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The authors investigate the impacts of international capital inflows on bank lending in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-6 (ASEAN-6) countries on the dynamics of both bank loan volumes and credit risk-taking. The authors further explore the heterogenous impacts of different components of the foreign capital. As a robustness check, the authors also examine the role of crisis periods and agency problem on the relationship between international capital inflows and bank lending.

The authors explore the impacts of international capital inflows on bank lending in the ASEAN-6 countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. The authors employ quarterly data from 2005Q1 to 2021Q2 from 45 commercial banks in the ASEAN-6 countries. The article uses bank-fixed and time-fixed effects in the panel dataset to account for any unobserved heterogeneity.

The authors find that capital inflows to the ASEAN-6 countries are associated with higher bank loan growth and lower loan loss provisions to net interest income ratios. Moreover, the positive relationships between capital inflows to the bank loan growth and credit risk-taking are mainly driven by the dynamics in foreign direct investments (FDIs) and other inflow (OI) components. Contrary to the global financial crisis (GFC), the authors note that the mediating role of capital inflows on bank lending is of particular importance in the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study has some limitations that provide vendors for future research. First, while the authors focus on the impact of capital inflows on bank-level lending activities, future research can also explore the role of foreign capital on bank efficiency and financial stability. Second, although foreign capital fluctuates the most during crisis periods, the movement of capital inflows is also sensitive to other periods of heightened global uncertainty. Thus, rather than focus on the behavior of foreign capital during crisis periods, future research can examine and explore the impacts of capital inflows in different periods of “stop” and “surge” for sudden contraction and boom in capital inflows to the ASEAN-6 countries.

First, the authors provide a comprehensive analysis of international capital inflows' impact on bank lending in the ASEAN region on both bank loan volumes and credit risk-taking. Second, the authors provide evidence of the impact of different forms of foreign capital on the bank lending. Third, the authors investigate the heterogeneous impact of foreign capital on crisis periods and bank sizes, which the authors emphasize the unusual characteristics of the COVID-19 crisis compared with the GFC.

This study aims to investigate customer experience (CE) and its relationship with intermediate variables to analyze the impact of digital banking (DB) on banks’ financial performance (FP) before Covid-19 and during the lockdown in Vietnam.

These research data are from a survey of Vietnamese customers. The survey was deployed to a sample of 238 and 218 customers of 20 Vietnamese commercial banks via email in 2018Q4 and 2020Q2, respectively. FP is measured using banks’ quarterly financial statements before Covid-19 and during the lockdown.

CE with DB had a significant and positive impact on FP via customer satisfaction before Covid-19, while the other two intermediate variables (word-of-mouth [WoM] and trust) had no considerable impact. During the lockdown, only WoM had a positive impact on FP. These findings indicate that before Covid-19, when customers could easily interact with their bank through many touchpoints, customer satisfaction with DB services created higher FP for the bank. However, during the lockdown, DB became the customer’s main touchpoint and WoM mediated the CE–FP relationship.

During the national lockdown from the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020, customers in Vietnam may have had different experiences with DB when no alternate modes of payment were available. The study uses Covid-19 as a moderator variable to offer different viewpoints and findings related to CE with DB and its impact on FP.

This paper aims to investigate the association between the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the cost of equity (COE) and cost of debt (COD).

The authors use the multivariate regression analysis approach to address the developed hypotheses.

Using a sample of 230 Australian listed firms from 2004 to 2016, the authors document that firms complying with higher CSR affect both COE and COD negatively, which means that CSR disclosure reduces financing cost.

These results support the risk mitigation perspective of CSR compliance, showing that both the investors and creditors may lower their expected returns because they find that CSR can mitigate potential business risk.

The authors extend the CSR research with both COE and COD.

The paper aims to ascertain whether residents in Nguyen Du ward still sort their waste at source following the end of the 3R project that ended in 2009. Additionally, this paper aims to explore the relationship between waste separation practices and social bonds.

The Travis Hirschi theory of social control was applied, together with the mixed method research design which included a structured questionnaire survey. Twelve semi-structured interviews were also conducted with residents and the data processed by SPSS software, using Chi-Square test, Independent-Samples t-test and Pearson's correlation analysis.

A proportion of respondents has continued practicing waste separation since the 3R project ended. The study also indicated that the greater the involvement in family and neighborhood activities the more the participants were likely to practice waste separation.

The small sample size limits the extent to which the most influential factors can be determined and therefore the degree to which the findings can be generalized.

The study includes implications for rerunning the waste separation programs for households as together with community campaigns to improve individuals' attachment and commitment and thus their participation in pro-environmental behaviors.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to take a sociological approach to investigate factors affecting household waste separation, which has attracted little attention in previous studies. Useful information is also provided to local authorities for a policy-making process to implement effective domestic waste policies.

COVID-19 presents a serious and unprecedented challenge around the globe. Street vendors are the most vulnerable group during this pandemic regarding livelihood loss and contagion risk. This research aims to examine the roles of risk communication work in enhancing COVID-19 risk perceptions and adoption of COVID-19 preventive behaviors among street vendors.

The data were collected from the street vendors in urban Vietnam. A binary probit model was used for analyzing the relationships among exposure to risk communication, risk perception and adoption of preventive behaviors.

The analysis reveals the outreach of risk communication work to the street vendors. A rather large proportion of the respondents perceive high risks associated with COVID-19. All respondents adopt COVID-19 preventive behaviors; however, the proportion of regular adoption is moderate and even very low for most behaviors. Their frequent exposure to risk communication significantly raises their risk perceptions and encourages their regular adoption of preventive behaviors, particularly regarding the measures that are affordable and less detrimental to their livelihood.

This research is among the first attempts to examine risk communication to the vulnerable group, how they perceive risks and the extent to which they adopt preventive behaviors during a public health crisis. This research draws some implications for risk communication and social welfare policies to obtain sustainable development goals.

This paper aims to examine the effects of investor sentiment on the development of the real estate corporate bond market in Vietnam.

The research uses an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model with quarterly data. Additionally, the study employs Google Trends search data (GVSI) related to topics such as “Real Estate” and “Corporate Bond” to construct a sentiment index.

The empirical outcomes reveal that real estate market sentiment improves the growth of the real estate corporate bond market, while stock market sentiment reduces it. Also, there is evidence of a long-run negative effect of corporate bond market sentiment on the total value of real estate bond issuance. Further empirical research evidences the short-term effect of sentiment and economic factors on corporate bond development in the real estate industry.

Due to difficulties in collecting data, this paper has the limited sample of 54 valid quarterly observations. Moreover, the sentiment index based on Google search volume data only reflects the interest level of investors, not their attitudes.

These results yield important implications for policymakers in respect of strengthening the corporate bond market platform and maintaining stability in macroeconomic and monetary policies in order to promote efficient and sustainable market development.

The study offers some suggestions for regulators and governments to improve the real estate corporate bond market.

This is the first quantitative study to examine the effect of sentiment factors on real estate corporate bond development in Vietnam.

This paper aims to explore factors influencing Vietnamese people’s susceptibility to fraud through cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes.

This study uses the gullibility theory, the theory of planned behavior theory, the traditional theory of finance and the theory of financial behavior, to develop a questionnaire which is then sent to respondents who are Vietnamese individuals. Subsequently, the partial least squares structural equation modeling approach (PLS-SEM) is used to analyze 370 collected responses.

This research shows the important roles that trust, risk appetite and knowledge of Ponzi play in respect of fraud susceptibility, among which trust has the highest positive impact. Moreover, there is no evidence of relationships between Vietnamese people’s susceptibility to fraud via cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes and attitudes toward investment scams, knowledge of investment or knowledge of Ponzi schemes.

This paper collects only 370 valid responses, which raises some questions regarding the diversity and representativeness of the survey sample.

This study provides evidence on factors affecting Vietnamese people’s fraud susceptibility to cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes, which helps both authorities and individuals to be vigilant against investment scams.

This research proposes several recommendations to prevent investment scams in cryptocurrency trading, from the perspective of state regulators and individuals.

This working paper provides a new approach using PLS-SEM to build a theoretical framework for the possibility of becoming victims of investment scams in Vietnam using a combination of different theories from criminology and finance.

This paper aims to explore factors influencing apartment price volatility in the two biggest cities in Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The study uses the supply and demand approach and provides a literature review of previous studies to develop four main hypotheses using four determinants of apartment price volatility in Vietnam: gross domestic product (GDP), inflation rate, lending interest rate and construction cost. Subsequently, the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) is used to analyze a monthly data sample of 117.

The research highlights the important role of construction costs in apartment price volatility in the two largest cities. Moreover, there are significant differences in how all four determinants affect apartment price volatility in the two cities. In addition, there is a long-run relationship between the determinants and apartment price volatility in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Limitations related to data transparency of the real estate industry in Vietnam lead to three main limitations of this paper, including: this paper only collects a sample of 117 valid monthly observations; apartment price volatility is calculated by changes in the apartment price index instead of apartment price standard deviation; and this paper is limited by only four determinants, those being GDP, inflation rate, lending interest rate and construction cost.

The study provides evidence of differences in how the above determinants affect apartment price volatility in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which helps investors and policymakers to make informed decisions relating to the real estate market in the two biggest cities in Vietnam.

This paper makes several recommendations to policymakers and investors in Vietnam to ensure a stable real estate market, contributing to the stability of the national economy.

This paper provides a new approach using VECM to analyze both long-run and short-run relationships between macroeconomic and sectoral independent variables and apartment price volatility in the two biggest cities in Vietnam.

Recognition that not every climate adaptation policy is a good one has shifted attention to new tools and methods to measure the adequacy and effectiveness of adaptation policies. This study aims to propose and apply and applies an innovative adaptation policy assessment framework to identify the extent to which climate adaptation policies in Vietnam exhibit conditions that are likely to ensure a sufficient, credible and effective adaptation.

In total, 21 conditions, categorized under five normative principles and covering critical issue areas in adaptation domain, form the climate adaptation policy assessment framework. The principles were double-checked and tested in case studies through observations and analyses of policy documents to ensure that each condition should be distinct and not overlapping across principles. To see if the principles and attendant conditions were able to capture all relevant aspects of adaptation, the authors used structured expert judgment. In total, 39 policy documents pertaining to climate change adaptation were selected for qualitative document analysis. In-depth interviews with local officials and experts were conducted to address data gaps.

The study reveals major weaknesses constituting a reasonably worrisome picture of the adaptation policies in Vietnam since several critical conditions were underrepresented. These results shed new light on why some adaptation policies falter or are posing adverse impacts. The findings suggest that a sound policy assessment framework can provide evidence on what effective adaptation policy looks like and how it can be enabled. The framework for climate adaptation policy assessment in this study can be easily adjusted and used for different socio-environmental contexts in which new conditions for policy assessment might emerge.

The findings show underlying weaknesses constituting a reasonably worrisome picture of the adaptation regime in Vietnam. In the absence of mechanisms and measures for accountability and transparency in policy processes, adaptation in Vietnam appears more likely to be prone to maladaptation and corruption. While solving these problems will not be easy for Vietnam, the government needs to evaluate whether the short-term gains in sustaining the existing adaptation policies really make progress and serve its long-term climate-adaptive development goals.

Although interpretations of adaptation effectiveness may be very divergent in different normative views on adaptation outcomes, the authors argue that a common, agreed-upon effectiveness can be reached if it is clearly defined and measurable in adaptation policies. Thus, the climate adaptation policy assessment framework proposed in this study is critical for policymakers, practitioners, donors and stakeholders dealing with adaptation to better understand the weaknesses in policymaking processes, pinpoint priority areas of action and timely prevent or prepare for possible adverse impacts of policies.

Unsustainable logging and illegal logging for domestic and international trade and trafficking continue to lead to deforestation. It is crucial that Sustainable Development Goal 15 ‘Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss’ is achieved to maintain the livelihoods of people and protect the planet. This is the case in Vietnam as well, where many people, including indigenous groups, rely on the forest for their survival. Drawing on semistructured interviews in Vietnam and a literature review, we investigate how the abuse of forest policies leads to human insecurity. From this, we propose solutions to (1) end unsustainable harvesting and illegal logging (SDG 15.7), (2) integrate the value of forests (culturally and economically) into national and local planning, the development process and poverty elimination strategies (SDG 15.9) and (3) improve the use of forest protection funding provided by international donors.