•This study explores how EMA-approved vaccinations affect EU stock fund results.•This study applied event study methodology.•The study indicates all vaccines increased fund returns.•Early ...vaccinations had higher abnormal returns, indicating the first-mover advantage.•The findings imply that stock markets embraced vaccines to increase firm business.
In this paper, we analyze the impact of the marketing authorization of EMA-approved vaccines on the returns of equity funds in the EU. Using the event study methodology, we report that the introduction of all vaccines had a positive impact on the funds' returns. Higher abnormal returns were associated with the earlier vaccines, indicating the first-mover advantage and the abnormal returns were persistent across several event windows. The findings imply that equity markets welcomed the vaccine administration as an important pharmaceutical intervention to support the quasi-revival of business activities. Consequently, there was a significant uplift in the economic bottom line.
The purpose of the paper is to analyse the effects of interpersonal trust in business relations (proxied by trade credit) and institutional trust (proxied by firms' trust in courts) on firms' ...performance. The analysis is performed on a specific sample of 1298 firms in Western Balkan countries which are usually characterized by negative social capital that is considered to hinder economic and social development at all levels. The methodological approach is based on the propensity score matching method and the obtained results show that firms' perception of courts as fair, impartial and uncorrupted, is connected with lower costs and with positive expectations of an increase in sales in the upcoming period. On the other side, trade credit as a trust variable has a statistically significant and positive effect on firm productivity measured as sales per employee and on expectations of an increase in sales in the upcoming period. The paper contributes to the existing literature in terms of the choice of the post-socialist groups of countries for the analysis, the method that is used (treatment-effects estimation), and in terms of performing firm-level analysis of the effects of two types of trust on selected variables of firm performance.
This paper studies the extent individuals are willing to undertake energy efficiency measures, with evidence coming from a developing country (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The goal of this paper is to ...analyze energy-savings behaviors, aiming to understand what is typically meant under the term energy efficiency, who is more likely to know the meaning, and the extent individuals are willing to undertake some energy efficiency measures. The sample size used in this paper is a random stratified sample of 1,415 individuals coming from various backgrounds. Our logistic regression models found no statistically significant predictor across all ten measures used in the study. However, past experience, age, and being married are relatively common across these ten energy-saving behaviors. These results might be beneficial in defining policies in order to promote energy-saving behaviors.
This paper explores the impact of education-job mismatch on the net income of workers in the context of Bosnia-Herzegovina. We used an OLS linear regression method on data from the Measure BiH Youth ...Survey. A log-transformation of the dependent variable created the left-side semilog functional form, which is typically used in models of the earnings of individuals. Our findings strongly support the statement that education-job mismatch has a significant effect on net income. Workers can expect net income differences between 13% and 15% if their level of education does not match that required for their job. However, our results show that the impact of education-job mismatch depends on the level of schooling and age of respondents. Results regarding education-job mismatch vary across studies, but our study is the first to examine the effect of education-job mismatch on net income in the context of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Second, the effect of education-job mismatch might depend on the choice of estimation method for incidences of overeducation and undereducation. Third, we emphasise the importance of understanding interactions, and fourth, we introduce new variables to understand how they influence earnings. These include religiousness, and the importance of belonging to a family, or a particular city.
Purpose The blue and green firms are notable contributors to sustainable development. Similar to other businesses in circular economies, blue and green firms also face financing constraints. This ...paper aims to assess whether blue and green lending help in optimizing the interest rate spreads and the likelihood of default. Design/methodology/approach This analysis is based on an unbalanced panel of banks from 20 eurozone countries for eleven years between 2012 and 2022. The key indicators of banking include interest rate spread and a market-based probability of default. The paper assesses how these indicators are influenced by exposure to green and blue firms after controlling for several exogenous factors. Findings The results show a positive relationship between green and blue lending and spread, while there is a negative link with the probability of default. This confirms that the blue and green exposure positively supports the credit portfolio both in terms of profitability and risk management. Originality/value The banking system is among the key contributors to corporate finance and to enable continuous access to sustainable finance, the banking firms must be incentivized. While many studies analyze the impact of green lending, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the very few that extend this analysis to blue economy firms.
As the 21st-century paradigm, sustainable development implies, among other things, the need to ensure environmental sustainability through replacement of traditional energy sources with ...environmentally acceptable renewable ones. Economic literature identifies a number of prerequisites and determinants needed for the successful use of renewable energy sources. The purpose of this study is to deepen our understanding of the determinants of an individual’s willingness to support the implementation of energy-saving measures. A nation-wide citizen perception survey of 3,024 respondents was carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018 to collect data for this study. The paper takes a micro-level approach focusing on the behaviour of an individual. The respondents were found to have a positive attitude toward renewable energy projects. Most of them (72.78%) support such projects. Logistic regression (maximum-likelihood estimation) was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The results of the study show that there are several important predictors of an individual’s support for projects related to renewable energy sources, including age, gender, income, satisfaction with the standard of living, religiousness, living in a male-dominated household, and ethnicity. The results of the study can help policymakers to design and adopt adequate policy measures for promoting financial investments in renewable energy sources, and project developers to tailor their communication and promotion strategies to the needs of specific population segments to better achieve the goals and benefits of such projects.
The energy efficiency represents a global and multi-faceted issue. It is especially important in the former socialist countries belonging to the Balkan’s region being geographically located in the ...Southeastern Europe (SE). The research problem addressed in this paper focuses on the unexplored potential links between the energy efficiency and the economic development. Energy efficiency is deemed to be highly job intensive phenomenon. It delivers multiple long-range benefits by the means of increasing competitiveness, energy affordability, and decreasing energy bills. Furthermore, it seeks to tackle the important issues of reduced reliance on energy importing, reduction in harmful greenhouse gas emissions and freeing up of funds to be critically invested in other economic areas. Energy efficiency, efficient and effective policies have been found to be directly linked to job creation and deliverance of the economic stimulus. These types of jobs are related to the activities with the paramount aim in reduction of the energy consumption. Investments in energy efficiency in the buildings and construction sector have been found to have brought about the greatest macroeconomic impact. This impact is due to the increasing need for the construction of new buildings and renovation of existing ones, in addition to its considerable potential in activation of the above listed industries’ value chains. The introduction of energy management system (EMS) being exemplified through the set of processes which utilize data to maintain and enhance energy efficiency and operational efficiency could be one of the important avenues to pursue. On the other hand, the EMS reduces the energy intensity and detrimental environmental polluting impact.
As the 21st-century paradigm, sustainable development implies, among other things, the need to ensure environmental sustainability through replacement of traditional energy sources with ...environmentally acceptable renewable ones. Economic literature identifies a number of prerequisites and determinants needed for the successful use of renewable energy sources. The purpose of this study is to deepen our understanding of the determinants of an individual’s willingness to support the implementation of energy-saving measures. A nation-wide citizen perception survey of 3,024 respondents was carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018 to collect data for this study. The paper takes a micro-level approach focusing on the behaviour of an individual. The respondents were found to have a positive attitude toward renewable energy projects. Most of them (72.78%) support such projects. Logistic regression (maximum-likelihood estimation) was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The results of the study show that there are several important predictors of an individual’s support for projects related to renewable energy sources, including age, gender, income, satisfaction with the standard of living, religiousness, living in a male-dominated household, and ethnicity. The results of the study can help policymakers to design and adopt adequate policy measures for promoting financial investments in renewable energy sources, and project developers to tailor their communication and promotion strategies to the needs of specific population segments to better achieve the goals and benefits of such projects.
The purpose of this study is to examine two leverage ratios using a sample of non-financial companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). It was done by taking into account the joint effect of ...traditional capital structure determinants and managers' personal values and aspirations. We applied hierarchical regression analysis to determine the contribution of profitability indicators, firm size indicators, assets, growth, networking, managerial strategies, managerial psychology, managerial human capital and earnings volatility to explain the variance in capital structure. The results suggest that companies with less experienced owners/managers and higher firm growth have higher financial leverage ratios. In the analysis of the balance sheet leverage, financial proxies of capital structure seem to be significant in explaining capital structure variance. Therefore, companies with lower profitability, a lower level of fixed assets and higher growth opportunities have higher balance sheet leverage ratios. The findings provide better understanding of theoretical perspectives that can best explain how companies choose their capital structure in the transition economy context. Furthermore, empirical findings should help corporate managers to make optimal capital structure decisions.
The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between gender, age, education, and thermal satisfaction of employees and users in public buildings, such as schools, public administration, and ...clinics. The study uses data collected from a randomized stratified sample from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The primary variable of interest is a dummy variable indicating whether individuals are satisfied with the heating of the rooms. Our results revealed that gender and education level might be significant factors. However, when controlling for the type of object, the observed differences were no longer present Furthermore, our findings show that the results do not differ significantly when the dependent satisfaction variable is measured as binary (dummy) or on a five-point Likert scale. Logistic regression provides an intuitive interpretation in terms of odds. Our study also indicates that age may be a critical predictor in the evaluation of indoor temperature, with older participants reporting the rooms in institutions to be warmer than the younger ones. The outcomes of this research could be valuable in developing policies aimed at improving energy efficiency of buildings. Understanding optimal thermal satisfaction could have significant implications for thermal energy consumption, particularly in the context of how individual characteristics, such as gender, age, and education level, might contribute to the reduction of energy consumption. By addressing the demand side of the energy consumption equilibrium, we might contribute to the better use of existing energy sources. The findings of this paper could also offer useful guidelines when designing more complex studies, especially regarding the debate if the use of a Likert scale is appropriate.
PDF
