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This study investigates the conventional and Islamic equity market reaction towards terrorism events in Pakistan from 2009 to 2016 using OLS regression and GARCH (1, 1) models. The prospect theory and efficient market hypothesis are the relevant theories. Findings indicate that conventional and Islamic equity market reaction towards terrorism events is very short lived and markets recovers quickly. This study also documents the market reaction to terrorism events based on the target type, location and during the Islamic calendar months. The impact of different target types and different event locations on the conventional and Islamic equity markets varies. The equity markets in Pakistan responds negatively to the attacks on educational institutes and businesses whereas positively to attacks on armed forces’ facilities. Furthermore, conventional equity market responds negatively to terrorist attacks in Karachi and positively to attacks in financial cities and FATA. Interestingly, Islamic equity market responds positively towards the attacks in financial cities and FATA, however, with very minute reaction magnitude. The findings of this study are useful for the investors to manage their portfolios by considering magnitude and direction of market reaction towards terrorism based on the target type, location and Islamic months. Overall, this study concludes that conventional and Islamic equity markets reaction towards terrorism is very minute; however, the conventional and Islamic equity markets reaction varies based on target type, event location and different Islamic calendar months. Furthermore, the findings also suggest that equity markets recover very soon, therefore, markets are efficient in observing these shocks.

This study investigates the determinants of dividend pay-out of listed firms in Pakistan from the year 2011 to 2015. The focus of the study is the life cycle theory of dividends, agency theory and signaling theory. Corporate governance indicators, firm efficiency and cash flow volatility are the main determinants used in this study. This study also includes eight corporate governance indicators namely insider ownership, ownership concentration, institutional ownership, board independence, board size, CEO duality, audit committee independence and remuneration committee. It is found that ownership concentration, institutional ownership, CEO duality, firm efficiency and cash flow volatility are the significant determinants of dividend pay-out in Pakistan. It is also found that growth opportunities significantly moderate the impact of ownership concentration, institutional ownership, CEO duality, firm efficiency, cash flow volatility on the dividend pay-out. This research is among the pioneer studies which examine the impact of firm efficiency on dividend pay-out. Likewise, the study is among the first attempts to incorporate growth opportunities as moderating variable in the relationship between corporate governance indicators, firm efficiency and cash flow volatility with dividend pay-out. Results show that the management of an efficient firm pays a high dividend to increase its reputation in the market. Furthermore, the negative signaling effect of dividend omission may not exist for efficient firms. It implies that efficient firms at their growth stage may also skip dividends.

Studies indicate that a consistent rise in insolvency risk should be addressed at the strategic level. Vigilant boards can use leverage maturity structure as a tool to control insolvency risk. However, according to the information asymmetry theory, leverage acquisition is subject to the presence of fixed assets which can be used as collateral. The current study focuses on the relationship between board vigilance and insolvency risk, mediated by debt maturity and moderated by fixed collaterals in Pakistan based non-financial firms. A data set of 284 firms is constructed between the years 2013 and 2017. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis is used to test the proposed hypothesis using ordinary least squares (OLS) and panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) regression estimators. The results indicate that debt maturity mediates the relationship between board vigilance and insolvency risk. New information is generated about the fixed collaterals, and these negatively moderate the relationship between leverage maturity and emerging market z-score indicating inefficiency in the usage of fixed assets as collaterals. These results are robust to both regression techniques confirming that the non-productive fixed collaterals overshadow the positives of tangible assets in asset structure.

This study investigates the affiliation of various proxies of economic sentiments and the US Dollar exchange rate, mainly focusing on the real effective exchange rate of USD pairing with three other major currencies (USDEUR, USDGBP, and USDCAD). The study has employed Google Trends data of economy optimistic and pessimistic sentiments index and survey-based economy sentiments data on monthly basis from January 2004 to December 2018. The study engaged Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation techniques to evaluate the short-run and long-run effects of economy-related sentiments and macroeconomic variables on the exchange rate. The results from the study found that Economy Optimistic Sentiments Index (EOSI) and Economy Pessimistic Sentiments Index (EPSI) appreciate and depreciate the US Dollar exchange rate in the short-run, respectively. Our sentiment measures are robust to surveybased Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (MSCI), Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), and various macroeconomic factors. The MSCI and CCI sentiments show a long-term impact on the foreign exchange market. This study implies that economic sentiments play a vital role in the foreign exchange market and it is essential to consider behavioral aspects when modeling the exchange rate movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined that if efficient firms at their mature stage of life cycle may skip dividends. For doing so, this study investigated the direct and indirect impacts of firm efficiency on the dividends. To calculate the firm efficiency, data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used and for analyzing the data, logistic regression models were used. This study uses data of 1010 firm year observations of the firm's listed Pakistani non-financial firms over the period 2011–2015. Findings of this study indicated that the probability to pay dividends is high in the firms having high level of efficiency. Likewise, probability to pay dividend is high in the mature firms as compared to the growth firms. However, efficient and mature firms may skip the dividends. These findings present an alternative view on the signaling and life cycle theories of dividends in that the mature firms having high efficiency which may not necessarily pay dividends in contradiction to the life cycle theory. Likewise, efficient firms may not necessarily pay dividends to signal their future growth prospects. Therefore, the future research may focus more on the role of firm efficiency while examining the dividend pay-out under the life cycle and signaling theories of dividends. This study is among the first studies to examine the direct impact of firm efficiency on probability to pay dividends by examining the interaction effect of firm efficiency and firm maturity on probability to pay dividends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the relationship between board vigilance and financial distress in non-financial firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The mediating role of leverage structure and moderating role of asset tangibility is also studied following Baron and Kenney's approach. The study analyzed the data of 284 firms ranging from 2013 to 2017 by using ordinary least squares (OLS) and panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) regressions. The study revealed that the debt maturity structure mediates the relationship between board independence and financial distress and between CEO non-duality and financial distress but the capital structure did not mediate any of the stated relationships. Similarly, asset tangibility negatively moderated the relationship between debt maturity and financial distress. However, there was no such moderation detected between the relationship of capital structure and financial distress. The results remained consistent throughout the analysis with both regression techniques. These results suggest using more long-term debt in debt maturity structure to have control over financial distress and also to reduce the reliance on non-productive tangible assets in the asset structure of non-financial firms of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Proximal interphalangeal joint (PIPJ) arthrodesis can provide reliable pain relief and restore hand function in patients with PIPJ arthritis. However, there is a paucity of literature on patient-specific preoperative risk factors that are associated with adverse outcomes after PIPJ arthrodeses. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to assess preoperative predictors of nonunion and reoperation after PIPJ arthrodesis. Methods: This study identified all patients who underwent PIPJ arthrodesis at a single community practice between 1987 and 2013. The final analysis included 415 PIPJs treated with arthrodesis. The mean follow-up was 1.3 years. Data on preoperative diagnosis, demographics, comorbidities, and operative techniques were recorded, as well as the occurrence of nonunions and reoperations. Logistic regression models were used to identify independent risk factors of nonunion and reoperation. Results: There were 40 nonunions (10%) and 62 reoperations (15%). Of the reoperations, there were 39 incidences of isolated hardware removal, 9 irrigation and debridement, 8 amputations, 5 revision arthrodeses, and 1 corrective osteotomy. The highest number of nonunions occurred in the traumatic diagnosis group (37%), followed by the rheumatoid group (23%) and the scleroderma group (15%). The highest number of reoperations occurred within the traumatic joint disorder group (40%), followed by the rheumatoid group (24%) and the scleroderma group (11%). Multivariate analysis revealed that male sex (P <.01) and hepatic disease (P =.03) were significant risk factors of nonunion. Male sex was also significantly associated with increased reoperation risk (P <.01). Conclusion: Risks of nonunions and reoperations after PIPJ arthrodeses are low; however, these findings may guide clinicians and patients in the preoperative decision-making process and help with targeted postoperative surveillance to mitigate these risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sjogen's syndrome is an autoimmune and a chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by the infilrration of the exocrine glands particulary the lacrimal and the salivary glands by the lymphocytes and the plasma cells resulting in xerostomia and xerophthalamia.

This study has a focus on the oil price reductions in the domestic market of Pakistan and its impact on the stock prices of automobile & spare parts industry of Pakistan. Oil price reductions notified by OGRA are considered as events, so an event study methodology is applied to capture any abnormal returns generated in the stock prices of this sector. This study tends to capture the variance both in time series and cross section context. To make the study statistically more rigorous both parametric and non-parametric techniques like Patell’s(1976), Boehmer et al(1991), and Corrado Rank tests are applied to the data. Three consecutive oil price reductions in the last three months of the year 2014 are included in this study. A total sample of 19 companies is included, depending on the availability of data. The results prove that oil price reductions have a significant positive impact on the stock prices of automobile & spare parts industry of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study has estimated the effect of terrorism events on stock markets by taking the sample of six world equity markets (US, UK, China, Turkey, Pakistan and India). The impact of terrorism events on equity returns was analysed using the data from the year 1999 to 2016. Since, the sample was obtained from developed countries, higher income, middle income and lower income countries, therefore the current study analysed the impact of terrorism events by controlling the GDP per capita and inflation of these countries. Regarding the data analysis, panel regression and panel cointegration models are used. Also, the fully modified least square regression (FMOLS) is used to identify the long run relationship. Results indicated a negative impact of terrorism events on returns on equity of world equity markets by controlling the GDP per capita and inflation. Furthermore, the GDP per capita and inflation shows a significant and positive impact on the equity returns of the world equity markets. Furthermore, the country wise estimates indicate the negative impact of terrorism events on the stock markets of China, UK, India and Pakistan. The impact of terrorism events was positive on the markets of US and Turkey. Regarding the integration, the findings of panel cointegration indicates that terrorism, stock market, GDP per capita and inflation are integrated. Moreover, the findings of FMOLS indicate that terrorism have negative and significant impact on the stock markets whereas the in long run relationship GDP per capita have a significant positive relationship with stock market return. The impact of terrorism events on stock markets by taking the sample of mulitple countries from different level of developments and using the sophisticated econometric techniques is lacking. Therefore, the current study fills this gap by analysing the impact of terrorism events using fixed effects regression, Pedroni panel cointegration and fully modified least square regression taking the sample from developed countries (USA, UK), high and middle-income countries (Turkey, China), and low and middle-income countries (Pakistan and India). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the impact of direct agency cost of equity and cash flow volatility on the Pakistani firms' dividend pay-out behaviour. Besides, this study also examines the interaction of direct agency cost of equity and cash flow volatility on the firms' dividend pay-out behaviour. For analysis, a logistic regression model was employed and the data of 188 non-financial firms listed at the Pakistan stock exchange over the period 2011 to 2015 was used. The findings revealed that in an emerging country like Pakistan, cash flow volatility negatively affected the pay-out behaviour and agency cost of equity positively affects the pay-out behaviour. Moreover, interactions of cash flow volatility and asset turnover as proxy of direct agency cost of equity negatively affect the pay-out behaviour. However, the interaction of cash flow volatility and SGA expense as an alternative proxy of direct agency cost of equity is insignificant. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by providing an empirical evidence of the interaction effect of agency cost of equity and cash flow volatility on firm's dividend pay-out behaviour which is yet to be examined in other developed and developing countries. It also provides several implications for multiple parties such as firm's managers who determine their abilities to pay dividend and investors while making their investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]