolvency, namely a central discontinuance fund and mutual or commercial insurance. Experience from the US suggests that moral hazard risks are such that commercial insurance might provide the best chance of reflecting accurately the insolvency risk associated with a scheme’s particular funding stance should the MFR be replaced.
Assessment of nitrification-denitrification potential of istanbul domestic wastewaters

This paper summarizes experimental evaluations on Istanbul domestic wastewaters with respect to their potential of biological nitrogen removal. Characterization studies involve together with relevant carbonaceous and nitrogenous wastewater components, significant rate coefficients affecting aerobic and anoxic processes. Experimental results indicate a low biodegradable carbon to nitrogen ratio and a relatively small readily biodegradable COD fraction. A new method is introduced to determine maximum specific growth rate for autotrophic biomass. Correction factors for biological growth and hydrolysis under anoxic conditions are also assessed. The latter is found to be significantly higher than values proposed in the literature.
Ownership Dispersion and Liquidity: Evidence from Thailand

This paper examines the relationship between ownership dispersion and stock liquidity of Thai listed companies over the period 2011-2015. The results indicate narrower bid-ask spreads, lower Amihud’s illiquidity ratio, and higher liquidity ratio when firms have higher free float or larger number of shareholders. Thus, the findings reveal that ownership dispersion has a positive effect on liquidity. The same results are obtained when the data is estimated by the Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) to control endogeneity problem. The findings have important implications for policymakers and managers to enhance stock liquidity through increased ownership dispersion.
The Role of Creditor Protection in Lending and Tax Avoidance

Abstract We examine how creditor rights affect the trade-off between non-debt and debt tax shields. Using four bankruptcy reforms and a panel of private and public firms from Italy, we show that laws empowering creditors reduce tax avoidance and increase debt financing, consistent with firms substituting non-debt tax shields with debt tax shields. We corroborate the validity of our findings using a panel of public firms across 33 countries. Additionally, we document that the impact of creditor protection laws is mitigated by tax system characteristics, which significantly reduce the incentives to substitute tax avoidance with debt.
Determinants of Corporate Investment Decision: Evidence from Pakistan

This paper analyzed the trends in corporate finance in Pakistan and uses a panel data model for empirically identifying the factors which influence corporate investment decisions, during the period 2014-18. The findings revealed that firm-level factors such as cash flow, fixed capital intensity, leverage, and firm size are significant in determining corporate investment decisions. At the macro level, the cost of borrowing and the effective tax rate is significant in influencing corporate investment decisions negatively. The results of the study generally contribute to the existing literature on the impact of macroeconomic variables and certain firm-level factors on corporate investment decisions. The main value of this paper is to consider a broad-based approach to analyzing the determinants of corporate investment decisions from developing market context.
The Efficiency of US Community Banks

Using a novel method to separate US community banks over the 1984-2013 period from their non-community counterparts we compare the two bank types on the basis of cost efficiency. We decompose cost efficiency into a persistent and a residual component; the former capturing the market structure and regulatory changes, the latter reflecting managerial performance. Our estimates show community banks to exhibit a 4.9% higher efficiency compared to their non-community counterparts. The decomposition further reveals that community banks benefit from superior managerial capabilities and from developments at the regulatory front. Size is non-linearly related to efficiency and large community banks are the most efficient. A strong positive link between profitability and efficiency exists for community banks, with the effect being muted in non-community banks. Participation in bank holding companies is harmful for community banks’ efficiency. Liquidity creation is positively (negatively) related to efficiency of (non-)community banks, and highlights the distinctiveness of the business models and the need for differentiated regulatory supervision. Community banks efficiency is positively (negatively) related to liquidity (credit) risk. Our results are robust to a series of salient checks.
Effects of Corporate Taxes on Private Firms’ Earnings Management: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis

We examine the impact of tax incentives on private firms’ earnings management based on a tax reform in China. Firms established after January 2002 face significant tax reduction, thus creating a large and persistent discontinuity in tax rates by establishment date. Using the regression discontinuity design, we show that tax reduction substantially increases private firms’ incentives to manage earnings, and such effect is particularly pronounced when tax collection intensity and government interventions are low. A plausible mechanism is that private firms signal promising outlooks by managing earnings to attain greater financing and improve investment/operation levels when financial constraints are removed.
Evidence on the Unconditional Preference for Accrual vs. Real Earnings Management

Prior research shows that a greater level of cumulative accrual earnings management (AEM) over prior periods limits managers’ ability to use AEM in the current period and has suggested that this constraint on AEM is associated with greater use of real earnings management (REM). First, we confirm this result using new, more intuitive measures of cumulative AEM and cumulative REM. Second, we document that while constraints on the ability to use AEM are associated with a shift toward REM, constraints on the ability to use REM are not associated with a shift toward AEM. These results suggest that managers shift toward REM when necessary, but all else being equal, would prefer to use AEM. We also find that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 weakened managers’ preference for AEM over REM.
Factors Influencing Customer Loyalty in Hotel Business: Case Study of Five-Star Hotels in Bangkok, Thailand

This research aims to (1) study customer characteristics of five-star hotels in Bangkok (2) study level of hotel location, service quality, perceived consumption value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty and (3) study the effects of hotel location, service quality, perceived consumption value and customer satisfaction on customer loyalty. This research uses quantitative methodology. A total of 700 completely questionnaires were returned by study participants and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) techniques were used to analyze the data received. This study results were as following: firstly, the hotel location, service quality and perceived consumption value have the positive effect on customer satisfaction. Secondly, the hotel location, service quality, perceived consumption value, and customer satisfaction have the positive effect on customer loyalty. This study has also provide a reference for five-star hotel management in Bangkok, Thailand.
Foreign Acquisitions and Female Employment in Manufacturing Firms: An Empirical Analysis for Chile

This paper analyses the effect of foreign ownership on female employment using micro-level data from the Chilean Manufacturing Survey. Particularly, it examines whether foreign-acquired firms hire proportionately more female workers than domestic firms. To control for the possible endogeneity of the foreign acquisition decision, we use propensity score matching combined with a difference-indifferences approach. In addition, we compare firms operating in the same industry-year. Our results show that foreign ownership increases the share of female workers within the firm. One year after acquisition the share of female workers is 1.64 percentage points higher in acquired firms than in non-acquired firms, and this figure increases to 3.55 percentage points two years after acquisition. When we separate female workers into skilled and unskilled categories, we observe that the positive effect of foreign acquisition is present only for skilled women. One year after acquisition, the share of skilled women is 4.60 percentage points higher in acquired firms than in non-acquired ones, and two years after acquisition this figure increases to 6.63 percentage points. We also present evidence that foreign acquisition increases the share of skilled women only when the acquired firm was not an exporter before its acquisition, supporting Becker’s (1957) theory on taste-based discrimination.
Could the United States Benefit from a Lockdown? A Cost-Benefit Analysis

Though COVID vaccines are finally available, the rate at which they are administered is slow, and in the meantime the pandemic continues to claim about as many lives every day as the 9/11 tragedy. I estimate that with the promised rate of vaccinations, if no additional non-pharmaceutical interventions are implemented, 406 thousand additional lives will be lost and the future cost of the pandemic will reach $2.4 trillion, or 11% of GDP. Using a cost-benefit analysis, I assess whether it is optimal for the United States to follow the lead of many European countries and introduce a nation-wide lockdown. I find that a lockdown would be indeed optimal and, depending on the assumptions, it should last between two and four weeks and will generate a net benefit of up to $1.2 trillion.
Do Financial Analysts Fully Incorporate the Future Earnings Implications of Really Dirty Surplus into Their Earnings Forecasts?

This paper investigates whether sell-side equity analysts fully incorporate the future earnings implications of really dirty surplus (RDS) into their earnings forecasts. RDS refers to gains or losses from contingent equity transactions settled at prices other than the fair value. We find that analysts’ earnings forecasts are over-optimistic for firms with large RDS losses, RDS over-optimism is lower for firms with higher analyst following, and the over-optimism carries over to stock recommendations. Our findings suggest that the lack of fair value information in accounting records about the off-market settlement drives the RDS-related analyst over-optimism.
Measuring Tail Risk

In this study we comprehensively investigate the usefulness of the tail risk measures proposed in the literature, evaluating the tail risk measures on the basis of their statistical and economic validity. Our main conclusion is that the option-implied measure of Bollerslev and Todorov (2011b) outperforms all others. It performs well for all tests and can predict not only the occurrence but also the size of future crash events. In addition, the measure is priced in the market: it predicts returns both in the time-series and in the cross-section. Finally, it also has an impact on real economic activity.
The Effects of Corporate Governance and Managerial Compensation on Financial Fraud: Evidence from China

The purpose of this study is to examine whether financial crises influence the effects of manager market competition and cash compensation on the likelihood of listed firms’ fraudulent financial reporting in China. We use a logistic regression model to analyze a very large sample of 1,088 Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2018. The main findings are as follows: first, manager market competition is negatively associated with the probability of committing fraud. Second, managers’ cash compensation is negatively related to the likelihood of financial fraud. These findings suggest that (1) strong manager market competition can regulate Chinese top managers effectively; (2) higher cash compensation and a good governance mechanism can encourage top managers to deter financial fraud.
Trade Credit Model: A Time Elasticity Approach

We develop a theoretical model to explain the impact of market power in the product market and financial constraints on trade credit extension. Our model is based on a rational profit maximizing firm operating with a certain level of market power represented by the price elasticity of its product and with customers presenting a certain degree of financial constraint which reflects in their trade credit term-sensitivity of demand. Besides showing the detailed deduction of this model using a non-linear programming approach (Kuhn-Tucker) we show the trade-offs that firms face to increase their profit by selling on credit and compare its implications to the trade credit literature. We further confirm our findings empirically using Compustat quarterly data for 8,602 US firms drawn from 2004 to 2010.