Economies, Volume 10, Issue 6 (June 2022) – 29 articles

This study explores the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the product market power by examining listed firms on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and Taipei Exchange from 2005 to 2017. We use CSR awards as a social responsibility indicator, and the results show a positive relationship between CSR and excess price-cost margins (market share), supporting the thesis that firms that value CSR activities can strengthen the competitive advantage of products in the market. Full article

During the COVID-19 pandemic, all regions in Indonesia have had negative economic growth. It also increased the poverty rate in the country. The government must allocate pro-growth and poverty reduction programs to maintain economic growth and simultaneously reduce poverty. This study aims to measure the relative efficiency of pro-growth poverty reduction spending of local governments in seven regions in Indonesia. This study compares the efficiency scores before and during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2015 to 2019 and 2020. The inputs are five types of government spending: education, health, economic, social protection, and infrastructure. The outputs are economic growth and poverty reduction. Data envelopment analysis with an output-oriented model and a return to scale variable approach is applied. The results show that the highest average local government efficiency score was in Kalimantan, with the lowest being in Sulawesi. The efficiency scores of local governments in the COVID-19 pandemic differ between regions: it remained stable in Kalimantan, increased in Java-Bali, Sumatra, and Sulawesi, and experienced a decline in Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Papua. The study concludes that economic growth and poverty reduction can simultaneously measure government efficiency. To be relatively efficient, local governments need to consider allocating pro-growth poverty reduction spending to improve the conditions of both outputs. Full article

This study aims to determine the effect of human capital, structural capital, and consumer capital on financial performance and moderate the speed of innovation. The type of research used in the study is quantitative—data collection techniques in distributing questionnaires measured using a Likert scale. The sampling technique used was random sampling and was determined by the slovin formula. The population in this study was MSMEs in Buleleng Regency, and the samples used in this study amounted to 392 MSMEs. Data or statistical analysis techniques in the study were considered using the Structural Equation Model with WarpPLS 5.0 software modelling. The results show that the technology and commitment variables have no significant effect on the development of religious ecotourism villages. In contrast, cultural changes significantly impact the development of religious ecotourism villages. This study uses the speed of innovation as a moderating variable, the speed of innovation is one of the essential things for MSMEs to improve financial performance. The speed of innovation supports intellectual capital, which is currently focused on knowledge-driven business to create a competitive advantage. Full article

Sectoral structures are one of the critical and dynamic components of any social system subjected to either external or internal factors. The purpose of the paper is to reveal and validate characteristic features of transformation regarding economic sectoral structures during the crisis of the socio-economic system and the period of its coordinated development in order to determine the most stable industry sectors. This paper reveals the specificity of sectoral transformations in European countries during the crisis of 2008–2009 and the stable growth of 2010–2019. The analysis is premised on Robert B. Reich’s sectoral structure, comprising production, in-person, intellectual, and communication services sectors. To conduct the research, statistical data analysis using the Gatev coefficient, and correlation and comparative analysis are applied. It is concluded that the mutable nature of sectoral dynamics depends on the planned changes resulting either from business expectations and interests, or state intervention. Yet, transformation is likely due to external and internal shocks (economic upheavals and wars), and unexpected events (natural disasters, epidemics, and pandemics). Over the last 15 years, the sectoral structure has been subjected to most of the above collisions. In-person, intellectual, and communication services sectors are least affected during the economic crisis. In the European countries, the period of economic growth is characterized by the growing dominance of intellectual and communication services sectors. There is a trend of decreasing the share of mining and quarrying in the sectoral production structure in favor of manufacturing industries and services. Full article

In the event that the COVID-19 pandemic spreads across various stock markets, this study may be deemed as one of the primary studies to evaluate cross-market interactions. The study examines the spread of contagious effects originating from developed economies (the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan) to selected emerging markets (China, India, Thailand, Taiwan, Egypt, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates). The countries studied are classified into three regions: developed economies, Asia, and Africa and the Middle East. The crisis period is identified with the deployment of the Markov regime-switching model. The conditional correlations are compared before and after the crisis episode using the time-varying multivariate DCC-GARCH model. The findings confirm that certain emerging markets are experiencing contagion from developed markets, while others remain unaffected. Overall, investors in the two regions examined (Asia, and Africa and the Middle East) have comparable diversification options. The findings are expected to bolster policymakers and international agencies in developing post-crisis measures. Full article

Since 1993, the Ethiopian government has been using the urban land leasing system to monetize the increase in land value created due to factors other than private investment. Thus, this paper aims to explore and understand whether Bahir Dar city is leveraging the urban land lease system as a strategic value capture instrument to enhance its local revenue or not. This study has used the qualitative research method and in-depth analysis. It has used a desk review of documents and key informant interviews of experts and brokers to collect the data required to realize the objective of this study. The study has found that the majority of the urban land is held in a permit system, with landholders paying a small amount of land rent per annum. In addition, the study has uncovered that the city has transferred most of its land through administrative allotment at low and outdated benchmark prices, which has dwindled its lease revenue. Moreover, it has identified that there is weak enforcement of the lease payment collection, and it has adversely affected the city’s urban revenue generation potential. As a result, the city is not leveraging the public land leasing system as a strategic value capture instrument. Based on these findings, this paper has advised the government to implement a modern property tax system to capture value increment on permit holding land. In addition, the study proposes to carry out an empirical investigation and identify the factors that significantly affect the benchmark prices and update the benchmark price regularly given those factors. Moreover, the study has suggested a proper enforcement of the lease payment collection in the city. Full article

All countries are trying their best to achieve maximum economic prosperity through employing efficient economic strategies. Countries seem to be conscious of various factors that can potentially affect economic growth. Given that, the current study examines the impact of various macroeconomic factors on the economic growth of Palestine. By employing the large range of quarterly data spanning from 2001 to 2020, the statistical outputs of the ARDL model show that government debt, donations, government expenditures, and unemployment rate adversely impact economic growth. However, other factors including credit facilities, inflation, and total investments positively impinge upon the economic growth of Palestine. Such dynamic impacts of various macroeconomic factors display both the detrimental and growth-promoting role of macroeconomic factors in determining economic prosperity. Our analysis suggests various policy implications to economic policy officials regarding the effectiveness of various factors for economic health. It is further recommended that international agencies working in aid- and donation-intensive countries should design efficient economic policies that can help such economies in coming out from economic distress. Full article

The present paper deals with the issue of food waste in selected European countries, in which we have tried to analyze the socioeconomic rations. The main aim of our research was to analyze food waste quantity and compare the amount of wasted food in European Union countries (except Cyprus due to the unavailability of food waste data). The analysis was based on a dataset provided through the Food Waste Index Report 2021 by the UN environment program and complemented by socioeconomic variables obtained from EUROSTAT. For a deeper analyses of the obtained results, we formulated three assumptions, which have been tested with the use of several statistical methods—Pearson’s correlation coefficient, linear regression, the distance from a fictitious object method, and hierarchical clustering. Our results show that the amount of food wasted in different sectors (retail, food, households) is not correlated, and any of the analyzed socioeconomic variables do not influence the ranking of countries by the crucial variable. Full article

This work delineates the factors determining investor sentiment in specific regions during the pandemic and the influence of attitudes towards vaccination. The findings show that the reactions of knowledgeable investors in different regions to the economic effects of the pandemic were not uniform but depended on a variety of individual factors. Risk perception varied widely due to idiosyncrasies in specific countries and regions, the level of pandemic information, reaction to case reports and deaths, attitudes towards vaccination, lockdown compliance, and government measures to support businesses. These various elements combined to create different outlooks in the minds of investors that strongly influenced their investment strategies. For this investigation, we tested three estimation models: the classic robust standard error for time series regression, the new robust standard errors regression, and the Prais robust estimation. This study applied the lasso system of machine learning to select relevant explanatory variables. The novelty of our work resides in its analysis of the conduct of informed investors, using a reliable proxy, and the discussion of how government policies and different pandemic-related factors, specifically the vaccination status, affected investor sentiment in different regions. As for practical implications, an understanding of how the various economic factors related to the pandemic influenced the behavior of qualified investors in different regions can help regulators, government leaders, fund managers, and investors deal with a future virus outbreak. Full article

Most entrepreneurship studies have an urban focus, and it is studied mainly from the perspective of opportunity exploitation. Rural entrepreneurship presents different characteristics, and it requires analysis from a resource-based view since this kind of entrepreneurial behavior takes place in rural communities under resource constraints. The sustainable livelihood perspective represents a relevant framework in rural entrepreneurship, considering resources and capacities to face poverty in rural areas. Therefore, this study presents a literature review to identify current and emerging issues in rural entrepreneurship from a sustainable livelihood framework. The literature review identifies that the main concepts involved in rural entrepreneurship and sustainable livelihood are women, poverty alleviation, youth, social entrepreneurship, and institutions. Likewise, social capital and human capital prevail as the most relevant capitals in the analyzed documents. The study offers research opportunities in emerging issues related to social entrepreneurship, governance and institutions, livelihood growth, and eco-entrepreneurship for extending the boundaries of rural entrepreneurship from the sustainable livelihood framework. Full article

The main objectives of this study are to take into account the effects of COVID-19 on labor market functioning, and to evaluate the effects of policies regarding working time reduction, in terms of both containing the spread of infection and economic activity. Accordingly, we describe a macroeconomic model wherein we test the effects of reducing working hours in the Keynesian unemployment framework, which comprises a fixed prices and wages regime, and a consumption demand that is dependent on salaries and autonomous demand components. Moreover, we also describe a neoclassical unemployment framework, wherein the labor market is only governed by dynamic demand forces. Theoretical results show that, according to the epidemiological phase, a reduction in working hours may be a good policy for containing the virus and improving employment in the Keynesian framework when established conditions are maintained. In the neoclassical framework, a work sharing policy will fail if some conditions do not occur, and it could cause an increase in the spread of the virus when a reduction of epidemic containment measures occurs. Employment will increase when the pandemic ends. A numerical simulation confirms that a reduction in working hours could reduce virus diffusion, but only under established, constrained parameters in both frameworks. Full article

This study provides empirical proof that the positive impact of high accrual quality is the ability to accurately predict the future return with a positive sign. In the capital market, better prospects are commonly indicated by regularly and routinely implementing a high-yield dividend policy. This study uses dividend policy as a moderated multiple regression, which plays a critical role in achieving a high obedience to accounting standards. The causal research involved 154 of the companies listed on the Indonesia Capital Market and 384 observations in the industrial manufacturing sector for 2015–2020. By mulling over the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and predicting the future market using zero growth with no assumed growth in the future, this empirical study shows that dividend policy is critical when minimizing opportunity behavior. This research provides a mapping of the decision tree model as an implication of game theory because of the interactive feedback between the earning quality and future market value. A sign such as “good” news significantly stimulates the perception of optimistic investors, with no negative manipulation and accruals. It paves the way for investors to strictly control and monitor strategic decisions to obtain significant improvement in prospects. Full article

This paper analyzes the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation in Furniture SMEs in East Java, Indonesia, towards competitive advantage. This study uses a quantitative approach with the survey method. This study uses primary data that is self-reported using a self-administered survey by distributing questionnaires directly to 84 owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) Furniture in Western East Java, Indonesia. A measurement used the structural equation model (SmartPLS 3.0) to analyze data. Five hypotheses were proposed, and only four had positive significant and positive effects on competitive advantage, that is, the influence of entrepreneurial orientation consisting of proactiveness, innovativeness, aggressiveness, and autonomy. In contrast, the hypothesis related to risk-taking towards the competitive advantage of SMEs Furniture has no positive and significant effect. The findings of this study show that the dominant influence of the entrepreneurial orientation dimension is aggressiveness. The theoretical implication of this research is that furniture business players need to continuously improve their aggressiveness in entrepreneurship according to the theoretical findings in this study, such as introducing innovative products made from local materials and following market trends. This research adds to the theory of aggressiveness in entrepreneurship to encourage innovations that will make industries that use local natural resources more competitively and help government policies. Aggressiveness is required by the furniture business to improve competitiveness for a labor-intensive industry with reliable local content to spur economic growth in Indonesia. Full article

This study explored the linkage between financial development, human resources, and economic growth in a group of twenty-five transition countries during the period 1995–2019. The author applied a range of estimations such as Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), fixed effects model, and two-step GMM methods in order to estimate the empirical research model. Different from previous research, financial development in this paper was a proxy variable that was assessed based on the level of outcomes of financial institutions and the financial market in three aspects: depth, access, and efficiency. In addition, the labor force participation rate and the human development index were employed as the comprehensive proxies for human resources. Generally, financial development and human resources exert positive impacts on economic growth. Financial access and financial efficiency boost economic growth, while financial depth does not. Human development was also documented as the driver of economic growth. In addition, the interaction between aggregate financial development and the human development index demonstrated a robust spur to economic growth. These findings contribute to the literature on economic growth and have considerable implications for policymakers in transition economies. Full article

Following the publication of the 2011 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Green Economy Report, the UNWTO published the Tourism in the Green Economy report as clear evidence of the tourism sector’s growing influence on green economy. This paper provides the first narrative review on green tourism economy based on all available published research. The paper synthesizes existing knowledge, reviews responses and initiatives on green tourism, and suggests future research and methodological approaches to help advance this field. The Scopus and WoS databases were used for the bibliometric study. The results are structured into three sections—challenges, opportunities, and enabling conditions—which comprehensively cover the main themes. Full article

The aim of the article is to investigate the impact of the new coronavirus infection on the Russian labor market and to suppose the actions to be taken to minimize negative economic consequences. The distinctiveness of this study is the differentiation of the impact of the physical and informational spread of COVID-19. The informational spread of coronavirus is measured through the dynamics of news messages related to the topic of “coronavirus” in the largest Russian media. The analysis of the average level of wages by type of economic activity, as well as the demand of employers and the number of vacancies, allow testing the hypothesis that the physical and informational spread of coronavirus caused an increase in the number of unemployed, a decrease in average wages in the studied range of economic activities, an increase in supply on the labor market, and a decrease in demand for employees. Another task of the study is to assess the dynamics of related search queries in Yandex (Russian biggest search engine), which can help to reveal the logic in the behavior of the Russian people during the pandemic as well as to understand if the Russian economy, the labor market, and society were prepared for the changes caused by the pandemic. Using a regression modeling methodology, it was found that the influence of the information environment, namely the informational spread of coronavirus, had an even greater impact on studied parameters than the physical spread. A “delay effect of physical consequences” was discovered. The conclusions obtained showed that in the conditions of wide informatization of society, it is necessary to systematically influence the physical and informational spread of coronavirus to minimize the negative consequences of the pandemic on the labor market. Full article

The main role of local development policy is to create a favorable business environment and new jobs, thus contributing to economic development. Creating a positive business environment to act as a pull factor for new businesses is of great importance, because entrepreneurship conduces to the rise in the supply of goods and to an increase in citizens’ income and revenues of local budgets. This paper therefore examines the main goals of economic development in the towns and municipalities of the Republic of Croatia, as well as the tools used by local governments to encourage entrepreneurship and new businesses. Using a questionnaire, mayors and deputies of towns and municipalities were surveyed, and the sample covered 131 towns and municipalities. The research methodology included a descriptive analysis and the Kruskal–Wallis test. The results indicate that improving the quality of life of the residents, creating new jobs, and retaining the residents in the town or municipality were identified as the most important goals of economic development. To encourage entrepreneurship and new jobs, towns and municipalities most often simplify regulations, reduce local taxes, and introduce various benefits and incentives. The contribution of the paper is manifested in providing useful guidance to local governments to improve the business environment. Full article

The halal industry is constantly developing into a broader concept of the Islamic economy, an economic activity that follows the Islamic-based principle. As a populous Muslim country, Indonesia follows the growth trend by aiming to dominate the global halal market. The strategy is to improve the current halal assurance process. Presently, the technology and procedure do not provide enough process transparency, traceability, and granularity of information. To achieve the strategic goal, a technological change is needed. A new emerging technology, blockchain, may potentially answer the challenge. This study’s first objective is to discuss improving the current assurance practice in the Indonesian halal supply chain ecosystem, particularly in the meat industry. The second objective is to construct a traceability system model for the supply chain. Our goal is to propose a blockchain-based halal traceability system model. The model can be enhanced to be a national standard tool to develop the economy towards a sustainable supply chain. Full article

The pandemic caused by the coronavirus continues to test barriers around the world. In this sense, the tourism industry has become the sector most affected by the crisis with more than 900 million euros in losses. Recovery will require a great effort, especially in countries where the sector accounts for a large share of the economy and employment. This study analyzes the perceptions and proposals of the residents of the autonomous community of Andalusia. A total of 658 surveys were conducted during the closure. A quantitative and qualitative thematic analysis was carried out using SPSS and NVivo Pro programs. The findings provide significant insights into the economic recovery of society after the pandemic. The Andalusians have opted for local tourism so that the residents become the consumers of the tourist products of their territory. The deployment of new technologies and marketing campaigns should provide the basic strategies for structural changes and innovations. The residents demand a united Europe and disagree with the statements of some political leaders. The conclusions have practical and theoretical implications for tourist destinations. Full article

Palm oil is an essential commodity used in the manufacture of various daily products and is highly competitive with vegetable oil. However, the palm oil competition is fierce and complex due to movement of palm oil trade. The study examined the determinant, stability, and duration of competitiveness in the global palm oil trade involving countries worldwide. This research was analyzed from 1996 to 2019 using descriptive analysis, panel regression, stability, and Kaplan–Meier tests. The results showed that palm oil supply in the global market is centralized with distributed demand. The competitiveness of palm oil based on revealed symmetric comparative advantage (RSCA) and trade balance index (TBI) is similar to its suppliers globally. The positive factors that determine the competitiveness in the global palm oil trade are population and import of animal or vegetable fats and oils. GDP per capita and dummy RSPO negatively affect competitiveness. The stability and duration analysis showed that the global palm oil market is highly competitive. Full article

The macroeconomic effect of the obesity epidemic on environmental degradation was examined for panel data from thirty-one European countries from 1991 to 2016. The quantile via moments model (QVM) was used to realize our empirical investigation. The empirical results indicate that the obesity epidemic, electricity consumption, and urbanisation encourage environmental degradation by increasing CO₂ emissions, while economic growth decreases them. Moreover, we identify that the obesity epidemic raises the environmental degradation problem in three ways. First, the obesity epidemic is caused by the increased consumption of processed foods from multinational food corporations. The increase in food production will positively impact energy consumption from non-renewable energy sources. Second, obesity reduces physical and outdoor activities, increasing the intensive use of home appliances and motorized transportation and screen-viewing leisure activities, consequently increasing energy consumption from non-renewable energy sources. A third possible way can be related indirectly to economic growth, globalization, and urbanisation. This empirical investigation will contribute to the literature and for policymakers and governments. Therefore, this investigation will encourage the development of initiatives to mitigate the obesity problem in European countries and accelerate the energy transition process. Finally, this investigation will open a new topic in the literature regarding the correlation between the obesity epidemic and environmental degradation. Full article

Liquidity is important for the stability of financial markets and the growth of national economies. However, the liquidity of financial markets may be influenced by country risk shocks through informational asymmetry, funding constraints, and portfolio rebalancing activities. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the effects of disaggregated country risk components on the liquidity of the South African Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) market. The sample employed segregates South African ETFs based on their benchmarking styles—particularly, ETFs with domestic benchmarks and ETFs with international benchmarks. The results from the panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model suggest that the liquidity of ETFs tracking domestic benchmarks is influenced positively by all country risk components in the long run, although only political and financial risks positively influence its short-run liquidity. Similarly, political and economic risk shocks positively influence the liquidity of ETFs tracking international benchmarks in the long-run; however, financial risk negatively influences its liquidity in both the long and short run. These findings suggest that investors can improve the overall performance and liquidity of their portfolios by taking into account the stability of political, financial, and economic risks. Full article

The concept of artificial intelligence (AI) is the transformation of inanimate objects into intelligent beings that can reason similarly to humans. Computer systems are capable of imitating a number of human intelligence functions, such as learning, reasoning, problem solving, speech recognition, and planning. In this regard, artificial intelligence applications have been developed to assist corporations and entrepreneurs in making business decisions. Hence, the aim of the study is to investigate the adoption of AI applications at the Vietnamese organizational level. Using the core structures of the technology–organization–environment (TOE), the theoretical model was constructed based on how technical and environmental elements influence companies’ technological innovation adoption decisions. Ten critical factors related to AI adoption are identified. To test the model, data were obtained from 193 senior managers who are directly in charge of information systems in both private and public companies in Vietnam. Subsequently, the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach was used to analyze the data. The findings indicate that technical compatibility, relative advantage, technical complexity, technical capability, managerial capability, organizational readiness, government involvement, market uncertainty, and vendor partnership are significantly related to AI application adoption. Interestingly, the study results indicated that the relationship between organization size and AI adoption was not statistically significant. Therefore, the suggested adoption of the AI application could contribute to the existing research on the adoption of AI through the TOE. Finally, the significant government law implications and future research directions are further addressed. Full article

This study examines the spatial impact of FDI on the poverty of 44 African countries. In achieving this, the study uses the Driscoll–Kraay fixed effect instrumental variable regression, the instrumental variable generalized method of moments estimator (IV-GMM), and the spatial Durbin model. The empirical investigation of this study yielded four significant findings: (1) neighboring countries’ FDIs have a positive and significant impact on the incidence and intensity of the host country’s poverty, (2) improved institutional quality in neighboring countries has a significant impact on the FDI–poverty reduction nexus of the host country, (3) the empirical results lend support for a significant spatial spillover of poverty in the region, (4) the marginal effect results indicate that countries within the region are no longer in isolation or independent, i.e., the level of poverty in a particular country is influenced by its determinants in the neighboring country. This result is robust to the alternative proximity matrix, which is the inverse distance. Since there is spatial interdependence among African countries, we recommend that African governments, through the African Union (AU), should not only champion the institutional reform in the region, but also establish a binding mechanism to ensure reform implementation. Full article

This article examines the question of whether developing countries with strong political capacity have lower levels of corruption. Despite the ubiquity of literature on corruption, the relationship between a state’s political capacity and corruption has not been addressed by the existing academic literature. To measure the political capacity of a country, the authors have used relative political capacity (RPC), an indicator that gauges the effectiveness of governance by its ability to meet or exceed their expected extractive capabilities and its ability to implement a set of policy choices. On the one hand, politically capable and stable governments are in a position to pursue their political and economic goals, such as reducing corruption. On the other hand, a strong political capacity provides them with the opportunity for rent-seeking and corruption. This implies that a state’s strong political capacity can be either a ‘boon’ or ‘bane’ to implement a set of desired policy goals. Based on this assertion, the authors test the hypothesis of whether a strong relative political capacity increases or reduces the level of corruption. The analysis uses the ordinary least-squares and two-stage least squares methods for 98 developing countries to test the hypothesis. The findings suggest that the explanatory power of political capacity is at least as important as conventionally accepted causes of corruption, such as economic development, and democracy. Full article

Technology is recognised as one of the most important factors in world economic development, particularly contributing to the trade growth of information and communications technology (ICT) products. The decomposition of export growth has been a popular way to analyse how trade has been influenced since 2000. However, there is little investigation regarding the structure of ICT product trading of China, which is the de facto largest trader of ICT goods export and import. This paper contributes to the existing methods with a non-parametric model. The coefficient estimates which functions of their factors represent a dynamic analysis of the factors’ influence on decomposed trade growth. The empirical study shows that China’s strategy tends to be conservative, as the growth of trade to developed countries mostly came from the volume increase of existing trade lines instead of the increase of trade varieties. Suggestions include that the trade growth could benefit from resource reallocation in ICT industries and the procedure simplification of exporting ICT products. This paper also provides empirical evidence that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) increased the trading volume and frequency by completing the transportation chain and decreasing the variable trade costs. Furthermore, suggestions are provided on improving the impact on the globalisation of ICT. Full article

This paper empirically examines the influence of financial factors on housing prices in Chile, given the relevance that arises from the important housing crisis that the country is going through and the scarce amount of literature on causal relationships between price and other variables for the case under study. The hypothesis is that different financial factors have a significant influence on the price of housing, while the price of housing acts as an attractor of financial investment due to its good profitability. To conduct the statistical test, a Granger causality test is applied to a weekly data series covering the years 2009–2018. The results indicate that the causality hypothesis is plausible. On the one hand, the role of international stock market influences housing prices in Chile. Also, the Chilean Central Bank has a significant causality relationship with the housing prices. The structure of the article is organised with a second section devoted to explaining the methods and data used for the test, followed by the results analysed and discussed in the third section and closing conclusions that allow for further research and policy implications of the findings. These findings are valuable to complexify the Chilean housing policy by incorporating financial variables. Full article

This paper investigates the relationship between bank debt and earnings management in private SMEs in a bank-oriented economy. In this study, we leverage a sample of 4866 Italian private SMEs from 2005 to 2012 and propose a new metric to isolate the annual increase in bank debt. The results of our OLS regression suggest that, even though bank monitoring is an effective mechanism to constrain firms’ earnings management, firms engage in higher income-increasing earnings management, as proxied by discretionary accruals, in the fiscal year prior to a new bank loan application. The results are robust to different econometric specifications and are not affected by endogeneity. Full article

Leadership is about lifting a person’s vision, raising their productivity to higher standards and creating a personality beyond their usual capabilities. Our study examines the Pygmalion effect and leader-member exchange (LMX) on employee task performance via organizational commitment. The data was collected from 280 middle-level managers from top ten banks in Pakistan. This study offers three main contributions to the literature. First, our results discover a strong link between the Pygmalion effect, LMX and employees’ task performance through mediation of organizational commitment. Secondly, our study indicates that leaders should have higher quality relationships with employees and higher task performance expectations. Finally, most previous studies focused on leadership approaches or have been conducted in western developed countries. To our knowledge, this study is a unique contribution to the literature on leaders’ expectations in changing and diverse environments, as in underdeveloped countries like Pakistan. Full article