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The purpose of this paper is to provide a fresh insight into the examination of the comparison between multinationality and firm performance, measured through technical efficiency levels by overcoming methodological constraints and misunderstandings presented in earlier research.

The authors estimate firms’ efficiency levels in a production function-type framework through technical efficiency levels using nonparametric data envelopment analysis. The authors include firms from both developed and developing economies, from different national origins and with different sectoral characteristics, with a particular focus on knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) and capital-intensive business services (CIBS).

The study confirms for the case of KIBS the existence of the three-stage sigmoid (S-shaped) hypothesis between multinationality and firm performance measured through technical efficiency levels. Finally, the empirical findings reveal that CIBS exhibit only the first two stages, thus forming a “U”-shape relationship.

The authors propose the application of different firms’ performance measurements, providing us with the ability to unpack a firms’ managerial decision processes with regards to determining the optimised investment(s) in technology and research and development and with a particular focus on KIBS and CIBS.

This paper aims to examine the market structure of Vietnam’s banking sector during 1999-2009, which is after the introduction of the two-tier banking system, using the non-structural (Panzar–Rosse) model.

The authors consider a more comprehensive range of specifications, in terms of a greater number of environmental covariates and different dependent variables, than in the previous applications of this model. Further, this is the first study that uses lagged input prices (to avoid endogeneity), excludes assets (to avoid specification bias) and includes a lagged dependent variable (to avoid dynamic panel bias) in such a study of the Vietnamese banking system.

The authors find that the Vietnamese banking system operates in monopoly.

The main contribution of this paper is to determine the market structure in the recent period after the Vietnamese banking system was transformed into a less centralised, two-tier system. This study is the first to uniquely identify the market structure of this developing economy’s banking system (using data only for Vietnam and not observations from other countries) in a post-transition period.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the quantitative determinants of individual ratings of commercial banks (as conducted by Fitch Ratings).

The ordered probit model is applied as an extension of the standard binary probit model. The model is estimated using a sample of 681 international banks.

Banks with a greater capitalisation, larger assets, and a higher return on assets have higher bank ratings. Further, the greater is a bank's liquidity, the larger is its net interest margin and the more is the ratio of its operating expenses to total operating income the lower is a bank's rating.

Modelling the determinants of international bank ratings spanning a sample of 90 countries. Applying a model with dynamics that considers whether the rating is determined by information up to four years prior to the rating date.

This paper investigates the development of efficiency and the progress of banking integration in the European Union by checking for convergence among banks of European and Eurozone countries as well as contrasting the results with those of United States banks.

Initially, we employ the two-stage semi-parametric double bootstrap DEA method, which absorbs the effects of possible integration barriers in the measurement of efficiency. Afterwards, we apply a panel data model, in order to investigate the process of banking integration by testing for convergence and for convergent clusters in banking efficiency.

Our main findings show that the bank efficiency of the US is considerably higher than that of the Eurozone and the European Union. Although there is no evidence of convergence across the banking groups, our results indicate the presence of club convergence. We also conclude that the US banking system is closer to convergence than the Eurozone and the European Union banks. Nevertheless, this outcome is subject to change in the future due to the fact that Eurozone and European Union banks' speed of convergence is higher than that of US banks.

Our survey is unique in trying to check for convergence while controlling for country-specific and bank-specific factors that affect the efficiency of European and Eurozone banks. Moreover, recent literature does not compare the convergence of efficiency of Eurozone, European and US banking. Finally, in our paper special consideration was given to the comparison of commercial, cooperative and savings banks, as subsets of our banking groups.

In this paper, the authors investigate whether the systemic local banking crises (LBCs) and global financial crisis (GFC) impact the association between bank profit efficiency and earnings quality in developing economies.

Using panel data spanning 29 years over the period 1991–2019 for 169 banks drawn from five East African countries, the authors perform difference-in-difference multivariate analyses using the generalised method of moments (GMM) system estimator on a sample consisting of 2,261 bank-year observations.

The results, which are robust for endogeneity and other checks, show that banks with higher profit efficiency consistently report higher quality earnings. The authors further establish that whereas systemic LBCs contribute negatively to bank earnings quality, the GFC tends to have a positive impact. These results are upheld when the joint impacts of both systemic LBCs, GFC and profit efficiency on earnings quality are considered. The positive influence of profit efficiency and GFC on earnings quality is pronounced under income-decreasing earnings management. The impacts of profit efficiency, LBCs and GFC on earnings quality appear to be non-monotonic and vary across the sampled countries.

The study's findings are based on banks in five developing countries within a regional economic bloc. Additional studies could focus on other economic blocs for enhanced generalisability of the findings. In addition, some of the variables examined are studied at bank-level, while other variables are at country-level. Finally, the study establishes an association between the variables of interest, and this does not necessarily imply causation.

The results provide useful insights to bank regulatory and supervisory agencies on the need to exercise increased risk-based scrutiny over bank loan loss provisioning and minimum loan loss reserve requirements. From an audit perspective, auditors need to be cautious and apply an enhanced risk-based audit especially when auditing banks during and after a financial, banking or systemic crisis. Credit rating agencies need to pay closer attention to the LLPs of distressed banks. Finally, bank investors and customers should be cautious when using bank financial statements, since bank managers of poorly performing banks might engage in aggressive earnings management.

The study is perhaps the first to examine the joint effects of systemic LBCs on the association between bank profit efficiency and the quality of earnings in a larger dataset of banks in a developing regional economic bloc. The authors also employ the GMM system estimator in the modelling, which helps address some weaknesses in prior studies.

Professionals and academics alike hold polarized opinions about Bitcoin’s purpose and its fundamental value. This paper aims to describe Bitcoin’s unique features that make it such an intriguing asset and proposes a new way to consider Bitcoin and its underlying value.

In this paper the author discusses Bitcoin’s defining features that make it a unique asset. The author argues that Bitcoin should not be considered as a single purpose asset only, but rather as a new digital financial asset serving several functions, at least partially. The author discusses the role of Bitcoin in the traditional financial system, contrasts Bitcoin to gold, considers the implications of the continuance of expansionary policies on Bitcoin and discusses the impact of the emergence of cryptocurrencies as a new asset class on public policies.

In addition to functioning as a means of payment (at least partially) and a diversification tool, part of Bitcoin’s value proposition stems from its worth as a short position on modern expansionary monetary policies. Indeed, Bitcoin’s value should rise if expansionary monetary policies are maintained, amounting to a tool to short these policies, which should be considered in future attempts to value Bitcoin.

The author adds a new layer to the ongoing thought process by arguing of a function played by Bitcoin unaccounted for thus far by the literature. Additionally, the author describes the features and mechanisms, allowing Bitcoin to play that role.

The current paper's goal is to examine the productivity of the closed banking sector evidenced from Ethiopia. In addition, the inclusion of intangibles on productivity was examined in the current paper.

First, the standard Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) was employed for 13 commercial banks for both stages. Second, by excluding the state-owned commercial bank, the analysis employed a bootstrapped MPI for the robust and comprehensive conclusion. Furthermore, from 2010 to 2019, the fixed effect Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression with balanced panel data was used.

The standard MPI in both stages shows that the productivity of Ethiopian commercial banks is declining. The technological shock was the main reason for the loss. The catch-up in both stages scored above unity, mainly due to the pure efficiency change. Besides, when combined with tangible resources, the inclusion of resource-based view (RBV) proxy variables reduces technological shock regress and ultimately improves productivity change. The bootstrapped MPI also reveals that technological shock is the primary source of the productivity decline. However, efficiency change also contributes to the productivity decline based on this estimation.

Future research could examine the more extensive productivity analysis by considering the primary sources of data collections for resource-based variables.

According to the study's results, banking regulatory authorities and bank management, including the shareholders, should continue to invest in cutting-edge technology to improve the productivity of the banking sector.

This is the first comprehensive study of productivity for Ethiopian commercial banks based on the standard MPI, bootstrapped MPI, and OLS by incorporating all resources into the analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the importance of financial liquidity and solvency on US commercial and domestic banks’ cost efficiency while accounting for internal and external factors.

The Stochastic Frontier Analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis estimators are used to estimate the cost efficiency of 11,044  US commercial and domestic banks from 2005 to 2017. Using Tobit regression model, the importance of financial liquidity and solvency on cost efficiency is examined.

The results provide evidence that the financial liquidity and solvency negatively impact the cost efficiency of US commercial and domestic banks. Overall, US commercial and domestic banks were inefficient during the financial crisis in comparison to the tranquil period. The importance of financial solvency on the cost efficiency was not statistically significant, while the financial liquidity negatively collapsed because of contagion. Finally, the results provide evidence that the amount of total assets matters in the improvement of the cost efficiency.

This paper estimates and identifies the 2007-2009 financial crisis with liquidity, solvency or both financial factors.

This paper aims to investigate if and to what extent environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices are influenced by innovation, measured by investment in research and development (R&D) and the number of patents developed by companies.

To test this hypothesis, the authors estimated a regression model for the panel data considering a time horizon of eight years. The analysis was conducted on a sample of listed firms operating in the industrial sector in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the USA.

The empirical analysis shows that there is a positive and significant relationship between ESG practices and innovation. Companies investing more in R&D and patents have better ESG performance.

This study contributes to the existing literature by improving the understanding of the importance of innovation in improving ESG practices for firms in the industrial sector. Furthermore, it provides empirical evidence of the ability of innovation to be a valuable tool for sustainable industry development through R&D investment and patent development.