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Both financial development and technological innovation are critical issues for policy-makers and academics in high-quality economic development. From the perspective of the geographical structure of the financial supply, this paper measures the number of financial institutions within a certain radius around an enterprise using the information on its geographical location and that of surrounding financial institutions to explore the impact of financial density on the enterprise's innovation quality, as well as the transmission mechanism. Rising financial density improves enterprise innovation quality, and this enhancement effect is mainly manifested in patent generality rather than patent originality. As the geographic radius expands, the effect of financial density on enterprise innovation quality increases and then decreases. Financial accessibility and competitive banking channels are the primary transmission mechanisms of financial density on enterprise innovation quality. In addition, the promotional effect of financial density on enterprise innovation quality is heterogeneous according to regional, industry, and enterprise characteristics. Finally, further analysis indicates that financial density will promote both innovation quality and quantity by motivating firms to engage in patent R&D behaviors that are highly technologically advanced. In addition, financial density enhances enterprises' innovation efficiency by increasing bank competition. Similarly, financial density is also conducive to increasing enterprises' commercial credit and financial liabilities. Therefore, the government should accelerate the development of an inclusive financial system, improve the coverage and penetration rates of the spatial layout of financial institutions, and encourage high-quality economic development by encouraging technologically advanced and innovative firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black soybeans with green cotyledon have long been widely consumed in the East due to their high content of health-promoting anthocyanins and lutein. However, major anti-nutritional and allergenic components such as lectin, Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI), P34, lipoxygenase, and stachyose are contained in mature seed. The objective of this research is to breed a soybean line with a black seed coat, a green cotyledon, and the penta null genotype (lele-titi-p34p34-lox1lox1lox2lox2lox3lox3-rs2rs2) for all five components. The F2 plant strain with penta null genotype for lectin, KTI, P34, lipoxygenase, and stachyose components was developed. The breeding line has purple flower, determinate growth habit, brown pod, black seed coat and green cotyledon. The stem height of the breeding line was 57.0 cm and 100 seed weight was 31.5 g. This is the first soybean breeding line with black seed coat, green cotyledon and penta null genotypes for lectin, KTI, P34, lipoxygenase, and stachyose factors. This line will be used as parent to improve a black soybean cultivar with green cotyledon that have significantly reduced anti-nutritional and allergenic traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study investigates the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on corporate sustainability [environmental, social and governance (ESG)] performance and aims to explore whether uncertainty-induced sustainability performance is influenced by the firm's life cycle (LC). Design/methodology/approach: The study uses data from European non-financial firms listed during the period from 2002 to 2022 to extend the nascent literature regarding EPU and sustainability performance while applying a dynamic panel data regression analysis (Generalized Method of Moments - GMM System) on 11,462 firm-year observations of 1,869 European firms. Findings: The authors find overwhelming evidence that policy uncertainty affects the sustainability performance of European firms. The firms restrict their environmental and governance-related activities and address immediate issues to survive during periods of high EPU. Conversely, the firms increase their social engagements to decrease uncertainty-induced information asymmetry. The authors' results show that the intensity and type of sustainability performance are also influenced by the firm's LC. The results imply that board gender diversity (BGD) increases while power concentration with the chief executive officer (CEO) decreases sustainability performance. Practical implications: These findings have important implications for policymakers, potential investors, firm management and other stakeholders given the firms' access to resources and preferences to encounter uncertainty vary across different LC stages. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the role of the firm's LC in the relationship between policy uncertainty and sustainability performance in the European context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing challenges posed by global warming underscore the need to examine the contributing factors comprehensively. This study explores the complex interaction that enhances the financial autonomy of local governments (fiscal decentralization), the evolution of financial development, and the dynamics of the environment in China, India, and Pakistan, which are known as highly populated economies. This search fills a vacuum in the research literature by using financial development and fiscal decentralization together to measure the complex interaction by using the broad dataset that spans the years 1979–2019. It significantly advances scientific knowledge by highlighting the frequently disregarded triangle formed by fiscal decentralization, financial development, and environmental quality in emerging nations. Moreover, the study seeks to elucidate how fiscal decentralization affects financial growth and, in turn, the environment. The review acknowledges the possibility of varying results among nations. Strict econometric techniques that consider slope heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence are used to guarantee the reliability of studies and conclusions. The results show that government money and GDP per capita have beneficial short-term effects on environmental quality. Simultaneously, financial growth positively and negatively impacts several factors, underscoring the complex dynamics at work in these crucial areas. Anticipated outcomes might provide a significant understanding of the fundamental factors influencing environmental quality in developing nations. This research is well-positioned to support the development of evidence-based policies by advising scholars and decision-makers on creating successful climate change mitigation plans.

Recent innovations in digital financial technologies (FinTech) have called into question the role of FinTech in financial development. This study examines FinTech's direct and conditional effects on financial development using data from emerging and developing economies. Three measures of financial development (broad money, Private credit, and bank deposits) and two conditional factors (financial performance and financial inclusion) were investigated vis-à-vis FinTech penetration. This paper demonstrates that FinTech penetration not only drives financial development but also strongly impacts the financial development of countries with weak financial sector performance and low financial inclusion. These findings have several policy implications: (1) countries with weak financial sector performance could leverage FinTech to improve financial development, and (2) appropriate policies on FinTech development can drive digital financial inclusion, financial deepening, and consequently economic growth.

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is an excellent source of protein for humans, but several allergenic and antinutritional components such as P34, lectin, Kunitz Trypsin Inhibitor (KTI), and 7S α′ subunit proteins exist in the raw mature seed. Genetic elimination of these factors would be the appropriate method to improve soybean food quality. The objective of this research was to develop a new soybean line with a tetra null recessive genotype (titilelecgy1cgy1p34p34) based on Mendelian inheritance. Four germplasms were used to develop the tetra null strain. A total of 322 F2 seeds were obtained from the cross of parent 1 and parent 2. For four proteins of KTI, lectin, 7S α′ subunit and P34, and segregation ratio of 107:30:37:8:35:9:14:3:33:9:14:0:13:3:5:2 was observed (χ2 = 9.41, P = 0.9 ~ 0.5). Two F2 seeds possessing the tetra null genotype (cgy1cgy1titilelep34p34) were selected. Confirmation of the Tetra null genotype (titilelecgy1cgy1p34p34—absence of KTI, lectin, 7S α′ subunit and P34 proteins) was verified on the random F3 seeds of the two lines selected. The seed color for both selection lines was yellow and the hilum color was buff. The seed weights (g/100 seeds) for the two selected lines were 12.2 and 12.0 g. This paper is the first to investigate the genetic segregation ratio and selection of tetra null genotype for four proteins of P34, lectin, KTI and 7S α′ subunit proteins in soybean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on financial sustainability is scattered in such a way that a synthesis is indispensable. The present study on an annotated bibliography of financial sustainability seeks to fill this particular gap by presenting a collation of published literature in the sphere. The sectorial analysis depicted that ability to cover the costs from its own resources and ability to pay debt were the key dimensions to measure financial sustainability. The majority of the studies were found in the public sector covering local governments and central governments particularly in such European countries as Spain, Italy and England. Earning enough resources, asset sustainability and the ability to repay obligations are the three dimensions to assess financial sustainability. The study also pointed out the key research areas, variables and analytical tools among other trends in the literature. The present study assists the future researchers in reviewing the literature on financial sustainability and developing research methodology.

This paper tries to uncover the shock of digital finance on green innovation by employing data for 30 provinces, municipalities or autonomous regions in China via estimation of fixed effect model and further divides the whole sample into three regions to see whether this impact is constant among the east, central, and west regions. The empirical study shows that higher level of digital finance is usually associated with better green innovation, which is reliable while we carry out robustness tests. Furthermore, while coverage and depth of digital finance benefits for green innovation, the degree of it cannot affect green innovation. In addition, heterogeneity analysis for different regions shows that while the digital finance tends to be beneficial for green innovation in western and central regions, it exerts no significant impact in easter regions.

This study aimed to evaluate whether the stimulus package after the 2008 financial crisis led to the distortion of financial intermediation in China. Accordingly, we investigated the relationship between company survival and the financial intermediation function in China during the sample period, which reflects the financial crisis in 2008. The study presents two main findings. First, access to bank loans resulted in a decrease in the risk of failure for the relatively poorly performing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China after the 2008 financial crisis. Distorted financial intermediation by banks was more pronounced for the large-sized SOEs. Therefore, "zombie firms" inevitably emerged among the manufacturing SOEs in China as result of the financial crisis and subsequent fiscal expansion. Second, access to short-term bank loans led to a deterioration rather than an improvement in the performance of the poorly performing SOEs after 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the new technology context, the publishing industry cannot continue to maintain its business operations and to develop relying solely on traditional product offerings, such as books, magazines, and newspapers. There needs to be an expansion into innovative products, such as e-books, micro-publishing, and websites.

The study aims to explore the effect of behavioral biases on financial decision making in the real estate sector of Pakistan. The data of a sample of 244 real estate investors are collected through a survey carried out using different sources. The findings of the study show the relationship of different biases, including overconfidence, herding effect, gambler’s fallacy, and regret aversion on prices of real estate. Real estate prices are more affected by overconfidence and gambler’s fallacy than herding effect and regrets aversion bias in Pakistan. The findings furthermore reveal that these biases do not depend on gender, education, and demographics. It is recommended to carefully consider the market factors while making decisions in real estate, as the prices do not always show the real value of the property.

In the context of developing FinTech innovation, a commercial bank’s use of FinTech innovation can improve its risk management capability, thereby reducing its risk-taking. This paper explores the impact and mechanism of a bank’s FinTech innovation on its risk-taking using panel data of 65 commercial banks between 2008 and 2020. We innovatively construct a bank-level index based on web crawler technology and obtain the annual numbers of news items about a bank’s FinTech innovation from each bank in Baidu News. The empirical results show that improvement in the bank’s FinTech innovation significantly reduces its risk-taking. To overcome endogenous problems, including measurement errors and omitted variables, we use the instrumental variables (IV) and difference-in-differences (DID) methods to test the hypothesis and obtain consistent estimated results. The mechanism analysis shows that banks rely on FinTech innovation to reduce their risk-taking by improving their operating income and capital adequacy ratio, optimizing their operating performance, and improving their risk control capabilities. Further, a heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of a bank’s FinTech innovation in reducing its risk-taking is more pronounced in larger, state-owned, joint-stock, and highly-competitive commercial banks. Our research results still hold after a series of robustness tests, including changing the construction methods of the bank’s FinTech innovation index, replacing the bank’s risk-taking indicators, tail-shrinking treatment, and changing samples. Our findings provide micro evidence for the application of FinTech innovation in commercial banks to reduce their risk-taking.

This study distinguishes entrepreneurs' cognitive financial constraints from financial supply constraints and assesses their relative importance to small business growth. Drawing from the literature on cognitive styles and institutional theory, we argue that small businesses' financial constraints derive not only from financial market failures but also from the cognitive factors of entrepreneurs. Analysing a comprehensive dataset of more than 200,000 small businesses in Vietnam, we show that both financial supply and cognitive financial constraints impede firm growth. Given this significantly deleterious effect, the cognitive financial constraints originating from the demand side of firm financing deserve more attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A novel Cryptosporidium sporozoite surface antigen, Cp -P34, was discovered. • Cp -P34 is the target of a camelid VHH antibody selected on fixed sporozoites. • Non-permeabilized sporozoites are brightly stained by antibodies to Cp -P34. • Cp- P34 deposits in sporozoite gliding trails, similarly to known virulence factors. • Cp -P34 is a MORN-containing protein, apparently unique to Cryptosporidium spp. Despite the public health impact of childhood diarrhea caused by Cryptosporidium, effective drugs and vaccines against this parasite are unavailable. Efforts to identify vaccine targets have focused on critical externally exposed virulence factors expressed in the parasite s invasive stages. However, no single surface antigen has yet been found that can elicit a significant protective immune response and it is likely that pooling multiple immune targets will be necessary. Discovery of surface proteins on Cryptosporidium sporozoites is therefore vital to this effort to develop a multi-antigenic vaccine. In this study we applied a novel single-domain camelid antibody (VHH) selection method to identify immunogenic proteins expressed on the surface of Cryptosporidium parvum sporozoites. By this approach, VHHs were identified that recognize two sporozoite surface-exposed antigens, the previously identified gp900 and an unrecognized immunogenic protein, Cp- P34. This Cp- P34 antigen, which contains multiple Membrane Occupation and Recognition Nexus (MORN) repeats, is found in excysted sporozoites as well as in the parasite s intracellular stages. Cp -P34 appears to accumulate inside the parasite and transiently appears on the surface of sporozoites to be shed in trails. Identical or nearly identical orthologs of Cp -P34 are found in the Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium tyzzeri genomes. Except for the conserved MORN motifs, the Cp- P34 gene shares no significant homology with genes of other protozoans and thus appears to be unique to Cryptosporidium spp. Cp- P34 elicits immune responses in naturally exposed alpacas and warrants further investigation as a potential vaccine candidate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to shed light on the determinants of energy poverty by examining the role of financial development. Notably, the study analyses the multidimensional effects of financial development (including two subsectors and three dimensions on five indicators of energy poverty). Various estimates are applied with a global sample of 65 economies, consisting of 36 low- and lower-middle-income economies and 29 upper-middle-income economies for 2002–2015. First, financial development can alleviate energy poverty. Second, the results are properly consistent across the two subsectors and three dimensions. Third, the two subsectors and three dimensions of financial development are found to reduce energy poverty in low- and lower-middle-income economies but have heteroscedastic effects in upper-middle-income economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide the first analysis of management turnover and ownership change as determinants of post-bankruptcy failure of small businesses. Examining micro-level data on Slovenian firms that attempted bankruptcy reorganization and utilizing multiple empirical approaches, we find that changes prior to completed reorganization proceedings never reduce, and in the case of foreign incoming owners or insider incoming managers in fact increase, prospects of firm liquidation. Firm liquidation prospects robustly decrease only with changes that occur after completed proceedings, involve ownership transfer, and feature domestic incoming owners. These results continue to hold under an alternative conceptualization of firm failure. Our findings are consistent with the importance of disruption costs in the process of turning around ailing small businesses. Our analysis casts novel light on the ongoing debate about the consequences of debtor-in-possession rule in bankruptcy and the relevance of successor origin in management turnover and ownership change for firm outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the absence of well-developed financial markets, bankruptcy procedures provide useful mechanisms to ease and organize the capital transfers of distressed businesses. From an investor's perspective, such court-supervised ways of solving financial distress are part of the attractiveness of the post-transition economies that eventually integrated the European Union. This article originally analyzes the content of bankruptcy files handled by the courts operating in three Eastern European countries: Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Our approach mostly focuses on the two fundamental issues that bankruptcy courts must solve when the question of repayments arises: (1) maximizing and (2) sharing the debtor's value. We first find that the investors' recovery power strongly depends on the local rules prevailing after bankruptcy filing (legal indexes) and on the type of procedure engaged (reorganization vs. liquidation). Second, total recoveries do not benefit from the presence of public claims suggesting some passivity from the state, in the context of post-transition. Conversely, junior creditors exert a positive influence on total recoveries despite their poor legal protection, which contrasts with secured creditors (confirming the bad incentives that collaterals may generate). In addition, as in Western Europe, the Eastern European bankruptcy systems provide stronger protection for private secured claims than for public claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we trace the survival status of more than 110,000 Russian firms from 2007 to 2015 and examine the relationship between legal forms of incorporation and firm survivability across industries and different periods of economic crisis and growth. Applying the Cox proportional hazards model, we find an optimal legal form that maximizes the probability of firm survival: closed joint-stock companies and those adopting limited liability survive longer than open joint-stock companies, partnerships, or cooperatives. This relationship is robust across periods of boom and recession and across industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the banking sector of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries during the transition period 1998–2016 in a number of critical dimensions. We place particular importance on the effect that the regulatory framework along with a group of bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic factors have on the net interest margin (NIM) in the banking sectors of the Central and Eastern European countries over the period 1998–2016. In addition to the standard determinants employed in the literature, the present study provides a unique natural experiment to examine the effect of the extensive banking sector reform that took place during the examined period in the CEE countries. We employ both static and dynamic frameworks as well as advanced market structure measures and we argue that net interest margin is determined by bank-specific characteristics such as equity capital, risk and operational inefficiency. Furthermore, it is shown that the regulatory framework as well as the presence of foreign-owned institutions in the CEE countries play an important role in determining NIM. However, as financial systems develop and the reform process ends, both the current and future rates of economic growth are likely to have an enhanced impact on bank margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In general, the dividend payout pattern for Russian corporations during their formative period from 1998 to 2006 was seemingly independent of company earnings, size, growth opportunities and capital structure, as such firm policies appear not to conform to any of the main extant dividend payout theories. The only exception we find is that of utility firms, which were inclined to pay consistent dividends. Utility firms tended to be partly owned by the state and were subject to price regulation. Consequently, they may have had limited investment prospects. Our findings suggest that dividend payout policies in non‐market economies may be driven by non‐traditional determinants, such as the state's overall industrial strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using cross section data of 3 years 2000, 2007, and 2014 for non-financial listed firms in China, this study quantitatively analyzes the relationship between government-affiliated corporate executives and corporate performance. We classify the sample firms into two groups, based on whether their chief executive officers (CEOs) and independent directors are prior government officials or not. Then, we empirically examine the difference in corporate performance between the two groups. We find that the appointment of CEOs and directors of listed companies in China is significantly affected by government shareholders. The results also suggest that prior to 2000 government-affiliated CEOs impaired corporate performance. But with the establishment of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Committee and the completion of the Split-Share Structure Reform in 2006, government as a shareholder began to give priority to corporate value maximization, and government-affiliated CEOs began to help improve corporate performance. However, due to the slowdown of economic growth after 2012, problems such as inefficiency and corruption brought by government-affiliated executives manifested again, and therefore, corporate performance deteriorated. Meanwhile, government-affiliated independent directors have limited influence on these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To join the Eurozone (EZ), a candidate country has to fulfil five nominal Maastricht convergence criteria and ensure compliance of national legislation with the acquis communautaire. With this regard special difficulties pose the fiscal criterion relating to the maximum allowed budget deficit of 3 per cent of GDP. If it is not met, the European Commission launches the Excessive Deficit Procedure. Currently, such formula applies to France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Although the issue is not absolutely certain, one can assume that euro will weather the present difficulties and will come out stronger, though the economically unjustified Euro scepticism of some countries is not helping. It may be expected that in the 2020s the European Monetary Union will be joined by all countries that are still using their national currencies and that the EU will be extended to include new member states, enlarging the euro area further. In this article authors are discussing the issue whether Poland will join the EZ in the coming years, considering the challenges of meeting all Maastricht criteria, on the one hand, and the reluctance of the government to give up the national currency, on the other. A mixed method combining the results of qualitative and quantitative research has been used to empirically verify the research question presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using cross-country cross-industry data, this paper explores how industry’s growth in number of firms in Central-East Europe (CEE) region is influenced by bank concentration in both the pre-crisis and crisis periods. The CEE region shows highly concentrated banking markets and less-developed financial markets; thus, the level of bank concentration and the resulting credit supply are crucial for firm creation and survival. Despite this, there is little evidence on these countries in the literature. Our empirical results suggest an inverted-U relationship: industry growth is fostered by bank concentration, but there is a turning point from which higher concentration begins producing the opposite effect. Moreover, the positive impact has a greater intensity during the crisis period compared to the pre-crisis period. Between sectors’ analysis shows that high-tech sectors are less reactive to changes in the concentration level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the structure of János Kornai's 'main line of causality', two unique country cases are compared within the former European socialist bloc: Albania and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The research provides a comparative analysis with an overview of the two countries' development between World War II and the fall of the socialist regimes. Special attention is paid to the period following the 1970s as the underlying reforms had been implemented in Yugoslavia by then, leading to fundamentally different socialist prototypes. Regarding the differences, the analysis also gives an insight into the structure of the two respective banking systems. Kornai's 'main line of causality' provides the framework for the current research, supplemented by the respective literature. The analysis concludes that despite the fact that all blocks of the causality line differed in the two systems, similar challenges had to be addressed during the transition period. Furthermore, Albania and the successor states of Yugoslavia reflected a range of common characteristics, which implies the relevance of path dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study stock market's response to real output shocks in the small and young Eastern European frontier markets, and compare to the larger European emerging- and world's most developed markets. To obtain a complete time profile of stock market's response, we use a Vector Auto-regression with Asymmetric Leads (VARwAL) model, which is a special case of the mix (noncausal) VARs. Results confirm its efficacy: in every country, both the forward-looking and delayed components of stock market's response are significant. Stock market returns forecast future real output equally well in Eastern European frontier markets as in developed and larger-emerging markets. The distant-horizon forward-looking response is larger in frontier markets, whereas the near-horizon forward-looking response is larger in developed markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Newly available Soviet data reveal that government debt increased to compensate for inefficient use of funds for most of the Soviet period. Given the difficulty in managing fiat money without information and data generated by the market, and the simple Soviet financial structure, the increasing debt suggests that non-performing financial assets accumulated in the household sector, and inefficient real assets built up in the enterprise sector. The empirical analysis using a small time-varying parameter vector autoregression model identified that funds supplied to the economy had contributed at a decreasing rate to economic growth during nearly the entire Soviet period. Funds continued to be used wastefully, non-performing financial assets accumulated, and consequently the value of the ruble was decreasing. In this sense, Soviet monetary management was inefficient. Future research will include efforts to investigate responsiveness of price regulating authorities to changes in monetary and financial situation, to understand monetary management on the republic level, and to quantify the efficiency of use of funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies a newly developed LM unit root test based on residual augmented least squares (RALS) regression under structural break and Bayer–Hanck cointegration approach to explore the integrating properties and to check whether a long run relationship exists among energy demand, financial development, economic growth, foreign direct investment (hereafter FDI), trade and capital using the United States dataset spanning over a period of four decades of 1973q1–2014q4. The results reveal cointegration among the series. Also, we find that financial development, FDI and real GDP reduce energy demand, while energy demand is positively affected by trade and capital in the long run. Moreover, real GDP and capital have an inverse impact on energy demand, while financial development, FDI and trade stimulate energy demand in the short run. Using a recently introduced asymmetric causality test, the results show that real GDP, FDI, trade and capital Granger cause energy demand in the long run, while a feedback effect is found for FDI and trade. This study opens up new insights for policy makers to maintain financial development and sustain economic growth in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including dual-track reform strategy adopted in the Chinese economy, impact of financial repression on China's economic growth, and impact of local government debt on leverage ratios.

China has built a very comprehensive financial system, but has not let the market mechanism work freely. This unique pattern, rooted in China's dual-track reform strategy between state and non-state sectors, did not prevent a strong economic performance in the past, but is now a main cause of economic inefficiency and financial risks. The rapid development of digital finance is a back-door way of financial liberalization, responding to both old repressive policies and new technologies. To accomplish the mission of building an efficient financial system, the government needs to take at least three further steps in financial reform: creating a level-playing field; freeing up the market mechanism; and improving regulation. The key test lies in the effective enforcement of market discipline for corporate and financial institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]