This paper examines the relationship between gender diversity in corporate boards and executive positions and bank risk and performance in Latin America. Our sample covers 91 individual banks during 2000–2017. Our results suggest that banks with a higher proportion of female executives tend to have lower Z-scores than male-led banks. However, female-led banks are more profitable. Our results provide

This study explores the main determinants of financial distress in 11 emerging countries. Using two-way cluster-robust standard errors, evidence shows that matured, profitable, liquid, small firms with high market-to-book ratio and low growth in assets are less prone to financial distress. Moreover, well-developed financial markets in countries with low levels of corruption reduce financial distress

Drawing on the psychology of names, this study examines whether a CEO having a given name that has a moral meaning (a moral name) affects corporate investment decisions on environmental protection. We find that a CEO having a moral name plays a significant role in increasing a firm's green investment. Further analysis shows that this positive relationship is more pronounced for state-owned firms. When

We document that corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities increase the cost of equity in East Asian. Further, the effect is driven by economies with weak investor protection. Our findings are robust to alternative variable measurements, accounting for endogeneity of CSR, and various methodological specifications. The positive relation between CSR and the cost of equity is attributable to the

In this paper, we examine the impact of trade and financial openness on bank loan pricing. Using data from 35 emerging economies, we first document that higher trade and financial openness lower interest rates on gross bank loans using country-specific measures for trade and financial openness. We then confirm our findings using firm-specific measures for trade and financial openness and individual

This paper investigates the determination of corporate liquidity in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries with emphasis on whether and how national governance (NG) has bearings on corporate liquidity in such countries. Using the Sharia-compliant liquidity measure to examine non-financial firms' liquidity in 22 OIC countries during the period 2000–2016, results reveal that liquidity determination

I analyze the balance sheet channels of depreciation of the Turkish non-financial corporations for 2003–2015. Having constructed a novel, hand-collected firm-level dataset on the composition and term structure of foreign currency assets and liabilities, I show that foreign currency debt and mismatch has a significant negative balance sheet effect on capital investment following a depreciation. The

We use 239-day trading-level data for a stock on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, including about 440,000 traders and 1.77 million trading relationships, to study the representation of traders in a trading network using the network representation learning method, and to identify different traders' local outlier factor (LOF). Based on the local outlier factors, traders are divided into two categories: novel

We investigate the relationship between traumatic war experiences of chief executive officers (CEOs) and their corporate decisions. Using the Korean war event, we find that CEOs exposed to the war in their earlier lives tend to be conservative in corporate policies. Among the war-experienced CEOs, we also find that those who have witnessed large-scale massacres exhibit more conservative behavior. Moreover

This paper investigates the impact of regulation and ownership on the performance of banks in 19 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We test the hypothesis that the effect of regulation on bank profitability depends on the type of ownership structure. The public and private views of bank regulation are also tested along with the interaction of bank regulation and ownership

Investments in alternative assets, such as art, are influenced by indices that measure price movements in these assets. This paper uses the South African art market to consider how different methodologies influence price estimates in a setting where repeated sales of the same artworks are limited. The focus is on estimating art prices in South Africa, based on a comprehensive database of South African

We survey non-executive directors in emerging markets to obtain detailed information about the inner workings of corporate boards across a variety of institutional settings. We document substantial variation in the structure and conduct of boards as well as in directors' perceptions of the local legal environment. Our analysis indicates that directors who feel adequately empowered by local legislation

The market reaction speeds to the news flow are currently measured at the millisecond level in developed markets. We investigate, using a unique setting from Turkey, whether the market reaction speeds in less sophisticated markets are on par with those of developed markets. We find that market reaction times to corporate announcements are slower than documented in recent studies, although markets react

This study develops a model to disaggregate traders into categories based on their strategic approach to (fundamental versus technical) and perception about future price trends. Testing the model with data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), the study finds a minimal presence of fundamental traders. However, model estimation reveals that the SSE is weak-form efficient as technical traders do not

We study the determinants of Corporate Governance (CG) practices in Brazil. Using hand collected data, we build CG subindices for Board Structure, Board Procedures, Minority Shareholders Rights, and Disclosure, and an overall CG index, BCGI, computed as the average of these four subindices. During our sample period, CG practices changed significantly: improvement was stronger among firms in the High-

This paper studies economic effects of the gender composition of corporate boards, employing a novel longitudinal dataset of publicly traded Russian companies over 1998–2014. Using multiple identification approaches, alternative measures of gender diversity, and several performance indicators, we find some evidence that companies with gender-diverse boards have higher market values and better profitability

In this paper, we show how corporate governance reforms and research have been mutually reinforcing in emerging markets and propose a research agenda going forward. Acknowledging the by now broad recognition of corporate governance as a key development driver, we show how work on corporate governance in emerging markets has led research globally by focusing on the deep issues of ownership structures

We study the relationship between female representation on boards and firm value and profitability in Turkey from 2011 to 2018, relying on hand-collected data covering the vast majority of listed firms. We build several proxies of female representation on boards and find no evidence that female directors predict firm value and profitability using broad measures that are typically required or mandated

We test the relevance of the trade-off, pecking order, and market timing theories of capital structure from the point of view of a stock's religious orientation. Using a unique sample of Islamic stocks, we discover the leverage speed of adjustment (SOA) to be faster compared to that in the literature on conventional stocks, consistent with trade-off theory. We hypothesize that this result is due to

This paper explores how cross-country differences in empathy can explain variations in corporate social responsibility (CSR). We show that empathy is positively associated with overall CSR, as well as with its social and environmental components. Our results are robust to using the two components of empathy, empathic concern and perspective taking. Our findings are further corroborated by evidence

We examine the value impact of mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending required by the Indian Companies Act of 2013 for large and profitable Indian firms. We find that the external mandate is value decreasing, even after controlling for prior voluntary CSR activity by firms affected by the mandate. We also find that there is systematic crosssectional variation across firms. Firms that

We examine the effect of political connections and political cycles on stock returns of listed companies in Iran. Using 1146 firm-year observations derived from firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) for the period 2005–2017, we find that political connections are positively associated with firms' annual actual returns and annual abnormal returns. Presidential elections strengthen the positive

The last two decades have witnessed a growing interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) worldwide by corporations, investors, policy makers, and researchers across different disciplines. This paper is part of a Special Issue devoted to CSR practices of firms in emerging market economies (EMEs). It complements prior research focusing mainly on developed countries. We begin with an assessment

This paper provides empirical evidence on the effect of woman directors on performance of family firms in the context of an emerging economy. Using data from India covering periods prior to and post institution of gender quotas, we find evidence that the presence of woman directors on board leads to higher firm performance. However, this positive effect is driven by independent woman directors. Further

This paper examines whether foreign shareholders, foreign board members, and cross-listing, are related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in Russia. A sample of 223 Russian listed companies is analyzed for the period 2012–2015. In line with legitimacy theory and agency theory, our empirical results demonstrate that foreign board members and cross-listing help companies to raise their

This study investigates the relationship between the board of director attributes and corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement across a sample of Asian emerging economy firms. We find a statistically positive relationship between CSR engagement and several directors' attributes including their political influence, international experience, business expertise, other directorships held and independence

Utilizing the natural experiment presented by India's Companies Act of 2013, this paper investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement and earnings management. India's Act includes provisions designed to improve governance and financial audits, as well as a unique mandate requiring firms that satisfy size or profitability criteria to spend a minimum of 2% of

This paper presents an explanation of why and how institutional arrangements influence the practice of CSR in Pakistan. The authors conduct in-depth interviews with CSR managers; national regulators; and, members of CSR promoting institutions. Our findings suggest that Pakistani CSR is largely found to be in support of charities and donations. Family traditions and religion are primary drivers for

We investigate the impact of national culture on socially responsible investment (SRI) fund flows. Drawing on prior literature suggesting that non-financial attributes and social preferences explain SRI decisions, we hypothesize that cultural traits may drive SRI fund flows. We use a dataset covering mutual funds from 45 countries over the period 1997 to 2019. Our results reveal that higher SRI flows

Whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects corporate innovation remains controversial in the literature. We re-examine this issue using a newly available comprehensive innovation database on 20 countries and find support for the view that CSR performance fosters innovation. This effect of CSR is reflected on corporate innovation through its environmental and social dimensions. We also show

What signals quality for digital startups seeking access to external finance? Analyzing a unique dataset from India, we investigate the impact of traditional quality signals (e.g., the founders’ years of experience, prior industry experience); networking signals (e.g., degrees from elite educational institutes, the breadth of an entrepreneurial team); and digital signals (e.g., the social media presence

We find ASEAN5 and G5 stock markets are weakly linked in normal conditions. ASEAN5 markets became more connected with G5 markets during global financial crisis, with stronger conditional correlations, a higher level of risk spillover-connectedness and intensive causal risk dependence. By implications, ASEAN5 stocks are both return enhancers and risk diversifiers in boom market conditions. The diversification