Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CSR Disclosure, Dividends and Firm Value – Relations and Mediating Effects

Managers use corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures to signal future financial prospects. Prior literature documents a positive relation between CSR disclosure and financial consequences, such as higher firm value. Dividends play a similar signaling role with similar financial consequences. This paper provides evidence regarding the interplay among CSR disclosure, dividends and firm value, relying on a large multi-country sample. First, we find that firms with higher levels of unexpected CSR disclosure are likely to pay higher dividends, and that this result is attributable to firms where CSR disclosure is aligned with CSR performance (both CSR disclosure and performance are high or both are low). Second, we assess whether the positive relation between CSR disclosures and firms’ share price persists after introducing dividends as a control. We find that unexpected CSR disclosure are associated with higher share prices, but not after controlling for dividends, i.e. dividends fully mediate unexpected CSR disclosure. Sub-sample analyses show that full mediation occurs when firms’ CSR disclosures are aligned with CSR performance, while in the unaligned sample unexpected CSR disclosure is still informative. Our findings are consistent with the view that managers use both CSR disclosure and dividends to signal future prospects, which are therefore both positively associated with share prices, but where CSR disclosure and performance are aligned, CSR disclosure loses its information value to market participants. The mediation effect we document implies that prior firm value study results should be interpreted with caution, and future studies should control for dividends.
A Factor Model of Company Relative Valuation

Accurate company valuation is the starting point of value investing and corporate decisions. This paper proposes a statistical factor model to generate company valuation comparison across a large universe. The model scales the market value of a company by its book capital to generate a cross-sectionally comparable relative value target, constructs valuation factors by combining several descriptors from a similar category to increase coverage and reduce multicollinearity, and links industry classification and the valuation factors to the company relative value via a cross-sectional contemporaneous regression at each date. Historical analysis on U.S. publicly traded companies shows that the factor model explains a large proportion of the cross-sectional variation of company relative value and experiences little out-of-sample degeneration. The regression residual represents temporary company misvaluation, and can be exploited by both outside investors as attractive investment opportunities and internal management for market timing of corporate decisions.
Service Outsourcing and Dispersion of Customer Needs

This research explores how customer needs dispersion influences a firm's intent to outsource, and, if the firm does decide to outsource, how it can retain the potential cost advantages offered by a third-party supplier. Customer service plays a crucial role for firms to retain customers and spur revenue growth. It is, however, often outsourced to a third-party supplier, driven by cost savings and ability to focus on core businesses. While there is a large body of literature studying service outsourcing, the dynamic nature of dispersion in customer needs has received sparse attention in the past but is becoming a major concern due to increased market turbulence. <br><br>This research develops a normative model to explore key drivers that impact service outcomes with heterogeneous and evolving customer needs over time. We find that customer needs dispersion can accelerate a firm's propensity to outsource, and a firm typically benefits from outsourcing, at least initially. Such benefits, however, can dissipate rapidly over time due to knowledge decay with outsourcing; that is, the firm becomes less certain about the underlying customer needs because it is no longer directly involved in service provision. Monitoring efforts can potentially help the firm to arrest the dissipation of the service benefit over time; there exists, however, a threshold of monitoring effort where the benefit of monitoring emerges only if this threshold is surpassed. Hence, a firm is more likely to benefit from outsourcing when an efficient, consistent monitoring effort is implemented over time.
Synthesis, thermal degradation, and solution behavior of star-shaped fullerene-containing polystyrenes

Star-shaped polymers with C 60 fullerene as a core and polystyrene chains with preset molecular masses as arms were synthesized by anionic polymerization. It was shown that it is possible to regulate the number of arms by varying the molar ratio of reagents (polystyryllithium: fullerene) and introducing a complex-forming agent. The quantitative data on the mobility and hydrodynamic sizes of macromolecules were obtained. The experimental results are compared with the calculated data on the hydrodynamic radii of macromolecules with spherically-symmetric distribution of the vectors of polystyrene arms. The degree of branching was estimated by comparison of the diffusion coefficients for the real star-shaped macromolecule and its linear analog. It was discovered that the intensity of light scattering plotted versus concentration in solutions shows an abnormal pattern.
Spatial Wage Differentials, Geographic Frictions and the Organization of Labor within Firms

This paper studies the spatial structure of firms, both theoretically and empirically. Two new facts in Danish register data motivate the analysis. First, firms have become more fragmented over time. Second, headquarters (HQ) establishments have become more manager intensive, despite a significant increase in managerial wages at HQ locations. We study the roles of exogenous changes in wages across locations and communication costs in explaining these two trends. Immigration shocks are the source of identifying variation for changes in relative labor supply. Estimates indicate that increases in the wage of managers at the HQ relative to non-HQ, explain 50% of the increase in HQ managerial intensity. This can be explained by the associated increasing demand for headquarter services as satellite establishments become larger. Simulations suggest that wider wage gaps across locations can also lead to more establishments per firm, and this effect strengthens as communication costs fall.
Can Links to Source Financial Information Mitigate the Effect of Distorted Graphs?

This study investigates whether using hyperlinks that connect summarized financial graphs with detailed financial statement information reduces the effect of graphical distortions on nonprofessional investors’ perceptions of firm performance. Using 385 participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk (M-Turk), we find that while distorted graphs do bias nonprofessional investors’ perceptions of firm performance, the provision and use of hyperlinks to the underlying source information eliminate those effects (i.e., de-bias). Using the dual-process theory of cognitive processing (Kahneman and Frederick 2002; Evans 2006, 2008), we find that hyperlinks enhance the overriding effect of System 2 processing (i.e., analytical processing) on System 1 processing (i.e., intuitive processing) and indirectly reduce the decision-biasing effect of distorted graphs on nonprofessional investors’ perceptions. The study contributes to standard setting as well as financial reporting practice by providing empirical evidence that the SEC’s policy guidance on implementing hyperlinks has benefits to nonprofessional investors. Second, it contributes to both the literature on distorted graphs and hyperlinks by suggesting hyperlinking to source data mitigates the effects of graphical distortions.
The Direct and Indirect Effects of Rating-Contingent Basel Regulations on Financing of Firms: Global Evidence

We empirically examine how the rating-contingent Basel regulations impact the access and cost of debt for firms with varying characteristics around the world, and investigate how firms cope with the impact through alternative financing sources and adjustments to its capital investments. We find that the implementation of the rating-contingent regulations has a significant impact on the flow of credit and the cost of credit, particularly to the low rated firms. The results indicate that the access to debt financing has become more difficult for the lower rated firms. Firms mitigate the shortage in bank credit induced by the regulation, through a combination of higher trade credit, lower payouts and downward adjustment of their capital investments. Particularly, firms in the lower quartile of the credit rating distribution substitute the reduced bank credit with increased reliance on accounts payables. Such firms have also lowered their payouts to shareholders, in an effort to maintain the liquidity and capital needs. We also find that the lower rated firms have significant decline in their capital investment growth in the post Basel period, implying an active response to the deterioration in the access to credit. Our key results are robust to alternative estimations and are also confirmed by a smaller sample of firms in the loan-level data on syndications. The findings of the paper substantially contribute to the understanding of the real sector effects of rating-contingent Basel regulations.
Nutrient digestibility, fermentation pattern, blood biochemical level and inflammatory response of nulliparous dairy goats fed with various levels of oil palm fronds

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of oil palm frond (OPF) inclusion in total mixed ration (TMR) diets on nutrient digestibility, fermentation pattern, blood biochemical level and inflammatory response in nulliparous dairy goats. Three nulliparous female dairy goats (Saanen x Thai native, 33.88±1.78 kg) were randomly assigned in a 3x3 Latin square design. The diets consisted of 0% OPF (CON), 20% OPF (LOPF) and 40% OPF (HOPF) on a dry matter (DM) basis. The inclusion of OPF in the diets significantly increased the DM and nutrient intake of the dairy goats (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the digestibility of DM, organic matter and crude protein of LOPF and HOPF, (p>0.05) but those were significantly higher than CON (p<0.05). Dietary OPF did not affect the digestibility of EE and ADF. No significant difference was observed in rumen pH, NH3-N, individual VFA proportions, C2:C3 ratio, C2,C4:C3 ratio, and CH4 production (p>0.05). However, dietary OPF altered the total production of VFA at 0 h before feeding (p<0.05). Total N intake, N absorption, and N retention significantly increased (p<0.05) as the level of OPF inclusion increased. Goats receiving CON diet showed a negative N balance. The results indicate that dietary HOPF lowered the TNF-α level (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the level of IL-6, IL-1β and blood biochemistry (p>0.05). In conclusion, the inclusion of 40% OPF in a TMR-based diet enhanced nutrient intake, nutrient digestibility and lowered the secretion of TNF-α in nulliparous dairy goats.
Economic Diaspora: A Literature Review

The purpose of this study is to present in a complete way the kernel of such a production. People migrate and this decision is sometimes permanent, but there are links with the country of origin that stand up to time and distances. With respect to this, the so called economic diaspora well depicts the broad transnationalism that has established as a consequence of the increasing amount of money migrants have been sending back home. The data collected and the estimates fully agree on this positive trend but the outlines of these peculiar private capital flows are still controversial. This is due to three aspects each section of this work tries to address. The first part analyses those remittances’ features on which the results of the econometric studies are still causing discussion: stability, cyclicality and sustainability. The second one deals with the reasons why people do remit, concluding that the world is more balanced than a clear-cut division between behavioural and economic motives. Finally, the third one tries to go through the relationship between remittances and development, topic on which lots of studies have been conducted but that is still far from a comprehensive and convincing conclusion.
IFRS Adoption and Unconditional Conservatism: An Accruals-Based Analysis

This paper finds its motivation in the lack of robust results in the literature that analyse the effect on unconditional conservatism of the mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by the Spanish listed companies. We provide new evidence by using, for the first time in this context, a non-market-based measure of unconditional conservatism: the accruals-based measure proposed by Givoly and Hayn (2000). We use econometric panel data techniques applied to a panel of 96 non-financial firms and 10 years. The results show evidence that support a significant reduction of the unconditional conservatism of Spanish listed companies due to the adoption of IFRS.
Crowdsourcing of Economic Forecast: Combination of Combinations of Individual Forecasts Using Bayesian Model Averaging

Economic forecasts are essential in our daily lives. Accordingly, we ask the following questions: (1) Can we have an improved prediction when we additionally combine combinations of forecasts made by various institutions? (2) If we can, then what method of additional combination will be preferred? We non-linearly combine multiple linear combinations of existing forecasts to form a new forecast (“combination of combinations”), and the weights are given by Bayesian model averaging. In the case of forecasting South Korea’s real GDP growth rate, this new forecast dominates any single forecast in terms of root-mean-square prediction errors. When compared with simple linear combinations of forecasts, our method works as a “hedge” against prediction risks, avoiding the worst combination while maintaining prediction errors similar to those of the best combinations.
One Risk, Two Debts: The Effects of Rare Disasters on Credit Markets

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the impacts that rare disasters can have on credit markets. We discuss and quantify the asset-pricing implications of disaster risk on the risk-free rate, credit spreads, and their term structures. The findings underscore the heterogeneous effects of disasters on the risk-free and risky debt segments of credit markets. The results reveal that federal and private debt are ``two sides of the same coin”, call for a closer coordination between these two distinct sectors of the credit market, and shed light on deleveraging issues that likely lie ahead in the post-disaster world.
Banks and Firms: Evidence from a Legal Reform Altering Contract Design

Banks are unique in designing loan contracts. Contract design determines liquidation and continuation decisions of ﬁrms. Smaller ﬁrms are often the weaker party when interacting with their banks. We study a legal reform that aims to improve small ﬁrms’ bargaining position by altering the contractual environment. The new law gives small ﬁrms the right to prepay loans against a contractually specified penalty and requires banks to oﬀer ﬁrms’ best-suited loan type. Using this quasi-natural experiment, we show that, while the legal reform increases overall credit availability, banks dampen the eﬀect of the act by tilting their credit supply to loans that are unaffected by the legal change, i.e., credit lines. Using bank-ﬁrm-credit-type data, we show that banks reduce the supply of term loans by 0.7% while credit lines increase by 4%. This eﬀect is more pronounced for borrowers with longer relationships. Our results show that reforms generate unintended consequences since banks strategically try to undo part of the regulation.
Consumer Loan Rate Dispersion and the Role of Competition: Evidence from the Turkish Banking Sector

This paper aims to examine the degree of dispersion in the loan pricing of commercial banks and its association with competitive conditions. To this end, an indexation mechanism processing a novel bank-level dataset is proposed to quantify the lending rate variability in general-purpose, vehicle, and housing loans for the period January 2007-April 2020. In panel convergence tests, we show that there exists heterogeneity in long-term co-movements in banks’ loan pricing, while periods following the tightening in financial conditions display short-term deviations from general tendencies demonstrated by dispersion indices. The methodological setting also entails the construction of competition indicators for total and segment-based credit market developments. The competitive conditions monitored by Herfindahl-Hirschman Indicator (HHI) present that housing and vehicle loan segments have been concentrated in recent years. Quantile regression results further validate that improvements in the competition are associated with a lower level of lending rate dispersion in housing and vehicle segments in a statistically significant manner, whereas this relation is not applicable for general-purpose loans.
Testing for Expected Return and Market Price of Risk in Chinese A-B Share Markets: A Geometric Brownian Motion and Multivariate Garch Model Approach

There exists the phenomenon of so-called dual listed stocks in some security markets: companies are allowed to issue different types of stocks facing segmented investors. Although these stocks share the same firm-specific risk, and enjoy identical dividend and voting policy, the price of these different types of stocks is not the same and the so-called pricing puzzle arises. Some previous studies show this seemingly deviation from the law of one price can be solved due to different expected return and market price of risk for investors holding heterogeneous beliefs. This paper provides empirical evidence for that argument by testing the expected return and market price of risk between Chinese A- and B-share stocks. Models with dynamic of Geometric Brownian Motions are adopted, multivariate GARCH models are also introduced to capture the feature of time-varying volatility in stock returns. The results suggest that the different pricing can be explained by the difference in the expected return and market price of risk between A and B shares in Chinese stock markets. However, the significance of the difference between market prices of risk becomes disappearing for both markets if GARCH models are used.
The Impact of Brand Trust on Brand Loyalty Mediated by Customer Satisfaction: Case of Tokobagus.com (now OLX.co.id)

Visiting stores as the conventional way of shopping has been modernized into an online shopping trend. In fact, the emergence of numerous e-commerce sites leads to an interesting and needs-to-be-anticipated competition. Tokobagus.com (now OLX.co.id), a leading online shopping website in Indonesia with the highest visitors traffic, needs to sustain its position by implementing a good strategy and employing necessary factors in its business, i.e.brand trust, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. These are required to boost profits and sustain the business within the tight competition. This study is conducted as a causal-associative research by using a quantitative approach. One hundred respondents are surveyed through online questionnaires with a convenience sampling. Their responses are analyzed by using descriptive and path analyses. The results show that the brand trust of Tokobagus.com is high, meaning that consumers are satisfied with the business. In parallel, the brand loyalty is high. In fact, brand trust directly affects customer satisfaction, while customer satisfaction directly affects brand loyalty. In addition, brand trust directly affects brand loyalty and, indirectly, brand trust affects brand loyalty with customer satisfaction as a mediating factor.
A Multifunctional Zirconium‐Based Metal–Organic Framework for the One‐Pot Tandem Photooxidative Passerini Three‐Component Reaction of Alcohols

A porous multifunctional zirconium‐based metal–organic framework (MOF) was achieved by combined covalent and dative post synthetic modification (PSM) of the UiO‐66‐NH2, and characterized by a variety of techniques, including FTIR spectroscopy, powder XRD, N2 temperature‐programmed adsorption/desorption, scanning electron microscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, and UV/Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The MOF (Zr–MOF–FePC, PC=2‐pyridinecarboxaldehyde) is an active, efficient, and reusable catalyst for the one‐pot tandem photooxidative Passerini three‐component reaction of alcohols. This is a new type of tandem photocatalyst and cooperative catalyst and was obtained in the course of developing MOFs as versatile heterogeneous catalysts for diverse tandem oxidative multicomponent reactions. This work illustrates the potential of MOFs as multifunctional heterogeneous catalysts for sustainable chemistry.
Inequality, Relative Deprivation and Financial Distress - Evidence from Swedish Register Data

Several studies have linked rising insolvency rates to increasing inequality and argued that this might be explained by individuals' desire to “Keep up with the Joneses”. Using unique administrative register data on individual insolvencies in Sweden, I test whether the probability to become insolvent is related to one's income distance relative to peers. Identification relies on area fixed effects, an extensive set of background characteristics and varying the definition of the relevant reference group. I find that higher inequality increases the individual's probability to become insolvent and that this effect is mostly driven by men.
Do Credit Rating Agencies Care About Our International Tax Planning Strategy When Assigning Credit Ratings?

International tax planning strategies, by their very nature, increase firms’ free cash flows, which could improve companies’ creditworthiness. However, these strategies also bring information and agency problems, which may reduce their creditworthiness. To understand which of these effects dominates, this study examines the effect of international tax planning on credit ratings. We find that credit analysts incorporate information related to international tax planning when analyzing a firm’s credit risk and that high international tax planning is associated with less favorable credit ratings. We also find that this effect is mitigated by a higher conflict of interest for the bond rating agencies. Furthermore, we find that the effect of international tax planning operates through the channels of future cash flow effects, agency costs, and information risk. Our results are robust to a difference-in-differences research design using The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 as an exogenous shock to the benefits from international tax planning, and we document that the effect of international tax planning is different from and incremental to overall tax avoidance.